I have a Santa Cruz Hightower that can run both 275+ and 29r and I have two sets of wheels, cassettes and brake rotors so that the swap is no harder then removing axles and giving the high/low limits on the derailleur a quick check.

So the 275+ setup is fun-ish. It definitely smooths out the trails but on a FS bike like mine it trivializes trail content. I am no doubt faster on my 29r setup but the 275+ setup is great for playing around. One thing that I notice is that the bit of un-damped tire sidewall gives the bike a hop from feature to feature feeling that is kinda fun. I've ridden an SC chameleon setup with the 275+ and it was quite fun. Overall, i'm still a skinny-ish tire type of guy as I like the precision and I like to square off/brap/drift corners and jump. For those purposes the 29r setup with reasonable width tires is the way to go. I have burped my 650+ rear tire a few times really brapping the bike through corners. It unfortunately means I have to run higher pressure then I would really want to (17-18PSI) which sorta negates the difference between 650+ and 29r. For reference, I run my 29r setup at 23-27 rear so the pressure difference isn't as big as i would like.

I do think that 275+ has it's place. Newer riders in dusty/dry conditions with lots of rocks benefit from the insane traction and line choice forgiveness. Hard tails are another great benefit to + sized stuff. It really absorbs 1-2" chop and that is just enough cushion to make hard tails really enjoyable. I would say go for it, but make sure to get a frame that can also run 29r wheels and tires. Ironically, it's not the rolling resistance that I notice when switching to the + setup, but rather the weight of the wheels. My 29r setup is a 1600g 30mm ID carbon wheelset, where my 650+ setup is easton arc 40 rims. The 250-300g difference (total) in weight in the wheels is incredibly noticeable. What I mean is... if you buy a cheap + bike (budget) your'e going to get totally **** wheels and it is going to be miserable. That's my biggest rub with them, most people that get them are new to the sport and buy the + setup for it's advantages... all of that goes away with a totally **** wheelset. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. Also, most + sized tires weigh just about the same as their normal width counterparts... this weight comes out of the sidewalls and it's not hard to blast stuff right through the carcass while going mach chicken.

 

first FTP of 2018- right where I expected was aiming for 310, ended up at 308 for 20 minutes. Did the test on a snowy/gravel dirt road, that made it really hard to stand and change up muscle use. Also my bike weighs 35 lbs and has the slowest tires of all time on it, so that explains the 5.8mph average. lol

 

Nice job, I always found it was easier to hit peak 20 min power if i don't look at my power meter for the first half and just go off RPE. If I think of a wattage target, I seem to hit the target.

Shout out to everyone who hasn't been on their bikes. Did a 20 min test myself for fun, hit 306. Hopefully, I can stay on the bike and get some fitness back.

 

Sup

 

January was my second highest mileage month ever.
Tonight I think I dropped Sonny for the first time ever.
I bought my own powermeter a couple weeks ago, so you could say things are getting kind of serious.
Riding bikes is fun I suppose.

 

I'm down to my lowest FTP since buying my first road bike 2 years ago. Horray!

 

No one does 20 minute tests for fun. haha

 

MTB industry peeps:

Any insight into why Fox discontinued the iRD line? I've been dreaming about converting the Eagle 12 and cable operated lockouts on the Scott Spark 900 to XTR Di2 1x and Fox iRD front and rear. My rough calcs indicate the weight would be about a wash, a few gains losses that cancel each other out.
Going full push button on the race bike would be bitchin. Couldn't find a single new fork, one used 2016 on ebay. Shocks rare but still available. Might pull the trigger if I can find a fork. But the thought that there might have been some endemic flaw in function or serviceability has me concerned.

 

I was looking at upgrading my 2017 step cast 32 fork with the over the bar three position CTD remote to the 2018 under bar two position remote as it seemed way better ergonomics and I never use the middle position anyway. Fox told me id need to basically swap a bunch of internals on damper cartridge not just the top portion to work with the 2018 remote not sure its worth the $250 they want to do it.

 

Got the Trek Domane SLR Disc together got a few rides on it though the weather has been horrible wet the last few weeks should have sun for a longer ride this weekend. Replaces my last road bike, A 1997 Klein Quantum Pro. The Iso Speed seems gimmicky but it rides smother than any road bike I have been on for still being pretty darn light stiff and fast. soaks up Chip sealed roads nicely. All Trek fleet now.

