Building the Ultimate Fixed Gear Commuter Bike | Sponsored by Wabi Cycles
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- Опубліковано 1 лип 2024
- Wabi Thunder Complete Bike:
wabicycles.com/products/2018-...
Wabi Thunder Frameset:
wabicycles.com/collections/fr...
Other products featured:
Origin8 Rush Messenger Flat Rack: amzn.to/2LYDMwo
Origin8 Urban Pro Risers: amzn.to/2OcbQYL
Fyxation Gates Platform Pedals + Straps: amzn.to/2O9MTgj
Fixed gear bikes make great commuter bikes since they're simple, reliable, and a blast to ride. But what exactly would make the ultimate fixed gear commuter bike? Wabi Cycles sponsored this video and sent over a Wabi Thunder to build and ride to see how it stacks up as a fixed gear commuter.
Fixie Famous Shoutout:
StanStrong108
Patreon Singlespeed Shoutout:
Barak S.
Carlos Flores
Freddie
Gregory Tomlinson
nicodache
@ffnivas
Pat Bateman
Simon Newton
Connect with me:
/ strava
/ strava
/ zachygallardo
#fixedgearbike #fixedgearbuild #fixedgearbikebuild
Thank you for not using the premiere function. These surprises are much more pleasant!
"It just feels right...." A glowing review for a Wabi bike. We did NOT see that coming.
I absolutely love my thunder. First bike I bought in years and I have no regrets.
I've found that 46x18 is a good compromise gear for commuting. It's brisk and not too grindy on the flats, and while it's easy to spin out on a descent, it's not too big a gear for small hills.
Wow! Its fully disassembled! Nice choice since most bikes are not that broken down. It helps a novice understand better what the task is. You also explain things very well for not making a novice feel dumb but not turning away a more experienced mechanic. Nice job man!!!!
Just ordered my first Wabi should be here next week. Thanks for the video.
Those bike lanes look absolutely beautiful. Also, tight swerve at 11:27
Wow yt really going hard with these 16 min. unskippable ads
Santiago the moment I see a commercial I stop watching, period. And I won't click to skip it. Seriously yt is destroying itself this way. Sorry for the content providers but google is to blame here.
I Think you did not understand that he meant the whole Video is a Wabi Ad
actually, the creators can add commercials and all that.
ever heard of adblock?
Boy did I think he was gonna bash his camera into that car at 11:27 oh my goodness. Very nifty and informative video, Zach!
seeing your camera on the rack like that gave me anxiety. XD
those handlebars looked so good i bought a pair, almost bought nitto handlbars but they are too long and almost spent 100 bucks, you saved me
Great video! I wish I was so well spoken! Hey this, I’m a senior who plans to turn my 750 Watt Ebike into a fixed speed. My motor takes care of the hills and head winds! Stay Safe✌️
FINALLY a good Thunder review. Thank you so much. I've always wondered about this frame and all the vids out there are doodoo. Thanks for making this
My present fg commuter/utility is a Viva Legato purchased from Evo Cycles in NZ. It's all steel. Gearing is 45x18. Upgraded to a used Brooks B17, leather wrap grips w/a seatpost rack and trunkbag. The lighting is all rechargeable. The pedals are NOS Shimano platform compatible dual-sided clipless spds. GREAT pedals. Lezyne pump, Kryptonite ulock and a hb mounted coffee cup bracket. I rarely use it, but it looks cool. lol
Before moving here from the States I had a Fuji Del Rey conversion I had to sell. It had a Sugino 103 bb and Messenger cranks. The gearing was 48x15. Had a Topeak Mini-Morph pump. LOVED that bike. Still miss it. It was my main ride. Had the frame powder-coated sparkle black. The painter sealed off the chrome tips. Did a black/red harlequin wrap. Yeah, it was dated, but it looked good. That's all that matters, right?
Handsome bike, looks great. I ride the updated (disc brake) version of the “unnamed purple cyclocross bike”, but want something for the city as I commute by train most of the way now and can’t bring a bike on the train during rush hour. Definitely considering Wabi
11:26 such an unnecessary move
yeah he obviously wasn't paying attention the car was stopped long before he got to it
I love this vid great one to start out the year!!!
new subscriber, i've been binge watching your videos. Such a great wealth of knowledge, with a fun flare of personality. Thank you for the great content.,
I really enjoy your videos Zach, you have taught me alot about fixed gear bikes , can you make a video of your Mercier bike with all the specs. Keep up the awesome videos
I love that frame colour.
