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“I was wrong”. There, I’ve said it, not something I say often as I consider myself reasonably intelligent and was once described as “surprisingly knowledgeable” by my daughter’s ex boyfriend.
I was wrong about running tubeless. A year ago I converted my new fatbike to tubeless as I could understand the tyres conforming better at 5p.s.i. without a big heavy tube in (after advice on STW) and I was quite concerned with my ability to inflate 4.8” tyres whilst out on the hills. It went well, the Sun Ringlè rims were ready and the Jumbo Jim’s also. The tyres fitted with a satisfying “snap” and stayed inflated without sealant, which I added later. A trouble free year on I have had to remove the rear tyre as the hub has failed and I was surprised to find several thorns in the tread! The liquid was still very liquid, I hadn’t topped it up or checked all year and the residue washed out with water. I might consider converting my other bikes now!!
The sealant used was Vittoria, one that slips under the radar. It has “glitter” in it to help plug the holes but I’m impressed that it lasted a whole year without any obvious degradation, and, washed out and cleaned up with plain water.
I had actively resisted and argued against tubeless ever since they arrived on the scene….
What have you been wrong about?
I have tried to edit the post to emphasise that I have actively resisted and argued against tubeless since they appeared on the scene on the grounds of the extra “faff”. After initial set up they appear to be fit and forget…
I have actively resisted and argued against tubeless since they appeared on the scene on the grounds of the extra “faff”. After initial set up they appear to be fit and forget…
Normally. But every so often can turn into a nightmare to sort. If I set a wheel up tubeless and it goes smoothly, I'm always immensely pleased and deeply suspicious at the same time - what have I forgotten, did I put sealant in, have I left a multitool inside the tyre, why was that so easy....
You realize that you are due to be plagued with tubeless problems now.
You realize that you are due to be plagued with tubeless problems now.
Very courageous to post something like this, I'm even slightly worried for my tubeless setups.
Dropper posts.... i thought they were over-rated and pointless.... i was incorrect.
I have spent many years thinking in turn I don't need
Index gearing
V brakes
Suspension
Disc brakes
Wide tyres
Tubeless
A dropper post
Of those suspension is the least important, while I love my Epic Evo I know my rigid plus tyres Whippet is all I actually need.
I was an early adopter of hite rites - I'm too light to actually make them work properly
Flexstem - I found it great but then again I was riding a bike probably less suitable to off road than many modern gravel bikes
Clipless pedals accidentally. I was happy with toeclips and straps but I'd just bought new shoes that were clipless compatible and a friend had just got new shoes and pedals delivered but the shoes were too small so I thought I'd give them a try. And despite falling off 3 times when forgetting to unclip I bought them off him.
Then a few years ago a friend gave me a pair of flat pedal shoes he didn't want and I gave them a try and haven't used clipless off road since.
Fitting the new tyre was more faff as the DT Swiss rim isn’t as good, I had to resort to a ratchet strap, but it’s still up and I’m so confident that I’m doing the Eastern Moors circuit this evening when it cools down!
29" wheels. Many years ago, I was all "How stupid! the one thing I don't need on my bike is bigger wheels!"
I now have 3 29ers. There is a mullet in my garage, but it's my son's.
Everything according to my wife !
Tubeless is great on MTB's, ok on Gravel bikes, but not on road bikes from my experince, 70 psi causes the sealant to spray before sealing (if in fact it does seal) and coats your expensive road bike and expensive lycra in sealant which is hard to get out of clothes
I am mostly wrong but I am quite used to it now.
Dropper posts.... i thought they were over-rated and pointless.... i was incorrect.
This is a good one. I'd resisted for a long time, partly because my HT has a 27.2 seatpost, so fewer options around, and partly because I figured I didn't need it. Doing my usual 2 hour loop last week for the first time with a dropper was an absolute gamechanger. I think the biggest thing was... it just felt 'right'. No "ooooh, wow, what's going on there then", just "seat up for this bit", "seat down now... back up, great".
29ers
I'm another one who thought they were pointless but now they're all I ride.
