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Bikael Molton

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,088
1,235
El Lay
yep.

Current OE stuff is often better than what we were paying premium $ for a decade ago.

Electric_City said:
OE parts.

Not all of them, but some. The bar, stem and seatpost (fixed height) might not be the latest carbon, but they're reliable and reasonably weighted too. Rear hubs? Well that's a different story. But front hubs? I rarely hear of issues. Why buy a $200 hub shell with sealed bearings when the OE one is practically the same thing but a little heavier?
I do believe that some OE stuff is still good enough to be used by serious riders until they want/need to replace it from wear.
Click to expand...
 
William42

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
4,013
775
rpet said:
yep.

Current OE stuff is often better than what we were paying premium $ for a decade ago.
Click to expand...
Truth - current OE stuff is a reasonable weight, things like 31" bars, short stems, and dropper posts are stock now, everything is tubeless or tubeless ready at least.
 
kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
42,149
13,358
Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,840
5,215
Australia
William42 said:
Truth - current OE stuff is a reasonable weight, things like 31" bars, short stems, and dropper posts are stock now, everything is tubeless or tubeless ready at least.
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The OE bar and stem on my Kona was actually pretty awesome. Bikes coming stock with proper width bars is a nice touch.

Less nice however is every bike under $5K AUD pretty much comes with NX drivetrain and Guide brakes....
 
William42

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
4,013
775
toodles said:
The OE bar and stem on my Kona was actually pretty awesome. Bikes coming stock with proper width bars is a nice touch.

Less nice however is every bike under $5K AUD pretty much comes with NX drivetrain and Guide brakes....
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It's tricky. On the one hand, shimano brakes pose a significant danger to the user with their "suddenly turn off randomly" feature. I know I've crashed really fucking hard overshooting and flat landing a drop because I couldn't brake check before what was supposed to be a small creek gap, and brakes like that should never ever be on a bike. I'd feel more fucking confident with V brakes on a disc rim with no braking track than Shimano brakes again.

On the other hand, SRAM's rebuttle feature of "lets just make the pistons stick in and leave the brake always on" seems equally unusable.

I'm not sure what the right answer is for mfg's. We haven't had a lot of problems with the cheap tektro's that come on the $500 bikes, they're not real strong, but maybe that's the answer?

And NX is shit. I had high hopes for GX and XO, until I saw a dude with maybe 500 miles on a 4 month old bike come in with a totally worn out GX chain and cassette. That was... Disappointing. Seems like drivetrains have actually gotten worse over the years.

Shit...this is the wrong thread to be sad in. Bike frames are pretty fucking on point these days, and suspension seems pretty solid. 29er geo seems to be coming along finally, and suspension companies finally putting effort into figuring out offset seems nice too
 
FlipSide

FlipSide

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2001
1,436
890
I have a GX Eagle group. It shifts, but makes horrible noises and all the pivots were super loose out of the box. It works well, but it is really unrefined. I guess it's still OK considering the price difference with XO1 if you want to save money...
The XX1 11sp group on my previous bike was possibly my favorite thing on the bike and the GX Eagle derailleur is by far the shittiest components on my new bike. The durability of the XX1 cassette was absolutely amazing. If the GX cassette is not durable, I guess I'll replace it with an XO1 if it is comparable to the XX1 in terms of durability.
 
Nick

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,905
16,472
where the trails are
William42 said:
It's tricky. ...

I'm not sure what the right answer is for mfg's. We haven't had a lot of problems with the cheap tektro's that come on the $500 bikes, they're not real strong, but maybe that's the answer?
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My $.02
I'd gladly pay a bit more for high quality, metal, serviceable calipers and MCs.
These are brakes. Make them perfect.
 
Katz

Katz

Monkey
Jun 8, 2012
371
788
Arizona
William42 said:
...I'm not sure what the right answer is for mfg's. We haven't had a lot of problems with the cheap tektro's that come on the $500 bikes, they're not real strong, but maybe that's the answer?...
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Tektro = TRP, yes?

With TRP now being acknowledged as capable of manufacturing WC-worthy brakes and their lineup expanding into AM/trail segment, maybe we'll start seeing their brakes on higher-end OE builds?

But it could be that part of OE choice is being driven by consumer demands - lots of people seem to prefer the on/off feel of Shimano brakes for one reason or another.
 
mykel

mykel

closer to Periwinkle
Apr 19, 2013
5,487
4,212
sw ontario canada
FlipSide said:
I have a GX Eagle group. It shifts, but makes horrible noises and all the pivots were super loose out of the box. It works well, but it is really unrefined. I guess it's still OK considering the price difference with XO1 if you want to save money...
The XX1 11sp group on my previous bike was possibly my favorite thing on the bike and the GX Eagle derailleur is by far the shittiest components on my new bike. The durability of the XX1 cassette was absolutely amazing. If the GX cassette is not durable, I guess I'll replace it with an XO1 if it is comparable to the XX1 in terms of durability.
Click to expand...
That was my dilemma.
I wanted to go new XTR, but between the Fuck-you world Microspline driver and then they shit the bed yet again with the cranks and I had already been sitting on the sidelines waiting....

X01 became the winner.

