Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by XXX-er

I think shit fucks up that you can't forsee and its how the manufacter deals with it

---

I have a saying that I live by regarding this:
It's easy to give five-star service when everything does smoothly.
It's when things go sideways that true character (or lack of) comes out.

Why is there a truck rant in bike rants ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roxtar

Most frame wraps (including RideWrap) are so thin I don't see the point. It might help with a minor non-rock (tree branch?) scuff but any actual rock impact will go right through.
.

---

I thot same but you can see the big scratch on the toptube right by the Bullit decal I forget what that was from but above the charger port I definatley dropped the bike on a rock section of the trail that had been carved out of the hillside and all that has happened is the 3M got abraded off and the paint stayed intact, 3 yrs later no black carbon showing anywhere. I hit it with the hose but I haven't really washed it properly in 2 months but you can see how shiny the finish is

BTW women always comment they love the lavender color eh

Attachment 503145

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by XXX-er

Why is there a truck rant in bike rants ?

---

Do you mean the "Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?" thread?

Shall we talk election? :FIREdevil

I never noticed that, I assumed it biking only rants but I could even rant about my ex-wife

Ha, we just went thru an anus clencher of an election up here in BC, basicly the covid induced rural conservative backlash that was so close we didnt know who had won for 9 days, fortunatley the non-cons just squeaked in a majority

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by XXX-er

Why is there a truck rant in bike rants ?




I thot same but you can see the big scratch on the toptube right by the Bullit decal I forget what that was from but above the charger port I definatley dropped the bike on a rock section of the trail that had been carved out of the hillside and all that has happened is the 3M got abraded off and the paint stayed intact, 3 yrs later no black carbon showing anywhere. I hit it with the hose but I haven't really washed it properly in 2 months but you can see how shiny the finish is

BTW women always comment they love the lavender color eh

Attachment 503145

---

Yeah, I have a series of 4-5 similar spots on my chainstay from hitting a rock (and similar on the PPF on my car's bumper where the hatch opens and its been hit).

The PPF does work. For minor abrasion it just protects them and maybe even does a little "self healing". Great for cable rub, wear spots from pedaling, etc. Does an extra job of keeping your bike "shiny" because the clear film deepens the shine like a layer of wax and prevents the paint from getting dull from wiping down with dirty cloths, etc.
For bigger scrapes, it is a sacrificial layer. The film will get destroyed, but the paint underneath usually does OK. So a single hit works fine...repeated hits or a long scrape will go through the paint. It's never going to save you from damage that would dent a metal frame or crack a carbon frame. It is Paint Protection Film.

Of course the problem is that now I have an ugly spot. RideWrap will give you a replacement piece...but it is annoying to remove and apply detail pieces. So I doubt I'm going to do it. If it was just a rectangle of film on the downtube like I have on my other bike, sure, then I might pull and replace it.

IMHO, you shouldn't sell a wrapped frame. Nobody is going to pay extra because it is wrapped. Instead you rip all the wrap off and sell a frame that looks nice and shiny like it hasn't been ridden much.

I've said it before but I wish they sold a "partial tailored" RideWrap kit--I never want to install tiny pieces of PPF on a suspension link again, but I'd buy and install pieces that are precut for the chainstay, seatstay, and exposed edges of the main triangle. It is easy to cut downtube protectors from my big roll of 3m film, but it gets finicky trying to get good coverage on smaller/more complex tubes.

Its a little easier to cut that kind of protection for a hardtail/road bike, but FS rear triangles often have goofier shapes, pivot bolt holes, cable guides, etc. and I'd rather throw a few bucks at someone who has done it a bunch of times and used their experience to make a smart shape that I can just apply and be done.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by singlesline

Of course the problem is that now I have an ugly spot. RideWrap will give you a replacement piece...but it is annoying to remove and apply detail pieces. So I doubt I'm going to do it. If it was just a rectangle of film on the downtube like I have on my other bike, sure, then I might pull and replace it.

