Ask the experts

[EWG]

then what was the point of getting the top cap purple anodized or did you glue it on ?

only way to get the star nut out is drive it out with a hammer & long extension bar

Lots of purple top caps around my place. Either 2 or 3 of my wife's bikes have them (mtn and singlespeed mtn. Can't remember if her purple and celeste road bike does.) Don't bad mouth purple anodized crap around her.

Exactly right on the starnut. Drive it right out the end.

[Dee Hubbs]

No proper weight weenie has startnut.
The proper WW technique is to preset the headset tension with a decent compression plug, like the Wolftooth 38 gram one, and once the stem is tightened, you remove it and replace it with the EENut Preloader at a mere 9.6 grams. That way you can still field service your headset if need be.

[XXX-er]

The Z1 i put the headlock on was bought from a bro, it had I think it had either 5 or7 nuts in the fork tube which I had to drive out the bottom to mount the headlock, to make it even more fun I think 2 of those were driven up from the bottom to mount a fender so none of them wanted to go up or down

Junior was 16 & riding very hard so the headset was constantly loose from dirt jumping and hard riding, the hedlock was heavy but it kept the headset adjusted

I'm betting you could just bolt the fork and stem together/ set bearing tension and remove the bolt

unless you were junior 20 yars ago

[EWG]

No proper weight weenie has startnut.
The proper WW technique is to preset the headset tension with a decent compression plug, like the Wolftooth 38 gram one, and once the stem is tightened, you remove it and replace it with the EENut Preloader at a mere 9.6 grams. That way you can still field service your headset if need be.

Ok, fine, if you want to be all professional about it and fancy.

But yes, I agree with all.

[XXX-er]

I often thank dog that Dee Hubbs is all professional and fancy

[meter-man]

eXXXperts: why must all the good and nice things in the world be acquired by vulture capitalists to be treated like carrion, picked apart, reduced to a shell of their former glory, and then stuffed behind a paywall?

WHY?

Pinkbike now in the clutches of our listicle-overlords at Outside. fkna sadface. https://www.pinkbike.com/news/letter...h-outside.html

[asshole responses requested]

[Boissal]

you don't hear high or low sounds ?
I can spin a wheel with a wrench in the spokes and hear the tone of every spoke in 30 seconds, a dull tone tells me if i need to look closer

I could probably tell the difference between a spoke that is tight enough to nearly pull out of the rim and one that is floppy
I borrowed a tension thing from a buddy, I'll play with it tonight and see if my ears are less shitty than I think.
I dove into the wheel building book recommended upthread and what do you know, I want to build wheels now.

Anyone here have anything to say about the Onyx Vesper hub? The internet, as usual, is evenly divided between 10 star review and reports that they are the worst thing to ever happen to MTBs... I have one on hand but if it sucks donkey balls I might sell it and get something else.

[Dantheman]

Anyone here have anything to say about the Onyx Vesper hub? The internet, as usual, is evenly divided between 10 star review and reports that they are the worst thing to ever happen to MTBs... I have one on hand but if it sucks donkey balls I might sell it and get something else.

Personally, I wouldn't buy one. Even the Vesper is kind of heavy for a $500 hub, and instant engagement can be detrimental to rear suspension performance depending on how much chain growth your frame has. But, since you have it already I'd probably just build it up and see how you like it. Or, sell it and go all-in on Hayes homerism with a Ringle Bubba X

[toast2266]

Anyone here have anything to say about the Onyx Vesper hub? The internet, as usual, is evenly divided between 10 star review and reports that they are the worst thing to ever happen to MTBs... I have one on hand but if it sucks donkey balls I might sell it and get something else.

They're the heaviest hubs you can get, and weight actually matters there (mostly because it's unsprung, but also because it's rotating). And the super fast engagement will probably make your suspension work a little worse. And they don't seem to be any more reliable than any of the other nice hubs out there.

But if you just hate noise, or if you want to try to convince yourself that instant engagement is gonna make a difference in the tech climbs you clean, then I guess they're a good option.

[Dantheman]

They're the heaviest hubs you can get

The Vesper isn't terrible at 370 g, but if I were spending $500 on a hub I'd definitely be looking at lighter options.

[Cocximus]

How hard is it to remove the old crown race? Fork has a small recess for the race to go in. I doubt the park tool could grab on it initially.

[XXX-er]

I've always just stuck a small flat blade screwdriver between the race & fork tap/ pry a little and it should come

BTW people reading this it is fairly common for people to forget to take the bottom race off a fork before sending it in for service or selling it or WTF reason its going away from your possesion

so then if you don't get the fork back for whatever reason half your headset is gone

[D(C)]

I find if I go straight to the flathead screwdriver when removing a crown race, I sometimes scratch up the crown. A cleaner way is to start by wedging in a utility knife blade, tapping it in with a hammer, to get it started. Then move to a screwdriver.

