[robc in wi]

My 2017 Night Train Express is in route and expected to be delivered tomorrow afternoon. Ordered it (15.5" matte gray) last Thursday so I'm really happy about the prompt shipping considering all of the horror stories in this thread about lengthy waits and delays.
I will be swapping out the heavy saddle and seat post immediately with tubeless conversion and probably a lighter stem and bars. Can't wait to get it on the trails.

 

[Barheet]

I've been riding my new NTX for about a week and here is my initial review:

I bought a Lurch two years ago with the intention of it being a snow only bike, but I never rode my 29er again, so I sold that one. After two years on the Lurch, I decided to upgrade to the NTX. This bike is head and shoulders better than the Lurch. It is lighter, smoother, and feels a bit more stable to me, even with the shorter stem. Mine came in perfectly tuned out of the box. I didn't even have to straighten the rotors or anything. I rode it with the carbon fork for a couple of days, then mounted the Bluto. The Bluto adds a couple of pounds of weight, which is noticeable but I like the cushion during the warmer months.

I ended up putting my WTB volt seat on my Night Train. I did not like the seat that came with the NT, but that's personal preference.

Here are some of the highlights:

Night Train frame: My frame came in perfect condition. No scratches or scuffs. I am so glad I got the matte finish. I did not like the easily scratched finished of the gloss Lurch. The welds look solid and the whole thing is nicely made.

SRAM Guide RS brakes: Holy cow, these are amazing! They are so, so smooth and the power is incredible. I've had hydros before, as well as the BB7's, but these Guides...wow.

1X11 GX drivetrain: I've never had a true 1x drivetrain, but I've always wanted one. This thing is beast. Smooth, quick shifting, no delay. The granny gear is everything I would ever need. There is a bit of tension on the chain in granny. I'm not sure about long-term effects with that, but I don't put it in low very often anyway.

Minion FBF/FBR: These tires are very smooth. I thought they would be like tractor tires. The knobs are big, but they are close together and there is less rolling resistance than I thought there would be. They grip better than the Snowshoes in sand and loose dirt/gravel. I am excited to see how they do in the snow. Still running tubes in the tires. I'll get that converted to tubeless soon. I don't foresee a problem with that.

The carbon fork is fantastic so far, but I have been riding more with the Bluto. I'll switch them out soon for the winter and provide an update. With the carbon fork, the bike handling changes quite a bit and the acceleration is more rapid. This is a 17.5 frame.

 

[tjl5709]

Ordered a 2017 Night Train. They delivered it within 4 days. No issues setting it up. Targeting snow and beach. Looks nice, pretty well kitted out.

 

[oobaa47]

Ntx

Ok, here she is. It's a matte grey large (19") frame with green deity pedals, bars, grips, seat post, seat, clamp, and valve caps. A buddy of mine calls it the Green Goblin. I guess it can also be called the Green Goblin Deity Fanboy model. Bought the bright green duct tape, just need to put it on and convert to tubeless. She tips the scales at 33 lbs exactly with the above components. I'd imagine she'll get about two lbs leaner after tubeless conversion. Loving it so far, can't wait for snowfall!!!!

 

[strengthxcycle]

Still love mine I ride it to work a lot and trails of course... just built up a set of 29+ wheels wow what a good ride with these wheels. They are stans Hugo 52mm rims with maxis chronically 29x3... fast rolling and smooth... I also just threw my rigid fork back on since the snow will be here soon...

 

[Fleas]

05-04-15
...Continuing the Sturgis Bullet review after some tight, twisty PA singletrack.
... and I finally had to get the air side swapped out of my Bluto fork because it just wasn't working. Well now it's working, but I will probably refer to the Bluto Tuning thread for the application of bottomless tokens. I set the sag at maybe 15% with the damper lockout set on 2 (of 5) and it behaved OK, esp. where steering was concerned, but when I hit it hard it blew through the travel quite easily. The fork was very predictable in any case. btw - don't quote that 15% sag... I throw my weight around quite a bit, so it might be a little more when I'm actually riding in an attack position (which I try to approximate during fork set-up).
...
-F
...

Bluto is leaking air. Is this about average for a service interval? It started out new with some kind of leak to the lower chamber that rendered it useless after the first big hit. It was fixed the day before the ride posted above. It's my "other" bike so it doesn't have a lot of long hours on it. It does have some hard hours on it, though.

Since the post above I have installed 3 tokens and am running maybe 70psi. Damper is still on 2. Sag is about 20-25%.

The Bluto has seen axle-high water crossings, and mud, snow, and salt. Usu. put away relatively clean.

Thanks,
-F

 

[Roaming50]

Ok, here she is. It's a matte grey large (19") frame with green deity pedals, bars, grips, seat post, seat, clamp, and valve caps. A buddy of mine calls it the Green Goblin. I guess it can also be called the Green Goblin Deity Fanboy model. Bought the bright green duct tape, just need to put it on and convert to tubeless. She tips the scales at 33 lbs exactly with the above components. I'd imagine she'll get about two lbs leaner after tubeless conversion. Loving it so far, can't wait for snowfall!!!!

That's a really pretty build!

I always thought the grey looked bland but with your colors it looks sharp! Good job.

 

[no sweat]

Searched and can't find the answer, so here's my dumb question of the day: has anyone tried a tubeless conversion on the stock 60 tpi Minion 4.80s?

