I really dislike the look of the new coke can head tubes, but I see how a tapered steel head tube is just impractical, especially for smaller sizes.
Iâve come to really like the look of EC34 / EC44 tapered headtube and cups. As a bonus, I can press it with normie tools, source the bearings & races readily, run a conversion race with a 1 1/8" fork. Plain old CC40âs work fine, or splash out on a 110 if you care. I didnât even face my Sklarâs head tube and itâs just fine.
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Whatâs even weirder is that it looks like Zinn decided to give WTB the orders they needed to make 750D a reality a year ago, and there has been essentially zero hype or fanfare about this size.
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Zinn is the definition of neutral good
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Oh man I didnât realize 750D had made it to real production. Feel bad for him to do that then 32" comes along, I wonder what the backstory is on other manufacturersâ decision to push(it seems) for 32" now?
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Weâll have to wait for the âThirty Truthâ podcast but it seems like Maxxis was pushing it. Maybe they wanted to leapfrog WTB.
Wiggle rings
lol âpedal kick isnât a real problem but our chainring fixes it anywayâ
At least theyâre honest
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I realize this is not marketed to me but I do not maintain my drivetrains well enough for such a device. It would be crammed full of black chain crap within a month
Eliminating pedal kickback. Whether it happens or not.
Studies prove that when the bike is moving faster than a walking pace, forward wheel rotation compensates to negate whatâs known as âpedal kickback.â So even though pedal kickback rarely happens on the trail, Ochain still eliminates it.
his reads like a paper i wrote in college where i was trying to push a specific narrative and then halfway through found that the studies didnât support my narrative, so i just used very weasely wording and submitted it anyway
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Slight improvement for 2% of riders, placebo for the other 98%, only $300!
Iâve seen worse deals
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To be fair, they cost 450 before SRAM bought them.
Had a similar experience for a high school science fair project.
I realized shortly before the day we were presenting that I made an unfounded assumption or a procedural error (i canât remember which). Presented the project anyways but just told people everything is wrong.
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Iâm not as much of a hater as I was prepared to be. They make no real claims about being lighter, or faster, or anything like that.
But they say it feels better, more in control, smoother. I can respect that theyâre going after what the ride experience is, damn the stopwatches.
It seems like uphill pedaling and power transfer and rear hub POE so you can get up over a logâŚjust donât matter anymore, to a great many riders. Folks are spinning along uphill on fire roads, then swooping down. (Not even getting into ebikes).
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www.pinkbike.com/news/rimpacts-chainring-based-chain-damper.html
2024
I think a part of the initial adoption was smoother suspension travel (unencumbered by a chain)
Almost everyone who rides with them say it feels better pointed down. You also have to get used to it since you will have up to 12* of deadband if you are going ham for a few pedal strokes to get some more speed before a feature.
But if you donât have the adjustable one to 0 out it can feel bad any any single track climb.
DT Swiss is doing their version of it inside their DEG hubs called Degrees of Freedom. Cheaper, can change pretty quickly, but not damped like ochain or rimpact are.
Growtac is teasing something new. Speculation is that itâs new silver shifters, which the retro nerds have all been gagging for in any comments Iâve seen. I wonder if Mr @igor has any inside knowledge ?
I shouldnât say putting a 2L camelbak in my handlebar bag does the same thing, but since Iâll never actually ride this I will choose to believe it is so.
Itâs my understanding that the Rimpact unit is quite far down the list of components one would try in the search for comfort. A suspension fork would sit atop that list, followed by high volume tires. Engineer Dan Hicks says that, in terms of improving comfort, the TMD would sit in the realm of a compliant handlebar, for example.
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oh sick itâs like a modern Zertz
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Gravel bikes are the new skyscraper.
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