Is remote lockout useful (as against normal lockout)??

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Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
Regret that, as I ride a Boardman the nice warm car park feeling is denied me.^_^

£70 quid for a groupset upgrade and tyres? Quite cheap tyres then?

Surely something is only a gimmick if you either don't use it or it doesn't prove itself useful no?

I said mechs, not groupset! Go to Merlin or CRC and you'll get an SLX rear mech for 40 quid, then flog the old deore on ebay and recoup 15 or 20 quid. That leaves 50 quid to order a couple of Nobby Nic Evos ....let's try this chap at £17.50 each http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schwalbe-...ikeparts_SR&hash=item2c6226b21c#ht_500wt_1180.... surely better than a lot of stock stuff.... and the fifteen quid left over would get a nice pair of lock-on grips..... Even a Boardman would look better with some trick grips!

I did say I considered it to be a gimmick. That's indeed my opinion- an opinion I formed after riding with the remote lever inoperable, and discovering that my world didn't end as a result.
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
So, the weight of opinion is remot lockout is great unless you don't need it but if you're buying new forks you might as well. Seatpost post thingy probably more useful unless you're well hard :gun:

I'm not sure, it's almost going to be cheaper just to pay Lukesdad to ride my bike for me, I'd even give him a boost to reach the saddle :whistle:
 

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
Maybe I'm cynical about stuff but it seems to me that folk think what they use defines the benchmark and all else is, frankly, pants.

Things I've been told are gimmicks, forcefully at times, by aficionados, in the time I've been mtb-ing include...

List.....
et cetera
et cetera

Still it wouldn't do for us all to be the same but cyclists are a funny bunch.

No, I find the reverse is true.

An awful lot of people who use lower spec components spend their time trying to convince everyone they're happy with what they have, and that to spend more is an extravagance.

I'm not afraid to admit that I can afford middling quality kit, and although I readily endorse utilitarian/basic componentry, I refuse to spend downwards in order to pander to some bizarre inverted snobbery benchmark. I'm 48 and earn a decent salary. Why the hell should I put up with "basic but competent" when I can have light, slick and shiny?^_^
 

Dunlopdave

Active Member
Location
Horley,surrey
Jeez, are you lot hard of understanding on here!!!!!

I would only consider getting a remote lockout switch that was by my hand

If the option was a switch somewhere else, such as the stem, then I'd just as soon stick to the top of the fork switch

I really didn't think it was that hard to understand :banghead:
Thanks Mac B that's all I was trying to say.
 

Dunlopdave

Active Member
Location
Horley,surrey
If you cant control a bike whilst flicking a switch by the stem then you really should'nt be riding one
I'm more than capable of riding one handed thanks! Can you remember a good idea someone had once of moving the gear change up from the frame to the brakes it seams to have caught on
 

lukesdad

Guest
Crikey where to start ?

Greg first, the invite was there last year for the Brecon weekend, to ride some of the best real mountain single track in the country.

MacB, the simpler it is the lighter it is, and less to go wrong.

Cubist, there is still a school of thought ( that I have a little sympathy with) that the fastest point from A to B across country is on a ali rigid, the same group tend to mourn the passing of top quality 7 speed components for valid reasons. Firstly wear rate, secondly better clerance of crud and they like the solid clunk of 7 speed shifting.

Im sure Ive said this before but ill repeat it for what its worth. At home Im lucky enough to have built my own mtb course thats as steep and twisty as they come. Of the 4 bikes I use on it you could throw a blanket over the 4 for a laptime. From an all singing all adncing full suss, 2 hardtails and 20 year old rigid.

The point I hear you ask ? You don t need to spend a large wedge on the latest trick bikes or kit to enjoy your mtbing, and it certainly wont make you any better at it. Anybody who thinks that is a fool with too much money to burn.

Keep it simple and have some fun, thats what mtb s about. Bullshit is for roadies AVS for example WTF :thumbsup:
 

Cubist

Still wavin'
Location
Ovver 'thill
Crikey where to start ?



