I used Onza bar ends back in my NORBA days, and can wholeheartedly say they were great for climbing. Modern geometry has done away with the need for them, but back when you were rocking a triple on the front of your 26er hardtail, they really helped!
100% agree with @andymiller3889 - and I'll add that my 1991 Klein Rascal still sports them (Onza of course) and I still ride the bike when my other is in the shop. Bar ends were not just for climbing, but great on the flats as well. They allowed us to move our hands around a bit when we had ZERO suspension, or at best maybe an inch and a half up front. I'll also swear by the FIRST generation of Grip Shift (3x6). The aforementioned Klein still has the first gen Grip Shift. The bike was relegated to the second tier when I got a full squish bike a couple of years ago, but the first gen Grip Shift, after all these years and hours of abject ABUSE, still work reasonably well considering their age (kinda like me). Some of the things on your list are spot on, but some of those mentioned were built back in the early days of MTB when everyone was trying to solve problems, and we knew pretty quickly they didn't work. Just my opinion as a guy whose first mountain bike was an1987 Diamond Back. You guys are great, keep up the awesome channel.
yeah. i had a kästle bike back then and they had this nice shaped handlebar with bar ends on them. for climbing it was perfect. used it A LOT. because it was in one piece you could also hold at the curvature for a more comfy position. loved it!
Definitely one of the few, but I quite liked gripshift back in the day! 🙊🤣 Always seemed to be people who never actually had them that ragged on them 😅
Adult grip shift isn’t too bad I guess - but they always stick it in kids bikes, and it’s too stiff for them to change gear - awful thing (on kids bikes)
Grip shift wtf is the dumbest things ever the reason they were popular is they are super cheap compared to shimano shifter i was sponsored by a company that had grip shift on all there bikes and the hole team refused to use the crap.
Shimano Biopace, inverse rear derailleurs, and Spengle wheels come to mind. I've been in the bicycle business for 27 years now, and we've seen some odd trends over time. I love the innovations that have endured, like Azonic's idea of a hollow crank, where the bottom bracket bearings were outside of the frame-a concept that eventually evolved into Hollowtech II. Or take telescopic seat posts; we used to have springs that never really worked well. All hail the single front chainring; it was like Christmas for mechanics when we finally got rid of the front derailleur. And don't get me started on disc brakes-amazing. I'm also a big fan of tubeless tires and adjustable high- and low-speed damping [Tim Allen-style grunt] Urr-urr-urr!
I had gripshifts on my first mountain bike. To be fair I quiet liked them, having said that I wouldn't go back to them now. As for bar ends, I have them on my hardtail. I tend to do long cross country rides, and I find being able to change my hand position onto the ends gives me a bit of relief when fatigue sets in. I'll carry on using them.
I had bar ends on a bike for 30 years to prevent that hand numbing from that dumb straight bar. After 30 years I finally changed the handlebars on my bike to further avoid hand numbness.
Oh Martyn. I installed suspension stem and seat post on my gravel bike to help me in an 250km ride last summer. I tell you it was the best investment I would say I did for that bike. It helped me endure those rough roads I hit. I am still a MTBer at heart and use my MTBs mostly, but for those odd gravel rides, that upgrade was great.
These 2 won't understand that. They're elitist mountainbikers who only ride trails and thinks other forms of cycling is shit. No different from an elitist roadie
Cable disc brakes are class if you set them up right. Had some TRP Spyres on a CX bike with XT Icetech rotors and they were unbelievably powerful, also the right pads and cables in a set of Avid BB7's can be amazing
Same here, still using Spyre's on my adventure bike and they are fine. For riding in remote areas , days away from any bike shop, simplicity has it's upsides.
I have BB7 on a vintage Ventana Pantera and they are great for trail riding. Hydros are only advantageous for sustained downhill riding, or extremely technical stuff. For a long backcountry ride, cable discs are trailside repairable.
Yup, my cable disc brakes will toss me if I pull the handle too hard. They provide all the braking power I could ever want in brakes. But not all cable brakes are made the same, my friends cable disc brakes on his bike are nothing in comparison to mine, even putting a lot of force into the brake handle I can barely get the rear tire to lock up, but I guess it can be a good and bad thing. I've tried cleaning the rotors, changing the pads, aligning, adjusting the cable and stationary piston, scuffing the rotor and pad and try rebedding and they just won't improve.
Martyn's going to hate me for this. I've had RedShift suspension stems on two bikes (one road one gravel) and they are great bits of kit. They take a lot of road buzz out of my wrists. And to add insult to injury, the suspension stem works with a choice of hard to soft elastomers. Oh dear, now I've done it. I've also got a Spesh Roubaix from 2017 that has elastomers in the seat stays and the front forks. Double whammy. The later Roubaix has their Future Shock suspension stem and it can be a bit of a dog.
My 7 year old's girls mtb bike came with gripshift. She could drop gears, but going back up? Her little hands didn't have the strength. So I changed it to trigger shifting and she's much happier now :)
I had the shimano-dual-shifter-thingy's and I loved them! Mainly because of the room for your hands, thumbs not rubbing against shifters, but I get how they can be a nuisance for rough rides
Rockshox is just the kind of brand to go from using hydraulics for a dropper and cable for brakes, to making wireless innovations with their parent company sram
I actually liked GripShift... I still have it on my old SuperV with Sram 9.0 and XRay with Gortex Cables.... never had trouble with unexpected shifts. I am not sure I would put it on a bike now, but they worked great back when they were fresh and new.
Actually there are a few cable pull disc brakes that work pretty well. Avid/Sram makes one that I'm running on one of my bikes and Pauls makes one that I have not tried but many swear by. They actually prefer them over hydraulic.
Definitely have loved Grip Shift for many years. I just only recently switched with my newest 1x12 bike. I've never had much of a problem with inadvertent shifts. At least they didn't break every 5 minutes like 90s STI. Bar ends were great too. And yes, one piece bar and stem combos are a nightmare, but it's hard to argue that my green Klein Adroit doesn't look amazing (even with the little cable guide macaroni.)
I have the eagle grip shift on my casual/light trail bike I love them. The feedback is super clicky and I love being able to dump and gain tons of gears with the flick of a wrist. Also just shifting in general with so many gears is more effortless and easier on your wrist with a grip sift. Works well with Jones bars as long as you’re willing to sacrifice a grip.
Absolutely loved (and still do) the xtr dual controls. Important to uninstall the thumb knobs - dumb knobs- . Never miss shifed. Super reliable even in the roughest terrain.
Hah, I knew the Hammerschmidt would be on here, let's see how they wanna rip into it. E: surprised they were more positive about their experience with it, glad to see the idea supported.
Bar ends for extending reach and a different hand position when speed tucking or climbing. Longer reach bikes have largely obviated their usefulness. Still run a bull horn bar on my road Singlespeed to aid climbing.
