It’s just easier to hit the ‘buy’ button than hitting intervals. I too fall into this trap from time to time. For me the performance of the bike isn’t even the reason why - I just like to have cool stuff, yes I’m that shallow
With Eagle the XG-1295 and 1299 along with the X01 and XX1 chains were not just lighter but lasted longer. So I could even convince myself that it makes more ‘financial sense’ to buy the lighter, more expensive cassette.
Aero socks save tangible Watts on the road. I think saving 1% of system weight on your MTB is so miniscule and only really matters over long, sustained climbs. And even there, I’m right with you that more training would make you faster than a .15lbs (70g) saving in weight.
Saving weight at the wheels is different. Lightweight wheels and light tires do make a difference in feel if you constantly accelerate your bike. Even if you’re a diesel you should feel a fast rolling tire compared to a slow rolling tire. The whole bike behaves differently in my experience. Heavy slow tire make your bike sluggish as hell. That’s not just some number on BRR, it’s real.
This is misleading as it assumes a constant speed and grade. However, if you have to re-accelerate that mass 100s if not thousands of times and manipulate it over and around obstacles your comparison falls apart.
Formulas that use an average grade of a climb have little use IRL.
Like I said, it’s a “directional” comparison. But not all the calculators assume constant speed (best bike split). And there are lots of places/situations on course where weight has near zero impact. Just like there are lots of situations where a watt helps more or less. I’m sure there are situations/courses where a pound is worth more than a watt and vice versa. But it’s a directionally close point of comparison (in my opinion) and it jives with the data when I’m comparing segment times. Again, it’s just the “simple math” I use, good enough to make some decisions. It will never be perfect and depends a lot on the course, but it’s not like shaving a pound or 2 is going to be equivalent to 5 watts in any real world race situation.
Trek quietly dropped the Supercaliber Gen2 with Flight Attendant on their website. Their riders have been on it all year and most of last, but it took a while for them to release it.
@Jonathan has reported his experiences in detail with FA on his Epic 8. Curious to hear from anyone who has ridden the Supercaliber with it.
Almost a full thread but prob not worth it, looking to potentially replace my 140mm 2016 Cube Stereo 140 trail bike. I’ve never really gelled with it, finding I’m just not a park/repeat run kind of rider anymore and prefer longer days out and flowing trails, which means 140mm rear and 140 up to 160mm forks is a bit overkill and >13kg weight is a bit of a mission.
I’ve no idea what direction I should be looking, proper light XC downcountry rig or shorter travel trail bikes. I like long days out and want to try bike packing over mountains that would kill the gravel bike.
This is much closer to a pure XC rig:
Their trail equivalent:
It doesn’t have to be them just a couple of good examples, I mean being a bit of Kona fan boy I’d love a Hei Hei but I’m not sure what Kona is doing these days with the change of ownership and the same price could get a much nicer Cube or Origine. Hit me up with where you lean and why and help me get some ideas!
I think you’d be fine with a 120/120 bike. Lots of good options out there. I’m personally a fan of running a 3 way lockout, allows you to run the suspension nice and soft for chunky stuff while still giving you the option to firm it up when pedaling along and climbing. I recently got a 120/120 epic (coming from a 100/100 spark) and there are very few places I ride where it’s not enough bike. With the suspension open, it feels very similar to a longer travel bike. But I’m not a bike park guy and mostly keep my wheels on the ground. I have a 150/130 trail bike that I use on a few of the more technical trails around here, but I’m typically grabbing my XC bike for 90+ % of my riding.
I’ve never heard of that Origine brand but they look like really nice bikes. Most new 120 bikes are not that different from eachother. The cube ams zero looks essentially the same to me.
With a modern 120 bike you will still have a lot of confidence and potentially might feel better than your current bike.
Ultimately, it depends on the trails you plan to ride. A downcountry XC bike with 120 rear and 120-130 front suspension will be good for most trails.
If you want to ride more gnarly stuff also, a shorter travel trail bike would be a better choice, with say, 130-140 suspension.
There’s lots of downcountry XC rigs around these days. Shorter travel trail bikes are becoming harder to find. A couple of examples are the Trek Top Fuel and Ibis Ripley. Both are 130mm rear and 140mm front (the Trek can be chosen with this suspension configuration as an option).
I’ve found this is the sweet spot for me - and with a single bike I can ride everything from long marathon events like Leadville (ok, not ideal, but still works well with light fast tires and swap the dropper for a light carbon post) to technical trails like Moab, and use for backcountry bikepacking trips.
I’m getting back into XC racing and am currently building up a Cervelo ZFS-5 as a 115/120 bike. My previous experience with remote lockouts (maybe 8-10 years ago) were not good regarding keeping cable tension perfect and really not much difference between open and locked, especially on the shock. So I’m currently looking at at a non-lockout fork/shock.
But are the current 3-position lockout good? Do they really work? I like the idea of the pedaling mode to keep things efficient, the bottom bracket riding high.
Flight attendant seems the way to go. But the cost is high. And I won’t be at the pointy end of races during my first season back to racing so I would look foolish with lots of $$$ on a bike while just being pack fodder.
I’ve been on 3 position lockout for 6 years on 2 different bikes. They work great, but FA is the future. If I were to buy today I’d want FA or at least a FA capable bike frame so I could update it in the future.
Also, I wouldn’t worry about having a super bike but being at the back of the race. If you can afford it there is no reason to buy a bike now only to upgrade to the bike you actually want a couple years later. Nobody really cares about you or your bike at races so don’t worry about what anyone else may think.
I’ve been riding a 3 way lockout for -8 years. It’s must have for me, but they can be finicky to get dialed in. I like to put barrel adjusters on the lockout cables if the remote doesn’t have a way to adjust.
Definitely a downside, time to spring for the 4 battery charger so I can charge all 4 axs batteries at once. And it will technically be 7 batteries on the bike if you include the coin cell stuff (and 8 if you count the garmin). Silly stuff.
