-
• #20102
I hadn’t yet had my coffee. Have now had coffee.
-
• #20104
And if you do, make sure you have secure bar ends...
-
• #20105
Low gears, suspension, disc brakes and wide tyres have all been around for over 20 years. My Dialled Bikes Prince Albert from 2007 had all the above and it was all pretty refined by then. It didn't have a dropper though and that has made a bigger difference to my riding than Boost, bigger wheels or any other modern changes
-
• #20106
totally agree, droppers are brilliant.
Totally blew my mind testing one after a shorter hiatus... -
• #20107
Ouch. My calf has a yellow tinge after falling over on the road bike (off road). Riding bikes off road is dumb :)
Mind you, there's still a bend in the steel ped rails in Croydon, Melb where I crashed into them during a crit. #stillproud I rarely bruise though (maybe something to do with the clotting factor). It fucked me up for ages though.
-
• #20108
Good fun though, until it isn't. The trail i was doing was above my pay grade, and i was already devoid of confidence and calm when i lost the front wheel on that techy climb. Even when you're not riding fast, the ground still comes at you at some tempo ...
-
• #20109
Low gears, suspension, disc brakes and wide tyres have all been around for over 20 years.
Not on any of my bikes they haven't. So, your idea of new is very different to mine.
Actually, I lie. I used to have a triple on the hardtail so I did have low gears. Let's say 1x w/ big cassettes then. This same 2000 era hardtail also had the luxury of disc... mounts. No disc brakes though. "Wide, low-pressure" - I used to run tubes and being a heavy fucker that required 60psi or something to keep from pinch flatting so modern tubeless that don't need 60psi is where it's at.
-
• #20110
As for droppers, it's one thing i added immediately after riding some switchback trail here that saw me fighting my seatpost. No brainer. Makes a world of diff. I don't even lower it all the way most of the time, but it's made a super large difference to the terrain I'm willing to tackle.
-
• #20111
Yeah, it's not like any of my riding is "fast" (avg 15kph, max 50kph). Only on the big fire road stuff when I let it go is it approaching anything speedy. Most of the time pain is from awkward movements that I'm doing to prevent a crash that cause body parts to hurt. Twisting and pulling on the bars or putting out big power to clamber up something or having to jump off the bike because I fucked a steep climb and landing funny.
-
• #20112
Just because you were a luddite, doesn't mean the tech wasn't there ;-)
2000ish MTB discussions were like road bike discussions nowadays: "you don't need discs, wide tyres, low gears. We've always been fine with XYZ"
To be fair, I avoided buying a dropper until they became cheap and reliable. I convinced myself that a QR seat collar was basically the same thing. I was very wrong.
-
• #20113
I find it quite handy when you're riding a bike owned by a taller person. No saddle height faff needed :)
I think the Inbred is the newest, most technologically advanced MTB I own. #luddtotheite
-
• #20114
Yeah. Lots of awkward last moment unclips for me lately as well, usually getting stuck on super tight switchback climbs. Shortly after i fell on my bars i also had one of them and went actually down a ravine. Landed ok-ish though, luckily. I hike a biked the rest of that shitty trail from thereon. As soon as we hit wider stuff again i was fine, this was just too tech for me.
-
• #20115
I'm using flats on the borrowed bike. It makes my fuckups much less fuckyuppy.
Used them for Badlands but went back to Speedplay/midfoot on the gravel bike because it's nicer for the flatter stuff and I use it a bit on the road still.
1 Attachment
-
• #20116
Dafuq is a black diamond climb?
Sounds like something I need in my life.
-
• #20117
I could take both bikes with me on Saturday, which means you could try them both, I'm just unsure whether that would be helpful given they're both a size too large for you.
-
• #20118
Reckon I would be up for sneaking out to Dorking on Saturday.
-
• #20119
I'm up for it. Mixed sun and cloud, cold, no rain. Perfekt.
-
• #20120
.
1 Attachment
-
• #20121
'top 10 reasons to avoid buying a full sus bike'
-
• #20122
my fave is when not only do you need to press them out, you have to glue the fucking things back in!
-
• #20123
BB30?
-
• #20124
And then you discover your QR was doing the creaking...
-
• #20125
I’m quite enjoying it tbh
No, wide, low-pressure tyres followed by disc brakes are the best thing about modern MTBing.
Then, I'd go with larges cassettes/low gears and then I'd go with suspension forks and maybe after all that I'd add droppers into the mix.
20 years ago I was riding a 26" rigid steel singlespeed with cutdown bars, vee brakes and a 2.3"(?) Tioga DH tyre up front for "suspension".
Modern bikes are like a smartphone vs. Nokia compared to what I used to ride.
SID "on par with the Fox 34 Step Cast, yet the SID is 150g lighter"
https://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/forks/rockshox-sid-ultimate-review