|   OT: A few thoughts from this weekend on my new parts... | DIRT BOY
Apr 14, 2003 1:37 PM | | Well I have now had a chance to test, ride and compare a few new parts vs older ones I had on my ride:
Easton EC70 vs MOOT Titanium Post
Well as I posted a while back I had a installation issue with my easton post slipping in the seat tube. Afetr a few months of getting to hold I decided to try something else. The carbon post gave me no "Smoothing Out" feeling on the trail as others have mentioned. When I left the trail that here more technical I left with a back ache, same as my aluminum posts.
So I said let's try a Moots Ti...
Well speedgoat and others said it was a pain to install the seat. I had no problems installing, but decided to change seats. What a pain in the A$$. After 30 minutes I was able to change the seat. I looked around and heard of the penny trick and asked MOOTS for help.
On their advice I bought SNAP RING PLIERS that made the job very easy.
On The trail...
It was amazing how good this post felt. I felt like i was on a soft-tail or getting a little travel form the post. No as good as my thudbuster (of course) but it really "took the edge off."
Roots and rocks seemed to get absorbed better than I thought.
Definitely a great upgrade!!
XTR Shift/RD vs SRAM X.O Shift/RD
I rode the X.o for about 10 miles a few months back. I was not too impressed. After having them on my bike for 40+ miles now I am shocked on how much better the ride is. I can shifter faster and easier than I did with RF. The twisting action feels better on my wrist than the pushing of RF did on my fingers. I can also keep a better cadence while shifting as I am gong uphill and smoother.
I can go from a low gear to a high gear and back to low before my legs knew what happened!
The RD is flawless as the XTR in performance. I see no difference here.
I have had no issues with shifting and braking at the same time. I learned how to do it pretty good.
Staying with X.O happily!
Eclipse UST kit vs Stan's UST Rimstrips
I just order Stan's UST rimstrips last week to try out.
Getting the first tire (Schawble Jimmy) to seal was not too bad.
It took a lot of soapy solution to get the tire's bead and the rimstrip to seal. Second tire was a big hassle. It took 1hr to get it to seal. The next day it was flat. A good seal was not created like the first tire. So I tried again with pure soap and still leaked.
Afetr getting frustrated and going back to the Eclipse Kit, I decided to try one more time. This time it sealed! Works as well as advertised in getting the bead sealed to the rimstrip. When changing it out the first time, the tires bead was almost glued to the rimstrip as well as the tires bead was doing to the wheel with just latex. I was able to run 28psi on my tires with no burps or bead separation. Never had a problem on the Crossmax rims with the Eclipse kit though. I wanted to try them out with the new tires. I was not sure how the Schawble tires would do with latex and bead issues. The valve on the rimstrip is really narrow and homemade latex with a goo amount of tubeless slime will no go down. I must be very thin a have just a little slime to work.
pros: easy enough to seal, works as advertised.
cons: valve too narrow, workmanship look cheap, better material in the rimstrip would be nice.
I had same problem with the strip as I did UST rims. The tires beads would get stuck in the rimstrips channel making the tire hard to seal.
I used weather stripping to get bead to seat, then removed it carefully later.
Note: this is the same rimstrip that works on the 22mm wide mavic rims but upside-down :-(
Not designed exclusively for UST rims but works!
The Eclipse Kit.
Never had a problem sealing on a UST rim. Easy to use valves that tubeless slime will go through.
No burping or bead separation with Hutchinson, WTB, Conti or Schawble tires.
pros: Easy to set-up, best valves.
cons: for the price you don't seem to get much. Latex, Foam Stripping and valves. Now the Foam strip hold s very well and has lasted me 6 months with multiple tire changes. Works much better than weather stripping. This allows your tires beads to pop into place fast and not loose any latex.
If you have problems with bead separating or burping go with stan's, other wise I say go with the Eclipse kit.
Even though it's 100g heavier, I will stick with stans for now since they are installed. Next tire change I will go back to the Eclipse Kit if the tries are proven.
Well that's it folks! The Schawble tire review coming tomorrow.
Big Jim and Little Alberts....
DIRT BOY
http://light-bikes.com |
| yeah... | divve
Apr 14, 2003 10:37 PM | | ...I was impressed with the Eclipse valve as well. The rubber block on the bottom seals perfectly with the rim. I think a lot of development went into that part. For tightening down I did however use the original Mavic o-ring and black nut. It just looks better:) |
| same here. (nm) | DIRT BOY
Apr 15, 2003 12:52 AM | | |
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