It's interesting how this mirrors the Pinkbike "trail bike field test," where the parts spec ends up dictating some of the ride characteristics and dominates the review. Sorry for the crap audio quality I edited this one on an airplane. I've uploaded accurate captions to make up for it just hit the captions button and select 'English'
Appreciate you calling out PMs for speccing wireless drivetrains over better brakes, suspension, wheels, tires, droppers… I was close to buying a complete Druid but I would end up selling most of the components anyway.
@@Josh-om9wv thanks! yeah from the outside it appears SRAM gives big incentives to brands for speccing a full build so I don’t fully blame the brands and product managers for trying to save a money and also piggybacking on the SRAM marketing hype train. I just wish that there was at least a little bit of pushback from brands, it seems like Shimano is asleep at the wheel when it comes to marketing. I’d imagine there’s also a slight value in not having to pay someone at the factory to route a cable? But it seems that most brands pass that labor along to the shop anyways.
Learned that lesson that hard way picking up a Dread V1 on black Friday clearance, within 3 months the only remaining OE spec is the wheelset, stem and headset.
Also, I 100% agree with all your points regarding the AXS/T-Type stuff having owned/use it. I like trying new things but will likely come full circle if the time comes when a nice direct mount cable setup drops. Also, the V2 rips - love mine to death and have taken it just about everywhere in my area. It doesn't disappoint when you wring it out!
If I was setting up demo bikes I would cut bars on mediums and larges down to 760. That way people who like 750 or 770 dont feel too uncomfortable, and people who think they like 800s get stoked on how much stronger and more controlled they feel on the bike.
Appreciate your thoughts on the deraileur topic. I'm rather disappointed in Forbidden's current builds. It doesn't make any sense to spec a costly drivetrain that doesn't impact ride performance anywhere near as much as suspension and wheels. Imo. My upgrade priorities are suspension, wheels, then drivetrain. Cockpit is probably in there somewhere, but ive been ignoring that personally. Fancier drivetrains don't make sense to me before the suspension is top tier. Transmission makes sense on an ebike, elsewhere... not so much in my opinion.
Your videos are always great Eric......right off the bat I have to agree with you. I have ridden a few Sram AXS bikes and I absolutely do not like it, especially the dropper. On our ride in Anacortes we both had 240 droppers....HOW have they not made anything longer than 175?!?!?! Both the Arrival and Mondraker Foxy had them and I did not like it at all. The Arrival I would have to get off and adjust the dropper up and down like old skool = lame. Ok, watching more now.....same with Code brakes.....I have had both Shimano and Sram on my last 3 bikes and I am a Shimano guy through and through, there's no comparison....OH and Saints.
It does seem odd to spec transmission but have the fork use a base damper. I actually really like transmission on my bike, but I wouldn’t choose it over a fork upgrade for sure. I’ve heard of others having issues with their transmission setup, but mine has been bulletproof. Charge the battery maybe once a month, ride in the wet through the winter, it just works. Maybe I’m just lucky?
Same here, I currently have 2 bikes with transmission, and I had a different bike last year. I've had it since it came pretty much. Not a single issue, and I am overall super happy with the performance of it. I currently have one 120/120 xc bike with transmission, and an enduro bike. On the enduro bike, I could live without it, im often in granny gear on the steep ups - And I dont pedal much on the downs. More just of a nice to have, and the XX groupset I bought was like 47% discounted. So it was cheaper than a XTR groupset. The XC bike though, is where it shines. Being able to just click next gear, no matter what watts I am putting out, and it just shifts. Most times it doesnt even make a sound, and you almost dont notice you did a shift. I stay on top of batteries etc - I've never had a battery die, on my last 4 bikes with AXS stuff, and also never had any issues. I also keep an extra battery in the in frame storage bag of both bikes, so chances are im not getting stranded. So yeah, for trail/enduro bikes, I could be without it. I do live the direct mount part, so I might actually "downgrade" to the mechanical one, if or when they ever release that. For XC bikes, its a must for me.
