What bike do I want?

[Beaver]

Today is my last day working at the bike shop so I thought I'd buy myself a bike. Orbea Rallon M10


I guess I could sell my Orbea Occam M10 now

[dcpnz]

Toast, smmokan and anyone else

Have any of you actually ridden a Hugene yet?

Seems they’ve had a demo fleet at some of the US bike trade events recently. Would love to get some first hand insight to contrast with the magazine puff pieces that I’ve read with great interest.

[toast2266]

Toast, smmokan and anyone else

Have any of you actually ridden a Hugene yet?

Seems they’ve had a demo fleet at some of the US bike trade events recently. Would love to get some first hand insight to contrast with the magazine puff pieces that I’ve read with great interest.

I haven't. Supposedly mine's gonna show up around the end of the month, but I'll believe that when I see it.


Edit: apparently propain is monitoring this thread. 15 minutes after I wrote this, I got an email from propain. Sounds like the hugene should be showing up in 2 weeks or so.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Had 3 good days on my Gnarvana in Moab. Wow, what a bike. Very playful yet very capable in the chunky shit.

[toast2266]

Had 3 good days on my Gnarvana in Moab. Wow, what a bike. Very playful yet very capable in the chunky shit.

Somewhat lacking on ledgy uphills though?

(sorry! too soon?)

[NW_SKIER]

Somewhat lacking on ledgy uphills though?

(sorry! too soon?)

Just needs to drive more from the shoulders to negate that.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

lolol

[smmokan]

Toast, smmokan and anyone else

Have any of you actually ridden a Hugene yet?

Seems they’ve had a demo fleet at some of the US bike trade events recently. Would love to get some first hand insight to contrast with the magazine puff pieces that I’ve read with great interest.

Not yet, but hopefully soon.... sounds like Toast is going to get his before me.

[Dumbest Known Time]

Had 3 good days on my Gnarvana in Moab. Wow, what a bike. Very playful yet very capable in the chunky shit.

Unpossible. I thought it was made pretty clear in the jeep week thread that Moab is blown and no longer capable of producing fun.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Unpossible. I thought it was made pretty clear in the jeep week thread that Moab is blown and no longer capable of producing fun.

even though we rode up and crossed numerous 4x4 trails we literally never saw a jeep on an actual trail. the jeeps were only on main street.

[evdog]

Guy on another forum posted up a medium spur frame/fork for sale. Not the greatest price but I know a few were looking for this bike/size.

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3314556/

[dan_pdx]

Anyone have thoughts on this bike? https://www.jensonusa.com/Niner-RLT-...Star-Bike-2023

I don't really _need_ a new bike, but I have a pretty small stable: a steel hardtail and an aluminum road bike. There's good gravel riding out my door, and I'd been using my hardtail for those rides, but I do have gravel bike envy. This one has rack mounts so could be used for touring too (Niner says their carbon frames are OK with up to 30 lbs on the rack). I've also been looking at Canyon Grizls but their carbon frames don't have rack mounts and their aluminum frames come with a suspension fork which seems like overkill / unnecessary weight if you have some fairly plush tires.

Thoughts?

[donutlynx]

^^^Build looks pretty good. RDO carbon f/f. 1x 11sp 11-42 XT 8000 cassette. GRX 800 drivetrain. 45mm Schwalbe's.

Bet it rides great!

[climberevan]

I had a steel RLT and loved it except for bad toe overlap. If that one works for you I think it would be good. Carbon cranks and all, but heavy wheels of course.

Gravel bikes are fun, and not the same as MTBs at all, especially if you're kind of a roadie.

[dan_pdx]

I had a steel RLT and loved it except for bad toe overlap. If that one works for you I think it would be good. Carbon cranks and all, but heavy wheels of course.

Gravel bikes are fun, and not the same as MTBs at all, especially if you're kind of a roadie.

Thanks! I'm most of the way there to convincing myself I need this bike. Mrs. PDX is on board too, says I've been talking about a gravel bike for years (true) and I should just pull the trigger.

Were you setup with 1x or 2x, and how did you feel about it either way? I won't ever race on this bike, but it's possible there will be some spirited club rides. I also expect to do some touring at some point.

