Ask the experts

[smmokan]

The v2 druid intrigues me because of all the pluses of the Dreadnought, but I worry about big backcountry days on an HP bike with the idler and the complexity that it brings. I am unsure if I am ready for that on my daily driver.

Of note, I am on a medium, so the chain stay length isn't as massive as the bigger sizes, and I find it quite maneuverable.

FWIW, I did some really big rides (20-25 miles, 4-5k climbing) on my Druid last year and didn't feel like I was working harder than with a regular trail bike. But I certainly had more fun on the way down.

Ever think about putting the Cascade link on the Dreadnought?

[XXX-er]

5 yrs ago when i bought a yeti 5.5 they only went as small as Medium but now 29ers they come in the smaller sizes

might it have something to do with seat angles ??

[rideit]

Absolutely! The new 29ers are so different for us small people. I love my small Occam.

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I still don’t think they are ideal for the under 5’ (wifey) crowd, though. Mostly due to the necessary static stand over clearance.

[Eluder]

FWIW, I did some really big rides (20-25 miles, 4-5k climbing) on my Druid last year and didn't feel like I was working harder than with a regular trail bike. But I certainly had more fun on the way down.

Ever think about putting the Cascade link on the Dreadnought?

Good to hear.

I have, but you only gain 6mm of travel with the Ziggy link, and so far I think I'm ok with 33% progression. Im pretty light.

[Andeh]

Not sure exactly, and it probably does not "know" where the ramps are. I just know that it doesn't feel like it's forcing the chain up onto the next cog before the ramp is in place. It could be that they made it so that it can ONLY move if it's on the ramps. I'm guessing that's why they went to the stronger FlatTop chain, to resist lateral forces until it runs into the ramps. In terms of multi shifts, it does feel like it "knows" when the shift completes, so that if you queue up a bunch of shifts, you hear the derailleur move to initiate 1 shift, then it shifts, then it moves again, shifts, etc. As opposed to Shimano or Eagle multishift, where it moves the cage 2-3 cogs, then the chain/cog have to catch up.

Slight correction to this. I rode without a full face yesterday, so I could hear the shifting noises better, and multi-shifts with Transmission move the cage immediately, but the chain only moves up when it hits the ramps. So it still acts like it queues up. I'm guessing you could make it do some ugly shifts if you clicked shift like 6 times and put a ton of lateral tension on the chain, but I don't want to test that because I don't foresee me actually doing that. Clicking shift 2-3 times is no big deal.

[Duffman]

I still don’t think they are ideal for the under 5’ (wifey) crowd, though. Mostly due to the necessary static stand over clearance.

Yeah having an inseam significantly shorter than the wheel diameter can be tough. At somewhat out of hobbit range at 5'4+ with a 30 in inseam a 29 is definitely doable, I'm just questioning when given a choice in a similar.bike between the 27.5 vs 29 wheel which is smarter. The Marin Rift Zone for example has both wheel sizes in same build at the small and medium sizes, Giant Trances have this choice also .

[Duffman]

Piggybacking on my own comment, many of the bikes in this range the travel goes up 10mm from say 130 or 140 to 150 with the smaller wheel. My gut feeling is the slightly shorter travel with the bigger wheels pedals better, but not sure how that manifests in the real world of tighter EC singletrack.

[rideit]

IME, you will snap through tighter turns faster and boost off of smaller jumps higher/etc with the 27.5, but you will gain some pedalling efficiency, better rollover in chunk, and gain high speed straight line confidence with the 29. (Think Moab/Fruita). I love my mullet for this reason.

[Duffman]

IME, you will snap through tighter turns faster and boost off of smaller jumps higher/etc with the 27.5, but you will gain some pedalling efficiency, better rollover in chunk, and gain high speed straight line confidence with the 29. (Think Moab/Fruita). I love my mullet for this reason.

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All of this makes sense. Just a tougher call for around here where I think she would like the easier rollover and momentum ,,which I sure do, but question the tougher handling in tight twisty singletrack. No air involved for her either way

[volklpowdermaniac]

Is the Shimano pro bleed kit worth it or are there alternatives. Got new prebled mt201 brakesets for the kiddos 24in bike and the cables are too long and need to be cut and rebled. Any advice on cutting or will a very old (mid 1990s) cable housing cutter work? Also will eventually need to bleed my SLX 4 pots in the future.

To add to xxx

I’m a Shimano fan boi. And have bled the brakes MANY times in last 5+ years of doing it myself. Watch a good video , both kits online the knockoffs on Amazon and the legit one work, but the new hoses in the Shimano kits have a metal fitting that hooks into the nipple and it’s actually really nice, stops the tubing from coming off much less faffing.

Having said that, these new Shimano brakes do pretty well with the gravity bleed as seen on the syndicate YouTube video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=piWBVDh1pTE

IFFF, you remember to move the caliper around a bunch and finish with the nipple port up above level. That’s how I’ve had my best results with the new x120 series that have been out for last whatever. Occasionally I have to do the caliper purge seen at the end of most videos (but not in the syndicate one) but not all the time.

[dcpnz]

.

All of this makes sense. Just a tougher call for around here where I think she would like the easier rollover and momentum ,,which I sure do, but question the tougher handling in tight twisty singletrack. No air involved for her either way

I reckon you’re overthinking this one. Modern 29 trail geometry is pretty dialed for anyone except midgets and groms (and petites like rideit’s wifey). At 5’4” I’d have no hesitation about going with a 29er, and depending on other fit considerations she might even prefer an M over S on some frames.

