[Guerdonian]

Hello Chaps, here is the build thread for my brand spankin new FORM Prevail.

Here is the build:
Frame: Custom Geo Ti Prevail (details below). Paragon Hooded Sliding Dropouts. Over-sized Head Tube for Tapered Steer Tube. Post Mount Slider for Rear Break. PF30. Dark Bead Blast "Decals", Copper Head Badge
Fork: 2012 Fox FIT F29, RLC, 100mm travel, Tapered, 15mm Thru Axle, Custom Gryphon Decals
Wheelset: Sunringle Black Flag Pro 29er, Tubless setup
Drivetrain: Full SRAM X-9, 2x10. PF30, 11-34 Rear Cassette, KMC X10SL Gold Chain, 28x42 Crank, 175mm arm length.
Brakes: Shimano XT M785, 160mm rear rotor, 180mm front rotor
Cockpit: Chris King IS-7 Head Set, Thomson X4 90mm 0deg Stem, Awnser Protaper Carbon Bars, Cankbrothers Iodine Foam Grips, Custom Form Top Cap
Tires: Kenda Slant Six UST 2.2
Seatpost: FORM Titanium
Saddle: Specialized Phenom 145mm, Ti Rails

Daryl did a spectacular job helping me setup the geometry I desired. I did not want some thouroughbred, uber light, fairy mobile, but at the same time i didn't want a "all mountain" piggy. I wanted a working mans trail steed, a hardtail to do anything I wanted with, while remaining light and nimble enough to race. I was thinking of some magical combination of my Karate Monkeys feel, and my Enduro's "toss-ability" for tight and technical terrain. I also wanted a shorter cockpit with big bars, and a nice stable downhill ride. A tall order of goldy-locks like requests of "not to heavy, not to light, not to soft, not to hard, etc..." The Geo he came up with looked excellent; and with a round of tweaks became exactly what i wanted. 70.5 HTA, 73 STA, 17.7 CSL, 43.4 Wheelbase, 23.6 Effective Top Tube, 12.3 BB height, 30.4 Stand Over. FORM (Daryl's) Customer service was top notch, I truly felt like I was getting the custom experience (again, this is my second bike from him). I have not gotten it weighed yet, so that will be posted in a couple days.

Maiden Voyage will be Friday or Saturday, finished the build last night at 9:00, and won't be able to ride tonight its killing me looking at this sex on wheels waiting to be ridden. One more day! I can make it :crazy:. Ride report to follow.

Now for what you really wanted to see:

 

[Guerdonian]

Note: I am not a professional photographer , so some things were hard to capture, like the decals. Feel free to ask for any more pics if you want to see the detail of something.

 

[Guerdonian]

Finally the ride report. I rode the daylights out of this bike over the weekend; probably logging 60 to 70 miles on it total.

First ride was 15miles-ish with 2 steep and technical hill climbs, a fast and rocky decent, and some rock stares. Second ride was around 30, with a bit of everything. It included a lengthy 7ish mile low grade uphill, a tight 3 mile switchbacky uphill, a few intermediate level technical sections, a more steep rocky decent with tight switchbacks, and then back to a lowgrade groomed decent. Third ride was the same as the first with an additional 5ish miles of smooth singletrack mixed into it.

So what did I think… Best money I have ever spent on a bike period. This bike is a rocket, and the geometry resulted in exactly what I hoped for. It felt natural from the start, and after a couple hours saddle time and some fiddling with the cockpit and seat position, it is perfect. It is great to get on a new bike and not have the tentative dating butterflies all over again. There was no "You look nice tonight" or "I am sorry, I guess I was moving too fast" or "well hopefully we can do this again soon"….. Skip strait to the "we are sole mates, you are the one for me, lets get married…. tomorrow" This bike is the titanium version of "Lady on the streets, freak in the sheets" Looks amazing just sitting there, but will blow your mind in the dirt.

Aheeem now that I done on my slightly awkward proclamation of love, here are the details. This bike has amazing acceleration and lateral stiffness, a great "pedal and go" feeling. The tapered head tube and the PF30 are both new to me on a mountain bike so I can't point at one thing and say "that specifically made ___% difference" but the whole package adds up to confidence. What is excellent is despite the great lateral stiffness, the vertical compliance is very comfortable. The smaller diameter seat stays and titanium seat post provide the Cush I was hoping for to prevent my rear from getting totally sore after long rides. Several sections of trail are very choppy from horses riding in the wet, and though it still wasn't comfortable it was tolerable enough to sit in the saddle and not ride miles out of it. The standover was a nice plus.

Handling was extremely intuitive. Though still not as nimble as my 26er on the tight switchbacks and technical sections, I was able to complete them all without putting a foot down, and it required less man handling of the front end as I have experienced on other 29ers. On the very steep, tight, out of saddle, butt tickling uphills it felt a little sluggish, this could have been partly due to my out-of-shapness, or the gearing. My Prevail was more than competent on the tight and rough terrain, and once I get a solid season of riding on it I am sure I can tackle anything with prowess, but it did not feel quite as nimble/light footed as my carbon 26er; understandably.

This bike truly shines at going freaking fast!!! This monster rails the corners and burms, shreds the groomed and smooth sections, gobbles up the loose pack, annihilates the climbs. I tried to get a good spread of terrain, and with everything I felt like I was holding back the bike, not vise versa. Like riding a trail eating dragon and trying to slow it down before it eats you too. I honestly have never ridden my local trail sections that fast, and this is with only 3 days of riding. The handling is rock solid at high speeds, and on the rough.

Three words to best describe this bike: SuperFast, Responsive, Stable.

I could blabber on and on, and would be happy to answer any questions, but I feel like I am starting to get a little romantically long winded on the subject.