I liked bar ends back in the 90s. Great for steep climbs and such. But it only works with the narrow bars of the era. Couldn't imagine how awkward it would feel with 800mm handlebars. Lol
LoL I tried it on a 760 bar. I just never used them because the position wasn't right. Then I shifted them to inboard of the brakes and that's been really good for long rides or headwinds. It puts them roughly in the same position as hoods on a road bike. They still have a place, just not at the ends of the bars 😂
Bar inners like SQLabs ones or even bar ends that you can mount inside brakes/shifters work really well. Having a variety of hand positions on long rides or when going faster and you can get more aero makes a big difference on a big ride. The SQLabs ones are basically mimic riding on the hoods of dropbars, which is a the most comfy position on drops.
Bar ends are Fantastic for commuting and flat bar gravel bike, which is what cross country use to be. The issue is mountain biking trails become more technical where they got in way and bike geometry changed which made them not required. Go have a look at most touring bikes and they still use bar ends.
I am still riding Gripshift, XC bike 10 spd most dry conditions. Excellent, simple, clean, reliable, light, never unwanted shifts. You can easily jump 3-4-5 gears with one twist. Not sure why this gets bashed. Only bad thing is the rubber wears out a bit. I do not understand why people would want AXS electronic shifting if a better solution exists.
Older guy here, but I ran bar ends on my bikes until I couldn’t find them anymore. Climbing? Brilliant. Giving the hands a rest? Brilliant. Modern short stems for climbing and giving the hands a rest? Brilliant. Millennials make jokes about them. So, why does Ergon still make grips with bar ends? Because they are amazing and Millennials had to deal with common core math, which means they don’t know their @$$ from a hole in the ground.
I agree, hyd and mech disc brakes are worlds apart. But growing up in the 80ˋs I still do endos and wheelies with mech disc brakes. Trp spyre and org pads and jagwire cables. Itˋs okay on a gravel bike and it takes some handpower.
Regarding elastomers, my Marin has the rst mozo pros on it from back in the 90s and I love riding it, the suspension is limited at around 80mm but it feels great, honestly better than SR suntour xc forks which frickin appalling things
My wife suffered a nerve issue that took away the use of her right hand. I couldn't find a left hand rear shifter. But I did find that a rear grip shifter can be run on the left side without too much issue. Would I rather set up a left hand rear shifter for her? Sure. Get somebody to make one.
When my son turned 16 he decided he was too cool for his old BMX bike and I bought him a new mountain bike, and decided to also get one for myself so we could ride together. Mine had GripShifters and it was a useless system. However, my son loved it so we swapped shifters between the bikes and were both happy.
I love my bar ends, BB7's. Also used and loved Gripshift for many years but now have a 10spd thumb shift. Might be old tech, but won't leave you stranded.
I used and enjoyed Gripshift back in the day, The low end stuff was a bit naff but i loved the higher end stuff. As far as cable disc brakes are concerned back many moons ago Zoom brought a cable hydraulic system out long before Rockshock and they were quite good, Nowhere near as good as modern hydraulic discs but so much more power than V brakes
Proprietary shocks can be OK- Trek did great things with their re:aktiv shocks in the past, they were basically trunnion before trunnion was cool and had brilliant digressive damping. But also, they were smart enough to get Fox to make them and they used mostly standard Fox seals.
While I agree with most ( especially the cheese grips) I do feel that bar ends have their place. I have seen many MTB vs Gravel bike face offs but the gravels always seem to be tweaked for the ride ( tire size gearing etc) but not the MTBs. I would like to see a fair head to head "vs" video but tweak the MTB, hardtail, narrower bars with bar ends and comparable tires. ( yes I ride my older specialized hardrock comp disc in this set up) oh and I love hydraulic brakes..but have to say my tektro IO brakes are as grabby as my hydraulics on my newer road bike.
Twist Grip Shift. I couldn't disagree more. I had (still have) the 8 speed on my hard tail LiteSpeed and it worked flawlessly 25 years ago and it works flawlessly today. I rarely if ever miss shifted because of twisting the grip. We rode year round, so in the rain, in mud, etc... and while I did have to tighten my grip at times, never was I NOT able to shift. Now, I understand why you can't use them these days with 12 speed cassettes but for 8 speed. LOVED and still LOVE it. That being said, I have to admit, I spend 99% of my riding time on my 22 Trek Rail-7 and this new kid on the block Shimano works pretty well too. Mostly, now that my age has advanced, I prefer the 29" wheels and full suspension AND the longer taller geometry of modern bikes. My older short and small frame from my old racing days just is too much for my old geezer body and skill set. BUT, when I do ride that old bike, NEVER do I complain about it's shifting.
I use some short bar ends(Ergon stubbies nowadays) and have used bar ends for decades! I do not run real wide handlebars and I keep the rubber on the ground. Otherwise I would agree with the other choices which I have used and disregarded.
Grip shifters are not so bad. Especially on smaller handlebars and a city bike or a commuter. Like a cheap MTB or a city bike, especially with 6 speeds. I have one for over 10 years on my city bike and it works like a swiss watch. But I do not come out if it's raining. Also I do believe that they do not have place on a wide handlebars (>70cm).
Hybrid pedals. SPD on one side, flat on the other. I had a set of Shimano PD-T8000, and no matter what shoes you had on you always got the wrong side of the pedals... Expensive too! I also recentrly saw a €1400 Lapierre Crosshill alloy gravel bike with Tektro cable disc brakes.. On a 2023 model.
Have to slightly disagree about the mechanical disc brakes, have a set of Avid BB-7s that have served me very well over the years. Not saying hydraulics aren't better, but the Avids really are very good, light, and easy to maintain. You want rubbish though? Under chainstay mounted roller cam and/or U-brakes. It's not that the brakes didn't do as good a job as other brakles of the day, but whoever thought it was a good idea to stick them on the chainstays ought to be flogged. if there was any hint of mud they just got clogged up and started dragging on the back wheel. Useless and a nightmare.
Bar ends worked great to protect my hands from tree strikes, believe me, I bent several. Now they're being used on flat bar gravel bikes, set inboard of the controls.
The og rockshox reverb dropper post had the fatal air bubble build up which lead to it being squishy by about 2" when topped out. Useless on a full squish but on a hardtail it gives a great comfort ride
Gravel bikes taking old mountain bike tech, slapping it on and acting like it's a new innovation? You don't say. Gravel bikes have basically turned themselves into 90s mountain bikes, with 700c wheels instead of 26".
Lack of aesthetics cannot be an argument to say something is worthless. That goes for bar ends, which I am fond of, and cannot understand a MTB without them.
@@jonahdewitt8464 I don't quite understand the issue here. Did he break his ribs because going otb, and while doing so his jersey was caught with the bar end? Or his jersey got caught with the bar end and that caused him going otb? If it's the latter, how on Earth did he manage to tangle his jersey with the bar end in the first place?
