Worst to first. Shimano, S.R.A.M., Shocks, Tires?
Thanks.
This is all you need to know:
Shimano XT.
Marzocchi.
Ritchey or Maxxis.
done.
OK, here goes, worst to first:
Shimano; Deore, LX, XT, XTR. IMO, xt is the way to go for most mere mortals, doesnt’ cost an arm and a leg initially, you won’t get divorced when you have to replace your first rear derailleur, and it can be counted on to shift reliably and last a long time with little maintenance. XTR is expensive, light and prone to being finicky, plus it doesn’t last nearly as long.
SRAM, just forget about it, shimano for life!
Forks, depends on who you are, how much you weigh and what you want the fork to do for you. again, IMO, Fox Forx all the way, not too heavy and amazinly stiff torsionally, excellent travel rates and adjustability out the wazzoo. Fox Float Terralogic is my dream. it has inertial valve dampers built in to keep the fork automatically locked out till an impact is sensed, then the valve opens up and allows the fork to work its magic.
Rock shock SID is nice to, but keep in mind these were designed for light weight race weenies, so if you are 170+ they are going to need alot of tlc. Our racers needed their SIDs overhauled every two to three races.
Tires, really tough without knowing the conditions you are riding in. my favourite all around tire is the michelin comp s light. great compound to hook up when it gets wet, low knob profile for fast rolling when its dry. i’ve raced on these in many 24hr events through dry, damp and torrential and never really had a problem.
Hope this helps.
This is all you need to know:
Shimano XT.
Marzocchi.
Ritchey or Maxxis.
done.
That would be a good downhill or what they call all-mountain setup, but if you’re talking cross-country all you need to know is:
SRAM XO (or X9 w/ the triggers)
FSA Carbon cranks
Rock Shox SID fork
Kenda Nevegal or Karma tires
NOW you’re done!
What Ian said.
Exhaustive reviews available at mtbr.com
I’m putting together a XCish bike and here’s what my research has turned up:
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Headset: Chris King or Ritchey WCS.
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Bar/Stem/Post: The carbon Easton Monkey bars are slick. Probably overkill, but top-o-the-line. Thomson stems and posts. Set and forget.
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Fork: Fox, Marzocchi or Manitou, hard to go wrong with any of those, but depends what you’re going for. FOX is just entering the burlier freeride market and is somewhat untested there, but their XC forks are all the rage. For almost 2 years now, Manitous has been pumping out some of the best engineered forks on the market, leaning towards the All-Mountain variety. Marzocchi has an incredible, well-deserved reputation for quality. Don’t forget the Enduro Seals.
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Wheels: Surprisingly hard. XT hubs are very tough to beat for the money, but wear out and their engagement is only so-so. Chris King are possibly the best and worth it in the long run. Hadley hubs are awesome and tied with King for longevity and performace. Rims, too many options, but you’d probably want to avoid anything lighter than a Mavic 317/717. The DT Swiss rim seems really good.
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Tires: Two combinations have emerged lately and been all the rave on the boards. WTB Weirwolf/Geax Sturdy for drier conditions. Kenda Blue Groove/Nevegal for mixed conditions.
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Cranks/BB: XT is good, but the outboard bearing thing has its detractors, and is pretty expensive. Older style XT is probably safer. RaceFace Turbine cranks all the way for me. RaceFace bottom brackets seem pretty reliable. For my money, I went with a Phil Wood bb(probably the best going) and an older square-type RaceFace Turbine crank. You can get great deals these days on the older-style square cranks. Hey, it’s still good enough for Campy.
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Shifting/Derailleurs: SRAM has really come into its own. The X9 trigger shifters paired with either X9 or XO rear der. is arguably the best way to go these days. The XO is unbeliavable and, apparently, the X9 performs just as well. Shimano XT front. Set and forget.
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Brakes: Lots of choices. Avid Juicy 7s when dialed in right seem to offer incredible performance. I’m partial to the older quad-caliper Shimano XTs. Avid Mechanicals are probably the best combination of performance, price, and reliability.
Hope that helps.
