[Schultz29]

This is "my" interpretation of the ultimate urban racer/epic fire road bike. The bike has been in the works for a while and replaced an outstanding and reliable Redline Monocog Flight. I did my first urban ride on it last night and it did not disappoint. Acceleration was pretty amazing on this first ride. The Niner carbon fork provides razor sharp steering and when you stand up to pedal the front end stiffness of the 1.5 head tube and carbon fork supply rider with an extra burst of speed. The frame felt very solid as well and the bike was stealthy quiet. I hope to install a nice light rear rack and do some overnight epics this Spring and Summer. In the meantime, it will see many city and dirt miles around my home town.

Frame: Lynskey Ridgeline with added rack and fender mounts.
Fork: Niner Carbon with tapered steerer
Stem: Thomson 90x10 degree
Handlebar: Easton Monkey lite high rise.
Seat Post: Thomson lay back 27.2
Saddle: Old Bontrager carbon shell
Hubs: Hope Pro II (gold) stainless steel freehub
Skewers: DT Swiss 9mm front 10mm rear
Rims: 36 hole, Velocity Dyad, Halo reflective coating, straight gauge spokes
Tires: Bontrager folding 38c
Crank: Shimano SLX
Front Ring: 1x9, Salsa 36t with Salsa Bash Guard
Pedals: Shimano XT
Cassette: Shimano XT 11-34
Rear Derailluer: LX short cage
Brakes: Old BB7's to be replaced with new BB7's as soon as they arrive?
Levers: Paul Love Levers
Extras: Planet bike fender, cane creek bar ends ODI lock-on grips, Incredibell, Knog tail light

Weight as shown: 23.2 lbs.

 

[mellowme17]

now thats slick!
you dont need a bell with those hope hubs! just frewheel... lol

 

[Schultz29]

That's for sure. My hubs seem louder now? Wonder if it has anything to do with the Ti frame and carbon fork? Might need a greasin

 

[rockcrusher]

fancy ass fancy!

 

[Sheepo5669]

Cool bike!

Have you thought about moving your taillight up to clear the fender? Just a thought.

Sheepo

 

[Schultz29]

Cool bike!

Have you thought about moving your taillight up to clear the fender? Just a thought.

Sheepo

I have but I usually roll with a small seat pack packed with flat protection. The light is still visible where it is. Doesn't look like it in the photo though

 

[Sheepo5669]

I have but I usually roll with a small seat pack packed with flat protection. The light is still visible where it is. Doesn't look like it in the photo though

How u likin that taillight? It looks super light and low profile which is good. Is it bright enough? Im on the market for a new one.

Sheepo

 

[Schultz29]

It's a Knog. Very light and bright enough to be visible.

 

[MMcG]

That slick!

Gives me good ideas for my bike. Thanks.

 

[Schultz29]

I sold a pretty nice LeMond Proprad CX bike to fund this project. I used to ride road bikes a lot back in the day but I've never been a fan of drop bars. I've never felt comfortable in hard corners with drop bars. The CX bike also never seemed to do anything very well. It was decent in the flats but sucked most everywhere else. The frame and fork didn't feel sturdy enough for off road and dropping stairs and such around town was unnerving.

For my uses the 29'er platform seems to be the most ideal "jack of all trades" type bike around. I can set this up for epic off road rides, loaded day trips, alley cat races, etc. This will be my "go to" bike for 70% of my riding. At least I hope it will?

 

[metrotuned]

@ Sheepo5669: It appears to be a Knog brand Beetle light. It's a twin diode led. The newer and brighter version is the Frog Strobe, a single newer generation LED. I own both. Just be sure to keep a half dozen spare cr2032 batteries around if you ride night lots. Mine are run at highest flash intensity and do not last the rated run times. Plus they degrade in output as the batteries wear, opposite of what marketing dept. says. Still, the best mini lights on the market.

