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I am a serial upgrader, and as such I have a pretty healthy compliment of bling on my main bike (Stooge MK4).
However, I find very little desire to upgrade my SLX/XT drivetrain beyond some Hope jockey wheels. Am I missing something or are drivetrains inherently less sexy than other elements of the bike build?
Other than EEWings cranks (which are unobtainium unfortunately) - what drivetrain bling should I be lusting after?
None. New bike
Any new 12 Speed Cassette is probably considered bling these days
Middleburn cranks and a Chris King bottom bracket?
Been excellent on my bikes, sensible weight and last forever.
Is Shimano Yummea (spelling?) still a thing?
(He does BBs too)
Losing the cables with AXS gears will help bling it up, not to mention make shifting a joy…
Or some shiny pedals?
Or a shiny chainring?
Sadly, Yumeya died with XTR M970.
I was very impressed with the AXS setup on my mate's bike that I had 10 minutes on the other week.
Oilslick chain?
Middleburn with CK BB is a good shout, I suppose I'm thinking about the acutal gear mechanisms here mostly. I can think of sexy cranksets but I've never looked at a rear mech or shifters and gone, corrrr I'd like some of those! Do sexy mechs and shifters exist?!
My snobby lust-list criteria tends to be:
1. Well made and responsibly made, should last a bloody long time
2. Mechanical and reliable, fixable and maintainable by me or (at a push) my LBS, not reliant on smartphones, Bluetooth etc
other than some shiny bolts I wouldn't bother.
Oil slick or gold chains add bling for not too much cost. Also generally last longer as they’re higher spec chains. Have oil slick xx1 on the Fs and a KMC Ti-N Gold chain on the hardtail. Not sure which looks the best - I like both!
Thinking about it my road bike recently got an 11 speed gold Ti-N KMC chain too - looks sweet on there.
Do sexy mechs and shifters exist?!
Ingrid components?
Zirbel shifters (if using AXS)?
Not sure if it classes as bling or not but, I love the engineering look and weight (lack of) on the X01 12sp cassette and also the 11 speed Garbaruk with frame colour detail matching large ring.
Both work perfectly and I don't think I'd call them bling as such, more quality that happens to look good.
Personally I'd class bling as the rainbow coloured cassettes from Alibaba etc as they look funky but performance - who knows?
Ultimately whatever you associate as bling on a bike intended to be used in all sorts of weather and ridden hard off road is probably just a sign of more money than sense. Does make me smile in appreciation for my bikes now I'm an old git though, so meh to that last statement 😉
Is it plain "Bling" or "Niche bling" you're after? Rarety over function is the only way...
If money were no object I'd go hunting for a (long discontinued) Paul components Rear derailleur, and then an appropriately niche thumbie to operate it with...
It would cost a fortune and be functionally worse than anything produced by SRAM/Shimano in the last decade or so, but people who recognised the parts would immediately know I'd wasted a large sum and that I have impeccable taste...
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You need to visit the ceramicspeed site
https://www.ceramicspeed.com/en/cycling/off-road-products/off-road-ospw-x-systems
Love my XX1 AXS on both my bikes
cost a fortune and be functionally worse than anything produced by SRAM/Shimano in the last decade
Perfect - sign me up. Didn't even realise Paul did mechs before?
*Starts searching eBay for Paul mechs*
Responsibly made won’t trump not buying something that doesn’t need buying.
I really wish people would stop saying nice things about AXS. Stop it!
What @tomhoward said. Ingrid components.
https://ingrid.bike/product/rear-derailleur-rd1-m12s/
Droo-oo-ool!