Ask the experts

[Sandbox]

Thanks for the suggestions. In all honesty I’ll probably do 3 small ish rides and then it’s all family and pool time.

For the kid thinking just some small hikes, doubt I will get her on the bike but I guess you never know.

Would love to check out the Grand Canyon as I never have.

I think I’ll save Sedona for a dedicated bike trip.


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[east or bust]

Thanks for the suggestions. In all honesty I’ll probably do 3 small ish rides and then it’s all family and pool time.

For the kid thinking just some small hikes, doubt I will get her on the bike but I guess you never know.

Would love to check out the Grand Canyon as I never have.

I think I’ll save Sedona for a dedicated bike trip.


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What style of riding are you looking to do? South Mtn in PHX is pretty dang good for some chunky downhill and more technical riding, and it's all on trailforks. Best trailhead is Pima Canyon IMO. There are other areas to ride in the valley but are more oriented towards XC. I also know a decent jump spot if you're into that kind of thing.

By mid April temps start creeping up into the mid 80Fs and some 90F days towards the end of the month. It's more than manageable if you ride in the AM. It's also a dry heat. PHX gets a bad rap but I enjoyed living there when I did. If you've never been to the desert the drive up into Tonto National Forest via Apache Junction is pretty sweet.

[Sandbox]

What style of riding are you looking to do? South Mtn in PHX is pretty dang good for some chunky downhill and more technical riding, and it's all on trailforks. Best trailhead is Pima Canyon IMO. There are other areas to ride in the valley but are more oriented towards XC. I also know a decent jump spot if you're into that kind of thing.

By mid April temps start creeping up into the mid 80Fs and some 90F days towards the end of the month. It's more than manageable if you ride in the AM. It's also a dry heat. PHX gets a bad rap but I enjoyed living there when I did. If you've never been to the desert the drive up into Tonto National Forest via Apache Junction is pretty sweet.

I’d be into more mellow riding, never rode in the desert before. I’m very familiar with tech and chunk living in the Rockies. But since it’s a trip and I’m out of country I don’t want to get too aggressive with it ( I do have travel health insurance but I’d rather not use it).

Also any good beta on bike shops to rent from?? We will for sure have a car so driving isn’t an issue.


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[joetron]

Any of you curly bar enthusiasts have a suggestion for a road wheelset or rim in the following parameters?
Carbon, hooked, tubeless, disc,21-23mm internal, <35mm tall
I’ve been poking around, but haven’t really been able to find anything.


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[jamal]

I'd assume LB, farsports, hunt etc make something along those lines? Trek does 37mm deep if that's not too tall. the aeolus pros retail for 1500/set and have dt350 hubs. 21mm internal. Reserve has that 34/37 set, and then there are probably zipps and enves that are fairly low profile.

I've had a set of nox rims for a couple years now and they've been good. I got the lightweight "XC" rim that's hookless but they have a hooked version with similar dimensions:

https://www.noxcomposites.com/citico

Mine are the skyline rim to dt 240 hubs, 28h and brass nipples and they still are like 1400g. 1420 maybe? Also have vittoria inserts in them. Have done a lot of gravel riding on rough forest roads, singletrack, gravel racing, cx racing, etc. Probably have at least 6-7k miles on them, always true when i put them in the stand. Couple other guys at the shop are on their stuff too, plus they've helped out with the cx team. Don't really see much about them. maybe they need an instagram person or something. They could probably also make some newer, wider profiles across the board- the XC mtb rims are only 23 or 26mm wide.

[carlh]

Rock shox lowers service (zeb) how important is the exact oil for this? I want to give my fork a quick freshen up and not sure if I need to buy the rock shox oil or not. I pay someone else to do the full damper service.

[toast2266]

Rock shox lowers service (zeb) how important is the exact oil for this? I want to give my fork a quick freshen up and not sure if I need to buy the rock shox oil or not. I pay someone else to do the full damper service.

Not that important. Rockshox oil is always just rebranded stuff from someone else (currently Maxima). I usually get oil from the local moto shop because it's cheaper and almost always in stock. I believe the recommended oil for the lowers in a Zeb is roughly 7.5wt at normal operating temps, so I'd probably be ok with using any decent quality synthetic suspension oil between 5-10wt.