FWIW my 14 yo daughter is a bit taller at 5’6” and very comfortable on a Medium 29er w/ 130 travel f+r.
And while I was quite concerned when switching I now think my 160/143 29er is easier to handle around tight switchbacks than my old 120/120 26er. Its not just wheel size that matters.

[J. Barron DeJong]

To add to xxx

I’m a Shimano fan boi. And have bled the brakes MANY times in last 5+ years of doing it myself. Watch a good video , both kits online the knockoffs on Amazon and the legit one work, but the new hoses in the Shimano kits have a metal fitting that hooks into the nipple and it’s actually really nice, stops the tubing from coming off much less faffing.

Having said that, these new Shimano brakes do pretty well with the gravity bleed as seen on the syndicate YouTube video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=piWBVDh1pTE

IFFF, you remember to move the caliper around a bunch and finish with the nipple port up above level. That’s how I’ve had my best results with the new x120 series that have been out for last whatever. Occasionally I have to do the caliper purge seen at the end of most videos (but not in the syndicate one) but not all the time.

I bleed like that, but burp at the lever first, to make sure I don’t drag bubbles down:

https://youtu.be/EcVDaHgetdw

May be overkill, but seems to work.

[jackstraw]

I didn't think the Ti ones were actually available yet? I've only seen a few examples of failure of the alloy ones across the interwebs.

I prefer the aesthetics of the eeWings if I was gonna go ultra bling and it does seem like maybe they're more robust, at least than the alloy 5Devs. Never personally heard of eeWings breaking and can't find anything, be interested in seeing that. Doubt I'd break either one myself.

My bud was riding his alu cranks today. We were discussing the failures. Fairly common.
His bro has the titanium.

[powcom]

Anyone want to suggest the best/cheap derailleur hanger alignment tool? Think not abbey…

[Lvovsky]

Anyone want to suggest the best/cheap derailleur hanger alignment tool? Think not abbey…

Don’t know about best but Aliexpess is littered with knockoffs

[Lvovsky]

Old/contaminated brake pad: toss them or save to use as spacers when doing something to the bike?

[powcom]

Don’t know about best but Aliexpess is littered with knockoffs

These are tempting can a semi competent human use these and get decent results? Simple function so I imagine so.

[XXX-er]

Anyone want to suggest the best/cheap derailleur hanger alignment tool? Think not abbey…

best would probably be the park tool

cheapest would be eyeballing it with a 6" cresent wrench assuming you own one

pick one

[Duffman]

Some decent pricing on Deore stuff around, so looking to finally upgrade the grons 24+ Cannondale Cujo from stock 8 sp drivetrain to 10 speed Deore. If cost is not a factor, since the parts seem to be pretty close, is there any reason to stay at 10 speed vs going to 11 speed Deore? I don't think he really needs the extra cog (thinking 11-42t with his current 30T front ring) but I don't see a big price difference either for a new rear mech, shifter , cassette and chain . I think 8 sp HG rear hub will work with either ,right?

[El Chupacabra]

Wide range Deore 11-speed is pretty nice. I have it on my Surly - 30 x 11-51 in place of the NX 32 x 11-42 that it came with. All steel cassette, steel chainring, should last forever.

If there's little price difference for the 11S vs 10S, I'd go with the 11. And both fit the 8-11S HG freehub.

[Duffman]

Wide range Deore 11-speed is pretty nice. I have it on my Surly - 30 x 11-51 in place of the NX 32 x 11-42 that it came with. All steel cassette, steel chainring, should last forever.

If there's little price difference for the 11S vs 10S, I'd go with the 11. And both fit the 8-11S HG freehub.

Sweet. Don't think I need that much range with a 24in wheel ,42 is probably sufficient. But if there is no downside to 11 vs 10 I'll go that way.

Edit to ask: will a 6100 Deore rear mech work with a 5100 11 speed shifter and cassette?

[jm2e]

Brakes.
I’m freaking out here. New pads (Trickstuff). New rotors (HS2 200mm), trued. Saint Brakes with fresh bleed. Bleed was yesterday, pad install today, so oil was nowhere near the pads.

Went to bed them in and it’s like a pulsing feel where one side of the rotor is grabbing more than the other. The bite is good, it’s just that throughout the rotation of the wheel, the bite fluctuates. Tried sanding down the rotor to no avail.

Feeling cursed.


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[summit]

Anybody have experience with saggy Oneup dropper posts? I have a v2 210mm that's about 4-5yrs old and it's kinda droopy lately, sinking about 7-10mm into its travel under weight.

I know I can just buy a new cartridge for it but that's like $100 I don't want to spend.... Is there any trick to bleed these dampers out and buy another season on it? I seem to remember some bs you could do with a reverb, like invert it and extend it or some shit, that would accomplish the same ends. Any similar with this dude?

Make sure the pressure is up in the cartridge.

[volklpowdermaniac]

So as some of you have encountered , specialized top headset bearing is a little off and needs the campy standard 41.8, no problem there WT has me covered. For the lower bearing in these new spec frames, is there anything proprietary about their IS 52/40 or will any bearing of this size work?

[Andeh]

So as some of you have encountered , specialized top headset bearing is a little off and needs the campy standard 41.8, no problem there WT has me covered. For the lower bearing in these new spec frames, is there anything proprietary about their IS 52/40 or will any bearing of this size work?

Chris King Dropset 5 works on the '22 Levo (top & bottom).