@@PereAndreuUbachdeFuentes Come one man you can see how bar ends can catch a tree or something. I ride narrow trails sometimes and I need hand guards because the vegetation is to close and hits my hands. There is not enough space to clear them. Bar ends on something like that would be horrible. There is a reason we have 700mm and wider bars so we dont need them. Inner bar ends are something that could be useful. But you could also grab your fork crown if you want another position
Have to disagree about cable disc brakes! They are maligned because most often they're not set up well (particularly one piston ones where the non moving pad needs to be as close as possible to the disc) and have cheap cables which are mushy. I've had a set of twin-piston cable discs on my gravel bike for about 5 years and they have not needed any maintenance at all besides occasionally screwing out a barrel adjuster. Quality ones have great power as well.
Yup, my cable disc brakes will toss me over the handlebars if I apply too much force into the handle, and honestly that more than enough braking force I could ever want. And mine are the single piston, single stationary piston calipers. Now the cable disc brakes on my friends bike is nowhere even close to mine. I've tried everything short of replacing the braking system and the brakes on his can barely lock up the rear tire, and that's applying a lot of force into the handle. I've tried cleaning the rotors, scuffing the rotors and pads and rebedding, replacing the pads with new, realigning the caliper, adjusting the stationary piston, adjusting the cable and they just won't improve. They'll stop you, but don't offer nowhere near the amount of braking performance as mine do.
I have cable disc brakes on my gravel bike. They brake and are so easy to work on. I wouldn't want anything else on that bike. Hydraulic brakes on my full-sus. They brake, but I have to take the bike to the shop every time I need brake service.
Gonna have to stan the flexistem, I had one on an old proflex back in the day (couldn't afford the girvin forks model) while it was a push to call it front suspension, they definitely took the chatter out of rough surfaces and reduced hand fatigue. brifters were awful , barends were great till you fell on them and got cookie cuttered. my pet peev were proprietary axle sizes, try finding a replacement rear hub for a 25mm rear axle
Blame the cookie not the cutter: one of the most basic bike safety rules is "No open tube ends". If you don't have proper plugs whittle a stick and jam it in.
@@eternaloptimist2840 I was only a kid when bar ends came out and the end caps on onza barends would end up inside the tube the first time they hit the floor, when i was old enough to afford my own bikes I always bought the aluminium hope bar plugs which would get scuffed up in the first week
I like mechanical brakes on commuter bikes and for traveling. I think changes in frame/fork designs for disc braking and the evolution of bike disc brakes themselves has come a long way since those early Rockshox versions and mechanical is actually pretty good 95% of the time. Try some newer, cheap TRP Spyre or similar mechanical discs sometime - they won't be as good as hydraulic but they are just fine for most riding, much cheaper, and less of a hassle for air travel as they don't need spacers and there's no worrying about the levers getting pulled, lines getting damaged, or fluid leaking/bleeding.
I have TRP Spyke on my e-bike which is a heavy beast even before I get on it, and with slick tyres on good tarmac I can stop as hard as I want with no drama. Not really cheap though.
C'mon. We all had bar-ends, we all had flexi-stems and we all had elastomer forks, it was part of the journey that got us here today. ...granted, some (most/all) of it shouldn't be repeated though :D
On a handlebar that has no bar end extensions, how many hand positions are available for use? Not a rhetorical question. The answer is one, ONE. Let's count that again, ONE. How many are possible with bar ends? At least three or four, including the option to turn our forearms into a more natural position for mixing it up some during many hours in the saddle.
Yeah, cable disc brakes in MTB are a bad idea because of a lot of cheap options for hydraulic ones from reputable brands, but on the drop handlebars bikes the price situation is ridiculous.
I have a cross country bike with rim brakes, and put cable pull disc on it with a 80 mm fork, and I like it. Hydraulic would be better, but its way better than rim brakes.
I prefer cable to hydro because they just always work. You could accidentally rip a brake line out and then you are brakeless. I prefer v brakes on most bikes still tho so hydro not even really an option.
Back when disc brakes were just making their way onto mountain bikes (most forks/frames didn't even have mounts) there were no such thing as cheap hydraulics, entry level discs were cable and top end were hydro
Mechanical is underrated, consider this: BB7 mechanical brake caliper at €35: - pad clearance adjustment: yes, tool-free Yes, unheard of in the hydro world. How do you re-adjust a hydro caliper if one pad rubs the disc? But what if a piston is sticky? How do you do it on BB7? You simply turn the red knobs on either side to advance or retract the pistons, independently. It has no concept of sticky pistons. And yes, with such adjustments you don't even have to carefully position it in the 1st place, as you have the two red knobs to compensate for a wrong installation. Any mechanical brake lever at $5: - reach adjust: yes - contact point (free stroke) adjust: yes, tool-free How many hydro levers have contact point adjust? Ah, only those over $300 like SRAM Code RSC or Guide Ultimate... Avid Speed Dial 7 brake lever at €11: - reach adjust: yes - contact point (free stroke) adjust: yes, tool-free - modulation adjustment (ratio of lever pull vs. piston push): yes, tool-free Want more initial bite, Shimano style? Turn the knob clockwise. Want more modulation like on SRAM? Turn counter-clockwise. What hydro brake offers modulation adjustments? Yes, exactly no one. How do you change the ratio of lever pull vs. piston push (like, say, you want brake force gradually or, if you install a larger rotor, maybe you want less force) on a hydro brake? Only buying a different brake model. Is the hose too long on the mechanical brake? Just cut it with whatever you have in your garage, no rebleed needed, no new olives, no oil, no DOT5.1, no pistons cleaning, no pushing back pistons, no piston advance needed, no nothing.
Grip shift - isn’t it making a comeback now with the gearbox bikes? I’ve seen a couple bike reviews lately that we’re running them. They were never for me - I always liked the crisp double-click upshifts of traditional shifters. I’m also old enough to remember the over-bar single lever shifters. Between those and grip shift? That’s a tough one.
Integrating brake lines and gear cables through headset and or stem (focus), obviously its fiddly as to change cables etc and allows two more routes for dirt and moisture into bearings that have already lost a few balls to make a gap for the cables etc, but if the stem isn't right for you need to get a new top for the headset. Contact points are the most changed areas riders alter for personal choice, so why make it a chore to change. 🤬
About suspension in the stem for gravel bikes: it’s just in the DNA, gravel should not ever look like MTB in any way, if you had a short travel fork then it’s not gravel anymore, drop bars or not 😂😂😂 I love my gravel bike, my road bike and my various MTB (trail, XC). If the terrain is going to be bumpy then it’s XC time.
My recollection of the early years of consumer suspension forks, say 1991-3, was that yes elasomers were bad, but the first generation RockShox had so many blown seals that the original Manitous were actually decent value in comparison. Yes you had to disassemble and lube them every ride or two, but you could readily do it and didn't need any spare parts, unlike the RockShox, which I recall were also more expensive. The next generation forks of course were much better so by 1993 I'm sure there weren't many Manitous around. The ProFlex full suspension bikes that were being actively raced around 1994, on the other hand, required a full teardown and re-lube after every ride, or a few laps of an XC course. That was well after the RockShox Judy had appeared so it was definitely out of date technology even when new. As for bar ends, people forget how narrow bars had gotten in the late 80's, eg 550-600mm, so bar ends were a quick way to effectively add width and give you a different hand position. It doesn't make sense with 780mm bars of course, but that was a different time.