How dumb of an idea would it be to get one of these if I already have an Arrival 170? I kind of want a more lively bike for flatter trails (without going full XC) and for stuff like Galby an enduro rig is overkill. That said, I feel like it would also be fun to be slightly underbiked for some of the steeper off grid trails in the area. Like everyone else, agreed on the SRAM rant. I wish more companies did a la carte builds like Commencal and Propain so we could skip the wireless hype and pick parts that provide better value. Last thing, how tall are you and what size was this? I'm 5'10" and right now I'd lean on grabbing an S2 so it feels more jibby/nimble than going for straight line speed on an S3. Thanks for the review! Hope to see ya out on the trails.
I’m 6ft 2ish on the s3, honestly I think this could be a good option for you although I think it’s not the best galby bike if you care about having the most nimble feeling trail bike. My Orbea Occam has been great for that galby/lookout crossover but I absolutely hate the headset routing. Bikes on my radar for that kind of niche are the propain hugene, ibis ripley or ripmo, or the new stumpy 15. My old ripmo v1 and v2 were literally the perfect all rounders and quite light for what they were capable of. The Druid v2, like it’s v1 predecessor, is definitely more of a bruiser in my experience. Agreed on a-la-carte options.
The only rant I have about that bike (got one in 29 config s4) is the freakishly small tire clearance in the rear even with a 2.4 tire.. The inner side of chainstay and seatstay is already all scratched up good after only 300km of riding... NExt thing is the sound the drivetrain makes when dirty. The crunching sounds you can hear on your video are there as soon as you get a bit of dust on the chain. I am using an XTR drivetrain and works otehrwise flawlessly.
@ I think thats mostly due to the idler design. I run shimano on my 2021 dreadnought as well and its really loud too when dirty.. not nearly as loud in my ebike with a traditional suspension design. I mostly hear it in the big cogs out back when the chainline is getting pretty wacky and putting down more power on steep uphills.
I'm 3 seasons of hard riding on a GX rear derailleur with almost no maintenance. I don't even think about it. I see the appeal but not having any electronics on my bike works well for me....
Distanced yourself from paganism?? Noooo. I would say based on my few rides on them the v2 Druid rides more like a 150-160mm bike and the v2 Dreadnought rides like a 180-190mm bike.
I'm pretty sure you weren't on a Charger 3.1. You mentioned 3 positions - sounds like a 'plain Jane' Lyrik select which uses a different damper. The 3.1 will have 5 total HSC positions and 15 total LSC positions as you may have experienced in the Charger 3 damper.
@@TFritz82 you’re correct it wasn’t a charger 3.1 from the ultimate. It just said “charger” on it. I was trying to point out Rockshox’s damping philosophy seems to go back and forth between overdamped and underdamped the past few years in my experience
@JankyEric I misunderstood! Yeah, it's funny how their iterations seem to chase the old tail. I just converted my Charger 3 to 3.1 on my Lyrik during a full service to see. First impressions weren't super objective since it was quite snowy here yesterday. Can't wait to push it in better conditions later in the week!
Cool review! Yeah, the Lyrik is not the best fork out there also for me. I made the long term review after a year on the druid. Not sending it as hard as you, but still 👉🏽 th-cam.com/video/13DF3G5HUQA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=p0PHtHG4dLDxU-Zu
It's interesting how this mirrors the Pinkbike "trail bike field test," where the parts spec ends up dictating some of the ride characteristics and dominates the review. Sorry for the crap audio quality I edited this one on an airplane. I've uploaded accurate captions to make up for it just hit the captions button and select 'English'
Appreciate you calling out PMs for speccing wireless drivetrains over better brakes, suspension, wheels, tires, droppers… I was close to buying a complete Druid but I would end up selling most of the components anyway.
@@Josh-om9wv thanks! yeah from the outside it appears SRAM gives big incentives to brands for speccing a full build so I don’t fully blame the brands and product managers for trying to save a money and also piggybacking on the SRAM marketing hype train. I just wish that there was at least a little bit of pushback from brands, it seems like Shimano is asleep at the wheel when it comes to marketing.
