Carbon wheels are absolutely worth the money! I’m still running my cheap light bicycle carbon front wheel on my hardtail… that wheel has been to hell and back since 2016 without a single issue. And there’s no way I’m giving up my Enve M70s on my big squishy bike. My rear carbon wheel on my hard tail started busting spokes almost every ride so I retired it and went with a DT 511 aluminum. But that might’ve had something to do with me running it for a full day of park runs after four broken spokes from a crash. Since that’s just my basic bike, I didn’t really wanna spend carbon money on the replacement, especially because I wasn’t sure what configuration I wanted. I will be getting a set of super light carbon wheels when I go to a shorter travel fork on that bike. I know a lot of people say carbon will fail catastrophically but even on a very light set of EC Trail 70s that 230 pound buddy slammed into a curb and cracked, The bead never broke and the tire held air. He road it for three months like that before selling the bike. Beyond the initial impact damage, the rim still held up to everything he threw at it..
But the right tire for conditions and riding style means far more than saving a little weight or getting a little stiffness through carbon hoops, and it is also much cheaper
So what do you think of the specialized tires? Grippy and slow like I had mentioned or no? Think we saw you at the castle Thursday while y’all were filming.
This confirms why blinging out your rig with expensive parts totally isn’t worth it. Sure, maybe some better suspension, but otherwise if you have a mid or low range bike, just ride it and wear out the parts that are already on it. Expensive parts are more expensive to repair and replace. I have the crank brothers synthesis carbon wheelset that came on my Capra uncaged 6 with flight attendant and one of those crappy sapim aero bladed spokes broke right at the hub. Super lame. Luckily the DT Swiss aero comp spokes have the same design and can be substituted for Sapim and worldwide had the spokes in stock. Yeah, I could have used a regular spoke but I’m trying to preserve the wheelset design as much as possible until it just doesn’t matter anymore. If it had been a round and not bladed spoke, it would have been a cinch to replace.
Don't understand the allure of air pods. Anyway back to the great bike video. Looking forward to the finale. Fwiw, I've been running hunt Enduro wide for 2.5 yrs and they are great. I'll be getting my son some trail wide for his polygon. I find the stock takes a very long time to engage and heavy AF.
wheels are still the best upgrade, but you need to try wheels arround 1500g or less and you will see, how much faster they are. 200g on wheels is like 2kg on bike.
One nice thing about many carbon wheelsets is lifetime warranty. No need to ever buy another wheelset...until they develop something better that you *must have!* ...LOL. Also I can not stand loud hubs. They sound cool at first, but get pretty annoying on large descents.
@@EvansMTBSagatheir alloy wheels are some of the best wheels I have ever ridden! They definitely feel heavier than carbon offerings, but otherwise, the performance felt there to me
@@EvansMTBSaga It's almost the exact same principle as you are describing with compliance in the wheels and rims in this video. All metals have a ductile/elastic range in which they can flex and return right back to their original shape without experiencing metal fatigue.
@EvansMTBSaga that's a great shout! I would love you to add a 3rd variant to the current hi/lo season though..... high vs low vs best bang for buck.. see which is actually fastest
These videos are getting better and better!! I feel that this channel is genuinely cool again! The upgrades are interesting and the dynamic between the two characters makes it fun to watch! Seems like making extra effort on making content really pays off!
Nice one even. For season 3 It'd be rad to do 11 speed Linkglide XT vs axs T-type. Both advertise shifting under full load but with $900+ between them. Hell, the budget CUES clutch groupsets can be found for $150
For cable housing: make sure to use a "dry" lubricant vs a wet lube like triflow. With a dry lube, the liquid "carrier" will evaporate off leaving only the lubricant behind. With a wet lube, that evaporation doesn't happen which can attract dust and actually increase friction over time. In several shops we used Bike Aid "Dri-Slide", which is an more expensive molybdenum based lube, but is designed for exactly that use case.
Heck yeah man thanks for the tip. I remember as a kid, I would lube my chain with WD-40. Then graduated to Triflo and felt like that was pure luxury. I will definitely use your tip from here on 🫡
@@EvansMTBSaga Absolutely! Dry chain lubes in general might be something you want to check out. They'll serve you much better than Triflo when trails are dusty. You'll have to reapply it more frequently (apply, let dry, wipe off excess), but it will attract MUCH less dust & dirt. (I personally like Boeshield T-9 for a dry lube.)
