During the off season I decided to address some of the issues I experienced with the bike on the last two trips. This took quite a bit longer than expected because of Noel and co decided to throw a monkey wrench into my budget with the Fugitive.
As previously mentioned, I had added 20mm of headset spacers under the stem to raise the stack height up a bit. Obviously this is less than ideal for several reasons so the first thing I did was swap out the SixC handlebars 20mm rise for a pair of Next R bars with 35mm rise. It kinda bummed me out to lose that little bit of blue so I slapped on some new ODI Vapor grips in blue. Problem solved. With the taller bars installed, I was able to remove the 20mm spacers out from under the stem and go back to a total of 10.
Over the past few months I have come to discover all that is awesome about the new Specialized Eliminator tire; specifically in the front. It rolls fast and grips well in the loose, dry terrain we have out west. So I removed the front Butcher and installed the Eliminator in the new BLK DMND casing. Not sure why they couldn't just spell it out completely but oh well. The sidewalls are much thicker than the grid casing so it gives me some additional puncher and pinch flat protection. Still running the Maxxis aggressor DD rear. No tire inserts.
Next change was to the brakes. I found myself wanting a little more power in the rear than the Magura 2-piston had to offer. I had a really hard time getting a good bleed on the Magura carbon master cylinders for some reason as well. Their trail sport masters have no such issues and felt great. Still using them on my Fugitive. I also smoked my rear rotor in Kernville so some additional heat dissipation was on the menu. I went totally out on a limb here cause I've never ran a full set of the latest hope brakes but they have such a great reputation and I love how serviceable they are so I took the plunge on a set of E4's. Again, I lost some subtle blue accents that previously existed on my Magura's so I swapped out the bore caps and adjustment knobs for blue. Not one for convention, I elected to skip the Hope rotors. Something about them just bothers me. I've had my eye on a set of floating rotors from Galfer for a long time but up to this point they've only imported them with green anodized pins. Hard pass. But thanks to fellow Knation member in Poland, Piotr Starzecki, I was able to score a set of their 203mm rotors with blue pins. Thanks Piotr!! I combined these with a set of the Galfer pro pads.
My next changes were more subtle and drive train related. Honestly if I hadn't come into these on another bike deal I probably would've left it alone but I swapped out the previous GX 1x11 setup for a X01. Since I already had the XX1 cassette, the only noticeable difference is shift lever feel. The X01 lever just has a better feel to it. While I was upgrading the drive train, I took the opportunity to try out something new to me; a KMC black DLC chain. I have to say, I'm pleased with the initial quality and it adds a more purposeful look than the chrome SRAM chain it replaced. My favorite part of the new drive train though are the blue anodized JRC ceramic bearing pulley wheels. Just another very subtle blue accent like the rotors but I like it.
The cranks and BB are also new. Cranks are the same manufacturer and model but an updated design. e*thirteen components had a run of bad arms that were produced back in 2016. The set I had installed when I initially built the bike fell into this group. A few quick emails and photos to Cory over there and I had myself a brand new set of cranks. The bottom bracket is by BBinfinite and utilizes their ceramic bearings. Again, probably not necessary for a park bike but I wasn't about to let it go when I sold my GG recently. Made sense to swap it out for the raceface unit I had in there previously.
One thing I forgot to mention on my last update was the wheels. When I first built the Delirium, I mounted a set of stock i9 Enduro wheels. These were the older ones with 26mm rims. Since I hate big logos on my components and I'm a huge believer in 30mm rims, I immediately looked to swap these out. I ended up landing on a set of RaceFace ARC 30's. Light, strong, inexpensive, durable brushed finish, and a very stealthy look once the decals are removed. At the same time this was going on I stumbled across and other set of i9s for another build I was doing for my girlfriend. These just so happen to come with blue hubs. Well the blue didn't match her build at all and obviously I couldn't let those go to waste, so after a little swapping of parts, I had my wheels built with the ARC 30's, blue hub shells, and new ceramic bearings. The final touch came after I read an article on MTBR I believe about how presta valves actually serve no purpose on modern mountain bikes. Growing up racing BMX, I always hated presta so this really convinced me to look into moving to Schrader. Low and behold, Stan's makes tubless Schrader valves for fat bikes. With a little creative drilling, they mount right up to the ARC 30's. Threw on some blue valve caps and done. I'm now running Schrader on all my bikes. Suck it presta!
Next I added a Push ACS coil kit to the front fork. I've been running coil for over a year now on my trail bike and really wanted the same sensitivity on the front of the Delirium. More on this later.
I got the bike done exactly one day before heading up to Moab a few weeks ago. Moab having the reputation that it does, obviously I wanted to ride my "big bike". Well life had other plans for me. Unfortunately (and also luckily) about 1.5mi into the Porcupine Rim trail on day one, my left side pedal failed on me. The body retaining bolt broke off inside the spindle. So I don't have much feedback to provide on the latest build update. However, I can confirm that carrying the Delirium (or probably any full suspension MTB) up this trail sucks total ass! I can also say that I honestly didn't feel all that comfortable on the delirium. At this point, I'm chalking it up to the big change with the fork. Well, maybe that and the 6 months since I'd last ridden the Delirium but whatever. First, my fork was previously set to 180 and the ACS is only available up to 170. So the geo of the bike has changed slightly. 2nd, I believe my initial attempt at a spring rate was a little too soft. I can blow through 90% of it just by pumping up and down on the bike in the street. Fine for a trail bike but I think I need a little more support on my park bike. I'll be changing the spring soon and adding some pressure to the bottom out chamber. If that doesnt work, I'm thinking of pulling the kit out and going with the new Vorsprung kit in 180. It has a hydraulic adjustable ramp up for the final 2 inches of travel which sounds nice.
Just when I thought I was finished and ready to set the bike aside for the weekend, a little package from DEITY Components showed up in the mail yesterday. They completely rebuilt my pedals with new spindles, bearings, seals, and hardware free of charge! The pedal bodies and pins transferred over. Thanks to Angel at Deity for getting these back to me so quickly!
Well the plan now is to take the bike out this weekend on some of my local trails to test out all these changes and see what works and what doesn't. Wish me luck.
