Just picked up my new DS 4
 

If I may share my story, one year ago, I weighed in at 235 lbs on my 6 ft. frame. I was miserable and tired of being sick and tired! So I cleaned up my diet (about 80% Paleo) and started working out 5 days a week. Today I weigh in at 175 lbs and I feel great! I recently decided to begin riding bike again, which I haven't done in nearly 8 years. I chose the DS 4 and picked up this beauty last night. I'm excited about riding again!

Nice
 

Congrats on the new DS, and on the weight loss. I have a similar tale - going from 200 to 155. Never felt better.

I looked at the Brooks B17 at a LBS last night against a heap of others. I had never seen one in real life before, and frankly was completely unimpressed. I could not believe it was made of leather - it felt like rigid/hard plastic to me, absolutely zero give or flex when new. I understand from reading on the forum that they can take up to 1000 miles to break in and form to your personal shape.

I don't get it, for that kind of price it better be perfect out of the store, and for me, in the store it didn't even warrant consideration to take it for a "free" trial (my LBS offers 14 day money-back and 30-day revolving exchanges on any saddle brand and model).

Cheers
TRJB

Nice motivational story! Post some pictures of the drive side as well.

DS 8.6 removing the remote lockout
 

I am removing my the remote lockout here, I have found that I almost never use it, and I need to clean up the handlebars a bit. Has anyone else done this? The front forks leave a bit to be a desired, but I do like having the bumps smoothed out a bit.

I was looking to go the other way round - I have a Giant Roam with the manual fork-mounted lockout lever, and I wanted to turn it into a remote version. The remote lever that mounts on the handlebar is available on eBay, and I thought to turn it into the remote version it would be as simple as popping off the blue lever from the top of the fork, and replacing that with the handlebar switch and the RL mechanism that accepts the cable at the fork, but I wasn't able to find that part online so I contacted Suntour to see if it was available as a spare part. Turns out changing from manual to remote lockout (and presumably vice versa) isn't so simple, this was the Suntour tech's reply:

To make your fork are remote lockout you will need the RL cartridge, remote lockout and the remote top cap assembly.

So basically, you have to replace the inner guts of the right-side fork as well as the top cap. I ended up leaving mine as-is because I never lock it anyway and didn't see the point in spending a bunch of $ and time on something I wouldn't even use. In your case, you're going the other way, but you would still need to replace the inner cartridge and topcap to go manual lockout.

Cheers
TRJB

thanks, I ordered some parts from suntour, I will let you know how it goes.

Yes, the Neko is the women's specific design (WSD) equivalent. There is a Neko 1, 2, and 3,.but no 4 or 5. Bike manufacturers used to be notorious for lower quality on the women's bikes. They're still limiting choices and too many are only offered in pink and turquoise.

I bought a Neko 3 (only in grey) because it had enough SOH unlike the DS 19.5 inch, and the seat wasn't above the handlebars like the DS 17.5 inch. It fit me better, but I might have liked a Neko 4 equivalent to the DS4 so better components and 2x10 gearing.

Actually invented by Gary Fisher. This was the bike that made the 29er mainstream.

First true do-it-all bike before adventure/gravel road bikes came onto the scene.

Changed people's perceptions forever of what a fat tire 700c bike could do for them.

Yes it is rigid, you don't want a soft seat for long rides causes other issues. Get padded pants. No it does not take a 1000 miles to break in, not sure where that came from. I got one for christmas this year, have about 300 miles on it. From the first ride it felt better then the seat I had, but not it is great. Will have this one forever whatever bike I have.

I've also had a B17 for years. I've moved it from one bike to the next and it's been comfortable for me almost from the beginning. That's highly personal, as with any saddle. Some people never do get comfortable on a given Brooks model, some have a painful break-in period, and others, like me, have the perfect Brooks Arse (TM) to begin with.

The B17 is relatively heavy, though. If you're trying to put together a lightweight bike, you may want to look at something else (even other Brooks models).

Please excuse my ignorance, what is a B-17?