I’d imagine there’s also a slight value in not having to pay someone at the factory to route a cable? But it seems that most brands pass that labor along to the shop anyways.
Learned that lesson that hard way picking up a Dread V1 on black Friday clearance, within 3 months the only remaining OE spec is the wheelset, stem and headset.
Your sram rant is on point 👌🏼
That was a really good review and rant was spot on!. Thanks I really enjoyed that 😊
I wholeheartedly agree with the SRAM rant.
Based drivetrain rant, glad you kept that in
Great vid.. Glad I got a V2 frame and built it to my preference (Shimano mechanical, Hope brakes, Lyrik with 3.1 damper)
@@grantwilliams2912 nothing beats a frame-up build
Also, I 100% agree with all your points regarding the AXS/T-Type stuff having owned/use it. I like trying new things but will likely come full circle if the time comes when a nice direct mount cable setup drops.
Also, the V2 rips - love mine to death and have taken it just about everywhere in my area. It doesn't disappoint when you wring it out!
If I was setting up demo bikes I would cut bars on mediums and larges down to 760. That way people who like 750 or 770 dont feel too uncomfortable, and people who think they like 800s get stoked on how much stronger and more controlled they feel on the bike.
Appreciate your thoughts on the deraileur topic.
I'm rather disappointed in Forbidden's current builds. It doesn't make any sense to spec a costly drivetrain that doesn't impact ride performance anywhere near as much as suspension and wheels. Imo.
My upgrade priorities are suspension, wheels, then drivetrain. Cockpit is probably in there somewhere, but ive been ignoring that personally.
Fancier drivetrains don't make sense to me before the suspension is top tier.
Transmission makes sense on an ebike, elsewhere... not so much in my opinion.
Your videos are always great Eric......right off the bat I have to agree with you. I have ridden a few Sram AXS bikes and I absolutely do not like it, especially the dropper. On our ride in Anacortes we both had 240 droppers....HOW have they not made anything longer than 175?!?!?! Both the Arrival and Mondraker Foxy had them and I did not like it at all. The Arrival I would have to get off and adjust the dropper up and down like old skool = lame. Ok, watching more now.....same with Code brakes.....I have had both Shimano and Sram on my last 3 bikes and I am a Shimano guy through and through, there's no comparison....OH and Saints.
It does seem odd to spec transmission but have the fork use a base damper. I actually really like transmission on my bike, but I wouldn’t choose it over a fork upgrade for sure.
I’ve heard of others having issues with their transmission setup, but mine has been bulletproof. Charge the battery maybe once a month, ride in the wet through the winter, it just works. Maybe I’m just lucky?
Same here, I currently have 2 bikes with transmission, and I had a different bike last year. I've had it since it came pretty much. Not a single issue, and I am overall super happy with the performance of it.
I currently have one 120/120 xc bike with transmission, and an enduro bike. On the enduro bike, I could live without it, im often in granny gear on the steep ups - And I dont pedal much on the downs. More just of a nice to have, and the XX groupset I bought was like 47% discounted. So it was cheaper than a XTR groupset.
The XC bike though, is where it shines. Being able to just click next gear, no matter what watts I am putting out, and it just shifts. Most times it doesnt even make a sound, and you almost dont notice you did a shift. I stay on top of batteries etc - I've never had a battery die, on my last 4 bikes with AXS stuff, and also never had any issues. I also keep an extra battery in the in frame storage bag of both bikes, so chances are im not getting stranded.
So yeah, for trail/enduro bikes, I could be without it. I do live the direct mount part, so I might actually "downgrade" to the mechanical one, if or when they ever release that.
For XC bikes, its a must for me.
How dumb of an idea would it be to get one of these if I already have an Arrival 170? I kind of want a more lively bike for flatter trails (without going full XC) and for stuff like Galby an enduro rig is overkill. That said, I feel like it would also be fun to be slightly underbiked for some of the steeper off grid trails in the area.