IMHO, you shouldn't sell a wrapped frame. Nobody is going to pay extra because it is wrapped. Instead you rip all the wrap off and sell a frame that looks nice and shiny like it hasn't been ridden much.

---

yeah I don't worry about some missing 3M becuz its mostly not noticable and i igure trying to fix the boo-boo is gona look worse

I've wondered about removing 3M or ride wrap, have you done it and does it at all wreck the paint ???

I was using a Yakima bar with silicone pads on the roof of my Tacoma for carrying seakayak so I had put some 3M on the roof to protect the paint which it did, instead of ripping it off I just cleaned that area with alcohol/ rag to clean a few marks on the film

in any case i think the ghetto ride wrap was worth the 25$ and a couple hrs work

It can pull paint if the paint is damaged (or maybe if you pull it in stupid ways), but it should be fine if you kind of slowly peel it away by stretching it outwards rather than peeling it straight away at a 90-degree angle from the paint.

Think like how a 3m command hook releases itself by stretching the material out to break the bond without ripping the paint off your wall.

Use a hair dryer or hot water to help soften and go slowly. Plenty of videos from the car guys on how to remove it. And your bike has probably had a LOT less UV exposure than a car that's spent years outside, so the film shouldn't be brittle and keep breaking on you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by singlesline

IMHO, you shouldn't sell a wrapped frame. Nobody is going to pay extra because it is wrapped. Instead you rip all the wrap off and sell a frame that looks nice and shiny like it hasn't been ridden much.

---

Completely agree. I always undo all the protection, especially damaged protection, when I sell a bike.
Looks like my mother rode it to church on Sundays.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by XXX-er

Why is there a truck rant in bike rants ?

---

'cause most folks in here drive their $45k Tacoma with $20k accessories (and a 4.5' bed) to the bike park lot and then just hang out showing off their Yeti or SC rather than actually riding? /s

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by XXX-er

I could even rant about my ex-wife

---

That might belong in "Padded Room".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Falcon3

'cause most folks in here drive their $45k Tacoma with $20k accessories (and a 4.5' bed) to the bike park lot and then just hang out showing off their Yeti or SC rather than actually riding? /s

---

I'm not even sure how to turn it on and I upgraded to the Tundra cuz I could

no humanity here

OK, so this might get a little long winded, but here goes. Is it too much to fucking ask for "bike reviewers" to actually read the fucking manual and properly bleed brakes before "testing" them? Is it too much to ask that OEM bike assembly factories read the same fucking manual and properly new brakes on the bikes they're assembling? Why do brake manufacturers misleadingly call the leverage adjuster the contact adjuster?

I say this because of a few reviews I've seen this year of the Maven brakes, compared to my experience now owning 2 pairs. Yesterday, Vital posted a brake test roundup backed up by using Brake Ace data acquisition system - cool! Except that in the bleed process they describe for both the Code and the Maven, they say they only did a top bleed, and that while doing that they rolled the contact adjuster all the way in (which is 100% opposite of what SRAM says you should do - full out). In their feel impressions, they mention that the rear had an inconsistent bite point sometimes while skipping over compressions. Well, no shit - you did a half-assed bleed, and that's exactly what a brake will do if you have air in the system. Then, this morning those knuckledraggers at Loam Wolf post their Maven review and complain about the same feeling, on various test bikes they've had come through with Mavens on them, and also whining about how hard it is for them to pull the levers. Which is pretty amusing considering how they're all big ~200 lb guys and much stronger than little ol' 165 lb me.

