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Tubeless conversions...

If you go with the Stans and regular tires, you're offically a weight weenie. I personally think the only place for that is for racing. Even then it's iffy.

The problem is that regular tires don't have the sidewall support necessary when you get into a lower tire pressure (that you need for control) The tire was designed to be mainly supported by the tube.

Stans just came out with a rim specifically designed to take a rim strip and their goo to make it tubeless. It's light I'll give em' that.

If you really want tubeless, go with a tubeless specific rim/wheelset. Big $$ though. It is a pretty good deal cause now you can dip into the very low 30's (PSI) without the danger of pinch flats, mucho traction on rocky surfaces.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Matt,

Why does everybody hate Hayes So1e disc brakes? I keep waiting for something horrible to happen, but so far it hasn't. I haven't been able to replicate a single problem that I've read about so far save for the noise, which pretty much went away after they broke in.

Am I in danger or is it the internet as usual?

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Sorry for the delay... :ph34r:

I think the So1e brakes are more of an OEM only package ie: cheaper. People are always going to say bad things about a product. Pretty much, keep oil away from the pads and check the bolts before every couple of rides. With any luck, the brakes won't be what's making you crash ;)

Edited by Matt Cheely
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Thanks Matt.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what's "wrong" with the brakes aside from the fact that they're inexpensive and work. I went down some pretty steep and nasty crap on Wed night and had zero problems.

Maybe the whiners need to go back to cantilever "breaks" for a while. Yeah, cantilevers, the gold standard of reliability......not.

I just can't get over how incredibly better the technology has become. I whizzed through stuff that would be difficult to impossible on a rigid bike. I took a couple pieces of terrain that I know for a fact would have collapsed the forks on my GT K2 (like I did the second day I owned it).

What's your vibe on lockout forks? I'm not so sure I "need" one now. Yeah, if I get up off the saddle, I work the fork, but as soon as I come off the saddle, I lose traction on the rear tire. So...I'm just learning to get ahead of the gears and stay in the saddle and have traction. When I do that, my fork hardly bounces at all. I guess I'll upgrade forks when the RockShoks blow a gasket or something. Am I missing something here?

Edited by EricW
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Cantilever brakes work just fine as long as you know how to set them up properly. Then V-brakes came a long. But the brakes themselves provided too much leverage and Shimano went with a low mechanical advantage brake lever to decrease the power. So they were no better than cantilevers.

Disc brakes do have an advantage in that the rim is not the braking surface so it doesn't matter if the wheel is out of true. There's also less of a chance of over heating. As far as braking effectiveness, you aren't going to stop any faster than a properly set up cantilever.

Lockout on a fork is pretty much useless. Lockout on the rear suspension makes a huge difference climbing. Dual suspension bikes favor staying in the saddle. It's hard to get a feel of how much traction you have with a dual suspension bike. If you can lock out the rear, it'll make a huge difference.

Technology has made bikes easier to ride, but technology doesn't subsititute rider skills. I still blow by people riding dual suspension mtn bikes on really technical trails while riding my cyclocross bike. I used to do the same thing with my road bike with 18mm slicks but that really dings up the rim.

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Nice ride Jaimie! :) Looks like you got a better fork setup than I did.

FWIW, I don't miss adjusting cantilever brakes one iota. Yes, they work when set up properly, but dear god those things are a maintenance nightmare. Nothing could ever make me go back. The braking authority on my GT isn't even in the same universe as what I have with the cheapest set of hydro brakes on the market. Maybe I have bad pads. All I know is that I hate dinking around with that stuff with a passion.

As for the rear versus front suspension lockouts, I think it depends almost totally on the suspension design. My bike has little to none of the pedal bounce that people complain about - even when climbing. I'm amazed at just how efficient it is for an entry level XC bike.

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Eric, I was browsing along the topics and suddenly I come across mountian biking which was a pleasant surprise considering the tone of recent threads. Is there such thing as a bubble gum bike.....?

Its nice to know how many IPSC shooters, or others, seriously ride.

My ride's an Epic with tons of upgrades: Mavic 717 wheels with XT discs/shifters, Answer Pro-tapers carbon bars, Thompson stem and seat post, Stan's tubeless, Fox Float 100, King head set, XT rear, Shimano 959 pedals. My rubber is Roll-X Race but they stopped making it. These things hooked up on everything from Moab to So Cal. My son also rides an EPIC.

My bike was worth over 3k, more than an STI, but well worth it. I ride more than I shoot.

Ron got his first bike last year, a real decent hardtail and man what a story for his first ride...in Fruita, no less. There we were rolling down a technical section..talking about how bubblegum IPSC had gotten...."Ron?....Ron?...where'd ya go?"...A giant hematoma on his arm later, he decides he's going to wheelie up a drop off...without momentum. He cursed me good on that one as I laughed. This was just before Nationals and after a two year break from surgery on the same arm.

It had taken him months to decide what bike to buy and I finally had to tell him to just shut up and ride. Matt's right tho with all his advice. No matter what you get tho, its almost always outdated in a year, especially with Specialized. I'm done upgrading for now but its either divorce or a new bike.....and I haven't decided.

Eric, if you make my match bring your bike and we'll ride the Rockies. I was going to try to incorporate a mountain bike into a stage but no way to do it safely.

Ara

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Man you guys are a bunch of techno weenies. I wonder if anyone still uses that term. I'm still a member of RONA. Retro-grouches of North America. My road bike still has some Mavic SSC parts and Simplex. My cyclocross bike still has bar ends shifters. Heck, most of my bikes still have quill stems.

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Is there such thing as a bubble gum bike.....?

B0001J05B4.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

You rang?

I'm having yours shipped to your house, does Ron want to come over and pick his up there or should I ship it to him direct? You also have yor choice of a bell or a horn and whether or not to have a playing card clothespinned into the spokes. :lol:

We'll see how things go with the new job. I'm not sure they're going to allow me to take much time off, but I REALLY do want to come over and shoot your match. Just as long as I don't have to peel any bubbleyum off my cleats... ;)

Edited by EricW
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  • 2 weeks later...

Fellas, this bike is AWSOME, incredible how I still feel great after a ride, unlike on my hardtail it felt like Hughes had been working on my kidneys, 4" of travel is like I'm riding around in my lazy boy. I wish I had spent the money earlier, I would be in much better shape due to being able to stay on the trail longer, however I dont ride to be in shape its just a biproduct, I love the outdoors and trails, experiencing the ride, riding a trail for the first time having to react to the trail is a rush.

As far as the shocks, the SPV doesn't need a lock out, no bob, I can stand and climb, it's amazing how far the technology has come.

I second a stage where you could ride and shoot the best of both worlds

Take care Jamie

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