Oh yeah I regularly switch from dry and wet lube based on the conditions here. I have it in the shop. I just didn't know about using dry lube in the housing which makes way more sense now that you explained iy
I do a lot of tech climbing and in my experience you really need 50poe or better. Once you get over 100 it starts to be very negligible as far as performance increases.
@@SprSonik13i don't do much climbing, I ride mostly DH and bike parks, but you're right about that split second sprint. It happens a lot in DH and for me the 54t star ratchet kit on my 350s made a significant and very noticeable difference... I honestly can't tell the difference between them and anything with higher engagement. Plus for bike parks 350s are a no brainer since they're pretty much bombproof and simple to service (Hydras are overrated ... Anyone who works on them and understands hub functionality would agree).
I had a set of DT Swiss XM481 rims laced to 350 hubs with 54 POE for a semi-budget option at $1000. IMBY bikes in Whistler built them up and they are bulletproof all around. They handled three straight days of bike park riding and 10K feet of descending with no issues. Nowadays the spread between group sets is really small. Shimano Deore to XT is mainly just weight. However the shifter is where you want to spend the money. I run an XT shifter paired to the SLX that came on the bike. If I neeed to replace the r/d in the future I’ll save some money and go Deore.
People don’t want to hear it, but the most effective way of dropping times on the bike has nothing to do with upgrades. You need to focus on fitness and skill building. Of course it’s way easier to throw money at something, and upgrades are fun.
Idk if you can drop 7 seconds as quick as you can through upgrades on a minute descent. It might take months to a year plus of practice to lose that much time
@@erikdiehl3134 if you've ridden a trail 100+ times. You really won't be shaving that much time of your runs if you are in good shape. Upgrades will do more than practice. Now if you are fat as hell losing weight will do wonders.
Wait, so you're telling me carbon cranks (worst idea ever) and AXS aren't gonna make me a better rider, and I actually gotta work out? I don't believe it, the MTB industry swears!!
what if all this time evans actually does have an identical twin named chad and is just fooling us by making him a character in the videos soi we think he is fake
sick video! also i think you should check out the same series from the channel Top to Bottom. i think his upgrades were very smart and i generally liked the series while i was waiting for this season 2!
Hey evan, love the high low series, a idea for you in the future would be common vs rare items (cant think of a good name) where you compare fox or rockshox which are very common to suspension like formula which is very uncommon.
I kinda like low bike better .. I would remove the dropper n use a bmx seat.. ( I dont sit down .. like ever).. and .. maybe mount the shifter on the bottle cage mount.. front hose through the edc tool port .. the edc will go in the "camera" bag.. a tralope bike .. if you will..
Hi Evan, still have my Mythique VR 10 speed. Upgrading to a sram eagle 12sp. 10T-52T. The existing hanger doesn’t seem right. Any experience with this? Thanks
For me enduro riding is not about going as fast i can downhill, but also important are fun and comfort. Nice series but I’m wondering is it even important for me to watch. The cost per second is hilarious. You compare the cost, when the difference are something like 0.1 seconds between high and low bike. Weird
Bro go the thumbnails on lock. Legit tripped out because I thought it was. Donut Media video😭. It got me watching so I think that’s all that matters lmao
Just shows there is a break even point of no returns on upgrades, and in reality the stock bike is perfectly fine for 100% of us, it’s a fashion show with bike parts.
If we ask your wife who she likes more between the low bike rider or the high bike rider, what would she say? Depending on her answer would you consider adopting that personality in real life?
Shimano derailleurs also have b screw adjustment marks on the back of the cage. Look through the derailleur through the left side of the bike and like the mark up with the teeth of the cassette
These frames don't have UDH or else I probably would have 🤣 but I'm super impressed that the pod shifter improved performance over the gen 2 shifter. I did not expect that
I used to think Evan was just a spoiled rich guy but I just picked up a high quality trail bike and holy shit I can’t go back the feel and comfort is so much better on a more expensive bike
I just think it was funny when you said stock wheels on bikes are kinda there just to get you out on the trails but my bike came stock with the Crank brothers synthesis wheels and i9 hubs 😂 😂
I love these videos. I don't even own a MTB, I have a ebike that borrows parts from the MTB scene, but the insight into the parts is awesome. Carbon fiber is just one of those materials that keeps being sold as futuristic, but seems to rarely live up to its name. Is it better than metal? is it better than fiberglass? It's hard to say.