So there's a couple of issues going on here. First, the Maven is a big chonky brake with lots of volume, nooks, and crannies for air bubbles to get trapped in. It uses mineral oil, which in my experience is more sensitive to absorbing air prior to and during the bleed, but longer lasting once you get a good bleed. The SRAM bleed manual for the Mavens is quite thorough, and if you actually follow it, there's a really good chance you'll have a solid bleed the first try. I had a little bit of vagueness on 1 of my 4 brakes after the first bleed that went away after a second pass (noticed bubbles right from the start of the second bleed). The second big issue here is the term "contact adjuster." Don't get me wrong, the adjuster on the SRAM (and other brands who implement it) brakes is a really great tool for helping the rider make the left and right brakes feel the same. The problem is that what it actually does is change the leverage of the brake, adjusting the starting point of where the lever pushes on an eccentric cam. So when it's set all the way "out", it has less leverage and is more linear, meaning it feels like the throw is shorter - at the cost of also needing more finger force to achieve the same amount of stopping power. When the adjuster is wound all the way "in", the lever becomes more progressive and has more leverage, resulting in a longer pull but requiring less finger force. Think short vs long pry bar. The problem is that with the label "contact adjuster" people don't understand the tradeoff, and you get people who want a really quick engagement because that's how some other brake they used felt, then they whine about how hard it is to pull the lever without ever bothering to try the other setting ("contact" all the way in). On the other end of the spectrum, you have Hayes with a really light but long lever pull (due to its leverage design, and also no real functional "contact" adjuster), and you get idiots like myself asking questions on forums trying to figure out how to shorten the throw.

In contrast, look at the review from Blister on the same brake system. They noticed some erratic behavior in the brakes and rebled them carefully and the problem went away. Their review describes this, which is good information for someone considering the brake. Similarly, they talk about the effect of the contact adjuster after finding that they were getting bad arm pump running it all the way out.

I'm not trying to say that Mavens/SRAM are perfect. I'm not trying to say that all bike reviewers are idiots. I'm just disappointed at the lack of attention to detail that some of these "reviews" have. And I think that brake manufacturers are doing themselves a disservice by the way they label the "contact" adjuster. And probably need to do better at getting training on properly bleeding to bike assembly factories, because if they do a shit job, consumers are going to blame SRAM/Shimano/Magura/etc. for a shitty brake.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andeh

OK, so this might get a little long winded, but here goes. Is it too much to fucking ask for "bike reviewers" to actually read the fucking manual and properly bleed brakes before "testing" them? Is it too much to ask that OEM bike assembly factories read the same fucking manual and properly new brakes on the bikes they're assembling? Why do brake manufacturers misleadingly call the leverage adjuster the contact adjuster?

I say this because of a few reviews I've seen this year of the Maven brakes, compared to my experience now owning 2 pairs. Yesterday, Vital posted a brake test roundup backed up by using Brake Ace data acquisition system - cool! Except that in the bleed process they describe for both the Code and the Maven, they say they only did a top bleed, and that while doing that they rolled the contact adjuster all the way in (which is 100% opposite of what SRAM says you should do - full out). In their feel impressions, they mention that the rear had an inconsistent bite point sometimes while skipping over compressions. Well, no shit - you did a half-assed bleed, and that's exactly what a brake will do if you have air in the system. Then, this morning those knuckledraggers at Loam Wolf post their Maven review and complain about the same feeling, on various test bikes they've had come through with Mavens on them, and also whining about how hard it is for them to pull the levers. Which is pretty amusing considering how they're all big ~200 lb guys and much stronger than little ol' 165 lb me.

