Time to hit the trails again

In an effort to try & get the front brakes working better I'd ordered a new rotor & pads. They were both visibly worn & I couldn't get the front brakes to lock. 
 

When I installed the new pads, the rotor wouldn't fit between them, so I cracked open the bleed valve to try & move the pistons out. That's when I noticed the outboard one seemed to be stuck. I was finally able to free it, but now I have no front brakes, so I guess it was time to order a bleed kit & some fluid...

I installed the Ergon grips today, so of course despite not having front brakes I had to take it for a spin around the hood to check them out. 
 

I put quite a bit of weight on the bars to try & simulate the longer climbs out on the trail, and...it's interesting. 

There's definitely less pressure & pain on the outside of my wrists like I'd been feeling, but instead the weight has now been transferred to the intersection of my thumb & forefinger. Whether that's going to be an improvement or not will take some more saddle time on the trails. I may also try rotating them slightly to see if that changes the feeling noticeably. 

Those Shimano brakes likely have ceramic pistons which do like to crack if you aren't careful when you push them back in for a new set of pads (the key is to push them in square and not sideways in the bore) . There are aftermarket replacements available though that are aluminum with a plastic insert that should work fine, if it was a downhill bike I'd be bit more cautious of boiling the mineral oil that they use though. They're very straight forward to pull apart though so don't be intimidated if it comes to that, just some o-rings etc. in there.

In reply to adam525i :

Thanks for the tips!

I got them bled today & the front will lock the wheel now, but I'm still not a fan of hydraulic brakes for bikes - at least for any riding I'd be doing. If I encounter any serious caliper or lever failure I think I'll just find some Avid mechanical disc brakes like my old bike has. They work just as well for me & are way simpler. 

I got in a little longer ride tonight, a bit over 3-miles, and the first half was with a ~13mph headwind. I'd rotated the grips slightly after I bled the brakes, and it seemed to help. 

I was leaning into the wind pretty hard for the first half, then jumped about a dozen curbs on the way back. I didn't have any pain in my left wrist & just a bit in my right one, but that's at least partly due to when I severed it back in 2000. 

In reply to adam525i :

Here's a question for you: at some point I'm going to need to replace the drivetrain. The cogs are getting pretty worn & there's grit inside the chain. What are your thoughts on 1x setups?

I like the idea of not having to think about which chainring I'm on relative to what gear I'm in, but the gearing now works really well, so I don't want to make things worse for myself. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Now that you have the brakes working they should be maintenance free until it is time for pads again, maybe a simple lever bleed if the pull gets too long.

I really like 1x for single track riding and have both 1 x 11 (11-46 cassette) and 1 x 12 bikes (10-52? cassette), it's simple and the gear spacing works well on the trails where the bigger gaps aren't a problem. Pay attention to the gears that you are actually using to see what sort of range works for you and go from there. If you are doing some multi-use trail riding maybe the larger range with tighter gear spacing works out better keeping you spinning where you want to be.

As far as keeping your current drivetrain going keeping things clean is important but also changing out the chain as it wears. I have a simple Park Tools chain stretch tool that tells me when it gets too long and it is time to replace, a new chain will run quieter and keep the wear on the cassette and chainrings to a minimum. I wouldn't be too quick to toss your old drivetrain, especially if the gearing is working for you. It adds up pretty quick moving over to a 1x drivetrain.

In reply to adam525i :

Thanks that's good to know. One other issue is I really need a bash ring, but I do use the big chainring so I'm hesitant to just pull it off & replace it with a bash ring - though it already has a couple mangled teeth from the PO, so that's another reason why I'm looking towards replacing everything at some point in the future. 

If I do switch to a 1x will I likely need a new BB too? Or is that pretty much standard between cranksets?

I've got Ergon grips on both of my mountain bikes. I like them. You do have to tweak the rotation to get it right for sure.