Components:
The Kenda Slant Six tires are my new favorite tire. They have no dead spot; this combined with the lateral stiffness of the frame allows me to lean the bike over pretty quick and steep without the "oh sh!t where did the traction go" feeling some tires give you prior to hitting the side knobs.

The XT brakes live up the hype 100%. The phrase "Game Changing" is truly applicable. After the initial break in period, the bite is off the charts. A true 1 fingered breaking system with no heat fade.

TheSunringle Black Flag Wheelset is awesome. The tubless setup was a piece of cake since they licensed the Stans rim patent. When holding the bike and "pushing" the crank sideways I don't see significant deflections in the wheel. The hub is loud enough to feel quality, but not too loud to be annoying, and the engagement is very solid. The hubs also look very nice as they are almost the same color as the Ti frame. The wheels are stiff enough to contribute to the solid feel of the bike, and not detract from it.

The Fox 32 Float RLC is great but I don't think it's perfect. I am still fiddling with the inputs to get a good mix. With the sag set properly it droops a bit on descents; like I am taking up 75%+ of the travel when on the steeps. I do notice a difference with the kashima coating, the fork feels lively and working constantly rather than sticking. The lockout is good, but not as adjustable as I would like, and the compression isn't very linear, and feels rather on/off. I still need to mess with it more. I am well satisfied, but need to do some tweaking to get it exactly where I want.

The Sram X9 2x10 drive train isn't new to me, and performs exactly as I expected. Solid shifting through and through; I prefer the solid sledgehammer shifting feel, over the more delicate ninja shifting of shimano.

 

[meltingfeather]

Really nice bike!
I built my Ti HT (Kona Raijin) last night too.
You sure those Kendas are UST?

 

[JFryauff]

Wow! Looks great, nice work Jon. :thumbsup:

 

[Guerdonian]

Really nice bike!
I built my Ti HT (Kona Raijin) last night too.
You sure those Kendas are UST?

Thanks! UST/DTC/SCT one of those. Whatever it was the bead was a b!tch to get over the rim.

 

[ssalmons]

Nice looking bike, your custom frame is almost exactly a Salsa Selma Ti.

 

[Guerdonian]

Nice looking bike, your custom frame is almost exactly a Salsa Selma Ti.

Well i hope its a little more different than almost

No hate on the salsa, its a good bike, but this one I was able to input exactly how I wanted everything. Its my specialty made 1 off frame, where as your salsa (while a good frame) is yours and several others.

 

[rockcrusher]

Nice looking bike, your custom frame is almost exactly a Salsa Selma Ti.

In what way? The fact that they are titanium? Or the fact that they are mountain bikes? Good eye!

 

[Guerdonian]

Pick of it nestled into the quiver.

I will take some more detail shots tonight; requests?

 

[ssalmons]

In what way? The fact that they are titanium? Or the fact that they are mountain bikes? Good eye!

70.5 HTA, 73 STA, 17.7 CSL, 43.4 Wheelbase, 23.6 Effective Top Tube, 12.3 BB height, 30.4 Stand Over

These are the geometry numbers on Salsa's website for 18" frame:

71 HTA, 73 STA, 17.3-18.0 CSL, 42.75-43.42 Wheelbase, 23.6 Effective Top Tube, 2.36 BB drop, 30.4 Stand Over

I like the PF30, I'm suprised the Salsa is missing this feature because the Mamasita has PF30. Someday I hope to afford a sweet Ti bike like yours!

 

[Guerdonian]

70.5 HTA, 73 STA, 17.7 CSL, 43.4 Wheelbase, 23.6 Effective Top Tube, 12.3 BB height, 30.4 Stand Over

These are the geometry numbers on Salsa's website for 18" frame:

71 HTA, 73 STA, 17.3-18.0 CSL, 42.75-43.42 Wheelbase, 23.6 Effective Top Tube, 2.36 BB drop, 30.4 Stand Over

I like the PF30, I'm suprised the Salsa is missing this feature because the Mamasita has PF30. Someday I hope to afford a sweet Ti bike like yours!

Oh boy, since this is my thread I would like to keep things civil, it hasn't gone south yet, but it could.

Yes many of your geo numbers are similar; I get it. But I helped choose / approve of a lot of my numbers, and they are more built to me, not built to spec. I guess I unknowingly worked toward numbers similar to that on the salsa.

Like I said, no hate on the salsa. There are many differences with mine to yours, they are details and you pay for the details. I am 100% confident that if they were held side by side, they would look extremely different to the devoted mountain biker, but similar to the less trained eye.

I do however equate your statement to going through the entire process of baking a cake with love and care, and a person showing up to your house with a slice from a bakery and saying "same thing eh?" would be hard not to take a little offense.

 

[ssalmons]

I do however equate your statement to going through the entire process of baking a cake with love and care, and a person showing up to your house with a slice from a bakery and saying "same thing eh?" would be hard not to take a little offense.

I see your point and I am sorry if I offended you.

 

[Guerdonian]

No prob man, glad you get it.

Lot of love already wrapped up in this beast.

 

[JCSoCAL]

Congrats again! I can't wait to get mine soon. Should be finished in the next couple of weeks.

 

[dubdryver]

Great looking bike! Thats a 400mm post right?

 

[spoe]

nice! :thumbsup:

 

[Guerdonian]

Great looking bike! Thats a 400mm post right?

Not positive, but looking at a measuring tape I am going to say yes. I can double check tonight.

 

[jtmartino]

Man that is a badass bike. The build and colors work really well together. Congrats, and looking forward to the ride report!

 

[MendonCycleSmith]

Sweeeet!

Too bad it's not Fat.

Enjoy the crap out of it!!