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Opinions on Buying a New Bike


AustinBike

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Opinions, yeah, you all have them. I'm starting the process and instead of spamming the board and spinning off a million different threads, I'll consolidate here.

Interested in your thoughts on the following:

1. Buying a fully configured bike vs. building? Knowing that my credit card gives me extra warranty is it worth buying a full bike all in one shot? I could buy the components ala carte and build one up, but is there a benefit from a warranty perspective? (My shop warranty experience has been mixed....)

2. Anyone ever buy from Competitive Cyclist? Wondering if I could get a frame with headset and bottom bracket installed. I could do the BB easily but I don't have a headset press. Would love them shipped to me ready to go.

3. Should I keep my 6-month old Pike boost fork since it is already at 130mm (my preferred travel) or sell it and just get a new fork with the bike? Any benefit on getting the fork matched to the frame or is this stuff all pretty compatible (thinking primarily about offset.) Would rather save the money and put it towards better wheels (see #4).

4. Anyone use Stan's Neo hubs? I know I want Arch MK3 rims, King hubs would be nice, but very expensive, DT Swiss would be my preferred, but Stan's wheels with Neo seem attractively priced and easy to acquire. Worth it?

5. 11-speed vs. 12-speed? I just upgraded my Niner to 11-speed about 2 months ago so I have a brand new drive train. Does it make sense to transfer this over? I unfortunately made a ton of upgrades to my bike recently and would like to salvage that. Is 11-speed going to stick around as long as 10-speed did or is it going to disappear quickly (have not watched the trajectory that 12-speed components might be coming down.)

 

I am guessing I will return to add more questions to this as things progress.

 

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If you’re looking at a Ripley (based on your other post), Ibis specs a 44 offset fork to keep the wheelbase shorter while allowing for a slightly slacker HT angle. You could still run your pike, but it might feel a little longer and less nimble than it could be. It also might be such a minor difference that you’d never notice it.

Shimano just announced their 12 speed group in the past couple months. So I’m thinking 11spd is going the way of 10spd and will probably become more of a entry level spec. Somebody (E Thirteen, TRP?) just came out with a 13spd group.

For hubs, do you like high engagement? Having ridden King’s, I would think going up to 10 degrees of engagement with the Stan’s hubs would be a no go.

Man, between Chuck’s new ride and your new search, it’s gonna be a great conversation at the R&I!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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1. There are ALWAYS bike deals to be had. Brand new, month old, or year old. Know what you want, know where to find it, be patient and you will find a great deal out here.   

2. No experience.

3. I’d sell it and apply all funds to the new purchase.

4. I’m running Stan’s Flow MK3 wheels with Neo ultimate hubs right now. They’ve been an excellent wheelset so far, stiff, light and fast. 

5. I just went from 12 speed 10-50 eagle to 11 speed 11-46 Shimano. I prefer the 46 to the 50, and the 11 to the 10 is negligible to me. Again, I would sell off everything and start from a fresh new build you shop around and be patient for. 

I cannot say this enough, there is always a deal out there if you do your due diligence and be patient. 

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1. I don't think there's any advantage from a warranty perspective.  Each piece (frame, component, suspension, etc) is going to be warranted by the manufacturer and most deal only through shops. And, most shops will process your warranty without regard for where you bought.

3. Yes, keep if you like - money spent on wheels is of higher value!  Shorter fork offsets are not that common and, as noted, while they have their advantages, you aren't likely to encounter with a shorter travel frame (since prolly not as slack).

53 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

Stan's hubs have a bad reputation. Maybe they have gotten better, but if you're going to go to all that trouble, buy something from a reputable hub manufacturer- Hope, Hadley, King, I9, Onyx, etc.

4 . Deservedly so!  I've gone through 3! warranty replacements on the rear neo of my MK3s (in 2 years) and they finally replaced the last one with a hope hub... 

5. No crystal ball, but given the amount of 11-sp out there, it should be around for as long as 10-sp. I'm happy with my GX 1x11 and rarely spin out, so no incentive to change... No long-term experience with 12-sp but have wondered if harder to maintain tune since tolerances are tighter.  In spirit of full disclosure, I do have a NIB XT 12-sp group on craigslist that's save you a lot if you got the build route.

 

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2 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Anyone use Stan's Neo hubs? I know I want Arch MK3 rims, King hubs would be nice, but very expensive, DT Swiss would be my preferred, but Stan's wheels with Neo seem attractively priced and easy to acquire. Worth it?

I blew up 4 Stan's Neo rear hubs in 2 years. But I kill more hubs than most, so this is certainly worse case scenario. But I've never killed an I9 hub, so there's that. 

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These are all very good pieces of input.

Neo are pretty much out of the running now. Will be doing a little more research on the Pike offset vs. new fork. That is a minimum of $500 savings (if I sold the pike) and that could really do a nice job on wheel upgrades.

I like to hear that 11-speed is easier to dial in than 12. I was a 9-speed fan for a long time, only went to 10-speed to get beyond a 32 in the rear.

