taz777

Does anyone have a kickstand on their carbon CrossTrail. Kickstands on carbon seem to be a no-no which is annoying. I'm trying to make my CrossTrail a bit more practical and a kickstand would come in real handy.

JohnnyMordoc

Anyone have any experience with a travel cover to transport your CrossTrail safely without getting it all scratched up or tweaking the disc brakes or wheels.

I am looking for something that I can place my bike in to give it some extra protection - .just zip the bike into it without having to do any disassembly or remove anything?

My bike looks to be about 28" (inches) for the handle bars - wheel to wheel looks to be about 67" (inches) and the height tis about 43" (inches).

I did see this one.....at REI.com

https://www.rei.com/product/732407/topeak-bike-cover

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

JJ

Ajh800

andrei_r

Wow!

Paul Barnard

For those of you who have a Crosstrail with Microshift 2x9 gearing, I have a question about the shifters. Are there a lot of small clicks to shift from the small to the large chain ring or are there just a few (2-3) clicks. I am just wondering how much you can finesse the derailleur position.

ColonelSanders

Incredible photo.

travbikeman

Ok, I don't have a Microshift setup on my Crosstrail. BUT, did read reviews on these shifters on Amazon. Some are claiming you can shift up 6 speeds on one click. Where as the Shimano Alivio only shifts up 3 speeds at a time. Not sure if it's true or not on 6 speeds, but seems as if you can do multiple upshifts with one click.

Hope this helps.

finch204

I'm jealous! What a view!

Paul Barnard

I am thinking about the front shifter. For example with Grip Shift I can click the front derailleur over a few clicks on the same front sprocket. That way if there is a slight rub, I can give it a click, moving the derailleur without shifting the gears.

hokiefyd 

This type of trimming is generally not available with trigger shifters. It works with rotational shifters where shift "stops" are detents in the rotating barrel (or other such mechanism), and they can add additional detents to allow you to trim the front derailer. This is, in basic form, no different than friction shifting. With ratcheting shifters, though, you generally can't trim them, because they're indexed to specific positions, and adding additional positions would increase the number of downshift clicks on a front derailer. I'm not saying that trimmable ratchet shifters don't exist, but they're not very common if they do.

Are they the Microshift SL-M859? The website doesn't say that they offer front derailer trimming, so I'm guessing that they don't. It would likely be a selling feature if they had that capability.

Paul Barnard

Those are the ones Hokie. Thanks for the info.

Skipjacks

It this carbon fork a direct replacement? As in simply bolts right on and the brake caliper is placed correctly...etc etc?

Or do you have to make any adjustments? Like get a larger brake rotor or modify the wheel hubs to fit it somehow?

Does it mess with the Crosstrail's geometry much? Or is it pretty close to the stock suntour fork size?

Ajh800

Skipjacks

That's awesome. I am strongly considering this.

You still happy to made the change after all those long distance rides?

hokiefyd 

Did it come with the post mount adapter for the brake caliper? Not a big deal, of course, but those looking to buy this fork will need to add a post mount adapter to their order, as most Suntour NEX forks (as found on the Crosstrail) will have the post mounts rather than the IS mount as this fork has.

Ajh800

travbikeman

New Sport, kind of digging new color. Also noticing that the Carbon Crosstrails are currently not on the website. Guessing we will be seeing more updates soon.

Blue Crosstrail Sport

riot

Hi guys. New Crosstrail owner here. Bought the bike to ride with the wife on pavement and do a bit of light trail riding on my own. If I wanted to eventually do away with the stock tires, what set should I look into that would run nice on pavement and good on dirt? Also, I've been reading about tubeless, is that possible on the bike? Everything is stock.

Skipjacks

Tubeless is possible but you might need new wheels.

What kind of light trails? Hard pack dirt? Crush stone? Gravel?

riot

Hard pack dirt

travbikeman

This is basically what the Triggers do well, both pavement and light trails. There are many other tires out there that will do the same thing. Are you looking to have more road worthy tires? Or more trail tire? The reason I ask, other tires like the Triggers aren't going to be best at all, just a good all around tire.

What did you not like about the Triggers? Do you get flats often or just looking for a lighter tire?

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/ is one of many places you can research what you want in a bike tire.

I myself have 3 sets of tires that I change out depending on what kind of riding or trail I may ride. I have Specialized Nimbus which is a great pavement tire, still occasionally use the Triggers if I know I will do combination of pavement and gravel trail. But the Triggers do tend to slide a bit on gravel. So I also bought some nice knoby tires for riding on trails like the C&O.

Skipjacks

If it's dry dirt, keep the Trigger Sport tires that came on the bike.

They are fine on hard pack dirt or hard crushes stone. They don't have enough bite to be really grippy in mud of loose gravel, but then nothing that does have enough grip will be very good on the pavement.

The Trigger Sport tread will wear out down the center stripe on pavement relatively quickly (500 mile or so?) But that will actually make them BETTER pavement tires when the center stripe is smooth. It'll be a lot longer before you've worn the rubber to the cords.

If you want to get into softer dirt, mud, loose gravel, etc check out the tires in this post above (Post #750 in this thread)

https://www.bikeforums.net/showpost....&postcount=750

A tread like that will give you more grip in softer terrain but will not be a great pavement tire. It'll work on pavement. It's not like it won't roll. But it'll have more resistance and be harder to peddle on any hard surface.

ColonelSanders

What on Earth is Specialized doing about their 2019 range of Crosstrails?

Have they decided they are only going to update every 2 years now?

hokiefyd 

I suggest the Schwalbe Hurricane (29x2"), if they'll fit on the Crosstrail. It has a completely smooth center tread, and the ride on pavement is 100% smooth and silent. And there are mid and side knobs that supplement the center tread that come into play off road. They provide better stability than the stock Giant Crosscut tires (700x38), mostly due to their width I think. Check 'em out. They're affordable tires and a terrific value.

travbikeman

Well, the Sport and the less expensive Crosstrails were updated with different colors, same specs it appears. So far thats it.

The last two years it seems Specialized was late on updating the web page on the Crosstrails. This year doesn't appear to be different.