Keegansamonster

Avy is great. But, I don’t think I’ll ever go through the process of dealing with Craig again. He knows his stuff but he can be insufferable to talk to.

Dang it, I was really hoping for a new longer travel helm variant when I saw the announcement.

I have beat the piss out of every I9 hub I’ve had and have never had any issues. I neglected my hydras horribly and after 3 years of abuse the bearings were still smooth. It’s one of the most commonly used hubs so you hear of a lot of issues just because of the number of them in use. They are also a local company for me and pump a lot of money into the local riding scene and employ locals. Not sure where the hate comes from with I9. DT Swiss, Chris king, and others have their share of issues as well.

@HeatedRotor: look at that, you have no logical response. I’m sure you ride your bike much harder than everyone on here.

@HeatedRotor: many companies have tried to fix that issue. Ohlins made a 1 piece CSU during the original rxf series. However, it was a one piece machined aluminum CSU that was not cheap to make. People also complained because if your steerer was cut too short, the replacement was dumb expensive. They now also make the new rxf 34 with a one piece carbon CSU. EXT also makes their crown seat into the lower bearing creating a larger contact between the crown and the steerer tube as well as making most of the force go into the crown. Then fox played with oval steerer tubes to be stiffer laterally. However, none of that is about feeling flex from 30mm of exposed steerer tube. I’m sorry but that’s just placebo. Go look at alloy handlebar flex tests. An 800mm alloy bar that’s not designed to be as stiff as a steerer tube flexes about 19mm. That would mean that even if the ratio was even, which it’s not, 30mm of exposed steerer could flex roughly .7mm. Now this isn’t perfect math due to a ton of variables, but it gives a general idea. You will not feel a flex difference on the same bike, with the same for, with one having 0mm of spacers and the other having 30mm.

@HeatedRotor: sounds like you’re feeling CSU flex not steerer flex caused by stem spacers. The stanchions flex at the CSU, the base of the steerer flexes, headset bearings can flex/have play, but 30mm of exposed steerer above the headtube is not going to flex enough for you to feel.

@uponcripplecreek: that started with carbon steerer tubes and frame manufacturers. Once frame manufacturers listed that due to the force that it can place on the headtube, fork manufacturers adopted it into their manuals so that their information didn’t directly contradict the frame companies opening them up to warranty issues with being OEM on frames. 30mm of headtube would take an insane amount of force to cause perceivable flex.

What’s on the top of Henry’s fork on the air/coil side? I’ve seen some coil conversions for ohlins but nothing with a top cap like that.

@HeatedRotor: a longer steerer tube is not going to flex enough to even be perceived, let alone feel “flexy”. If your front end feels “flexy” your headtube is broken, headset is loose, etc.