I noticed two things that are helpful to mention.
Ergonomic repair: Instead of holding the fork in one had and hitting the crown race took in the air. (You loose too much energy in the hand holding the fork moving around and you could miss or slip damaging the fork, your hand or arm) Put the crown race tool on. Turn the fork upside down and smack the tool ownward onto of the flat part of your bench vise. It is a more positive use of energy, takes only one or two hits and is safer.
Reminding people to NOT grease the spindle on cranks. They slide on too far deforming the crank arm fitting the makes future installs harder and may cause them to constantly come loose. I worked at FSA and we did testing on this and definitivly proved that is a thing.
Great job though!!! Good video! I wish UA-cam had a 1 to 5 rating instead of just thumbs up. I would give you a 5 on this one.
@BeboSaab Sooooo...this is an argument that has been going on in the retail end of the bike business for decades. I'm not going to say anyone is wrong or right on this one. There are many, many, many opinions. Grease spindle, dont grease spindle, only use antiseise compounds, use mild blue loctite, oh my so many opinions. Your reasoning has some merits. However, having worked on the manufacturing side of the business. One of those jobs for the world's largest OEM manufacture of cranks, rings, handlebars, stems, seatpost and other items. I can tell you that testing has shown definitivly that using grease on the spindle does indeed allow the crank arm to push on further than it should under recomended torque values for that manufactures products. That deforms the taper in the arm which limits how many times that crank set can be remounted on a spindle. This manufacture I worked for recomends that the spindle is to not be greased and the crank arms are to be dry fit to said spindle. Then torqued to the recomended value for a given crank. That value varying depending on the grade of material used in the product. Let's say you sent in a crank set for warranty due to cracks forming in the arm at the taper. A common thing if you remember for old Campagnolo Record cranks. (The company I worked for was not Campy). If it were discovered that the spindle had been greased then that warranty would be denied as it would violate the installation instructions of all square taper crank sets they make. So. .....let's just say instead of grease or don't grease the spindle. Let's all say "Follow the manufactures guidelines for crank arm installation". :-) Keep riding every day that you can and have fun man!
@BeboSaab I totally agree on the statement that square taper is trash. I have experienced broken spindles and getting stabbed in the ankle by the shards. I currently have two favorite cranks. The Shimano Ultegra 50/34 172.5 cranks on my go fast road bike are great and I'm not enough of a powerhouse to ever damage the 24mm spindle. The second is my FSA SL-K Adventure cranks with 46/30 rings 170mm for that nice even slow spin and climbing ability on my camping bike. The 30mm alloy spindle helps make them so light. I dread the day that will eventually come when galvanic reaction makes the spindle separate from the drive arm. I have three pair of those cranks in various gearing or 1x on multiple bikes. They stay tight and I never find them loose when I check them.
Thanks for adding to the conversation.
@BeboSaab After thinking about it I thought I would give you a little detail on the testing that was done. I'm doing this of memory and not the printed data. Installation. Fifty sets of cranks were used. They were a made of 7005 grade alluminum, cold forged into there basic shape and finished using CNC machining. They were a very basic design designed and machined to be durable rather than light weight so there was plenty of metal around the spindle. Twenty five were installed with grease on the spindle and 25 without. The amount of grease was applied using a large syringe to ensure the same amount of grease was applied to each spindle being greased. A new acid brush was used for each to ensure no more or less grease was used as best as possible. All cranks were installed at the exact same torque using the same grade and style of bolt. The greased crank arms on average pushed .6 to 1.2mm further onto the spindle than the non greased arms. Not significant and it would take dozens or more removals and reinstallations to make a drastic differance in shape. The measurments of the taper area inside the cranks after installation varied on micro levels between the greased and non greased cranks. Deformations were smaller than 0.005mm. Not seeming like a big deal. I'll continue in a different reply.
