With the thought that I’ll actually get to a bike park soon, I want to get my aluminum Transition frame set up as a park bike. I have basically everything that I need in parts bin or easily swapped (like wheelset) except brakes.
Should I just get Code RSC like the other 2 bikes? Are there any deals out there on big brakes right now?
The other and probably wisest option here is to have the same brakes on the carbon / alu Transition frames, and put different brakes on my 120mm bike.
So I can either get ridiculous gravity brakes or something more trail friendly.
You can get a new grey market code rsc set for ~$240 on eBay. I wouldn’t get sram brakes that aren’t code rsc or better. Been there and it wasn’t great.
I know modern bikes are all great, and I dont want to overthink this. I also would prefer to buy new to get the best warranty as I do not trust myself with carbon
Looking at the lower end builds for all of those. That said, I also have some GX Eagle parts, and forks seem to still be on sale/discount, so I do not mind building up my own.
Do you have a shop near you that does demos? I personally feel like it’s hard to judge a bike just on spec. Based on your list, I’m guessing you’re looking for a bike without headtube routing, which rules out Orbea, Canyon, and Scott.
On the trails around me, the Ibis, Specialized, Santa Cruz, and Transition Spur are popular. The Norco Optic is also a Tarck favorite, but it looks like they went to a high pivot for '24.
What about the spec epic 8 or epic evo if you want past gen. Capable for trails near you, but still light and fast. I would imagine more your jam than the stumpy itself.
We have added SC this year and I agree the build kits are a little weak for the MSRP but some of the sales right now are pretty bananans.
The build quality and how easily the first Tallboy and Hightower bikes went together was impressive. On par with Pivot which has always impressed.
If I was buying just based on my perception of frame quality, ease of maintenance, QC it would be Pivot, SC, then Norco.
We also added Intense and there are some deep discounts there. Also well made. Only real drawback there is no T-type. But that’s not a deal breaker to me.
Having fooled around with a few T-type bikes and switching to AXS myself, I honestly prefer the legacy stuff.
Neither was I. But old hands are old. First real ride was a 100mile death march. Made life easier for sure.
But yeah. Mechanical Eagle is also great. The cheaper Shimano stuff is worse and I’m not a fan of Microspline. But all of it does just work as required.
There’s a new Ripley (and Ripmo) coming out in two weeks so hold off on the ripley till then.
Agree on SC being way too overpriced even on sale. Especially since they often skimp on suspension instead of less impactful (haha) things like shifter or chain or whatever. Nice frames though
where does “cheaper shimano” start and what does it line up with in the sram catalog? i have never loved the ergonomics of gx (standalone, not brake mounted) vs slx or whatever, but it’s been like 5 years since i touched anything new