[jm2e]

Butter knife.
Or better yet: Carry it into any shop and pay them a few bucks to use the tool that totally isn't worth owning and pops it off in 5 seconds. Sometimes punting something easy to a shop isn't so bad.

[XXX-er]

noisy pads in a set of shimano brakes but only the front sometimes on partial application

tried sanding the padz which didnt work

so I sanded the pads again BUT swapped the fronts for the rears, did some panic stops to brake em in and silence

[Boissal]

Personally, I wouldn't buy one. Even the Vesper is kind of heavy for a $500 hub, and instant engagement can be detrimental to rear suspension performance depending on how much chain growth your frame has. But, since you have it already I'd probably just build it up and see how you like it. Or, sell it and go all-in on Hayes homerism with a Ringle Bubba X

They're the heaviest hubs you can get, and weight actually matters there (mostly because it's unsprung, but also because it's rotating). And the super fast engagement will probably make your suspension work a little worse. And they don't seem to be any more reliable than any of the other nice hubs out there.

But if you just hate noise, or if you want to try to convince yourself that instant engagement is gonna make a difference in the tech climbs you clean, then I guess they're a good option.

Hadn't thought about the suspension aspect of things and the weight was already ticking me off so I might just sell the thing and see if any replacement appeals to me. I am getting a bit ticked off at the noise of my DT hub and need to regrease the fucker so Hydra and Chris King hubs are out of the question. Give me tire noises, not the sound of a thousand angry bees.
That Bubba hub is interesting, had never heard of it. If I fall deeper into the Hayes pit it will be brakes first though! Although I just got some of those fancy pants UT-made MTX brake pads and I swear my Shimano brakes went from on/off to quite progressive...

[D(C)]

Butter knife.

Make sure it’s not serrated. Speaking from experience.

[GeorgiaSnow]

Hadn't thought about the suspension aspect of things and the weight was already ticking me off so I might just sell the thing and see if any replacement appeals to me. I am getting a bit ticked off at the noise of my DT hub and need to regrease the fucker so Hydra and Chris King hubs are out of the question. Give me tire noises, not the sound of a thousand angry bees.
That Bubba hub is interesting, had never heard of it. If I fall deeper into the Hayes pit it will be brakes first though! Although I just got some of those fancy pants UT-made MTX brake pads and I swear my Shimano brakes went from on/off to quite progressive...

If you decide to get rid of that hub I might be interested. Seems like a great hub for a hardtail where you don’t care as much about weight. Also, saw a lot of bmx folks running those at a national event as well. I guess it just depends on your bike and purposes.


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[Boissal]

If you decide to get rid of that hub I might be interested. Seems like a great hub for a hardtail where you don’t care as much about weight. Also, saw a lot of bmx folks running those at a national event as well. I guess it just depends on your bike and purposes.

I'll let you know, there's a good chance I won't keep it but a friend has already called dibs on the hub.

As a side note, has anyone here gone back to alu wheels after spending time on carbon?
I've been riding my alu rear wheel (DT XM1501) this past week as I still haven't fixed the spoke on the carbon one and I was blown away by how different the feel is. I didn't notice much of a change when I went to carbon, probably cause I didn't have as much time on the bike yet, but switching back made me realize that I'm not sold on a super stiff rear. The alu feels a lot more compliant (hate this word but I finally understand what people mean by it) and makes for a much smoother ride. The first time back on the old wheel I had to look down a couple times to make sure I hadn't burped the tire and dropped to 15 psi as everything felt so muted compared to the rowdy feeling of the carbon.
I don't think there's going to be much of a penalty in terms of how well the bike corners and I can live with 300 extra grams. Starting to wonder if my happy place wouldn't be carbon in the front and alu in the rear. Is that a thing? A materials mullet of sort, business in the front with the carbon, party in the back with alu!

[D(C)]

I'm setting up a 2021 Fox 36 and it's my first time with the floating axle. The fork has a KaboltX axle as opposed to the regular QR. The instructions make it clear that, with the regular QR, you set up the pinch bolt once during initial setup, but then don't need to loosen it again when you remove the wheel. Is this also the case when using the KaboltX? I can't get the axle out unless I undo the pinch bolt.

[HAB]

I'm setting up a 2021 Fox 36 and it's my first time with the floating axle. The fork has a KaboltX axle as opposed to the regular QR. The instructions make it clear that, with the regular QR, you set up the pinch bolt once during initial setup, but then don't need to loosen it again when you remove the wheel. Is this also the case when using the KaboltX? I can't get the axle out unless I undo the pinch bolt.

Nope. With the bolt on option you need to use the pinch bolt every time.

[Toddball]

As a side note, has anyone here gone back to alu wheels after spending time on carbon?

...

Starting to wonder if my happy place wouldn't be carbon in the front and alu in the rear. Is that a thing? A materials mullet of sort, business in the front with the carbon, party in the back with alu!

I run this setup, after blowing up my carbon rear rim and being too cheap to replace it. I now have a factory-direct Chinese carbon front rim (very similar dimensions to some Light Bicycle model) and a Stan's Flow MK3 in the rear. I also installed CushCore front and rear when I finished building the new rear wheel, because someone on here was selling a set for cheap and I thought it might save me from breaking more rims.

The setup definitely works, and it feels more compliant in the back than the front, but part of that is suspension setup--I have a DHX2 in the back and a fairly stiff 36 with the not-great FIT4 damper in the front. Not sure I can feel the increased steering precision or whatever of the front carbon rim, but my wrists could always use more small-bump compliance.

[toast2266]

I'll let you know, there's a good chance I won't keep it but a friend has already called dibs on the hub.

As a side note, has anyone here gone back to alu wheels after spending time on carbon?
I've been riding my alu rear wheel (DT XM1501) this past week as I still haven't fixed the spoke on the carbon one and I was blown away by how different the feel is. I didn't notice much of a change when I went to carbon, probably cause I didn't have as much time on the bike yet, but switching back made me realize that I'm not sold on a super stiff rear. The alu feels a lot more compliant (hate this word but I finally understand what people mean by it) and makes for a much smoother ride. The first time back on the old wheel I had to look down a couple times to make sure I hadn't burped the tire and dropped to 15 psi as everything felt so muted compared to the rowdy feeling of the carbon.
I don't think there's going to be much of a penalty in terms of how well the bike corners and I can live with 300 extra grams. Starting to wonder if my happy place wouldn't be carbon in the front and alu in the rear. Is that a thing? A materials mullet of sort, business in the front with the carbon, party in the back with alu!

I switch back and forth between aluminum and carbon a bit, but most of the newer carbon rims are pretty good in terms of vertical compliance. I don't notice them to be much, if any harsher than the aluminum rims. That's definitely different than 5 years ago when a lot of the carbon rims were punishingly stiff.

[Sandbox]

I'll let you know, there's a good chance I won't keep it but a friend has already called dibs on the hub.

As a side note, has anyone here gone back to alu wheels after spending time on carbon?
I've been riding my alu rear wheel (DT XM1501) this past week as I still haven't fixed the spoke on the carbon one and I was blown away by how different the feel is. I didn't notice much of a change when I went to carbon, probably cause I didn't have as much time on the bike yet, but switching back made me realize that I'm not sold on a super stiff rear. The alu feels a lot more compliant (hate this word but I finally understand what people mean by it) and makes for a much smoother ride. The first time back on the old wheel I had to look down a couple times to make sure I hadn't burped the tire and dropped to 15 psi as everything felt so muted compared to the rowdy feeling of the carbon.
I don't think there's going to be much of a penalty in terms of how well the bike corners and I can live with 300 extra grams. Starting to wonder if my happy place wouldn't be carbon in the front and alu in the rear. Is that a thing? A materials mullet of sort, business in the front with the carbon, party in the back with alu!

I rode Enve’s with 240’s for about 3 years and now have aluminum with 370’s. The main difference I’ve noticed is the hubs, clearly a downgrade but in regard to the carbon rims not a huge difference. Maybe if it was apples to apples where my aluminum had 240’s it would be more helpful tho


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[jamal]

First ride on my new wheels I was like "uh what's up with my fork why does it feel like shit?"

Second ride I crashed into a tree stump on the inside of the trail. Up until then I was liking them.

So they're definitely stiffer and track better. Pedaling uphill hard feels better, changing directions feels quicker and different and you notice the lower rotating mass. I always felt like turn in and quick moves were a little sluggish on this bike and now it seems better (but also old xc race bike to much longer, lower, slacker 120mm "XC" bike). The xrc1501s and xo1 cassette dropped a full pound compared to the i27 light to 370 hubs and gx cassette. like 100g from the cassette, the other 350 from wheels. I have rotors and a cassette and trail tires on the other wheels so I'll be going back to the heavy setup probably for the bigger trail rides and keeping the nice wheels for the spring and racing and if i ever find a new hardtail.