What everyone else said, but with SRAM PC-series chain.
couple things . . .
the new for 05 hayes el camino disks rule over all.
shifting - who cares the shit is all the same. twisters gum up, sram triggers are too new, and shimano is shimano. 8 speed xtr was probably the best ever. find some of those.
new tires are better than old tires.
for xc the american trends are whack. the lowliest euro’s can kick any usa pro and will for the forseeable future - euro’s use light hardtails, very short travel forks run stiff, and vee brakes. speed is speed and equipment over-thinking is . . . . . . .
singlespeed. a nice ass one. that is what you want.
euro’s use light hardtails, very short travel forks run stiff, and vee brakes. speed is speed and equipment over-thinking is . . . . . . .
Amen.
Nothing faster than a light hardtail. Especially if you’re fit enough to put a lot of power to the pedals.
Lots of good feedback here.
My only addition is that drivetrains are optimized to work together. If you go Shimano, go everything Shimano. If you go SRAM (like I did), ensure you use SRAM Rear Mech, Chain, Cogset, and Shifters (I like the grip shift style because I can make throttle noises when shifting;-)
I spent a lot of time researching my upcoming race plans (24-hour solo, off-road IM) and chose my equipment based upon that. Your priorities should be:
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Frame (Get it fit and optimized for your style of racing)
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Fork (get it optimized for your frame). I ride a Moots YBB and Moots indicated that 80mm Travel was recomended so the SID Team was a natural selection (I only weigh 145 lbs).
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Drivetrain (I chose SRAM 9.0, Race Face, and FSA BB)
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Brakes (Disc vs. V)…Even in the mucky northwest, you can get by with V-Brakes (I’m a fan of Avid)
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Wheels (tough enough for training…If you are asking these questions, you probably want to focus on durability for a while)
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“Other” Gucci components…It’s hard to beat FSA and Ritchey in the “price/performance” equation lately (except in seatposts where Thompson still rules)
Cheers,
Jonathan C. Puskas
best: anything free
acceptable; anything used or discounted
worst; retail anything
.
“best: anything free”
Amen. Preachet brotha.
Funny that you’re down on SRAM triggers for being unproven, but up on Hayes which haven’t been released yet. As for XC, the demands of a short course racer are radically different from an all-day recreational biker, no?
Thanks guys, guess i know my mtb shit…one thing to add. i’ve seen alot of mention of FSA, Raceface and Ritchey. Up here in the great white north we don’t get to see too much ritchey, but as for FSA and Raceface, our mechanics are diehard shimano when it comes to cranks and chain rings. They got the shifting ramp thing right before anyone else, patented it, and anything else is just a poor imitation. IMHO, if you want it to shift underpressure on a hill and not drop the chain into the bb shell, go with shimano chainrings, XT. And second the motion for keeping it all the same. SRAM and Shimano go together about as well as mtbr’s and roadies.
ashayk asks: "Funny that you’re down on SRAM triggers for being unproven, but up on Hayes which haven’t been released yet. As for XC, the demands of a short course racer are radically different from an all-day recreational biker, no? "
actually, i am not down on sram triggers. i think i said they are the samo samo as any other on balance, which they are.
you will have to trust me on the el camino’s for now, but they are worth waiting for. it took the world like what - 10 years to catch up to hayes to begin with, the el camino’s leap frog over the rest all over again. hayes always knew more than anybody - now they have taken that and boldly mixed in all the new-school think/features/ergonomics, etc available. they rule.
that is, if you like to run disc’s, which actually i don’t. mostly i get by for xc racing on canti’s still.
it appeared the conversation was steering to xc race type equipment. hence my commentary - not sure what an “all day recreational rider” is. i just did a 24 hour solo which was for recreation, and certainly was all day and all nite. i used a rigid lugged rivendell all-rounder hybrid with mustache handle bars and a drop bar rigid 20 year old ibis, both with one speed. finished top ten or so - and first old guy. those bikes worked well, i definitely never lost any ground due to lack of any modern day must-haves from what i could gather, and people dug them and all, but maybe that is not who you meant by all day recreational riders? 
Well, keeping things light :). Your words: “SRAM triggers are too new”. Sounds like an aversion to untested equipment to me. I feel the same in general, but have read about and used SRAM enough to be comfortable with the gamble. If you say the El Caminos are the shiz, then I can’t wait to try 'em.
No doubt you’re an excellent rider. “All day recreational rider” sounded pretty self-explanatory to me when I wrote it. I’m referring to someone who isn’t racing and is going out for a good half-day rather than an hour long race. This individual might want the convenience and comfort of disc brakes and be willing to sacrifice weight and complexity for it. They might also like to run a 100 or 130mm fork up front for comfort and downhill confidence. Again, they will be sacrificing weight relative to the balls-out 80mm race fork, but may gain durability in the long run. Same thing with a full suspension setup.