For something as quick to change as wheels you could swap high and low bike and see if you get a difference in times. I've had my Hunt Trailwide wheels for about 4 years now, big improvement to my bike over the stock WTB i29's but there are a couple of things that never get mentioned with upgraded wheels. 1. They are lighter, well dur but it did make the front of my bike much more prone to wheel lift on climbs. 2. With them being lighter there's less weight at the extremities and this makes the bike much more pitch sensitive. This was a big shock on my first jump as the bike moved much more in the air than I expected. You get used to it quickly but the difference is there. 3. Momentum, It's much easier to climb and get them to spin up but the same is true the other way, they slow down quicker too. With the lighter rotational mass, and lower weight of the bike I didn't roll over rough ground and maintain momentum as I did before when coasting.
Hi man, nice video. Just a little comment... why you measure the weight of individual parts in grams and then weight the hole bike in pounds? Can you use metric system to weight the bikes too? (C'mon gringos, embrace the metric systems, is nice, beautiful, coherent, easy and will never disappoint you).
I used to put the final weight in kilos, but kept messing it up. Like I'd put Before: 19kg, After: 19kg. Then people were SUPER mean in the comments, so I stopped altogether.
I hate to say this but I feel it's unfair cause the suspension on the high is a fair bit worse I reckon if you do this again use exactly the same shock and fork
@@EvansMTBSaga next time to make it fully even exact same everything even if there basically the same love the vids Aswell thanks for the response cheers
Idea for next season of Hi-Low: collab with someone... Maybe Seth? Maybe a hard tail challenge. You don't necessarily need to be together if you test a trail of equal / length time
I'd love to. I said it last time that I wouldn't do it again without someone. The reality is that that person would want a lot of money and I can't afford that 😞
I haven't messed with Shimano enough to know about a B gap marking to be honest. I will look into that! The cage lockout is enough for me to be a SRAM fanboy though haha
@@EvansMTBSaga Yeah they each have their pluses. Shimano being able to tune the clutch when they wear out is also nice. Neither are really dealbreakers for me, just perks. I feel like I was able to tune my shimano way easier. But do enjoy the electronic SRAMs.
How’d you make the AirPod go into the sewer drain? Amazing editing or you really threw it in there? By the way the X01 cassette is made of one block of “steel” mounted to an aluminum granny cog.
6:02 reusing the housing is fine if it's not rusty like in the video. but all the oil won't save you if it's peeled like that, you should trim it first and make it flush otherwise it will soon be everything but smooth
About wheels, I bought a marin bobcat trail 5, and the factory wheels are incredible. The hubs arent that good, they are cheap rebranded shimano hubs. But the rims. I use the bike for hardcore riding, freeride, urban freeride, stair gaps, black diamond trails, just needed to tension the spokes and thats it. Massive whips, tricks and they are arrow straight.
I put Ibis carbon wheels with I9 hubs on my T7. The bike was so light afterwards. Definitely felt zippier on flat and climbs. Rigid on the downhill and chunk.
Those Crankbrothers wheels are the same ones off the YT. I did that to save costs. As for mentioning the shotty design, not everything can make the video. I wanted this to be about the benefits of the upgrades
As weird as it may sound, but the weight difference might be in the Paint. Different colors do have different weight and the color used on High Bike have more layers, that would also add to the weight.
@@EvansMTBSaga I guess I should have watched the video. Still, in the grand scheme of things, MTBs and parts have gotten out of control. If it was a full Berd setup, it would probably be $3k for wheels alone.
I’m torn between carbon and aluminum myself 😅 pros and cons to both. My carbon rims have been bombproof and I like the weight and stiffness, but they are expensive! While alloy is less expensive… they can be noticeably heavier, and I’ve damaged so many alloy rims even with inserts and high tire pressure. Industry Nine Enduro rims have not been that great for me. I think we both agree that the Nukeproof Horizon alloy Wheelset is superb, I’ve had no issues with them so far 👍 very strong rims for alloy, and relatively lightweight. Great video Evan 🤛
@@EvansMTBSaga man I feel that, I always feel like I cut out “good stuff” but for the sake of flow and brevity a ton of stuff just can’t make the edit 👍 and I was wondering about the GX creak. One of my cassettes pops and creaks like my old body. Just got to oil it up… the cassette I mean 😂
I just bought my Trail Wide V2's and installing them right now! I can't believe the price I got it for new (same sale as yours plus $50 off your first purchase!) and they're as light as those carbon wheels in this video! I can't wait to ride them next week when the bike gets back from the mechanic! 😁
Come for the bike upgrades, stay for the developing relationship between Chad and Evan 🤣
I honestly did even notice, but am now thinking people seeing him out there talking like this might be a little flight clubby.
