[jl]

After much deliberation I sent off my down payment for one of these Leviathan things. I went from retro-grouch (steel HT 80mm shock) to "the-unproven" platform. The only 29er I've officially ridden is a roadbike with cyclocross tire. Here goes the blind leap of faith--I hope everyone in this forum is right

I'll keep everyone posted on the details, it will be a few weeks...

How about suggestions for a build? If you could purchase any parts what would you choose. (No Zipp Rims). Please, fill in the blanks...

New Parts Needed
Rims:
Tires:
Disk Brakes:
Bottom Bracket:
Cranks:
Front Shock:

Off of the 26"
Headset: Chris King
Hubs: Chris Kings
Front D: Shimano XTR if it works...
Rear D: Shimano XTR
Rear Cassette: Shimano 11-34
Seatpost: American Classic

 

[anden]

I am sure that will be a great bike.

I don't have much recommendations on those parts except for BB and crankset, from recent personal experience: If you are happy with you 26er's gearing and think that you may not like 10% higher gears on all three chainrings, then you may want non-Shimano - with Shimano it seems problematic to find smaller chainrings. Though I must say that it seems to me that few other 29" riders perceive this as a problem. (20/29/40 would correspond to your old 26" gearing, for whatever it's worth)

 

[donkey]

Rims-salsa's, alex TD-17's, or velocity dyad's. ca't go wrong with any of those.
Tires-try to find some WTB nano's, or some kenda klaws. Both great tires.
Cranks-race face deus, or 2004 xt. Both of these come with BB
Brakes-avid mechanical
Fork-WB, if you can find one, or a Marathon SL from marz.

Should be a great bike, can't wait to see it!

 

[Fattirewilly]

Rims: My Dyads are smaller than the Mavic T-520. Choose the 520 (or whatever its called now) if you like Stans
Tires: Kenda Claw or IRC mythos for Stans. Bontrager up front for no Stans
Disk Brakes: Avid Mechanical if you aren't a weight weenie. Run 180 or 185's up front (if okay with fork manufacturer)

Bottom Bracket:
Cranks:
Front Shock:WB - if you can wait 5+ months...Marathon if you have to have it now.

Off of the 26"
Hubs: Chris Kings : HOPE this is disc, coming from a retro steel 26???

 

[ncj01]

Rims: My Dyads are smaller than the Mavic T-520. Choose the 520 (or whatever its called now)

Mavic A719's. That's what my wheels are being built up with.

 

[jl]

Off of the 26"
Hubs: Chris Kings : HOPE this is disc, coming from a retro steel 26???

Nope, not disc, classis... But you can get new "shells" for less than $50 each and you can get a different color, and number of spokes, thusly the rim question. This seems like a good upgrade to me...

I guess the other question would be 32 or 36 spoke?

 

[Bigwheel]

I guess the other question would be 32 or 36 spoke?

The 36h will obviously stronger but obviously heavier also, but how much for four spokes minus the extra 4 drillings for the addtional strength? Has anyone ever done strength to weight analysis for the different spoke patterns?

I always feel the safest on 36h myself in the super flyweight clyde division. But I ride Mavic Speedcities about anywhere I would want to go also......

 

[03bart]

32f 36r

The 36h will obviously stronger but obviously heavier also, but how much for four spokes minus the extra 4 drillings for the addtional strength? Has anyone ever done strength to weight analysis for the different spoke patterns?

If you drop a gauge in spokes you can go from say 32x14g to 36x15g and still lose weight while gaining strength. Or, so I've read...

B

 

[SingleSpeedSlave]

jl,

What did you pay for the frame? My SS is a 29'er and I am thinking of buying another fully, but my fully is a 26'er now and I'm kinda torn between having to buy a new fork and wheels if I went the 29'er route...

SS Slave

 

[jl]

jl,

What did you pay for the frame? My SS is a 29'er and I am thinking of buying another fully, but my fully is a 26'er now and I'm kinda torn between having to buy a new fork and wheels if I went the 29'er route...

SS Slave

SS Slave,

The cost is $1675. As for fork and wheels, my old '99 Marz is on it's final season. So I was going to get a shock anyway, along with a squishy-bike. But I've thrown all caution to the wind and it will cost me a new set of wheels, and a crankset, and .... I just hope I'm not making a bad investment (I don't think so) moving to a new platform.

 

[drc]

What rear shock are you getting? Is it included in the price?

 

[jl]

What rear shock are you getting? Is it included in the price?

The price does include a shock. I'm getting the 'latest' fox float... I'm not too sure the exact model, but to be honest I don't have a strong opinion on shocks. My current shock has 0" travel . I've only done some test rides on a half-dozen different FS bikes, and they all have had some fox float shock, and they all seemed to work...