So there's a couple of issues going on here. First, the Maven is a big chonky brake with lots of volume, nooks, and crannies for air bubbles to get trapped in. It uses mineral oil, which in my experience is more sensitive to absorbing air prior to and during the bleed, but longer lasting once you get a good bleed. The SRAM bleed manual for the Mavens is quite thorough, and if you actually follow it, there's a really good chance you'll have a solid bleed the first try. I had a little bit of vagueness on 1 of my 4 brakes after the first bleed that went away after a second pass (noticed bubbles right from the start of the second bleed). The second big issue here is the term "contact adjuster." Don't get me wrong, the adjuster on the SRAM (and other brands who implement it) brakes is a really great tool for helping the rider make the left and right brakes feel the same. The problem is that what it actually does is change the leverage of the brake, adjusting the starting point of where the lever pushes on an eccentric cam. So when it's set all the way "out", it has less leverage and is more linear, meaning it feels like the throw is shorter - at the cost of also needing more finger force to achieve the same amount of stopping power. When the adjuster is wound all the way "in", the lever becomes more progressive and has more leverage, resulting in a longer pull but requiring less finger force. Think short vs long pry bar. The problem is that with the label "contact adjuster" people don't understand the tradeoff, and you get people who want a really quick engagement because that's how some other brake they used felt, then they whine about how hard it is to pull the lever without ever bothering to try the other setting ("contact" all the way in). On the other end of the spectrum, you have Hayes with a really light but long lever pull (due to its leverage design, and also no real functional "contact" adjuster), and you get idiots like myself asking questions on forums trying to figure out how to shorten the throw.

In contrast, look at the review from Blister on the same brake system. They noticed some erratic behavior in the brakes and rebled them carefully and the problem went away. Their review describes this, which is good information for someone considering the brake. Similarly, they talk about the effect of the contact adjuster after finding that they were getting bad arm pump running it all the way out.

I'm not trying to say that Mavens/SRAM are perfect. I'm not trying to say that all bike reviewers are idiots. I'm just disappointed at the lack of attention to detail that some of these "reviews" have. And I think that brake manufacturers are doing themselves a disservice by the way they label the "contact" adjuster. And probably need to do better at getting training on properly bleeding to bike assembly factories, because if they do a shit job, consumers are going to blame SRAM/Shimano/Magura/etc. for a shitty brake.

---

well ya man but you usually only need half a bleed ;)

I asked if one is going to get setup to spew some brake fluid, why not just do a full bleed ? Well apparently usually its only necessary to do 1/2 a bleed, so what if it doesnt work now do you thro it away or bleed the whole brake and wouldn't it just have been easier to bleed the whole brake system when you were all setup for it the first time, how much time did you save here

More of a PSA than a rant:

Wow, TSA has stepped up their game. For the last three years, I have been able to smuggle a co2 cartridge inside of my aluminum one up pump no problem. Got busted and called back to the check in desk, had to show them how to open it, and remove the co2. They were cool, but holy crap, that’s next level xray.
Did have to go through security again, where they really looked through things.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rideit

More of a PSA than a rant:

Wow, TSA has stepped up their game. For the last three years, I have been able to smuggle a co2 cartridge inside of my aluminum one up pump no problem. Got busted and called back to the check in desk, had to show them how to open it, and remove the co2. They were cool, but holy crap, that’s next level xray.
Did have to go through security again, where they really looked through things.

---

I had a bic lighter in my BC tool kit going to Niseko and the japanese xray attendant found it, I had to pocket it

Demos that aren’t set up properly. My 5’2” wife demoed a bike today. It had 800mm bars and they set up the suspension with 25% more psi than they should have.

I guess a pump might kind of look like some kind of pipe-bomb to the eye trained to look for such things.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andeh

OK, so this might get a little long winded, but here goes. Is it too much to fucking ask for "bike reviewers" to actually read the fucking manual and properly bleed brakes before "testing" them? Is it too much to ask that OEM bike assembly factories read the same fucking manual and properly new brakes on the bikes they're assembling? Why do brake manufacturers misleadingly call the leverage adjuster the contact adjuster?

I say this because of a few reviews I've seen this year of the Maven brakes, compared to my experience now owning 2 pairs. Yesterday, Vital posted a brake test roundup backed up by using Brake Ace data acquisition system - cool! Except that in the bleed process they describe for both the Code and the Maven, they say they only did a top bleed, and that while doing that they rolled the contact adjuster all the way in (which is 100% opposite of what SRAM says you should do - full out). In their feel impressions, they mention that the rear had an inconsistent bite point sometimes while skipping over compressions. Well, no shit - you did a half-assed bleed, and that's exactly what a brake will do if you have air in the system. Then, this morning those knuckledraggers at Loam Wolf post their Maven review and complain about the same feeling, on various test bikes they've had come through with Mavens on them, and also whining about how hard it is for them to pull the levers. Which is pretty amusing considering how they're all big ~200 lb guys and much stronger than little ol' 165 lb me.