The point I hear you ask ? You don t need to spend a large wedge on the latest trick bikes or kit to enjoy your mtbing, and it certainly wont make you any better at it.
But that's the point. I wholeheartedly endorse basic components. They're great.

However, part of the pleasure (for me) of cycling is pride of ownership, fiddling, fixing, upgrading. SLX is hardly the latest trick kit, it's robust, slick shifting efficiency. It weighs less than Deore and I like looking at it. If people can afford it why should they be criticised for owning it?

I draw the line at people who want the latest kit to ride along the canal, but if they want to who are we to criticise? I once saw a guy on a Fuel Ex8 riding the Langdendale trail with knee and elbow pads on. He was smiling.

I'm not into the money to burn and ability compensation thing (I've seen people with shotguns that cost the same as a three-bed semi, but they can't hit a bull's arse with a banjo) but I still don't see why I should pander to the purist "Acera is just as good as XTR and it'll still be working properly when there's only cockroaches left" bollocks when I don't have to !:whistle:
 

lukesdad

Guest
But that's the point. I wholeheartedly endorse basic components. They're great.

However, part of the pleasure (for me) of cycling is pride of ownership, fiddling, fixing, upgrading. SLX is hardly the latest trick kit, it's robust, slick shifting efficiency. It weighs less than Deore and I like looking at it. If people can afford it why should they be criticised for owning it?

I draw the line at people who want the latest kit to ride along the canal, but if they want to who are we to criticise? I once saw a guy on a Fuel Ex8 riding the Langdendale trail with knee and elbow pads on. He was smiling.

I'm not into the money to burn and ability compensation thing (I've seen people with shotguns that cost the same as a three-bed semi, but they can't hit a bull's arse with a banjo) but I still don't see why I should pander to the purist "Acera is just as good as XTR and it'll still be working properly when there's only cockroaches left" bollocks when I don't have to !:whistle:
I wasn t having a pop, and there is nothing wrong with any of the above (except the ref. to poor banjo he wont be very happy ^_^) I was trying to illustrate, that everybody panders to the latest kit to a lesser or greater degree, the manufacturers know this. Hence the ref. to rigid and 7 speed. Its like the old argument why do the pros ride the latest kit its got to be better. Bollox they re paid to, and the manufacturers have got kit to sell.
 

MacB

Lover of things that come in 3's
LD and Cubist are both right and I think we all understand the power of marketing and hype. But there are distinguishing points around fun and functionality. The tricky bit as that fun means different things to different people or just at different times. I'm fickle and not shy about spending a bob or two to try stuff out. Most of this comes under the heading of want rather than need. I have no need of an offroad bike of any type, in fact on a need viewpoint then cheap, cheerful and 3 gears max would cover all my needs. Others mileage will vary depending on them and what they have to achieve, ie commuting, shopping, travel, etc.

As soon as you cross over into riding for fun rather than utility then you enter want rather than need territory.

Do I need or want to raise/lower my saddle? if I do then what's wrong with QR or, for that matter, a plain old bolt up? As it's subjective and is only fulfilling my wants then it's really whatever floats my boat.

At present I ride fully rigid but am considering both squishy forks and a dropper seatpost. I haven't yet decided which I'll try first. But I don't kid myself that my abilities require either, I have good fun on the bike as it is. If I buy either and they don't increase my fun then I'll offload them and switch back...but I won't know without trying.
 

zizou

Veteran
It is not needed, having one on the fork legs is easy enough to reach down and change.

IME lockout is something i'd always want on a fork but by itself is only really an advantage if you are on a road. On a decent set of forks it wont make you climb any easier or faster off road, even on relatively tame slogs like up a fireroad, as it sets the fork at the bikes worst geometry for climbing (unless of course you have a fork where you can change the travel).

A seat dropper on the other hand (remote or otherwise) is something that is very useful so if you have a bit of extra cash to spend i'd go for that instead of the remote lockout.

Worth noting that poploc remotes are prone to sticking if they get muddy. As are some dropper posts it has to be said!
 
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