Like everyone else, agreed on the SRAM rant. I wish more companies did a la carte builds like Commencal and Propain so we could skip the wireless hype and pick parts that provide better value.
Last thing, how tall are you and what size was this? I'm 5'10" and right now I'd lean on grabbing an S2 so it feels more jibby/nimble than going for straight line speed on an S3.
Thanks for the review! Hope to see ya out on the trails.
I’m 6ft 2ish on the s3, honestly I think this could be a good option for you although I think it’s not the best galby bike if you care about having the most nimble feeling trail bike. My Orbea Occam has been great for that galby/lookout crossover but I absolutely hate the headset routing. Bikes on my radar for that kind of niche are the propain hugene, ibis ripley or ripmo, or the new stumpy 15. My old ripmo v1 and v2 were literally the perfect all rounders and quite light for what they were capable of. The Druid v2, like it’s v1 predecessor, is definitely more of a bruiser in my experience. Agreed on a-la-carte options.
Cheers! Hope to see you out there!
The only rant I have about that bike (got one in 29 config s4) is the freakishly small tire clearance in the rear even with a 2.4 tire.. The inner side of chainstay and seatstay is already all scratched up good after only 300km of riding... NExt thing is the sound the drivetrain makes when dirty. The crunching sounds you can hear on your video are there as soon as you get a bit of dust on the chain. I am using an XTR drivetrain and works otehrwise flawlessly.
Ah yeah I didn’t ride in mud or clay on this initial ride but I have heard that can be a problem with full 29.
I’ve found that Shimano 12s chains are particularly loud when they get dry
@ I think thats mostly due to the idler design. I run shimano on my 2021 dreadnought as well and its really loud too when dirty.. not nearly as loud in my ebike with a traditional suspension design. I mostly hear it in the big cogs out back when the chainline is getting pretty wacky and putting down more power on steep uphills.
Now with good quality sound 🎉
Eric Olsen for president
I'm 3 seasons of hard riding on a GX rear derailleur with almost no maintenance. I don't even think about it. I see the appeal but not having any electronics on my bike works well for me....
Yeah I completely agree. It’s nice to not have to charge a bicycle for it to work.
Tempted by a Dreadnaught because of the name, but the Druid suits my needs more. Even though I recently distanced myself from Paganism 😅
Distanced yourself from paganism?? Noooo. I would say based on my few rides on them the v2 Druid rides more like a 150-160mm bike and the v2 Dreadnought rides like a 180-190mm bike.
I'm pretty sure you weren't on a Charger 3.1. You mentioned 3 positions - sounds like a 'plain Jane' Lyrik select which uses a different damper. The 3.1 will have 5 total HSC positions and 15 total LSC positions as you may have experienced in the Charger 3 damper.
@@TFritz82 you’re correct it wasn’t a charger 3.1 from the ultimate. It just said “charger” on it. I was trying to point out Rockshox’s damping philosophy seems to go back and forth between overdamped and underdamped the past few years in my experience
@JankyEric I misunderstood! Yeah, it's funny how their iterations seem to chase the old tail. I just converted my Charger 3 to 3.1 on my Lyrik during a full service to see. First impressions weren't super objective since it was quite snowy here yesterday. Can't wait to push it in better conditions later in the week!
Never seen someone man handle rick rolled that easily
"Not progress. Just different." Say it louder.
Good rant! But a single flight = thousands (edit: hundreds…) of derailleurs 😢
@@thwood40 true, I try my best to fly via standby tickets and fill empty seats.
Cool review! Yeah, the Lyrik is not the best fork out there also for me. I made the long term review after a year on the druid. Not sending it as hard as you, but still 👉🏽 th-cam.com/video/13DF3G5HUQA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=p0PHtHG4dLDxU-Zu
Dude you shred 👀👏🏻 Very nice trail and you made it look easy! 🚵🏻♂ The review was good too 😄