It’s obvious why low bike is going faster. It has the sicker paint scheme. If high bike looked as cool, it’d be way faster!
Carbon wheels are absolutely worth the money! I’m still running my cheap light bicycle carbon front wheel on my hardtail… that wheel has been to hell and back since 2016 without a single issue. And there’s no way I’m giving up my Enve M70s on my big squishy bike. My rear carbon wheel on my hard tail started busting spokes almost every ride so I retired it and went with a DT 511 aluminum. But that might’ve had something to do with me running it for a full day of park runs after four broken spokes from a crash. Since that’s just my basic bike, I didn’t really wanna spend carbon money on the replacement, especially because I wasn’t sure what configuration I wanted. I will be getting a set of super light carbon wheels when I go to a shorter travel fork on that bike. I know a lot of people say carbon will fail catastrophically but even on a very light set of EC Trail 70s that 230 pound buddy slammed into a curb and cracked, The bead never broke and the tire held air. He road it for three months like that before selling the bike. Beyond the initial impact damage, the rim still held up to everything he threw at it..
But the right tire for conditions and riding style means far more than saving a little weight or getting a little stiffness through carbon hoops, and it is also much cheaper
Best mtb series out there 🔥🔥 the work you put in these videos is insane!! keep it up!!!
So what do you think of the specialized tires? Grippy and slow like I had mentioned or no?
Think we saw you at the castle Thursday while y’all were filming.
I have the Grid Trail T9 on my YT and those feel slow and grippy for sure
Another banger from Evan!
I ride HT and much prefer premium allow wheelsets. I run turbine Rs with vaults. Compliance, strength, while light and high performing.
This confirms why blinging out your rig with expensive parts totally isn’t worth it. Sure, maybe some better suspension, but otherwise if you have a mid or low range bike, just ride it and wear out the parts that are already on it. Expensive parts are more expensive to repair and replace. I have the crank brothers synthesis carbon wheelset that came on my Capra uncaged 6 with flight attendant and one of those crappy sapim aero bladed spokes broke right at the hub. Super lame. Luckily the DT Swiss aero comp spokes have the same design and can be substituted for Sapim and worldwide had the spokes in stock. Yeah, I could have used a regular spoke but I’m trying to preserve the wheelset design as much as possible until it just doesn’t matter anymore. If it had been a round and not bladed spoke, it would have been a cinch to replace.
Can you please add metric numbers also on screen?
Santa Cruz reserve alloy rims are super tough and have a lifetime warranty
Oh man I've been so close to buying those at least 10 times. No joke! Are they just strong or also compliant?
Don't understand the allure of air pods. Anyway back to the great bike video. Looking forward to the finale. Fwiw, I've been running hunt Enduro wide for 2.5 yrs and they are great. I'll be getting my son some trail wide for his polygon. I find the stock takes a very long time to engage and heavy AF.
Me either haha
or me haven't got any air pods got some alternatives
wheels are still the best upgrade, but you need to try wheels arround 1500g or less and you will see, how much faster they are. 200g on wheels is like 2kg on bike.
One nice thing about many carbon wheelsets is lifetime warranty. No need to ever buy another wheelset...until they develop something better that you *must have!* ...LOL. Also I can not stand loud hubs. They sound cool at first, but get pretty annoying on large descents.
Not even transmission? Wat.
Ahh man I would've loved to. I searched long and far looking for a way to adapt the transmission to this non-UDH frame
Man, I'll put Industry 9 aluminum against any carbon out there.
I'd be down to try that, but I'm weary about their hub being designed to flex for more engagement 😬
@@EvansMTBSagatheir alloy wheels are some of the best wheels I have ever ridden! They definitely feel heavier than carbon offerings, but otherwise, the performance felt there to me
@@EvansMTBSaga are you talking about the same hubs on the carbon Crankbrothers wheels in this exact video??? WTF are you talking about?
@@EvansMTBSaga At speed you will not worry about anything but controlling the adrenaline.
