All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

I'm kinda on the fence. I like the range and all the gears but yeah, you're correct...they seem to be very sensitive. But if you know how to adjust them on the fly, then you should be fine. having the 50/51/52t granny gear is great. It's nice to just grind away on long climbs.

 

The range is worth it if you have real climbs. 1x is WAY worth it. I think you could do a wide range 9/10 speed and be fine. You'd probably want a couple big jumps in the middle of the cassette though. I have had literally zero issues with a GX eagle 12 speed in my now 4th year of use. Set it up once (using their b-screw adjustment tool) and never touched it again until I got new wheels. Touched up the b-screw adjustment at that time and that's it. I find nothing to be finicky about it compared to older drivetrains. I haven't found anything to wear faster and haven't broken anything. So IDK, I'm not convinced on the "simplicity" or "durability" arguments for going to less gears. The best argument is probably to reduce weight but even that is marginal at best. 1x and range are the keys; the rest is just minor details IMO.

 

FWIW -- I setup my 12 speed XT drivetrain when I first got it and it was working good but i noticed deteriorating shift quality after a couple rides. I think cable stretched a little bit so I readjusted the drivetrain (mainly b-gap was off) and haven't had any issues since. I followed adjustment procedure to a T via instructions provided by Shimano. I'm a happy camper. I'm sure I would also be content with any other wide range drivetrain on the market though.

 

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/nino-schurter-now-a-bosch-ebike-systems-ambassador.html

whelp...a top xc racer is now an e-bike ambassador....interesting. Will this help people get over the stigma of e-bikes? :thinking_face:

 

Not a chance. It's pretty transparent that pro riders get paid to push e-bikes, and the haters know it.

 

No

 

Why tf would I care what a top xc racer was getting paid to say on the subject?

 

danny macaskill rides an ebike. claudio rides an ebike too i think. but no. prob wont help mainline ebikes. there are a lot of local trail groups that are against them on trails

 

Can't blame a guy for getting paid but thats probably the most unlikely demographic of cycling enthusiasts to buy e-bikes.

 

I might be getting old, but I’m pretty sure I read an article recently about chains, and that the newer crop of 11/12 speed chains are significantly stronger than the 9/10 of past. If I remember right, the new manuf tolerances and techniques make them stronger, longer lasting, and lighter.

A little side story; Last week I went to ride TWE. Somehow I ended up shuttling with some of the women’s EWS and World XC crew. Three vans, two dudes, lots of strong and very fast ladies. I listened in on their convo, cause it’s an hour in a van... The topic of riding e-bikes came up and I was intrigued as to what their opinion was. Guess what? Every damn one of them said the loved their e-bikes. They went on for a bit talking about why, and how often they ride them. But most said, it was just plain old fun.
That’s been my experience as well. I got one for the wife, and I recently started riding it. Honestly, it’s a lot of fun. It’s not really the same as mountain biking. I use it to explore and ride new regions, if I’m a bit tired and want to ride, if the trails are flatter, and if I don’t have a lot of time to ride.
The YT Decoy is a freakin riot, and goddam fast. And I know a lot of purists don’t like em. But shit, I ride to have fun, and e-bikes are FUN. Sounds like a lot of people are getting on board from my experience.
Just try (a good) one, I dare you. I guarantee you’ll love it. If you don’t, you don’t ride for fun.

 

but what about 8 hour long suffer fests and hill climbs and KOMs on the uphills and leg burning sprints and...okay. yeah. i don't got anything else. all those sound miserable but also fun in their own right. Don't get me wrong. e-bikes have their time and place. Just like a short travel vs long travel. time and place. But when I run into an e-biker being an absolute dick on the trail, best know I judge them harder than not for some reason. IDK, something in me thinks that they should be more responsible than regular mountain bikers. but that may be just me and my prejudiced brain that I fully admit to. Like I said, time and place.

 

100% agree. I'd say I'm riding the ebike 25% of the time now. It's definitely NOT a replacement, but an addition. I've found tons of new trails, ridden days I normally would not have, and places I got bored of on my regular bike.
And for sure, when someone's being an ass riding an ebike, I tend to judge a bit harder. We've touched on this before, but an inexperienced rider on a powerful ebike sucks.

 

Ebikes are stupid fun.

 

This is where I stand. Stupid amounts of fun, just not quite the same. If I lived in a place where it took me longer than an hour to bang out a solid after work loop, I'd consider one.

 

so are motorcycles.

 

Same same

 

beat me to the meme/gif

 

kinda thought the story would go in a different direction...

but how high up TWE did you get? whole thing ridable now?