In reply to ultraclyde :
Is the sealant working for you when they do get a puncture or are you getting sprayed with it as it spins around and having to stop? How chunky is that sealant as well, maybe adding something to it could help it plug better if it isn't up to the task.
Some tires shed tiny bits of stone/glass/whatever and just leave you with a tiny cut put no puncture, others just seem to suck them in leading to constant problems.
oh, I'm getting sprayed with it lol. It's all over me and the bike, running down the frame and dripping off. This is a serious hole when it happens. The sealant kind of half-way seals it. What I've been doing is sticking a plug in it and then the sealant seals up around the plug enough I can reinflate it and ride it home. I checked it this morning and that fix is still holding air. I'll not too that the new sealant (Orange Seal Endurance) didn't seem to handle it as well as the old Stan's I was running in the last tires. The Orange seal has some bits in it but the stans doesn't. The thing that's a real PITA is that now I really need to pop the tire off the rim and add more sealant. I feel like I lost at least 1/4 of what's in there.
I've ridden this stretch on the old tires many times and never had a problem and there's always been glass and crap everywhere. I really think there's some kind of unique debris in that area (literally, 50-100 foot section) that's never been there before. Roofing nails? Jacks? Mini tank traps? I don't know, but I'm tempted to walk the shoulder and see what I can find.
I just emailed the city director of public works to find out if I can request a street sweeper run in that area. We'll see what happens.
I already got a response form the guy at public works, said they'd put it on the sweeping schedule. That was easier than I thought, let's hear it for local government. (celebrations pending actual sweeping, of course)
In reply to ultraclyde :
If you're having to plug it then that's a big hole to deal with and it probably doesn't matter what tires/sealant you run. Hopefully the sweeping makes the difference
Helped a friend reassemble her gravel bike over the past week or so. The frame is a custom Ti True North she had built a year or so ago and then had Velocolour do some painting on this spring. The frame and paint are really gorgeous along with a custom head badge to match. We ran into a broken ceramic piston in one fo her GRX brakes but she was able to source an XT caliper also with a cracked piston that we were able to part out.
Pictures aren't great from the bike room.
Man, that's pretty.
ultraclyde said:The thing that's a real PITA is that now I really need to pop the tire off the rim and add more sealant. I feel like I lost at least 1/4 of what's in there.
Why not pull the valve core and inject more sealant that way?
In reply to 93EXCivic :
I've always found it easier and less messy to just pop the rim off in one spot and pour it in. I don't currently have a syringe anyway. The big PITA of that process is that if I'm going to pop the rim, the OCD part of me wants to pour out the sealant, pull the plug ,and glue in an interior patch while I'm at it.
I've always injected sealant through the valve stem. Pretty much since 2014 when Stan himself helped me set up my wheels tubeless at the Windham, NY World Cup event when I was doing the amateur DH race (turns out Stan's is based in NY not far from Windham). That's how he did it - using the 1 oz bottles to inject sealant through the valve - at least 2 oz per tire for mtn bike tires. I buy the sealant in bulk, but still keep some of those bottles on hand for easy measuring. The Sun-Ringle wheelsets I've bought over the years includes two bottles, so I have a ton of them.
ultraclyde said:In reply to 93EXCivic :
I've always found it easier and less messy to just pop the rim off in one spot and pour it in. I don't currently have a syringe anyway. The big PITA of that process is that if I'm going to pop the rim, the OCD part of me wants to pour out the sealant, pull the plug ,and glue in an interior patch while I'm at it.
I use One of these. It have always found it a lot less of a mess then popping the tire off.
I haven't updated my 2-wheel fleet since the last pedalthread disappeared. Now that the Kid's soccer season is over we'll be back on the trails regularly (avoiding a bike injury during the season is important). I was heavy into mountain biking when I was a teenager (the late 90s) and saw the rapid development and leapfrog improvement of technology. My bike was stolen when I was in college and I didn't own another bike for a long time. In my 20s I moved to Maryland and learned to surf. There just wasn't time for any other activities for a while.
The original go-to: 2003ish Trek 6700. Pretty light (sub 28lbs), agile & old-school fun. I bought a 6500 w/disc brakes new around 2007 but sold it while I was having my house built. Literally every dollar was needed. I think I paid $150 for this one a few years ago when I realized Florida actually had quite a few places to ride mountain bikes. The fork was flat but otherwise was in nice shape. I aired up the fork and all was good. Last year I rebuilt the fork with new seals & dust caps (per recommendation of someone on this forum) . With fresh oil it works like new. Last year I partially backed over it with my car. Luckily, only the crank arm was bent. The shifting recently got a bit wonky so I replaced the cassette and chain. It'll be tough to do, but I think I'm actually going to sell this one. I've added a new bike to the garage and space in the garage is pretty tight.
