2024 What Are You Doing To The Bike This Year??

[Rudi Riet]

Good excuse for the poster to come see a bike show... Philly is in March; Portland OR is in August.

I can vouch for Philly: great show, awesome to meet the builders and see what can be done.

Kinda bummed that it's been moved to March - that means I can't go to it anymore as it conflicts with end-of-season races.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Personally, no interest whatsoever in ti frames. I've broken two (yes, long ago), and though I've only taken spins of four or five since, they all had that nice ti ride, but the tradeoff was crap snap when you stood up and put the whip to it.

Ti has come a long way since then. The tubes are no longer surplus military tubing and are custom drawn for bicycle construction. They use both 3/2.5 and 6/4 depending on desired ride qualities, rider build, etc.

I've been on ti that is overly soft and ti that is brutally stiff - it all depends on who is building it and to what end they're building the frame.

 

[cantunamunch]

I've been on ti that is overly soft and ti that is brutally stiff - it all depends on who is building it and to what end they're building the frame.

Exactly - and the same with steel really. Finding the right builder might not be automatic going with but off-the shelf frames will be a guessing game at best.

 

[Tony Storaro]

Exactly - and the same with steel really. Finding the right builder might not be automatic going with but off-the shelf frames will be a guessing game at best.

Really? There are steel frames that are overly stiff and harsh?

 

[dan ross]

Road bike- nothing - but that will no doubt change
MTB - new pedals, new tubeless setup unless I decide I can’t handle the foam . likely still dialing in the cassette.
Grocery getter : (92 rock hopper) whatever my parts bin has . Honestly this is the bike I ride the most because it’s easy and I don’t worry about it.I I switched it out last summer to a 1x9 which works great for its purpose.
I can’t help screw around with my bikes but it’s gotten harder to raid the parts bin now that standards are proliferating at a stupid rate.
The real question is it’s ski season so why am I even thinking about my bikes?

 

[dan ross]

Ti has come a long way since then. The tubes are no longer surplus military tubing and are custom drawn for bicycle construction. They use both 3/2.5 and 6/4 depending on desired ride qualities, rider build, etc.

I've been on ti that is overly soft and ti that is brutally stiff - it all depends on who is building it and to what end they're building the frame.

Exactly - find a builder who specializes in Ti. Otherwise the seat post may treat your backside the way a pogo stick treats the sidewalk.
I think @Dave Petersen has a beautiful Serotta Colorado Ti . I’ve ridden them and they are all now 30 years old but they are a beautiful ride and can easily go another 30 years.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Really? There are steel frames that are overly stiff and harsh?

I rode a steel frame built with Reynolds 953 tubing that was intended for criterium racing. It was as brutal as many alu frame racing bikes: not a complete ass hatchet but not the buttery smoothness typically associated with steel. Thus the purpose-built aspect of things: pretty much any material can be cajoled into certain qualities by the right builder.

 

[ZionPow]

New chain and rebuild Fox fork and rear shock.

 

[cantunamunch]

Really? There are steel frames that are overly stiff and harsh?

Indisputably yes. And badly balanced for the rider. With weird resonances that are discovered only by the rider when the moon and stars and tires are just so.

Aside from @Rudi Riet s crit example above, in the high performance world Japanese keirin frames are just plan nasty to civilians, even the keirin frames that are specifically made for riders in their 40s and are approaching retirement. The ones made for young riders are

But never mind, cheap "gas pipe" steel bikes can be stiff and harsh; I call my current allroad bike Steel Misery for very good reason, and not just because it evokes swords from Crouching Tiger/ Hidden Dragon. I've spent quadruple the original cost of the bike on componentry and changes to get ride quality.

So if the poster was buying a bespoke frame from either Ti or Steel, presumably the tubeset is not cheap commodity steel, presumably the builder is good at taking rider body parameters and pedaling style into account, presumably they know what they're doing in building a balanced frame to those body sizes (Don't laugh. People learn by building for themselves.)

Will it be better for the poster than a Pinarello FPX? Maybe. Will it be better for the poster than a Pinarello FPX with a suspension seatpost? Maybe.

 

[TheArchitect]

New wheels and tires. With so little snow around here I've had plenty of time to read up on what I want.

 

[cantunamunch]

New wheels and tires. With so little snow around here I've had plenty of time to read up on what I want.

With so little snow around there, how's the riding?

 

[TheArchitect]

With so little snow around there, how's the riding?

Not bad. The wife and I started training to ride in the Pan Mass Challenge this year. It's the first time for both of us and we've never ridden that many miles in a day, let alone back to back days.

 

[firebanex]

I've got two bike builds in progress this winter which will account for the majority of "doing things to the bike" this year beyond maintenance items.