@@EvansMTBSaga It's almost the exact same principle as you are describing with compliance in the wheels and rims in this video. All metals have a ductile/elastic range in which they can flex and return right back to their original shape without experiencing metal fatigue.
I know a series can't last forever but this has been excellent and it is bittersweet being at the finale already!!
I know right! I did shorten the season by 1 episode. I'm still willing to test high and low end frames though!
@EvansMTBSaga that's a great shout! I would love you to add a 3rd variant to the current hi/lo season though..... high vs low vs best bang for buck.. see which is actually fastest
@@EvansMTBSaga You may not like the quality of 'high end frames' Some 'high end' brands are just the name,
The finale will have a third variant 🤫
These videos are getting better and better!! I feel that this channel is genuinely cool again! The upgrades are interesting and the dynamic between the two characters makes it fun to watch! Seems like making extra effort on making content really pays off!
Please make a series named: "Low vs Super low" so that this will be more relatable 😂
Yes $800 wheels is past my top price point
did you just throw an airpod down a drain
Nice one even. For season 3 It'd be rad to do 11 speed Linkglide XT vs axs T-type. Both advertise shifting under full load but with $900+ between them. Hell, the budget CUES clutch groupsets can be found for $150
For cable housing: make sure to use a "dry" lubricant vs a wet lube like triflow. With a dry lube, the liquid "carrier" will evaporate off leaving only the lubricant behind. With a wet lube, that evaporation doesn't happen which can attract dust and actually increase friction over time. In several shops we used Bike Aid "Dri-Slide", which is an more expensive molybdenum based lube, but is designed for exactly that use case.
Heck yeah man thanks for the tip. I remember as a kid, I would lube my chain with WD-40. Then graduated to Triflo and felt like that was pure luxury. I will definitely use your tip from here on 🫡
@@EvansMTBSaga Absolutely! Dry chain lubes in general might be something you want to check out. They'll serve you much better than Triflo when trails are dusty. You'll have to reapply it more frequently (apply, let dry, wipe off excess), but it will attract MUCH less dust & dirt. (I personally like Boeshield T-9 for a dry lube.)
Oh yeah I regularly switch from dry and wet lube based on the conditions here. I have it in the shop. I just didn't know about using dry lube in the housing which makes way more sense now that you explained iy
Most of the time with bike lubricant "dry" and "wet" refer to the conditions the product is designed for, not whether it cures to a dry film.
Great tip, never crossed my mind, thx!!
I do a lot of tech climbing and in my experience you really need 50poe or better. Once you get over 100 it starts to be very negligible as far as performance increases.
Thanks for weighing in. I didn't do a good test to show hub engagement. We don't have a lot of tech climbs here. Good to hear your perspective
High engagement hubs are a godsend on technical climbing. And they also come in handy on power sprints for that first split second….
@@SprSonik13i don't do much climbing, I ride mostly DH and bike parks, but you're right about that split second sprint. It happens a lot in DH and for me the 54t star ratchet kit on my 350s made a significant and very noticeable difference... I honestly can't tell the difference between them and anything with higher engagement. Plus for bike parks 350s are a no brainer since they're pretty much bombproof and simple to service (Hydras are overrated ... Anyone who works on them and understands hub functionality would agree).
I had a set of DT Swiss XM481 rims laced to 350 hubs with 54 POE for a semi-budget option at $1000. IMBY bikes in Whistler built them up and they are bulletproof all around. They handled three straight days of bike park riding and 10K feet of descending with no issues.
Nowadays the spread between group sets is really small. Shimano Deore to XT is mainly just weight. However the shifter is where you want to spend the money. I run an XT shifter paired to the SLX that came on the bike. If I neeed to replace the r/d in the future I’ll save some money and go Deore.
Man its been so cool to watch your channel grow from out in the desert building that old S-Works
People don’t want to hear it, but the most effective way of dropping times on the bike has nothing to do with upgrades. You need to focus on fitness and skill building.
Of course it’s way easier to throw money at something, and upgrades are fun.
Idk if you can drop 7 seconds as quick as you can through upgrades on a minute descent. It might take months to a year plus of practice to lose that much time
@@MB-jz3uu7 seconds is the difference you probably have on a 2min from run to run like 7 seconds aint shit
@@erikdiehl3134 if you've ridden a trail 100+ times. You really won't be shaving that much time of your runs if you are in good shape. Upgrades will do more than practice. Now if you are fat as hell losing weight will do wonders.
