Well,
As you know, i decided not to head down the roadie route of bikes. So have modified the plan and changed it a little. Going back to a theme i first had and wanted to do a few months ago.
Picked up a new frame from the US, which is currently being boxed up and shipped to me.
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Plan currently stands that i'll strip down the Giant, using all the components off the Giant to build up the Yelli. Current plan is to run the Yelli with the Fox 32RL 100mm forks, but i'll potentially address that in winter when funds allow and stick some 120-140mm forks in there for a more 'all mountain' setup. I'll pick up a Shimano Saint crankset and BB for it this week.
The Giant will keep it's standard Giant wheels, running the SLX brakeset i have lying about and probably a Deore Chainset with XT front mech. The only parts i'm short of for completing the build currently is a brake mount for 180's (as i'll be using the mounts on the Yelli) a stem and a paid of forks. In all likleyhood for now i'll pick up some cheap forks, possibly even a set of rigids if i can find in a 15mm maxle and use that with narrow tyres as the commuter/road training bike for when the weather turns to crap in the UK and the trails are rubbish.
I don't see the Giant being completed in the near future though as i'll need the forks/bits sorting out firstly.
I'm hoping to get the Yelli frame by the middle of next week at the very latest, so will then be spending a few hours building it up 🙂
You will LOVE the Yelli! 😀
I'm wondering if i'll actually end up selling the Giant frame or whether it will be a long term road/commute/winter bike. Depends on finances really.
Worst case scenario, i think i've paid a decent enough price that if i hate the Yelli, i can flog it on afterwards. 🙂
However, i REALLY fancy the Yelli.
Any thoughts on forks ? i've currently got Fox 32 100mm with 15mm axle. I was wondering if they're enough travel for the Yelli, even though they're within scope etc.
Oh they're rubbish .......what possessed you to get one of those....
😀
LOL
On one are selling 140mm revs for £399
Tbh ...the 100mm foxes will be fine for most riding in the UK
Perfect, thanks mate. Makes the swap/transition much easier. I'm planning on building it up the day it arrives and didn't really wanna spend out £400 on a new set of forks just yet.
If the Giant stays i can get away with a set of Suntours/rigids even.
Good to see that you got sorted, they're great fun to ride if you like the big wheel thing.
Why the Saint cranks, do you really need a kg of cranks on there?
Gotama - Member
Good to see that you got sorted, they're great fun to ride if you like the big wheel thing.Why the Saint cranks, do you really need a kg of cranks on there?
Logic behind the Saint cranks were because of the BB with the longer thread as i have an E-13 SRS plus which requires a slightly spacered out setup, it's only about 1.5mm more than the standard 1 spacer, you think it's excessive and i'm worrying over nothing ?
Officially i'd have to say i don't know.......but i'm running a standard shimano bottom bracket with a superstar bottom bracket chainguide mount to hang my straitline off as well as an extra drive side spacer and all is fine. I have a feeling that a lot of the guys on mtbr are running two drive side spacers because of the way the chainstay flares out to allow for the big tyre.
Agree totally hence why i was debating running the Saint BB. As i needed a 2nd set of cranks to rebuild up the XC bike, i thought it made sense to buy the crank/BB combination.
I honestyl never realised they weighed the same as a small cow though.
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THey are AWESOME :0)
Wouldnt worry too much about 140's.Bars are at perfect height at 120 with 0 degree stem and flat bar so I'll not bother with another 20mm.
Need a burlier/wider rear rim though as its getting a proper battering!
Dibs when you sell it if it's a large!...........but can you persevere with it til September time 😉
It's an XL !!!!
The bloke who owned it was 6'5" and found it too small. I'm hoping with some riser bars on a shortish stem and a slightly forward seat i'll get away with it.
I paid <£400 for the frame including shipping so hoping i can flog it on easily if it's no good for me.
Damn!! Didn't singlespeed stu say don't go for an xl? 😆
Can you still wheelie a 29er?
Be prepared for kicks and giggles. Awesome bikes.
And also an under represented niche in 29... You will be seeing more aggressive 29ers no doubt.
Enjoy.
pop larkin - Member
Damn!! Didn't singlespeed stu say don't go for an xl?
Yeah, but time was against me... I had the cash and if i'd not spent it now i'd have frittered it away on rubbish. So take the chance, see what happens.
charlie the bikemonger - Member
Be prepared for kicks and giggles. Awesome bikes.And also an under represented niche in 29... You will be seeing more aggressive 29ers no doubt.
Enjoy.
I think i owe you a beer for our phone and email chats. Thanks fella.
enfht - Member
Can you still wheelie a 29er?
I can't wheelie my Yamaha R1's lol
I can't wheelie my Yamaha R1's lol
FFS you can wheelie them just pushing them out the garage 😆
£400 for a secondhand frame? Where's the shock hidden then?
I'm on an xl.I'm 6'2 and run a 60mm stem and some mahoosive bars,sorted.I manualled the whole rhythm section of the bmx track last night.Clown bikes are not supposed to be this much fun!!
Charles has a lot to answer for 😀
Glad you found one weeksy. Definitely want some 120s on there
chakaping - Member
£400 for a secondhand frame? Where's the shock hidden then?
Shocks are for girls.
Frame has now been shipped and is winging it's way from Central US to here 🙂
Prob being bounced around in the back of an old Chevy pickup ...... 😈
And if it's like mine it'll probably get held up in customs whilst they ask you for an extra 20% 🙁 ....unless you've gone for some tax avoidance route, declared as a present seems to spring to mind.
I went semi-legal. It's declared at a low value as "used/spares/bike frame". Which is techincally what it is.
The other 20% was factored into my purchase price.
100mm fork on a yelli?
