DaneL

Glad to see stack included this time around. Reach doesn't really mean much without it. It has been good to see stack numbers slowly climbing over the last few years. Now if all manufacturers could commit to having a near-zero seat tube offset, we'd be set. Any time I see a new bike released with a huge kink in the seat tube, I don't even look at the geo chart. Usually that means an effective STA that's ~2° more slack than claimed at my saddle height.

@xprmntl: yeah, that was my initial thought, but I didn't see any sign that sealant had made it past the rim tape. I will say they were DT nipples, which I've found to be poorer quality than Sapim, so there's a chance that I wouldn't have had an issue with Sapim aluminum nipples. With that said, it was a pretty easy decision to just replace them with brass. It added ~22g to the wheel (which is unnoticeable), but now I don't have to worry about corrosion and future truing will be easier. I've learned to deal with aluminum nipples on every factory built wheelset I've owned, but every time I get to work on a wheel I've built myself (with brass nipples) it's sooooo much nicer. They never seize and the exposed end never shears off no matter how how much torque you apply or if you're using a crappy wrench. Truing a wheel with aluminum nipples always requires lubricant, a high quality wrench, and a prayer.

I just replaced all of the nipples on a wheel that was sounding like a maraca from all of the aluminum oxide floating around inside. A few of the nipples were almost half gone. I live in a dry climate, so I can't imagine how bad it would be for someone who rides in the rain a lot. I also hate how frequently you shear off the exposed end of the nipple when trying to true a wheel that has aluminum nipples. It's just not worth it. Sapim double square locking brass FTW

They "fix" it with every iteration of their brakes

The State is $1700 with the dropper. Still a reasonable price for what you get, though.

@lauandart: FYI the GX chains and cassettes don't last nearly as long as X01/XX1. It's about a 10x difference in life on chains and 2-3x on cassettes from my experience. I don't ride e-bikes so I can't comment on that aspect of it.

@lauandart: I have a number of gripes with Transmission, but after ~3700 miles I've learned to live with it. It shifts slowly and feels quite clunky, but I have only had to adjust it once compared to having to turn the barrel adjuster every ~500-1000 miles on X01 or XX1 mechanical. I've just found X01/XX1 mechanical to feel more refined and it's cheaper, lighter, and doesn't require you to constantly check the battery. I think transmission makes a lot of sense for someone who relies on a shop to fix shifting issues (because it rarely occurs on transmission), but as someone who does their own maintenance, rides thousands of miles a year, and likes to venture far from an outlet, I'd rather stick to mechanical. I haven't tried mechanical T-type yet mainly because it's so heavy. If they stopped treating it as the budget option and made a good shifter/derailleur, I'd definitely try it out. I'm still running X01 mechanical on my other bikes and will continue to until they die. That stuff lasts forever, though. Even the chains go >5k miles. The chainrings are the only part of that group that feels like a regular wear item.

Overall it looks like the s200 group is pretty comparable to the NX group. Single click shifting, similar crankset, similar derailleur. Hopefully the shifter/derailleur are at least a bit more durable than the NX junk.

It looks like it might be a repainted X1 1000 crankset. So yeah... heavy. My girlfriend got a bike with those and they were >300g heavier than the X01 crankset that I replaced them with.

@jankslayer: have you ridden the X0 cranks? They look cool, but they have sharp edges that repeatedly take the skin right off of your ankles (yes, through your socks) if you're not careful. I prefer the old aluminum GX cranks since they put function over aesthetics.