Originally Posted by ViperZ
Exactly right right Euroford, I took what you stated and knew it was what i had to do. So I blame you for this and Tequila Joe for putting the bug in my ear to get a Rocky ETSX
i'll gladly take the blame for this bike!!
Originally Posted by ViperZ
Nice Picture and good comments too.... I would like to put on the biggest brakes reasonable, as I like the look of the big rotors. Avids and Maguras are on my short list.
i'm just not much of a juicy fan, but allot of poeple seam to like them, so they can't be all bad. maybe somebody can add some substance to this, but i get an impression that avid's are known to be 'grabby', powerfull but without much modulation. if i was too choose between the two, i would definitly go Magura. The Louise BAT's are super nice looking, very lite, and you can go with a 203mm in the front and a 180mm in the rear. if you got the coin, those venti rotors are so friggin bling man.
Originally Posted by ViperZ
The Front chain rings I think I would like to keep 3 rings, as it is a badge of honor amongst my riding buddies to not dismount, and be able to climb the gnarliest steep hill, even if it's at a crawl
i'll give it one more shot to convince you on 1 ring, then work on convincing you 2 is enough. haha! go take your rocky wedge out for a spin, do some climbing and really pay attention to what gears you need to use. don't drop it in the granny and spin like a wheany, but go out on a day your feeling strong and really crank it. keep track of what gears you are and should be using for what kind of terrain your riding. but on climbs, descents and flat terrain. when you get home work out the gear/inches and compair those to what you can get with a 9spd 11-34 cassette and a single chainring. compair and contrast those findings with the added complexity of a front dir. vs. the reliability of a single/chainguide.
okay, so saying you need the granny gear, what you most certainly don't need is the big ring. run a bashring and a tensioner, such as the MRP LRP instead. on my ride, 11in the rear and a 36t chainring is dang sure faster than i ever plan to go technical terrain. unfortuantly, what you end up with is a setup even a bit more complicated with the addition of the guide/tensioner, but its very reliable.
Originally Posted by ViperZ
The Marzocchi is getting some good love around here, I'll have a look into those. Should I be staying air shock seeing as Rocky designed it as such, or should I convert to oil? My understanding is you want to keep both front and back the same. As such i have only been looking at an Air Sprung fork.
there is no need to keep front and back the same. the two systems act so diffrently, its just not really compairable like that, or really even compairable at all to tell you the truth. either system, front or rear, can be setup to work, they just both have to be setup correctly. too generalize, a coil spring is maintance free and generally smoother, an air spring will have to be checked and adjusted regularly but is lighter. i go coil, becouse i just don't want to jack around with the air. becouse i'm lazy....
edit: had a quick look through Marzochi's website. i think if i was you, i'd set my heart on that All Mountain 2 fork. 160mm of travel, 20mm axel, ETA and lighter than the Z1 (anybody have actual weight figures?). i think the metalic gray (do canadians spell it grey or gray?) would would look sharp.