Any mountain bikers out there 2.0

[Holliday]

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.

 

[Holliday]

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

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….

 

[jbell]

That is awesome! Enjoy it, it's a great sport.

 

[SmartDonkey]

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.

 

[missed]

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.

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.

 

[jbell]

These are the move for tubeless valves, they never clog and flow great!

https://reservewheels.com/products/fillmore-tubeless-valves

 

[Trophy Case]

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.

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)

 

[SmartDonkey]

^
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.

 

[missed]

Quick Fill Schrader Tubeless Valves

Save 25% on Naranja or Eggplant while supplies last! e*thirteen’s Quick Fill Valves are a game changer in the world of tubeless wheel systems. Renowned for their unique 4-part design, sealant doesn’t pass through the valve core- instead it injects directly from the bottle nozzle into the tire...

www.ethirteen.com

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.

 

[missed]

^
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.

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

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

 

[jbell]

Great ride on some great gravel roads the other day. Showing my daughter and her husband some of Newton County.

 

[kthomas]

Grew up mountain biking, but haven't done much since I was in my teens. Recently went with a friend in Sedona and it reignited the spark.

During COVID my wife decided to get into mountain biking, she bought a base level 2020 Scott Spark 970 and upgraded the bike with carbon wheelsets that are tubeless, carbon handlebars, deity pedals, I think an upgraded dropper post and perhaps some other small goodies.

She ended up hating mountain biking, so I've inherited her bike. Thinking I'll eventually upgrade the suspension as that's the current weak point, probably to a Manitou Mattoc Comp fork and Mara Comp Inline shock. But in the meantime I'll ride it as is.

 

[kthomas]

I moved to North West Arkansas a little over a year ago there is very little traffic here around my house even on the paved roads. It's a nice change.

Just have to watch out for the wood boogers

 

[steve123]

Some recent happenings.

My old bud from high school came up for some fun so I took him long range shooting which he'd never done before. I had him hitting the 150Y and 300Y steel with my 22rf and from 300Y to 785Y with my 6mmBR Precision rifle. It was windy so the challenge was there. He thought that was really cool!

Yesterday we went riding my EMTB's up near the AZ Snowbowl ski area. We brought two trucks and parked one down low 5 miles and with the other we brought the bikes up. This trail has some technical areas with lots of rocks all over and quite a few drop offs. I had to keep stopping to make sure he hadn't wrecked but made it the whole way only needing to put my foot down once due to not picking the best line. He had to walk the bike down in some places but didn't wreck so he did well.

We got back to his truck parked at the bottom and he'd left the key in his stuff in my truck, eek lol, so we had to ride all the way back to the upper truck. I always wanted to ride the switchbacks on the main road down with a bike so I took advantage and did that going as fast as I could. About the time he had backed my truck into the lower parking space I had arrived. I got my bike to 35.2 mph which is the fastest I've gotten it so far.

Oh and the fall colors on the Aspens were awesome, sure was pretty!!!

Class 1 EMTB's are limited to 20 mph then all E-power is cut off so my legs were thrashed by the time all this was done, lol!

Sporty 65 year old guys still having fun even though olds-heimer's kicked our ass yesterday.

 

[tarheel7734]

I'm wanting to pick up a mountain bike again fairly soon. I'm looking at the giant reign sx again as I loved my last one as well as a specialized enduro comp.

 

[Holliday]

These are the move for tubeless valves, they never clog and flow great!

https://reservewheels.com/products/fillmore-tubeless-valves

Damn, those make me want to go tubeless…..I hate standard presta.

 

[flogxal]

Yeah I am a bit heavier at 203 in my boxer briefs. Down almost 20lbs since this time last year.

I stumbled across a neat app yesterday that calculates proper air pressure based on environmentals, weight, tires, surface etc. it did not have my 28” tire size but 27.5 is close enough.

‎Bike Tire Pressure Calc

‎The Bike Tire Pressure Calculator app powered by Wolf Tooth allows cyclists to find their ideal tire pressure based on terrain and riding conditions for the route ahead. Cyclists share details for wheel size, tire width, rider weight, riding temperature, and more to receive a specific...

apps.apple.com

View attachment 8782022

I used to just run max on the road with the full suspension but as you mentioned the lower pressure turns out to be faster. The road I am on is that fresh done chip seal.

Why Chip Seal Is the Absolute Worst

All the totally objective reasons why this road treatment is terrible

www.bicycling.com

Nice work on the weight loss. If you know you have more to lose just from cycling etc, keep an eye on your tire pressure. The lighter you are, the lower the PSI you can get away with. The PSI that worked as your "soft as possible without flats or rim dings" 20 lbs heavier ago, would be kinda pingy now that you're 20 lbs lighter.

 

[flogxal]

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.

They're all pretty finicky, they arose as a mechanically simple valve for road-focused bicycles long ago. They've always been easy to mess up, the core's thin threaded stem gets bent very easily. To my mind, they were not designed for everyone, but for people who are finicky by nature.

Until about 5 yrs ago, nobody really tried to improve the simple Presta, but that Fillmore jbell linked is probably the smartest improvement. I will buy those next time I buy valves.

The traditional removable-core Presta will clog very easily with the same latex solution that is good at filling little holes in the tire, and sealing the tire against the rim. It is annoying to have to clean it. And it's hard to push a lot of air past the assembled (with core) Presta. When I seat tubeless tires first time, I remove the core and add a Schrader adapter to the valve, and use an air compressor to seat the tire. Then install sealant through the valve tube, then put in the Presta core, and then pump it back up.

With an MTB Schrader valve you won't have as many worries on sealant clogs, and you can push air faster. And use the same pump/chuck that you use for car, truck, motorcycle tires.

 

[Rthur]

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

Is that Silverton?

R