Light Carbon LCFS980 ultra-cycling bike check

Here we have Rhys Wainwright’s Light Carbon LCFS980; a model name so catchy we’re just going to call it the Green Machine.

Sponsored by Favero

Words Rhys Wainwright | Photos Amanda Wishart

After a failed love affair with a drop-bar hardtail sometime last year I quickly decided that flat bars and full suspension were the way I wanted to travel long distances off-road. So the drop-bar rig got hung on the wall and the Green Machine was ordered. 

Special thanks to Light Carbon for making some custom touches to the frame for me in the form of rear brake hose and dropper cable entry just behind the head tube. The frame should be fully internally headset routed as standard but Ligth Carbon was more than happy to add a headset-avoidance cable detour for me. The custom British Racing Green paintwork is also excellent and the metallic finish is glorious in the sun. 

The frame itself is a full carbon 90mm rear wheel travel, flex pivot thingy; much like every other cross country bike these days. The rear shock is nicely hidden under the top tube where it stays clean and out of the way entirely. It’s seen plenty of horrific weather riding so far and not shown any frame-bearing wear. This also gives me lots of space in the front triangle for bottles or a large custom frame bag.

Power pedals

The Favero Assioma PRO MX-2 power meter pedals are a genuine highlight for me. The pedal body is manufactured from robust and ultralight 6061-T6 aluminium, while the clipless system is made of chromium molybdenum alloy with a surface hardness up to 800 HV, making them ready for plenty of abuse on the trail.

They take a standard Shimano SPD cleat so work with all my current shoes. They have allowed me to train on the mountain bike where previously I’d have to do my intervals on the road bike or turbo trainer exclusively. They also offer the huge benefit of real time power and energy output data. So I can pace my efforts at the start of a race when others are racing up the first climb like it’s a short track race.

The overall energy output in kilojoules is also a great reminder of how much fuel I need to be taking in. Roughly 1Kj output requires 1Kcal input so I have an eating target to aim for. They’ve also proven to be pretty tough so far with a few rock impacts but no issues with data.

These power meter pedals have a great battery life of 160h which is best in class. The firmware update came just in time for me to complete the Atlas Mountain Race without charging them back in February. That was a total of 100h riding in a smidge over 6 days so not worrying about charging the pedals was a relief.

The overall build quality of the Favero’s is excellent and they’ve been mechanically brilliant in the time I’ve been using them. If you want to refresh the look of your pedal body you can find them for a very reasonable price compared to the competitors, and they also offer replacement bearings. You are also able to swap the pedal bodies for road ones if you so desired.

Training time

Training with the Assioma Pro MX I’ve found some of their especially detailed data such as left/right balance and power phase very useful. I’ve been suffering with asymmetry in my pedaling for years now and spotting that the power phase in my left and right legs was different helped me focus on some specific strength targets for each leg and slowly watch my balance return close to 50/50. Much better than the 55/45 I was seeing a few years back.

Moreover, there are other metrics that you can use to track your performance such as the unique PCO which is calculated by identifying how force is distributed across the pedal platform during the pedal stroke throughout a specific period of time. This data helps understand where force is applied relative to the center of the pedal platform, which is particularly useful, for example, for fine-tune the positioning of the cleats.

Suspension stuff

Suspension is from Öhlins with their RXC34 fork with 110mm travel. The damper has open, pedal and locked out modes which all have their uses but the pedal mode is particularly good for fast smooth flow trails as it adds a lot of support for pumping speed from turns and compressions. 

The rear shock is the burly TTX Air; which is generally a pretty beefy shock for this bike but with much higher oil volume than some XC shocks it goes the distance and stays consistent on silly ‘Ultra Cycling’ events with some real long rough descents. Plus when you’re riding almost 100h in a week on some events it’s easy to blast the usual recommended service intervals into oblivion.

Build kit

Drivetrain highlights are the 155mm Hope cranks with a 28t chainring. No, I didn’t poach these off one of Hope’s Kids Academy bikes. Short cranks are a revelation for my short legs and combined with the tiny chainring mean I can get up some gnarly climbs even on a fully loaded bike. The rest is a SRAM GX AXS rear mech and shifter and a Shimano 12-speed cassette with 12 speed XTR chain for reliability and slick shifting – I have this setup on every bike regardless of road or offroad these days. 

Wheels are a custom concoction with LightBicycle all mountain rims (30mm internal) on Hope Pro5 hubs with heavy duty pawl springs and Sapim CX Ray spokes. I would love to say they’ve been great but off-road ultra racing is hard on wheels and I’ve been through a few spokes and a rear rim in the past few months.

Tyres are Schwalbe Rick XC 2.4’s in the Speed compound; fast as hell and great side knob bite but they do lack some traction in a straight line and wear through the little centre tread they have mighty quickly. There’s some Vittoria XC inserts in there for peace of mind but that didn’t stop me smashing a rear rim during the Dales Divide a few weeks ago. 

Overall

The Green Machine has travelled with me through the Alps last summer, across the Canary Islands, Southern Spain, Morocco and the fearsome Yorkshire Dales with very few faults (well, apart from my back wheel).

Read more about power meter pedals at favero.com