I know everyone loves the 1x drivetrains these days, but I really like the ability to have a high range and low range. My fast hardtail bike is a 1x and it works for that bike, but it's definitely missing a couple of gears on the low end. My full suspension is 3x9 and it's a lot more flexible gearing-wise. It can handle a wider range of riding conditions. 1x is easier to set up and cheaper to make though.

To reinforce adam's point, if you're good about replacing chains, the rest of the drivetrain can last a very, very long time.  It's not a perfect comparison but my basement road bike now has at least 35,0000 miles on the chainrings and two different cassettes (neither wore out, I just had two I swapped between).  My current road bike has 10,500 on the gears.  On MTBs, with regular chain swaps using the tool adam linked to, I've only ever worn out one chainring.  Ignoring chains, I've ruined everything at once, which can be expensive.

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to adam525i :

If I do switch to a 1x will I likely need a new BB too? Or is that pretty much standard between cranksets?

There's actually a pretty good chance you can just pick up a narrow-wide single ring that mounts where your middle ring currently lives on your crankset and re-use it all. You'll have to figure out what your crankset BCD  is (bolt center distance, likely 96 mm) so you can get the right chainring. If you want you can then mount a bashring on to replace your big ring and just pull off the granny gear (the little one). 

Having said that, I'd still run your current drivetrain until it needs something major replaced like the derailuer after sending a stick through it or smashing it off a rock and you are forced to spend money. If you want to spend some money now maybe some fancy tires better suited to your trails would be a good way to go.

Thanks everyone! I was just looking at how u-shaped my cogs were getting & thinking their days were numbered. 

I put about 7 miles on the bike today. It was just along the beach, so nothing too bumpy or extreme(other than hopping a few curbs, one set of stairs & a ~2' drop), although there was a pretty strong headwind on the way there. My wrists didn't bother me at all, so I'm glad I got the Ergons. 

Great deal!  I agree a 1x set up is great.  All three of my mtn bikes are 12 spd, but for the most part 11 spd is fine.  I ran 1x10 for quite a while and didn't mind that much. 

One modern part I couldn't live without now would be a dropper seat post.  However, I'm not sure a 2012 frame would have been designed for internal routing.  

I was riding past the bike shop last week when one of the guys stopped me. They'd found a pair of bars that fell behind a shelf with more sweep like I was looking for. So I went back today & picked them up. 
 

I didn't really notice a difference with my wrists on the new bars. My hands still get a bit numb after I've really been pedaling hard, but I'll need to hit the trails sometime to really test them out. 
 

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

One modern part I couldn't live without now would be a dropper seat post.  However, I'm not sure a 2012 frame would have been designed for internal routing.  

If you do need an external-routed post, PNW has some which maybe do not suck.  At least the reviews etc. sounded good enough that I got one... but I have not done anything with it yet.  Yay for half of a data point?

PNW also has factory refurbs for a few $ less: https://cycled.pnwcomponents.com/collections/externally-routed-dropper-posts

In reply to Oapfu :

Thanks!

I've not encountered a need for a dropper yet, but I did notice there's a rubber plug on the front of the seat tube, down near the BB. Would that be for routing a dropper cable?

Bump time.

I've put ~150 miles on this thing so far. The new bars/stem/seats/grips are working out well & it's proving to be a pretty comfortable ride for both urban & trails. 
 

I stopped by the bike shop down the street last week & they had a Niner RKT RS. It's just a wee bit out of by budget range($5k!), but I really liked the ability to lock out both the forks & rear shock from a single lever on the bars. So I'd like to add that to my bike, while also going to a 1x drivetrain, and add a dropper post too. 
 

I certainly don't need top-end spec parts, but I'm not sure how to know which ones would even fit/work with my bike. Any suggestions on where I should start looking?

You might find factory kits to do the remote lock outs for the fork and shock but that will depend on the exact models you have and what is available. I know there have been some diy methods as well but you will need to hit google for that. The other option is to change out the damper cartridge on the fork to one already setup for the remote setup. I can confirm a SRAM/Shimano 3 speed MTB front shifter will pull the correct amount of cable (at least close enough, the cable will be a bit slack in the open position) for a factory 3 position fox fork or shock remote setup, diy setups may change the pull ratio.