A few years back I rented a Santa Cruz in Sedona and it was mind-blowing. I accidently blasted through a bouldered creek bed at 20 mph and couldn't believe I didn't die. Last spring I decided now that I'm old I should give full suspension another shot. I spent a few weeks closely watching CL & FB and when this superlight was posted for sale for a reasonable non-COVID price I jumped on it. I figured either the Kid or I could ride it. WIN! The wheels were converted to tubeless up-size tires. The larger tires (still on 26" wheels) do make it feel a little slower/heavier even though it weighs ~29 lbs but the travel is pretty plush, so it's probably more mental than anything else.
Finally, my newest bike is a 2010ish Rocky Mountain Element 30. I bought it a few weeks ago for $225. This replaces my son's smaller diamondback hard-tail which I sold literally the day before I saw this one posted. The seller was a roadie who tried trail riding but didn't take to mountain biking. The rear mainstay is carbon. It has a Marzochi Bomber fork. The front tire does look a bit skinny (2.1), but it feels pretty quick and rides pretty smooth. It weighs 30 lbs (according to the bathroom scale). Maybe because I grew up riding aggressive angles, this one feels more natural to me than the Santa Cruz. I may need a slightly longer seatpost if I'm going to keep riding this one because at 19" it's right at the lower size limit for me (I'm 6'2"). It has an expensive-looking seat w/titanium rails which is super comfortable...but since it's just plastic would have caused some chaffing if I didn't wear padded shorts.
Anyhow, I'm interested in any thoughts or experiences you've had with these bikes and if you have any advice on making them perform better. My Rocky Mountain and Trek look comically small/outdated compared to most bikes I see on the trails these days. I don't really care about what other people think, but I do wonder if I'm missing out on an improved ride from bigger wheel size & slacker geometry.
Before buying the Rocky Mountain I considered selling the Trek & Santa Cruz upgrading to newer tech with a 27.5 or 29 wheel. The biggest surprise to me is the weight penalty from buying a newer, low/mid end FS bike. The polygon Sisku, which ranges from $1k to $2500 weighs 37lbs at both trim levels. $1k hardtails seem to still be close to 30 lbs. 95% of the riding I do is singletrack with some light trail features. Most trails I ride in FL tend to squeeze lots of miles into a small space, so there tend to be lots of corners and not a lot of high-speed sections. Occasionally I'll visit a trail with more advanced features (Santos Vortex), or technical sections where FS can help (Grahms's Swamp) but frankly I'm not willing full-send big features that seem to risky. I did have a carbon Miyata back in the 90s (a friend sold me his sponsored race bike)...which was amazing. My bike budget is pretty limited, so I'll probably rule-out carbon. While I appreciate the tech that goes into the used-car-money high-end bikes these days...I'd rather buy used cars with that $$.
In reply to Hoondavan :
not in stock right now, but set up an email alert that will tell you when a large is in stock.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/vitus-mythique-27-vrx-mountain-bike-2021/rp-prod195567
this is one of the most value packed bikes you can buy for $2200 and it has nice components for the price.
you'll definitely want a large (or maybe an xl if you like a longer reach) if your 6'2", i'm 5'9" and i'm getting a large if they ever come in stock.
In reply to Hoondavan :
There's nothing wrong with the bikes you have as long as they are being ridden and you are having fun on them. If you're thinking about an upgrade see what your local shops have for demo bikes or demo days (e.g. Trek shows up with a fleet of demo bikes at the trail head for test riding) at the trails around you. It's a great way to try a variety of bikes hopefully somewhere you are already familiar with riding. You won't be pressured to buy anything on the spot but they may get an email address out of you as part of the signout process. Be warned though, if you get on the right bike it will leave a lasting impression and spoil what you have already for you. I'm 6'3" and that height is all in my legs which means I tower above my bikes, my first ride on a 29er blew my mind and I never enjoyed another ride on the 26" bike I had, that was around 2011.
adam525i said:In reply to Hoondavan :
There's nothing wrong with the bikes you have as long as they are being ridden and you are having fun on them. If you're thinking about an upgrade see what your local shops have for demo bikes or demo days (e.g. Trek shows up with a fleet of demo bikes at the trail head for test riding) at the trails around you. It's a great way to try a variety of bikes hopefully somewhere you are already familiar with riding. You won't be pressured to buy anything on the spot but they may get an email address out of you as part of the signout process. Be warned though, if you get on the right bike it will leave a lasting impression and spoil what you have already for you. I'm 6'3" and that height is all in my legs which means I tower above my bikes, my first ride on a 29er blew my mind and I never enjoyed another ride on the 26" bike I had, that was around 2011.
