Bicycles
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Just back from a 60K road/ gravel spin. Gravel bikes are the Swiss army bike of cycling
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This dream bike has been years in the making. Outside of a possible upgrade to the brake rotors it’s finally complete.
Wow, this a real stealth cycling rocket, love the cockpit
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There has been some real high quality posts on the last few pages, some dream bikes and kit. Nice to see other IH followers into the velo sports.
@mclaincausey You asked for some post ride feedback on the pinion Nicolai Saturn 14 trail bike. I have had a few good outings on the bike now and have been suitably impressed with it. I have had gearbox bikes from Nicolai before ( rohloff based G-Boxx bikes ) and generally have soft spot for overbuilt robust design when it comes to mountain bike kit. This outlook was generated from a few years when I lived in Scotland and was pretty active in the highlands and cairngorms on some of the more challenging trails the country has to offer. Places where you don't want to be having a mechanical and walking back from. As a self proclaimed fan boy of gearbox bikes I will try and keep my comments as unbiased as possible.
In comparison to my old G Boxx bikes: The Saturn long low slack geo really trumps the old school bike. Being planted in the middle of the frame is a very nice place to be when the going gets rough. I have had both G15 and G1 Nicolai's so I know this geo works for me.
The pinion is a much better gearbox system than the Rohloff system, less drag.Shared advantages of both G-Boxx and Pinion bikes: The two systems share some benefits, shifting while not pedaling ( nice to top out from a climb, coast into the top of a descent and grab a hand full of gears and be in a more appropriate higher gear for the descent ). Similar in reverse, finish a downhill section and already be in a low enough gear for the terrain / climb ahead. If you get caught out in the wrong gear, simply trackstand the bike and shift into an appropriate gear.
The un-sprung mass of the rear wheel without a cassette and mech makes the bike feel like it has more travel than it's number suggest.
The rear wheel is built onto a singlespeed hub and has minimal dish, making for a strong almost symmetrical wheel build.The gearbox design is sturdy as hell, no mech to get battered off rocks and broken. I have only ever had one crash related issue with a gearbox bike and this was when I crashed badly and ripped the shifter cable out of the shifter housing, not a trailside repair that one.
I still see my old G-boxx bike pop up on ebay every so often, it must have had at least three of four owners since I sold it, it is still going strong.The Saturn has a gates carbon drive so I have zero chain maintenance. My post ride routine is to wipe the fork stanchions, shock and dropper post free of any dirt and debris. Throw the bike in the back of the van and you are good to go again the next day.
Disadvantages: Overall package weight is a bit higher than a top end 1 x system. However ride some light wheels and the bike still feels like it is light to pedal. Hike a bike with a gearbox bike is not much fun though. The Saturn weighs 33.4 lbs. I can't really drop any more weight of it without going silly and spending a lot of money on it.
Some folks don't like grip shift style shifters. I personally don't mind and get on fine with the twist shift style, us humans are quite adaptable and I don't really understand the "trigger shift or nothing else" mentality. For anyone who is hung up on this there is a new trigger shifter available for the Pinion from a manufacturer called Instinctive bikes. Their shifter is limited to one higher gear shift at a time and one or two downshifts at a time. I think with this limitation you are loosing some of the flexibility of the pinion system with the twist shifter where you can dump or pick up as many gears as you like in one go.
Another common complaint is backing off pedaling when shifting. This in the real world is a non issue and a momentary reduction in power is enough to allow the pinion shift, very easy and intuitive once you have had some time on the system ( you can get used to this within a few minutes I would say ). It was not really till 12 speed XTR could we mash gears while powering away, still not a great practice on a mech and cassette bike.
Overall a great robust trail bike with some nice features. Biggest draw back for most folks is the extra weight.
I tend to view the whole bike weight issue in a slightly different way. I view the bike and myself as the dynamic weight. Me at 85 kg plus a 15 kg bike is not much difference vs me riding a 10 kg bike. A big difference in bike weights but sod all when my weight is added into the equation. Easiest way for most normal cyclists to get better is to ride more regardless of bike weight. Funny how some of my friends ride heavier bikes than me and still kick my arse on a climb.
I do find a light wheelset with some pedaling friendly rubber does help keep your heavier rig feel a bit more nimble. It is all a trade off though and as soon as I venture onto more rocky demanding terrain the thicker carcass "proper tyres" come out to play. If I were fitter I would leave proper tyres on at all times.
Realistically I will always be the limiting factor on any two wheel machine I ride, human, battery or petrol powered.
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Hey up, that was a bit of a monologue post. Apologies in advance. Team point for anyone who has the attention span to get to the bottom of that text.
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That was fantastic and very helpful @ddtrash thank you.
Couldn't agree more about weight. I'm not a racer, so I get being a weight weenie in that context, but I think a lot of people really go overboard when it doesn't make much sense to do so. I'd love to try one of these one day even if I'm not in the market anytime soon.
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I ride a Scott Spark 710
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I’ve been racing road for a few years now, but finally decided to try out a cyclocross race two weekends ago. Totally out of my element as I spend very little time off road. Was an absolute blast.
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White shoes on a cross bike is the very definition of badass, nice one @BloodnThunder
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White shoes on a cross bike is the very definition of badass, nice one @BloodnThunder
I'd be doing the same thing, but for me it wouldn't be badass. Just using what I've got!
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Thanks all! The best part of CX races are the beer handups. Took a few that day.
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Going tubeless and hookless was the best decision in my life.
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Just picked up a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt V2 from a local shop today. Won't have a chance to get it set up and ride until maybe Sunday or Monday (kids stuff going on all weekend). Also just joined a bunch of local FB groups in my area for local rides/swaps/races/etc.
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My Velo Orange steel frame Polyvalent, errand runner, gravel, road, all rounder on 650B x 48mm (Panaracer, Japan)
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Nice bike @BarclayBeach looks like a great all round bike with some nice retro touches like the quill stem and threaded steel fork.
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These are my two beauties
Shiv TT will join in spring
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nice @Daniel San
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Thank you
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Specialized killing the Venge seriously ruined the brand for me. Have always thought the all black Venge was one of the best looking bikes out there. Are you a racer @Daniel San ?
