The small brands are the way to go. I was having an issue with my Paul canti's(the bosses on the frame aren't mounted at Shimano standard, so they're too high), and when I thought all hope was lost I found out that Paul components has a phone number on their website. I called it not thinking anyone would answer, and after transferring to technical support on the directory, I was greeted by the man himself(Paul) on the other end of the line. I told him my situation and he was super helpful and was like, genuinely interested in helping me out. The best was that Paul's advice was what I was thinking of doing, which was drilling the shit out of the pad mount so it can be lowered/ In his words "You'll void the warranty, but it'll work fine". He didn't try to sell me on another product, he recognized that I only have so much money, and helped me make do with what I have. I highly doubt I would get customer service at all from a big company like Sram, and if so, certainly not at that level. 10/10 consumer experience. Paul Components didn't pay me to write this but they should
Totally dig this guy. He speaks my mind about the state of the bike industry. Started mtb when young in the mid 80's, special times...also went through all the grades of components and that matte grey XTR was indeed the finest, and it was the most durable of any mechs had before or since, barely needed touching once installed. The modern equivalents of the last few decades are just not as well made, look darn ugly and don't last well. Not sure about the square taper cranks though... mine we're always loosening themselves off at the most inopportune moments, far away from home, maybe I was doing it wrong. Ht2 in contrast is a better clamping mechanism, though only a few gens of the XTR with polished sections were aesthetically passable... The bike industry at the moment is a sick puppy, pushing up prices with needless tech and exclusivity. Its just not the way the world needs to be heading anymore, we need more sustainability, durability, recyclability and simpler easy to maintain parts which would better reflect the great activity we do, which if done in the right way can have a relatively low impact....and yeah, discs on road bikes are so meh.
I came here from the steering stabilizer system video and think we would all still be riding horses or walking if we don't embrace change. That said mid school was the golden age when a person could road ride 15 miles to the 30 mile trail loop and back.
I can't afford all that many nice things, so nearly all my possessions are mass-produced functional consumer stuff. I'm thankful for their usefulness, yet at the same time I long for something that speaks to me as an individual, in whatever form that takes. If I was young, lean and athletic then perhaps carbon fiber would speak to me, but I am neither of those things. I'm fat, slow, getting old; perhaps because of that I miss feeling a connection to the past, to what felt like the simpler times of my childhood. That's, I think, what creates that emotional bond with the bicycles of the past, with all their flaws.
I have recently gotten back into bikes and catching up with technology. I just built a old Trek 7 spd up (Craigslist $100) with brooks saddle and microshift frictions on the end of bullhorn handlebars. I had a '99 Homegrown with a bananna seat until just recently converted back to trail duty. I am designing/working on a trailbike concept that uses true seat stays and a Brooks style Bananna seat saddle that joins the top tube. I fell back in love with the bananna seat setup of my youth a few years ago - It was so chill and super fun to slalom on through the neighborhood. I also run French Caskets (Rene Hease) and Silca tubes after hearing one of your long discussions on tires somewhere and they are tread butter. I'm debating on the wheather to even do the whole disk brake thing or not for upcoming adventure bikes. Anyway love the info / speech -carry on good sir!
One thing I like about SRAM wireless is the option to separate braking and shifting controls. I want brake levers where I want them, and not $500 and throwaway when cassettes go to n+1 speed. With the mini buttons that can be put anywhere, I could have bullhorns, guidonnet levers, and never have to compromise.
The cranks I like are: (*) Campy Record 99 silver (*) Mavic starfish (except for the cracking) (*) Suntour Superbe Pro (*) new Rene Herse 3 arm Any others like this to consider?
You use wide range double crankset, when you need a narrow cassette for road racing. For off-road recreational riding cadence is not important, so there is no point in narrow cassettes. SLX 11-42 and 11-46 cassetes are quite cheap, actually cheaper than their road counterparts. The reason to use double or triple cranks is when you want both tight spacing between gears and wide range, which is typical for gravel bikes. For mountain/all terrain bikes good access to dropper post lever is more important, than tight spacing between gears.
Bike manufacturers give with the people what they want, general public sometimes thinks that yeah give me a big fat suspension front fork which is so nonsensical for daily city riding and practicality
I agree with pretty much everything you've said. I'm surprised that people aren't just buying all the decent vintage mountain and road bikes. I've tripped over a few bargains in need of rebuilding and well worth it too. Anything containing an epoxy resin will decompose over time. And the prices??? Maybe Di2 should stand for 'dumb idiot too'.
Well, talking about chains, you're not consistent. Broken chains are problem of the pro racers. We, amateurs don't break chains, we're not strong enough. For us, amateurs, 1x11 or 1x12 is better than 2x9, cause it's simpler to use, easier to learn, easier to adjust. And getting rid of left shifter leaves space on the handlebar for dropper post lever, which is extremely important for anyone who rides offroad.
