Geo Hacks - Getting experiMENTAL with the Esker Japhy - Lighter, New Bars, Wheels, Geometry and More

[@isaaclavoie]

One of the reasons I *love* this channel is videos just like this. This is what I do with my bikes - swap parts, try new things, then change it all up again - so rad to see it with bikes I'll likely never own and with fancy carbon bits :) Thanks, Steve and keep 'em coming!

[@RideYearRound]

I just had my new wheels built with an HG driver. I think it's still the most convenient for someone who runs a lot of different set ups across their bikes (12 speed, 11 speed, singlespeed, dinglespeed). Also I love how beefy bikes look set up with a full 3.0 on them. Definitely a big difference from a 2.8.

[@hardtailparty]

100%

[@mjojrjr6231]

I owned Marin SQ1 and was tempted to put 2.8 at the back as I think 3.0 will not fit anyway.

[@jadoningalls1205]

Finally was able to snag a big al frame for my first custom build! I appreciate the educational aspect of this channel as much as the specific product feedback. Can’t wait to have a hardtail in my stable again

[@hardtailparty]

Congrats on the killer bike

[@petercroce]

Appreciate you waxing poetic about how you make standards work with hacks and the like. Given the bike shop delays I’ve started working on mine and my family’s bikes, and I’ve run into all sorts of these standards issues. Like you said in the video, I wasn’t all that interested in the Japhy but I figured you’d be dropping some nuggets of knowledge in here that I would want to hear and you did not disappoint!

[@kaedeschulz5422]

I learned a LOT from watching your video's for sure! Very glad to have found you when i started to get into mountain biking when i was looking for a review of the ragley Mmmbop😃 Also Sunrace for example has a 12spd 11-51 cassette for HG freehub bodies :D They are pretty affordable. If one wants a lighter cassette for some reason Garbaruk has good ones cnc machined from hardened steel that only weigh like 300gramms I personally stay with 10 or 11spd it's super cheap and still has a ton of range still. Tire clearance... Yea.. I will not have fun with this problem in the winter when i will build my own frame. Those bars look like Enduro motorbike handlebars SICK🤩 I certainly have to try some 40mm+ Rise bars on my new frame when it's done as I'm limited to at best a 120mm head tube with a ZS44/EC44 tapered headset because of a short steerer tube on my fork. And the stack is only 625mm or so.

[@stevenmeitner8477]

The rebound needle on Fox grip are just plastic. The baggage handlers broke my 34 on a flight. You can buy the needle for like $15, but it's a bit of a pain to change. When I replaced the bottom nut, I used a 36 nut that comes with a cap. Fit right on and protects that plastic needle. Don't overtighten the knob.

[@hardtailparty]

What an awful design

[@ianfurqueron5850]

Another 12 speed hack is running a Shimano cassette/chain/chainring with SRAM shifting. I'm running that now on my Megatower and Chameleon and GX AXS. Shifts perfectly.

[@jeremyatkinson4976]

I well remember IMBA coming to the UK and telling us not to ride in the wet. They were laughed out of court

[@martinshortt7750]

Steve - it would be interesting to see the Japhy with a -2 degree headset - it will slacken the front and steepen the HTA.

[@devinbyrnes8058]

Nice. Can’t wait for the video. Those tires seem so heavy and cumbersome. I would need a demo ride to be sold on them.

[@JohnDoe-zb7dz]

I'm over due for a hardtail party fix. Thanks for sharing this. Really enjoy your vids. Looking forward to the test run.

[@techjeeper8800]

When you talk about +tires it’s hard to imagine how big they really are sometimes. I just got my first 2.6s and they look like dirt bike tires. 27.5x2.6 at that. They do ride smooth though. I have them mounted on 30mm IS width wheels and I can see how 35 or maybe 40 would widen them out more. Overall I still like 2.6 on 30mm though. They are on a 2021 Vitus Sentier.

[@hardmtnbiker]

I went with a 29x2.6” tire on a i35mm rim on my Japhy SS.I totally agree the Ergon GD1 grip is awesome. I also have FR1 grip, great too

[@gusgonzalez1338]

I wish my SC chameleon had a steeper seat tube angle, now I see how I can do it, thanks Steve!