One piece handlebars are great. No obsessing about stem length as the price prohibits it. People tend to overthink everything AFTER the purchase. Do your research and then buy.
On my roadbike (not even gravel) but I really love my suspension stem :). But the thing is to make sure it's so firm it's only for micro-vibrations. If I lean on with all my weight, it barely goes :). But I feel ya, on a MTB? *shudder*.
Ok .. 1st off, both of you have never used the modern version of grip shift, I ran them for 10 years and they were amazing. Full stop. Just built a new Lynskey Ti pro hard tail, and had to switch to shimano trigger shifters with a 1x12 system. Sad. 😢 2nd point of contention: cable hydraulic disk brakes made by TRP called the HY/RD. They are absolutely amazing and they are on my Road AND Mtb bikes. Ive told this same thing to Jon Cannings and nary a word in reply. If folks dont sponsor you gents you give the mighty short shrift. Oh, and a whole kit of amazing brakes cost around $200. Also im over 200 pounds and they can haul me from full chat to hard stop in nothing flat. Stick with your spendy shimano brakes boys, I will hard pass.
I really liked bar ends I still have them on my commuter bike, and ergon makes them as for the one piece bar stem set up I've got the bontrager version 150mm stem with a hyperlight bar epoxied and riveted in place.😊
I had the elastomers on my Proflex mtb for about all of two days then converted it to springs front and rear best decision I’ve done. To this day I still have my Proflex and still ride it. And yes it has girvin bar ends.
Grip shifts were cool when you went from the old school lever shifter. You know, the one that had no indexing, and you just kinda pushed it and hoped you got to the gear you wanted...
There are some pretty bad hydraulic disc brakes out there. I am unsure how you can say most hydraulic disc brakes are good. About 1/3 of them are good and only at the upper end. Cheaper disc brakes generally suck. Paul Klampers is a mechanical disc brake you definitely should try, they are pretty close to being as good as the higher-end hydraulic brakes.
Cable disk breaks are BRILLIANT.... for giving you the most scariest downhill ride ever... I rode a bike with a set as clean and well working as I could get them... down a local track called Starfish.... A dark blue with multi small drops.... Riding my Giant with oil soaked pads, or the time I rode it on starfish (and videoed that one) with the front axle loose... still don't compare to the fear I had with cables, mid triple drop, when I remembered I had NO brakes thanks to the wet spaghetti stopping power of cable discs... Did you know they made some motorbikes with cable disks... I had one (for bucket racing, but immediately removed them)... on a Honda CB125T. Some people still try and argue that cable needs less adjustment than Hydraulic... (I'm fairly sure I had to adjust mine before/after EVERY ride yet barely touch my current ones (ok I cleaned the oil off the pads but they're still on the bike in my videos) and they've been on the bike since i got it nearly 5 years ago...
@@Ronald.1Rigas Never burn off the contaminant, you just leave behind carbon that can be even harder to remove. I've been cleaning brake pads for about 40 years (back to the 80's cleaning drum brakes with similar issues)... I use brake clean (for obvious reasons) and Methylated spirits. ( A jar just big enough to hold the pads, 1/3 filled.. Soak n shake. My channel bike is running 3 year old (already 2nd hand when I got it) soaked pads that I cleaned and have had one finger braking for 4 years since. The feel is brilliant... EVERY set of cable disks I have tried have the feel of bearing boxing gloves to pick up a pin.
I had a grifter, the saddle was the same front and back and you could twist the shifter into neutral to spin the cranks without moving. Always lusted after a Chopper which was way cooler especially for doing wheelies.😊
I had bar ends on a GT Avalanche in 92/93 and I thought I looked like a pro....I then had Grip shift on a SCOTT in the late 90s and once again thought I looked like a pro....I even had a chrome derailleur "protection" cage, that used to get caught in everything and bring half the countryside home with me ....And now because of GMBN I've come to realise for the last 30 years my "You look like a Pro" thoughts were all a lie!!! :-D
I used Onza bar ends back in my NORBA days, and can wholeheartedly say they were great for climbing. Modern geometry has done away with the need for them, but back when you were rocking a triple on the front of your 26er hardtail, they really helped!
100% agree with @andymiller3889 - and I'll add that my 1991 Klein Rascal still sports them (Onza of course) and I still ride the bike when my other is in the shop. Bar ends were not just for climbing, but great on the flats as well. They allowed us to move our hands around a bit when we had ZERO suspension, or at best maybe an inch and a half up front. I'll also swear by the FIRST generation of Grip Shift (3x6). The aforementioned Klein still has the first gen Grip Shift. The bike was relegated to the second tier when I got a full squish bike a couple of years ago, but the first gen Grip Shift, after all these years and hours of abject ABUSE, still work reasonably well considering their age (kinda like me). Some of the things on your list are spot on, but some of those mentioned were built back in the early days of MTB when everyone was trying to solve problems, and we knew pretty quickly they didn't work. Just my opinion as a guy whose first mountain bike was an1987 Diamond Back. You guys are great, keep up the awesome channel.
Not to mention other hand position options to reduce hand and wrist strain.
Absolutely: I’ve always had bar ends on my XC mountain bike. I
especially use them when climbing. Really useful to have another position.
...or on single speed bike. Absolutely ace on mashing uphills whilst busting your knee caps off xD
yeah. i had a kästle bike back then and they had this nice shaped handlebar with bar ends on them. for climbing it was perfect. used it A LOT. because it was in one piece you could also hold at the curvature for a more comfy position. loved it!
Definitely one of the few, but I quite liked gripshift back in the day! 🙊🤣 Always seemed to be people who never actually had them that ragged on them 😅
Adult grip shift isn’t too bad I guess - but they always stick it in kids bikes, and it’s too stiff for them to change gear - awful thing (on kids bikes)
My mate spends stupid money on bikes and he always puts a gripshift on it, first upgrade.. his a nutter
Grip shift wtf is the dumbest things ever the reason they were popular is they are super cheap compared to shimano shifter i was sponsored by a company that had grip shift on all there bikes and the hole team refused to use the crap.
I had sachs ‘wavy shifters’ like a low rent gripshift. Loved em.
I dont mind grip shifters on certain bikes...not MTB though.
Shimano Biopace, inverse rear derailleurs, and Spengle wheels come to mind. I've been in the bicycle business for 27 years now, and we've seen some odd trends over time. I love the innovations that have endured, like Azonic's idea of a hollow crank, where the bottom bracket bearings were outside of the frame-a concept that eventually evolved into Hollowtech II. Or take telescopic seat posts; we used to have springs that never really worked well. All hail the single front chainring; it was like Christmas for mechanics when we finally got rid of the front derailleur. And don't get me started on disc brakes-amazing. I'm also a big fan of tubeless tires and adjustable high- and low-speed damping [Tim Allen-style grunt] Urr-urr-urr!
Gripshift was excellent! Loved it for almost 10 years. Avid mechanical disc brakes were adequate also.
I had gripshifts on my first mountain bike. To be fair I quiet liked them, having said that I wouldn't go back to them now. As for bar ends, I have them on my hardtail. I tend to do long cross country rides, and I find being able to change my hand position onto the ends gives me a bit of relief when fatigue sets in. I'll carry on using them.
I had bar ends on a bike for 30 years to prevent that hand numbing from that dumb straight bar. After 30 years I finally changed the handlebars on my bike to further avoid hand numbness.
Oh Martyn. I installed suspension stem and seat post on my gravel bike to help me in an 250km ride last summer. I tell you it was the best investment I would say I did for that bike. It helped me endure those rough roads I hit. I am still a MTBer at heart and use my MTBs mostly, but for those odd gravel rides, that upgrade was great.
These 2 won't understand that. They're elitist mountainbikers who only ride trails and thinks other forms of cycling is shit. No different from an elitist roadie
Which products did you use?
Ditto. Redshift stem on the gravel/adventure bike is a win for me. Would not want on my mtb of course.
Cable disc brakes are class if you set them up right. Had some TRP Spyres on a CX bike with XT Icetech rotors and they were unbelievably powerful, also the right pads and cables in a set of Avid BB7's can be amazing
Same here, still using Spyre's on my adventure bike and they are fine. For riding in remote areas , days away from any bike shop, simplicity has it's upsides.
I agree. Have Hayes cable disk on one of my mtb's and they are awesome.
I have BB7 on a vintage Ventana Pantera and they are great for trail riding. Hydros are only advantageous for sustained downhill riding, or extremely technical stuff. For a long backcountry ride, cable discs are trailside repairable.
I still run a set of recycled BB7s on my skinny tyre commuter Frankenstein bike and love em. On an MTB though, have to be hydraulic now.
Yup, my cable disc brakes will toss me if I pull the handle too hard. They provide all the braking power I could ever want in brakes.
But not all cable brakes are made the same, my friends cable disc brakes on his bike are nothing in comparison to mine, even putting a lot of force into the brake handle I can barely get the rear tire to lock up, but I guess it can be a good and bad thing. I've tried cleaning the rotors, changing the pads, aligning, adjusting the cable and stationary piston, scuffing the rotor and pad and try rebedding and they just won't improve.
Blake finding that cheese in his bar, had me genuinely laughing 😂
Martyn's going to hate me for this. I've had RedShift suspension stems on two bikes (one road one gravel) and they are great bits of kit. They take a lot of road buzz out of my wrists. And to add insult to injury, the suspension stem works with a choice of hard to soft elastomers. Oh dear, now I've done it.
I've also got a Spesh Roubaix from 2017 that has elastomers in the seat stays and the front forks. Double whammy. The later Roubaix has their Future Shock suspension stem and it can be a bit of a dog.
My 7 year old's girls mtb bike came with gripshift. She could drop gears, but going back up? Her little hands didn't have the strength. So I changed it to trigger shifting and she's much happier now :)
I had the shimano-dual-shifter-thingy's and I loved them! Mainly because of the room for your hands, thumbs not rubbing against shifters, but I get how they can be a nuisance for rough rides
Rockshox is just the kind of brand to go from using hydraulics for a dropper and cable for brakes, to making wireless innovations with their parent company sram
On long, non-technical climbs, I find myself missing my old bar ends. Then I hit some singletrack with vines and remember why I don’t want them.
I actually liked GripShift... I still have it on my old SuperV with Sram 9.0 and XRay with Gortex Cables.... never had trouble with unexpected shifts. I am not sure I would put it on a bike now, but they worked great back when they were fresh and new.
Actually there are a few cable pull disc brakes that work pretty well. Avid/Sram makes one that I'm running on one of my bikes and Pauls makes one that I have not tried but many swear by. They actually prefer them over hydraulic.
that one piece stuff is - like on the road for years - more related to loooks and even better "internal cables" then anything else
SQ labs innerbarends are awesome if you ride on road or fire trails!
Definitely have loved Grip Shift for many years. I just only recently switched with my newest 1x12 bike. I've never had much of a problem with inadvertent shifts. At least they didn't break every 5 minutes like 90s STI. Bar ends were great too. And yes, one piece bar and stem combos are a nightmare, but it's hard to argue that my green Klein Adroit doesn't look amazing (even with the little cable guide macaroni.)
sram has 12 speed gripshift just so you know
I have the eagle grip shift on my casual/light trail bike I love them. The feedback is super clicky and I love being able to dump and gain tons of gears with the flick of a wrist. Also just shifting in general with so many gears is more effortless and easier on your wrist with a grip sift. Works well with Jones bars as long as you’re willing to sacrifice a grip.
Absolutely loved (and still do) the xtr dual controls. Important to uninstall the thumb knobs - dumb knobs- . Never miss shifed. Super reliable even in the roughest terrain.
That describes my experience with them. Loved 'em.
I miss the dual shift controls after I upgraded my bike too. They are great.
Hah, I knew the Hammerschmidt would be on here, let's see how they wanna rip into it.
E: surprised they were more positive about their experience with it, glad to see the idea supported.
The GripShift, or Shimano's Revoshift, is a great option for the front derailleur. Particularly if it is non SIS or friction.
I remember Blake discovering the residue cheese😂😂 legendary GMBN moment!
Still use bar end to this day 😂. Sometimes i ride long km to get to the trails and bar end offers me comfort in changing hand position while doing it
Bar ends for extending reach and a different hand position when speed tucking or climbing. Longer reach bikes have largely obviated their usefulness. Still run a bull horn bar on my road Singlespeed to aid climbing.
I liked bar ends back in the 90s. Great for steep climbs and such. But it only works with the narrow bars of the era. Couldn't imagine how awkward it would feel with 800mm handlebars. Lol
Once the bars are wider than 660mm it gets strange. On a 580mm bar you can tuck into an aero position and hammer
Not to mention other hand position options to reduce hand and wrist strain.
LoL I tried it on a 760 bar. I just never used them because the position wasn't right. Then I shifted them to inboard of the brakes and that's been really good for long rides or headwinds. It puts them roughly in the same position as hoods on a road bike. They still have a place, just not at the ends of the bars 😂
You can mount bar ends not on the end of the bar for a longer narrower position, like Cinelli Spinaci.
Bar inners like SQLabs ones or even bar ends that you can mount inside brakes/shifters work really well. Having a variety of hand positions on long rides or when going faster and you can get more aero makes a big difference on a big ride.
The SQLabs ones are basically mimic riding on the hoods of dropbars, which is a the most comfy position on drops.
Bar ends are Fantastic for commuting and flat bar gravel bike, which is what cross country use to be. The issue is mountain biking trails become more technical where they got in way and bike geometry changed which made them not required.
Go have a look at most touring bikes and they still use bar ends.
I am still riding Gripshift, XC bike 10 spd most dry conditions. Excellent, simple, clean, reliable, light, never unwanted shifts. You can easily jump 3-4-5 gears with one twist. Not sure why this gets bashed. Only bad thing is the rubber wears out a bit. I do not understand why people would want AXS electronic shifting if a better solution exists.
Mechanical disc brakes forever. Hard tail forever.
Myself & many use a twist shift /pinion & a suspension stem on my all terrain touring bike .
Older guy here, but I ran bar ends on my bikes until I couldn’t find them anymore. Climbing? Brilliant. Giving the hands a rest? Brilliant. Modern short stems for climbing and giving the hands a rest? Brilliant. Millennials make jokes about them. So, why does Ergon still make grips with bar ends? Because they are amazing and Millennials had to deal with common core math, which means they don’t know their @$$ from a hole in the ground.
I agree, hyd and mech disc brakes are worlds apart. But growing up in the 80ˋs I still do endos and wheelies with mech disc brakes. Trp spyre and org pads and jagwire cables. Itˋs okay on a gravel bike and it takes some handpower.
Regarding elastomers, my Marin has the rst mozo pros on it from back in the 90s and I love riding it, the suspension is limited at around 80mm but it feels great, honestly better than SR suntour xc forks which frickin appalling things
My wife suffered a nerve issue that took away the use of her right hand. I couldn't find a left hand rear shifter. But I did find that a rear grip shifter can be run on the left side without too much issue. Would I rather set up a left hand rear shifter for her? Sure. Get somebody to make one.
I have Cable Disk brakes on a bike. They are simple an work well, if you manage to adjust and take care of them.
Gripshift - crunchy, vague, prone to unexpected shifts if you weren't careful where you put your hands.
Never again
When my son turned 16 he decided he was too cool for his old BMX bike and I bought him a new mountain bike, and decided to also get one for myself so we could ride together. Mine had GripShifters and it was a useless system. However, my son loved it so we swapped shifters between the bikes and were both happy.
I love my bar ends, BB7's. Also used and loved Gripshift for many years but now have a 10spd thumb shift. Might be old tech, but won't leave you stranded.
One disagreement: Avid BB7 cable discs are fantastic, especially when matched with EBC pads. Better than some of the low-end hydro discs.
Alps 5 on my old Cannondale Super V was a dead end shock, oh, yah, I loved my hammershimdt, but the special bottom bracket was a curse
I used and enjoyed Gripshift back in the day, The low end stuff was a bit naff but i loved the higher end stuff. As far as cable disc brakes are concerned back many moons ago Zoom brought a cable hydraulic system out long before Rockshock and they were quite good, Nowhere near as good as modern hydraulic discs but so much more power than V brakes
Proprietary shocks can be OK- Trek did great things with their re:aktiv shocks in the past, they were basically trunnion before trunnion was cool and had brilliant digressive damping. But also, they were smart enough to get Fox to make them and they used mostly standard Fox seals.
While I agree with most ( especially the cheese grips) I do feel that bar ends have their place. I have seen many MTB vs Gravel bike face offs but the gravels always seem to be tweaked for the ride ( tire size gearing etc) but not the MTBs. I would like to see a fair head to head "vs" video but tweak the MTB, hardtail, narrower bars with bar ends and comparable tires. ( yes I ride my older specialized hardrock comp disc in this set up) oh and I love hydraulic brakes..but have to say my tektro IO brakes are as grabby as my hydraulics on my newer road bike.
Remember my Trans X bar ends
Twist Grip Shift. I couldn't disagree more. I had (still have) the 8 speed on my hard tail LiteSpeed and it worked flawlessly 25 years ago and it works flawlessly today. I rarely if ever miss shifted because of twisting the grip. We rode year round, so in the rain, in mud, etc... and while I did have to tighten my grip at times, never was I NOT able to shift.
Now, I understand why you can't use them these days with 12 speed cassettes but for 8 speed. LOVED and still LOVE it.
That being said, I have to admit, I spend 99% of my riding time on my 22 Trek Rail-7 and this new kid on the block Shimano works pretty well too. Mostly, now that my age has advanced, I prefer the 29" wheels and full suspension AND the longer taller geometry of modern bikes. My older short and small frame from my old racing days just is too much for my old geezer body and skill set. BUT, when I do ride that old bike, NEVER do I complain about it's shifting.
I use some short bar ends(Ergon stubbies nowadays) and have used bar ends for decades! I do not run real wide handlebars and I keep the rubber on the ground. Otherwise I would agree with the other choices which I have used and disregarded.
Grip shifters are not so bad. Especially on smaller handlebars and a city bike or a commuter. Like a cheap MTB or a city bike, especially with 6 speeds. I have one for over 10 years on my city bike and it works like a swiss watch. But I do not come out if it's raining. Also I do believe that they do not have place on a wide handlebars (>70cm).
Hybrid pedals. SPD on one side, flat on the other. I had a set of Shimano PD-T8000, and no matter what shoes you had on you always got the wrong side of the pedals...
Expensive too!
I also recentrly saw a €1400 Lapierre Crosshill alloy gravel bike with Tektro cable disc brakes.. On a 2023 model.
Have to slightly disagree about the mechanical disc brakes, have a set of Avid BB-7s that have served me very well over the years. Not saying hydraulics aren't better, but the Avids really are very good, light, and easy to maintain.
You want rubbish though? Under chainstay mounted roller cam and/or U-brakes. It's not that the brakes didn't do as good a job as other brakles of the day, but whoever thought it was a good idea to stick them on the chainstays ought to be flogged. if there was any hint of mud they just got clogged up and started dragging on the back wheel. Useless and a nightmare.
Bar ends worked great to protect my hands from tree strikes, believe me, I bent several. Now they're being used on flat bar gravel bikes, set inboard of the controls.
The og rockshox reverb dropper post had the fatal air bubble build up which lead to it being squishy by about 2" when topped out. Useless on a full squish but on a hardtail it gives a great comfort ride
Gravel bikes taking old mountain bike tech, slapping it on and acting like it's a new innovation? You don't say.
Gravel bikes have basically turned themselves into 90s mountain bikes, with 700c wheels instead of 26".
we used cable binders on the Grip Shits - back in the day ...
Lack of aesthetics cannot be an argument to say something is worthless. That goes for bar ends, which I am fond of, and cannot understand a MTB without them.
Bar ends for the win.
More hand positions for grinding long miles uphill!
Yay!
I know a guy who broke four ribs in an otb crash when his jersey got caught on the bar end. I've been scared of them ever since
@@jonahdewitt8464 I don't quite understand the issue here. Did he break his ribs because going otb, and while doing so his jersey was caught with the bar end? Or his jersey got caught with the bar end and that caused him going otb?
If it's the latter, how on Earth did he manage to tangle his jersey with the bar end in the first place?
@@PereAndreuUbachdeFuentes Come one man you can see how bar ends can catch a tree or something. I ride narrow trails sometimes and I need hand guards because the vegetation is to close and hits my hands. There is not enough space to clear them. Bar ends on something like that would be horrible.