That's a real bicycle abuser!😊I agree with much said here...But, a note to the dude talking...Just buy a Jeff Jones bike and you are good to go!😅 (I wish I could 😢) I disagree about the outboard bearings, I've installed those on every bike I owned! The reason is simplicity, easy to remove them,and aesthetically they look much better!😊 Octalink? Great superbly stiff bottom bracket, stiffer and stronger than any square tapered bb! I never used Campagnolo derailleurs, chainrings, shifters,because of the inherent snobbism! I only have one 11 years old pair of Zonda wheels! Bought them used... Awesome wheelset 😎 I own Italian road bike frame, Faggin is the brand,which I also purchased used, Columbus SL steel beauty,that rides simply superb! I modified it to except newer 1.1/8 or 28.6mm forks! I don't understand that retro nostalgia... You think that Campagnolo or any other manufacturer in let's say in the 60ies was thinking: "Yeah we need to design our components to be more retro,lets make them look like they looked in the 40ies" or something... New design sucks, but I'm fine with the components design right up to the circa 2012! Quill stem??? NO THANKS! 1.1/8 steerers are superior in every conceivable way! Steel frame more comfortable than aluminum?? NOPE,not anymore! My steel road bike rides beautifully,but I have removed the steel fork,and will put a carbon one! Steel is NOT always more comfortable,and I'm a cyclist most of my life (39,nearly 40 soon😅) Yep, steel can be uncomfortable, even the better quality steel! That's my personal individual opinion,no offense to anyone! People get triggered for any little nonsense nowadays 😅 Greetings from Croatia from Kris!
The thing with disc brakes vs rim brakes is that during off road downhill in wet/rainy conditions, with rim brakes, you can literally wear two sets of brake pads during one descent. Been there, done that. If you ride all terrain, all seasons, all weather, disc brakes are one headache less. But if your bike is just for show, then yes, rim brakes have that cool retro vibe.
I would like to apologize to Randal Sklar for being the only bike with sram in my sight distance, and for misrepresenting the inner ring BCD of microdrive as anything other than 56 or 58
I bet a lot of people in that room got real indignant at the "I'll just throw a carbon fork on and build my bike around someone else's fork" comment. Great talk.
I can't sit through most 10 min ted talks but i just listened to this whole thing. Makes me think of the kind of mechanical meditations from Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. Great job!
Love your talk. Your bikes have been a big influence on my own builds. Not sure I'd agree that 1x drivetrains are "cost prohibitive." To me they seem cheaper, simpler, and lighter (assuming you're mixing and matching and not getting a manufacturer's off-the shelf drivetrain in its entirety). But my knowledge is far from complete on this, would love to be corrected.
It easy to make a bike look aesthetically beautiful, just buy something old and polish it. What's difficult is balancing the old and new into a cohesive package. It much harder now that components are all black and angular. At the end of the day I'm going to choose function over form and not ride something painful because it looks great and gets likes on instagram.
I have the opposite view -- that Shimano 3x9 XTR dual control levers were the best ever made, especially the 2nd edition that is polished metal. I love these because they work with any Shimano derailleur (x8, x7, etc.) and they are the only option for which I don't have to use my thumbs to shift. This is both great for thumb health, and allows me to keep a strong grip on the handlebars while shifting and braking. Yes, they aren't the most beautiful, but the functionality is off the charts!
yeah, the DC levers were much-maligned, but they do have serious benefits, as you've summarized in your comment above. Definitely an underappreciated piece of kit, with some flaws that were greatly exaggerated by the critics.
When I started riding back in the late 80's, friction shifting was the only way to go. These days I ride with Shimano integrated 'brifters' like most people, and on the whole really like them. However, I still have my original 80's Raleigh Royale, which I'm planning some day to refurbish and start riding again. Really looking forward to getting reaquainted with friction shifting once more.
I agree with him when it comes to cranks, the new cranks available are truly ugly. Seems to be some sort of contest in designing the ugliest crank they can get away with. However, I've been using Sram 11s mechanical (Rival, Force & Red) for the past 10 years, works flawlessly, takes about 5 min to setup and index. No component failures whatsoever other than a couple derailleurs bent in crashes (not Sram's fault). Same with tubeless tyres, smoth sailing for me. I write off 99% of failures aa user error, I mean it's normal for the majority to not get along with every single groupset, but Shimano mechanical STI ergonomics are absolutely shocking compared to Sram, not friction shifting obviously. Friction shifting is just prehistoric.
Year Zero began when manufacturers stopped making components interchangeable. This was a neat marketing move, because until that point bicycles were essentially everlasting. The Achilles' heel of SunTour derailleurs was the square section spring in the rear shifter, which was prone to snapping. They later moved to a watch spring type set up on the Cyclone (IIRC), but this put the jockey wheels too far from the sprockets which meant rough changes. The peloton resisted index shifting for a while, because the associated click from the downtube lever signalled a breakaway or sprint, when a sneaky change could be the difference between winning and not.