[XtrPickels]

I’d be into more mellow riding, never rode in the desert before. I’m very familiar with tech and chunk living in the Rockies. But since it’s a trip and I’m out of country I don’t want to get too aggressive with it ( I do have travel health insurance but I’d rather not use it).

Also any good beta on bike shops to rent from?? We will for sure have a car so driving isn’t an issue.


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Riding in Tucson last year and when people say "chunk" in Arizona it's on a whole different level. Riding was very polarized with many high-speed XC bike miles on the desert floor weaving around cacti on smooth singletrack punctuated with lots hike-a-bike that was likely rideable if you were familiar with the trail whenever you were on a hill / mountain side.

[Dee Hubbs]

Any of you curly bar enthusiasts have a suggestion for a road wheelset or rim in the following parameters?
Carbon, hooked, tubeless, disc,21-23mm internal, <35mm tall
I’ve been poking around, but haven’t really been able to find anything.

Entry price point for quality carbon road rim is Shimano's Ultregra:

Shimano Ultregra WH-R8170-C36-TL.
21 inner, 36 tall, Carbon, hooked, good hubs, cup and cone bearing.
1488g / pair
Is Center lock okay? No SRAM freehub.
Retail at $1400 pair, can be found for $999 if you hunt.

The DuraAce WH-R9270-C36 has a nicer hub/freehub. and lighter spokes
1350 grams, and retail for $2100

If I'm spending $2100 I'd by DT Swiss:
DT Swiss ERC 1400 DICUT 35mm
$2400 Retail.
1380g, 22mm inner, 35mm deep, hooked.
DT 240 hub, any freehub body, DT Swiss spokes and nipples, not proprietary components.

If I am totally blowing this way out of the budget:
Shimano 105 version: WH-RS710-C32-TL
21w, 32h Carbon clincher version.

[joetron]

Thanks is for the suggestions y’all. I’m running sram drivetrain, so gotta be XDR. Those DT Swiss look tempting, but are pricey - even at cost. I need to call and see if they do EP…I’m not sure since GJ is mainly for repair.
It’s ridiculous that I’m looking, b/c I have 303 Firecrest, which are super sick, but a little wide. My 28c (which are the narrowest tire they suggest) measure at 30 and the clearance on my bike is real tight, especially at the fork. I’m also a bit leery of the hookless and the short list of acceptable road tires.
Ideally I’m looking for something I could put a 25 on that would measure 27/28.
The Hunt Carbon 30 is tempting and wicked cheap.
Also considering Reserve 34/37 or maybe even building those rims around a 240 or 180.


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[climberevan]

FWIW 28s are faster than 25s in all situations except extremely steep hill climbs on perfect pavement...

That said I run 25s bc I'm happily rolling on rim brakes and have a couple lying around to wear out.

There are numerous Chinese wheels that would be great for your road setup. 1300g or so should be no problem. Elite wheels are even pretty decent, but ofc Farsports & Light Bicycle have fantastic options.

[jamal]

there are ep deals on dt wheels through most distributors, you just have to call/email about it and sometimes watch some videos. In pandemic times I wanted a wheelset for my hei hei and wound up finding the front and rear wheels at different places (got the xrc1501s, still holding up well 3+ years and a lot of trail miles later.) think the rear came from bti and the front from j&b or something. The annoying thing is that if you get 10% off cost, but then have to pay shipping, it's not much of a discount. Now that we have trek i've bought two sets of bontrager wheels because that discount is so good and it's really easy to order stuff.

[Thaleia]

Yearly service for Fox shocks and forks (full) - very generally speaking, would you trust an LBS with a good reputation for this as opposed to shipping them out to Fox or their recommended dealers eg S4 here in Canada?

[joetron]

FWIW 28s are faster than 25s in all situations except extremely steep hill climbs on perfect pavement...

That said I run 25s bc I'm happily rolling on rim brakes and have a couple lying around to wear out.

There are numerous Chinese wheels that would be great for your road setup. 1300g or so should be no problem. Elite wheels are even pretty decent, but ofc Farsports & Light Bicycle have fantastic options.

Yeah, I’d honestly probably just throw 28s back on and get a little more clearance in my fork with the narrower rim.


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[toast2266]

Yearly service for Fox shocks and forks (full) - very generally speaking, would you trust an LBS with a good reputation for this as opposed to shipping them out to Fox or their recommended dealers eg S4 here in Canada?

