Mountain Biking - Getting ready

Well the Nationals are coming up in 2 weeks so I am getting my bikes ready for the race.

Put some new BlackSpire cranks on the Stinky, replaced the brake levers (broke 'em at Sea Otter) and lubed evrything up.
Then I swaped out my XT 11-34t cassett on my Primo for a Ti 11-21t Dura-Ace and then decided to try something different.

I have never been a big fan of GripShift but I decided to give it a shot. So I swaped out the Rapid-Fire for a Grip-Shift. I must say, I should have down this along time ago. It is so much easier to shift at speed and in the technical sections because my fingers are not trying to find the shifter. The newer versions seem to work a hel-of-alot better then the older ones. I was also going to give there derailer a shot but I was told, from a reputable source, that the SRAM derailers tend to break fairly easy. Even the racers sponsored by SRAM swap out for a shimano der. when racing 4X, DS or a realy nasty DH. So I just keept the one I have on.

Thats all for now.

Slainte:beer: :beer:

Shimano der with gripshift by sram...I didn't think that was suppost to work?

I've NEVER heard of SRAMs deraillers being easily broken. I run a set of SRAM XO shifters and derailler.. and I've crashed plenty of times. In fact I've broken Shimanos before but never a SRAM. How do you like that road cogset?

X.0 scares me. It seems to me that there are just places on a bike that just shouldn't be CF. Then again, I have a hard time trusting CF in almost anything. I know all too many people who swear by it. I just can't get used to it.

Originally posted by DiL
X.0 scares me. It seems to me that there are just places on a bike that just shouldn't be CF. Then again, I have a hard time trusting CF in almost anything. I know all too many people who swear by it. I just can't get used to it.



Pssssssssssstt! It's not actually carbon fiber :o

With a potent mix of high-grade metals - forged aluminum and titanium - reinforced carbon composite, advanced engineering and smart design, SRAM® X.0™ is the ideal upgrade for your current SRAM® system.
I mistook that for CF. However, my objection remains. Rear deraileurs are not something I'm comfortable having brittle materials on.

It's a carbon injected plastic of some sort.. I assure you it's not brittle. Probably stronger than aluminum :D

I've NEVER heard of SRAMs deraillers being easily broken. I run a set of SRAM XO shifters and derailler.. and I've crashed plenty of times. In fact I've broken Shimanos before but never a SRAM. How do you like that road cogset?

I did not get into the specifics about the problems they were having with the SRAM derailers but more then one friend/racer told me the same thing. I always use the Dura-Ace cassett when racing at Big Bear. Long high speed sections call for it and the sections that require pedaling you do not need a gear bigger then 21t on the cassett. It also saves me a few grams over the XT cassett.


Shimano der with gripshift by sram...I didn't think that was suppost to work?

Not all the GripShifts work with Shimano. You need to use the SRAM Rocket and it seems to work great.

:beer: :beer: