Hello,
I am in the market for a new bicycle and am finding myself nearing a conclusion: 29er moots ybb with some customization. Given that I would be spending a pretty penny I am hoping to get some suggestions and feedback regarding my thoughts.
Here are my general biking habits: daily commuting (I might just use my crap bike for this), mountain biking 2x/week (primarily XC), small offroad overnights (e.g., being out from Friday night/Saturday morning – Sunday evening 1x/month), less common extended tours (1 week – 2 months; 1-3x/year), mixed offroad/road travel biking (e.g, Great divide, Bulgaria, la ruta, Australia, etc.). Lastly, I hope to bring my dog (~35 lbs) with me on some of these trips, especially the small offroad overnights. I plan to do this with a modified bob Ibex trailor and a leash/springer like setup. I have done a few overnights with a previous dog and really enjoyed them but have never donw extended tours with a dog which I would hope to do. For some inspiration see:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=RrzKj&doc_id=3618&v=G5&term=squirrel&context=allI am 6’3” 180 lbs.
So here is what I was thinking:
Moots 29er ybb with: 1) slider drop-offs, 2) a rohloff hub, and 3 ) s and s couplers. See
http://www.moots.com/?#/product/bicycles/29er_mtb/mooto-x_ybb/I would like to go with the s and s couplers for travel purposes (at least once a year this bike would go to Bulgaria with me, and I would also like to take it whenever I travel in the states and would like to do some pure mountain bike destination travel (e.g., la ruta).
I am interested in the rohloff for several reasons: 1) reduced maintenance, 2) easier for muddy, etc. conditions.
Concerns regarding the rohloff hub: 1) increased weight, 2) bike weight balance, 3) slight internal friction. My thoughts are that for my purposes none of these concerns outweigh the benefits. I am not obsessed with racing and times (I really enjoy endurance rides and biking/camping), though I do really enjoy going fast. Will I be feeling the weight for my riding purposes? Overall, it seems that most people have really liked the Rohloff, except for a few weight concerned folk – anyone out there using the rohloff for touring? I also like that shifting could be accomplished when not peddling. The reduced maintenance and functional simplicity (certainly not mechanically!) is really appealing to me. From reading reviews this thing seems to be very reliable with the suggested maintenance. See some discussion of issues here:
http://www.moots.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/646/Concerns regarding S and S couplers: I have never ridden a bike with s and s couplers and I guess I have concerns about bike stability despite reading many reviews talking about how great they are – should I be worried about bike stability? Should I have other concerns about these?
Concerns regarding the slider drop outs: in a couple of places I have read about these breaking – should I be concerned? E.g.,
http://www.moots.com/index.php/forum/viewthread/1087/See also someone with this build:
http://bikingbakke.blogspot.com/2007/01/moots-mootox-review.htmlAre there any other frames/options you would recommend I consider – given my travel plans and my appreciation of reduced maintenance I am leaning away from full suspension though bikes like the Turner Sultan, Niner RIP9 and Fisher HiFi/Superfly seem awesome!
Given my interests it really seems to me that the Moots YBB setup would uniquely match my riding. Does anyone see anything that I am not considering or have any input on this?
Cross posted to mtbr and moots forums.
Thank you.
Ryan