Traveler

Trek

So if it felt slower, but times were similar.... you were thus more in control?

I've upgraded the internals on my DT Swiss hubs. Love the quick engagement, even though I did have some doubts that I would even notice, been riding for some weeks now and cannot complain for a moment. But I did only go for the 36t.

Rather stick with normal BB30 bearings as intended.

I have both a 29’er and 27.5. They are very different bikes, the 29 being XC and the 27.5 is a trail bike. With both I can comfortably stay in group rides, but do have to work a bit harder because of 2.6 tyres on the 27.5. On the trails the smaller wheels are a absolute blast, and I enjoy it tremendously. There are 6 ladies in our group on 27.5’s and on a Benoni - Kitty Hawk - Benoni they easily avg over 23km/h. All of them have done Transbaviaans, Sani2C, Tonteldoos and Berg100 on their smaller wheels. It is more important to be comfortable on the bike than wheel size, and snooty opinions to boot.

Panic braking will discipline the unwary.....

11spd and 12spd is as similar as Gauteng and Western Cape, since OP resides in Hartenbos. Fitting a bike today with 11spd is settling for 3-5 year old technology. It would be like explaining to a buyer why the previous Hilux Vigo is much the same as the current Hilux Revo. Or Discovery 3 is very much like Discovery 5. Since OP is clearly a person that uses his equipment for a long time and is very good at maintenance, it makes sense to purchase current technology as it will be in service for a good number of years.

I cannot subscribe to the concept that overkill is not acceptable. Overkill and overdo should be the norm and the standard. Anything that is not overdone (except beef) is not done to a sufficient level. As stated previously, 4 piston cool. 6 pistons; when do we get them? 8 pistons should be mandatory.

I will have to concur..... (reluctantly) Have Eagle on one bike and it works like a Swiss clock, even after a couple of times where I completely ran out of talent like Vodacom Data it still works impeccably. And shifting is near silent. Recently added a new bike to the stable and fitted it with XTR M9001. It was a revelation, Eagle cannot compare in the immediate shift and the smooth shift at that. Having grown up with Donkey Kong and Atari, I have pretty fast fingers, so multiple up of down shifts are no real issue and was not the main reason. However, the overall performance of XTR is really next level, now I can actually feel the difference when riding the two groupsets back to back. The only question I have is if XTR will survive the next time I run out of talent?

Think it is time for naming and shaming, tomorrow is Friday. Please also name the bike shop that reported it as "perfect". Share all the pics.

If you read the test conducted by the Rockstars of Enduro Mag (shared twice already), they note a couple of critical points. The size of brake rotors, quality of friction material and bedding of brakes. I had 203mm rotors on my Pyga and was regularly taking loving abuse from fellow riders about the flying saucers or serving trays attached to my wheels. However, take into consideration that a 203mm rotor accounts for as much as 18-20% more braking power. Friction material is a critical factor and goes hand in hand with bedding of your brakes. How many times have you taken the time to really do a proper session to bed in the brakes with braking cycles? Again according to the gurus at Enduro the difference between properly bedded braked and non is as much as 60% performance increase. I can strongly recommend the brake pads from Trickstuff, they retail for around 20Euro a set (depending on brake), but you can compare them with boat anchors compared to most if not all OE pads. Brakes are not really fit and forget components, they also require maintenance, a good brake service takes time, but you cannot believe the increase in performance you have after you had disassembled everything and cleaned all the mud and crud out of the brake pistons to free them up again and remove as much foreign material that increases friction between the brake piston and the caliper body.

It is not worth doing anything if you don’t overdo it.... wish someone made 6 pot brakes.

Enjoy my Giant, not using it for nav

Certainly worth considering.

My favourite Shimano brakes I've had on a bike was the SLX M675. They were awesome. Replaced them with Formula R1, and that was not the best call. Those Formula's ran way to close to the rotor and were always making a noise after the first couple of meters riding in the dust. They braked really well, but wished that I could back them away from the rotors just a bit more. I'll swop my M8000's for a set of Cura's in the blink of an eye.

Glad you did check on that Beta Blocker, that can be a terrible experience if taken in too high a dose. And you definitely do not need anything to add to what is already challenging to the extreme. Thinking of you and your family going through this very testing time. Get well.

Have XT M8000's on my bike, not particularly happy with them. They work, and you eventually stop, but only eventually. Have had them bled, serviced, blessed, cursed and many other things in order to get them to be better. Fitted Jagwire performance pads (the red ones), and they do brake a bit sooner now, bit still need to plan your braking well in advance. Compared to my Magura MT5's with Trickstuff Pads.... well there is no comparison. https://enduro-mtb.com/en/best-mtb-disc-brake-can-buy/

Forget all the fancy talk, go 12spd. There is no comparison in riding experience, the 12spd cassette changes in ratio is so small you do not feel it in your cadence. You do not necessarily have to go for the 1x12 you can also consider the 2x12 option offered by Shimano. 1x10 and 1x11 is like cheap optics. It is the down payment on the eventual expense you will have on buying what you were suppose to from the beginning.

2 bottles fitted on a BMC Fourstroke with the Lyne setup. Very happy.

https://www.evobikes.co.za/components/groupsets/sram-sx-eagle-upgrade-kit.html

Agree, give some more details. Is your Titan alloy or the carbon frame?

Have I missed it, or has the launch of SRAM SX Eagle been very low key? I see online retailers now have stock. Going on average R250.00 less than NX.... is that price gap sufficient to lure the 1x10’ers out of the Bronze Age?

Congrats Schoemies. Enjoy your new machine, good choice on the Spez.

The upgrade is now done on my DT Swiss hub as well. It is a massive improvement in immediate response when pedaling from when free wheeling. The sound is amazing, yet not loud at. Worth it!

Thanks to Redbull TV and Siri, very little repetitive stress injuries to the remote vinger.