Wait, so you're telling me carbon cranks (worst idea ever) and AXS aren't gonna make me a better rider, and I actually gotta work out? I don't believe it, the MTB industry swears!!
what if all this time evans actually does have an identical twin named chad and is just fooling us by making him a character in the videos soi we think he is fake
Maybe Chad's just not as good of a rider? You should ride them both to get a more accurate result
It’s seriously starting to feel like I’m watching a donut video😂
Nice, been waiting for a new episode. Keep up the good work! love your content
Cost per second. What a great way to determine true cost!
Best episode so far in my opinion
sick video! also i think you should check out the same series from the channel Top to Bottom. i think his upgrades were very smart and i generally liked the series while i was waiting for this season 2!
Oh yeah I saw that series as it came out
Hey evan, love the high low series, a idea for you in the future would be common vs rare items (cant think of a good name) where you compare fox or rockshox which are very common to suspension like formula which is very uncommon.
I like that idea! I was checking out Formula forks with their custom valving. Super intriguing
@EvansMTBSaga I've been riding with formula and at first was sceptical about it but I can't go back now, crazy how overlooked smaller brands are
Big company versus boutique
Newbie versus big name
@@lincolngill7551 basic vs boutique maby
I just realized that the reverb AXS is still on the highbike
I laughed my ass off at Chad's dramatic re-enactment, more of that please 😂😂😂
I kinda like low bike better .. I would remove the dropper n use a bmx seat.. ( I dont sit down .. like ever).. and .. maybe mount the shifter on the bottle cage mount.. front hose through the edc tool port .. the edc will go in the "camera" bag.. a tralope bike .. if you will..
I put those Hunt Trail Wides on my hardtail and they've been pretty awesome.
Hi Evan, still have my Mythique VR 10 speed. Upgrading to a sram eagle 12sp. 10T-52T. The existing hanger doesn’t seem right. Any experience with this? Thanks
Awesome episode Evan, thanks for giving me a moment of your time last week at Castle!
Nice meeting you Glenn!!
"Low Bike Wins!" but in fairness, after all the upgrades it's not a low-bike anymore
Pure educational entertainment! Love this channel!
For me enduro riding is not about going as fast i can downhill, but also important are fun and comfort. Nice series but I’m wondering is it even important for me to watch. The cost per second is hilarious. You compare the cost, when the difference are something like 0.1 seconds between high and low bike. Weird
Bro go the thumbnails on lock. Legit tripped out because I thought it was. Donut Media video😭. It got me watching so I think that’s all that matters lmao
Just shows there is a break even point of no returns on upgrades, and in reality the stock bike is perfectly fine for 100% of us, it’s a fashion show with bike parts.
What are the odds?! I just got an ESR case and it's awesome. My case was super scratched and felt and looked ugly.
the consitency of low bike is amazing haha we'll see if the finale bring us anything different !
awsome work evan thank you !
Hi, just an idea for a review/comparison, fox36 or lyrik vs fox38 or zeb, thanks
Evan, it sounds like you bought 5Devs very cool 6/4 Titanium crank and paid 🍁💰
If we ask your wife who she likes more between the low bike rider or the high bike rider, what would she say?
Depending on her answer would you consider adopting that personality in real life?
Shimano derailleurs also have b screw adjustment marks on the back of the cage. Look through the derailleur through the left side of the bike and like the mark up with the teeth of the cassette
Can you review the new dartmoor rocbird enduro frame thanks
Greetings from Philippines
Loving this series man! Thank you for all your hard work and sorry that Chad is spending all your money 😂
Personally as a mainly park/downhill rider I will take deformation over detonation any day😂
Haha I like that! Nicely worded
I wish i had a bike like that 😢
Super cool video , i love this series ! ❤🔥
Chad 😎🚵♀️
Evan 🤓🚵♂️
Team High Bike!
you need a protective case to go around your airpod case...but people still claim apple is superior. LOL
chad needs a ponytail wig lol would match those shirts perfect. great videos!
replacing shimano for sram is a crime
SRAM > Shimano all day!
Who forgets that it's only one person?
👇
I'm using Nukeproof Horizon V2's till they die, which will probably be never...Quality wheels...Ha!!
Man Nukeproof Horizon are the best! I've ran a set since 2021 and never trued them or had to replace the bearings
Thanks for not doing SRAM transmission and sticking with GX electronic shifting.