Ds+
 

I recently acquired a Trek DS+. Love my Giant Roam 1, but wanted power to conquer some of the tougher hills around St George, Utah and in Calgary. Really happy with the DS+. Light, responsive, and a ton of fun to ride.

Could anyone with a DS 4 tell me what their experience has been with it's 2 ring crank, especially since it's only a 42 big ring.
Do you feel you're losing a lot of power or climbing ability being limited to 2 rings?

I could believe that maybe the 11-36, 10 gear cassette (as opposed 11-34, 9 gear) makes up for some of that power loss. But aren't you still losing some climbing ease with that 28 small crank? (major concern for me, I've got plenty of hills to deal with)

I'm seriously considering going with the DS 3 for mainly this reason (the fact that it has a crank gear-guard and the DS 4 doesn't is also a plus)

Hi all.

One of the crank arms on my 8.5 DS (2013 version bought in 2012) keeps getting loose every 50km. I was thinking about upgrading to Deore M591 crankset with the Hollowtech II bottom bracket. And I was wondering if anybody has made that upgrade, and if anybody thinks its worth it/ not worth it? My bottom bracket is functional, but thought it might be a good idea to swap it out when swapping out the crankset, what do you think?

I would just do the math on both configurations and let the numbers answer your question.

I swapped in the Deore M591 crankset on my Giant Toughroad SLR 2 and I found it to be a noticeable improvement in climbing hills, due to the increased stiffness of the external cup bearings setup.

Definitely a worthwhile upgrade in my experience.

Thank you Colonel! One more thing. Do you know if there is any difference between M590 and M591 except the chainguard?

I had no issues with it. In fact I found it to be generous in terms of climbing under 15% grade. I eventually went to a single 36T ring but with an 11 speed cassette.

I think the chainguard is the only difference.


This thread from another forum a few years ago, suggests the same thing.

Climbing is a breeze for me on my DS4.
My issue with 2 rings is entirely different. I'm new to cycling and have read a lot about the perils of cross chained gear combinations. I'm finding it near impossible to do that with 2 rings when I want a comfortable mid range gear. The only way I can get a medium gear is to go big front to big-ish back, or small (front) to smallish back. Which is exactly what I'm NOT supposed to be doing. Maybe I'm being overly paranoid about cross chaining because I'm new, but it seems like it'd be a lot easier with 3 rings up front.

I think cross chaining is mostly an outdated issue with any decent quality modern gear. Chains and cassettes can handle the minor added wear that it may cause. I mean, dirt/lack of lubrication/poor maintenance are significantly bigger risks factors.
As long as you avoid any gear combos that you actually have trouble with (i.e: hard time shifting into, get rubbing/grinding/strain/etc) then you should be fine. That, or you have a super expensive top of the line cassette/crank and that you really want to avoid any wear on.

But, that's just my 2 cents. I know some people are still fanatical about the issue.

Hi, I live in England and new to the site and just brought a second hand 2012 DS 8.4, done around 600 miles and LOVE it. Replaced the warn out LT3s with a new set but I have a few questions if that's cool.

Forks, As I brought the bike second hand and its pretty old can I still apply for the recal and get the forks replaced as have the original ones on at the moment and some times hit speeds of 38 mph so a little worried that may fail..

Another question about forks, If I wanted to replace them with carbon forks can I buy any 700 or 29er forks with disc brake mounting?.


Thanks in advanced for any help. :)

As for the recall you should first verify that you have an affected model; 3700D or 3900D with date codes CK110301 thru CK110731. If you have one try contacting a Trek dealer and ask them if they can take care of it. If they push back you can try reaching out to Suntour directly.

If you decide to replace the fork yourself you can use a carbon rigid fork. Make sure the steerer tube is the correct size for your frame and try to keep the axle to crown and rake measurements close to stock unless you know what you're doing. A fork described as 700c or 29er will work as they both fit the same size diameter wheel. The difference is that a 700c fork usually does not have the tire clearance a 29er would because generally you would expect a wider or taller profile tire on a 29er.