[Closed] Mud friendly (or not) bike features

Allow me to nominate 1x as a significant mud friendly feature.

Anyone remember U-brakes on the chain stay?

Loam shelf on the transition? Newer versions even have a shock pond/pool/bath.

Anyone remember U-brakes on the chain stay?

Yep my first MTB had a Shimano Exage U brake under the chainstays.

Anyone remember U-brakes on the chain stay?

I very nearly bought an Overbury's Pioneer with one of those. In fact I would almost certainly have bought it but I happened to be in Bristol on a Wednesday and discovered they didn't open on Wednesdays.

I've got a rigid bike with a Rohloff for off road commuting, great for mud.

Anyone remember U-brakes on the chain stay?

I think we can ignore the word "brake".

Hardtail, with long front mudguard, bridgeless stays, front facing seattube slot, flat/clean dropouts and flat mount....

Its making me very seriously considering buying a single pivot like an orange

After ending up wrecking an old frame by not changing bearings soon enough it's not just that it's a harder job to replace it all it's that you never know if it needs done without taking everything apart. So allways a niggling worry of are these bearings completely shot

Rohloff + Gates Belt drive. Puuurfick.

Hardtail

With good chainstay clearance. Plus tyres that are not too wide, studded enough to grip, and shed mud well.

Jockey wheels with bushings, NOT tiny little sealed bearings.

Disc brakes with greater pad clearance (think it was Giant that promoted this about a decade ago, not sure what the limit on clearance is, perhaps the available 'travel' of the piston seals?)

A big thumbs up for fit-and-forget bottom brackets, like Octalink.

Mine still turn perfectly. Some people (huckers), may have found the slightly smaller bearings to be more vulnerable on sharp landings.

After ending up wrecking an old frame by not changing bearings soon enough it’s not just that it’s a harder job to replace it all it’s that you never know if it needs done without taking everything apart. So allways a niggling worry of are these bearings completely shot

Is anyone aware of any better way of checking this? My bike felt fine to ride, felt fine with the shock disconnected, but when disassembled I found all the bearings stuck and sign (paint wear) of the pivot bolts rotating within them.

Jockey wheels with bushings, NOT tiny little sealed bearings.

I used to think this, but since switching back to bearings *and* packing them with waterproof grease I actually wear my jockey wheels out on the outside before the axle rather than the other way round.

For unfriendly I’ll add Iscg tabs. Solaris Mk1 to Solaris max, basically the same construction but the Max is tweaked for more clearance (boost, slightly wider chain stays) and yet I get much more mud built up around the bb, invariably hooked on the tabs on some way.

Friendly- when are we going to start seeing crud mounts under the downtube again?

Push-in/out bearings that don’t need an extractor or press (don’t remember which company).

Cladenstine The Combe

"all frame bearings can be changed with a set of 5 mm allen keys. The bearings are held in place with pinch bolts, which means that you can push them out with your finger once you've removed the bolt"

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/the-european-bike-project-5-exciting-products-from-small-european-manufacturers-february-2022.html

molgrips
Full Member

Allow me to nominate 1x as a significant mud friendly feature.

Oh god yes. And not just 1x but the narrow-wide ring, making chain devices less essential. I don't mind having a little top guide but dh style guides were always epic mud traps.

tabletop2
Full Member

After ending up wrecking an old frame by not changing bearings soon enough it’s not just that it’s a harder job to replace it all it’s that you never know if it needs done without taking everything apart.

Always found that just taking the wheel out and removing a set of shock bolts is enough tbh

I'm still waiting for a 12 speed Crud Claw.

The crud X-Large and rear mud hugger. For taking off road mudguards seriously.
Before these items you still got covered in crap.
Sks have copied the mudhugger and made it better. All we need are some Speed Rockers in 60mm and I’ll be totally happy.

Always found that just taking the wheel out and removing a set of shock bolts is enough tbh

You can feel the resistance in the linkage? Did that on mine, felt fine, but it turns out the pivot bolts were turning inside the stuck bearings.

I do not understand why no one fits grease nipples to bearings

Rohloff + Gates Belt drive. Puuurfick.

Titanium frame, pinion gearbox, gates belt drive and a mahoosive bolt on front mudguard. Job jobbed. (A rear mudguard would top it off but they look gopping).

Mine does still have a slight mud shelf on the chainstay bridge but nothing a quick bounce on the floor can't clear.

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Oh and a crucial bottle with a mud cover.

well if thats the case My shand. rohloff, chain drive, hardtail, full mudguards

The linkage of the Revel Rascal in the Ukraine £10 lottery looked interesting.

Upon further reading, I found it has 18 pivot bearings. Eighteen! Probably not designed with muddy winters high on the priority list.

I have one. It's fair to say it's not great in the mud in terms of clearance (although a 2.4 on a 30mm rim isn't a disaster!) and there's lots of pivots to get mucky. I made a mudguard that sits between the seat and chain stays to protect the bottom bearings.

Mostly tho I don't ride it when it's sloppy. I have the HT for that. When it dries up it's an awesome suspension design so I'm happy to take the compromise.

FS designs tho that look quite mud friendly but then have ridiculous rear tyre clearance. I'm looking at you Transition Smuggler!

I do not understand why no one fits grease nipples to bearings

Deviate Highlander as I said in the OP - "Grease ports - fitted to all pivot and idler bearings in the name of riding all winter". Not sure how that works really with a sealed bearing.

You just use a bearing with only a seal on the outer face or no seals at all.

Exposed shock mount through hole in the downtube

FS designs tho that look quite mud friendly but then have ridiculous rear tyre clearance. I’m looking at you Transition Smuggler!

Both the Specialized FS bikes I've had suffer from this. All that dry weather they get. Love my now quite old Camber but I always fear it's end may come in mud eroding the entire seat stay on a South Downs night ride.

I’m amazed that modern mountain bikers, or is it now ATB riders, are bothered by mud. Don’t you all go to trail centres?
White Peak, North East Derbyshire, you’ll find mud, it’ll embrace you and you’ll learn to love it!

Stanton’s chainstay yoke isn’t the best tbh

I've still got a rigid singlespeeder with decent mudguards in the shed. If only I could devise a way to eliminate headset and BB bearings, it'd be perfect. 🤔

Loam shelf in my Slayer linkage, where the chains stays joind the frame. The rear mech & brake cables pass through an opening which then turns into a birds nest of ming.

They created a cover for this on the Altitude, thankfully I found a lad in Italy who 3d prints something similar, this makes the crap easier to shift.

I’ve still got a rigid singlespeeder with decent mudguards in the shed. If only I could devise a way to eliminate headset and BB bearings, it’d be perfect. 🤔

Hope 1 1/8 headset and a Shimano Un73 BB (+ Middleburn cranks) on my rigid SS.
Haven't had to touch either for years.

wheelsonfire1
Full Member

I’m amazed that modern mountain bikers, or is it now ATB riders, are bothered by mud. Don’t you all go to trail centres?
White Peak, North East Derbyshire, you’ll find mud, it’ll embrace you and you’ll learn to love it!

If you're going to troll you should at least read the question.