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***I’m on trip by means of Labor Day. You’re not studying this as a result of this publish doesn’t exist. You don’t exist. I don’t exist. We’re all serendipitously assembly right here in a consequence-free alternate actuality.***
Greetings from deep within the wilderness, the place on any given journey I’m as a lot as a number of miles away from the closest restaurant:
Thankfully I’ve received a extremely succesful bicycle with me:
Although I didn’t style the gravel first, so I’m not assured about my tread choice or tire stress:
For the previous couple years my default trip bicycle has been my A. Homer Hilsen:
Nevertheless, it’s now my main commuting bike, and I’ve received it arrange so nicely for city responsibility that I simply couldn’t carry myself to undo it once more:
If the Homer resents not becoming a member of me this yr, it could take solace in the truth that not solely did it take two bicycles to switch it, but additionally that as my commuter it’s formally my most-ridden bicycle.
Anyway, after asserting to the world that I’d transformed all my bikes to friction shifting, I un-converted the Jones once more by reinstalling the inventory set off shifter, largely as a result of the lengthy throw this explicit derailleur required of the friction shifter wasn’t one of the best match ergonomically with the Jones bars. So for the primary time in awhile I’m on a totally fashionable(-ish) drivetrain once more:
I don’t love SRAM’s obsession with placing batteries in completely every part, or their newest try and make your body out of date. Nevertheless, for sure forms of driving I do recognize the deserves of a wide-range single-ring drivetrain, which they roughly pioneered. It’s easy and it really works nicely. Additionally, now that I spend most of my time on bikes with friction shifting I admit I’m having fun with the novelty of going clickety-click once more:
Anyway, I’ve had this bike for simply over 4 years now, so I believed it could be price checking in on how the drivetrain is doing. The elements are SRAM Eagle NX. For those who learn any of the varied Web boards, you’ll rapidly be taught that SRAM Eagle NX sucks and that you simply’ve received to get no less than GX, braaah, or your derailleur’s going to blow up and also you’re doing to die. Granted, I’m not on the market SENDING IT [barf], however I’ve put this bike to good use within the time that I’ve had it, and as a lot as I’d prefer to malign SRAM and their insidious anti-derailleur hanger, battery-powered cabal, I actually haven’t had a single downside with it, nor may I think about it’s functionally any completely different from the elements which are simply above it within the element hierarchy. Sure, it may be slightly finicky to regulate the shifting after you place in a brand new cable or one thing, and arguably a 12-speed drivetrain is slightly a lot (particularly when SRAM shifters solely allow you to upshift one gear at a time), but it surely’s laborious to name both of these items “issues.” I did have to alter the chain pretty early on–not due to put on, however due to rust. (Not each chain is suited to nearly full neglect, which is my customary method to chain upkeep.) However since placing a KMC something-or-other on there awhile again it’s been operating easily with simply occasional utility of lube.
After all, if I had been constructing the Jones from scratch, I’d most likely do it slightly in a different way. Single-ring drivetrains with clutch derailleurs are nice for full-on “mountain bike”-style driving, the place you’re continuously driving up and down the type of tough and rocky terrain that make entrance shifts unimaginable. Nevertheless, for all-around driving that additionally contains pavement and easy grime and garvel, I nonetheless like a pleasant double. Moreover, as a lot as I’m nonetheless having fun with the clickety-click novelty, 12 cogs and one chainring means a lot of clickety-clicking, and in that respect the friction shifter was truly a greater match. And this Jones has a cease for a entrance derailleur cable, which I’m unsure is true of the newer ones:
So given my quirks, preferences, and pretentions, I’d most likely arrange the Jones with some type of friction-shifted double with fewer cogs on the rear, the same low vary, and a better excessive gear for the street. That apart, no less than for now, the lower-end wide-range single-ring mountain bike drivetrains appear well-suited to the bicycle owner who prizes simplicity, and may nonetheless be used together with cable-actuated brakes (disc or rim), and even friction shifters, supplied you discover the best one. Sure, their days could also be numbered as these firms electronify every part, however for now no less than it’s good to have choices.
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