hustler

iTrader: (6)

lol @ Povertytap. Get a Stages meter.
Data I've seen says relatively no advantage to CX Rays over Lasers, which are 1/3 the price.
Aero rim over saving weight.
I think Gigantex carbon fiber rims have a good reputation but I do not trust my life to anything other than November, Zipp, Enve, Lightweigth, or Roval composite rims. I saw more than one broken rim at the Apache Pass race over the "Texas cobbles".

hustler

iTrader: (6)

Does anyone know if SRAM 1x crank rings will fit on a 6700 crank? I'm toying with the idea of moving the Stages meter over to my CX bike for the summer as it probably makes the most sense, permits me to get another set of CX wheels with gold hubs. I want the gold, give me the gold.

TurboTim

iTrader: (9)

I need a way to get total power, not half my power multiplied by 2. Ideally I'd like left & right power metrics but that's out of my budget, and watteam's cheap powermeter setup isn't working last I looked.
interesting. I'll check those out.
I read this too. Thinking 38front 50 rear, cause that looks cool. But a 25mm 1100 gram wheelset is cool too?
Gigantex is who I was leaning towards, but they are relatively heavy for a carbon rim. Still trying to find Emilio's 360g clincher.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

My 360g clincher is for XC, not an aero wheel. CX-Rays have been one of the strongest spokes available at any weight for some time, 1600N/mm2. Their mfg process is a bit different than the other spokes in the Sapim line. Sapims strongest and lightest are the $8.50 a piece Super Spoke and CX Super Spoke at 2900N/mm2. I have built a bunch of wheels with CX-Rays and they are just my go to.

Don't mix profiles. If you do hilly rides, long climbs and are cat 3 or above, 58mm. Cat 4/5, I'd stick with 38mm for hilly rides. Go 58 Tim.

China/Taiwan carbon wheels are fine but I'd stick with one of the companies that has been around for a while like light-bicycle.com or ACE Bicycle wheels,Carbon wheelsets,29er carbon frames,carbon road bicycle wheels,carbon rims, MTB bike frame - Asian Cycle Express Focus On Carbon Light Bicycle.. Raced extensively on China carbon wheels without issue. Strength comes down to designing a wheelset appropriate to your use then building it correctly. I use the Sapim spoke holder to keep them from twisting. Many wheel builders use locking compound on spokes. I have found that if they are built correctly and stress relieved, the spokes never need to be touched. I use a drop of tri-flow on the threads and a tiny but smeared under the nipple head. This sometimes leaves a tiny oil stain on the wheel after they are built, which I simply wipe off with some isopropyl alcohol. Buy a spoke tension meter. This is not optional. You'll never be able to feel the minute differences in tension by hand unless you are some sort of wheel building jedi. I'll build it up and start evening out the tension at about 75% full tension so that I don't have to go back over the thing to re-balance after it's done. I use a Park TM-1.

Be realistic with your wheel design. Is it way weaker or stronger than it needs to be. Consult the spoke mfr's recs on tension. Verify the rim is rated to comfortably handle that tension. Stress relieve it. I stress relieve the wheel by hand, a few different ways. I'll usually mount it up and ride around the parking lot while leaning to each side and bouncing to get those last few pops. Once that's done, it should never need to be touched until you whack in to something really hard.

Carbon rims need some sort of treated surface for rim brakes. Bare epoxy sucks.

Tubeless road tires work fantastic but are a unholy PITA to repair in the field. I posted about this a few pages ago.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

I would do regular Al training wheels and 50mm race wheels, not sure it's worth the money for the tiny gain with smaller race wheels.

FWIW, my Spesh and Hutchinson tires are going onto DT460 and Stan's Grail rims with a floor pump at 80psi. It's nice.

TurboTim

iTrader: (9)

Why not train on 5xmm rims? cause if I go that big, that's what I'll have to do.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

Because race-wheels are for racing. Training wheels are for training. Al rims are ~$70 a pop, craboon fibre are $500 and I've nicked my Al wheels a bit from running **** over, prefer Al when it's rainy or muddy, etc. Additionally, there is no pain greater than getting dropped by a cat-5 on Al wheels whilst riding race-wheels.


