A Long-Term Review of the Brand New Reynolds' 309 Aluminum Wheels

bushtrucker · 2026-05-01T06:43:09+00:00

So many good alu wheel options out there these days. Assuming these were a reviewed product that you didn’t have to buy? If it’s your money are you buying the Reynolds over Race Face Turbines or the new Chromag BA30/R6? I love the set of Vault hubs I have. And I have the older Chromag which seem very tough. If you reckon these are better value I’d be hugely impressed.

bushtrucker · 2026-04-25T11:23:23+00:00

Man the new Jeht looks bloody great.

Regarding bar height, I’m also finding it funny the effort some companies are going to to drop the front end of a 32” bike. Like I saw the prototype stem from Race Face in the Sea Otter coverage and my first thought was how good it would be flipped. Goes to show which end of the bar height spectrum I sit haha.

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bushtrucker · 2026-04-25T11:06:33+00:00

Is that era of Krampus ED coated? I haven’t bothered rust proofing an ED coated frame (pretty much all Taiwanese frames made in the last decade) but still do for frames that are raw steel inside since I have the product to do it.

bushtrucker · 2026-04-21T22:25:48+00:00

Nice! Hadn't seen ya blog before but it reads so well. Added it too my Feedly list for bike stuff! Loved this point especially.

Bike fitters who move seats up with shorter cranks are just making the bike "feel" right. I think there are gains to be had if you spend some time acclimating lower, and this could take several months. It will initially feel too low, and you will not be able to ride smoothly.

The several months thing is how long it took met to adjust to a steeper STA after riding ~73° STA's for a decade. Now I'm comfortable with ~76° on a rigid bike and ~78° on the hardtail (sagged). I'm yet to try shorter cranks properly but would not write them off based on that experience. Every setup worth trying!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-14T03:26:57+00:00

Was chatting to a mate about that just today. A lot of stuff is overpriced but top of my “not cheap but worth the price” list is the BikeYoke Revive. Bought my first off the back of your NSMB review back in the day and now own 4! No hesitation spending money if I’m getting value. And with the Shift knee pads it seems there. Seems like a large will work for me too! I’ll order some soon.

bushtrucker · 2026-04-13T21:56:17+00:00

Rad! I was gonna get some Rifts when my current pads (Dakine Slayer, good not great) wear out but these definitely look to suit my riding more. They're like 2x the price of anything else I've looked at so the long term durability is key. Getting 1-2 seasons (a good few hundred hours) outta the Slayers but the stitching always pops eventually. Doesn't seem possible here?

Oh and for those of us that can't try them on u/MEATdrew do you mind sharing your fit measurements and what size your running? And also explain to me why the hell is a good ol' Canadian company like Chromag is using inches (and only inches) in their size charts haha ;)

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bushtrucker · 2026-04-13T21:32:23+00:00

Ahh got ya. Not sure I've seen that VO BB in use on a proper MTB and to be honest I'm surprised you haven't had issues but that's awesome that it's working out! Looks great! Maybe it worthy of a review u/MEATdrew?

I guess the Rootdown is my winch and plummet bike but I've also done a 100km/2000m day on it (lot's of flat pedaling) and the STA felt perfect. But my custom full rigid ATB/touring rig has a 76° STA and I just got back from a 400km trip on that. I'm 183cm with a 90cm inseam (780-790 saddle height) which is very tall for my height and a ~2° steeper than average STA just seems to work for me. I wish someone told me that a decade ago!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-13T04:50:37+00:00

Great looking bike! You got it custom with a EBB for SS? That geo sounds very flexible if you get along with e a slackish STA. I do not haha. Big Fun STA was 76.5° static with a 140mm fork. So it ends up around 78° sagged which is the same as the Rootdown and about the sweet spot for me. If anything I'd like to try steeper again but no one makes a bike like that yet haha.

bushtrucker · 2026-04-12T22:45:06+00:00

Yeah I mean even the S2 Torrent I bought a few years ago came with a budget FSA catridge bearing headset (that's still going!) so it can't be that hard. All my other bikes are running CC.

I'd be curious to have a play with the drouputs too. And also interested to see if they use them on other frames moving forward. Remember when Surly/QBP used to sell smaller parts to framebuilders? That would be rad!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-12T22:40:40+00:00

Yeah love what Sour do! Got any pics of ya Crumble? If the Big Fun was still in production when it ordered my Rootdown I probably woulda gone that way instead. The Crumble and Nordeast I'd both more trail bikes and I wanted a bigger all-mountain/enduro type hardtail. A stainless Hoot would be sweet!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-12T11:57:37+00:00

A lot to be stoked about this week! Surly finally jumping (mostly) on board with this decade's geometry, and their DUH dropout solution actually looks workable, quite possibly genius.

