I waded through a load of the 49+ page love in thread 😀 over the weekend but couldn't find answers to the following new build Q's.
Thinking Ultegra 6800 with the 685 Hydro STis. Anyone using these and if so, what are your thoughts?
Bike would be mainly be for NCN / fire road - bridleway type surfaces but I'd be interested in trying the SDW on it.
Looking at 46/36 c set coupled with a 11-32. Probably blow my kneecaps off with the high rpm on the flat stuff but do we think that gearing OK for the long SDW drags?
Prolly just leave it with the Kinesis CX wheels so can't decide on a middle ground set of tyres to cover most bases. 30 - 35mm jobs for the faster stuff or go wider to get some more grip and comfort?
Cheers
Anyone able to comment?
I had a 46/36 on the front of mine, with a 32 cassette, but changed the front ring for a 34 (which is cheap - the outer ring is the expensive one).
I then put a (10 speed) 36 cassette on the back as I found that I needed to stay seated on muddy climbs as the weight/torque of standing was too slippy.
If not going 1x11 I would look at the middleburn super compact set myself.
I wrote a nice long post, but its lost in the internet somewhere. So briefly:
I dont have a tripster but I do have a Pro 6.
I've sadly got no experience of the hydro brakes.
I'm running 34/50 on it, I expected the little ring to be too little and the big ring too big, but its fine and nicely useable.
The WTB 32mm tyres that came with the Pro 6 have been really good, but started suffering pinch punctures now, so looking for something wider and tougher, poss around 35mm. Poss Schwalbe CX Pro??
PS - Email me on my 'other' email address.
Cheers Mark. Not sure what email I have for you. Shall I use the hotmail one in your profile?
TG
TBH I imagine that 90%+ of this bike's proposed use will be road and ex railway tracks. Just rough enough to make road tyres a non starter.
I have a couple of 50+ mile routes immediately in mind that'll be too much effort on a MTB and tyre killers on a road bike.
50/34 with 11-28 here too. Was expecting that to be overgeared off road but so far so good. Haven't been at the dog end of 70 odd miles yet though, that's when a 32 might be appreciated.
Mine has to cover as road bike as well as cx bike, tourer and dogsbody though, so if you're intending to be offroad more than on, lacking the higher gears (my concern) won't be an issue.
Forgot to add, at my end of Hants, a combination of the speed it lets you go (in reasonable comfort) and the terrain have led to a fair few punctures on 32.. Now have a small block 8 on that seems bigger for the same nominal value and is wroking out better for me. Again, with a more offroad bias I'd go 35+ if possible.
I'm running Shimano hydro STIs with 11 speed (105/Ultegra mix) on my tripster. I have 11-32 Ultegra cassette and a 50/34 non-series Shimano 11 speed chainset. As a midlander can't comment on SDW suitability, but I'm not sure why you'd go 46/36 when 50/34 gives higher top-end and lower bottom-end (unlike in CX where you could arguably benefit from the closer ratios that 46/36 brings). I can highly recommend the "30mm" (measure up as 32mm) challenge strada bianca tyres for non-gnarly offroad and excellent on-road (I'm loving the challenge latex tubes I added as well), so much so that I'm about to go back to them for all my on-road riding despite having just bought a pair of GP4000s II (25mm) for the summer...
Sounds like a really good setup.. Pretty much the gearing I run.
It won't be that spinny either.
If I could justify upgrading some perfectly good spyres I'd love the hydros.
What wheels / tyres you thinking of?
You might want to read this recent thread of mine:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stans-grail-rims-is-it-just-me
They will never fit and am very disappointed. There's little choice in any case of tubeless tyres in a wide width.
Running Ultegra but with a triple.
I run 2 sets of kinesis wheels.. One with tubeless wtb 40c nano race and another with 28c conti gp4 seasons with latex tubes.
Happy enough with the cheap kinesis wheelset as a compromise for owning 2 sets of wheels.
Cheers guys
Bike would be a N+1 addition to the stable so I don't have to worry about making it fit multiple duties.
I'm a big gear masher and my thoughts around the 46/36 were to offer a better spread of gears that would [i]likely get more use[/i]. One of my off road commutes features some git climbs and I'm interested in seeing how I'd fair with a non suss big wheeler.
dc2.0
How have you found the Hydros? I have XT and XTR discs on't mtb's and like the simplicity of their set up, hence staying with Shimano.
I've found them fine, not as strong as the deore hydo disk brakes I have on one of my MTBs.
In fact, TBH, they aren't much stronger, or with much more modulation, than the TRP spyres I had before (using jagwire compressionless cables).
I found the initial bleed a bit of a faff, but followed the shimano guide and got there in the end.
Bottom line - they're absolutely fine but not *amazing* 😉
cinnamon_girlYou might want to read this recent thread of mine:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stans-grail-rims-is-it-just-me
They will never fit and am very disappointed. There's little choice in any case of tubeless tyres in a wide width.
Running Ultegra but with a triple.
Thanks CG 🙂
This 700c /29" big tyre thing (i.e anything wider than 25c) is new to me (still riding 26" MTBs) so I'd start with factory wheels.
You're welcome m1kea and am another still on 26" wheels! The 32mm Conti Gatorskins work well on the road but want wider for off road. Choose your wheels wisely.
cinnamon_girl......Choose your wheels wisely.
😆 I'm a wheel whore and am not going to own up to how many wheels I own!
I see Dave at [url= http://dcrwheels.co.uk/products/rims/road-disc-rims/ ]DCRwheels[/url] offers a selection though the Grails may not be the ones to go for.......!
Mike - I'm running 36/46 and 11-28 - TBH it's fine all round here.. some people I know have stuck mtb cassettes on the rear for a lower gear, but I'm happy to stand and mash if need be.
RE the brifters- i've no experience, but they'll be fine!
I've also got 2 sets of kinesis wheels - tubeless CX tyres, and tubed gatorskins for the road.
The bike is bang on the money now 🙂
You should get a tripster for the brighton-london-brighton ride in august 🙂
DrP
DrPMike - I'm running 36/46 and 11-28 - TBH it's fine all round here.. some people I know have stuck mtb cassettes on the rear for a lower gear, but I'm happy to stand and mash if need be.
RE the brifters- i've no experience, but they'll be fine!
I've also got 2 sets of kinesis wheels - tubeless CX tyres, and tubed gatorskins for the road.
The bike is bang on the money now[b]You should get a tripster for the brighton-london-brighton ride in august[/b]
DrP
Thank you sir
Funny you mention that....... Mind you if I do come and join you again I'll make sure I don't have a 4up TTT the following day!
BTW are you running a medium cage rear mech? - Prolly worth getting one of these to cover the bases.
I think it's just a medium cage (was the stock 105 that came on the factory build.
I swapped the cranks for 105 cranks, but kept the FSA 36/46 rings on.
I've got 2 11-28 cassettes; one on each wheelset.
I'll put a thread up about the london ride - will aim to do it on pride weekend again, as it was a laugh coming back into Brighton in the eve and having beer and chips on the seafront!
DrP
Either email address is fine Mike. I'll get to them eventually