So there's a couple of issues going on here. First, the Maven is a big chonky brake with lots of volume, nooks, and crannies for air bubbles to get trapped in. It uses mineral oil, which in my experience is more sensitive to absorbing air prior to and during the bleed, but longer lasting once you get a good bleed. The SRAM bleed manual for the Mavens is quite thorough, and if you actually follow it, there's a really good chance you'll have a solid bleed the first try. I had a little bit of vagueness on 1 of my 4 brakes after the first bleed that went away after a second pass (noticed bubbles right from the start of the second bleed). The second big issue here is the term "contact adjuster." Don't get me wrong, the adjuster on the SRAM (and other brands who implement it) brakes is a really great tool for helping the rider make the left and right brakes feel the same. The problem is that what it actually does is change the leverage of the brake, adjusting the starting point of where the lever pushes on an eccentric cam. So when it's set all the way "out", it has less leverage and is more linear, meaning it feels like the throw is shorter - at the cost of also needing more finger force to achieve the same amount of stopping power. When the adjuster is wound all the way "in", the lever becomes more progressive and has more leverage, resulting in a longer pull but requiring less finger force. Think short vs long pry bar. The problem is that with the label "contact adjuster" people don't understand the tradeoff, and you get people who want a really quick engagement because that's how some other brake they used felt, then they whine about how hard it is to pull the lever without ever bothering to try the other setting ("contact" all the way in). On the other end of the spectrum, you have Hayes with a really light but long lever pull (due to its leverage design, and also no real functional "contact" adjuster), and you get idiots like myself asking questions on forums trying to figure out how to shorten the throw.

In contrast, look at the review from Blister on the same brake system. They noticed some erratic behavior in the brakes and rebled them carefully and the problem went away. Their review describes this, which is good information for someone considering the brake. Similarly, they talk about the effect of the contact adjuster after finding that they were getting bad arm pump running it all the way out.

I'm not trying to say that Mavens/SRAM are perfect. I'm not trying to say that all bike reviewers are idiots. I'm just disappointed at the lack of attention to detail that some of these "reviews" have. And I think that brake manufacturers are doing themselves a disservice by the way they label the "contact" adjuster. And probably need to do better at getting training on properly bleeding to bike assembly factories, because if they do a shit job, consumers are going to blame SRAM/Shimano/Magura/etc. for a shitty brake.

---

I'll be interested to see how they generally come from SRAM on demo bikes... we're getting the new expert-level Stumpy next year and they all have Maven Bronze brakes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

Demos that aren’t set up properly. My 5’2” wife demoed a bike today. It had 800mm bars and they set up the suspension with 25% more psi than they should have.

---

God yes, especially the wide bars. Last year I visited my BIL in Asheville and rented a bike to ride there - same as the one I own, just different parts. But the one thing that fucked with me endlessly was the 800mm wide bars on a size medium instead of my normal 760. I ended up just shoving the controls (and my hands) in an inch and resigning myself to tagging every tree along the trail with the bars.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by smmokan

I'll be interested to see how they generally come from SRAM on demo bikes... we're getting the new expert-level Stumpy next year and they all have Maven Bronze brakes.

---

I fondled some Maven Bronzes in a shop before I bought my Ults, and would say that since they don't have the contact/leverage adjuster, their fixed state is somewhere in the middle of the Ult range. Not terrible, but not fully "in" as I prefer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andeh

OK, so this might get a little long winded, but here goes. Is it too much to fucking ask for "bike reviewers" to actually read the fucking manual and properly bleed brakes before "testing" them? Is it too much to ask that OEM bike assembly factories read the same fucking manual and properly new brakes on the bikes they're assembling? Why do brake manufacturers misleadingly call the leverage adjuster the contact adjuster?