That weight doesn't matter
Well, I suppose it does for some applications. However if you want to ride chunkier stuff then a robust bike is a lot more fun and easier to live with. If you are looking for fun on tough descents, and so long as you aren't racing up the climbs, a nice meaty enduro rig is great.
Hardtails. Or rather, FS bikes.
For years, I only owned and rode HTs. I thought I didn't 'need' a FS bike. I thought everything I want to ride, and am skillful (not very!) enough to ride, I can do it on a HT.
I dabbled, late, with a 26er Prophet - which I didn't get on with, so went bigger (29er) Chunkier (2.5/2.6 tyres) and slacker (150m forks 64.5°) on the HT, thinking it would 'be enough'. And it kind of was, but I was also starting to ride steeper and techier stuff, plus getting older, so it ended up being hard work.
Tried a 29er FS (Swarf Contour - lovely bike), and was hooked. Have since changed to a Bird AM. Both have helped my riding progress significantly.
I still love (and ride most frequently) HTs (I have 2). But, I was wrong about FS.
Conversely I was wrong about hardtails. I thought that FS were inherently better. My current HT is my favourite bike for it's versatility and general fun.
I was a disc brake denier. I don't even know why, I was out of biking when they really came in and by the time I got back to it they'd got good and it was a no-brainer but I'd picked up some madness off someone along the way. the really daft thing is, when I came back to riding in, I think 2008, only the most entry level mountain bikes still had Vs and I never rode one of those so I was still a grumpy disc denier, "I have to have these but I don't want them", even though my brakes were great and I literally hadn't ridden a v brake or worse still canti bike offroad for a decade. Like, my £350 carrera came with excellent tektros at that point.
I was an "index is fine on the back but it makes no sense on the front" person for ages but I'm not sure that was actually wrong, I think it was more that shifters mostly sucked and front shifting especially and so being able to finetune with friction shift was largely a benefit. When I got my first bike with front indexing (Exage IIRC) it was instant conversion but I reckon that's just because it'd finally got half decent, the half-and-half SIS was a good solution at the time probably.
And now of course we're all back to indexing on the back only 😉 I liked when we passed through 2x9 for a while, 18 seemed like a correct and natural number of gears for a bike to have.
It’s not so much that i was wrong. I’m just resistant to change. It’s a wallet opening problem. But as change has come I’ve felt the benefit.
But the stand out has been the dropper. Going back has been really hard. To the point i had to put one in my gravel bike. I just didn’t get how the seat seems so in the way now even in it didn’t seem an issue before. It’s partly being older and more cautious. The bike is just more crash resistant seat down. So even in easy local descent the seat is down, just in case
It's wheels for me I reckon? Wasn't interested in 29ers at all in the early days and was perfectly happy with 26". Then 650b came along and I still wasn't bothered until I had a demo on a 2014 Orange 5 with 650b wheels and Charger Pikes. Game changer.
Ended up on a 29er as I got a good deal and my 26" retro collection suddenly became garage queens rather than riders.
Interestingly, just as they're going out of fashion I might be reversing to 650b as after a prolonged period on my Pace RC627 I went back to my 29" Orange Stage 5 and was shocked at how much more difficult it was to lift the front end and flick about. Had been considering a 29" HT to replace the Pace but don't think I'll bother now. In my opinion the Pace improves my technical ability.
What have you been wrong about?
I'll just sign up to this weird bike forum thing so I can ask some question about how to do something to do with a bike, then i'll never go back again unless I have another question...
I never actively avoided tubeless but was fairly late to the party about 7 years ago. I decided to do it after getting a new bike, with tubes, and suffering more puncture than I ever had before.
Converted them ghetto style and never looked back. Like the OP I was amazed how many thorns were in the tyre when I eventually came to change it.
Reminds me I need to order some more sealant as my son rudely used the last bit of the bottle that he bought and I'd been stealing 😁
29 inch wheels. For years I kept saying I'm too short for bigger wheels at 5ft4. But after trying a modern 29er I was converted.
SRAM. Never liked them untill a bike came with SRAM X1 in 2015. Now all my bikes are SRAM.
I'm starting to come round to the idea that I might be wrong about clipless pedals (in that I always thought flats would be better), but I don't want to spend the money to find out.