Any mountain bikers out there 2.0

Well I did a maiden distance-ride this morning of eight miles and it was AWESOME! I was a little intimidated at first since there was so much different (including the first day of cooler weather gear) but I took it easy and everything became fairly natural in no time.

What a dream this bike is to ride compared to the heavy GT. Eight miles felt too short but I did feel like I was using some different leg muscles so decided not to push it on the first ride. Shifting was much easier to keep track of than I thought. Even with my vision issues I was able to easily look down at the rear cog and front crank to check position.

I did spend a fair amount of time in the upright position due to the hoods needing adjustment so I had to keep mindful that I could not shift or brake from there. The “gel tape” was very comfortable. Thanks to you guys, I had my tire pressure right so I often forgot that I was on a rigid frame. The carbon fork and seat post absorbed some as well. The chip-seal section felt like glass. Gravel sections were well received as well.

My efforts with the seat adjustment seemed pretty damn close but felt a tad nose high. Also the bars felt good but the hoods were felt just a tad too far while the lower position felt too close. So when I got home I rolled the bar up in the front one degree (the bar has markings) and tilted the seat nose 1/4” down in front.

I also found some SHIMANO PD-M8100 Cross Country Race SPD pedals at my local shop and mounted those. They came with fresh cleats so I changed those on the shoes too. $140 + tax. They have the Ergon SM Sport Men in stock so I might try that next.

Today was the real test. Buying something unseen online and hoping for a good fit, is a bit of a leap of faith. This one really paid off. I could no be happier with the outcome. Just hoping Indian Summer will stick around a bit longer.

Shooter McGavin said:

I have always just used: weight/7= tire pressure for the front and add 2lbs to the rear. That is for MTB tires.

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Yeah on the app I forgot to add gear and bike to the weight. That said, the pressure it spec-ed seems to work perfectly. I’ll compare your math to the app’s output. Thanks….

What is the advantage of tubeless tires? I purchased a pretty nice mountain bike and it came tubeless (with sealant) and presta valves and in a month it has already had more flats than the old Polygon bike with tubes and schrader valves did in years. My pump doesn't work with the presta valve so a little adaptor needs to be used. It's not a issue getting a new pump- but before doing so want to make sure that it is a advantage to keep this style -- because right now am considering drilling the rim and going old school.

The little presta valve is just so fragile... sometimes when you are installing/removing the cap it wants to turn at the rim and starts leaking... and when you unscrew the top to add air it is very easy to bend.

Am I just having bad luck or is this a more temperamental system that people put up with to try to run lower psi and not pinch tubes? On dirt bikes (motorcycles) I have switched to mousse inserts and those are amazing.

SmartDonkey said:

What is the advantage of tubeless tires? I purchased a pretty nice mountain bike and it came tubeless (with sealant) and presta valves and in a month it has already had more flats than the old Polygon bike with tubes and schrader valves did in years. My pump doesn't work with the presta valve so a little adaptor needs to be used. It's not a issue getting a new pump- but before doing so want to make sure that it is a advantage to keep this style -- because right now am considering drilling the rim and going old school.

The little presta valve is just so fragile... sometimes when you are installing/removing the cap it wants to turn at the rim and starts leaking... and when you unscrew the top to add air it is very easy to bend.

Am I just having bad luck or is this a more temperamental system that people put up with to try to run lower psi and not pinch tubes? On dirt bikes (motorcycles) I have switched to mousse inserts and those are amazing.

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Lower pressure is the biggest thing, the nut on the stem sounds like it's not quite tight enoughI have much better luck with flats with tubeless also. I use the E13 Shraeder valve stems. I despise the run of the mill presta tubeless valve stems. Orange seal endurance for sealant.
I do use the Tubolight SL inserts to help with side wall strength and damaging rims ( somewhat like a mousse inserts that only fills part of the volume. ) when we get dirt bikes soon, I plan on running mousseballs or something similar.

missed said:

Lower pressure is the biggest thing, the nut on the stem sounds like it's not quite tight enoughI have much better luck with flats with tubeless also. I use the E13 Shraeder valve stems. I despise the run of the mill presta tubeless valve stems. Orange seal endurance for sealant.
I do use the Tubolight SL inserts to help with side wall strength and damaging rims ( somewhat like a mousse inserts that only fills part of the volume. ) when we get dirt bikes soon, I plan on running mousseballs or something similar.

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A couple of the guys in our moto group run Mousse inserts and the others run Tubliss set up. I have Tubliss on both my bikes and have had great luck. The only issue I have with the mousse inserts is they breakdown over time and need to be replaced every year ish.
$175 per insert is kinda expensive, but they won’t leave you stranded with a flat. There are trade offs for sure. (Sorry for the moto interjection….back to MTB’s)

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On dirt bikes I have tubliss and mousse- prefer the mousse but the tubliss has worked ok. The high pressure tube will stay at 110psi but I've had a hard time getting the low pressure seal and it slowly seeps- but it takes a week to lose pressure so it hasn't messed up rides. I get a few years and multiple tires out of a mousse- but I don't have to ride pavement (that's the heat that kills them) and keep them lubed up very good with seal glide. I tape up the rim instead of using a rim strip (keeps it inside better) and cut the valve stem out of a old tube and install it so that I can put more lube in without removing the tire.

As far as mountain bikes,

Thanks for the advice- ordering up some E-13 schrader valves. They look like the best solution for me, and (hopefully reading correctly) wont have to drill the rim out any bigger. The Presta valves on my bike must be low quality- because if they were all like this they would have never caught on. Had to air the tire up tonight before a little ride- and when I went to remove the valve cap it removed the stem instead because it had some dirt in the cap.

I'm trying to find what size I got. I know at some point I got the wrong size and had to order the other size. Fairly sure I got the short ones and they were too short for the DTswiss carbon wheels.

SmartDonkey said:

^
On dirt bikes I have tubliss and mousse- prefer the mousse but the tubliss has worked ok. The high pressure tube will stay at 110psi but I've had a hard time getting the low pressure seal and it slowly seeps- but it takes a week to lose pressure so it hasn't messed up rides. I get a few years and multiple tires out of a mousse- but I don't have to ride pavement (that's the heat that kills them) and keep them lubed up very good with seal glide. I tape up the rim instead of using a rim strip (keeps it inside better) and cut the valve stem out of a old tube and install it so that I can put more lube in without removing the tire.

Click to expand...

Trophy Case said:

A couple of the guys in our moto group run Mousse inserts and the others run Tubliss set up. I have Tubliss on both my bikes and have had great luck. The only issue I have with the mousse inserts is they breakdown over time and need to be replaced every year ish.
$175 per insert is kinda expensive, but they won’t leave you stranded with a flat. There are trade offs for sure. (Sorry for the moto interjection….back to MTB’s)View attachment 8786108

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I'll have some limited pavement riding on mine. I was eyeballing the Tubliss. There is another new insert system that the Highland cycles guy was talking about also. I'll have to hit you to up on a bunch of questions. We were originally set to buy a couple Beta's a 300 or maybe a 250 for me and a 200 for the kid. Due to the project that will never quit costing more than it should have, were looking at a bit at older bikes and looking at the Husky TE 150 and 300 like 2018-2020. I'll have to drag this up in the motor thread