You can get a lot of information on what you have and what is available here - https://www.ridefox.com/fox17/help.php?m=bike&ref=bc_help Just enter either the 4 digit code or serial number to look things up. I bought a used FIT damper for my low end F29 32 RL (entry level model) and just sent them an email and once they had my serial number confirmed it would work fine so pretty good customer support.

Having said all that and owning a bike with remote lever to control both at once it does work well but there are so many little bits to get  for the setup that I don't think it is worth it unless you are going for a competitive XC bike. I'd save my money to spend on tires or a dropper post and just leave what you have alone. 

For the 1x upgrade, do you know if your rear derailleur is a clutch type? I don't recall off hand if the '12 SLX models were all clutched or not.  The clutch helps damp derailleur chatter when riding over bumps and is a necessity for a 1x conversion unless you're running chain guides.  There should be a little clutch engagement arm on the derailleur if it's clutch type.

You'll want a narrow-wide front sprocket - any will do. Just search for the front sprocket PCD of your crankset and pick up a cheapo narrow-wide sprocket that fits. They have some various offsets - I chose an offset that was in between the original front two rings so the chain line wasn't too extreme.

In reply to adam525i :

The reason I want remote lockout for my shocks is I'm finding that I can't do steep climbs in the saddle, but as soon as I stand up it's just feels like marching through mud & all my energy is sapped by the suspension vs. making it to the ground. Also what I'm finding on the trails around here is there isn't enough room/time to be able to take a hand off the bars & actuate them both manually. 

In reply to Brotus7 :

Oh cool. I just expected I'd be replacing the entire drivetrain including the cranks. I don't think my derailleur is a clutch type, but I'll double check. 

Have you setup the sag properly for the bike? Usually you want it around 20-25% into the travel in your normal riding position so maybe a bit more air would help. I'd also play around with the settings, I presume these have the 3 compression positions, climb, trail and descend, I'd try running more in the middle trail position and see if that helps rather than the open descend position you have likely been using. Rebound I usually just do enough to keep things from feeling bouncy. All full suspension bikes are different though, some the linkage setup naturally gets rid of most of the pedal bob on its own and others rely on the shock to do more of that. Usually a virtual pivot point bike likes yours pedals pretty well though unlike some of the simpler setups.

In reply to adam525i :

I watched a vid on setting it up :) I was going to get a shock pump, then go through the process. I think the rear may be a little soft - it drops quite a bit over larger bumps, but otherwise it feels great the rest of the time. Even riding street full-soft is great as long as I'm not trying to side hop up stairs, etc. 

I found this 1x12 conversion kit last night. It's not cheap, but I'm ok with spending a bit of $ to have something decent - and if I'm going to keep this frame & start replacing components I might as well upgrade a bit, right? 

Definitely get a shock pump! I really like this topeak one. I've found with bike suspension you can get a harsher ride with too low air pressure as the shaft speeds get higher over minor things and you use the more aggresive high speed compression circuits instead of the gentler low speed ones on the damper.

With SRAM 11 and 12 speed caskets they mostly need an XD driver freehub on the rear wheel to work, you may be able to get one for your wheel but if not then it's a no go. The higher end SRAM cassettes are a thing of beauty though with most of the cogs CNC'd from a single piece and super light. Shimano is similar with their 12 speed cassettes using a Microspline freehub. This article sums things up nicely, basically lower end Mountain bike (road 11 speed slightly different again) SRAM 11 speed and all Shimano and Shimano compatible 11 speed cassettes will work with a standard HG freehub body.

I wouldn't right off the 1 x 11 setups either like the Deore 5100 series with the 11-51T cassette, they shift really nice and have the range needed. I have the 6100 series 12 speed version on my fat bike and I would not miss the 1o tooth cog at all. My other 29er MTB runs a SRAM 1 x 11 speed setup with an 11-46T cassette and it also works well.