had my enduro for a month now, in that time it has been up a mountain, also to a trail center, and yesterday, round a tough dales route.

a few negatives 1st,

a 160mm full sus bike is not the ideal bike for a trail center.
the cable routing under the bb on the enduro is a rubbish idea. when the suspension compresses, the cables splay causing the brake housing to rub on the crank on every pedal stroke. also managed to squash the housing on a rock whilst climbing a steppy bit of trail.
1 x 10 is pretty useless in a proper mountain environment. to climb a rocky steep climb MOST blokes will need a 22 inner ring.

now a few positives.

160mm front and back is fantastic on long rocky downhills, and on rocky level bits, where you can sit and spin.
modern suspension is proper fantastic nowadays, and a doddle to set up even by a numpty like me.
dropper posts, once poo pood by me are also ace.

1 x 10 is pretty useless in a proper mountain environment.

Agreed. I think it’s a fad that will die out. I wouldn’t buy an MTB with a single chaining personally.

Cable rub… Hmmm. Generally on most FS bikes I’ve seen you need to tweak the routing with the odd cable tie or bit of tape. It’s very often a compromise somewhere IME…. You need cables, but suspension moves them! 🙂

If it’s like the older enduro from 09 then we used to cable tie the two cables under the bottom bracket to stop them splaying as you described.

Glad your enjoying it though ton.

Gotta agree on the single ring stuff too, but I’m old ! I commented on the trail bike of the year thread to same effect, majority of their top 10 bikes were on single setups.

My old 04 Enduro cable routing annoyed me – too long and the outers did what you say, whereas if I zip tied them or shortened at all it ghost shifted !

a 160mm full sus bike is not the ideal bike for a trail center.

Yup

1 x 10 is pretty useless in a proper mountain environment. to climb a rocky steep climb MOST blokes

I see loads of people running 1×10 in the peaks including myself…

It’s what you’re used to though. I’ve been running 1x since 8 speed was current, haven’t used a front mech (apart from on the roadie) since about 2000. This includes a lot of Dartmoor riding and the occasional trip to the Pyrennees.

Zip tie the cables together where they pass under the bottom bracket, but not too tight, just enough to keep the brake one out of the way. If you do it too tight the zip tie will snap. Works for us.
We are deliberately running 2 x 10 on ours as we thought we might have a problem in the Alps with some of the climbs, especially Kevin. Recon Abigale could get away with 1 x 10 but for the small weight savings will leave hers as it is.

I would not use a 160 travel bike for XC use waste of time and energy.
160 travel bike is great down the runs in the Forest of Dean.Should of brought a Remedy 😀

Cant argue with most of that, but this bit

1 x 10 is pretty useless in a proper mountain environment. to climb a rocky steep climb MOST blokes will need a 22 inner ring.

Depends on the gear ratios of the 1 x 10, but im far from super fit and i can get away with 32 up front and 42 at the back, and i ride in proper mountains, and not so proper mountains.

1 x 10/11 is fantastic imo.

It’s surely just a matter of getting your average gear ratios into the right road speed range if you have a lower number of ratios to choose from?
After all, on a chunky tyred 160mm bike, you ain’t going to be leading the TDF on any pedally sections anyway, so loosing a bit of the potential high speed range to bias the bike towards the slower stuff seems like a sensible compromise to me?

(i run 32/42 or 30/42 depending on what i’m riding)

1 x 10 always seems a little pointless to me if you end up with a top gear of 32/11 and need a dinner plate on the other end. Id rather run two or god forbid three front rings have a nice range of gears that are reasonably spaced. But id rather feel cool than look cool 😉

Ton,

I have wanted an E29 for a long while.

Given your chance again, would you choose differently and if so, what would you a have Sir?

The cable issue is unusual as the cables should be cable tied as above and new bikes come that way normaly
Gearing will always be a personal choice. 29er enduros can probably have a front mech fitted not sure if 650 ones have the hole for the mount to fit on

so far i think i have made the right choice. i bought this bike with the sole purpose of riding some proper mountains. i did skiddaw with it on it’s 1st outing. but it suited the route around nidderdale pretty well too.
i wont be using it to ride xc routes. i will ride them on my tourer like i have been doing.

also, what is a Sir?

Slightly off topic.

I’ve not looked at new MTB’s for a very long time, but it does appear that the current fashion hinges on removing your front chainrings, putting them on the rear, and then claiming that you’re somehow fitter because you only have a single ring up front, Madness 🙂

Should be able to fit a front mech onto the Enduro. Think you need a special adaptor for the 29r. The 650 should be the same as the 26 which has a threaded hole in the front linkage

My bosses s works 650 does not have any of the threaded mounting holes either round the pivot bolt like the old ones or fitting for the newer style taco.
His is only 650 one I’ve looked at closely though

what is a Sir?

