Jack Luke has strayed from mountain biking in the last 10 years and in that time a lot has changed. After getting back to shredding the gnar and riding a lot of bikes in a short space of time, Jack’s got some fresh opinions.
In this video, he lays out three modern MTB tech trends he loves and three he hates. Do you agree with Jack? Let us know and stroke his ego in the comments 👇
#mtb #cycling #lovesandhates
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:42 Bigger Tyre Clearances
01:52 So Many Mounts
03:01 Dropper Post Are The Norm
03:29 35mm Bars Are Pointless
05:21 Press-Fit Bottom Brackets
06:39 Internal Cable Routing
07:55 Outro
Why ALL Bikes Should Have Dropper Posts
→ https://youtu.be/TSWLb0xzCFY
Road Handlebars: How Narrow Is Too Narrow?
→ https://youtu.be/9JuhSAJhJjo
Press-fit Bottom Brackets Are BETTER Than Threaded
→ https://youtu.be/RUTlc5Uhq90
Mountain Bike Tyres Are SO CONFUSING!
→ https://youtu.be/HylTh-YBJHo
Choose The Perfect Mountain Bike Tyre | Tyre Compounds EXPLAINED!
→ https://youtu.be/mEZdNfStI_Q
47 MTB Trails In One Day? Mega Challenge!
→ https://youtu.be/vPwx038eqa0
Listen to the BikeRadar Podcast
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21 Comments
Do you agree with any of Jack's loves and hates?
Renthal actually said they focused on making their 35mm bars feel like their 31.8 counterparts..putting the cart before the horse if you ask me.
Good list, I service my bikes at home and I absolutely hate internal headset routing and their proprietary systems. I
I disagree on the fully integrated cables through the headset,….
Twists the cables less, it is much more silent and better looking. I think it is becoming “a-cool-thing-to-criticise”, but I see it as a good thing….
Let’s see if I still keep same opinion when it comes the time for maintenance 😉
Internal cable routing can make sense for a road bike, where you can actually make it fully internal and the bike looks so clen. MTB on the other end still have cables visible and are messy even with the cable goes into the top bearing. For me, on MTB internal routing (from downtube) and some heatshrink is the way to go
Oh man i love pf!
Did he just say dalliances 😐
You've obviously never stacked a one foot can on a black double. 35mm bars are for accidents, not ride feel
the problem with 35mm bars is the same as any other changing standard: even if it is better, it needs to be enough of an improvement to be worth that lack of compatibility and the effort any kind of change takes
I would add the boost on gravel, why?!
Agreed, on all things the bike industry should stop…..immediately.
I do not agree with the pressfit BBs. Pressfit is overall just the better technology. Just manufacturers messing up their tolerances make this so frustrating sometimes.
I'm going to disagree with your first point. The Bianchi Methanol, incidentally what I ride, is an out and out XC race bike. It doesn't need to fit a tyre over 2.2 inch. It's in a completely different category to something where you might want 2.6 inch.
35mm has its place. Either for those big guys who needs a wider bar or for aesthetics. Otherwise, 31.8 is still better
What if I told you threaded bottom brackets are just press fit with threads?
The best thing about threaded BB's is that you can immediately tell a company can't do QA properly and you should avoid these bikes.
Engineers SHOULD demand press fit, as it's a better, lighter and easier to engineer solution. There is a reason that only the bike industry can't properly QA a frame. Threaded BB's, especially in a carbon frame is completely stupid, as you have to bond an alloy shell into a carbon frame, giving ample chance for debonding and corrosion.
Or, are mountain bikers going to be consistent and demand that bearings be threaded into their full suspension frames too?
I like the modern long reach, since I have a long upper body. Since I have long femurs, I dislike the modern steep seat angle which precludes a dropper post, since almost all of them have zero setback. The thing that annoys me most is handlebar width. 10 years ago, I was doing perfectly well with 600mm bars. I bought a XC mountain bike last year with 760mm bars and I managed to find 660 bars which I still find too wide. I'm using 38cm bars on my CX bike on the same trails, so I don't see the point of these wide bars. My preferred hand width for pullups is about 40cm and 60cm for pushups, so I don't understand the biomechanical justification for the now standard 760+mm bars. I would like to look at real life torque figures for various bar widths. By the way, track sprinters use a maximum of 33cm bars.
If you aren't riding a road bike with hydraulic disk brakes and electronic shifting there is no argument for internal cable routing.
Well, SRAM everything from them the worst ever, always money first, performance not in their dictionary and always, always new things/standards/etc to get you to spend more money!
Press-in bottom brackets have been around much longer. My 1991 Fat Chance Yo Eddy had that feature. The problem with them is getting new bearings out and in. The work-around back in the day was the White Industries bottom bracket. Two pressed in aluminum cups housed the two sealed bearings and two retaining discs held in pace kept them there. The other benefit of this set up was that you could offset the spindle as needed/desired. Beautiful piece.
On the subject of braze-ons I could do without seat stay mounted ones ripping my leg open in an ungraceful get off.
Yeah! Down with the 35mm bars!! At least keep that abomination off XC bikes.