On first blush, it seems about the same as my 10 speed X9/X0 in initial shakedown rides
Price for performance has totally lost the plot.
For the price I paid, I was expecting much much more with regard to build quality.
We will see how it works in it's chosen environment.

Overall once you consider the gruppo cost, so far the only thing that impresses me is the cassette machining....

meh, what do I know, just a grumpy old mane whinging on teh internetz.
 
Sandwich

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,826
7,073
borcester rhymes
ooh, are we bitching about SRAM? I have had exactly one derailleur related problem in the last 5 years...that was last week. In the last 5 years, how long have I owned a SRAM derailleur? One week.
 
StiHacka

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,508
In hell. Welcome!
I've never had problems with X9 9sp or now X1 11sp SRAM RDs. They are significantly nicer to deal with when removing the rear wheel, too.
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,795
5,625
Ottawa, Canada
jonKranked said:
XT and SLX 12 speed. With microspline. Just like I predicted.
Click to expand...
Are you Nostradumass?!

I like 11sp. and I find 10-42 is plenty of range. I like the feel of Shimano shifters, and the weight (and durability) of XO cassettes. So that's what I run. With Race Face cranks, a Wolftooth chainring and a KMC chain.

This push to proprietary chains/teeth/bolt-circle patterns/axles sizes/cassette mounting profiles is bullshit. And it's NOT What's Right with the Industry.
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,840
5,215
Australia
StiHacka said:
Tons of better alternatives for XD.
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I just wish SRAM had made a slighter wider range 11spd XD-driver cassette. I ran 12spd GX for about 200kms before the deraileur suicided. They warrantied it - I sold the groupset and went back to 11spd SRAM shifting on the ugly, heavy 11-46 XT cluster and it's been flawless.

I wish the introduction of the 12spd standard didn't sound the death bell for R&D in the 11spd range because I have had really good luck with it. The 12spd stuff seems designed around 29er wheel sizes because the mech hangs crazy low on a 27.5 wheel and is just an invitation for rox.
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,147
10,693
AK
toodles said:
I just wish SRAM had made a slighter wider range 11spd XD-driver cassette. I ran 12spd GX for about 200kms before the deraileur suicided. They warrantied it - I sold the groupset and went back to 11spd SRAM shifting on the ugly, heavy 11-46 XT cluster and it's been flawless.

I wish the introduction of the 12spd standard didn't sound the death bell for R&D in the 11spd range because I have had really good luck with it. The 12spd stuff seems designed around 29er wheel sizes because the mech hangs crazy low on a 27.5 wheel and is just an invitation for rox.
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Idk, lots of people are happy with 11 and racers especially are keeping it alive. Idk if sram has plans to kill it, but I haven’t heard anything. X01 and higher 11spd is what’s right IMO and if I can’t get up the hill with 30x42, I might as well just get off and walk anyway. I’ve gotten crazy life out of the 11 X01 cassettes, but not having 2 or 4 more teeth isn’t that important to me. Would be better to have more options with 11, I suppose, but I think the perception that you need harder gears (be able to run a 34-36 front ring) is totally invalid. This situation never pans out in reality and it’s just someone that wants to “have the gears to ride to the trailhead while I pedal at 30rpm”. I was going 41mph on my fatbike limited by wind resistance the other night with 32x11-28, so I sure as hell didn’t need higher gearage. Wind resistance becomes the big deal at those speeds no matter what bike.
 
toodles

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,840
5,215
Australia
I don't think they'll discontinue 11spd for the time being (hell you can still buy 9 and 10spd stuff - probably even 7 and 8). But I don't think we're gonna see SRAM launch a new 11spd 10-45 cluster or anything soon. It seems once a new cog is added, all R&D in funnelled into the cutting edge stuff. XTs band-aid fix of chucking the huge 46T cog on their cassette might be the last thing they bother doing to the old 11spd.

I know the new XTR has the option to be run as an 11spd setup, but IIRC the spacing remains at 12spd standard and they just drop the biggest cog. That spacing difference means that any new 11spd XTR and XT stuff won't work with existing 11spd setups unfortunately.
 
Bikael Molton

Bikael Molton

goofy for life
Jun 9, 2003
4,088
1,235
El Lay
I like my Code stopping power, but yes the rear one is always on and squeaking.

Rear rotor is probably out of spec by now but I'm too lazy to check.
 
dump

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,470
5,108
Jm_ said:
I was going 41mph on my fatbike limited by wind resistance the other night with 32x11-28, so I sure as hell didn’t need higher gearage. Wind resistance becomes the big deal at those speeds no matter what bike.
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What - coasting down a hill? 8" tires? Or just pedaling 200rpm? My 32-11 taps our around 25mph.
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,147
10,693
AK
maxyedor said:
41mph is pretty tough to pull off on my road-bike with a 56x11, and 25c tires. I call possible shenanigans, or Garmin left on while driving home.
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Downhill! But isn’t that where everyone says they “spin out”, preventing them from going faster?
 
chris_f

chris_f

Monkey
Jun 20, 2007
390
409
I feel like this belongs here: Lord Bummer seems to smile more in videos after they launched their own bikes. Makes him a bit harder to dislike. Smiling riders is definitely what's right with the industry.
 
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