AustinBike

No, you might not need to bleed them. But after a few days you may have to bleed them. I take a small wrench and bang the tube lightly, starting at the caliper and moving up to the lever, this helps work the air bubbles up to the handle (allegedly). I also hang my bikes by the front wheel and that helps work those bubbles up to the lever. After a couple days, do a quick bleed, 5 minutes or less, and you will see if there was any air in the system. If after a couple days they are still really firm, then skip it, you don’t need to mess with it if everything feels good.

Bike came with 760 or 780mm bars, I am used to 720mm bars, mostly it is tree gates that get me, like the one at the end of sweet 16, that had little clearance yesterday. When I rode today I tried moving my grips in (see pic below) and everything seemed better. The bars are also aluminum and I prefer carbon. If I buy carbon I want to get the right length, not cut it, but the stem is 35mm and the smallest carbon 35mm I can find is 780mm. I do have a 70mm stem and a spare 720mm carbon bar, would not be opposed to buying something. Would you cut the aluminum, buy a new stem and carbon bar (50mm/31.8mm stem and 720 or 740mm bar), or just keep rolling with 760s and try to get used to them (it has only been 2 rides)?

Shimano XT RD-M8000 Derailleur Shimano XT CS-M8000 Cassette, Silver 11-46T Shimano XT M8000 11-speed shifter $200 new through Amazon, used less than 2 months (less than a dozen rides) $100 cash takes it all

You're welcome to ride it any time you want, we're the same size I believe. Wes still has another large and another medium, if anyone is looking for a good bike, I don't think you can beat that deal, especially considering the component choices. He has a 2020 in stock and I was the first person to demo that. Took it out on the GB and it was amazing. It had the same steep seat tube angle that the Ripley had, but felt totally different. If he had somehow sold out of his 2019's before I got the demo back, I would have given him a credit card instead of the giving the demo back. It was that nice. I had been sketchy on Orbea until I started doing some research. It was funny that I would have considered Ibis, Pivot, or Devinci but I was unsure of Orbea; as it turns out they are way bigger than the other 3...combined. So I have a pretty good feeling that they will be able to support a lifetime warranty on that frame.

Annnnd scene. Got a little setup work, but I have verified from my demo this morning that the Orbea Occam is THE best greenbelt bike in town. This is a 2019 (deal too good to pass up) and the 2020 is fancier and even more blingy. Fox fork and XT brakes, can’t be beat.

Not at all. I found them to be very stable, never had a release by mistake.

Right now it has 29x2.4s and they are fine. Don’t think it can go higher. Chris King wheels, nice set (anodized red) with Stan’s Arch EX wheels, will check the width this weekend. It is geared 1x10 SRAM X.0 but I also have the SS dropouts if you need them i will have to weigh it, it is light Also have some confit options if you want a dropper on it, etc.

Yeah, I play so rarely that it would not make sense. Have a Les Paul copy that I rarely play and a P-bass that gets slightly more use

OK. Bike decision has been made. More info next week once it all happens. No need to provide any additional input. This is how life should be.

One thing I will say about Time pedals is that they have different grades and the cheaper grades are not as worthwhile. I have the XC2 pedals on my urban commuter bike and they are fine for that, but I would not use them on the trail. For the trail I get the XC8's which are carbon and more durable. I have never tried the platforms, used to ride the Aliums and those were bombproof, but they were discontinued sadly. These pedals are really a case of getting what you paid for in terms of durability, it's not all about weight.

It is a medium. I am ~5' 10" and it fits me fine, with most other bikes I ride a large.

If you are looking to buy a hardtail, I have a Vassago Verhauen (Steel) hardtail that I will be selling soon. Chris King wheels, pike, lots of good stuff....

Yeah, I was interested in the Trail 429, but the entry point with the lowest build was over $6K. Yes, it has some better components and that adds up to ~$500 in price delta, leaving ~$1,300 still in pricing difference. All of the discounting in the world won't make that go away. I found this entire exercise interesting from a marketing perspective. There were a slew of bikes that all line up head to head that all have about the same components and all cost almost the identical $4,199. And the typical upsells were $4,499 and $4,899. So the price points were well established for a 130mm trail bike with SRAM components and a Fox fork. And then you had some outliers, like Pivot, that were way out of the park. And you try to figure out, is it REALLY that much better. And more importantly, would I ever REALLY notice the difference. Would love to have been in those marketing meetings.

I didn't see his comment because I have him on ignore. This thread is a pretty good example of actual input, actual information from others and (hopefully next week) actual purchase. Maybe he'll learn from...oh, wait a minute, never mind.

Maybe it is just the person but I seem to always break the left ones, I have a collection of leftover right ones. Should anyone else have the opposite problem, let's talk, we can make some pairs.