I say this because of a few reviews I've seen this year of the Maven brakes, compared to my experience now owning 2 pairs. Yesterday, Vital posted a brake test roundup backed up by using Brake Ace data acquisition system - cool! Except that in the bleed process they describe for both the Code and the Maven, they say they only did a top bleed, and that while doing that they rolled the contact adjuster all the way in (which is 100% opposite of what SRAM says you should do - full out). In their feel impressions, they mention that the rear had an inconsistent bite point sometimes while skipping over compressions. Well, no shit - you did a half-assed bleed, and that's exactly what a brake will do if you have air in the system. Then, this morning those knuckledraggers at Loam Wolf post their Maven review and complain about the same feeling, on various test bikes they've had come through with Mavens on them, and also whining about how hard it is for them to pull the levers. Which is pretty amusing considering how they're all big ~200 lb guys and much stronger than little ol' 165 lb me.

So there's a couple of issues going on here. First, the Maven is a big chonky brake with lots of volume, nooks, and crannies for air bubbles to get trapped in. It uses mineral oil, which in my experience is more sensitive to absorbing air prior to and during the bleed, but longer lasting once you get a good bleed. The SRAM bleed manual for the Mavens is quite thorough, and if you actually follow it, there's a really good chance you'll have a solid bleed the first try. I had a little bit of vagueness on 1 of my 4 brakes after the first bleed that went away after a second pass (noticed bubbles right from the start of the second bleed). The second big issue here is the term "contact adjuster." Don't get me wrong, the adjuster on the SRAM (and other brands who implement it) brakes is a really great tool for helping the rider make the left and right brakes feel the same. The problem is that what it actually does is change the leverage of the brake, adjusting the starting point of where the lever pushes on an eccentric cam. So when it's set all the way "out", it has less leverage and is more linear, meaning it feels like the throw is shorter - at the cost of also needing more finger force to achieve the same amount of stopping power. When the adjuster is wound all the way "in", the lever becomes more progressive and has more leverage, resulting in a longer pull but requiring less finger force. Think short vs long pry bar. The problem is that with the label "contact adjuster" people don't understand the tradeoff, and you get people who want a really quick engagement because that's how some other brake they used felt, then they whine about how hard it is to pull the lever without ever bothering to try the other setting ("contact" all the way in). On the other end of the spectrum, you have Hayes with a really light but long lever pull (due to its leverage design, and also no real functional "contact" adjuster), and you get idiots like myself asking questions on forums trying to figure out how to shorten the throw.

In contrast, look at the review from Blister on the same brake system. They noticed some erratic behavior in the brakes and rebled them carefully and the problem went away. Their review describes this, which is good information for someone considering the brake. Similarly, they talk about the effect of the contact adjuster after finding that they were getting bad arm pump running it all the way out.

I'm not trying to say that Mavens/SRAM are perfect. I'm not trying to say that all bike reviewers are idiots. I'm just disappointed at the lack of attention to detail that some of these "reviews" have. And I think that brake manufacturers are doing themselves a disservice by the way they label the "contact" adjuster. And probably need to do better at getting training on properly bleeding to bike assembly factories, because if they do a shit job, consumers are going to blame SRAM/Shimano/Magura/etc. for a shitty brake.

---

top bleeding sram brakes is stupid and ineffective most of the time. If you use the technique seen in the maven bleed video that Sram makes, it is an extremely quick process already. The Loam wolf guys are rad riders and I like their content about riding qualities of different frames, but their actual technical understandings of things like this leaves a lot to be desired.

Ibis demos their SMALL bikes with 800mm bars. Clearly they have no intention of selling their small and mediums.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

Demos that aren’t set up properly. My 5’2” wife demoed a bike today. It had 800mm bars and they set up the suspension with 25% more psi than they should have.

