The official MTB discussion thread...

[Oreo]

Have the ability to empower me so i am able to do whatever i want.

 

[Jayce]

If someone discovered a way to get in good shape with the click of your fingers, i'd pay them like 5k I do actually have a crappy mountain bike.

This, but in gunmetal grey >

Is it weird that I shy away from frame designs like that because I just don't trust even the most stiff metals with my *** having to hang way off like that?

 

[Jayce]

Here's a question to the wrench heads of the bike group. I'm running pretty much all new components on my ride.

Brand new:
9 spd SRAM cassette
9 spd SRAM chain
Shimano Deore LX crankset
Shimano XT front derailleur

1 month old:
Shimano Deore LX rear derailleur

I set my limiters and B tension accordingly and all seemed well. I went for a ride and I shifted to the largest chainring and the 2nd to smallest rear cog. I felt a little bit of a bumpy sensation through the pedals/crankset. I wasn't too sure what it was, so of course I checked the B tension since it felt EXTREMELY similar to the jockey wheel on the rear derailleur "riding" on the cog. But I had some clearance... I put the bike on my bike rack and I duplicated the same thing. I turned the crank by hand and I felt the distant bumpy feeling. To be sure, with my other hand I gently pushed on the rear derailleur, pushing it further out from the cogs, leaving me PLENTY of clearance, yet it continued. This to me suggested the B tension had little/nothing to do with what I was seeing.

The front derailleur has plenty of clearance and there is no chatter from the chain. The rear derailleur seems to be adjusted perfectly as well, seeing as though it shifts very smooth and precise from gear to gear with no chatter. It's just in the 3rd smallest/2nd smallest cog when in the largest chainring, I couldn't help but to notice this.

It's not a big deal I suppose. It's not like the chain is skipping under torque. But I didn't see this on my hardtail (which used the Deore LX rear derailleur) when it was on an 8 spd setup - so I'm not sure why on the 9 spd setup with the newer gear it's doing this... Any ideas?

For what it's worth I think I figured it out. I wasn't giving enough input on the B tension screw, so while I was on the right track to getting it lined up, I didn't fully engage it to the proper point. I guess I was used to the fact my hardtail barely used 1-2 threads worth of the B tension screw, whereas this FS bike takes about 3/4 of the entire screw to get the B tension where it should be - however my hardtail had a 11-32 cassette, whereas the FS bike has 11-34, so the largest cog is a bit higher, and the rear derailleur itself has a capacity of 45t total, which is what my drivetrain is, so it's right at its range anyway.

Note - Don't ever make adjustments to your bike with it upside down. My stand is in the garage but my brothers and their buddies were out there playing music, so I took the bike in the basement to work on without the rack. Flipped it upside down, did my thing, ****, wasn't good. No matter what I did the B tension was sucking to adjust, nothing worked. Like I said I gave it 3/4 tension and it's fine now, but that was AFTER I realized, oh! the bike should be completely upright when making adjustments! It seems as if the bike being upside down that uncle gravity may have played a key role in the derailleur sitting a few milimeters lower, hence the fact that even with 100% B tension before, it wasn't enough, confusing me. But like I said, 3/4 B tension with the bike sitting upright - just enough clearance from top jockey wheel to largest rear cog. We're good to gooooooo!

 

[toxicity_27]

Is it weird that I shy away from frame designs like that because I just don't trust even the most stiff metals with my *** having to hang way off like that?

No, with my fat*** on one of those I'm pretty sure I would snap that sucker in half going over a log or something.

 

[overlord20]

No, with my fat*** on one of those I'm pretty sure I would snap that sucker in half going over a log or something.

Yeah.. those are terrible weak frame designs, made to look cool.

 

[toxicity_27]

Yeah.. those are terrible weak frame designs, made to look cool.

Well they failed horribly trying to make it look cool. Personally I'm a big fan of the four-bar suspension, or whatever the "technical" name is. EDIT: I believe I'm talking about the DW-Link.

Like this;

 

[overlord20]

Dual Link Sus is nice simple and effective. I personally like the cleaner more simple look on transitions suspensions.

 

[Jayce]

Well they failed horribly trying to make it look cool. Personally I'm a big fan of the four-bar suspension, or whatever the "technical" name is. EDIT: I believe I'm talking about the DW-Link.

Like this;

Is that patented by Specialized? My new frame has suspension like that and it's a KHS brand, yet there's a Specialized sticker on the left lower chainstay of the rear triangle.

 

[toxicity_27]

The Horst Link is patented by Specialized. I really don't know the difference between all of them, I just know that I like the ones that look like my picture. No real reason other than I think it looks cool.

 

[overlord20]

With that suspension. The tire moves in and out as well as up and down apposed to just up and down.