Did you just ShartQ?

it costs 0.00000076 football stadiums

What kind of bike would be recommended for someone who wants to get into mountain biking on a low budget in 2026? Are new budget bikes any good, or should they go used? Assume riding in the mountain west, with mechanical aptitude and tools, but no access to friends with loaner bikes

Lots of cheap bikes on sale new out there. They’re all good now. Random smattering:

https://www.jensonusa.com/marin-rift-zone-xr-29-bike-13

https://www.jensonusa.com/kona-process-x-sram-bike-2

https://www.evo.com/products/250885-devinci-marshall-a-deore-complete-mountain-bike-2025

https://www.evo.com/products/262542-devinci-troy-a-29-deore-12s-complete-mountain-bike-2024

https://www.pinkbike.com/product/deals/ actually seems very good for new items on sale. I stopped on page 3.

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With the increased maintenance requirements of FS bikes (and suspension parts in general) how long does stuff stay good for if you only ride 3-4 times a month? ie. with tubeless tires, want to ride only to find that you need to top off sealant and it’s $20/bottle plus it’s 10pm and you want an early start the next day

It’s nice to see Devinci moved away from Super Boost.

Who has time to ride more than 3-4x per month

Suspension wear and shock maintenance concerns are greatly exaggerated. Basically a non-issue. Sealant is sealant on a Mtb just as on a road going bike. Except on a Mtb the tires are generally thicker and you use more sealant so it all works a lot better.

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With Crusty on this one. And, come one, you only find out you need to top off your sealant when you get a flat on the trail and realize it is dry. But luckily you have a tube and a pump, so you’re good.

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Cornelia’s 5 year old Trek has loose rivnuts on all the bottle holders.

Can any shop deal with this?

How essential is it that we get it fixed immediately? Will it get beyond repair if she keeps using those bottle moints all summer?

you can make a press out of a long 5mm a nut and a bushing and just retighten them.

bolt through nut - bushing - rivnut

tighten the nut and it with resquash the rivnut

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You should be able to re-snug them with a bolt and nut. Start the nut onto the bolt with enough thread to engage the thread in the riv, thread the bolt in until the nut contacts the riv, hold the nut steady with a wrench and turn the bolt with a hex.

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If the nut is the same thread as the bolt, you turn the nut and hold the bolt.

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ATMO this helps protect the threads in the rivnut. Make sure and grease the threads in the normal nut it will help with the turning. You can put two washers with grease between them under the nut also to help with the spinning as it presses against the flange of the rivnut.

Edit: DO NOT use both a stainless nut and a stainless bolt. At least one of them should be plain steel or zinc plated steel, ideally both.

[quote=“jame5on, post:29252, topic:23”]a long 5mm a nut and a bushing
[/quote]

I have used a front hub with qr to tighten a rivnut before. Screw it in, close the lever, done. (Edit, you’ll need some spacers to take up the dropout thickness, and this won’t work in tight clearance. These days i have a rivnut tool)

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Thanks, 2am tarcking, I knew I’d get something wrong

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Steezy
:smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

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These are extra qr end caps for my grin hub

I want to drill and tap them for a solid axle.

I don’t have access to a drill press right now.

I bought bits in 1mm increments.

If I try to do it by hand will the existing hole keep the new hole straight?

I have three tests before the one that actually matters so I’m probably just gonna try it.

Worse case I ruin them and I blew $10+$20 shipping.

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…..

Did it work? You could tap them first with whatever tap will fit, leaving less material for a drill bit to remove and which should help the drill stay straight.

A metric step drill bit with longer sections might be useful too.

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Haven’t tried yet

Are the cogs of CUES cassettes loose full cogs riveted together? I could drill out the rivets and take the whole cassette apart? That’s that it looks like but I can’t quite tell, anyone have one to confirm?

I want to use the 39 on another cassette and then experiment with individual cogs for other stuff.

Alternative is some of the cogs are partial and attached to a common carrier: