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

Third ride in on the Spur and loving it. I dont know how I got so far away from short travel bikes.

Edit: Also have my Hydras packed with grease - the bike is almost silent.

 

Interesting. 1/1 is actually the quickest engagement hub I've been on and I loved them. Currently on some very meh DT Swiss 370 hubs that came with my current bike and really looking to upgrade wheels. The jump from crap hubs to 1/1 was so positive I've assumed I might as well keep going and grab something with Hydra. Hadn't really considered the potential increased pedal feedback.

 

Poseidon Redwood

 

Interesting, I’m thinking about getting a cheap gravel bike - really an all-surface road bike for winter road use or occasional fire roads, as we have more singletrack here than public dirt roads. I’d never heard of Poseidon but it seemed to have good specs for the price, though a bit of me wants steel. I’d like 1x with good low gearing, capability for at least a front rack, and I don’t want DOT brakes. I assumed I would want 700C/29 wheels but most of the bikes I like have 650’s. I know I can build or swap but I’m looking for a turnkey assembled bike. Surly Straggler or Midnight Special are others that look good.

 

If you haven't seen the Polygon Tambora, might be a good option. I don't have any experience with it, but it looks like it could be a cool multi-purpose bike.

https://www.polygonbikes.com/tambora-series/

 

Thanks. A friend briefly had a Polygon Siskin which looked great for the price but it didn’t really fit her right. But it didn’t even occur to me to check Polygo for a gravel bike. The spec on the aluminum Tambora looks pretty good. Does anyone have experience with the 10 speed Microshift? I’ve read good things but I wonder about shifting that 11-48 spread within 10 speeds. The last jump to the granny is 40 to 48 which I think is bigger than anything I’ve owned.

 

How is the sizing? I looked at their web site and they seem to recommend L or even XL for my height 5’10. I looked at geo/sizing on BikeInsights but can’t find my current road bike (10 year old Trek size 55.4) to compare.

 

Check out if available to you the JAMIS Renegade. They have a few steel offerings and spec'd nicely and very reasonably priced. I love steel gravel bikes!

 

I haven't touched the "bigger" bikes since I've been on the 120/120 bikes. They are just so much more fun all around.

 

I have hydras and it was my lame attempt at a pun.

 

For the price, the Poseidon is a good deal, in my opinion. That frame is stout but there are some parts that sort of need to be upgraded relatively soon. The Redwood came with 650 wheels and i bought their 700c wheels also. The Poseidon wheels are very heavy and the hubs aren't great. I eventually bought I9 GRCX wheels in 700c and dropped quite a bit of weight in the process. If i were to do it again, I'd go straight to the I9's. The brakes are sort of laughable in stock form. They work, just not overly well. If you upgrade to compressionless housings, it makes a world of difference, but that requires rewrapping the bars. It sounds like I'm down on the bike, but it is a good bike, but jts cheap and that comes with some concessions.

I really like the carbon version of that Tambora!

I had a Siskiu T7 and really liked it. I'm a fan of Polygon.
The Microshift Advent X is actually pretty decent. I swapped to their alloy spider to shave some weight over the steel cassette it came with. The hoods are comfortable and it shifts well. I don't mind the bailout gear, its really just that, a F this I'm not stopping gear. The Poseidon has the Microshift system, if it had hydro brakes, I'd be keeping it rather than swapping to SRAM. Its been very reliable and deals with grit and mud well.

I'm on a medium at 5'8 or 9" ish. I have a shorter inseam and a relatively longer torso. The geo on the XL gets a little funky, they just sort of stretched the frame vs how some other companies actually put more thought into the sizes are the far end of the spectrum. I'm a Medium in just about anything i ride, except my Commencal, thats a large. I'm a medium in Fezzari and Polygon, S3 on a Specialized. The bike fits me well. On the geo comparison sites, you can drive yourself nutty looking at all the differences. Some are longer, lower, etc. The Redwood actually has a very, very similar geo as the Alchemy Lycos, not too aggressive, not too upright.

 

I thought my hydra were louder than hope pro4 but it’s close. Dt swiss has that interesting non uniform sound to me, like variable pitches of ticks lol

 

Firebird is Definitely a bigger bike. Takes more to get it leaned in corners. But also fits me for climbing just right. I’ll be much more likely to go pedal big rides this summer, and it’ll still crush the bike park. I made the right choice



just at a little park with like 5 miles of trail or so. Drops, few jumps. Flow. But it’s dry 95% of the year so at 4800 feet elevation gotta take what we can get

 

sea level?

 

Yea lol 4800 feet above sea level in the sierras. All the real fun stuff to ride is snowed in

 

For sure frame dependent, but it is noticeable on repeated big hits.
Pros and cons…
Like you said, 100 poe is damn impressive. I feel like more than that you’re getting diminishing returns.
I’d trade my hydras for pro5s any day. Hope quality, colors, parts availability, and that new “zero-friction seal” is something.

 

On my older Siskiu, I went from their generic hubs to the I9 1-1, effectively going from low engagement hubs to what's effectively a high engagement hub. That jump was very noticeable and a welcome upgrade for trail riding. For my next ride, I figured I'd keep going and went to the Hydra. I didn't notice as much of a difference on daily riding going from the 1-1 to the Hydra. It's definitely, for all intents and purposes, instant engagement, but the 1-1's were perfectly adequate. I don't do enough downhill or big hucks to notice pedal kickback. On fast, flowy downhill sections, fast downhill tech and minor hits/drops, I don't really notice the pedal kickback.

 

Looking some fun at you. Elevation is where it’s at!

 

Speaking of hubs- does anyone have an HG for a hydra? Playing around with single speed.

Or HG for DT Swiss ?

or while I’m at it- any SS spacer kits/cogs

or different colored 34.9 seat post clamps? (Have a green deity that came on my Titanium bike I want to swap out)

 

I might have that HG for Hydra... I'll check tonight and PM you if I do.