 

[dirtrider7]

I sold a pretty nice LeMond Proprad CX bike to fund this project. I used to ride road bikes a lot back in the day but I've never been a fan of drop bars. I've never felt comfortable in hard corners with drop bars. The CX bike also never seemed to do anything very well. It was decent in the flats but sucked most everywhere else. The frame and fork didn't feel sturdy enough for off road and dropping stairs and such around town was unnerving.

For my uses the 29'er platform seems to be the most ideal "jack of all trades" type bike around. I can set this up for epic off road rides, loaded day trips, alley cat races, etc. This will be my "go to" bike for 70% of my riding. At least I hope it will?

My comment is...you really get the cycling thing. Cool bike. The 29er is the perfect urban assault city bike and as you say you can mod it in many directions.
I sometimes take my Moto Fly Ti out of town with slicks on it. I lock the fork out and the thing flies along just a notch slower than a road bike which isn't nearly as comfortable.
I do believe drop bars have their place however and I am an avid roadie as well.
cheers.

 

[umarth]

I'm working on something similar (nowhere near as sweet).

Kinda curious as to why you set the fender up like that. Does it keep spray off your back like that?

 

[Sheepo5669]

@ Sheepo5669: It appears to be a Knog brand Beetle light. It's a twin diode led. The newer and brighter version is the Frog Strobe, a single newer generation LED. I own both. Just be sure to keep a half dozen spare cr2032 batteries around if you ride night lots. Mine are run at highest flash intensity and do not last the rated run times. Plus they degrade in output as the batteries wear, opposite of what marketing dept. says. Still, the best mini lights on the market.

Good review. Im sold.

Sheepo

 

[boomn]

I sold a pretty nice LeMond Proprad CX bike to fund this project. I used to ride road bikes a lot back in the day but I've never been a fan of drop bars. I've never felt comfortable in hard corners with drop bars. The CX bike also never seemed to do anything very well. It was decent in the flats but sucked most everywhere else. The frame and fork didn't feel sturdy enough for off road and dropping stairs and such around town was unnerving

Good to know. I recently built a somewhat similar bike for somewhat similar purposes and I used a 29er steel frame and fork and a lot of mtb parts because of what I had in the parts bin and because it would feel more similar to what I'm used to with my mtb. I had thought I was making a compromise over getting a proper cross bike, but without any real world cross bike experience I didn't know and hadn't thought about them being less stiff and less capable of being pushed as far in the mtb direction. Now I feel even better about my "compromise" bike that I've been enjoying so much :thumbsup:

 

[Schultz29]

I'm working on something similar (nowhere near as sweet).

Kinda curious as to why you set the fender up like that. Does it keep spray off your back like that?

No that fender is not perfect. I already had that one and it use to be on my other bike. Oddly enough, the holes lined up perfectly so I installed it. I know a guy that is a carbon fender guru and I talked to him about building another fender. The frame has rack mounts and fender mounts so I just need to come up with a cool design and he can build it. Don't really want or need full coverage. Just enough to keep my butt dry.

 

[None]

Looks even better in person!

 

[Schultz29]

More glamour shots of my new ride. The weather has not been cooperative this week but I was able to get out this morning for a brief spin around my neighborhood "shakedown" loop. This bike really rides smooth. Descending out of my neighborhood, I was able to roll "no hands" on the big hill. The fork tracks like nothing I've ever ridden before. I was looking for pot holes and it rolls over them like they are pebbles. I hit a little piece of singletrack and the fork felt very solid and confident over roots and rocks. Hopefully it'll be dry in the morning and I can really spend some lengthy saddle time on her.

I also installed a new set of B77's last night. I've been recycling the same old set of BB7's for over 6 years and I had no idea how wanky they had become. The new BB7's are very strong and the fresh return spring gave new life to my levers. Very excited about this bike.

Apologies to Lynskey for removing the decals but since this bike will be ridden around town and parked on the street sometimes, I wanted to keep it's appearance on the DL.

 

[prphoto]

just wondering about your wheelset for a lightweight set up arent those heavy ish wheels? why 36h? why dyads? just wondering.

 

[umarth]

Hot damn. I like this.