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After having done both a complete bike and custom build - I recommend doing the complete bike. The only reason I would do another custom build is to get some combination of components I could not get otherwise. When I have looked at the options, frequently it makes more sense to buy a complete bike and swap out the one or two components I didn't like. It usually came out cheaper than buying components until I got a full build.

Note - this is posted by a guy who still has a frame waiting to be built up. I bought it as a 'spare' for when my favorite aluminum frame fails. My frames (like AustinBike's) have a limited life. And that frame was no longer going to be made so they were closing them out cheap.

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I assume your Pike is 51mm offset? That should be fine on the bikes you are looking at, I would keep that fork, it is awesome and can spend elsewhere. Santa Cruz is putting 44mm offset forks on their bikes, have a buddy who is running either a 47 or 51mm? offset fork on his brand new SC and it works just fine.  The other bikes on your list, the Ripley and Stumpy will do just fine with a 51mm offset.

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56 minutes ago, AustinBike said:

Will be doing a little more research on the Pike offset vs. new fork.

I like to hear that 11-speed is easier to dial in than 12. I was a 9-speed fan for a long time, only went to 10-speed to get beyond a 32 in the rear.

Plenty of people are running the larger offset, and I've read of some buyers actually trading out the 44 for a 51. So, it's NBD but I'd rather follow the manufacturer spec because I trust their calculations in the geometry more than mine.

Box Components just recently released their own NEW 9spd group. 11-50t cassette. So you can have the wide range and the 9 speeds!

Edited by Teamsloan
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2 hours ago, rockshins said:

I assume your Pike is 51mm offset? That should be fine on the bikes you are looking at, I would keep that fork, it is awesome and can spend elsewhere. Santa Cruz is putting 44mm offset forks on their bikes, have a buddy who is running either a 47 or 51mm? offset fork on his brand new SC and it works just fine.  The other bikes on your list, the Ripley and Stumpy will do just fine with a 51mm offset.

I believe it is a 51mm offset. The box had WHT51 on it but after a little googling, that is a White fork with 51mm offset, mine is black.

 

 

IMG_4657.jpg

Edited by AustinBike
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1 minute ago, ATXZJ said:

Offset preferences are all subjective. I've run 51-37mm offsets and prefer the shorter stuff, but that's just me. 

IMHO, if you've never ridden one, I wouldn't sweat it. Stick with your 51mm. The frames are not specific to offset so you can do whatever.

From the Ripley product page answering the question of using a 51mm offset fork, "Yes, but the bike is optimized around a 44mm. The 51mm offset fork shortens the trail (the distance between the contact patch and the steering axis), which can cause the front end to feel less stable."

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26 minutes ago, Teamsloan said:

From the Ripley product page answering the question of using a 51mm offset fork, "Yes, but the bike is optimized around a 44mm. The 51mm offset fork shortens the trail (the distance between the contact patch and the steering axis), which can cause the front end to feel less stable."

"Can"

How is it optimized? I'd look at the geo numbers and see if anything vastly different than a modern bike with 51mm offset

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39 minutes ago, ATXZJ said:

"Can"

How is it optimized? I'd look at the geo numbers and see if anything vastly different than a modern bike with 51mm offset

It's all relative. Like I posted earlier, plenty of people do it and it's fine. But Austinbike is German and takes pride in following specifications, so I had to put it out there.

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7 minutes ago, Teamsloan said:

It's all relative. Like I posted earlier, plenty of people do it and it's fine. But Austinbike is German and takes pride in following specifications, so I had to put it out there.

It should have been "As I posted earlier..."

Don't mock the German unless you do it properly.

 

And with that being said, I'm tempted to take the risk on the 51mm offset and see how it does. Honestly, I do not have the finesse that some do and I might not notice the difference. If I end up having to get a new fork, the difference is really only whatever price I get as part of a larger build vs. the cost of buying it on the market. Everything else remains the same, so the risk is minimal.

Got sidetracked with some consulting work today, but hitting some shops starting tomorrow morning.

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52 minutes ago, AustinBike said:

It should have been "As I posted earlier..."

Don't mock the German unless you do it properly.

 

And with that being said, I'm tempted to take the risk on the 51mm offset and see how it does. Honestly, I do not have the finesse that some do and I might not notice the difference. If I end up having to get a new fork, the difference is really only whatever price I get as part of a larger build vs. the cost of buying it on the market. Everything else remains the same, so the risk is minimal.

Got sidetracked with some consulting work today, but hitting some shops starting tomorrow morning.

Seriously, dont sweat the offset right now. Find the frame you want and go from there. The last 2-3 forks I built were basically from scratch buying steerers, legs, dampers, and airshafts separately.

It's an easy swap to make if you ever decide to do so. Plus pike steerers are super cheap comparatively.

I've had 100-135mm 29er trailbikes and IMHO, a 120ish mm is the sweet spot for around here. Anything less is tough to get the rear suspension dialed since there's such a small amount of travel, and more just feels like overkill for general use.

 

Edited by ATXZJ
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