---

I was at Absolute Bikes in Salida for their 25th Anniversary Party. Chris Cocalis, owner/founder of Pivot, was there. A tech was setting up an XS Switchblade for my wife to demo and Cocalis walked up, pulled off the grips, shifters, and brake levers. He then grabbed a saw and set up to shorten the bars. The tech nervously said, "We're not supposed to do that with a demo."
Cocalis looked at him, said, "It's an XS. Who do you think is riding it?" and continued.
I assume companies leave the bars full width, expecting the dealer to trim to the customer. You can always cut. You can't add.

I don't have Mavens but I should watch that vid^^

I will watch a half doz you tubes on a subject to arrive at concensus on a procedure i need to perform, so there are all kinds of how-to's on bleeding my Guides, there are 7 vids a page/ 10 pages so 70 guys wearing golf shirts with logos all have a very slightly different take on getting the bubbles out, I settled on some kid with hair like Lyle Lovett and it worked fine

I think there are another 10 pages of Shimano bleeds so thats 140 how to's and thats only 2 brands of brake so far

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roxtar

I was at Absolute Bikes in Salida for their 25th Anniversary Party. Chris Cocalis, owner/founder of Pivot, was there. A tech was setting up an XS Switchblade for my wife to demo and Cocalis walked up, pulled off the grips, shifters, and brake levers. He then grabbed a saw and set up to shorten the bars. The tech nervously said, "We're not supposed to do that with a demo."
Cocalis looked at him, said, "It's an XS. Who do you think is riding it?" and continued.

---

Tech is right, you can't cut bars longer, someone else could buy and wana swap the bars or any number of scenarios, sounds like you can just call chris for new bars

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roxtar

I was at Absolute Bikes in Salida for their 25th Anniversary Party. Chris Cocalis, owner/founder of Pivot, was there. A tech was setting up an XS Switchblade for my wife to demo and Cocalis walked up, pulled off the grips, shifters, and brake levers. He then grabbed a saw and set up to shorten the bars. The tech nervously said, "We're not supposed to do that with a demo."
Cocalis looked at him, said, "It's an XS. Who do you think is riding it?" and continued.
I assume companies leave the bars full width, expecting the dealer to trim to the customer. You can always cut. You can't add.

---

Demo trucks should really just have a minor assortment of handlebars on hand with grips already mounted. It takes ~3 minutes to unbolt the brakes and stem and then bolt up a new bar.

OR just use lock-ons that will slide anywhere you want

I'm not big but I have wider shoulders and 800 works fine for me but so did 760,

I'm probably just an insensitive bastard

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roxtar

I was at Absolute Bikes in Salida for their 25th Anniversary Party. Chris Cocalis, owner/founder of Pivot, was there. A tech was setting up an XS Switchblade for my wife to demo and Cocalis walked up, pulled off the grips, shifters, and brake levers. He then grabbed a saw and set up to shorten the bars. The tech nervously said, "We're not supposed to do that with a demo."
Cocalis looked at him, said, "It's an XS. Who do you think is riding it?" and continued.
I assume companies leave the bars full width, expecting the dealer to trim to the customer. You can always cut. You can't add.

---

That demo tech was pretty lacking in situational awareness, lol. Idiot.

Same applies to demo bikes with too much pressure in shock, fork, and tires. Shop bros assume beginners shreds like they do? I can't tell you how many 150# novices and low intermediates got bikes with 40psi in their 2.5s, and 120psi in the fork.

Or how about XS and S bikes with 175mm cranks? XL and XXL bikes with 125-150mm droppers? LOL

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rideit

That demo tech was pretty lacking in situational awareness, lol. Idiot.

---

Naa, just doin his job and covering his ass.

Back in the day all the bikes I test rode at an interbike were mis tuned

the first year Reign had a Psylo that was puking oil big time

the exception was the Cannondale Prophet, Cannondale bro asked how much I weighed pumped up the suspension to the recs on the card and it rode awesume

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

Demos that aren’t set up properly. My 5’2” wife demoed a bike today. It had 800mm bars and they set up the suspension with 25% more psi than they should have.