Do you or anyone else need it? Maybe yes/maybe no, but again, if your goal is to compete XC, you’re going to make certain sacrifices to accomodate your needs. If you’re riding the Shore, disc brakes and FS might make your day a lot more enjoyable. Going out for a long ride over a variety of terrain, you might like a 30lb rig with 5in suspension front and rear and disc brakes. What works for you, might not work for me.
right on, brutha. mtn bikes are like “nordic” skiis these days. what works for me laying down first tracks on the corduroy on the birkie trail after the pisten bully just went thru isn’t what works for you going into the backcountry outside eldora, colo. yet, we both are “nordic skiing”.
i guess our man the original poster never actually said what he was gonna do, or where, did he?
SRAM XO trumps Shimano in shifting performance and reliability with their 1:1 actuation. I’ve raced the same grouppo for four seasons and it’s not the least bit worn.
The new Race Face Deus two-piece cranks are light and cost less than Shimano XTR.
I love my Fox F100 with Terralogic. It’s a great fork especially for those who like to get out of saddle from time to time.
Michelin Comp S tires are great all-rounders except in rocky terrain where a wider tire might be better.
couple things . . .
the new for 05 hayes el camino disks rule over all. From the prototypes I’ve seen I’d guess it’s a good all mountain brake setup, but otherwise nothing special. For light cross country brakes you can’t beat the weight and modulation of the Magura Marta SL’s.
shifting - who cares the shit is all the same. twisters gum up, sram triggers are too new, and shimano is shimano. 8 speed xtr was probably the best ever. find some of those. Huge differences between SRAM and Shimano. Twisters don’t gum up and SRAM’s one to one cable travel is less finicky and way superior to Shimano’s leveraged travel. Grip shifters are more intuitive and shift faster than Shimano’s silly new shifters. 8 speed XTR was good stuff.
new tires are better than old tires. Broken-in new tires. Second the Kenda’s. Also, go tubeless with Stans! Less rolling resistance, lighter and no more flats.
for xc the american trends are whack. the lowliest euro’s can kick any usa pro and will for the forseeable future - euro’s use light hardtails, very short travel forks run stiff, and vee brakes. speed is speed and equipment over-thinking is . . . . . . . That’s a ridiculous statement. Euros and Canadians run similar setups to Americans (hardtail vs. FS), they just kick our asses on whatever they ride because NORBA all but ignores juniors. As a matter of fact, the average euro-pros bike runs more bullet proof frames and equipment whereas the average ameri-pro goes for weight weenie stuff. Pro men run about 75% discs and probably 90% of all women do. Forks are mostly SID’s and then Minutes (Manitou) both here and there. No such thing as an american tren with mtb anymore.
singlespeed. a nice ass one. that is what you want. You’re obviously a fringe-anti-establishment-old-school-kinda-guy 
These blanket statements about what is best cracks me up. Mountain biking is too specialized now with Cross Country, Freeride, Downhill, etc. bikes.
well alright a mtn bike conversation. not bad opinions, tho mostly wrong ( twisters don’t gum up ???) ( “HUGE” differences in what between things that do the same thing?) ( i’m telling you - el camino’s rule - i never did ‘get’ the marta ) across the board from saber except for this one:
" That’s a ridiculous statement. Euros and Canadians run similar setups to Americans (hardtail vs. FS), they just kick our asses on whatever they ride because NORBA all but ignores juniors. As a matter of fact, the average euro-pros bike runs more bullet proof frames and equipment whereas the average ameri-pro goes for weight weenie stuff. Pro men run about 75% discs and probably 90% of all women do. Forks are mostly SID’s and then Minutes (Manitou) both here and there. No such thing as an american tren with mtb anymore. " which is all wrong.
lookit a bit closer. compared to americans ( norba, and other ) euro’s use discs and full susp far far less unless they are sponsored by american mtn bike companies who tell them what to ride. numerous euro pro’s were and are notorious for using travel limiting kits, and running the fork so stiff as to be nearly rigid. unquestionably there is a huge marketing driven trend in american racing for full suspension even if the course dictates a hardtail would be faster, discs even if they don’t need em.
well i guess not ALL wrong, cuz i will sit and bash those idiots at usacycling on how they punked mtn biking in general, and junior developement in particular all day with my man saber !!! fringe, indeed.