I'll see my son over christmas and hopefully set him up tubeless. Are the Alex exr 30 rims taped for tubeless when they arrive? If not are they 30mm internal. Thanks
Yes and yes; although the Gomas were near impossible to get off. I replaced the wide plastic rim tape with Stans that just sat in the central channel, not all the way across. Five strokes with a track pump and they were seated.
Thanks so say 25mm stans tape or even 20m? 20mm would be good as i can do my 20fives with the same tape
20 I think
I’m with cloggy, went up absolutely fine, didn’t swap out the tape though, but getting the Gomas on and off was the hardest I’ve ever had it when setting up tubeless; was close to snapping the tyre lever and my wrist!!
Only one quick ride after a few hours at 40psi so hopefully I won’t go to the shed and find these lost all the air.
Got my Scandal in medium. Perfect fit for me at just about 5'9". It looked huge out of the box after all these years on a much more compact 26" Cannondale, but that's just the difference in geometry and the move to 29".
All unpacked and built up perfectly. Thumbs up to whoever built in then packed it.
I'll be fitting a OneUP 180 dropper this weekend, and went tubeless before the first ride. Saguaro tires were such a tight fit to the point I had a battle getting them off the WTB rims. Plus side of that thought is that once I'd applied the tubeless rim tape, the tires pumped up dry using only a standard track pump. Put the sealant in via the valves so no mess either. First ride at about 30 psi front and rear. Brilliant. Really impressed with this bike. Climbed well, descended well and bombs along the XC. looks great too.
For me, I think this has shown there is just no point spending £thousands on a MTB. I'll save that for my next road bike 🙂
How do the Panaracer fire tyres perform on the Scandal? Any good or just swap them out asap?
Can’t tell you, however, I used to have Panaracer Fire Pro’s for years and absolutely loved them. Try them. All tyres apart from mud tyres will be rubbish right now anyway.
Brand x dropper post fitting. Anyone have any tips on how to get the outer cable in and out of the downtube?
Is there a trick I am missing or just a total plonker?
An old spoke is very useful for grabbing the cable.
Always run a sacrificial inner gear cable through first, whether routing brake of gear outer. Then you slide the outer (or brake hose) over the inner.
The Scandal, (somewhat surpisingly, I have to admit given mine was 150 quid) has the best designed and executed internal cable rotuing I've come across yet on an alloy bike.
Got it through and working over the weekend. It helped when I didnt have a toot of the jazz cabbage before attempting it😅
Dropper works like a charm, paired it up with a ztto lever
Would a Scandal work as a trail bike and an XC bike?
It does for me 🙂
Happily takes me round all my local shortish loops and long 4-5hr long rides. Been to glentress on it and some of the Golfie stuff.
+1
It's a modern trail bike and TBH the usual deciding factor is rider skill and tyre choice, works well on everything from Tweed Valley steeps to farm/estate roads & singletrack.
What they said. It a perfect 'regular' mountain bike. Slightly heavier than a pure XC race bike, but obvioualy very dependent on build. But slack and strong enough (and with a 130mm fork) to do proper fun techy trail stuff no bother. Really enjoy mine.
Ooh. Thread resurrection.
I love mine, its the best riding hardtail I've owned
Mine is built up as "local hack bike". Suspension fork and wide bars / short stem but with light wheels and fastish tyres.
The geometry is absolutely spot on, its really planted on descents. A swap to beefier tyres and it would cope with pretty much everything my skill levels could throw at it.
Its pretty light too, mine is around 12.5kg with pedals
best riding hardtail I’ve owned
Ditto. I've had a plenty of hardtails including some very revered steel options popular on here, yet this cheap alloy bike is my favourite of them all.
Nearly two years down with mine. Built 1x10XT, cheap 120mm RockShox up front, Deore brakes and wheels. Threw the Smörgåsbord tyres on it as well and they've hardly worn in probably 5,000km of riding. It gets used a LOT and for everything. Bought the bars and stem from Planet X at the same time and they're pretty creaky now so I'll probably replace them in the spring.
The paint is made from Smartie shells, sadly, but that's probably my only complaint.
