First ride - 2017 S-Works Epic

[Jurgens Smit]

Would you say the eagle is worth the upgrade?

I have been looking at it, and I must say the 50t chainring looks unnecessary. 

[Odinson]

Would you say the eagle is worth the upgrade?

I have been looking at it, and I must say the 50t chainring looks unnecessary. 

 

The Eagle doesn't have a 50t chainring.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

The Eagle doesn't have a 50t chainring.

I was gonna say you're doff, but then I engaged my brain and actually read. 

[stefmeister]

Would you say the eagle is worth the upgrade?

I have been looking at it, and I must say the 50t chainring looks unnecessary. 

That 50t gear looks hideously big.

If I ever need more top end I'll just htfu and up-size my chainring.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Would you say the eagle is worth the upgrade?

I have been looking at it, and I must say the 50t chainring looks unnecessary. 

50t CASSETTE cog allows you to go up a couple of sizes on the chainring, which increases your top end speed capacity

[stefmeister]

The Eagle doesn't have a 50t chainring.

Goeie begrip, halwe woord.

[worriesnot]

The Eagle doesn't have a 50t chainring.

 

Ja, but I can like to imagine   ...

[EmptyB]

Interesting indeed. Being forced onto a 29er, too (although given the level of this bike, hardly kicking and screaming) I am in a similar position - and hey, if I can score a few minutes here and there, I'll take what I can get

So when you going to slap on the grip shift?

[Jurgens Smit]

The Eagle doesn't have a 50t chainring.

Oops my bad

As Myles pointed out cassette cog.

[Jurgens Smit]

50t CASSETTE cog allows you to go up a couple of sizes on the chainring, which increases your top end speed capacity

 

So it should work nicely with a 34/36 up front, and then still leave you with enough gears for the toughest of climbs?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

So it should work nicely with a 34/36 up front, and then still leave you with enough gears for the toughest of climbs?

Correct. 

[Odinson]

So it should work nicely with a 34/36 up front, and then still leave you with enough gears for the toughest of climbs?

 

Personally, if you live and ride in Gauteng (mostly) and have an Eagle grouppo, I wouldn't go for anything smaller than a 36T chainring.

[intern]

Would you say the eagle is worth the upgrade?

I have been looking at it, and I must say the 50t chainring looks unnecessary. 

I would say no, stick with what you have until it wears out. 3x9 has heaps of overlap and overlap is where I find my happy place. Did a second ride yesterday which felt much better, but still got the feeling that I had too much or too little gear pedaling most of the time.

 

Did the same route and again, only went up to the 32x36 cog, so I have ordered the 36T chainring which should give better range. Out of stock at present, though, so I will have to wait for it to arrive.

 

Of course, if you have some loot available and like having new stuff, there is no reason not to upgrade - but will it make you faster or better? I doubt it. It's not a 'must have' by any means.

[intern]

So it should work nicely with a 34/36 up front, and then still leave you with enough gears for the toughest of climbs?

Absolutely. 34 would be way better, I reckon 36 will be ideal although could be a bit hard on anything over 20 percent or sustained/long 15 percent plus hills.

[intern]

So when you going to slap on the grip shift?

It's on order, should arrive today or tomorrow....really looking forward to that. I reckon it will transform the handling - I was much better on downhill and singletrack yesterday on second ride, but still didn't like the trigger at all and found a lot of my attention focused on that rather than the trail.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

It's on order, should arrive today or tomorrow....really looking forward to that. I reckon it will transform the handling - I was much better on downhill and singletrack yesterday on second ride, but still didn't like the trigger at all and found a lot of my attention focused on that rather than the trail.

Yeah dude. If you're used to grippy it's difficult to get comfortable with triggers again. Also the ability to just grab a fistful of gears in times of need is very handy. If you'll excuse the pun