[@prudentiaski]

Love getting experimental with bikes- thanks for the bid Steve

[@William.N]

Well, it wouldn't be mental if you weren't hearing a voice in your head. Sometimes listening to that voice can be a good thing! I really do enjoy these types of videos. It is so helpful to hear your thought process and also get some special tricks of the trade thrown in as well.

[@pauls3616]

Excellent video. I didn’t realize the sram NX had the HG driver. That is awesome. Thanks for that piece of info and the video!

[@JanPippel]

You can go for sunrace cassettes for hg body to…

[@luciomeyer2536]

Dreambuild!

[@jalbrecht55]

One thing to mention - the NX cassette is quite heavy, 629 vs 451 gram for GX- .4 pound heavier. Wish we had more cheap, light, wide range HG options… like microshift for example.

[@JasonLiske]

I’m curious what you think about the falllinesR offset post in that the contact point with the frame is still not changing. Yes Part of me feels like it does adjust your bio mechanics relative to the frame and the cranks and peddling, but in terms of dead weight on the bike balance, how it hits rocks how it overcomes obstacles in the rear end, so much that seems dependent on the specific contact point that’s loading the frame - which is unchanged by the offset seat post. I guess in summary I’m feeling this is 50% effective of the 100% percent needed, what do you think it weighs in at as far as fixing the problem?

[@tylerranes9391]

What do you think of the Hayduke for an all around ripper and bike packing rig as well?

[@lovelightshining4444]

Great bike! Love your channel! Thank you. Blessings eternally.

[@prudentiaski]

Oof that clearance tho! Plenty for dry Arizona but that little clearance would end up either jammed with dirt or even some paint stripped in non-desert area

[@hardtailparty]

indeed.

[@brentvincent4430]

Great honest review

[@bornreckless4788]

Love these episodes! Learned a lot🤘🏼

[@jeangreco8714]

Hi Steve thanks for this great video full of tips and tricks ! :) I actually run a 12 speed nx cassette with an XT derailleur and shifter on my full sus, I didn't even know it wasn't supposed to work haha ! It works almost perfectly, it just has this nasty habit to shift down when reverse pedaling in order to set you foot on the pedal when starting (I don't know if I'm being clear ^^). If you have or someone has a trick to avoid this, it's a minor inconvenience but it can be annoying :)

[@hardtailparty]

shimano and sram play nicer than they want you to think. Check your b tension to see if it's correct.

[@mellissanash7517]

This bike is also in contention for my next bike. Do you think in short cs mode it be fun with full 3.0 fronts & proper 2.6(not one of those small ones) rear or no since it's not full plus rear? Either way excited to see how you like with 3.0s!

[@tomerg2]

Sweet experiment! I was really hoping you were going to go SS too though 😅

[@YoungDoug13]

Buddy of mine needs a dropper that will steepen his effective angle. Looked around for the 9point8, are they actually available anywhere?

[@stephanemartin4733]

The Sram 12 speed shifter and derailleur were working fine with my 11 and 12 speed Shimano cassette.

[@hardtailparty]

Interesting that you've been able to make a 12 speed shifter work with an 11 speed cassette, since the indexing is different.

[@tim3kgt]

banshee is sooo good!!

[@Mkpn74]

What was the bar numbers 40r 9 back 5up?

[@lechprotean]

budget aside, any pros to having HT with a fat tyre in the back vs full sus bike with say both tires 2.4? Would it still be lighter?

[@jlambert7979]

Thoughts on the GT Zaskar Expert?

[@TreFaaborg]

Do you think the stack also feels a little low to you because your height sits near the bottom of the sizing for a Medium frame? I'm 72" and ride a XL frame (not for long) and while my stack is 635, I'm horribly heavy on the hands on flat ground. I've shortened the stem to 40 and am running 25mm riser bars, seat slid forward...still heavy on the hands. 653 ETT

[@hardtailparty]

Actually it's the other way around. Usually stack feels larger when you're on the smaller end of sizing

[@inreellife7372]

@@hardtailparty I wondered if the bike was long in ETT for your torso/arm length (ie. being smaller on a larger frame) if feeling hunched forward would be exacerbated by the low stack height...