Testing for use. To test for a differance in long term use a different fifty set of cranks were used to ensure the installation test had no impact. Again 25 sets installed on a 4130 cromolly spindle with grease and 25 without. Each crank set and bottom bracket were installed in a crank arm fatigue testing machine. This machines moving arms bolts into where the pedals would go and the bottom bracket would be held stationary. The left and right crank arms were stressed upward and downward against each other by hydrolic pistons that were calculated to simulate a rider of aproxamatly 200 lbs pedaling. I dont remember how many cycles each crank set was exposed to but it was supposed to simulate 2,000 miles of riding. The torque on the crank bolts was not checked or changed from time of installation till completion of test. This took a few days. It was found that on average the crank arms with greased spindles showed more were and damage to the tapered area of the arms than the non greased spindles. Six pair of the 25 crank arms with greased spindles developed play and became loose on the spindle to a movement of 1mm or more in any given direction. The remaining 19 cranks with grease showed no measurable movement on the spindle remains solidly mounted after testing.
Of the non greased spindles only 2 crank arms became loose with movement of 1mm or more with the remaining 23 cranks solidly mounted still.
As a side experiment 2 pair of cranks were purchased from three competing companies (6 crank sets) and tested in the same manor. Results varried but a noticable standout was that a brand that was CNC machined from 6061 alloy and NOT cold forged came loose on the spindle about half way through the test not even making it 1,000 simulated miles. Of that brand the pair on the greased spindle was dramaticly damaged not even making it 600 simulated miles. The asumption here was 1. Obviously being simply machined, non forged, and a lower grade alloy resulted in early failure. 2. An assumption is made that the grease aided in further damage faster once the crank had become loose as the greased spindle set failed in about 3/4 the time of the non greased pair for that brand.
This test was done in 1996 in Taiwan and resulted in the companies policy of advising to not grease the spindle during installation. Not the most scientific study but it was deemed sufficient enough to set policy for instructions as well as policy for warranty evaluation.
So in this study grease did increase wear and early failure but in simulated conditions most crank sets would never experience. So does grease or no grease mater to the average rider. Probabley not.
holy crap that thing is clean 😍
Nice to see you and your new video !! great bike and build ever since you did the yellow Wabi special I've been thinking about one and visiting their website more than 2ice already. BTW i guess Taipei weather suits you, you look calm and composed more relaxed i guess
I don't know why but 6:59 is just so funny. That instant cut when they were both about to get something HAHAHA
I visited Faith Gear last week, super dope shop with great staff
I own a Wabi thunder myself! And it's fantastic! It's SUPER LIGHT, fits FAT tires, responds fast the way you need it to when it matters the most, and let me tell you it's built like a tank. I've rode it both on and off road, been in a few accidents and gave it a good thrashing and there isn't a dent on it! The bike is super fun to ride, so I always look forward to hopping back on whenever I get the chance!Definitely a bang for your buck do it all bike!
Hey man! Do you have a Urban Thunder, Cross Thunder, or Thunder Elite?
Do you still like the thunder?
@@kieranhanlon1530 Yes definitely! Its super light, rides smooth as always and is still in tiptop shape. My only complaint is since I have a small frame as I'm only 5'5 I do get a lot of toe strike with the tires on turns riding fixed gear on 32c tires so if you want to ride fat tires get a bigger sized frame appropriate for you! Im considering turning it into a single speed so I can avoid having too much toe striking during turns, its something thats inevitable for smaller riders with smaller frames but I still highly recommend it!
@@ElBastardo The cross thunder!
I just decided on a Thunder for my next build a few weeks ago and then this shows up in my feed! Sweet! Good to see a reviewer actually looking at the geo and recognizing what the bike is instead of seeing canti bosses and declaring it a cx bike.
How do you like it so far?
@@vaudou_ A couple days after posting this I got talked into buying a Big Block instead- mostly due to the paint. I can tell you that the BB is my favorite newer-than-1987 bike, but it is still pretty low on my list of favorite bikes, partially due to the super heavy-duty fork. I dislike it less on roads & streets than my track frames. I definitely wish I’d gone for the Wabi out of curiosity, but I’m becoming cemented as a “flexible old framesets converted with new components and handbuilt wheels” nerd. My three main favorites are a late 60s French club racer made out of 531 and two “Team” road models- one Miyata and one Panasonic. All have Archetypes & dt aerolites with different hubs.
