I put off going tubeless for a long time too- until I went with Velocity Tubeless Blunt rims- I love them. I have only had one issue with tubeless in 10 years when I crashed at a rce and got a gouge in the sidewall of the tire which could not be fixed.
I am not sold on the 29-er thing though. I have ridden a couple bikes and I feel like the wheels are so huge to my body frame (I am 5-8 with a 30 inch inseem). I have had my Cannondale Rush since 2006 and it originally came with 26 inch wheels. But when I went tubeless (see above) in 2013, I switched to 27.5 (650B) wheel set. This intermediate size gives me rolling effect closer to a 29 inch wheel but retains the nimbleness of a 26 inch wheel in technical situations.
Chainrings- I longed for going 1x for few years as guys passed me on climbs with their single front chain ring and a rear cassette with the largest ring looking like a dinner plate! Effortless and eliminated the issues of front derailleur shifting! So I went right from the triple front to a single chainring 1x. Unfortunately, due to monetary constraints, and I prefer SRAM over Shimano, I had to get a Shimano cassette with my 1X transition. This was because SRAM made their 1X cassettes with a proprietary hub and would have required me to get an expensive rear wheel re-build. So the Shimano cassette's biggest cog was only 40 or 42 tooth (11-40 or 42 range) which didn't allow me to fully achieve the 1X benefits. However, since I initially changed to 1x SRAM has produced cassettes for normal wheel hubs and needing a whole new drive train, last year January I had my mechanic put a new SRAM kit on the bike and the new cassette has an 11-52 range! LOVE IT.
Not yet sold on dropper posts however. I have friends I ride with that love them, but then again they are all much taller than me. I don't know that at my height I need one to lower my profile on descents.
One thing I DO want to upgrade on my bike now is front and rear shock lockout mechanism at my left hand on the handlebars. After breaking my back in 2000 (hitting a tree and crushing my T7 vertebrae during a race) I have ridden full suspension. My front fork has a lockout mechanism but I need to reach down and flip it to lock it which means taking hand off the bar and then repeating when I want to go back to suspension. My rear shock- the one that came with the bike originally, doesn't have a lockout mechanism so I would need to upgrade and then install the cable.
Another thing I upgraded on my road and gravel bike, but which is not needed on a full suspension mountain bike, is the Redshift company's shock shock stem. This takes a lot of pounding off my hands on downhills during gravel events. All the stems are 30 degree also to raise my head up some and avoid neck stress since I have severe arthritis in my neck.
Even though you're a few years younger, I heard myself in each one of your words. As Sevy mention's below, I went though all of those (some of those WITH Mark!). I'm still stuck on a few things from the past, but my speedy MTB son is dragging me out of the dark ages. Still ride a hard tail mostly, and a rigid post. :-). I just like it. Best wishes for 2024
This is hilarious and pretty spot on for me (give or take a year or so in either direction). Myself and a few other guides prided ourselves as the last of the "high posters" in Moab that could ride all the gnar with our seats up so didn't need the hassle of one. It was the trail Rockstacker with the repeated steep drops and steeper techy/punchy climbs that finally convinced me to try one but it was a gifted Maverick Speedball - I certainly wasn't going to pay good money for one! 🤣
It always amazes me that people rode Moab pre-2010 and enjoyed it.
I put off going tubeless for a long time too- until I went with Velocity Tubeless Blunt rims- I love them. I have only had one issue with tubeless in 10 years when I crashed at a rce and got a gouge in the sidewall of the tire which could not be fixed.
I am not sold on the 29-er thing though. I have ridden a couple bikes and I feel like the wheels are so huge to my body frame (I am 5-8 with a 30 inch inseem). I have had my Cannondale Rush since 2006 and it originally came with 26 inch wheels. But when I went tubeless (see above) in 2013, I switched to 27.5 (650B) wheel set. This intermediate size gives me rolling effect closer to a 29 inch wheel but retains the nimbleness of a 26 inch wheel in technical situations.
Chainrings- I longed for going 1x for few years as guys passed me on climbs with their single front chain ring and a rear cassette with the largest ring looking like a dinner plate! Effortless and eliminated the issues of front derailleur shifting! So I went right from the triple front to a single chainring 1x. Unfortunately, due to monetary constraints, and I prefer SRAM over Shimano, I had to get a Shimano cassette with my 1X transition. This was because SRAM made their 1X cassettes with a proprietary hub and would have required me to get an expensive rear wheel re-build. So the Shimano cassette's biggest cog was only 40 or 42 tooth (11-40 or 42 range) which didn't allow me to fully achieve the 1X benefits. However, since I initially changed to 1x SRAM has produced cassettes for normal wheel hubs and needing a whole new drive train, last year January I had my mechanic put a new SRAM kit on the bike and the new cassette has an 11-52 range! LOVE IT.
Not yet sold on dropper posts however. I have friends I ride with that love them, but then again they are all much taller than me. I don't know that at my height I need one to lower my profile on descents.
One thing I DO want to upgrade on my bike now is front and rear shock lockout mechanism at my left hand on the handlebars. After breaking my back in 2000 (hitting a tree and crushing my T7 vertebrae during a race) I have ridden full suspension. My front fork has a lockout mechanism but I need to reach down and flip it to lock it which means taking hand off the bar and then repeating when I want to go back to suspension. My rear shock- the one that came with the bike originally, doesn't have a lockout mechanism so I would need to upgrade and then install the cable.
Another thing I upgraded on my road and gravel bike, but which is not needed on a full suspension mountain bike, is the Redshift company's shock shock stem. This takes a lot of pounding off my hands on downhills during gravel events. All the stems are 30 degree also to raise my head up some and avoid neck stress since I have severe arthritis in my neck.
Even though you're a few years younger, I heard myself in each one of your words. As Sevy mention's below, I went though all of those (some of those WITH Mark!). I'm still stuck on a few things from the past, but my speedy MTB son is dragging me out of the dark ages. Still ride a hard tail mostly, and a rigid post. :-). I just like it. Best wishes for 2024
This is hilarious and pretty spot on for me (give or take a year or so in either direction). Myself and a few other guides prided ourselves as the last of the "high posters" in Moab that could ride all the gnar with our seats up so didn't need the hassle of one. It was the trail Rockstacker with the repeated steep drops and steeper techy/punchy climbs that finally convinced me to try one but it was a gifted Maverick Speedball - I certainly wasn't going to pay good money for one! 🤣