New Bike Day

New bike day! Unified Bike Co. Racello. It's a Dallas based company with a fairly solid build. I needed a second bike as a "going to town" bike. I felt like a weenie riding the Orbea Rise to exercise the dog, take the kids to school, or just casual riding, so I picked this one up. $600 OTD. Other than the tires, I'll probably roll with it as is.

 

Nice whip!

 

Please let us know how what appears to be one chain ring, and a million-gear cassette work out. I assume you live in generally flat terrain??

 

It's a Deore 1x12. Fairly standard these days, but yes, I live in the flatlands of Texas.

Most of the bikes stuff is UBC brand, like the bars, stem, seatpost, wheels, etc. but the group set is Deore and the fork is a rebranded Suntour XCT air fork best I can tell.

 

I think the first thing I'm going to swap is the tires. Thinking about the Maxxis IKON front and rear. Any other recommendations for fast rolling tires? I ride mostly concrete and crushed gravel with this bike.

 

Furious Fred or Rocket Ron

 

I ordered the 2024 model and the bike shop sold it to someone else. Now I have to wait for the price to drop.

https://www.sebikes.com/products/sa...lXrOkGlgyyxBt1uN6q-e-riB8db0Pw2f1wQovMkHdLlL3

 

it's a generational change in bikes these days. same as the change from 26" to 27.5/29" tires. fundamentally, bikes haven't changed much since the early days, so they're "forcibly innovating" as i call it, by creating new options for the same features.

i believe the concept is that one will spend less time figuring out multiple potential ratio's, or excessive gear changing, and it also keeps the left hand free-er for other things like remote seat dropper posts, or remote suspension lockouts for climbing.

i'm pretty happy overall with 1x9 or 3x9 setups, and don't see a reason to go into the newer 1x10 or 1x12 setups. i'm mostly against the thinner chain the added gears have

 

I've been riding with a 3x8 with friction shifters for years. Very uncomplicated.

 

I fail to see how a 3x8 is less complex than a 1x12, but to each their own, I suppose. You have 2 derailleurs and 24 gears! I have one derailleur to adjust and one hand required for shifting. The very definition of simplicity in my eyes.

 

Mountain bikes are going to "1 x <fill in>". Makes shifting more predictable when you do not need to "prepare for" the change between chain-rings. I never did like guess how much to change both chain-ring and gear to limit the total gear change.

If it was for more variable terrain (a mountain bike) I would suggest a "dropper post" that allows changing seat-height like a hydraulic office chair using a thumb-lever on the handle-bars. $250 for parts online, $350-$400 probably if a bike shop installs.

 

and don’t cheap out on the seat dropper. Your balls will thank you!

 

1x drivelines have been a thing for quite a while now. For me they've been more reliable with less maintenance than 2x or 3x setups.

 

I have a "variable terrain" (lol, btw) bike. This is just my townie. I just feel like a goon riding the Rise to pickup the kids from school or run the dog on flat gravel trails.


That being said, I have thought about adding a dropper just in case my other bike is out of commission for whatever reason. Though the 71° HTA is less than ideal for my local trails.

 

I had a Giant dropper on my Trance X, and the Orbea dropper is house brand as well. I was looking at the PNW Rainier, but haven't ever used one. Any good?

 

Have you been riding them long enough to be able to comment on the wear on the cassette, chain ring or chain from what would seem to be an extreme angle between the largest and smallest gears on the cassette to the chain ring??

 

I'm no bike expert by any means, but I'd be curious if the angle were any hasher than the max angle on a 3x8 (smallest cog on front derailleur, largest on rear) Serious inquiry on my part.

 

Having used fast/race MTB tires for gravel/tour/commute I much prefer the Rene Hearse 48 and 55 mm knoby models with the endurance casing but they are premium priced. My bike posse has 3 of us now who got Tufo Thundero and Speedero including HD versions and love them.

Tufo has a super reputation with CX racers and sew ups, and they OEM premium tires for others. In US Bike Tires Direct is only official vendor but you can buy them direct or from some European sellers.

If that's more a commute and intended to be modestly priced those original CST tires might be fine. I was given some CST with different sizes and treads. They're not bad and criticism would have to consider they are not premium priced.

Modern 1x and also modern 2x are a whole other league for performance, reliability and quiet. A modern Shimano 2x if you do it even has asymmetrical chain plates to aid front shifting.

At this point we only use more than 1x to keep narrow gaps and really wide range for the bikes that do touring and really big speed differences on and off of roads. The modern derailleurs have clutches to not kick back. Chain rings have wide and narrow teeth.

Heck, even AL frame bikes can feel nice now.

And 1x can last longer if you choose an all steel cassette with steel chainring in front.

I have to admit a Thomson I got on sale in 2014 has outlasted 3 others, the cartridge is just now losing some pressure but that's a lot of money for a simple town bike.

My fancy bits and inner cheapskate portions of the brain are always fighting with each other. I go with total bargains and confess to an early retirement self-gift of a Moots gravel bike that shares my birthday.

 

With the single chainring up front, I don't have to worry about the chain sideplates scrubbing the other chainring when in the top or bottom gears, especially when the chain is covered in salt and sand. Almost all my riding is on the beach, so it's always in salt and sand. 4th fat tire build, this is my first 1x that was completed in 2017. Still replacing chains and cassettes, but not as often. And it's nice only having to keep just one derailleur in tune.

I kept asking Wolf Tooth to make a stainless direct mount front ring for Race Face Cinch or SRAM 3-bolt and it looked like they were - then they stopped making stainless chainrings entirely. Rear cassette is steel gears on aluminum spiders. Shimano CS-M771 11-36T.

 

anyone into fixed gear?