Very awesome video and bike build
MAXIMUM FIXIE POINTS - Cool Bro!
That Wabi was visiting it’s birthplace! I reckon that not f Dr. all that many bikes need get to have that experience.
Completely agree with your assessment, have all the thunder for the last year and I just love that bicycle. Sometimes it’s difficult decision which bike to ride my Wabi classic or Wabi thunder
What are the main ride differences between the two?
My first fixie is bought here
A great bike shop
Marketing majors 🙌🏽
love that color
Great video proper overlay commuter! The rack in video doesn't look like an origin 8 flush rack, more looks like a Brick Lane Bikes fro tier rack, can you double check which it is please? I'm on the hunt for a decent rack atm!
I'm deciding between a Surly Steamroller vs Wabi Special vs Soma Rush for urban, pothole ridden, flat streets. Any opinions?
should just change the youtube to wabi infomercial. I miss the days when he talked about other bikes.
@11:27 you almost did snap, crackle, Pop, splat, and squish.
recommend for a daily commute of 44 miles in San Diego(Logan to Miramar/Texas street hill)? currently ride a entry level road bike for 2 years twice a week and thinking of coming back to a single speed commuter and this is the prime choice Im considering.
I thought this was the Urban Thunder but then noticed you linked the Cross Thunder. Notable differences between the two? Which one is this?
Missed your vids man
So what are the cons? What would you change? Would you return it if you didn't need to & they gave you the option to buy it?
On your All-City bike, the upright, swept back handlebar makes the bike handling more sluggish and slow as opposed to the riser bar on the Wabi Cycles bike.
Knowing a little bit about bikes after I started working at a bike shop. Can really tell that is a really nice bike. Love watching bike builds.
"Assembly." "Build" involves welding or brazing.
David Duganne ok buddy
Which would you choose to ride the thunder or the special.😀
3:19
Zach: gear ratio *weird hand movements*
Other guy: woahhh
Would like to see some links to custom fixie stores in South Korea that we can buy from Internationally. I'm talking about some nice carbon frames or aluminium frames or composite frames, parts to build a fixie. Thanks Zach.
thoughts on Caraci Fixed gear bikes?
Surprisingly light as always
-Zach Gallardo
Hmm...
It seems you use another part to mount the rack. Where can I find it?
Hey, I was wondering where the basket on your purple cyclocross bike is from?
what kind of basket u have attached to ur purple bike? ive been searching for a year and forgot to ask. now is a critical moment for my new bike lol
A daily commuter shouldn’t be worth nearly a grand. Better to spend 300-500 bucks so if it gets stolen or damaged it’s not as devastating a loss.
Looks like a great adventure/tracklocross bike, but it’s too much of a premium to be locked up outside for long stretches of time if you are commuting to work or school with it.
What size Wabi frame do you ride? How tall are you and what is your inseam. I ask because I have a Kilo TT Pro and the Kilo size chart is totally BS. They size small I have a 55cm (c-c) 58cm (c-t). I’m 6 ft with 32” inseam. According to their chart this should have fit someone 6 ft to 6ft 2 in. It’s a flip flop fixed/ freeewheel and I have only been able to ride freewheel because of the 1 1/2 inch to overlap making slow speed turns on fixed I have to stop & lift the bike up. I’m currently running a 175 mm crank but even going down to 165 mm my 12 in foot would still have 1/2-3/4 inch front tire overlap. I say that Kilo TT size chart is incorrect because I also have the seat all jacked up to get full extension of legs while peddling seated. Anyway I would like to upgrade to a Wabi frame and just asking how accurate their Wabi Classic frame sizing is? The website sizes go 49cm to 60cm but it does not specify if that’s crank center to top of seat tube (c-c) or center crank to top tube (c-t). I do plan to run no smaller than 165mm crank and hopefully as a Wabi enthusiast you could give some insight and advice from your purchase & ownership.
Tracklocross!
My bike is called the Crossafix!
"Unroasted coffee beans and bowties". I woke up my wife laughing at that line.
Zach: i hate v brakes
Canti lever brake: am i a v brake to you?
