I’ve finally got my new Chumba HX2 frame and dragged a load of bits and pieces out of my garage and put it altogether.

The only new bits I needed were a new Hope Headset because the HX2 has a 1.5″ bearing race and a new 73mm Bottom Bracket which I actually didn’t need because the frame actually has a 68mm bottom bracket! Waste of money that was!

I’ve got an Alfine on the way to play with and I’m still considering whether to do a mamadirt and cut the rear mech hanger off?

Looks good. How does it ride?

Well I’ve only nipped round our farm a couple of times as I had a little problem!

My dog has had two general Anaesthetics in two days to repair a broken pin in his elbow and was sitting recuperating in the back of my car today, I jumped on the bike to nip round the farm and 100 yards down the road there was my dog running on three legs beside me! The vet had given me specific instructions to keep him calm and rested over the weekend, Ha fat chance!

The bike itself rides lovely, really nippy and feels like a sturdier version of my old 2005 Gary Fisher Rig.

Looks good apart from the head angle. They’ve gone to all the trouble of a short zs compatible head tube allowing the bars to be at a reasonable height and you’ve gone and added all those spacers 😉

Is that Reba set to 100 travel?

the front wheel appears tucked under some what

Nice frame but not sure the crank shot added much!

The crank shot is taking the piss out of the specs on chumbas website 😉

The forks do look a little tucked under in the photo, I went out and. checked to make sure they weren’t afterwards, they are set to 100mm travel too

Looks good, if sawing off the mech hanger do the headtube cable stops too!

like the standover clearance. the short rear end, the low bb and the paint finish. Not to sure about the head angle though. Guess the HA is to shorten the overall wheelbase. That’s probably a good ride, if a little twitchy but i may be wrong, looks like it’ll be sweet with a 140mm fork.I think the idea of the low front end is because it has a front wheel weight distribution bias.but hey i am no expert.

juiced, I’m looking now at taking Mboys advice and going for the 120mm Reba 29er Rl’s that are on offer @ On One, I reckon it’ll be a good compromise between the 100mm now and the huge travel of 140mm that you’re thinking of! TBH I just sold my last set of 130mm travel Magura Menjas as I wasn’t that happy with all the travel, I reckoned it changed the geometry too much as I was going down hills!

Just got to find a cheap 20mm through axle front wheel, Anyone got a wheel going spare?

Cheap if not a bit heavy:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-20mm-wheel-and-rim
Nice ride by the way, frame looks very smart

Thanks for the heads up about the 20mm axle wheel, bit yeah iirc 321 rims are heavy old beasts and I’m after a 29″ rim rather than having to go to the trouble of rebuilding it all myself.

Just been out for 10 miles or so and it’s all good, so far

It looks pretty good mate, though bikes without any colour on them pretty much always do in my book.

Got to be said that (having owned the same fork) I think you’ve got a bit much air in the negative chamber on the fork, mine @100mm looked longer for definite. Personally, I think that bike looks like it NEEDS a 120mm fork on it, to get the angles right, as it is it looks light it will be a bit sharp steering. I think the problem you had with your Menja’s wasn’t so much that they were 130mm of travel, more that the cr@ppy Magura damping system meant they too readily gave up all 130mm of travel pretty much all of the time. I’ve had a go on some, and I felt the same way, and you know what the weight difference between us is! 😉 Reba’s don’t dive quite so much (as you probably know) and a 120mm Reba is a lovely fork indeed.

On the mech hanger front, personally I wouldn’t… How much does it really offend you? Remember, you’re still experimenting with the bike a lot, if you find you don’t like the Alfine, and can’t stick with SS (knees possibly), then you’ll be needing to stick a mech hanger on it anyway! Versatility is key, and only real SS geeks care about such trivialities as a mech hanger!

Now just stick some PHAT rubber and forks on there, and it’ll be super sweet! 😀

My 20mm axle wheel is still available. Lovely wheel but not so cheap. Open to reasonable offers though.

Thanks for the offer martin, but yeah it is a little expensive for a not so serious a cyclist as myself 😉

Oh and your pictures aren’t available, which could always persuade someone to buy it 😉