That's a really good point. I was going to do a demo-day last spring...but COVID happened and everything was cancelled.
IMO depends on what are where you are riding. If you like downhill speed, the new style geo is much better. If you like slow speed tech climbing or if most of your trails are flat blues and green, a new geo mtb probably won't be a massive upgrade.
Anyone think I could get a remote lockout rear shock cheaper than this? This type of shock is rare in general and is hardly ever sold used:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08Y8MFGMD/
Changing the rear shock, which in this case will require a custom bellcrank (since only one 150mm remote lockout shock was ever made and is NLA) will probably be one of the last mods done to this bike, it's pretty deep into the diminishing returns for a cheap bike now. Only other things I'm planning to do are put on some wider cheap carbon handlebars and a wider ranged 8spd cassette that are on the way. If I can find a wider front wheel I may increase tire width up to 2.4" and that's it. Here it is with the 8spd rear conversion, new Alexrims QR wheels and new Bucklos 120mm remote lockout fork:
Also running a homemade insert on the rear now, it's so easy to make from piping insulation I couldn't imagine buying one now. Oh, another mod I did was a clipless pedal system, under $100 total...if you don't count the $50 shoes I bought and decided not to use, need to resell them now...
Other options for the rear shock that wouldn't require a custom bellcrank could be a less-cheap coil shock ($80), an adjustable-damping coil shock ($120), or a cheap dual-air shock ($90)
Leaning towards keeping the stock bellcrank and getting that adjustable damping coil shock or cheap dual-air shock, not sure which one to go with...I rarely do extended offroad downhill riding but most rides involve some extended climbing, so that's a point for the dual-air shock. The air shock will need an occasional top-up, but my current coil shock's spring seat ring also slips and needs to be "topped up" as well, although that can be done with my bare hands. The dual-air shock is also more adjustable, effectively offering adjustable stiffness and rebound, while with the coil shock you can only adjust rebound, and only have limited stiffness adjustment by swapping springs (I have a 750lb/in and was going to order one with an 850lb-in spring).
I had good luck bringing in a cheapo convertible helmet (mostly for camera positioning options) from Aliexpress and will try ordering my rear shock from there as well.
Should we move this to the Motorcycle and Bicycle sub-forum?
Seeing this thread bumped up reminds me that I should probably get out on my bike and ride. It's been at least a month since I rode last. Currently spending 100% of my free time between training a puppy and wrenching on projects. Gotta get back out there!
One of these came up on Amazon and I got it! AWW YISS!!
Just killed a host of terrible noises the bike started making recently with a rear shock clean & lube, but there's one noise left, and it started after I put on a different cassette before the last ride. It's a creak coming from the rear wheel area, once per revolution, unaffected by pedaling, but is greatly affected by weight - leaning way back makes it worse, leaning way forward silences it. So far I've tried checking for brake drag, cleaning the dropouts and axle ends and re-checking skewer tightness. Any ideas?
Edit: Sounds very similar to this problem, the noise is also unaffected by braking: https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/43962/regular-squeak-from-rear-wheel
Also noticed that I get some creaks or clicks when I get off the bike and identified the wheel rotation point where the squeak is made. I remembered one other thing I did when changing the cassette, I put a few drops of dry chain lube into the rear suspension bushings. The noise really seems to be coming from the wheel itself though.
Edit2: Also sounds similar to this problem which turned out to be loose spokes so I'll check for that:
https://www.singletracks.com/forums/topic/i-have-an-annoying-creak-from-the-rear-wheel-need/
Update: Found a spoke practically flapping in the breeze at the creak point, with the nipple sunk way into the rim, no idea how it got like that. Tightening it up fixed it.
So I'm sitting here all excited to get my super-rare 150mm remote lockout air shock today, I check on the order status, and SURPRISE, it shows undeliverable, apparently having turned around just 2 days after it was ordered for no apparent reason! First time I've seen a silent failure like this on an Amazon order. I immediately ordered a 2nd one, if all goes well I'll have that one on the 20th 
I can't help myself when I see orphans.
This big old lug popped up on Marketplace with bent wheels and chips and scratches.
But I felt sorry for it, so off I went with my wife on a Road Trip. (I love driving, she loves riding)
Still haven't figured out what my plans are, but I couldn't let it get scrapped.
Same thing happened to my second remote lockout rear shock order, went 2 weeks before becoming mysteriously undeliverable. For now here's my bike with its lame stock cheapo coil shock, new cheapo CF handlebars, new ultra-rare 11-34t megarange cassette (it was another huge PITA to get that, thinking about ordering a spare), and some rusty bees:
Update: Ordered a 3rd one from Amazon, nowhere else even claims to have them in stock.
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