To all you 29er's out there!

the fork is spraying oil at a ridiculous rate, its coming out of the top (underside of the stem is covered in a sheen of oil) and has leaked into the bottom air chamber

warranty will cover this

velocio, your component spec is very close to mine, what bars and rims are you getting?

would really encourage a tubeless set up

Rims mentioned, the bars are Ritchey Classic. They're almost flat.

What gear inches should I go for?

Anyone riding a SS 29er who can advise on how their gear has worked for them?

I'm totally unsure how crazy this should be... I don't want too spinny, but yet I don't want inclines to be impassable.

I'm basically thinking of a 37 chainring and an 18 sprocket to give 55.5 gear inches.

This would allow decent jumps both up and down the range: 19 sprocket for 52.58 gear inches, and 17 to go to 58.76.

I'd rather have a prime number of teeth on the chainring for even wear regardless of the sprocket size.

I think 55 is a pretty nice gear inch that should be OK for most terrain so long as the climbs aren't severe and long.

Standard Gi for off-road is about 52-53. So 32:16 on a 26er, 32:18 on a 29er. The variation massive though. Mines closer to 50 (44:26). When I ride to my in-laws. I have 6 km of flatish road, followed by an off-road mountain assent of 400m, with some darn steep sections. I am nearly always amazed how this gear copes with the whole journey so well. Traction is king though.

Running longer cranks is a great solution, to help you up hills. Mine are a full 10mm longer than my preffered length. The downside is cruising along flats becomes slightly less comfortable.

Are those middleburn the new X-type with external bearings?
Is there a reason for not going with super comp spokes? They have added super

I'm running 58 at the minute, fine around town and on the flat but I'm going to lower it to 51 ish for the trails.

I'm basically thinking of a 37 chainring and an 18 sprocket to give 55.5 gear inches.

This would allow decent jumps both up and down the range: 19 sprocket for 52.58 gear inches, and 17 to go to 58.76.

I'd rather have a prime number of teeth on the chainring for even wear regardless of the sprocket size.

I think 55 is a pretty nice gear inch that should be OK for most terrain so long as the climbs aren't severe and long.

Fuck even tooth wear.

Get a tiny chainring. Simply because they look rad on 29ers.

I have a RaceFace crankset, with a custom 31 tooth chainring. In the draw next to me. Its going to look pretty cool between two fat wheels.

I'm running 58 at the minute, fine around town and on the flat but I'm going to lower it to 51 ish for the trails.

Might even lower mine to 44:28. There far more fun to be gained climbing stuff, then being able to go a little faster on the flats.

Fuck even tooth wear.

Get a tiny chainring. Simply because they look rad on 29ers.

I have a RaceFace crankset, with a custom 31 tooth chainring. In the draw next to me. Its going to look pretty cool between two fat wheels.

Next prime number down is 31.

So... 31 chainring would give me these options:

31:16t = 56.2
31:17t = 52.9 <= What I'd start with
31:18t = 49.9

Thanks for the tips

32:18 here which comes out about 51 GI although I'm not sure that's exact due to my massive tires.

Ratio works well for me. Bit tiresome on flat, road sections but haven't had any problems at Swinley. I'm pretty much only walking up things that most of the guys on gears are walking as well now.

velocio

two more people to ask are Hendrik and tom. both ride ss offroad, but they use small wheels so will more likely loiter on the offroad thread

Pretty sure I remember Hendrik telling me his was 32:15. Isn't Tom back on gears now?

Oh yeah! I have normal sized wheels.

tom. is back to geared, there is also mick to ask

Fuck even tooth wear.

Get a tiny chainring. Simply because they look rad on 29ers.

I have a RaceFace crankset, with a custom 31 tooth chainring. In the draw next to me. Its going to look pretty cool between two fat wheels.

Wait... wut?

31t isn't normal size is it? I'm busy tapping it into gear inch calculators thinking "hell yeah", but custom chainrings?

Spill the beans, where do I get one from?

http://forums.mtbr.com/29er-bikes/ss-29er-gearing-490106.html

might be useful re gearing - not custom chainrings

Wait... wut?

31t isn't normal size is it? I'm busy tapping it into gear inch calculators thinking "hell yeah", but custom chainrings?

Spill the beans, where do I get one from?

Homebrewed components in the US do them pretty cheap. They even have the spiderless middle burn rings.
http://www.homebrewedcomponents.com/store.php/products/aluminum-spiderless-chainrings

I get the impression its a one man show. So delivery times can be irratic. But I've bought a few things off him, and found him great to deal with. I love these micro companys.

On 165mm Atlas cranks.

31:16t = 56.2
31:17t = 52.9 <= What I'd start with
31:18t = 49.9

This looks good to me. I reckon you'll like 53GI as an allround gear. 50Gi is a winning off-road gear IMHO. Most of the time when I spin out. Its probably not advisable for me to go any faster anyway. 56GI sounds like a bridalway gear to me ;)

• Cielo 29er in Pearl White with Navy Blue logo
  
• Chris King headset, BB and ISO hubs in Navy Blue
  
• Silver Thomson Elite seatpost and Thomson Elite X4 stem
  
• DT Swiss double-butted competition spokes with Stan's ZTR Arch rims (in black, as they don't do silver), Maxxis Beaver tyres to start with
  
• Fox 32 Float 29 100 RLC FIT Taper 15QR forks.... tapered headtube on the frame of course
  
• Brooks leather grips and Brooks Swallow (black) saddle
  
• Middleburn RS8 XC chainset
  
• Shimano XTR M988 brakes and calipers
  

Wow, what a spec list. I presume the frame is steel, what tubeset?

Wait... wut?

31t isn't normal size is it? I'm busy tapping it into gear inch calculators thinking "hell yeah", but custom chainrings?

Spill the beans, where do I get one from?

Found two places: Homebrew Components ( http://www.homebrewedcomponents.com/store.php ) and Highpath ( http://www.highpath.net/ )

Wow, what a spec list. I presume the frame is steel, what tubeset?

Steel.

According to the two websites:
http://cielo.chrisking.com/bikes/mountain-bike-details/
http://www.bromleybike.co.uk/shop/frames/mtb-frames/cielo-frameset/cielo-29er-frameset-534721.html

It's: True Temper OX Platinum

As soon as we're outside of the Reynolds numbers I'm a bit lost on the virtues of different tubesets. A quick reading around seems to suggest it's equivalent to 853 in that it's air hardened with similar KSI numbers.

Found two places: Homebrew Components ( http://www.homebrewedcomponents.com/store.php ) and Highpath ( http://www.highpath.net/ )

See above.

There's talk of the external bearing middleburns being made availible to fit a 100mm BB shell. At which point I might well be tempted to upgrade my cranks, and buy a spideless 30T chainring. As you can see from the pic. 31T is as small as I currently can go.

It's: True Temper OX Platinum.

AFAIK my spotbrand 29er is OX. Seriously light, and as stiff as you'd want. I'm pretty sure I can detect a certain spring when I throw the bike around agressively. But its not something you can feel through the drivechain when you're running 2.55" tyres.

http://cielo.chrisking.com/bikes/mountain-bike-details/

Thats one hot ride, the pic has me reaching for my credit card

Homebrewed components in the US do them pretty cheap.
http://www.homebrewedcomponents.com/store.php/products/aluminum-spiderless-chainrings

£35 for a Ti bash ring isn't to be sniffed at!