[@inreellife7372]

@@hardtailparty does that make sense? If you had longer torso/arms it would straighten your back toward the rear with the same stack height

[@martinsuro3990]

FYI: I run XT 12 speed, cassette-chain-der & SRAM 12spd GRIPSHIFTERS

[@mkhitarkhodaverdian7159]

Brother i have a question! I widen my rear tires and i have 2mm clearance each side and not robbing anywhere but when i turn rear tiers starts to rub. Only in turns but when i go straight again no rubbing. Could it be a loose spokes or what?

[@hardtailparty]

Not loose spokes, wheel flex. All wheels flex a bit in corners, some more than others.

[@mkhitarkhodaverdian7159]

@@hardtailparty so i should change the tire then, also i have a slight wobble in the rim but its not rubbing. Can truing a rim solve the problem

[@jansen1975]

On 350, 240 and 180 hubs it’s so easy to swap to a microspline freewheel. Don’t understand you want to go the NX route other than using multiple wheels with the same cassette. In that case the NX make sense. Or get a Gabaruk or some short 👍

[@hardtailparty]

Due to the nature of my job, I have multiple wheelsets that I swap between all my bikes. The more variety I have in wheelsets, the more experimental I can get for my videos. Being able to have the same cassette on all of them helps a lot. Sure, it's easy to swap a driver, but I have 8 different hubs across my wheels, and buying different drivers for each one and swapping them for each review gets expensive and unnecessarily complex.

[@jansen1975]

@@hardtailparty completely agree, nice solution to do the NX route. If your mixing try a KMC chain. Seems a good fit for SRAM/Shimano combos. Keep up the great videos. Planning on swapping the carbon fully to a Pipedream Sirius…

[@garthgordon9054]

Don’t forget if ur over 25-30 psi the tires will balloon

[@francoisrdt]

Captivating watch, thank you! Seeing you review the Esker Japhy and Stanton Sherpa back to back makes me wonder how they compare on the basis that they’re both 29+ steel hardtails that ride more on the chill side. And both seem quite awesome :)

[@hardtailparty]

The Sherpa fits 29x2.6 max.

[@francoisrdt]

@@hardtailparty You got me! I had overlooked this as 2.6 is probably as big as I’d realistically run my 29er tires. Anyways, watching your vids has been so good while I’m figuring out what my next build is going to be!

[@TimCalvin]

Speaking of stack: I was having a hardtail custom built, and as we worked on measurements and whatnot, I realized the stack we were headed for was 666mm. I mean, cool number, but I was worried as it was so tall (compared to other bikes I had been using for reference). Anyway: I took a deep breath, trusted the builder, and had the bike built. It's frigging awesome. No ragrets whatsoever.

[@hardtailparty]

I love a tall stack too.

[@sixate]

Holy cow, the tire clearance on that frame with the 3.0's. I wouldn't trust that around the block. Lol! More frames need 3.0 compatibility. I recently rode a bike at a demo day with 2.4's and hated it. A lot less grip, was spinning out in areas I stand and climb on my bike with ease.

[@hardtailparty]

I'm a huge fan of 29x3.0s

[@bktsoat]

@@hardtailparty Loved the video. When looking at a frame the first question I always ask is, I wonder if I could jam a 29x3.0 in there? Thanks for answering the question! There's usually a difference between what the manufacturer says will fit v. what will actually fit. I was almost ready to get a Kona Honzo ESD but really wanted to at least put a 29x2.8 in the back. I think Kona says 2.4 but I know a guy who fits 2.6. You don't know until you try. Such great videos. Keep 'em coming!

[@JimLodico]

I have bent four NX cassettes. They all bend in the same place and it’s a known problem. SRAM will replace them under warranty but you have to find a bike shop that will help you and it’s a pain. Looking to move to gx or shamans cassette just to get out if NX but both require different hubs.

[@JimLodico]

Shimano

[@hardtailparty]

Wow. I haven't bent any. Maybe i need to hit the gym so i can put down more power.

[@JimLodico]

​@@hardtailparty I like to think that's it but... It's strange. If you compare the NX to the GX you can see the difference in the build and the lack of support where they bend. I think it's the third ring from the largest. LBS said they I'm not alone. Biggest problem was I was on my third before I found a shop that would help me replace them under warranty.

[@hardtailparty]

@@JimLodico i believe you. I think I've just gotten lucky