This is a great video to watch (very long though)
Does anyone have recommendations for modestly priced xc shoes? My current shoes are actually falling apart, but I donāt want to break the bank. I have perfectly normal proportioned feet, and prefer the boa system vs laces or Velcro.
RX803ās unless you need to run in them lots?
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Shoes are a bit personal, but my feet fit Sidiās really well. BikeCloset has a bunch of sizes of the Sidi Dominator on for $219 right now depending on your size. Looks like some black and some greys.
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What size?
Some new observations related to SRAM Transmission shift speed -
I spent some time today dusting off the XC bike and getting it ready for the season. Part of that was installing the transmission RD I was using as a backup for my gravel race bike and I decided to play with the shifting a bit. As mentioned in a previous post, it will jump 2 gears very quickly if you ādouble pressā the shift button. But if you hit the shift button a bunch of times in quick succession, the RD basically queues the 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. shifts up and puts a noticeable pause between each shift. Which is annoying when wanting to switch ends of the cassette quickly. But playing with it more, there is a much faster way to get across the cassette. Instead of hitting the shift button as fast as possible multiple times, if you hit it slightly slower (but still pretty quick), the RD responds immediately to each of those shifts without the pause. Doing it this way, you can get from one side of the cassette to the other in about half the time vs. when the pauses are inserted. So, the RD is capable of shifting faster, itās just getting into that weird queuing/pausing mode when you hit the shift button too fast. Which seems totally stupid to me when the RD can shift faster when manipulating the shift button differently. Maybe the controller is interpreting the really fast button pushes as a āholdā rather than a click, but it still goes though the number of gears based on the number of pushes, so I donāt think thatās the case. Just seems like something SRAM needs to tune/improve. If they have a reason for the longer pauses in some situations, just give me the option to shorten it so I can at least make it as fast and I can do with careful manipulation of the shifter. I guess I could train myself to only hit the shifter button at the perfect speed, but I doubt that would be reliable and I shouldnāt have to do that.
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US 10, Eur 44
I have a pair of 47ās Giro Empiresā¦new but donāt fit me. Figured they might help you.
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I read something in one of the reviews about a possible SW update coming to Transmission to add a higher speed shift mode. I doubt the current speed is an limitation of either the wireless protocol or the servo, it seems like they just built in one profile that was able to handle extreme loads like shifting under load on an e-bike and made it the default for everyone.
I ride multiple bikes with a mix of Shimano, SRAM mechanical, and AXS. The shift speed on Transmission has never been something that has bothered me. Sure I can dump gears faster on mechanical, at the cost of a super clunky shift that I find more disruptive than the delay.
That said - the programmable shift speed modes on Shimano seem like a clearly superior option and hopefully it spurs SRAM to action. Competition is a good thing.
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Giro sector the one the new gritter replaced should be able to find on sale, I got one last year for $48 on amazon
I swore I saw a cassette compatibility for the new XTR Di2 that said it was compatible with 12s cassettes that start with 11t. But all of the Shimano charts only list the 9t and 10t stuff. Does anybody have info on this?
Not sure if Shimano has 12 speed 11-*(51) cassettes.. As far as I know they all start with 10 and are Micro Spline (not HG).
(except the new 9-45 XTR āshort cageā cassette but also fits micro spline with a different lockring tool.)
But If you are running a HG freehub and donāt want to (or canāt) upgrade your body to MS, you can always thow on a sunrace HG 11-51 cassette for example, they are just compatible with shimano 12 speed.
(but if you are willing to spend money on XTR level wireless components, I suggest you put some money aside to at lease run a XT 12 speed cassette, Iām sure the run smoother)
I was under the impression that HG+ XT/SLX/Deore were all 10t for the smallest cog. I only see 11t for 11 speed.
Or SLX 12 speed. Weight difference is minimal, price difference is substantial.
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There isnāt an official spec that supports 12spd with an 11T small cog. As others mentioned SunRace will make an 11-50 cassette. Thereās also the SRAM 11-50 variants that goes on HG freehub which would likely work.
There is a variant that is designed for 11spd Linkglide which would have an 11T small cog. Being Linkglide, itās also āe-bike specificā but it would function on any bike. Spec is here: https://bike.shimano.com/en-NA/products/components/pdp.P-RD-M9260-11L.html
Always a fun article
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/how-much-do-pro-xc-bikes-really-weigh-leogang-xc-world-cup-2025.html
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Iāve heard tales of a Trek Top Fuel SLR, and here it is - https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/28278965/
120/120 w/ flex-stays
Seems like 24 pounds is what you get these days with all the tech heavy components. I wonder how many would go back to a mechanical driver train and dropper to save a few pounds if the sponsors would allow it?
Thereās a weight difference between mechanical and and electronic drivetrain and dropper, but I donāt think itās on the order of a few pounds. There are other factors, such as changes in fork travel and stanchion diameter, that almost certainly contribute to the weight differences.
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There was a brief time, when 26ā carbon hardtails with rim brakes were the fastest way from point A to point B, that XC race bikes weighed 20-21 pounds, but aside from that brief window weāve always hovered between 23 and 24 pounds, but the bike have continued to get more capable.
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I assume there are riders still looking at every gram who might opt for mechanical, but itās not nearly that much weight and Iād guess that many of current riders and teams donāt have weight very high on the priority list. Itās not hard to make a bike lighter if you want to give up some things. And as far as wireless vs. mechanical, the extra weight of wireless is a trade off against the aero losses of the cables if you are wanting to get into marginal stuff. Iām sure one favors the other depending on course, but neither are big enough to worry about. Sponsors certainly have influence, but I doubt many riders would be choosing a mechanical drivetrain if given the choice. Electronic just works better, particularly in sloppy conditions like last weekend in Leogang.
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