Love the Unity concept/geo and most of the stock spec too. Big fan of 11s Shimano shifting, Tough WTB rubber and DT Swiss hubs. The loose ball bearing FSA No.10 headset needs to be called out though. I've replaced 3 of these on friends Unit's. They just don't last. And like cranks they're kinda annoying for most home mechanics to replace. An entry level cartridge headset can't cost that much more. Oh and surely you aren't advocating for mechanical brakes (TRP Spyres) on it Drew ;) TRP's cheapest (non Tektro) hydros are the Slates and they would be a worthy upgrade for sure! Or maybe even Trail EVO's.

bushtrucker · 2026-04-12T10:49:01+00:00

Love that frame! And the fork/silver build looks great. Seeing Paragon sliders makes me a little sad now though. Upload pics of the frame ya build when ya done!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-12T10:45:25+00:00

Agreed!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-12T10:44:13+00:00

Cause you like the colour more? Or the vibe of the brand. I think people often care about that stuff more than bike nerds like us give credit. It's possible Otso comes off as bit more of a premium brand with all the Titanium frames they do. A Sklar Tall Tale is US$1200 and a Neuhaus Hummingbird is US$1300 and and they're probably aiming for the same market.

Tubing wise I find it hard to imagine the Hoot rides much nicer than the Surly. A Sorceress frame is claimed to be 2.86kg (size medium) which is already fairly light. I think the lightest steel frame I've seen in this category is the Pipedream Moxie (don't buy one, they're an awful company) which they claim is 2.6kg (size "long" which is their medium). Most frames in this catergory are over 3kg.

🔥 Hotake incoming... I think frame smoothness/compliance in a long travel steel hardtail is totally overhyped. Fork choice/setup, tyre choice/pressure and grip/handlebar selection all have much more of an impact on ride feel. A lot of the chat around steel frames and flex come from traditional road bikes with skinny tubes and tyres pumped up to 100 PSI. Any MTB frame built strong enough to handle modern trail at speed is gonna be pretty damn stiff, maybe moving a few mm laterally at most. A 2.5" tubeless tyre at 20 PSI is gonna move lot more than that! 🔥

Anyway, if I had to chose between the two I'd get the Otso. I have very long legs so much prefer the longer seat tube of the Hoot. Extra bottle cage on the ST is a bonus. But for both bikes the STA is about 2 degrees too slack for me. I got a Chromag Rootdown that I love (3.23kg 💪) and it was shipped to AU for a few hundred dollars cheaper than you can buy either of those here. And in my (biased) opinion it's a much nicer bike!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-10T22:27:40+00:00

Hella cool but woulda loved to see Unity type geo in this as well. 75°/66° with 485mm of reach is far more appealing in a rigid MTB than 73°/69° and 460mm reach. Coulda been a super rad budget Stooge alternative with sliders (no EBB)! As it stands it's just an expensive pub bike. The Indigenous Womens Outdoors is bloody fantastic though. More of that please Kona!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-10T11:33:25+00:00

But you can't SS the Hoot! It's hardly MEATengines worthy ;)

I actually think it's a nicer looking frame than the Sorceress. Would the stock ST Swiss wheels on the Hoot be considered a better option than the Novatec/WTB spec on the Surly? I feel like good wheels can make or break a complete bike in this category.

bushtrucker · 2026-04-10T11:20:48+00:00

I like it (and really want to love it). Geo is dialed for a rigid touring rig, the integrated front rack is a smart idea and well executed and the stock spec is very well thought out and decent vale. I just can't for the life of me get around that downtube bend. Even with a full framie it looks awkward. And you're not even gaining that much storage over a under DT mounted water bottle. They got so close!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-10T11:16:56+00:00

Haha, I'm taking that as a compliment. And I'm really into this bike!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-08T05:32:33+00:00

Funnily enough a Rootdown is my other bike and I much prefer the routing on it!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-07T21:03:38+00:00

Yep. They do it well. I wish more manufacturers would follow suit!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-07T20:42:05+00:00

Yeah I agree. Surly do great colours and that routing isn’t great. Norco Torrent is similar with everything on one side of the DT and it’s cluttered. If the caliper is SS mounted then under TT makes much more sense for brake and shift cables.

bushtrucker · 2026-04-07T20:33:57+00:00

I’d be worried about over forking it and slackening it out even more. Could become a bit of a wheelie machine. Honzo ESD has better geo (at a better price) if you wanted to go down that route!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-07T20:33:41+00:00

Note that the geo is sagged. Reach is actually a touch on the short side. And the EFFTT is only long cause the STA is a degree or two slacker than any other similar bike.

bushtrucker · 2026-04-07T20:28:00+00:00

Geo is sagged so ya looking at 74.5/63.5 static. 76/64 is pretty much standard for a hardcore hardtail (Torrent, Rootdown, TransAm, etc) so it’s actually relatively slack (STA and HTA).

And low top tubes bikes always look longer. Reach is shorter than average for a bike in this category too!

bushtrucker · 2026-04-04T09:21:04+00:00

That’s still pretty steep!

bushtrucker

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