Domane SLR Disc DI2 Dura Ace buld tipped the scales at 16.1 Lbs
Procaliber Build tipped the scales at 18.7 Lbs

my old Klein was 18.1

My fat *** is finally starting to loose some weight too. Down about 15 lbs from the 65 I added post competitive cycling days since about 2001.

 

I think they're making room for live valve product coming soon... basically a fully active electronic system- no need for a push button. And IRD didn't sell well- I believe it was heavier/as heavy as cable actuated remote stuff but way more expensive.

Edit: Why would you change all the parts? Nino runs eagle. Be like Nino. haha

 

 

My guess was too expensive/ poor sales,, new stuff coming based on live valve. So no endemic failure prone shiz.

My hands are too big and my left thumb has limited range of motion from an old motorcycle injury. Basically the ergos are not good for me. Really troublesome in some scenarios, struggling to reach the levers and push them the right amount. By comparison, the XTR and Rock Shox remote on my hardtail are nice. Beyond that, I'm just spoiled by Di2 as all my other bikes are now Di2. It's just better, more so for off road than road IMO. As a race bike, I don't need the 500% range anyway. Nice for plonking around on adventure rides but I can just throw an 11-46T XT cassette for that. Race would be an 11-40T XTR cassette. One battery in the seat tube, hidden wires, lockout on left, shifter on right.

 

I hate shimano cassette jumps once you go past the 11x42. The 11x46 is a terrible terrible cassette. I hate to say it, I'm an eagle fanboi. I can't go back now.

 

Funny, my Eagle 12 has a bad jump into and out of the 50 cog. About half the time it skips once before catching. Annoying when you are accustomed to crisp full power shifts with XTR. As far as the ratio gap, that's not brand specific obviously.

 

50 tooth cog is not as crisp as the others that is for sure especially coming back off it for me its usually got a skip if you are under load. Think of it as a spoke protector that allows a bail out gear so you can run a bigger chain ring up front and better use the middle part of the cassette.

 

I was generally speaking about jumps:

• 11-40T: 11-13-15-17-19-21-24-27-31-35-40
• 11-42T: 11-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-37-42
• 11-46T: 11-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-37-46

The 11-46 is the worst offender of all cassettes... that 37-46 jump feels like dog **** to me on tired legs. ****, even sunrace has it more figured out then shimano and with less weight too.

I digress. The eagle issues are a slightly known/un-known issue with de-synching of the chain the last two cogs and I've had sram warranty the chain/cassette on a buddies bike where it was egregious. for whatever reason, I've found that reversing the chain fixed it on my setup. Although I only had it happen 1-2 times previously. Eagle is super sensitive to B-tension setup being done at sag if on a FS bike. Critical that you use the red thinger. I realize that I am totally preaching to the choir on this and there is a 111% chance that you are a better bike mechanic then I am (along with miata's)... but eagle is blissfull once you get the setup right from my pov.

 

+1 to B-tension sensitivity. SRAM makes a specific tool for B-screw tension that you must have to get it perfect. I kludged mine without the tool and it seems to work OK but I know it could be better. If you didn't put the gruppo on yourself, it may be worth buying that tool to make sure the shop did it correctly.

 

Pro installed and dialed. I haven't touched it other than cable tension. Maybe I'll f with it a bit

 

looking in my shop I got a little bit nostalgic. I built this frame and fork in 1987-1988 one of the first two forks built with a thread-less steerer tube and headset design. The other was for John Rader who I was helping develop his A-headset idea with. I think his first fork I built that he had put on his Merlin ended up in a mountain bike museum in Crested Butte. Couple Years later after he had paid me off for any rights to the design we were fiddling with the first Rock Shox and fiddling with rear suspension designs. I did race this bike with one of the very first pre-production Rock Shox on it as well. Sadly I don't know what happened to the original stem I think I made a one piece one that had a prestige steel handlebar brazed directly to the stem but I raced the bike with a TI stem and bars and can't remember who made that Ti stem for threadless, it wasn't me. The first prototypes I threaded the ID of the steerer tube and made a top nut thread into it. John later found a star nut at a local hardware store it was a furniture part and it clicked to him what it could be used for, no more Id threads. Kind of neat to be a part of something that was so revolutionary to the bicycle industry. no more giant jam nuts, loose headsets, and heavy quill stems.