There is a reason we have 700mm and wider bars so we dont need them. Inner bar ends are something that could be useful. But you could also grab your fork crown if you want another position
@@VanadiumTry to grab the fork while going 60 Km/h in your long commute home back from the trailhead.
2x drivetrains. If you are going to have a front mech (with cable and shifter) why not have 3 chain rings? More range and better chain lines.
Have to disagree about cable disc brakes! They are maligned because most often they're not set up well (particularly one piston ones where the non moving pad needs to be as close as possible to the disc) and have cheap cables which are mushy. I've had a set of twin-piston cable discs on my gravel bike for about 5 years and they have not needed any maintenance at all besides occasionally screwing out a barrel adjuster. Quality ones have great power as well.
Yup, my cable disc brakes will toss me over the handlebars if I apply too much force into the handle, and honestly that more than enough braking force I could ever want. And mine are the single piston, single stationary piston calipers.
Now the cable disc brakes on my friends bike is nowhere even close to mine. I've tried everything short of replacing the braking system and the brakes on his can barely lock up the rear tire, and that's applying a lot of force into the handle. I've tried cleaning the rotors, scuffing the rotors and pads and rebedding, replacing the pads with new, realigning the caliper, adjusting the stationary piston, adjusting the cable and they just won't improve. They'll stop you, but don't offer nowhere near the amount of braking performance as mine do.
I've tried several hydraulic brakes on my Chas Roberts D.O.G.S B.O.L.X. over the years. But went to cables. So much better than any of the hydraulics.
I have cable disc brakes on my gravel bike. They brake and are so easy to work on. I wouldn't want anything else on that bike.
Hydraulic brakes on my full-sus. They brake, but I have to take the bike to the shop every time I need brake service.
Elastomers great in the thudbuster suspension seatpost
Specialized “Brain” proprietary shock.
Laughed so damn hard at Blake at the end.
Gonna have to stan the flexistem, I had one on an old proflex back in the day (couldn't afford the girvin forks model) while it was a push to call it front suspension, they definitely took the chatter out of rough surfaces and reduced hand fatigue.
brifters were awful , barends were great till you fell on them and got cookie cuttered.
my pet peev were proprietary axle sizes, try finding a replacement rear hub for a 25mm rear axle
Blame the cookie not the cutter: one of the most basic bike safety rules is "No open tube ends". If you don't have proper plugs whittle a stick and jam it in.
@@eternaloptimist2840 I was only a kid when bar ends came out and the end caps on onza barends would end up inside the tube the first time they hit the floor, when i was old enough to afford my own bikes I always bought the aluminium hope bar plugs which would get scuffed up in the first week
I like mechanical brakes on commuter bikes and for traveling. I think changes in frame/fork designs for disc braking and the evolution of bike disc brakes themselves has come a long way since those early Rockshox versions and mechanical is actually pretty good 95% of the time. Try some newer, cheap TRP Spyre or similar mechanical discs sometime - they won't be as good as hydraulic but they are just fine for most riding, much cheaper, and less of a hassle for air travel as they don't need spacers and there's no worrying about the levers getting pulled, lines getting damaged, or fluid leaking/bleeding.
I have TRP Spyke on my e-bike which is a heavy beast even before I get on it, and with slick tyres on good tarmac I can stop as hard as I want with no drama. Not really cheap though.
another option is the middle ground between mech and hydro - cable-actuated hydraulic disc brake. That's what I use in my commuter.
C'mon. We all had bar-ends, we all had flexi-stems and we all had elastomer forks, it was part of the journey that got us here today.
...granted, some (most/all) of it shouldn't be repeated though :D
Elastomers. Grrrrr. And then no spares. At least I ended up with a pair of Z3's.
Truly never knew a hobby/sport that hates its own heritage as much as MTB.
On a handlebar that has no bar end extensions, how many hand positions are available for use? Not a rhetorical question. The answer is one, ONE. Let's count that again, ONE. How many are possible with bar ends? At least three or four, including the option to turn our forearms into a more natural position for mixing it up some during many hours in the saddle.
Surprised that the crud claw didn't make this list 😅 mine lasted about half a day lol
Yeah, cable disc brakes in MTB are a bad idea because of a lot of cheap options for hydraulic ones from reputable brands, but on the drop handlebars bikes the price situation is ridiculous.
I have a cross country bike with rim brakes, and put cable pull disc on it with a 80 mm fork, and I like it. Hydraulic would be better, but its way better than rim brakes.
I prefer cable to hydro because they just always work. You could accidentally rip a brake line out and then you are brakeless. I prefer v brakes on most bikes still tho so hydro not even really an option.
Back when disc brakes were just making their way onto mountain bikes (most forks/frames didn't even have mounts) there were no such thing as cheap hydraulics, entry level discs were cable and top end were hydro
@@DjDolHaus86 Good old Avid BB5 and BB7 were amazing value
Mechanical is underrated, consider this:
BB7 mechanical brake caliper at €35:
- pad clearance adjustment: yes, tool-free
Yes, unheard of in the hydro world.
How do you re-adjust a hydro caliper if one pad rubs the disc? But what if a piston is sticky?
How do you do it on BB7? You simply turn the red knobs on either side to advance or retract the pistons, independently. It has no concept of sticky pistons. And yes, with such adjustments you don't even have to carefully position it in the 1st place, as you have the two red knobs to compensate for a wrong installation.
Any mechanical brake lever at $5:
- reach adjust: yes
- contact point (free stroke) adjust: yes, tool-free
How many hydro levers have contact point adjust? Ah, only those over $300 like SRAM Code RSC or Guide Ultimate...
Avid Speed Dial 7 brake lever at €11:
- reach adjust: yes
- contact point (free stroke) adjust: yes, tool-free
- modulation adjustment (ratio of lever pull vs. piston push): yes, tool-free
Want more initial bite, Shimano style? Turn the knob clockwise. Want more modulation like on SRAM? Turn counter-clockwise.
What hydro brake offers modulation adjustments? Yes, exactly no one. How do you change the ratio of lever pull vs. piston push (like, say, you want brake force gradually or, if you install a larger rotor, maybe you want less force) on a hydro brake? Only buying a different brake model.
Is the hose too long on the mechanical brake?
Just cut it with whatever you have in your garage, no rebleed needed, no new olives, no oil, no DOT5.1, no pistons cleaning, no pushing back pistons, no piston advance needed, no nothing.
Grip shift - isn’t it making a comeback now with the gearbox bikes? I’ve seen a couple bike reviews lately that we’re running them.
They were never for me - I always liked the crisp double-click upshifts of traditional shifters.
I’m also old enough to remember the over-bar single lever shifters. Between those and grip shift? That’s a tough one.