It’s a person who’s at least 6’3″, weighs at least 18 stones, says what he thinks & takes no shit.
Sir. 😉

On mine its the pivot bolt that is threaded. Adaptor for 29r is called a taco blade.

😆

it will take a direct mount front mech. the chain device is fitted where the mech will go.

As above, get a few zip ties on the cables.
Same routing on my Pitch, made a right mess of the underside of bottom bracket before I tamed the cables… never had a problem since.
I’ve recently gone 1 x 10 on the same bike (had it on HT for a while) the jury is still out.
Main benefit for me is it’s so easy to clean after a muddy ride, compared to two chainrings, chainguide and bashguard. I can keep it all running smoothly with the minimum of effort.

I rode Skiddaw and Borrowdale on my Camber 29r last September. Borrowdale was a fairly miserable rise to be honest.

However the Camber was pretty much perfect at Whinlatter.

removing your front chainrings, putting them on the rear

😀

will probably stick with the 1×10 for now. got a 30 front with a 11/40 cassette, with the 13tooth taken out. i dont need to pedal down hill, my momentum is pretty good. and with my fitness rising slowly i may get used to the single front ring set up…hopefully

agreed Ton 1×10/11 is no good for proper hills 160 is overkill mind for normal riders I have annoying cables under the BB

Not struggled with 1 x 10 yet, but if I ever do I’ll think it a good trade off for a decent position for my reverb remote on the left hand side of my bars.

Currently on an 11-36 cassette and 32t ring.

Simplicity of 1 by is good but it does annoy me when my mates with doubles aren’t working as hard to climb. On a big bike I would probably consider a compact double instead…but my point is I dont agree with:

‘1 x 10 is pretty useless in a proper mountain environment.’

1×10 can make life tough but pretty much anything is doable with the right amount of fitness and willingness to try harder.

Slightly off topic.

I’ve not looked at new MTB’s for a very long time, but it does appear that the current fashion hinges on removing your front chainrings, putting them on the rear, and then claiming that you’re somehow fitter because you only have a single ring up front, Madness

Well put.

You will think 1×10 is crap on the first ride – but stick with it, you’ll get fitter and wonder why on earth people carry all that extra metalwork hanging off their bottom bracket around.

jeez, just wait till you negative ninnys hear about singlespeders

1 thing i would like to ask anyone in the bike business, what is the reasoning behind the 1 x thing? is it purely a fashion led thing?

well here we go again…..
save a 1lb in weight,
get less cables and crap and places for mud to collect
just the dropper post lever on the bars, which simplifies things for racing
it makes most sense for [whispers]enduro[/whispers] and like it or not that seems to be what its all about these days
+ im not that fit and i manage alright

1 good thing is, walking up hills is better for taking in the scenery….. 8)

fashion led!! companies ploy to force you to buy dinner plate cassettes that cost the earth and wear out double quick time, I know I have first hand experience with guys that I ride with in the lakes and they don’t seem to be getting any fitter just friggin skint! 🙂

Ghost granny while you get back to full fitness?

1 thing i would like to ask anyone in the bike business, what is the reasoning behind the 1 x thing? is it purely a fashion led thing?

For me 98% of my riding I never use the granny ring or the big ring, the other 2% I’d be walking anyway so those 2 rings, the front mech, the shifter & cables are redundant and the difference in weight of a 11:34 cassette to a 11:36 is a lot less than all that lot so I don’t need to carry it around. If I lived in the alps it would be a different story but for Wales, lakes & Scotland 1x has been fine so far

1×11 here. no problems getting my fattie up any hill and i have lung cancer

Conversely, I like my 160mm bike with 1×10 (32/11-40) for everything.

Got to be a compromise somewhere on a do-it-all bike. For me it’s worth giving up some flickability and top end pedalling speed for the comfort, big terrain ability and grin factor.

Have ridden it in the Peaks, Lakes and Wales and not really struggled to winch up climbs. Admittedly I have ridden 1x since around 2000 with a 1×7 setup on a 39t chainring! Still hold that anything 32-40 won’t get me up I want to be walking anyway.

agreed Ton 1×10/11 is no good for proper hills

Boll*cks. You’re either too unfit/fat/old. There are all genres of riders & racers perfectly comfortable of riding ‘big mountains’ on a 1x setup.

1 thing i would like to ask anyone in the bike business, what is the reasoning behind the 1 x thing? is it purely a fashion led thing?

It’s hardly on all bikes. It’s fairly specifically targeted at a certain type of bike.

Designers arn’t constrained with having to try & cram a front mech into a frame, maybe where they want a linkage, frame piece, shock, wheel, etc.

see loads of people running 1×10 in the peaks including myself…

He said proper mountain environment though… 😉