I'm not a SS guy, but I am a Motobecane owner. Post up some picts of your ride.
I'm interested in your color choice.

Rick

 

Nice!

Congrats on the bike. It looks great on paper. 25 pounds is pretty dang reasonable for a low rent bone stock bike. My Monocog 29er broke my scale at 27.5 lbs.

The only major flaw I see is no brake tabs. What were they thinking?

 

I wish that it would have had disk mounts but unfortunately it does'nt. I wanted to try the 29er craze and see if I would like it but did'nt want to spend alot of money. So far so good!!! Thanks guys for posting alot of good info. I have enjoyed reading this forum. Here is the color that I chose.

 

Welcome to the forums calboy! Congrats on that bike. Your first 29"er?

The only major flaw I see is no brake tabs. What were they thinking?

The 42x18 gearing should be a hint
Thinking about a new commuter concept that can handle the road shoulders?

Odd tire choice then, but real cool these are now on the market.
The RLMC29 having this really heavy frame (mine was ~2.9kg/6.4lb), it's not impossible this alu frame is saving 2lb just there. Even the tires could save a bit of weight.
I love the feel of heavy steel (and it rhymes), but $329 for an alu bike... Too bad it's got $40 shipping. Another $240 to Europe of course :-(

 

Cloxxki I think that steel frames are the best for single speeding. I have a late 80's 26" columbus steel frame that is amazingly fast as single speed. I love the feel of the frame response when hitting high speed turns.

 

All my really "fast" feeling bikes have been heavy steel. Especially my '92 Giant Terrago (~$500 bike then) and Redline Monocog. Closest came my custom Duratec alu crosser, which had a lot of high-end alu on a lightweight build.
The Giant even on so-so 1.75" road tires just flew, nearly beating my TCR road bike time trial times, it was sick. And I folded it around a traffic sign pole in a crash with a car :-(

 

calboy you should head out to the Spokejunkies (www.spokejunkies.com) ride at the Wilds this weekend. I am interested in checking out your rig. If you can't make it, we should ride sometime, I am in cincy but always heading out East for riding.

 

Here's mine:

So far I'm very happy with it.

 

Here's mine:

So far I'm very happy with it.

Did that come stock with the black fork and the looong (120?) stem? I like the looks of the white and it'd be nearly as cheap to buy one of these for an off-road fixed gear as to build up a new set of wheels.

 

Did that come stock with the black fork and the looong (120?) stem? I like the looks of the white and it'd be nearly as cheap to buy one of these for an off-road fixed gear as to build up a new set of wheels.

No to both. That's a surly karate monkey fork that I added for the disk brake tabs. I have long arms, but that 120 stem is a bit too long for this bike. I'm going to change to a 90 x 6D (any thoughts on this size?).

 

32x20 @ BEF

I ride a 29er SS in Southeast Ohio and Western WV on a regular basis (including riding once in a while at Bob Evans Farm) and have been pretty happy with 32x20 and/or 34x20 gearing. So your calculations are probably right on!

 

so I got mine tonight

I ordered white, got grey. hmmm.
box was all but destroyed. damn you brown :nono:

assembled it all in about 5 minutes...

No quick release front wheel? WTF, i suggest that future builds charge $20 more and put the qr on.....

headset loose. grease, retighten, still loose. hmmm.
wheels a little out of true so rub brakes. loosen brakes.
headset loose. grease, retighten, still loose. hmmm.

gonna bring it to my shop for a little tune up. probably 50 bucks. still a deal at 410, but a little bummed. I don't blame the seller for the untrue wheels, but the headset and wrong color.....

oh well. will check back in when I have ridden it. Excuse the stupid question, but as a first time single speeder, what gear ratio will I want front and back.

 

Excuse the stupid question, but as a first time single speeder, what gear ratio will I want front and back.

I see you're in Florida. I'll guess there's not a great deal of long and steep climbs like there are in the Rockies. Maybe start out with a 32x19 or 32x18. If you go up to Georgia you might check their local forums and what they run. I started with a 32 and a range of rear cogs. This year I'm a little stronger and braver so I'm running a 34.

 

I set mine up with a 32/20 gearing. And it is so stinkin' fast! Sorry about all the crap you have had to go through. I've been in your shoes........but as soon as you get your bike on the trail you will forget all about the "stuff".

 

hey,
what's the effective Toptube length and actual standover on the 17"?
thx!

 

28.2 lbs

Just got my slate grey L/XL Outcast today. It weighs 28.2lbs on the Ultimate scale. No chance to ride it yet, but it seems pretty reasonable overall - but will need some spoke adjustments etc. before it is ready. As others have said, the stem, bars & headset are junk but the rest is amazingly good for the $.

 

For a 17" frame the top tube is approx. 22.5" (headtube center to seatpost center) and the standover is 30"

 

i'm in NW florida. i run at minimum a 32x18. i'm at 32x16 now but only because i couldn't find a 17. the 16 is fast but my knees get punished.

 

I got mine last week and put on a nice wheelset on there, I am running it 42-22 on memorial trail in Red Wing MN which is rather hilly, I will probably walk a little but on it's first trip it seemed ok

 

So does anyone have the stock weight of the bikes???
Im very curious!!!

edit: oops ddnt see above post.

If a 29r is 28 pounds, how much would the 26r outcast weigh?

And has anybody weighed it without the heavy kenda nevegals and something a bit lighter?

 

If a 29r is 28 pounds, how much would the 26r outcast weigh?
lighter?

All being the same, on a bike such as this one, my educated guess would be 3/4 pound lighter.

 

Too bad it's got $40 shipping. Another $240 to Europe of course :-(

Not even.
I asked and they told me "no international orders".

 

So does anyone have the stock weight of the bikes???
Im very curious!!!

edit: oops ddnt see above post.

If a 29r is 28 pounds, how much would the 26r outcast weigh?

And has anybody weighed it without the heavy kenda nevegals and something a bit lighter?

My 21" was closer to 26 lbs. when stock. A few others reported 25 lbs. Obviously there is error between the different scales used. I think, realistically it is between 26 and 27 lbs.

 

Not even.
I asked and they told me "no international orders".

I meant shipped from a friend in the US to us. Brave that you even asked

The cooler a deal, the least interesting it is to have it shipped to Europe due to shipping costs. We better find an address for Redlines.

 

32x20...

I ordered white, got grey. hmmm.
box was all but destroyed. damn you brown :nono:

assembled it all in about 5 minutes...

No quick release front wheel? WTF, i suggest that future builds charge $20 more and put the qr on.....

headset loose. grease, retighten, still loose. hmmm.
wheels a little out of true so rub brakes. loosen brakes.
headset loose. grease, retighten, still loose. hmmm.

gonna bring it to my shop for a little tune up. probably 50 bucks. still a deal at 410, but a little bummed. I don't blame the seller for the untrue wheels, but the headset and wrong color.....

oh well. will check back in when I have ridden it. Excuse the stupid question, but as a first time single speeder, what gear ratio will I want front and back.

32x19 might be better for you down south.

Welcome to the dark side, John. You gonna ride that thing at Felasco next year and cramp up with the rest of us? Hope you get the issues straightened out easily.