[climberevan]

I'm a big proponent of 2x. The big jumps on a 1x cassette bother me on roads or rolling terrain, and front derailleurs work beautifully. I run 46/30 front and 11-40 rear most of the time, which is good for bikepacking on steep grades and 45mph on pavement. Sometimes I'll use an 11-34 cassette if I'm not expecting anything steep. I like to be able to spin rather than grind.

That said, you can get a very wide range with 1x as long as you're not sensitive to having just the right cadence. The EC90 crank on that bike should accept a 2x chainring spider, but idk if the left shifter is hollow or functional.

Gravel bikes are fun!

[mcski]

Im with you on 2x! Definitely prefer spinning w smaller jumps. Zero downside afaic

[dan_pdx]

Great feedback, thank you both! I'm definitely more of a roadie, and like to spin. Sounds like I should be looking for a 2x. There's a local shop that has that bike in 2x for $500 more, which sounds about right to me for not having to faff around trying to convert a 1x to 2x, but I'd also get hit with 10% Washington sales tax on top of that, which wouldn't be an issue if I bought from Jenson and shipped to family in Oregon. So just thinking over how much I want to spend.

[XXX-er]

ime the downside is the chain falling off a 2x which almost never happens with 1x / narrow/wide

[dan_pdx]

ime the downside is the chain falling off a 2x which almost never happens with 1x / narrow/wide

98% of the time, I shift like buttah. The other 2% does really suck, but I think the trade-off is worth it

[XXX-er]

When I first got 1x it was XT so it didnt drop a chain all season and I was very impressed, same thing with 1x NX on the E-bike no dropped chains eva so there isnt completey zero down side to the old 2x

apparently its 2%

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Raaw Madonna V2.2? Differences from the newer V3 look negligible unless I'm missing something. V2.2 Framesets with Ohlins coil shock are like $2100 USD. Fucking cheap.

[Andeh]

Both the Raaw and the Privateer look like really solid enduro race bikes - I've tried to point one of my buddies who's been getting in to racing towards them.

Looking at the Raaw v2.2 vs v3, looks like the geo got a smidge longer/slacker (but still not crazy), the kinematic got much more progressive (20->26%), and some of the other curves got tweaked to make it feel more consistent. Also v3 gets UDH for Transmission if you care about that. The AR stays pretty level at ~47% now instead of growing from 29%-55%. That's still a pretty low AR number so it should feel really active under braking but you'd need to run a bit more damping/ramp in your fork. That will be one of the biggest changes from your Gnarvana, which had a really high AR number (~100%), meaning it wanted to sink into its travel while braking, causing it to feel like it firmed up. Both my post-GG bikes have lower AR numbers and to me they feel worlds better blasting through chunk.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Both the Raaw and the Privateer look like really solid enduro race bikes - I've tried to point one of my buddies who's been getting in to racing towards them.

Looking at the Raaw v2.2 vs v3, looks like the geo got a smidge longer/slacker (but still not crazy), the kinematic got much more progressive (20->26%), and some of the other curves got tweaked to make it feel more consistent. Also v3 gets UDH for Transmission if you care about that. The AR stays pretty level at ~47% now instead of growing from 29%-55%. That's still a pretty low AR number so it should feel really active under braking but you'd need to run a bit more damping/ramp in your fork. That will be one of the biggest changes from your Gnarvana, which had a really high AR number (~100%), meaning it wanted to sink into its travel while braking, causing it to feel like it firmed up. Both my post-GG bikes have lower AR numbers and to me they feel worlds better blasting through chunk.

Ok, good to know. No UDH is sort of a bummer on the 2.2. I kinda do want Transmission. End of last year was my first foray into wireless shifting and my experience with how bad cable shifting was on the Gnarvana makes me kinda done with it.

I can't even get a V3 in Raw alu with the Rocker 60 on their site right now anyway.

[Eluder]

Raaw Madonna V2.2? Differences from the newer V3 look negligible unless I'm missing something. V2.2 Framesets with Ohlins coil shock are like $2100 USD. Fucking cheap.

The main differences look to be Main Pivot, Head Tube, and UDH. Hard to see 1k there. Likely wont be able to run any new Sram stuff going forward... Unsure if that matters...

Edit: I didnt see the progression bump, which is easily the biggest deal IMO.