[DeeEight]

FINALLY, 6 months after I bought the frame, 8 months after I built the wheels, 18 months after I got the fork... I'm the Jedi Master of procrastination.

I posted about the frame before, its a XL (22" seattube, 24.5" effective toptube) carbon front end, carbon linkage plates, scandium chain and seat stays. X-Fusion shock with their platform valve (4 settings and adjustable rebound), and the stock seatpost clamp were 5.18 pounds. The whole bike as pictured with a bell (which isn't in the pics) is exactly 11.4 kg / 25.18 pounds. The Talas 140 represents 4.1 pounds of that weight, so obviously an X-Fusion Velvet R or Fox F120 would shave me some weight. Maybe an upgrade for later. Its pictured with the fork set at 100mm, but I plan to ride it most of the time in the 120mm setting. Also right now it has a 9speed 11-32 XT cassette on it so I'm running the 10speed DuraAce shifters in friction mode until the 10 speed cassette I ordered arrives.

My initial test ride this morning at 6:30am when I finished building it went well enough that I decided to use it on my morning ride at 10am. And that ride was going great, the bike just rockets along thanks to the QuasiMotos (which grip better than I expected on off-camber hardpack and slickrock trails) and the suspension was working well right up till the moment I hit a G-out and my mid-90s Syncros Hardcore post cracked and failed at the head. That was about 45 mins into the ride. Some zip-ties and a toe-strap were employed to keep the head attached enough to ride out to the road and then back home to get another post, which is when we called the ride on account of the oppressive heat (its currently 42C with the humidex).

Anyway, onto the pictures...

As to the components, well most are pretty easy to identify... and as for the rest, the BB is a Real Titanium square-taper, the hubs are Rotaz, the headset is a Token unit, and everyone is used to seeing me using Hygia Elite brakes on my bikes.

Any questions ?

 

[urbanseeds]

questions:
What's with the twisted spokes? Is it bling or does it have a function? My buddy laced me twisted spokes on my track bike, and just assumed it was bling. Rarely see them on a mountain rig.

 

[DeeEight]

Function... another pattern that lets you lace a wheel without needing an obscure spoke size. With 650B, a 3X pattern needs lengths in the mid-270s and its very hard to find butted spokes like that unless you use blanks and a Phil Wood spoke machine and make your own. In this case, doing it 2X with twisting let me use spokes in the 260s which are pretty commonly available in butted versions. Also from my own experience, it makes for a more durable wheel that requires truiing less often.

 

[byknuts]

yeah, that bashguard's not helping you drop weight either there!
that's a slick build, wish their site had more info, or at least shots of previous years' bikes.

(those seatstays made for 29er? tons of clearance even over the 650B there! )

 

[NTAPHSE]

Sweet build!

 

[umarth]

I like your stem.

 

[DeeEight]

No its made for 26ers, and yes I've told them to update the website. They say its coming. The chainstay clearance for this model is the same for all sizes, the seatstay clearance reduces above the tire (side clearance is the same) as the frame size shrinks. The 16" frame has only about a third of an inch of clearance above the tire, same as the chainstays have at the cross bridge. Which is about the same clearance you get under the brace in a fox fork which is plenty. They don't have any 29er specific frames (the rest of their models are a wide hybrid lineup, plus road, cx, touring and road tandems) but several of the mountain bike frames have clearance for 650Bs. I own three frames (including this one) of theirs that can take a 27.5x2.35, I simply went with the Quasi's to save weight on the build.

And yes, the bashguard isn't saving me any weight but I'm a trail rider, not a racer so I like to ride over logs/fallen trees and you don't always get the benefit of adequate clearance. I also hit my share of rock ledges while climbing technical singletrack. For that matter, I could have gone with an Easton Monkeylite XC riser and saved another 3 ounces of weight over the carbon/alloy bar I did use, but I didn't like how the yellow decals looked on the bike.

I now need to find a 31.6 post that I like the looks of, since the silver thomson pictured actually belongs to another of my bikes. Maybe I'll get another Token carbon fiber post like I use on my Beasley. They're as light as a Thomson and the colours match.

Oh in case anyone wonders, this frame runs $1500cdn and the store that sells them will ship the their frames/bikes. The number is 819-771-8933, and the actual website for the store (not their brand) is actually much more up to date although it doesn't show any of the mountain bikes. If you phone the store, ask for Luc, Dan, or Sebastien.

http://shoppeccos.com/home.php

 

[scottybinwv]

Saaaaaaaawwwwwwweeeeeeeettttt!

 

[derby]

Looks flexy ...........................................................

Great looking HL geo. Nice BB height for rock & root climbing.

 

[DeeEight]

Update :

I got a Recon Ti 11-32 10speed cassette to replace the XT 9sp I was using temporarily, and I got an Easton EC70 carbon post to replace the failed syncros I original built it with. Also have gone to a KMC X10SL chain. I may still upgrade the fork in the next month or so depending on how cheap I can find a Fox F100 RLC or X-Fusion Velvet RL (which are the only forks in white with decals I like to match the colours on this bike that'll clear the 650Bs). That should get me another half to three quarters of a pound off, and I might get an ounce or two more with still yet another post. The EC70 is nice enough but its got this annoying flat groove at the back which is supposedly to keep you from cracking it if you overtighten the seat clamp but really just lets water/dirt into your seattube. And at 400mm its 100mm longer than I actually require for this frame. In any case, as pictured in the updated photos the bike now weighs 24.9 pounds.

 

[ro7939]

Sorry if inappropriate to resurrect this older thread...

In another thread I inferred a member thought this lovely bike too heavy.

IIRC the latest greatest (estimate $8k) Specialized S-Works Epic FS 29er 100mm travel is 21.7 lbs. One presumes Specialized weighed the smallest frame, but in any case certainly no larger than Medium.

I presume the subject Hero build costs about 1/3rd the Epic's epic ticket price. Being XL and weighing only 3 lbs more seems extremely attractive and more than reasonable. I further presume similar build in S or M size would closer approximate the Epic's weight.

The overall build is admirable and original.