Re: Official MTB Thread

by TRD270 Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:53 pm

That thing looks massive

by **Kevin** Wed Feb 07, 2018 1:03 pm

TRD270 wrote:That thing looks massive

It is massive. It's bigger than my rear brake rotor. If it works out, I'll be able to go to a 32 or 34 in the front and still have more low range than the old 3x9 setup and I'll get some of the top end back to boot.

The rest of this round of upgrades arrived today:

Official MTB Thread - Page 10 20180212

XT shifter and derailleur for buttery 11 speed shifty goodness.

by TRD270 Wed Feb 07, 2018 3:54 pm

I think my crawl gear is a 42 and that is low soooo yeah lots of climbing relief

by TRD270 Sun Feb 11, 2018 12:48 pm

Selling my tailgate pad if anyone is interested, Dakine large, $90. Year old, stored inside

by TRD270 Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:34 am

by **dutchman** Tue Feb 13, 2018 8:39 am

by frieed Sun Feb 18, 2018 9:40 pm

https://imgur.com/gallery/nbUC4

Here you go Kevin. No big gears needed.

by **Kevin** Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:43 am

Check out his speed though, that's not nearly as bad as it looks. They picked that camera angle well.

by TRD270 Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:07 pm

Kevin what are you into your 1x upgrade? I'm debating doing some upgrades on the old Trek for flatter rides. Since i'm going to be very much within riding distance of dimple dell I want to use it for daily exercise rides, but my components suck.

by **dutchman** Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:21 pm

I know I'm not Kevin, but I think I'm about $60 into my 1x setup. I have yet to upgrade the rear cassette, just the crank gears and a new chain.

by **Kevin** Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:03 pm

TRD270 wrote:Kevin what are you into your 1x upgrade? I'm debating doing some upgrades on the old Trek for flatter rides. Since i'm going to be very much within riding distance of dimple dell I want to use it for daily exercise rides, but my components suck.

Little over $200, all in, but I waited for sales. Absolute Black narrow/wide chain ring, Shimano XT shifter and mech, and I picked a ZTTO 11-50 11x cassette. Plus the new chain. If you're not already 9x, the 10x or 11x cassette won't work for you, you'll need a new freehub. And depending on what wheel hub you have, or whether you currently have a freehub or freewheel, you might need a new wheel hub in order to find a freehub that fits.

Are you sure you've got bad components and they don't just need a tune? A good cleaning and new cables and housing are at lot cheaper than whole new components.

by TRD270 Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:25 pm

I just had it tuned, they still don't shift great. The bike doesn't have a ton of miles on it and 95% of them are road miles. I've had the street tires on it since basically it was new.

Its a 3x9

Shifters Shimano Alivio M430, 9 speed

Front derailleur Shimano Acera

Rear derailleur Shimano Deore M591

Crank Shimano Alivio M4308, 44/32/22

Cassette Shimano HG20-9 11-34, 9 speed

by **Kevin** Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:05 am

Alivio shifters are what I just took off. I didn't think they were terrible when everything was adjusted right but I did have to adjust the cable tension after almost every ride and sometimes in the middle, and sometimes I just suffered. I'm fairly certain this was the shifter more than the mech, it might be worth just replacing the shifter and putting new cable and sheath on? A Deore x9 shifter is $30 or so. Get Eric to throw his derailleur hanger straightener at it too, a bent hanger can throw off all sorts of things and it'll still look straight to the eye.