It really doesn't matter and you do whatever you want. I'd start with a power meter, don't worry about dual legged-ness. My $400 used Stages made me way faster over the last 9 months.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

I have read a bunch more on this after you said that and I'm convinced it comes down to the individual wheel/tire combinations. I had absolutely no problems mounting the 32c Roubaix Pros on my i9 UL CXs - it was a single tire lever affair, no harder than any other standard clincher. If you have a tight tire and a tight rim then bring a cell phone, but if the tires comes on and off the rim easily in the garage, it will do the same thing on the side of the road.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

I'm jealous. The Sector 28's on my Reynolds ATR's are by far the most difficult tires to dismount I have ever laid hands on. But they are sublime in performance when they're on, sigh.

shlammed

iTrader: (8)

for J bend spokes, sure. but with straight pull you would want CXray to know when they are twisting during buildup. its surprisingly easy to twist all the way down to the hub when you build straight pulls...


I build a stans ZTR race gold rim to a DT swiss hub with lasers. ultra light setup, but the spokes were rolling in the hub when I was tensioning it up. you need a way to know if they are twisting with straight pull because when your going around the wheel if one slips while your doing initial tension you might be bending the rim out of shape or adding a lot of effort. add to that truing after the fact.

Straight pull wheels are nice though plus they lace really easy for a first time build

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

So yeah, modern carbon hardtail 29'ers are amazing. Raced the FSi Carbon last night to best ever finish in class and overall. I have really surprised at a few things, unexpected. I hoped it would ride well but this thing is plusher than 26" XC suspension bikes were just 10 years ago.
I hoped it would be sharper handling than my Pivot 429 Carbon but it is actually far crisper and precise. Just razor precision even at eyeball rattling speeds. I hoped it would be stable but worried it would be nervous. It ends up being nearly as planted and predictable as my Pivot which is super solid.

shlammed

iTrader: (8)

I took one (carbon FSI) out on a demo.... it was amazing minus the brakes. had magura brakes that were warped.

XC full squish bikes ive tested were just as fast on the local area though and much more comfortable.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Depends on the trail and whether you are racing or just riding for fun. Our local short course XC race is the largest weekly XC series in the world, drawing 500+ racers every Tuesday. Over the Hump Mountain Bike Race Series Silverado, CA
Mostly smooth fast hard pack dirt. Very short climbs, lots of artificial switchbacks to lengthen the course require punching out of the turns out of the saddle. I race in the elite class so it's more like a road race than a typical mtb race. We are close drafting the whole time.
I've won a few national championships and many local races on a full suspension XC bike over the last 20 years so I'm clearly a fan and understand their worth. But there are situations where the right hard tail is a better tool for the job.

shlammed

iTrader: (8)

yeah, this isn't like that at all... its a bit rocky with loamy soil and its not all that hard packed. plus im not racing so there is obvious comfort in a full sus bike.

demos are nice, we don't have any mountains to consider mtb here.... its just singletrack that I could do easily on a cx bike

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Suspension bike is definitely faster when it's rougher terrain. On longer rides or races where you are not sprinting at full power out of turns but just steady state, the fully conserves momentum better even if its smooth. Overall, the fully is more versatile. I consider the hard tail XC race bike like an F1 car, needs special conditions to reveal its special capabilities. The hardtails' key strength is hard out of the saddle acceleration on smooth to moderately rough terrain. Just blows away any fully there, even one that is artificially locked out. My post was more just expressing surprise at how incredibly effective they are in that specific environment.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

What do you do when you're on someone wheel and a dude comes up beside you, with his bars in front of yours to snub you off the wheel you're riding? Tonight I let a guy push me into the grass and that was a mistake, I think. I think I should have pushed him over, maybe with an elbow. When is it right to say "**** no" in a sprint?

When I'm in a car, in a race for position, I hang the dude next to me out to dry. I think it's time I started treating riders more like it's a car race.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Elbows first, then head butts. Wanna run at the front in the finale, you need *****, power and sharp elbows. That's bike racin' son.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

The "right level of assertiveness" is way different from cars.

mgeoffriau

iTrader: (7)

dcamp2

iTrader: (4)

I just raced the Grand Junction Off-Road 40 mile this Saturday. This was my first "real" XC mountain bike race- ended up 10th out of 90 in Men's Open and 11th out of all Amateurs on Saturday's race (Pro was a separate category and raced on Sunday). Todd Wells won Pro men overall and beat me by 45 minutes. Damn.

I used my Evil "the following" 120 travel 29" bike with a 160 (lol) Pike fork (29.5 lbs) and never regretted having such a big bike- the trails were pretty rough. The hardtailers without dropper posts were struggling hard on the descents. Definitely elbowed one douchebag into a tree when he didn't let me pass after numerous polite requests. I'll try to find some pictures.


https://www.strava.com/activities/583385600

2016 Grand Junction Off Road


Next race is an enduro in Angel Fire, NM in a month... Time to get on the intervals.