I’m in a similar position to you. I hadn’t planned to change my bike until this time in 2024, and am wondering if the post-pandemic overstock deals we are seeing now will be available then, especially if 0% finance available to help the financial gap.
I appreciate no one has a crystal ball…
Offset is determined by chainline, which is impacted by rear hub spacing. According to SRAM, for Boost 148mm setups, use a 3mm offset X-SYNC 2 chainring.
I just built that up in June and if I recall, you’ll also need a 5mm spacer for the BB…. If I remember correctly. I know it was bigger than my 2018 Spark and it was a bit confusing because I couldn’t find any specifics stating so.
Bike is already comming with XX SL cranks but without PM
Edited…
Trying to figure this out myself, as I have a new bike coming this winter with XX SL, no power meter, and will need to add one. I will probably test fit my XX1, Quarq Spider combo from my current bike when it comes in before I decide if I want to stick with the XX SL design. I’m probably looking to change crank length from what comes with mine anyways so probably need to sell what’s on the bike in any case.
In one sense, it looks like SRAM offers everything you need.
But one thing I like about the spider / 104BCD design I have now is the chainring options from places like Wolf Tooth in addition to SRAM, and how easy it is to swap.
In terms of determining offset - I’m going to first measure and check all part numbers of what comes on my bike when it comes in first.
I’ve been running transmission with my eagle 3 bolt crank, Sigeyi PM, and wolftooth 34t dropstop b chainring. I feel it shifts better with the 52mm chainline than the 55mm.
No 28t option for…… well….ummm…moving along
Joe
To each his own, but not remotely a factor for me. I ran a 30T for a while before Leadville this year and it was too much, went back to 32.
I just climbed down. Got as far as a phone call with Certini to confirm some things, a basket full of extras, and the online checkout before realising that the 0% finance option is only open on the Pro model, not the Expert. May still consider that option but at 30% instead of 45% off I feel much less pressure to pull the trigger immediately in case nothing like this ever comes along again.
I’ve discovered a crack in the bottom bracket of my synonym. This is deeply uncool.
I never buy new bikes, so when I talk about new frames I’m always thinking about 1-3 year old (I don’t want to eat the depreciation).
A few Mondraker F Podiums (2021-2022 models) have come up at very enticing prices near me. What’s the consensus? Anyone ridden them?
I am also tempted to sell my Highlander and put it all into something like a RM Element with a rear lockout, but suspect it’s too heavy and the stack too high to race…
When I was reading up on them before picking up my Vitus it seemed that they were very reliant on lockout for pedal support.
Second hand information mind. I think they’re a good looking bike.
Elements or podiums?
Cliffs for anyone suggesting bikes: I don’t want a spark or an epic. Literally no sex appeal. 
Looking at 2023 models it appears Mondraker just removed a 2.4mm shock spacer and found they could get 115mm from the rear end without contact issues and the frame hasn’t changed, so one could turn it into a 115/120 bike quite quickly. Maybe it needs a digressive tune? Long big shock tho (185*50 Vs the usual xc 165x45)
That was the Mondraker when I was reading up.
Their Enduro bikes sound quite firm though so it seems counterintuitive.
Would you get a DC frame? I really like the look of them, they’re rare and expensive here, but I think they’re a gorgeous and fast looking bike. Different geo to most, it should work well coming from the Synonym though I think.
Personally the F-Podium is a significantly better looking bike.
From comments earlier where we were discussing James Huang’s Breck Epic build there were some comments about the RM Element being a bit portly in the frame and one about it chewing through bearings.
No way that’ll have the stroke volume (tee-hee) to inflate a MTB tyre.
I just got the base evo and moved over to the Fox stuff. I had a hard tail Chisel, but like you found it was too close to my gravel bike. The FS bike is way faster over rough spots and safer because it doesn’t skip around as much.
On the forks, base RS Reba fork was a bit stiff on small bumps, bearing up my wrists a bit. Because I wanted to play with something, I tried upgrading to the fancier damper/spring but that didn’t work out. The step up from there on the RS stuff is the Charger damper which is supposed be equal to the Fox stuff. I have the Fox 34 SC Grip now, and it’s better than the Reba but not magic.
Note: The Pro has the FIT4 Fox, which is a lightweight damper, not the best damper.
The rear shocks are all about the same. The lighter shocks are just lighter duty units.
I wouldn’t buy something based on RS or Fox. I think you’d enjoy the Pro or Expert equally. The Spec satin paint jobs are boring. They’re supposed to be light, but don’t look cool. The candy red paint over carbon is amazing. I’d pay for it on a road bike.
My instinct bc edition absolutely devoured eyelet bearings, and replacing them requires a specific tool. Even more annoying, is that the eyelet bearings and cups were slightly redesigned for the latest altitude and instincts, which weren’t compatible with the previous tool!
As a side note (and slightly off-topic for this xc threat). One of the worst kept secrets around here is that the newest rocky instincts and altitudes are getting completely redesigned and switching to trunnion mounts. Really cool and a massive change for rocky, and is also funny because they somewhat famously talked about how terrible trunnion mounts for years.
Why would anyone use that! The pump would be useless. There are plenty of pumps that can serve as a CO2 head. Some even store CO2s in the pump itself (OneUp Components 70cc EDC Pump - MTB Tire Pump with Built-in Tool Storage)
If you wanted to Chapman it. “Add lightness” lol.
I have a Lezyne HV Pocket Pump which is amazing, I also have the EDC pump on my trail bike.
There are two issues with having the Lezyne as my race day option. 1) slow if I want to jam a heap of air into the tyre and I’d need to carry a separate CO2 head if I wanted that as a back up, 2) the hose has a tendency to unscrew the valve core if you’re not paying attention and let all your air back out.
Currently I’m still planning on just carrying the Lezyne as it’s a good enough pump to actually re-air my tyres after air travel, but I am always wondering what options there are.
Topeak make a nice looking one, still not huge volume though.
Thanks for this. Really really helpful info here!
Thankfully the Expert has now sold out in my size so the temptation to just put it on my credit card and figure it out later has abated. Pro still available so I’ll have to keep thinking on that. If the 0% option opens out to 36 months rather than 24 then I can do it without budgeting, but it hasn’t quite become an easy ‘yes’ as-is.
Also not long til it might make sense to just sit tight and see what might be on the cards for Black Friday. If there’s still stock hanging about I could see this being a bumper year for bargains (Spec or other brands too).
2516g is a f podium rr in a size large with shock and headset
2300g is a rocky in medium with shock
2050g is a large ns synonym / vitus without shock, so 2275 with shock
These are all pretty portly considering the top end race bikes are closer to 1900g with a shock.
