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Hail all, I recently bought a frame to build, and I’m curious about peoples’ opinions about aesthetics and the like. I bought the frame off of eBay back in April and have built it up since. I’m using Shimano’s XTR M980 component groupset, with other lightweight components that I felt were reasonably priced. I’ll include pictures, so let me know what you think, please. The frame itself is actually 13 years old, but it’s never been used to build a complete bike, so whilst it’s not ‘new’, it’s new for a complete build.
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Nice looking bike!
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Well thank you. It took a bit of time to put together, but it’s worth it. I still need to change out the rear shock for a Cane Creek DBInline, but that will be later. The shock on there now is rather stiff, but that’ll be a 500 dollar expenditure after I pay off my creditors for this build, haha.
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That looks nice, can I ride it? How come the shock is stiff? Have you serviced it? I know when I take my usual 2 weeks to overhaul my bike in Feb, I break down the suspension and change out the seals and fluid. The shock feels incredible after the fact. Also saves instead of sending it in.
I use Silkolene Pro RSF in the shock body for dampening and then the Fox Float fluid in the can, simply because the pack comes with the seals. Just FYI there in case you decide to do it.
But hey, get the Cane Creek if that is what you’re aiming for …it’s your build so personalize that bad boy to your liking. Which reminds me, I’m going to start a build when I get time. Really want too.
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Well I’ve ridden several rear air shocks and this one was, by far, the stiffest of all of them. It’s a Fox Float RL, and I checked the air spring pressure, which was actually quite low, maybe around 25psi. I pushed down on the back end after I had both wheels to mount, and it was still a bit hard to compress. I’ve done the same thing with other bikes I’ve had where the shock was set to a similar pressure, and not had nearly the same resistance.
To answer your other inquiry, no I’ve not had it serviced. To be honest, I don’t plan to. I’m on a rather limited budget and would rather not bother, spending that money in other areas. The shock doesn’t leak, and it still works pretty well. I just pumped it up less than I would other shocks I’ve tried and it does feel fairly smooth. And yes, on the new shock front, I’ve a Cane Creek DBInline on my big hit bike and it feels worlds apart from this one. So I do plan on upgrading to another one of those.
Thanks for your insights, and I’m glad that your maintenance schedule serves you well. I don’t need to service my equipment very often. Usually because down here in Florida, the weather doesn’t permit me to get out to go riding. I’m restricted to weekends, and much of the time, especially this year, it’s raining almost everyday so my local trails are either underwater, or so wet that they’d otherwise be damaged if I tried to go.
As for riding it, I’d be happy to let you try it out to see what another rider thinks of the feel. I think other than the slightly stiff rear shock, the thing feels amazing as a whole. I can’t wait until I can actually get a chance to take it to a trail to really give it a go. 😀
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That’s cool, I understand about the limited budget. I just do my own maintenance because I can and saves money, lol. As for the weather, I grew up in Jax Beach, so I was used to the 2pm daily showers, but yea, when a storm system moves in, its water for a while. Hopefully, you get a break and get some mileage in. I know when we get a lot of rain here as we have had, it drives me crazy!!! Take care.
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Well all, I have finished my build. I’m using a Cane Creek DB Inline shock as my rear shock, as well as various titanium bits from headset spacers to the ODI grip screws, not to save weight as such, but so they don’t rust as ODI’s grip screws do. It’s now a finished build. Please tell me your impressions, and critiques. I’m also now using Hope rotors that I read on many forums wouldn’t fit, but they fit well, and work even better than the Shimano XTR Centrelock rotors I had on there.
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It’s a gorgeous setup! Just wondering, did you want the bars that high or did you just not want to cut the steerer tube?
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Hail, thanks for responding. I posted an explanation of the handlebar height and why I didn’t bother cutting the steer tube more. Thanks again, for your inquiries.
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Double post. Sorry.
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Do you have a handle bar pic?
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A little bit of both, if I’m completely honest. I have two other bikes, one big hit 160mm travel model, and a hardtail, and both have 40mm riser handlebars. I like the upright position they put me in, and I kind of went with that with this new one. Those bikes both have Spike Spank Evo777 bars. This new frame that I decided to build up I had bought from eBay. I didn’t want to spend a tonne of money so this seemed like the best bet. After I had bought the frame I started reading reviews and reports from people who had owned the original models of this frame in complete bike form and they were complaining of seat tube, and read swing arm cracking. Again, this was after I had already purchased the frame, so in the back of my my mind, there was always this lurking fear that the frame would destroy itself if I looked at it the wrong way. With that in mind, I was always thinking that I would have to buy another frame and transfer over all of the components I had outfitted this one with. As such, I left the steer tube mostly uncut (I had my guy at the LBS cut it a bit), just in case I had to transfer it over to another frame. It was something of a small miracle I was able to find this fork in it’s configuration in this colour, and I didn’t want to have to bin it if the frame went bang. This new bar is a Renthal Fatbar Lite Carbon from the UK. It’s a 30mm rise, and is incredibly comfortable for both in the saddle pedalling and getting up and standing on the pedals for riding over trail features. I shall include a picture for your viewing pleasure, haha. Oh yes, the length of the bar is the factory 740mm length as well.
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NIIICE!!! Those NSB caliper mounts are nice too. Good pick on there. Looks like the rear brake line is a little long there, but hey is what it is I suppose. Bike looks great and glad that you got your project knocked out. I want to do a build, more particularly a Fatty, but I just don’t have the time. I still have trails on here that I need to review lol. Congrats again!
Take care,
-GT
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Hi, thanks for responding. Yes it is long, and I do aim to have it shortened. My local LBS guy doesn’t have the necessary tools to shorten the cable and I daren’t do it myself. Unfortunately, the next closest bike shop is over 40 miles away and I reside out in the country so I don’t get out that way extremely often.
Yes, I use North Shore Billet caliper mounts on all 3 of my bikes. They do cost a little more, but they’re worth it because they shave every milligram of weight possible, and is the only reason that Hope front rotor actually fits without rubbing issues I’ve read about around the web.
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Greetings, all, well the build is finally finished after several months. I decided to convert to a 1×10 drivetrain, seeing as I rarely ever used my big and small chainrings. I looked around fairly extensively and decided on Hope’s (I’m a big fan of Hope) 30t chainring up front and their 40T-Rex rear expander cassette cog. I rode it on the trail for the first time and it was aces! I’d heard about the benefits of converting to a 1×10 but never imagined it would be this good. You will also note that I had the steerer tube cut down to allow 2 10mm spacers and the rear brake cable is now a proper length. Please do let me know what you all think. Many thanks!
EDIT: Unfortunately, my photo sharing site isn’t working correctly at the moment. Let me try Google’s photoe sharing service. Please look at the link to see my shared photoes.
https://goo.gl/photos/GDxzSsJ3B32q8q2h8
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Since I cannot apparently edit my post after a few minutes, here is the link with all of the photoes of the new drivetrain via Google’s photoe sharing service. Please let me know what you think!
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