44 Bikes

[fortyfour]

Just a little something I put together as a warm up before John Watson of The Radavist publishes his review of the Marauder currently in his hands for review.

Follow the link, sit back and enjoy the show...

[fortyfour]

[fortyfour]

[fortyfour]

This is it. One t-shirt to rule them all. 44 Bikes Shield logo on a black, fitted t-shirt blank. We've got you covered with this one. Available in XS, S, M, L and XL. Any color as long as it's Black... Pre-Order to run from 9/2 - 9/9/2015. Please allow 2 weeks for printing/shipping. Swear to Shred.

Scoop yours HERE.

[SlowPokePete]

Scooped :)

SPP

[dgaddis]

Scooped :)

SPP

Ditto.

Any chance you'll be doing another run of caps Kris?

[fortyfour]

Ditto.

Any chance you'll be doing another run of caps Kris?

I will be in the future, yes. Wanted to get this T-shirt out there first and possibly another. Thanks for your order!

[BeefCheeks]

Ordered. Stoked!

[heartattackrider]

Ordered. Thanks!!!!

A black on black would be a nice neighbor for it in my drawer. :)

[fortyfour]

Ordered. Thanks!!!!

A black on black would be a nice neighbor for it in my drawer. :)

Thanks for the support! I think the next one I will do will be the "I'm painting my bike black" graphic in black on a deep heathered charcoal actually. I considered black on black - perhaps the next run once these are all said and done for the logo!

[fortyfour]

I've had sufficient time on both XTR and XX1. I was recently asked online what I thought of both if compared, so I decided to expand on my answer in greater details as I think I touch on some points that most don't talk about. Small details, but to me these really set each apart and give both their merits in terms of how they work, how they feel and ultimately how they perform. Read up and take notes here.

Shimano:



Sram:

[dgaddis]

Great write up Kris. A few questions for you:

Shifting effort - which has a lighter feel to the shifters?

Gripshift - only available with SRAM. Have you tried it? I know it's not everyone's thing, but personally I love it. Going back to shift effort...I find that on really long rides, it's just easier to twist than push a lever. I also like that you can shift however many gears you want all at once, even the whole cassette if you want.

Mix & Match - is the cog spacing the same on XX1 and Shimano? In other words, could you mix and match cassettes? Using a 40T w/XX1 shouldn't be a problem (if the cog spacing is the same), but what about using the 42T w/XTR, will it take an extra two teeth?

[MarkC]

Gripshift - but personally I love it.

Same here on 1x11. Works great.

2x10 XTR on another bike which works fine too but prefer the twist shift.

Great write ups Kris!

-Mark

[fortyfour]

Great write up Kris. A few questions for you:

Shifting effort - which has a lighter feel to the shifters?

So this is an interesting question. The feel of the Sram shifter as I mention has a nice "POP" while Shimano's felt more like a "Click". It's even more exaggerated if you've ridden Sram's double tap system - that has a really loud audible POP as you march up/down the cassette. The overall lightness of the shifter though? Honestly, both were really easy to shift. The two way throw of the XTR shifter though was easier to use in the push mode than in the pull mode I found - that pull feature is more dependent of where your hands are on the bars/grips and how the shifter is in relation to the brake lever. I really like the shifter rotated forward and close to the lever, but that makes the pull feature a bit more difficult. That same lever on Shimano's has a rubberized texture/cover making it a bit more tacky perhaps. Both I have found that I can rest my entire thumb on the length of the large paddle and shift that way when climbing - so as a consequence, I'm choked in a bit on the bars so my hands are closer to the stem as I drop my elbows down and relax my upper body. I like that. But both felt very smooth to me - if anything, Shimano's started out a touch on the stiff side, but as the rides wore on, it smoothed out significantly. Sram's felt smooth from the get-go. But both are now equally smooth.

Gripshift - only available with SRAM. Have you tried it? I know it's not everyone's thing, but personally I love it. Going back to shift effort...I find that on really long rides, it's just easier to twist than push a lever. I also like that you can shift however many gears you want all at once, even the whole cassette if you want.

WAY back when, my very first upgrade on my first mountain bike was the very first set of Grip Shift. I ran them almost exclusively for a very long time. It's not until I went head long into single speeding that I made the switch when I finally built up a bike with gears again (and it was a 1x). Both cases of the shifters (Sram/XTR) you can grab the paddle and advance up the cassette many gears at a reasonable amount. I didn't feel hampered by the effort required to make a big change. Dumping gears was a bit different as you have to either push rapidly with both (Sram's really can be pop'ed through the gears) while Shimano's throw allows you to dump 1 or 2-3 gears at a time. So you can push that paddle a few times to go from the 40t all the way down to say the 11t with ease.

Mix & Match - is the cog spacing the same on XX1 and Shimano? In other words, could you mix and match cassettes? Using a 40T w/XX1 shouldn't be a problem (if the cog spacing is the same), but what about using the 42T w/XTR, will it take an extra two teeth?