My exact thoughts lol
Lol
For real, it's 2020, it should have disc brakes, if they didn't want to use road brakes due to tyre clearance.
I just built a peugeot fixie its great
Hi guys,
Just a quick question, is that fron rack in the link the same you have installed in the bike?
I would really like to put it on my single speed..
Thanks
No it’s not. The rack actually on the thunder is minoura kcl-3f. Here is the link
www.amazon.com/Minoura-KCL-3F-Pouteur-Carrier-Rack/dp/B00FHV0VHY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=minoura+kcl-3f&qid=1622239914&sr=8-3
Thanks bro,here i m india had purchased one single speed bike name my bike from Decathlon at 5000 rs, but how can I buy wabi thunder in india?
Great review on the Thunder. It would be interesting to compare with a 2020 Cinelli Tutto Plus. It's unique feature is the 130mm rear hub spacing. Your thoughts would be appreciated as I am looking at the Wabi Thunder, Cinelli Tutto Plus, or possibly the Bombtrack Arise.
If you buy a stock build you get better value for your $$ with Wabi compared to the Tutto.
Bombtrack has an ugly fork :)
That Arise is pretty sick tho. And the new ones have disc brakes. I like this thunder, but I oh so wish they had an option for disc brakes.
James McClellan Disc brakes are a pain in the neck on fixed gears and singlespeeds due to chain tension, chain stretch and brake alignment. They're just another thing to worry about on an otherwise simple machine.
In dry weather, decent caliper brakes can be set up with enough power to skid the tires. That's all you need. Unless you haul heavy loads, do frequent descents or frequent rain riding, you dont 'need' discs.
Its a gimmick used by marketeers to sell new bikes. Not all disc brakes function as well as rim brakes either. Some are cheap Chinese garbage and can't be made better.
dreaming to have bike like that..
Ovaj pored samo cuti ko Ceda Cvorak! :D
Is that laser skin bat tape or grips
Great bike feels like a perfectly balanced pile of mashed potatoes - not too thin or thick, not too sweet or salty, and served well before it has cooled down.
can that rack go on the back instead?
I like how he just stands there awkwardly next to u haha but no worries I think 99% of us would behave the same xD makes him more likeable
nice toaster
8:08 these bosses ain't pretty!
Is there a video on chain tensioners?
Happy New Year ZG!
What did Ricky do to deserve the disrespect?
As an aside, I really want a wabi with all the praise thrown at them, but I'm so content with my mercier kilo wt as my commuter. It fits fatties and comes with suginos. Might be a few years before I even need to drop the coin. Granted, it came with a 48/16 ratio, so accelerating sucks sometimes, but that's a cheap change for down the road. For now I'm content getting these thighs swole
Funny how I Zach got me into building bikes and now I know how to do most things on almost every bike out there and he's just not sure about certains steps in setting up an headset.
Thank you for everything master!
Is this the Cross Thunder or Urban Thunder?
Hi Zach. Can you tell something about toe overlap. I just finished my commuter trackbike build. And i didn't knew toe overlap existed, untill now. What to do?
Santoso Developments How often do you make slow tight turns? Unless you do it often, it shouldn't be a problem. My singlespeed 'cross bike is ridden on tight singletrack and my toe overlap is never an issue.
You could get a fork with more rake to put the wheel ahead farther. It will alter the steering but probably give a smoother ride.
@@rollinrat4850 thanx for the reply. I tried it once and it scares me. i will try a fork with more rake. hope it helpes.
C’mon, the ultimate commuter is a belt drive. Make a belted fixie!