Build #1 Nukeproof Scout 29 frame build. This one was actually spawned because I had a complete 12s mix of SLX/XT drivetrain leftover from building my wife's Fuel EX last winter. Just needed wheels, frame, fork, and some random small bits. Picked up a pair of unused DTSWiss M1900 wheels with tires back in August from a guy who pulled them off a brand new Yeti for a set of carbon wheels. Got the fork this week as a Marzocchi Bomber z1 was like 45% off. The frame and wheels have been sitting on top of the kitchen cabinets for a while now and I think I'll start assembling it this weekend

Build #2 is a rebuild of my Poseidon Redwood from last year. I bought it and used it as a flat bar 27.5 2.6" mtb commuter gravel monstercross thing last year and it was good but I felt like it really need to be a drop gravel bar bike. So I put my Hunt 700c alloy gravel wheels from my Checkpoint on it, picked up a set of PWN coast drop bars, the new Microshift Sword dropbar shifters and rear derailleur, and slapped the stock Tektro mechanical disc brakes back on it. Just sitting on it and it already feels better than the flat bar set up last year.

My other bikes.. Fat bike is just about perfect the way it is. Gen 6 Fuel EX is also just about perfect although I might try some different tires on it depending on how I feel about it this summer. Finally my Checkpoint is on "allroad" duty with the set of Aeolus Pro 51's and 32mm slicks. No changes anticipated with that bike. Wife's bikes are also staying the same unless pregnancy and birth of our daughter last year changed her saddle preference or position on the bike. We'll see how that all works out when she starts up on the indoor trainer again this month.

 

[Tom K.]

Marzocchi Bomber z1

Coil? The Z1 Coil is the most underappreciated fork on the market, due to the world's fixation on weight.

 

[firebanex]

I wanted the coil but got the airspring one. When I was looking, it was either out of stock for the travel and offset I wanted or not on as good of sale. The Z1 is practically the same as the Fox 36 that came with my Fuel Ex and I get a long very well with that fork. I can always get a coil conversion if I want to!

 

[chris_the_wrench]

Continuing on my return to 1998 with my hardtail. Ive been running sub 700 mm bars and barends for over a year, now Trek just sent me the 110 x 13d Kovee stem I've been waiting for. Im glad I left the steer tube abit longer than I needed with my other stem..

 

[Tom K.]

barends

I still miss these.

Not so much now that I'm done racing, but the last two 50s I did would have benefited from them on the gravel road climb portions of the courses.

 

[Captain Furious]

I made my first plunge into the MBK community. Bought a Pivot Firebird for lift access down hilling and an Orbea Wild for every day trail riding. I haven't been mountain biking since I was a kid, so, why would I start now you ask? It's simple... global warming. Skiing, the sport I love most of all, is disappearing. I live in Maine and have watched 4+" of rain falling today with 42 degree weather. If I think too much about it, I'll just go down into a black hole of depression. It's just too sad for me. So, I decided that if the skiing is gonna suck, I'm gonna still get out and have fun doing something outside with elements of speed, adventure, and risk. Kind of like skiing! Wish me luck.

Bill

 

[firebanex]

I made my first plunge into the MBK community. Bought a Pivot Firebird for lift access down hilling and an Orbea Wild for every day trail riding. I haven't been mountain biking since I was a kid, so, why would I start now you ask? It's simple... global warming. Skiing, the sport I love most of all, is disappearing. I live in Maine and have watched 4+" of rain falling today with 42 degree weather. If I think too much about it, I'll just go down into a black hole of depression. It's just too sad for me. So, I decided that if the skiing is gonna suck, I'm gonna still get out and have fun doing something outside with elements of speed, adventure, and risk. Kind of like skiing! Wish me luck.

Bill

That's my thought as well. I try not to think about it much too.


I finished up the Nukeproof Scout build over the weekend. It was -20f with wind.. and now it's somewhere around -35, no skiing! Took it for a quick ride up and down the road and it'll do nicely once things warm up and dry out in May. For some reason I decided on running a 34t front ring, either I had a good reason for it back in September when I bought it or I ordered the wrong one. I usually run a 30t front ring. Anyways, the frame only has internal routing for the dropper post, everything is external and was so easy to set up.
Final parts list is:
Nukeproof Scout 29 Frame size Large
Marzochi Bomber Z1 Fork 140mm travel
SLX Cassette 10-51, 4pot Brakes, Rear Derailleur
XT 170mm Cranks, 34t Chainring, shifter, cheap shimano BB
PNW 35mm stem, 35mm riser alloy bars, XL Loam Grips
OneUp 180mm V2 Dropper, WolfTooth remote lever
DTSwiss M1900 29" Wheels, Maxxis Rekon & DHF tires, Magura Storm 2mm rotors 180 rear 203 front