These frames don't have UDH or else I probably would have 🤣 but I'm super impressed that the pod shifter improved performance over the gen 2 shifter. I did not expect that
So the pod shifter is from the latest axs transmission ? I didnt realise there had been 3 iterations @EvansMTBSaga
Yeah the pod came out with the transmission, but can work with the older axs derailleur
Sram uses different thickness cables and housings from shimano
I don’t like Chad! I wish Evan would just do all the testing.
I used to think Evan was just a spoiled rich guy but I just picked up a high quality trail bike and holy shit I can’t go back the feel and comfort is so much better on a more expensive bike
Glad you felt the luxury!
I like your bg music, very 80s and 90s.
Feels more like Low bike Mid bike, High bike should have Berd spokes and 5Dev cranks... All jabs aside this is a great series!
Berd spokes put any other wheel to shame haha. I wanted to try to keep the prices a little close this time
Did you weigh the two bare frames to see if one happens to be heavier?
Evans you NEED to help me. Can i get rid of the brown side wals? if so please tell me!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't get rid of them unless you paint them, but it won't last
I just think it was funny when you said stock wheels on bikes are kinda there just to get you out on the trails but my bike came stock with the Crank brothers synthesis wheels and i9 hubs 😂 😂
There we go! Sounds like you have a nice bike
Evan, what Compressor pump attachment is that?
I love these videos. I don't even own a MTB, I have a ebike that borrows parts from the MTB scene, but the insight into the parts is awesome. Carbon fiber is just one of those materials that keeps being sold as futuristic, but seems to rarely live up to its name. Is it better than metal? is it better than fiberglass? It's hard to say.
can u show us ur bike collection, how does it look now?
For something as quick to change as wheels you could swap high and low bike and see if you get a difference in times.
I've had my Hunt Trailwide wheels for about 4 years now, big improvement to my bike over the stock WTB i29's but there are a couple of things that never get mentioned with upgraded wheels.
1. They are lighter, well dur but it did make the front of my bike much more prone to wheel lift on climbs.
2. With them being lighter there's less weight at the extremities and this makes the bike much more pitch sensitive.
This was a big shock on my first jump as the bike moved much more in the air than I expected. You get used to it quickly but the difference is there.
3. Momentum, It's much easier to climb and get them to spin up but the same is true the other way, they slow down quicker too.
With the lighter rotational mass, and lower weight of the bike I didn't roll over rough ground and maintain momentum as I did before when coasting.
That is a good idea, although my energy level is limited 😂 I thought about having an E-Bike tow me up so I can do many runs between the two bikes
@@EvansMTBSagamaybe have the show down twice and swap all the parts over then go out another day fresh.
Have you weighed the bare frames?
Hi man, nice video. Just a little comment... why you measure the weight of individual parts in grams and then weight the hole bike in pounds? Can you use metric system to weight the bikes too?
(C'mon gringos, embrace the metric systems, is nice, beautiful, coherent, easy and will never disappoint you).
I used to put the final weight in kilos, but kept messing it up. Like I'd put Before: 19kg, After: 19kg. Then people were SUPER mean in the comments, so I stopped altogether.
@@EvansMTBSaga so it's not the metric system, clearly the superior one. It's always mean people.
I hate to say this but I feel it's unfair cause the suspension on the high is a fair bit worse I reckon if you do this again use exactly the same shock and fork
Same fork. I put a Rockshox deluxe on Low bike this time around and High Bike has an X Fusion
@@EvansMTBSaga next time to make it fully even exact same everything even if there basically the same love the vids Aswell thanks for the response cheers
extremely informative
Idea for next season of Hi-Low: collab with someone... Maybe Seth? Maybe a hard tail challenge.
You don't necessarily need to be together if you test a trail of equal / length time
I'd love to. I said it last time that I wouldn't do it again without someone. The reality is that that person would want a lot of money and I can't afford that 😞
@@EvansMTBSaga felt... Surely this series will do well enough to afford it!
Great video to watch before hitting the trails this morning!
Heck yeah Matt!
The line on the Shimano cage b-gap marking is a downside over the SRAM tool? I've got one of each and Shimano definitely won that for me.