But that's not fun. Mad upgrades are fun. The x10 and x11 cassettes will fit your freehub, and most are under $100. For street riding, 11-40 or 11-42 is probably all you need. The Sunrace cassettes are cheaper than Shimano and get great reviews, they'll run you ~$50 to $75 depending on which specific one you get and where and when. You'll need to replace your shifter and mech too, because the indexing changes. Shimano x10 and x11 stuff starts with the SLX which is a step up from Deore, and then XT (confusingly sometimes called XT Deore), and after that your cost-benefit ratio kinda goes off the scale - XTR and Di2 stuff is not cheap. I went with XT because I found a sale, but I think SLX would have been fine too. There's also SRAM stuff, I don't know that side as well and I feel that SRAM tends to be more expensive, but it's out there. SRAM or Shimano will work on any x10 or x11 cassette, but I wouldn't mix and match the shifter and mech between the two brands unless you know it'll work. If you're using an extended range cassette (40+ teeth), you'll want to be sure you're getting at least a medium cage mech, long cage would be better. Once you've got the cassette and shifter/mech combo you like, all you have to worry about is the chain ring. Pick a size you like, if it's the same you've already got then all you need is a chain retention device - repurpose the front derailleur, or grab a tube mount chain retainer, seems like they run $15-$25 on EBay and Amazon. If none of your existing rings will work, then you'll need a new one and you might as well get a narrow-wide and then skip the chain retainer. Several companies make them in a variety of tooth count, just make sure what you order is compatible with your cranks (almost certainly 104bcd, but check).

Your current top gear is 44-11, which is roughly a 4 ratio. Your granny is 22-34, which is a .65. If you never ever use the small chain ring on the street (I didn't), then it gets easier and your lowest is a 32-34, which is about a 1. And you probably rarely use the 44-11 combo too, so if you aim for a cassette and chain ring tooth count that ranges from a rough ratio of 1-1, to 3 or 3.5-1, you'll probably have everything you need. And no front derailleur to keep in tune. And one less cable/sheath rattling around. And more room on your handlebar.

http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_ratios

by TRD270 Fri Feb 23, 2018 11:00 am

Planning to take the street tires off and throw them away. It's hopefully gonna have the crap used out of it on the trails at dimple dell, way more fun than road riding. Figured I'd save the diamondback for the real rides since the FS needs more maintenance. I have SRAM on the diamondback and have been happy with it now that I finally got it all adjusted. I think I might spring for hydro brakes before I mess with the gearing. After having hydro on the diamondback its hard to ride with normal brakes again.

by **Kevin** Fri Feb 23, 2018 11:40 am

Is there anything mountain bikey in Dimple Dell? I thought that was all "closed" gravel roads and hiking trails.

by TRD270 Fri Feb 23, 2018 2:15 pm

Mostly hiking trials, nothing crazy but bikes are allowed. Mostly for exercise is my goal

https://slco.org/uploadedFiles/depot/fParksRec/parks/Dimple%20Dell%20Regional%20Park%20Trails%20Map.pdf

by **Andrew** Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:09 am

When is the next ride?

by **Kevin** Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:57 pm

I'm in the Maze this weekend, but I'm back Tuesday and don't have to be at work until Sunday morning so I'm going to ride as many of those days as I can. When are you free?

by **Andrew** Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:59 pm

I'm in Moab for Spring Break...then pretty free after that.

by **Kevin** Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:55 am

When is your spring break? My wife's is now, Ian's is next week.

by **Andrew** Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:58 am

First full week in April. We'll be there April 3rd-8th. This is when we do our big RZR ride with my wife's family.

by TRD270 Thu Mar 22, 2018 2:45 pm

Rain's melting all this silly white stuff, hopefully it stays away. I'd really like to go ride those trails we did in Moab last year Kevin unfortunately for me I can't do overnighters for the foreseeable future.

by **Kevin** Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:41 pm

I'd like to ride Klondike again. I'd like to not lose my crank arm next time. I'd like to cross the road and go play around some of the trails off 313 too.

How long is the foreseeable future? When do you get to tell the PD to pound sand?

by TRD270 Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:37 pm

Hoping to tell them to pound sand around July. I have to build so many hours right now I'm pretty much flying 6 day a week. That will persist probably until May, then it will be lots of studying and test prep for the instructor test

by **Andrew** Mon Mar 26, 2018 1:56 pm

I want to get Kallin a decent mountain bike. Any leads? He is almost 12 and stands right about 5' tall. I'm thinking a small frame will fit him? I got excited about the Specialized Riprock at first but I'm pretty sure a 24" bike will be too small for him. Looks like a great setup, though.

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