@BeboSaab I would disagree. First off, the ultimate commuter is different for everybody, but imo low maintainence is a priority, even if it means a performance loss. I think most people on this channel would tend to agree, considering we are talking about fixed gear in the first place. To address the hole in the frame, i am not sure if you are confused or are oversimplifying, but they do not have a hole in the frame. most of the time they have a seatstay disconnect, which is what i think you are talking about, and if that is the case, i think you would be hard-pressed to notice a difference in stiffness in a blind test, and i am unsure where you are going with that point anyway. As far as power transfer, you are correct, a belt drive is a power loss assuming both are operating optimally, but only by about a watt. However, as soon as you get a little bit of road grime in your chain the tables turn. The belt is much more forgiving of not being clean. Also, if you are that stingy about prioritizing performance, you should not be looking at fixed gears. also, i don't know about you, but i don't do interval training on the way to work, so it's not a huge factor, reliablity and lack of maintainence is much more important. I also don't think that having niche parts is a problem, either. Remember, this is a commuting bike, not a touring bike. the furthest you will ever be from your home (and i assume spare parts) would be probably around 20 miles, of course dependent on your commute. Also, you would probably have a spare with you, because, again, it's a commute, not a race. you probably already have a change of clothes and a laptop, what's a little belt that's under 100 grams? Also worth noting that the belt typically has a service life of over 3 times that of a chain, around 30,000 miles. I hope you don't take this as a personal attack, just addressing your points. You can read more about belt drives here; www.cyclingabout.com/carbon-belt-drive-everything-you-ever-need-to-know/
I really want one. But I have a 9% 300m climb on my commute...
what happened to the bike or who bought it.. cool bike. I'm more interested in purchasing a wabi classic.
I might have to buy one of those now. Specced exactly like that. Same color too. I'd only change the tires to Continental Grand Prix 5000's in 32's. Awesomely fast and plush tires.
Dang, why is it you don't use fenders? Mud guards are essential for commuter bikes.
This may be a dumb question. What’s the purpose of cutting your forks? I’m new to the fixie world
Jay R Forks are supplied with an over-long steerer tube to accommodate all possible frame styles and rider sizes (tall/short). Once you get the fork, you can cut it to the size you actually need.
Can you skid on that?
Wasn't cx on fixed gears called tracklocross?
Superbread Mine's called the Crossafix.
For one summer-autumn seven years ago, yes.
It's the 3rd time I've watched this video and I think I'm ready to bite on the thunder. Any discount codes?
They’re as cheap as they can import them while still paying bills. Email Wabi.
If only I could've afforded a wabi :(
wish wabi had more decals
Ew
Link for basket
I wanted a fixed gear or should I say a single speed for my commute but it can get really windy and even riding with gears is a pain
@BeboSaab thanks
His name is Ricky
Now this bike could be Rocky
how do you get your feet into the straps when you ride? I can never manage to get both my feet into my straps and end up only riding in one strap
I ran into the same problem. Used my mtn bike style clipless pedals instead. Sure less fixie points but since I don't care that adds a fixie points back.😁
🤔 Just get into one when standing still, the Second one should be easy to strap on when the Pedal is moving up from your Back. Just slip into it with your Front foot when its coming up and it should be relatively easy 😁
It's not that hard aksualy.
It just takes a little practice. Find a cul-de-sac, or empty enough parking lot, start riding and use your toes to flip the pedal around and slide forward.
You'll get the hang of it eventually...
Or get a clipless setup. Clipless pedals provide a far superior power distribution.
Ok, it's a shitload more expensive, but it's so much better.
I’ve found that brand new straps can be difficult. Once you wear them in it honestly becomes easier. Try loosening the one your having difficulty with. Also check to make sure it isn’t sitting on pedal thread weird. My first pair I had one that for some reason liked to wiggle and wedge it’s self against the bolt making it very difficult to get my foot in there
Why'd you do Ricky like that ;-;
I feel really stupid asking this what by what factor do you get a bike, it’s height right
Spray &Pray If you're asking how to size your new bike, I go by top tube length. Many companies measure their frames different and use vague terms such as small, medium, large. Your reach to the h'bars is what's most important.
1st do some research. Then Go to a good bike shop and try several bikes, get an idea of what size bikes feel good and natural to you. Try bikes one size up and down from what the sales person recommends. Bring a tape measure and take notes. Fit is really important.
How you supposed to barspin with that rack on the front? Lol
almost 1k?? wow...
How much this?
cantilever brakes in 2020 ? how much did that thing cost again ?
I was thinking the same thing. That bike cost $1,000USD. I didn't even know they made those brakes anymore.
Ted Discs don't work very well on fixed gear or singlespeeds due to chain tensioning and stretch and brake alignment. There's nothing wrong with old school rim brakes. They can be set up to work quite powerfully if you learn how. $1000 isn't that much for a new quality bike. However, for $1000 you could get a top of the line used fixed gear bike!!
