"Mr. E. Mann" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm looking for suggestions on setting up a bulletproof drivetrain for my bike. I'm currently
> riding on the street mostly, but plan to get
offroading
> soon. Anyway, I'm planning on replacing the deraileurs, shifters, cranks, chain and possibly the
> wheels. I'm looking for very light and (most importantly) extremely reliable. I've been out of the
> loop for too many years to really know what's what.
>
I find that mid-level stuff is the most reliable, but you sacrifice the "precision" of
super-high-end stuff. Any crank that costs just under $100 (US), and Shimano LX ders and shifters,
seems to have the best reliability/maintanence required ratio.
Remember that often, reliability and weight are inversely porportionate: the more reliable something
is, the heavier it tends to be...except RaceFace cranks. If you want to spend way too much money,
buy a Next LP. They sure are purty.
So, per my experience, you can beat the hell out of Shimano LX (and, really,
XT...it's almost the same) stuff with a minimum of maintanence, and cranks like RaceFace Prodigy,
Truvativ FireX, and Bontrager Select/Sport/Race can be bought for under $100 with rings and
preform outstanding for mostly-street-some-trails riding.
As for wheels, either spend a tone of money (CrossMax) or deal with an occasional truing. I have
been crazy happy with Bontrager Race Tubeless wheels, but many here will tell you they are ****. If
you plan on going for big drops/Dew riding, they suck, but they are the only XC wheel I've ridden
hard that hasn't needed any work....course, I could just be lucky. They can be had on Ebay for under
200 usually.
Buy the cheapest chain your LBS has, and take care of it.
Anything name-brand will work if you are into only occasional trail riding. If money is no option,
and reliability is paramount, my experience says go RaceFace Next/Turbine for cranks, Shimano XT for
shifters/ders, and Mavic Crossmax wheels. If you want to stay under 400-500 for everything, RaceFace
Prodigy, Shimano LX, and some LX hubbed/Mavic rimmed wheels from the likes of JensonUSA will be
great. Remember that someone will contradict me very soon.
Chris