Fantastic lecture from Dr. Poppi. I gotta admit i've been deep into SRAM 1x territory the last 5 years. Slowly getting the itch to build something 9-speed with friction shifters again.
what fork is on the Crust framed bike with the xtr rear mech which was showcased around minute 18? is it a '87 Bontrager Team Issue "Composite" fork? Obviously with custom blades to 650b canti's (if running 650b)?
@RollinRat yes, true, true and true....I bought one of the original KB Team Issued Composite forks back in the summer of 87 as I had bent or broken every single Klunker/MTB fork i had ever owned (true fact). I actually bought 2 crowns with different rake offsets with that purchase order, one had 1.75" offset and one had what became KB's standard 1.25" offset years later. The blades on the purchase had vertical dropouts. That fork never broke and I finally sold it a couple years ago with a partially built 93 Race frame. I owned 2 other, entirely different KB "Composite" forks over the years, one had curved blades and one had straight blades with front facing dropouts as well as a couple KB "Competition" forks (bonded), all of which were sold off over the years. I still have a 93 Race Lite (which i bought new in 93) with a custom "suspension corrected KB 1.25 offest" rigid fork I had fab'd by Chris Kelly. It's such a fun bike to ride...KB is a legend and he and his shop fab'd some awesome stuff at the Santa Cruz shops prior to the Trek acquisition. ... Later, at the end of the video it is clear the crown on the fork is sculpted so not an original but a modern interpretation of a legendary crown/fork though much different as the offset isn't milled into the crown but handled at the tabbed dropouts. ... btw, @RollinRat, I am up in the East Bay ... keep peddlin'
You probably know this by now but I belive fork is made by the same builder as the frame, Frank The Welder, who did a lot of great work for Yeti and then Spooky.
Really enjoyed this. It’s quite tongue in cheek, it’s all about cool bikes and the aesthetic - sometimes form over function not taking it too seriously as exam affied by the fact that he laughs a lot and keeps it light spirited. Yes he could’ve been a little more organised but so what, a man after my own heart!
You’re all going to hate me but I’ve ridden the same SRAM Force group for nearly a decade, hundreds of miles a year on that bike, many of them offroad. No issues.
It's also funny, how ex-roadies claim, that it's impossible to cover long distances on modern enduro bikes. Actually full suspension bikes were never as effective and lightweight as they are today. Actually, where I live, the term "enduro" originally meant long, multiday trips on downhill and freeride bikes. And "freeride bike" was basically a DH bike with front derailleur. So yeah, modern trail bike does not imply, that you need to get to the trailhead by car. It' only USA thing I quess.
He needs to take over Rivendell when Grant retires. Octalink is quite reliable, especially when compared to ISIS bb's. I just like how durable that interface was whereas square tapers of a crank could enlarge and be ruined.
Until I can get past all the super reliable, new or used by me or others, square taper cranks -generally w cartridge BBs, there’s no reason to rid myself or make waste, of their persistent participation as a choice; their durability & consistency. World wide touring? This what I know to go the whole way!
@@paytongoalie Yes, or the crank arm is made of very soft aluminum. I had bad experiences with STX cranks loosening back in the day where it was visually obvious the material was too soft around the spindle hole. I did have much better experiences with higher quality crank arms where there was no sign of stress around the interface.
queston for Ronnie if he ever reads this. If so much of the dampening activity is happening in the wheelset and tire, is there much difference between a steel fork a carbon fork?
@@jonamcc TL;DR: Buddy just wanted to point out that people who think carbon is "better" should think twice because the rest of us don't have our own cycling team/dental practices/health insurance to watch out for and pay for a carbon fork failure. Just wanted to keep some poor sap from saving up for a carbon bike and eating shit 6 months later because he treated his bike like his old Walmart steel-frame BSO and didn't know that his fork was about to shatter.
I like disc brakes okay, and a couple of my bikes do use them out of necessity, but I tend to agree that they leave something to be desired compared to well-tuned rim brakes.
I think he did pretty well. the 2nd time around I started to recognize that he's speaking "in character" so to speak. It's a bit hard to know if he's joking or those are his real opinions. Entertaining at least.
@SurpriseMeJT the "in character" stuff is even more obvious. His own videos include him totally playing it up. Same with his brief association with Specialized. These are his genuine opinions, just delivered in a somewhat ironic, cominc fashion. He's a bike nerd who's just about old enough to have caught the 'end' of the rigid mtb era. I didn't know what to make of him at first, but began to realise he's just got a really goofy sense of humour. His parts aren't cheap, but for instance his bags are Made in Connecticut in a factory that he and his partner intend to make into a worker's Co Op. And the bags are made to last a lifetime. So there's a strong element of him walking the walk (or riding the ride).