My (2017) NTB arrives tomorrow...


...and it's here! Out of the box & set up, no issues. As delivered, with tubes, no pedals, reflectors or spoke protector, it's a no BS, no wishful thinking 35.5 lbs (med., 17.5"). Argh. A little stouter than hoped for, although qualitatively the heft seems reasonable for what it is. Those *are* some big ole monster tires, after all.

Some commonly replaced component weights:
Saddle 379g
Seat Post 380g
Handlebar w/grips 464g
Stem, 80mm, 122g
Tubes 445g ea

So there's some help to be had there if one wants to spend the money or needs to change out for fit.

Frame is very nice: Kinesis is doing smoothed welds now, no more "stack of nickels". Top marks, it all looks great.

Wheels are about as expected. Okay to ride on as is, but better if you spend some time truing and tensioning. I did that (no issues) and changed out the black rim strips for red. I found the tires very easy to mount/dismount. A little dish soap and the beads seated with about 12 - 15 psi.

Didn't appreciate quite how loooooong that cage is on the GX rear derailleur. That thing looks a little risky sticking down that far, but we'll see.

Looks like great fun. Now if it would just... stop... raining.

 

[robc in wi]

Yes. I went tubeless on my 2017 NTX about a week ago. Used the orange/red rim strips that came with it, Sun Ringle rim tape, orange sealant. Seated one bead, had kind of a challenge getting the other bead to seat (you need a big rush of air) but in 6 days they haven't lost any air. These 4.8 Minions are really big. I haven't been able to play with air pressure yet but I have them at 8 psi. Looks like they are going to work well tubeless.

 

[bcriverjunky]

Built this for my GF. Tubeless, Carbon BD Fork (not pictured) Carbon bars and seat post, All titanium bolts, Ashima Ai2 rotors, Charge Knife seat with Ti rails, Salsa clamp.

 

[justin70]

Those salsa flip locks are the best

 

[oobaa47]

robc, how much sealant in each tire? I'm going with a very similar set up (sun ringle 80mm tape, orange sealant), I'm just using green duct tape as a rim strip instead of the sun ringle rim strip.....

 

[oobaa47]

bcriverjunky, what did you use for the rim strips?

 

[bcriverjunky]

bcriverjunky, what did you use for the rim strips?

Purple duct tape, Zip Tape and Stans. Must use a tube to seat the bead with these tires.

 

[robc in wi]

4 Oz per wheel. First fat tires I've done but it seems most folks use 2-4 0z.

 

[scottspark60]

^ Ditto :thumbsup:

The stock FSA headset of the Night Train & Sturgis has the following SHIS Codes:

1) Top - ZS44/28.6
2) Bottom - ZS56/40

For the Hope pick n mix headset the Top & Bottom is equivalent to Type 2 & Type E respectively.

May I ask you guys to those who has already replaced the stock headset of their Night Train or Sturgis - may I know what equivalent Chris King or Hope headset did you use? I am planning to replace my stock black headset to blue.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[scottspark60]

Sharing here a photo of my Sturgis Bullet before I replace the crank, chain and cassette this week. It's still gonna be 1x10 but it'll be a black stealth look. After more than 3 months - the tubeless conversion - using 2 layers of 3M tough duct tape, stans valve and stans sealant is still working great!

I'll post an updated photo once the black stealth look is done.

Thanks for viewing and cheers.

 

[Barheet]

I converted my NTX to tubeless with the stock tires and stock rim strips. I just left the black ones on, since they are Sun Ringle.

Procedure was pretty easy.

1. Cleaned rim and rim strip with 90% isopropyl alcohol and a clean cloth.
2. Installed Sun Ringle 78mm rim tape. (I like this a lot better than Gorilla tape. It's lighter and is like packing tape, so it's not going to absorb the sealant.)
3. Installed Stan's 35mm valve stems.
4. Now this was the tricky part with the Minions. I had to mount one side of the tire completely on the bead, pushing it onto the lip of the rim with my thumbs. Then, I carefully put the other bead on without breaking the first side. This was tricky and took me several tries. It took a lot of air to inflate these, and for one of the tires I had to tie on a rope. I'd seen others use a rachet strap that would probably work better, but I don't have one.
5. Once beads were seated, it was easy. I just added my homebrew sealant of 1 T liquid latex and 1 oz windshield washer fluid mixture. I added 3 oz per tire and it sealed right up.

One thing I noted is the Maxxis tubes that were in the tires did not seem anywhere near as heavy as the Surly tubes I have seen. I don't have a scale, so I could be dreaming, but that was my impression.

Bike accelerates notably quicker now. The whole bike feels lighter, but not 3 pounds lighter.

 

[Roaming50]

Sharing here a photo of my Sturgis Bullet...
View attachment 1102847

Nice, I wanted the orange but couldn't get it with the bluto when I bought mine (white). What is the fender you have mounted to the Bluto and does the crown not hit it?

 

[scottspark60]

Nice, I wanted the orange but couldn't get it with the bluto when I bought mine (white). What is the fender you have mounted to the Bluto and does the crown not hit it?

It's a Mucky Nutz fat bike front fender - USD19 from ebay. It's installed under the crown as it has very little clearance and sometimes rubbing the tires if installed in the fork bridge/ arch.