Considering a full suss, prefer my own build as i can source the bits myself and i know what works for me. just unsure on frame, keen on pivot 429 sl but the frames don’t sound that light, scott, santa cruz, niner all seem very expensive. canyon appeals but don’t see many around and unsure on real world weights are accurate. Budget of around 2k, so no trek superfly project ones

chris-noble-mtb.blogspot.com

What I have…..
Rock element in the frame only 999 builds to 10kg if you get it right…

I became a bit obsessive about this and was willing to spend on lightweight carbon but didn’t because I didn’t like a lot of the geos available.

I think the choice for £2k boils down to frame only alloy spearfish or complete Giant Anthem and change what you can afford for light bits.

I went the Spearfish route and love it. The alloy is only 225g heavier than the carbon but £1,000 cheaper. It’s possible to build to 25.5 real world pounds with Crests, 1x, KCNC etc, Conti protection tyres, normal cassette, comfy saddle etc. Decent wheels, cassette and tyres can get it very close to 24lbs (with shimano pedals)

I like the look of the whyte m109 – if it rides similar to the 29c it will be awesome. Hoping to get a test ride soon.

~Otherwise – older 29er anthem with lots of nice upgrades?

My scales lockout has been perfect for 2 years. The only issue with it is forgetting to turn it off for a descent and having hurty wrists. This happens more often at trail centres than during a race as I’m concentrating in a race.

I readjusted my post to take account of the £2k! Glad to hear the Scale lockout is reliable but I am really crap at remembering anything like this when racing hence why all my remotes have been sold and RCT3 run in light platform has replaced them.

yeah all the knobs and levers put me off on sparks, quite long for me, scalpel is an option but i warrantied 2 lefty’s before. spearfish is mega money for carbon, might take a look at alu. cant get a wyhte frame only i don’t believe, forgot about the yeti, mega money i expect as a boutique brand. shame epics arent frame only, there pricing seems a lot now a days

wow 2700 for yeti asr c! full bouncey is expensive!

If you’re looking for Medium size, Turner are offering Czar frames on their website for $1800 – might come in under budget with shipping and tax?

^ just check the geo. I SO wanted one of these to replace my Flux but it almost looks like they put the ‘wrong’ seat post length on them. 🙁

I would say pedalling characteristics would be more important than weight for an xc race frame. I haven’t tested a huge number of frames but i’d be looking for something with a DW-link type setup as they seem to really favour hard pedalling efforts. All my 4-bar frames have felt ok if you are smoothly spinning a decent cadence, but as soon as you get out of the saddle for a steep climb you have to reach for the lockout which is a pain when racing.

Orbea Oiz? BMC? Felt Edict? Merida? Although some of these don’t appear to come as frame only sometimes it is worth talking to the distributors as the can sometimes get hold of a frame only if you asked nicely (at least when I was looking about a year ago). Some of the cheaper models also come in under budget as complete bikes…

That said, I’d love to try a Pivot 😀

Save loads of money and buy my salsa spearfish for sale in classified’s 5.2 lbs inc shock

I would say pedalling characteristics would be more important than weight for an xc race frame. I haven’t tested a huge number of frames but i’d be looking for something with a DW-link type setup as they seem to really favour hard pedalling efforts.

Agreed – the split pivot (by DW) rear on the later Spearfish weighs a bit more but is very impressive – seems better than my Flux ‘proper’ DW.

How are you getting a rocky mountain element to that weight

Rock element in the frame only 999 builds to 10kg if you get it right…

It’ll build to 8kg if you build it right. Fairly pointless comment.

What about buying a complete bike and selling parts? Opens up far more options, particularly if you can sell bits to end up back near £2k. Superfly, Spark, Anthem Advanced etc, all far more viable that way.

It seems counter-intuitive to be buying bits to sell at a reduced price but presumably the loss is offset by the buying power of the manafacturer?

If that’s the case the best option is the lowest spec model with the same frame?

Having recently got an Anthem, I reckon it could be built into quite a flying machine….

Having owned and lightened an L Anthem 29er to 24.25lbs in a rudimentary way over the last few months, I agree with iainc albeit in the right hands of course!

In addition, the maestro suspension has a superb vpp platform to it

It seems counter-intuitive to be buying bits to sell at a reduced price but presumably the loss is offset by the buying power of the manafacturer?

Depends on the bike. Take Spesh – the only frame is an S-Works Epic for £3000. For the same price you can buy a full bike based on the slightly ‘worse’ 9m carbon and sell all the bits. Frame for £1500 or so.

