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Focusing on the rear, some frames can be run 142 or 148, but its not just new wheels/hubs needed, there's the 3mm extra boost crankset to consider .
Any adopters took the plunge & wish they'd saved their money?
My FSA cranks can be run boost or non-boost. I run them non-boost on my boosted bike.
So boost cranks aren't always necessary particularly if you're not running plus tyres.
Shirley it's one of those things that makes so little difference that it can't be something you regret having? Your bike either has boost or it doesn't. It's not really something you'd upgrade to just for the sake of it.
If you don't need the clearance of a boost chainset up front then definitely don't change it to boost one. You'll get better chain line running non boost front with boost rear.
As for changing to boost rear just for the sake of it - as above I can't imagine that you'd notice the difference.
On my bikes I have 142, 148 and 197 rear hubs.
Buggered if I can tell the difference in wheel stiffness, but it’s just what they came with, so no ‘regrets’, as said above I haven’t changed anything to get them, so not an issue.
That's the nice thing about cinch cranks - the boostiness is in the ring if you need it.
Don't get the plastic ones though, the pedal inserts fall out.
Running standard xt chainset & ring on my bike with 148 rear, seems fine
Worst decision ever,total waste of money..................................my frame is 142.
Not an issue for me, I don't think one will notice the wheel stiffness other than not tacoing it in a situation where you might otherwise have done so. I am persuaded by the mechanics of that, specially for rear wheels. In the context of spoke angles, 3mm is significant. The major prob is backward compatibility of wheels - you can't put a boost hub in a non-boost frame (bendy steel frames excepted).
Im boost front and rear on my karate monkey.
dont regret it, but would have went standard qr if that was an option on my frame.
i accept that the hub/frame interface is probably stiffer, However, i doubt it’s actually noticeable on top of 2.5” of squidgy rubber. Also, not being able to use my lovely new wheels on the other bike is not quite a pita, but its close.
ymmv of course.
As others have said, does anybody 'upgrade' to a new frameset specifically in order to be able to run Boost wheels in it? As opposed to buying a new frameset that happens to be Boosted, compared to an alternative choice that wasn't, because you want your new purchase to be as future-proof as possible? Which, of course, opens up all sorts of questions about whether Boost was even needed, but that's another story.
I went Boost from a Q/R frame and skipped 142.
Not a lot of difference.
The main thing I noticed that a bolt thru rear end takes a little longer taking rear wheels out than a q/r .
It makes you think is it worth it?
Makes a lot of sense being bolt thru on the front whether it’s Boost or not!
Thanks,
Max
The main thing Boost is good for is tyre clearance.
Running 27 Plus and 29er wheels so that’s an advantage!
Have the xcracer 3mm adapter kit which works fine, although fiddly to get spacers in if you remove the wheel often
Only issue I have is chainline, my 34T doesn't fit in middle position on chainset as it fouls frame. Running in outer position as a temporary fix to get on the road, but chainline well off. Only put together yesterday, probably going to need new cranks as I don't want to run a smaller ring.
One of my bikes is boost and it's a pain because it means I can't swap wheels between bikes. I don't run boost cranks on it.
I went Boost because I changed the bike and thought why not?! Wouldn’t have changed otherwise, but it is future proof at least. As for stiffness of wheels or frame - I have to say that for me a couple of extra mm’s is totally unnoticeable. Seems quite difficult to find non Boost forks though.
I tied myself into non-boost so I could snap up some bargains, have kind-of regretted it now Cotic seem to be designing bikes exactly the way I want them. I'll just have to wait though.
I'm the OP and apologise for my flawed question. It was very early!
Ill expand on my indecision.
Got my eye on a Sherpa frame that can run 142 or boost (the frame's the same, but the clever dropouts are specific)
Needless to say when a new frame is coming, budget goes out the window and its pretty much all gonna be new. So I'm gonna get a new wheelset built up with Hope Pro 4's. The cheap German Fox 34 Rythmn has driven me to go boost up front.
Planning to run 2.6 up front & 2.4 rear on Stans Flow mk3 rims. That plan could change.
An entire new 1x11 XT groupset (inc rotors etc) can be got from CRC for £450 with a 50.4 chain line. Bizarrely a single boost XT crank is £105! Not the end of the world, but not a bargain compered to the groupset. Anyway, I also have other wheelsets (all old school QR - but can be converted as Pro 2 Evo) of geared & single speed varieties.
I can put up with forking out another £105 for a boost crank (if it's needed), but I can guarantee that somewhere down the line Ill want to use the SS wheel and less faffing is a mantra I hold dear. There again, I may never end up swapping wheels at all.
Summary. Unsure whether to take the rear boost plunge for future proofing with the caveat that swapping wheels might be jeopardised, or stick to 142 as to date, Ive never managed to mash a wheel.
warpcow. Please stop calling me Shirley!
In that case I'd probably go all-in. For no other reason than it making finding new wheelsets and selling old ones easier.
Sherpa frame that can run 142 or boost
Unsure whether to take the rear boost plunge for future proofing
I'm unsure the concern. The boost dropouts (swapouts) look to be 50quid.
You're building a new rear wheelset regardless so may as well go boost and get the 142 dropouts to go in your parts bin ready for if you do decide to run that SS wheel.
Seems to be a new frame solution that gives the user the least concerns about backwards compatibility to me.
Yeah, wise words guys.
Just needed a hug and a push in the right direction.
Cheers for that 🙂
As above, if the non boost chainset fits (which it should if the bike is designed for either) then pairing it with a boost hub will actually give you better chainline, so don't waste money on the boost chainset.
Different standards front and back are no problem. All my bikes have OR in the back and different axle standards in the front. One bike has a boost fork.
My current project is a bike with boost front and rear. Will use 2.6 rubber. Upper limit on my existing bikes was 2.4 inch rubber - but think the quality of the 2.6 tyres are so good now that it's worth building a bike around it.
The bike won't be my "fast" bike. More a new fun toy. I never had problems with QR - and no problem at all with the bike with the Boost fork either.
Boost bike project: will use a high quality BB (Hope) but otherwise good but low cost stuff like Deore 2x10 and Deore brakes. Not sure why these 1001 axle standards exist but I don't worry about them either.