Hi,

Just building up my first new trail bike in quite a while & could do with a bit of advice please. Gone 29er & bought a Yeti SB95 frame in the CRC sale. I have everything except wheels & forks. Building it up for the mega next year & possibly a couple of enduro races as well as regular trail riding. At 6′ 6″ & 17st, strength is more important to me than weight.

Wheels

Found some Crank Brothers Iodine 2 wheels pretty cheap. Anyone got any experience of these? Seem to remember the freehubs being a bit crap on the first generation versions.

Also, what do you do if you crack a rim, can’t see replacements available to buy anywhere?

Should I just stick with Hope Pro 2 / Flows?

Forks

Looking for 140mm travel. 2 options really:

– Rock Shox Pike RCT3 Solo Air 2014
– Fox Forks 34 29er FLOAT/TALAS 140 CTD Fit Adjust 2013

Would probably prefer Fox, but think I might’ve read that the 2013 range wasn’t great? Any advice?
Is TALAS worth paying extra for?

Think that’s it. Thanks in advance 🙂

Definitely Hope Pro 2/Flows for your weight.

CB Iodine wheels are sh!te IMHO – buy cheap buy twice!

How about X Fusion Trace Forks – 34mm stanchions, mine are excellent and great vfm.

Other than that awful agricultural clatter, Hope / Flows are your best option.

I got a set of 2013 FOX 34 Float CTD’s last year and haven’t been all that impressed with the damping. They dived into the top of the travel too quickly and also getting a decent compression performance without messing up the small bump sensitivity was impossible.

They’ve just been Pushed and they are like another fork. Just what I wanted though lost the simple CTD functionality to gain proper high and low speed damping control. They are great now but obviously it’s an extra cost, it depends whether you like the original tune.

I hear great things from everyone who has Pikes, but not ridden them myself so can’t compare.

I’m definitely keen to try the X Fusions, as I hope that they’re like an old school fork before they got too clever!

I have both forks and although I like them both I would recommend going for the Pike as it’s noticeably stiffer than the 34. It’s lighter too.

I don’t think you can go wrong with Pro2/Flow wheels.

austen – I was thinking about getting my 34 Floats Pushed. I have an Avalanche cartridge in my Pikes so the obvious choice was to get the same for the 34’s, but I’m interested in trying the Push upgrade to see how it compares.

I have an SB95. Got Pikes and Hope/FlowEx. Brilliant.

What front mech (if any) are you fitting? I can give you the details of mine. It’s a bit difficult finding the right one.

A couple of tips for a new SB95:

Disassemble the Switch link and make sure the bearing is fully seated into the bike. With the stop-bolt removed, the whole Switch link should rotate easily by hand. If it’s a bit stiff, the bearing is not fully seated. I carefully reseated mine with a mallet and punch tapping on the outer race.
With the Switch link plates removed, prise off the bearing dust cover and flood the bearing races with a high quality lube. Every month or so, reflood the bearing. Then reassemble and rotate several times by hand. This will prolong bearing life.

Thanks guys, all this info is gratefully received. Quick one regarding the Pikes… I believe there are 2 fork offsets available – 51mm & 46mm. Any idea how you select this? I’ve never seen it offered as an option on CRC etc. Is it just a “get what you’re given” scenario?

Deveron53 – I have a couple of concerns with the SB95.

The first is that the reach is a bit shorter than the 575, although stack is considerably more. Have you noticed it feeling cramped at all compared to other bikes?

The second is whether it will be enough travel for the mega. Guess I won’t know that until I get there (never done it before) but I’m thinking the payoff for having more tyre on the ground will be worth it, hopefully will make me a bit more stable. Are you blowing through the travel or is it OK?

Not planning on running a front mech, gonna go 1×10 with a 40T on the back. Am possibly looking for a chain guide though…

I’m 6’3″ and chose the Large but wish I’d gone for XL. I now run a 50mm Renthal stem (previously 65mm Havoc)and Low rise Renthal bars which seem to be quite comfy. I’d like to shorten the stem even more but will need to move up a size in bike (considering carbon for 2015).

I don’t really notice blowing through rear travel. The Switch Link may help with coping with large square hits. I went for 150mm Pikes because I never seem to get full advertised travel out of any fork!

I think the travel will be fine. 29ers feel longer travel due to the rollover capability. Get some decent tyres. I use the new squishy Minion – very confidence inspiring!

I rode an XL SB95 around the block and it felt like a gate, and I’m 6’5″, riding a L ASR5.

I’d like to have another go on one, getting increasingly 29 curious. Almost never see SB95s on the trail. That CRC price is good. MUST RESIST

On the Pikes with 51mm offset, they are not avaialble from every supplier. I got mine from Bike Discount and they are usually listed as a specific model rather than a model option. The extra offset is well worth it despite slightly increasing wheelbase, the steering is definately improved, in fact it took a few rides to get used to it its so much sharper. I’ve not noticed any downsides with the slightly longer wheelbase, so its all good.

I came off RS Revs whcih have 46mm offset as with all RS forks I believe. I think Fox forks have 51mm offset as standard anyway.

I’ve had a pair of CB iodines without trouble for 4 years. A mate has only had one problem and that was caused by a fat biffa running into him at the mega.

Cheers y’all.

Deveron53 – Are there any warranty issues with going 150mm on the forks? Thought it was 140mm max? Who’s ever going to know… I know but just checking!

Wouldn’t you be better with some high rise bars if you’re wishing you’d gone a bit larger? Always found them to increase the cockpit size a bit.

Super excited to get it built up now 🙂

The difference between L and XL is only really in the top tube length, an extra 20mm, which is exactly what I want. I actually lowered the stem stack height which improved handling at speed with the seat down a bit.

I already received a new triangle due to my pedalling power cracking the BB area! That was before the fork upgrade though.

That certainly is a good price for a frame, now I’m interested in one as I’ve sold my full suss 29er. A few questions, what shock did you get rockitman? If it was the CTD does it have Trail Adjust, is that how all the SB95’s ship?

Those that have one, CTD vs RP23, both are Kashima, there’s about a £100 difference. Looking at 140mm Pikes too, probably from bikediscount. Anyone running less than 140mm forks?

Deveron you mention flooding the bearings with lube, do you mean grease or liquid? Thanks.

I flood the bearings with 3-in-1 oil. Or other heavy-ish oil. I run the CTD in D for everything except fire road climbs where I will stand up for short sections to ease the pain!

OK thanks. Is that with the standard CTD shock, has it got Trail Adjust?