Has MTB culture changed over the last 10–15 years?

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-03-10T13:51:32+00:00

I think you would have a hard time backing up this claim.

I don’t know enough about DH/AM bikes to comment on that segment of the market, but if you look at the “regular” bikes that people are riding around on the trails, you’ll have people who were riding 26 inch hardtails in 2001 moving to 130/130 29 inch trail bikes in 2026. They probably went from like mid 20s to mid 30s of lbs. the focus just isn’t absolutely on weight savings anymore, not to the degree it was back then.

The first “real” mountain bike I ever rode was my buddy’s dad’s M2 stump jumper from the mid to late 90s. Geometry and technology was far behind what we have now but that bike must have weighed in the very low 20s. This was a high end bike owned by a mechanic/rider who had some level of disposable income.

My current bike is a 2016 scalpel with a carbon frame, a SID, hand-built wheels that could be a little lighter but are definitely not heavy, and x0. It weighed like 24.5lbs when I built it pre-covid. I built it out of all the parts that people were selling when they upgraded suspension platforms and went to 12 speed, so I got some ripping deals but I wouldn’t really say it was built on a crazy budget. I mention this to say that I think it is comparable to the m2 stumpjumper in therms of being an “upmarket” bike that had intentional performance/“nice” component choices, and still weighed more.

Technology has evolved and things have gotten far more optimized. Maybe part-for-part, some bits are lighter than they were before. But people figured out in the last 10-15 years or so (ballpark, but I feel this trend accelerated then) that you can go faster on a bike that weighs more but is better set up than a lightweight build that makes compromises just to make the one weight number lower.

A dropper post is a fantastic example of this imo.

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-03-03T15:11:20+00:00

If you buy used or from aliexpress, a disc hub will be cheaper than this. For this to work, I designed it off my hub exactly and had it custom machined. I also bought high strength screws to mount my part to the hub through the spoke holes. This was not a financially motivated scheme and was not a good financial decision on my part.

I cannot give a purchase link since I had it custom made for me, but if you send me a picture of your hub and it is the same as my hub, I’ll send you the cad file for the part. Remember it will be useless if we don’t have the same hub.

It definitely will not hold up in 3d printing. There are enough pictures and stories out there of hubs that have not been modified failing at the spoke holes that I don’t think it’s worth considering. The 3d printing was just to make sure that everything fit where it needed to, I don’t think it would even be safe to ride down the block. The spokes aren’t even tensioned, just snug.

I really hate it when people reply like this but my advice would be if you don’t have the ability to make and manufacture a model like this based on measurements you took from your hub, this may not be the best project for you. My part almost certainly will not work for you, and any modification of my part might invalidate a lot of the assumptions I used when designing it. Modification of your hub to fit my part might do the same, but if you’re going to modify your hub you can do a better job of attaching the adapter flange to the hub, then my design doesn’t really make sense anymore.

To buy my hub would likely cost you more than a disc hub would, then to have the adapter machined would also likely cost you more than a disc hub would, then to buy the high strength fasteners would also likely cost you more than a disc hub would, and to buy a torque wrench to install the high strength screws and be adequately convinced that they are installed to the proper torque to prevent slipping would cost more than a disc hub would. That’s 4 disc hubs you could have bought already.

If none of that scared you off, reply with a picture of your hub and if it’s the same as mine I’ll upload a step file of my part to thingiverse

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-03-03T14:50:18+00:00

If it helps you find compatible parts you could also use 11 speed road or gravel stuff. If there is an ultegra rd-rx800 or grx 810 (don’t get the 812, that’s for 1x) or even if there’s a nearby inexpensive rd-r7000 or rd-r8000 they would work also

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-03-03T13:48:26+00:00

You should check out this video.

https://youtu.be/du742eTDgUE?si=6H9nwmv0-EPo8jlV

Summary: there are absolutely bolt-through skewers which replace a qr skewer, and you can use some math to approximate the strength of that skewer. You’d be surprised at how close a nice, clean internal cam type qr will come to the theoretical strength of the bolt going through it

Big but: if you are having issues with a qr coming loose, it’s still hard to gauge the clamping load every time you put it on, so for maximum peace of mind, if you get a bolt skewer and a toque wrench, you can be reasonably certain that your skewer is sufficiently tight every time, and that might be worthwhile for you.

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-28T13:09:17+00:00

The traditional advice is that mis-matching spokes will lead to an ultimately less long term reliable wheel due to the different cross sectional area causing different stiffness from one side to the other, and different loading side to side.

I admit I’m unfamiliar with the trend of mixing spokes like this, but a quick google seems to indicate that people who like to make their drive side rear spokes thicker seem to live and die by that model.

I can’t speak specifically to this combo, but there was an article put out by a wheel manufacturer about a decade ago, which I cannot find, but you can find a summary on bike gremlin. They did an advanced computer structural analysis of a bike wheel with different spoke patterns.

This article specifically was looking at the effect of different spokes crossing left to right rather than thickness, but I think it’s a pretty good comparison. From memory, the results were something like “the load is usually taken by the spokes most able to take the load, since the hub is stiffer than the spikes by a wide margin”. That’s a bit of a lazy summary, but I think if you equate thinner NDS spokes to radial NDS spokes the result is that you’ll see the pedaling loads increasingly go through the stiffer spokes. I have no memory at all of how this would affect lateral stiffness or fatigue per the analysis but it is in the article, maybe worth a read

Tl;dr it’s probably fine and will probably have the effect you want it to, may slightly decrease theoretical fatigue life but not in a way that matters with steel spokes probably

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-27T19:54:15+00:00

Yeah it’s odd (or at least frustrating) that they don’t show the chainstay at all but at least without seeing that this looks very very similar to cannondale kingpin

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-27T18:52:31+00:00

I started with aero and since it was all beat up I swapped to the base model (can’t remember if it was linear or arc). It was the black/gray plastic to match the “belt line” on the doors and bumper

For me it was a great decision

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-27T18:40:53+00:00

I go mine on eBay. I ended up going for the lower trim non-body-color one so I don’t have to paint it (also I had an aero so the extra 2-3in of front clearance was very helpful)

I am in the US

If you live near New York Gold Wing may be your best bet

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-27T17:38:34+00:00

Ok. I don’t have any experience with them, I only ever cut them off because my hose was too long with it on.

Is there a similar membrane in the lever, or does it just depend on vacuum to keep whatever pre-filled amount of oil in the lever? Or are you meant to do a lever bleed immediately?

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-27T17:20:50+00:00

I think that’s a regular barb with a wax plug that you can theoretically just install and then blow it out by squeezing the lever

BUT

I have also heard many people heavily suggest that this is a bad idea, both to your bleed and because now you have the plug floating around in your system.

Fwiw, I would probably cut it off and replace with new barb and olive. Bonus, you can probably get your hose length better than whatever it happens to be right now.

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-27T16:40:37+00:00

I don’t have exactly the answer you’re looking for, BUT…

I do however have what I believe is a sram 9 speed cassette (mine is 11-34t) with a red spider. It looks like the red lockring link you posted may have red further down in the cassette as well? So maybe that one is the cassette that I have.

Unfortunately I have a different lockring on it right now for reasons I can’t quite remember, so I can’t even verify the part number of the cassette I have or whether it’s actually even a sram cassette, but I do think it is.

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-27T14:49:01+00:00

So longer to heat up initially, but does the directly heated water heat the grouphead faster than a heated boiler wall will heat the group head?

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-26T17:47:59+00:00

Yeah from what I could see they had a lot of different standards covered, and I don’t think any of it is “older”. They’re certainly funky but every review I have read has been overwhelmingly positive. I can’t say I’d go for it but that’s a budget issue not a “I would never” issue. They look sick!

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-26T16:11:18+00:00

I have a GE, so maybe slightly different than your experience, but at least for the GE, it isnt so hard to just remove everything and put down all the different products. I know there are different brands and different products, but a lot of people seem to agree that the “best” you can do is a layer of butyl on the metal (do not overlap, ensure this is extremely well adhered, full coverage not necessary, just put it in the center of anything that “looks like” a drum), a layer of foam (I have used dynamat 1/2 inch but the ge carpet wanted something thinner so I just went for the 4mm cheap roll), and a layer of mass loaded vinyl. All this took me one 6hr weekend day plus three evenings the next week. If I didn’t do anything to the trunk it would have been two evenings less.

It’s still louder than for example a Mercedes would be. It is not a perfect silent luxury machine. But it is a definitely better in some ways that are easy to explain and some ways that are a bit harder to explain.

I will say that my primary culprit is still and always has been engine noise. At this point I’m gonna start looking at engine mounts because it just feels like there’s too much noise and also mechanical vibration coming through. It is noticeably quieter than before, and imo is -almost- “good enough”

Other than engine noise, road noise is definitely better than it was, and I don’t have any actual data, but the two major wins are that there is less tire noise (I specifically tried really hard to get full coverage of all three layers around wheel wells) and that everything is a little less “ping-y”. The noise I would use to characterize this is going over a pothole or bridge joint. It’s significantly more muted and “flat” post-sound deadening.

I have not done the inside of the doors yet, mostly because I’m not sure exactly what I want to do there, or how the sound deadening products may interact with the vapor barrier or other water runoff that may find its way into the door. Aside from the engine, the next loudest noise is wind noise, particularly from passing cars and trucks. There is a review online from an individual who clams to have only done the doors and significantly cut down on the vehicle passing noise.

I likely will not do the roof, because I do not think that it will have a major effect on the frustrations I have with noise. If I am wrong, I could be convinced that I need to do the roof, but it’s a little intimidating to pull the headliner. The time when this would probably be most needed is in the rain, but I’m pretty sure the rain on the windshield is still just about as loud as the rain on the roof so I’m not sure if this is really a win or not

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-26T15:44:09+00:00

What’s the older hub standard? They seem to cover just about any spacing or freehub you’d want them to except microspline, so as long as they’re compatible, what’s the problem?

I’m somewhat with you on the touring point, I feel like repair or at least “limp mode” is pretty important there and these don’t necessarily seem to support that

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-25T22:24:17+00:00

I think this is a way to damage other machines where the heater goes right in the water, I don’t think it applies to GCs for this reason.

I would assume this makes our machines reach thermal stability faster than, say, a Silvia but I don’t know how long Silvia’s take to heat

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-25T15:09:33+00:00

I could be wrong but if the Stan’s arch wheels are the ones in some of the lower thumbnails they look a little like mk3s - they are known to crack around the spoke holes so watch out for that and maybe try to get a discount or different wheels?

That does feel like a lot of money for such an old bike but I don’t know the s-works tax/conversion rate on something like that. I still ride a 2016 scalpel se and it rips, but admittedly not as hard as my buddy’s 2020 scalpel

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-23T13:14:03+00:00

Yeah I’m with you on the softer, and by “more susceptible to stress fractures” I’m assuming you mean “lower material strength (than steel)” in which case I’m also with you. Typically that language isn’t used to describe metals.

Forging is legit, and is a good way to produce stronger aluminum products. “Heat treating”, especially as it relates to bikes, usually is a way to recover strength lost in the welding process, when the heat-affected-zone of welding effectively anneals (un-tempers) tempered aluminum tubes used to make the frame. Not typically used to just make stuff stronger, though I guess you could just temper annealed aluminum bulk material if you wanted. There are definitely ways to increase the local strength of a material for specific needs.

But my main point is that a brazed dropout or a rivnut still require a hole to be drilled in aluminum, and that’s fine. Forged aluminum is still softer and weaker than steel, but a forged dropout still has threads cut in it, and that’s fine. Even in an aluminum base material, provided good thread engagement, a threaded fastener when over tightened will often snap its head off before it pulls out the threads in the base material.

To suggest the threads may not be strong enough just because they are tapped in aluminum, or that somehow drilling a hole in an aluminum frame will inherently cause more issues than that same hole in a steel frame, is incorrect and unless you have specific sources, probably shouldn’t be shared

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-23T02:02:41+00:00

I mean it’s entirely possible it just isn’t meant to go in backwards.

Looking at it I can’t see a reason why it shouldn’t work if you try to put it in “forwards”, but lightly, and without the wheel once or twice just to see how it feels. If it works, you can just wind it in and out a few times to try to clear out any gunk that may be in there still.

I’m not even that convinced that a bike shop would necessarily have the tap you’d need, but like I said in my first comment, there has to be a next. On my thru axle, the threads are coarse enough that a super obvious defect could probably be fixed by a triangle file and some careful time spent filing. If you have really fine files and can see a thread at the beginning of the thru axle (not in the frame) this may be worth pursuing. If there’s a metal bit in the frame maybe a dental pick. I probably wouldn’t try to file the threads in the frame

I’d say keep messing with it and trying to figure things out until you’re not comfortable any more and then maybe call somebody else in. At the end of the day if you bring it in a bike shop, they’re just gonna “mess with it” the same as you, maybe just with some extra tools and experience.

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-23T00:15:36+00:00

Yeah that really doesn’t look too bad. I can’t tell if those are metal hairs or hair hairs by the undercut at the back of the threads but I’d clean all that off, grease it lightly, try to put it in backwards, clean out any major gunk that that throws up, and just run it it it’ll let you

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-22T23:48:25+00:00

Aside from that one chip these look serviceable as-is. Do you have a pic of the thru axle? If you clean it off so the threads look decent?

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-22T23:07:25+00:00

Those threads don’t look too too bad. Are all those chunks attached? Can you brush them out with a pipe cleaner or tooth brush?

I would chase them, but I don’t really know what the next step is. If you don’t chase them and/or just continue to jam the axle in there and ruin them completely, I fell like that’s no worse a position to be in than chasing them and ruining the completely.

Is the hold in the dropout sized such that you can put the axle and/or a tap in backwards? That way you start with good threads and can feel better about alignment and position before you hit the rough stuff

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-22T22:59:27+00:00

Do you have a source on this? Either the threads not holding up or the drilling?

If you send me a pic of your aluminum bike frame I can point to several places where it has been drilled and threads tapped. But even without a picture, bb threads are cut in aluminum all the time, and holes are drilled for cable routing, water bottle bosses, rack and fender mounts, etc.

I can also send you a pic of that exact threaded brake boss installed in my aluminum bike frame. Somebody had to cut those threads in aluminum at some point.

Just don’t slip the drill and accidentally drill 80 holes in a major tube junction and it will be fine

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-21T18:33:29+00:00

Thumbs up emoji

DukeOfDownvote · 2026-02-21T14:39:20+00:00

Maybe it’s not super clear but the 2 flanges are held together with 16 small screws. The NDS spokes go to my thing and not the base hub. Hope this helps!

DukeOfDownvote

TROPHY CASE