I haven't messed with Shimano enough to know about a B gap marking to be honest. I will look into that! The cage lockout is enough for me to be a SRAM fanboy though haha
@@EvansMTBSaga Yeah they each have their pluses. Shimano being able to tune the clutch when they wear out is also nice. Neither are really dealbreakers for me, just perks. I feel like I was able to tune my shimano way easier. But do enjoy the electronic SRAMs.
did you weigh the stock wheels? im wondering how much lighter the hunt wheels are
Oops forgot to add that. Stock wheels were 2460g and Hunt are 1860g
How’d you make the AirPod go into the sewer drain? Amazing editing or you really threw it in there?
By the way the X01 cassette is made of one block of “steel” mounted to an aluminum granny cog.
6:02 reusing the housing is fine if it's not rusty like in the video. but all the oil won't save you if it's peeled like that, you should trim it first and make it flush otherwise it will soon be everything but smooth
I have ridden Crank Brothers Synthesis Alloy non I9 hubs unlike Evan's expensive twin saving money.
That AI is really messing up your voice ☹️
I put a little filter on some sections and it did mess up a little. I had to get the video posted though
About wheels, I bought a marin bobcat trail 5, and the factory wheels are incredible. The hubs arent that good, they are cheap rebranded shimano hubs. But the rims. I use the bike for hardcore riding, freeride, urban freeride, stair gaps, black diamond trails, just needed to tension the spokes and thats it. Massive whips, tricks and they are arrow straight.
I put Ibis carbon wheels with I9 hubs on my T7. The bike was so light afterwards. Definitely felt zippier on flat and climbs. Rigid on the downhill and chunk.
Please gift me one bike please
Wait, I thought you weren’t a fan of i9 hubs?!
Those Crankbrothers wheels are the same ones off the YT. I did that to save costs. As for mentioning the shotty design, not everything can make the video. I wanted this to be about the benefits of the upgrades
I super-glued some small bits of innertube to my headphone case,to make it easier to grab..Ha!! Works n all !!
good video but i thought the bikes were meant to be the same with the shock
Good catch. The Suntour shock I had on was contacting the frame and causing rattling. So I quietly swapped the stock Rockshox shock on there
As weird as it may sound, but the weight difference might be in the Paint. Different colors do have different weight and the color used on High Bike have more layers, that would also add to the weight.
Is this supposed to be donut media, but bikes?
Pretty much! I love their series. I hope you enjoyed the video!
$3000 wheels on a bike… I only spent $3k for the wheels on my dually 😂
It was $1699 for wheels
@@EvansMTBSaga I guess I should have watched the video. Still, in the grand scheme of things, MTBs and parts have gotten out of control. If it was a full Berd setup, it would probably be $3k for wheels alone.
both bikes with cheap brake rotors disgusting
Brakes were last episode. I'll put nice brakes and rotors on for the finale
Are you going to make a video covering the tornado?
I am not
I’m torn between carbon and aluminum myself 😅 pros and cons to both. My carbon rims have been bombproof and I like the weight and stiffness, but they are expensive!
While alloy is less expensive… they can be noticeably heavier, and I’ve damaged so many alloy rims even with inserts and high tire pressure. Industry Nine Enduro rims have not been that great for me.
I think we both agree that the Nukeproof Horizon alloy Wheelset is superb, I’ve had no issues with them so far 👍 very strong rims for alloy, and relatively lightweight.
Great video Evan 🤛
I was going to mention the Horizon wheels but I cut it cuz I was talking too much haha. The GX cassette creak mention was because of you! Haha
@@EvansMTBSaga man I feel that, I always feel like I cut out “good stuff” but for the sake of flow and brevity a ton of stuff just can’t make the edit 👍 and I was wondering about the GX creak. One of my cassettes pops and creaks like my old body. Just got to oil it up… the cassette I mean 😂
I just bought my Trail Wide V2's and installing them right now! I can't believe the price I got it for new (same sale as yours plus $50 off your first purchase!) and they're as light as those carbon wheels in this video! I can't wait to ride them next week when the bike gets back from the mechanic! 😁
Man i hate to say it but i fucked 2 rears and one front trailwide. And by fucked i mean nipples torn out of the wheel
Man $350 for those wheels! What a deal
incredible series and is extremely helpful for me to think through upgrades and return on investment.
I wish you went with sram transmission instead of axis 😢
I would have! No UDH. I even looked for options to get a UDH on the polygon but it wasn't possible
@@EvansMTBSaga cool, thanks for the reply! Your my favorite TH-camr
Great vids bro