Yup. I've actually had better luck with the local shop than with shipping it out (both to fox and to some other suspension centers). This obviously depends on the local shop and whether they have the right tools and expertise to handle whatever you need rebuilt. But at least if you get it back from the shop and it's wrong, you can just take it back to them rather than having to ship it back out.

[Dee Hubbs]

European pricing on DT Swiss have pretty significant savings.
Have a look at BikeInn.com
I was backorded a DT wheel for one of my clients, and it was faster and cheaper (than US wholesale) to order it from BikeInn.

[D(C)]

Are Reverbs still unreliable?

I’ve had a Reverb AXS on one of my bikes for 3 years and it has been nearly perfect. I found a regular Reverb for very cheap for my other bike, and after using it 3 times, it has developed sag after each ride. The vent valve does remove the sag, but accessing it involves removing the seat, which is not ideal to have to do every time I ride.

Would warranty potentially resolve my issues, or is this common across the board with the latest Reverb?

[bamboocoreONLY]

Yearly service for Fox shocks and forks (full) - very generally speaking, would you trust an LBS with a good reputation for this as opposed to shipping them out to Fox or their recommended dealers eg S4 here in Canada?

Sending things into fox is such a giant pain in the ass, they're all over the place and return speed is super slow. Any reputable shop that works on suspension will do just as good, it's not as if Fox stuff has any mysterious things going on inside.

[Thaleia]

Thanks folks for chiming in. Will try the local shop.

[Jtlange]

Thanks is for the suggestions y’all. I’m running sram drivetrain, so gotta be XDR. Those DT Swiss look tempting, but are pricey - even at cost. I need to call and see if they do EP…I’m not sure since GJ is mainly for repair.
It’s ridiculous that I’m looking, b/c I have 303 Firecrest, which are super sick, but a little wide. My 28c (which are the narrowest tire they suggest) measure at 30 and the clearance on my bike is real tight, especially at the fork. I’m also a bit leery of the hookless and the short list of acceptable road tires.
Ideally I’m looking for something I could put a 25 on that would measure 27/28.
The Hunt Carbon 30 is tempting and wicked cheap.
Also considering Reserve 34/37 or maybe even building those rims around a 240 or 180.


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Ive actually been quite happy with my Hunt carbon wheels. Freehubs have a very pleasing DT like buzz with a little more punch to them.

[toast2266]

Not sure if it's still the case, but hunt hubs used to be higher end Novatec things, which are mostly ok. Certainly better than the lower end novatec stuff, which are grenades.

[Abies]

Crown race question:

Bike A has a Chris King Inset 3 headset. According to CK the baseplate (crown race) has a 45 degree bearing seat angle. The fork (cane creek helm if it matters) has the King baseplate.

Bike B has a an FSA Orbit 1.5 ZS headset and the fork (Fox 36) has the associated crown race. FSA says the bottom bearing is 36/45 degrees which I think means the crown race is 45 degrees?

My question is can I swap the forks between these two bikes without messing with the crown races/baseplates? I want to do this to experiment with travel on bike B since the Helm can be travel adjusted without an air shaft swap.


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[XXX-er]

Crown race question:

Bike A has a Chris King Inset 3 headset. According to CK the baseplate (crown race) has a 45 degree bearing seat angle. The fork (cane creek helm if it matters) has the King baseplate.

Bike B has a an FSA Orbit 1.5 ZS headset and the fork (Fox 36) has the associated crown race. FSA says the bottom bearing is 36/45 degrees which I think means the crown race is 45 degrees?

My question is can I swap the forks between these two bikes without messing with the crown races/baseplates? I want to do this to experiment with travel on bike B since the Helm can be travel adjusted without an air shaft swap.


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I would use the bearing with its own crown race, they are not that hard to remove with a small screwdriver

And BTW If you ever send in a fork I would take the race off just in case you never see the fork again for whatever reason which I have seen happen

[Abies]

Yeah, it’s not a hard task but I probably want to swap the forks again when I figure out the best travel for each bike, so it’s annoying. I might use this an excuse to get a King headset for bike B.


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[Whiteroom_Guardian]

How the fuck to do calculate the spring rate for an Ohlins rear shock? I can't find shit online unless I'm just not looking well enough.