You can apparently mix and match the XX1 or X1 or even GX cassette with Shimano. The spacing is the same. XTR does come in a GS or SGS cage length (so medium or extra long) to take up chain. I do know that Shimano XT M8000 has a 11-40t and a 11-42t option. Interesting though, the jump on XX1 is a 36 to 42t vs Shimano went with a 37t to 42t jump. That would be interesting to try. I do know that the 35 to 40t jump was WAY smoother in most situations than that bigger jump from the 36 to 42t spread on Sram's cassette. And as I mention in the blog entry, that jump can get to be on the harsh side if you are say approaching a climb and advancing up the cassette under load or going from the 42 to the 36t - it can really feel like a big SLAM off or on to that 42t cog. At least in my experience. And I will say I did experience a bit of diminishing return of the 42 vs the 40t cog. And in many cases, it was better to be in say the 35 or 36 for certain climbs just due to the nature of the terrain. I'd need more forward motion with a short pedal stroke than what that 42 or even the 40t could deliver and often felt a bit off balance because there just wasn't enough forward motion. So in many cases, i found being in a lower gear was easier to perform the climb and technical moves required even though I was putting out a little bit more effort either seated or standing. There were episodes where I would get up on to something and lose momentum and stall or stall out because I'd lose my balance because I wasn't carrying just enough speed. Odd, but there it is. And this was on stuff I normally just cruise over without issue - dropping down cogs actually helped this.

So I'd check with what those two rear derailleurs in the XTR M9000 line up can handle for cassettes - I want to say the SGS or longer cage version can handle that XT 11-42t cassette?

[dgaddis]

Thanks Kris!

Good news re: cassette interchangeability. The XTR cassette has the creaky carrier (and I'm sure an XTR pricetag as well), XX1 cassettes are mega monies, I imagine Shimano will move a LOT of XT cassettes. Also means you can go to XX1 without needing to swap the freehub on your wheel, which saves some money and frustrations (depending on the hub). And you can move the wheel to other non-XX1 bikes if needed and just swap the cassette, not the whole freehub body.

[fortyfour]

Apparently some have been using XX1 chains on the XTR drivetrain and getting more mileage out of them? I can't confirm this but that's what others have told me. And yes to the compatibility between groups (XX1 / XTR) as far as the cassettes. The XT cassette will be the replacement once I wear this XTR out, and you never know... I may get that fed up with the constant maintenance to swap it out prematurely! But I kind of want to see how long it lasts just for the sake of longevity and comparison sake.

[devlin]

What about the jump in gear inches. (I haven't read the blog post yet so apologise if the answer is in there) You mentioned about one gear over another in the climbing aspect but I wonder at times if the jump between gears is too big at the top end of the cassette. How does it affect the riding you do on your terrain?

[fortyfour]

What about the jump in gear inches. (I haven't read the blog post yet so apologise if the answer is in there) You mentioned about one gear over another in the climbing aspect but I wonder at times if the jump between gears is too big at the top end of the cassette. How does it affect the riding you do on your terrain?

I go into this briefly in the article among other differences between the two cassettes (XX1 vs XTR). To expand on this, let me explain a bit more here:

So you can certainly do the gear inch calculation between the two cassettes for that cog / chainring combination. If you want to know, I'm running a 30t chainring and I'm running a 2.3" WTB Trail Boss on the drive wheel if you take that into account. Otherwise, what I've found and felt in terms of feel of how these two cassettes work with their respective spreads is that the jump on the XX1's cassette from the 36t cog to the 42t cog, depending on what situation you are in on the trail the jump can feel a bit forced or clunky for lack of better terminology. It has a tendency to SNAP up into the 42t or down from the 42t to the 36t. It's a pretty big jump. I notice it most if you are cresting a climb and beginning to descend and you are dumping gears (even if I let off the gas), or if you are at the base of a climb and you are advancing up the cassette with some load. Most times the transition is relatively smooth, but some times it has a tendency to SLAM off of or up on to the 42t.

Now when comparing this to the 35t to 40t transition of the XTR cassette, it feels much, much smoother. Also take note that Shimano's XT cassette comes in both a 11-40t combo and 11-42t combo where the second to last gear on the 11-42t combo is 37t. So I kind of wonder if that transition is smoother? I have a hunch it is, but would need to put it through it's paces. I found both cassettes to have good transitions and usable gears in a 1x setup but I will say that the overall feel and use of the XTR cassette was much nicer in terms of feel and transitions between the gears.

Both cassettes I did find that when I am in a really slow speed, steep, technical climb, it was actually more beneficial it seemed if I was dropped down a gear or two from the 40t or 42t cog. Some sections or obstacles would require more forward momentum or "UMPH" to get up and over them, and the 40 or 42t although is an amazing climbing/resting gear, it's a lot easier to use a slightly harder gear in some of these situations as each pedal stroke carries a tad bit more forward momentum with 29" wheels. Not to mention if you are dealing with all kinds of trail obstacles and trying not to strike your pedals, giving little kicks of shortened pedal strokes in the 40 or 42t just doesn't give you enough push and I found I'd be hitting my pedals in certain situations (say if you just went over a rock where the rock is between the wheels, so it is essentially much higher to the bottom bracket - we have a lot of "up and over" type stuff here with all the old rock walls littering the woods). So in essence, some times depending on the climb, it's better to have to exert a little more effort to maintain momentum than pedal like crazy to keep momentum in order to clean technical lines. I also feel a bit off balance if I am pedaling really fast - I tend to find a smooth, deliberate cadence which establishes a rhythm to be much more beneficial in tech allowing you to sink your butt a touch and keep your weight centered low between the wheels.

[Shoogs]

You know, I read half the blog post before I glazed over and remembered I don't have a geared MTB. Still fun to think about and good to know...my 10y/o daughter will be upgrading from her 1x9 soon enough.

[fortyfour]

You know, I read half the blog post before I glazed over and remembered I don't have a geared MTB. Still fun to think about and good to know...my 10y/o daughter will be upgrading from her 1x9 soon enough.

I'll do a mash-up write-up about my new SS just for you then ;) with details about 1x11 to SS and back again.