---

A friend demoed a bike this summer, bars were fine (large frame so not a huge deal) and they set the suspension pressure to his rough weight which was good. We discovered the rear shock's rebound was set to full fast when the rear tire was like an ice skate on the first descent. Luckily between the two of us we have one semi-functioning brain and figured it out pretty quickly, but someone who's not very savvy might have ended up hating the bike or hurt.

When I was looking at shorter travel bikes a few years back I went to a demo event with 3-4 manufacturers. Tried out a Pivot Mach4 since a lot of people rave about it. It felt like absolute shit, the rear suspension seemed to make the rear end skip around. Would have been better if it had been a hardtail. I dropped the pressure a bunch of times and played with the rebound too. Dropping pressure helped some but this put it way below where it should have been. Never found out what was wrong with it, and didn't buy the bike.

This was the same day I went to take a Santa Cruz 5010 for a spin and the brakes were engaged against the rotors when the bike was just sitting there. The mechanic told me "oh yeah those SRAM brakes swell up sometimes when they're in the sun and the pistons press against the rotors". Um, you know where you are right - Socal where we ride bikes in the sun all day? He didn't seem to think this was a problem at all or unusual.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by evdog

This was the same day I went to take a Santa Cruz 5010 for a spin and the brakes were engaged against the rotors when the bike was just sitting there. The mechanic told me "oh yeah those SRAM brakes swell up sometimes when they're in the sun and the pistons press against the rotors". Um, you know where you are right - Socal where we ride bikes in the sun all day? He didn't seem to think this was a problem at all or unusual.

---

In his defense, that was definitely true. Never happened to me while riding, but on a few occasions I'd leave the bike sitting in the sun and they'd start to seize up. Moving the bike to the shade for a couple of minutes would resolve it.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I'm not saying that it doesn't affect the experience, but you all have way too high of expectations for people making 35k a year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by unitofstuff

A friend demoed a bike this summer, bars were fine (large frame so not a huge deal) and they set the suspension pressure to his rough weight which was good. We discovered the rear shock's rebound was set to full fast when the rear tire was like an ice skate on the first descent. Luckily between the two of us we have one semi-functioning brain and figured it out pretty quickly, but someone who's not very savvy might have ended up hating the bike or hurt.

---

Playing devil's advocate: your friend could have taken 30 seconds to check the suspension settings before riding the bike, especially if he was considering buying it. Coming from someone who sets up a lot of demo bikes each year, I wouldn't assume the person who set your bike up did things exactly as you want. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by funkendrenchman

Demos that aren’t set up properly. My 5’2” wife demoed a bike today. It had 800mm bars and they set up the suspension with 25% more psi than they should have.

---

That’s been a big problem with wife getting bikes in Italy. This year I brought a bar/stem/gripss from her trail bike. Made a massive difference.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by toast2266

Demo trucks should really just have a minor assortment of handlebars on hand with grips already mounted. It takes ~3 minutes to unbolt the brakes and stem and then bolt up a new bar.

---

That shops and demo trucks should keep different length bars: 100% agree. Stock bars are cheap. Even cheaper relative to bike price.

That it takes 3 min to swap bars? 100% disagree. Maybe on a single speed with coaster brakes. But I did the swap 5 times in 2 weeks on 3 different bikes. Which means 10 separate stem/bar swaps because I had to put their shit back on when I was done. I can assure you that the average hack wrench takes more like 30-45 min. Brakes, shifter, dropper, computer. Wires tangled. Four different wrenches needed.
And …… FUCK headset routed cables. That made things harder and eliminated my ability to add/remove spacers. Fuck that.



Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jm2e

I can assure you that the average hack wrench takes more like 30-45 min.

---

I raise a single eyebrow and offer no further comment.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

With any luck they would have shifters and brakes that you have to remove the grips to get off, and glue on grips.