If that’s the case the best option is the lowest spec model with the same frame?

Varies by bike. There’s usually at least one which is particularly stand out, or has more bits you want.

It’ll build to 8kg if you build it right. Fairly pointless comment.

Why? Good luck getting it to 8,ive seen a few built to 10kg as out and out race machines.

Throw enough money at it and you can do it.

Assuming the frame weighs about 4.5lbs, it’ll be 2.5lbs heavier then the lightest hardtail builds. Nowt more to it than that.

Lauf fork
AX Lightness tub wheels
Etc

Not saying it’ll be nice to ride, but you miss the point. The frame being a comparatively small part of the bike weight means it’s not hugely relevant to say ‘you can build it to x’.

My Superfly frame is >1300g, but the bike is 8.8kg. You could transpose the entire build onto any frame up to 3kg and it’ll still be sub 10kg. An S-Works Enduro for example…

Man up Chris and work on your skills! 😈

giant anthem is worth a look
but what about Lapierre XR bike

As a rocky element owner I was and surprised you can get the total weight to 10kg, and tThrow enough money at it and you can do it.

Assuming the frame weighs about 4.5lbs, it’ll be 2.5lbs heavier then the lightest hardtail builds. Nowt more to it than that.

Lauf fork
AX Lightness tub wheels
Etc

Not saying it’ll be nice to ride, but you miss the point. The frame being a comparatively small part of the bike weight means it’s not hugely relevant to say ‘you can build it to x’he effect on the bike handling and use,

this seems to be rather pointless, you can do x and y if you throw z’s at it and then it rides like a douche bag.

The rocky e is a great frame capable and an all rounder, but why are you looking at a full suss xc lightweight. What are you riding that makes you feel thatyou need full susss?

I am a ardent fan of full suss, allows me to ride longer, mainly due to old injuries, compensates for my skill, go faster but I got a Ritchey p 29 and it is 3 lbs lighter than my rocky and even in my incapable hands is only a few seconds slower than the element on the downs and is a supple enough to take the sting out of a rocky ride.

If you do go full suss then the rocky is a great platform the suspension works better for me than the DW link, I owned two sultans, and a flux. Dw is good but I feel the element if more supple, effective, responsive and quicker.

Christ I shouldn’t read these posts. Throwing quite a bit of cash at an alloy spearfish and it’s 24.2lb with pedals.

Frame 2730g
Forks (Fox) 1670g
Wheels (AC/Revs/LB) 1390g
XTR M985 crank + 30t 1×10
XTR rear shifter
XTR 11-36 cassette
XTR med cage rear mech
Hope Race brakes 160f/140r
KCNC pro post 31.6×350 168g
Fizik Gobi kium 250g
KCNC 80mm stem – 96g
MT zoom flat bars
ESI grips
XTR pedals
Ron 2.25 protections f/r

Sort of as light as you can go with mainstream bits?

Could save 100g on saddle – tried – it hurts. 80/100g on pedals – get foot pain. 200g on tyres – puncture more. A few g on grips but my hands hurt.

Wasn’t bought for racing but I think it’s as fast at 24lb as my 21.2lb carbon HT.

I have an anthem 29er, not sure on frame weight but it flies and rides really nicely.

24.2 lb is light for a 29er full sus.

Look at the weight of the pro-level bikes used in the cape epic.

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/pro-bike-jaroslav-kulhavys-specialized-s-works-epic-wc-29-43850/
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/pro-bike-alban-lakatas-canyon-lux-cf-43865/

Heavy fork, heavy sponsor parts (e.g. controls) , Go-Pro, Co2, whatever is below the bottle cage (tools?), powermeter… that is a lot of additions to get it to that weight 😉

As Nick says, the about building a full sus 29er..

it’ll be 2.5lbs heavier then the lightest hardtail builds. Nowt more to it than that.

My hardtail is 18.4 with SIDs, heavyish wheels, sensible tyres and PM. So From my perspective 20-21lbs for a full sus is “light” so 9-9.5kg is very doable. Anyway Chris rides more than any of us so I’m sure he doesn’t need such extreme skill/ fat compensation 😀

this seems to be rather pointless, you can do x and y if you throw z’s at it and then it rides like a douche bag.

That was what I said. But any comment about “you can build it to X weight” is pointless. Of course you can. Frames don’t vary that much, and are only c20% the weight of the bike. You can build virtually any bike to that sort of weight, certainly anything that could be deemed an XC race bike.