2021 XC Bike Thread

Powermeter City offers the option to “add crank arms” when you add a Quark to your cart. I naively assumed that was for new builds so thought, “no, I’m good, I have nice X01 crank arms, no need to spend the money on XX1 right now.”

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Dragged around by a Fiesta ST :sunglasses:

Vast majority of my riding is on my 170mm bike. And besides the extra weight training riding a 40 pound bike gives on rough terrain, it also trains the mind really well. Everything on the XC bike feels like slow motion when you are used to bombing rock gardens on a big bike.

My F-Si was AI offset. It wasn’t an issue unless you wanted to swap wheels around, which I didn’t. They are also stronger when built that way, and I never damaged a wheel. Considering that I smash heavy wheels on my Enduro about every 3 months, that might tell you something.

You can also run the Race Face Cinch PM. The Si cranks use the same pattern. That is what I had on my F-Si (and currently on my E29, though with Turbine cranks).

Outside of standing sprints, I never see a need to lock. I literally NEVER put my E29 in “climb” position, even though I will do thousands of feet of climbing a day. On my XC bike I only lock the fork to stand up sprint when it is smooth. If I am sitting or riding rough terrain, it is open. On road riding, on any of my bikes, they are left open.

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Yeah, I have too many wheel sets that I like to swap around with so it was a bit of a deal breaker. If I had a chance to demo the bike, and fell in love with it, different story and would be worth the additional work. I’m wary that a simple re-dishing would be ideal, although I haven’t researched this enough to know. I get the intention and agree about the benefits, but I’ll admit to just not being a fan of anything proprietary in nature.

Yeah, I’m one of the other few people who run one of these. Sadly, it appears that Easton and RF aren’t selling these any longer, although I’m guessing there’s enough stock out there for a little while. At some point we may need to find alternatives. The company that makes the actual meter (RF just licenses it) should make these available with better software support. I think this is a sleeper of a product, it just didn’t sell to Enduro bros (who they marketed to) and most XC folks seem to want something different. The idea that the meter is housed in the spindle is smart.

Going to be a great bike.

Will be interesting on how the rebuild turns out on the RS-1. I ran the RS-1 120mm on my Niner Jet 9 RDO (original model) for a while and liked it, but had to load it up with tokens.

On my newer bikes I’ve been running either Fox SCs in 100mm or 120mm depending on the bike, and then then new SID in 100mm on my SC. I found both much better than the RS-1 in terms of being able to get them dialed. The Fox SCs were easier to configure, but once I got some tokens in the SID, its performed well on my choppy rooty terrain I often ride. The tokens were needed to I could soften the shock enough to take the repeated root hits but not blow through all the travel.

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Im super curious!

If you ride a hard tail, is a dropper post a necessity for you and why?
  • No, I wouldn’t use a dropper if I had it.
  • No, I dont want the added weight.
  • Yes, mandatory for hard tail.
  • Yes, preferred, but not a dealbreaker if I dont have one.

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I used to be in the “I don’t need a dropper” camp, but after putting one on I found I could descend quicker and more confidently (I’m no slouch downhill as it was).

When I bought my new bike, I put the longest possible dropper on so now my seatpost is entirely droppable (190mm of exposed post).

The weight penalty used to bother me, but I figure the speed I gain on technical sections more than makes up for the slight time loss in climbing.

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A necessity. But this also doubles as a trail bike for me.

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Droppers on all the bikes.

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Droppers on all MTB. The decrease in cognitive load it allows for technical sections is definitely worth it

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stages also makes a left-only that can go on the non-drive side of the Cannondale branded crank. Because it’s left-only, you don’t have to worry about the chain-line. IIRC, this is what at least a couple of the sponsored guys use, if you look at the pictures of Henrique Alvancini’s or Manuel Fumic’s bike on Instagram (which of course I do).

I have the SE–a little bit extra cushion but still a race bike. The “pending” parts are getting a set of Mercury carbon wheels re-dished and waiting for my Stages PM from my shop. I’ll post photos when the whole thing is ready.

I’m keeping the ultra-granny since the primary use case is going to be marathon XC

I woudn’t say mandatory but i definitely want it. Who wouldn’t want to be able to go faster and hooking your knee around a fully extended seat sucks real bad.

I wonder if i will ever get my rig to the point where that amount of weight matters :joy:

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I put yes, preferred but it’s largely usage based. If I’m riding technical riding I’ll almost certainly be on my FS Spark, but I am looking at upgrading my new low spec HT with a dropper and better forks in the medium to long term to add options.

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Nice bike? Road pedals though?

Path of least resistance. I had a spare set of Ultegra pedals on the work bench. I would have had to pull mtb pedals from one of my other mtbs or my gravel bike. Since it’s on the trainer now they work. I’m months away from local trails being clear.

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I put mandatory. I see it as the same argument as eating carbs during training rides.

Can you get through most rides under 90min without eating? Sure, you’ve probably got enough glycogen to get through it. But it definitely won’t be optimal.

Can you get through most ‘hardtail terrain’ without a dropper? Sure, but you’ll have to go slower and it’ll take more skill and mental energy to do so.

Unless your XC race is basically just a twisty gravel race then a dropper will almost definitely be faster for 90+% of people.

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Any clearance issues with the rear Brain mounting on the Kickr?

My F-Si descended faster WITHOUT a dropper than my current Pivot Les WITH a dropper. While it makes it more fun, I would not run one if my bike didn’t already have one, but this bike probably needs it. Feels like I have 5 billion cables off my handlebars, but oh well.

Peeve of mine though: watching people put a dropper post on and then not use it! WTF people? “Oh, I don’t need it for this obstacle”. “Oh, it’s only a short downhill.” Why the hell do you have a dropper for if you aren’t going to use it? Also, get out of my way if you aren’t going to use it and just going to slow me down.

It went on and lined up without feeling any resistance but once the axle was torqued down I can’t pass a piece of paper in between the Kickr and the Brain. I’m going to use a dremel on the handle of the kickr and get just a bit more clearance.

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I’ll drop this here since it’s maybe relevant (and if not I can delete)… I’ve asked similar questions before but if you had a nice road bike, an okay (alloy, 105) gravel bike, and were moving to Colorado, would you upgrade your gravel bike or get an XC mtb (HT)? I like riding gravel but Minnesota gravel is all just straight roads which is pretty much slow road-riding most days. I’ve never ridden MTB and don’t have aspirations of doing enduro/DH/big jumps/etc but think I’d enjoy the more mountainous gravel roads and singletrack. Not sure if that scenario actually warrants a HT or makes more sense to just upgrade gravel…

I’d even go short travel trail 29er. Just makes riding even mellow single track all the more enjoying. If not a HT would do too. I’d go for a little more relaxed geometry than an XC race HT, unless you’re going to compete too. something like a SC Chameleon

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