Integrating brake lines and gear cables through headset and or stem (focus), obviously its fiddly as to change cables etc and allows two more routes for dirt and moisture into bearings that have already lost a few balls to make a gap for the cables etc, but if the stem isn't right for you need to get a new top for the headset. Contact points are the most changed areas riders alter for personal choice, so why make it a chore to change. 🤬
About suspension in the stem for gravel bikes: it’s just in the DNA, gravel should not ever look like MTB in any way, if you had a short travel fork then it’s not gravel anymore, drop bars or not 😂😂😂 I love my gravel bike, my road bike and my various MTB (trail, XC). If the terrain is going to be bumpy then it’s XC time.
Yeah, the gravel-sneering on GMBN and GCN is getting a little tiresome.
Strap pedals. Early 90s MTBs used to have them. I used to use them. 😢
I used grip shift and Sachs wave as the where different I was so glad when I went back to rapid fire
My recollection of the early years of consumer suspension forks, say 1991-3, was that yes elasomers were bad, but the first generation RockShox had so many blown seals that the original Manitous were actually decent value in comparison. Yes you had to disassemble and lube them every ride or two, but you could readily do it and didn't need any spare parts, unlike the RockShox, which I recall were also more expensive. The next generation forks of course were much better so by 1993 I'm sure there weren't many Manitous around. The ProFlex full suspension bikes that were being actively raced around 1994, on the other hand, required a full teardown and re-lube after every ride, or a few laps of an XC course. That was well after the RockShox Judy had appeared so it was definitely out of date technology even when new. As for bar ends, people forget how narrow bars had gotten in the late 80's, eg 550-600mm, so bar ends were a quick way to effectively add width and give you a different hand position. It doesn't make sense with 780mm bars of course, but that was a different time.
Oooh now that a brilliant idea. . Put Blake ( need someone crazy) on an XL bike with a 50 mm stem the wrong way round 😂😂 fast steering .
One piece handlebars are great. No obsessing about stem length as the price prohibits it. People tend to overthink everything AFTER the purchase. Do your research and then buy.
On my roadbike (not even gravel) but I really love my suspension stem :). But the thing is to make sure it's so firm it's only for micro-vibrations. If I lean on with all my weight, it barely goes :). But I feel ya, on a MTB? *shudder*.
The Classified Hub is the same thing as that Truvativ orbital gear thing all over again
Yeah, it just shifted from the crank to the rear hub.
What?!? X-ray grip shift was amazing
Ok .. 1st off, both of you have never used the modern version of grip shift, I ran them for 10 years and they were amazing. Full stop. Just built a new Lynskey Ti pro hard tail, and had to switch to shimano trigger shifters with a 1x12 system. Sad. 😢 2nd point of contention: cable hydraulic disk brakes made by TRP called the HY/RD. They are absolutely amazing and they are on my Road AND Mtb bikes. Ive told this same thing to Jon Cannings and nary a word in reply. If folks dont sponsor you gents you give the mighty short shrift. Oh, and a whole kit of amazing brakes cost around $200. Also im over 200 pounds and they can haul me from full chat to hard stop in nothing flat. Stick with your spendy shimano brakes boys, I will hard pass.
I really liked bar ends I still have them on my commuter bike, and ergon makes them as for the one piece bar stem set up I've got the bontrager version 150mm stem with a hyperlight bar epoxied and riveted in place.😊
Martin, two lefts don't make a right 😂.
I had the elastomers on my Proflex mtb for about all of two days then converted it to springs front and rear best decision I’ve done. To this day I still have my Proflex and still ride it. And yes it has girvin bar ends.
How long before gravel bikes adopt full squish?
1x. Really took us down a stupid road to expensive pizza sized cassettes and loose ratios. And stupid chain angles.
Grip shifts were cool when you went from the old school lever shifter. You know, the one that had no indexing, and you just kinda pushed it and hoped you got to the gear you wanted...
Right now friction shifters are becoming popular once again. They make a lot of sense with finicky old derailleurs.
You don’t just push and hope. You learn where to put the lever. Kind of like playing a violin (no frets!) 11:52 vs. playing a guitar. (Has frets)
Been using gripshift for 30 years. Never missed a shift or shifted by accident. I will stop mtb if they arent made anymore.
IDK but gravelbikes just seem like old mtbs with modern components
I got the Fox fork 40mm of travel great, spend the money forget the suspension stem
There are some pretty bad hydraulic disc brakes out there. I am unsure how you can say most hydraulic disc brakes are good. About 1/3 of them are good and only at the upper end. Cheaper disc brakes generally suck. Paul Klampers is a mechanical disc brake you definitely should try, they are pretty close to being as good as the higher-end hydraulic brakes.
Tell Martyn about the Fox Dyad shocks :D
That lefty ent right!!😂
TRP mechanical disk brakes are awesome. Unlike other mechanical disk brakes, BOTH pistons move on TRPs.
Cable disk breaks are BRILLIANT.... for giving you the most scariest downhill ride ever...
I rode a bike with a set as clean and well working as I could get them... down a local track called Starfish.... A dark blue with multi small drops....
Riding my Giant with oil soaked pads, or the time I rode it on starfish (and videoed that one) with the front axle loose... still don't compare to the fear I had with cables, mid triple drop, when I remembered I had NO brakes thanks to the wet spaghetti stopping power of cable discs...
Did you know they made some motorbikes with cable disks... I had one (for bucket racing, but immediately removed them)... on a Honda CB125T.
Some people still try and argue that cable needs less adjustment than Hydraulic... (I'm fairly sure I had to adjust mine before/after EVERY ride yet barely touch my current ones (ok I cleaned the oil off the pads but they're still on the bike in my videos) and they've been on the bike since i got it nearly 5 years ago...
use a degreaser and soap and water to fix the oily problem ... even just keep them wet to burn off the contaminant
@@Ronald.1Rigas Never burn off the contaminant, you just leave behind carbon that can be even harder to remove.
I've been cleaning brake pads for about 40 years (back to the 80's cleaning drum brakes with similar issues)...
I use brake clean (for obvious reasons) and Methylated spirits. ( A jar just big enough to hold the pads, 1/3 filled.. Soak n shake.
My channel bike is running 3 year old (already 2nd hand when I got it) soaked pads that I cleaned and have had one finger braking for 4 years since.
The feel is brilliant... EVERY set of cable disks I have tried have the feel of bearing boxing gloves to pick up a pin.
does anyone remember the Grifter? i never had one, but wanted one as a kid in the '70's. don't want one now!
I had a grifter, the saddle was the same front and back and you could twist the shifter into neutral to spin the cranks without moving.
Always lusted after a Chopper which was way cooler especially for doing wheelies.😊
Hope did a cable disc brake. Never tried it.
have you guys tried paul components cable disc brakes?
Raleigh Bomber curved seat......
Oval chainrings! First introduced 120 years ago. Pointless then, pointless now!
I had bar ends on a GT Avalanche in 92/93 and I thought I looked like a pro....I then had Grip shift on a SCOTT in the late 90s and once again thought I looked like a pro....I even had a chrome derailleur "protection" cage, that used to get caught in everything and bring half the countryside home with me ....And now because of GMBN I've come to realise for the last 30 years my "You look like a Pro" thoughts were all a lie!!! :-D