@@rollinrat4850 Discs don't work good on single speed? Dirt bikes are equipped like this without any issues for years now, so it's simply not true. Also yes, there is "something" wrong with every rim brake, and it's a simple fact that you will have to change rim over time and it's way more expensive and requires truing stand to be done, compared to simple disc change, also discs are more powerfull and behave the same in bad weather.
Cantilevers trully should stay where they belong, in XX century.
Benny PL Have you ever tried ceramic coated rims?I'll assume you haven't. They don't wear out. They were pretty high end 25 years ago.
Do you ride a singlespeed without a chain tensioner? How do you tension the chain if you don't have horizontal or track dropouts? How do you keep it tight and adjust the brake caliper allowing for chain wear? Eccentric BBs do work but they're not what I would call convenient out on the trail. Try getting chain tension and disc brake alignment perfect on a fixed gear. I think that was the context. Good luck! Ever use a track hub with different sized cogs? Ever use a dinglespeed? Have you ever seen a dinglespeed? Its not a common drivetrain, But it's pretty cool! How would you allow for that difference in chain length? If you have a trick, please share it, I'm all ears.
In 50 years of serious riding, Ive had one rim fail due to excessive brake track wear. Too much mud and long descents do the trick! I'll admit Ive got lots of wheels. I enjoy building wheels and I earn decent money with that skill. But I ride one fixed gear 'cross bike (with brakes) all winter thru the rain and mud and those wheels are 10 years old. Ive wrenched on bikes 50 years and never paid anyone else to do it. Now Im learning to braze and build my own frames. Most of my bikes are well over a decade old have rim brakes and I could afford ANY bike I want. My bikes are mostly built on custom frames, built just for me. I keep them for life. I just prefer keeping them simple and very reliable. I rarely need to wrench on my bikes and I ride lots. I also know how to set up and use any kind of brakes. I haven't hit a tree yet! Ive got three bikes with discs too, but they have derailleurs. Disc brakes are pretty cool and even excessively powerful, but I took steel road racing bikes on trails long before most people knew what an mtb was. Old junk still works great. Even my own old bag of bones!
Yes, modern single speed MTBs and dirt bikes have horizontal dropouts and disc brakes, it just works and your anger about the topic wouldn't change it; finding a matching hub or redesigning the frame a little wouldn't be a problem with respectable brand that order parts in hundreds or thousands.
Ceramic rims are nice but they are mostly dedicated for onroad bicycles and with 45mm tyre clearance I would at least sometimes use this bike in light offroad and on gravel - ceramic coating may be damaged if brakes catch some debriss like sharper sand and nowadays disc brakes aren't expensive technology anymore, so they would be just more convenient for bike that manny people use even as tracklocross. Overall both types of brakes have pross and cons but there is a reasson why disc brakes got more popular over the years on any bikes other than roads. Even then why would they use cantilevers? This brakes are tehnologically inferior to later invented v-brakes that brought better stoping power and easier mounting. Bicycle designed to be
released in 2020 with cantilevers is just laughable.
You may be experienced cyclist that worked with bicycles for years and for this period of time you learned any knowledge you wanted, but manny people are way more casuall and would struggle greatly with lacing their own wheel to change the rim, when necessary, so not only rim may and probably will need to be changed at some point (nice rims will cost), but for many it also means that they have to bringe the wheel to the bikeshop and pay for this operation, cause they don't have skill and tools (it's objectivelly not easy task).
I think there is really no point for Wabi to not put discs on this bike and they probably only avoided it to cut costs and gain more profit.
11:27 sketchy
I see a problem with only a front brake and a front rack you would end up going over your handle bars if.you try. To stop fast.
Not if you learn how to slow with your legs at the same time. You can also keep your weight back when you use the front brake. You gotta learn to use a front brake if you want to stop fast. Its doing most of the work on a bike with 2 brakes.
When did Ricky became the-bike-who-shall-not-be-named?
Haha, just like my children, I try to love my bikes equally. Its easy to love 'em, but hard to always like them!
Seriously what did I miss
I still prefer my SE DC shoes edition fixed gear urban assault vehicle.
Woop woop