Seriously you seem to be missing the point of these things. 😕
PAtience Stu, i don't have an unlimited budget, plan is eventually to throw a 140mm in there, however i don't have a spare £400 i can lob at the bike next weekend. Believe me, the bike will be done right.... just not right right now.
PAtience Stu, i don't have an unlimited budget, plan is eventually to throw a 140mm in there, however i don't have a spare £400 i can lob at the bike next weekend.
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-marzocchi-44-micro-ti-29er-fork-140mmtapered ]What you need is some cheap 44s ;-)[/url]
Interesting mate.. very interesting... Potentially not the worst idea ever.
God dammit! I want (NEED) a yelli screamy) looks gurt lush in the purple. Had a look on the canfield site at it...
Frame is £450
Thinking manitou tower pro's £280 and fulcrum red power xl wheelset...
Oh dear me. Better look away or save some pennies up, lol
Frame is £450 yes... Plus $400 postage and them a hammering in import duty/tax/etc
Well my Yelli is available for me to collect in about 2 hours !!!!
Sadly, i was HAMMERED by customs, even though a 2nd hand frame, Customs charges total of £112. !!!!
Won't be able to complete the build tonight as i've not got any forks until tomorrow. LOL. But i should have it 99% built today with a bit of luck.
I bought a set of Marzocchi Micro ti44's from here which are set to 120mm currently.
GOD i hope this fits nicely.
p.s. You can buy a frame for £750 from Charliethebikemonger in the UK
I've paid £460 for mine all in, with Headset, purple bars and a purple 34T ring.
I now have a Yelli 🙂
one thing that really irritates me is that it's dirty.... i can't understand how people sell things dirty.
Well the build is going swimmingly.
Fitted Crankset, E-13 SRS plus, rear XT mech, Rear Wheel, disc adaptors, seat-clamp and seatpost.
Used a spare chain to check chainlines and fitted the 2.35 Hans Dampf to make sure i have tyre clearance too.
Forks don't arrive until tomorrow so without them the build is kinds stuck for a bit as i can't fit gear cables, brakes etc as there's nothing to hang them on.
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Naaaa looks rubbish .....you'll hate it .. 8)
Not going to miss you on that if I ever see you out on the downs am I !
mmmm, pinky purpley thing going on. 8)
Spent some time building the Yelli this evening. It's now 100% built, ridden and tested.
Needed some assistance with the Star Nut and the trimming of the steerer, so called one of the LBS's who's now firmly at the top of my preferred supplier/LBS list... Brilliant service, fitted me in at a seconds notice, dropping the other jobs. I forgot to take my headset spacers (oops) and top cap, which he threw in for nothing. (Although i will fit my own and take his back of course. Cut the steerer, sorted the SFN and charged me £7.50. I gave him a tenner and a bottle of Sprite 🙂
Sadly, the story doesn't quite end here... the Stem i bought was totally the wrong stem LOL. It has a 1.5" steerer, not a 1 1/8". So didn't fit. That's now on the way back to Chain Reaction for a refund and a new one is winging it's way to me today. I also didn't have a 180 front mount brake adaptor. Happily the Giant had both items and was butchered temporarily for the job 🙂
Lastly, the headset lower isn't quite right... no matter what i do there a small amount of play from the headset and a definite 'clunk' when you bounce the bike etc. So, blokey has ordered me in a Hope lower headset to get thrown in there next week as i'm away for the rest of the week/weekend. Bike can still be ridden and tested though of course.
First impressions i wouldn't like to offer currently as i've only ridden to the park with my wee boy. However the bike feels/rides/runs and goes fine up to now. It's a chunk bigger than my Giant, but partly as i'm running the 100mm stem from the Giant on it, which i'll be dropping back to the 50mm which should arrive tomorrow. That said, the size isn't off-putting at all.. it's just a bigger bike... but not too big that it's daunting to me etc.
I'll get out on some trails and some climbs tomorrow to give it a proper testing.
Some pics of the Yelli.
Still waiting for stem to arrive... but this is how it will look
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Looks good, xl is the best looking size 😉 Was out on mine last night and they are great fun to ride, just make you want to pop and hop off everything. Appreciate you're in the midst of changing stems but you'll probably find the front is very lifty on climbs with that many spacers under the stem, particularly if your forks are set at 140mm. I've got mine slammed on the headset cap.
Front brake cable should go inside the fork leg but you might have to slacken off the nut to twist the hose round a bit. Should be able to do it without any fluid leaking out.
Looks like a 96' Zaskar I had once.
🙂
Looks nice mate. And been good following the build.
I was debating the routing on the front hose, i just felt it looked more correct on the outside... Would they usually go on the inside because of getting caught on trees/branches etc ?
I left that many spacers mainly due to it being in initial setup phase, i'll be out over the next week, moving the stem up, moving it down etc... seeing where it all fits and works best for me overall. It's certainly not set in stone, but i didn't want to cut the steerer too short, leaving myself without any spacers/options.
Just been out for an hour on it. First real test-ride.
Ride was purely XC, but that's the majority of my riding anyway.
Doing some back to back measuring with the Giant XTC29 i've found that they're now very very close in actual measurments for the ETT, BB>seat etc. The Yelli however FEELS a lot bigger. Not really sure why. the 50mm stem on the Yelli has brought it down almost to the size of the Medium Giant with a 90mm stem.
The one MAJOR plus though is the BB height of the Yelli compared to the Giant. I've got one particular tight XC trail by my house which was great on the Bionicon but it's rubbish on the Giant due to pedal strikes. Rode it today and no pedal strikes at all, so that's REALLY pleasing to me.
Again, with the measuring, the seatpost is laid back a good 3-4deg compared to the Giant and the Forks are much slacker, this gives the Yelli about 3-4" extra overall wheelbase. Which boy can you notice at times on the tight twisty stuff, the Giant is more flickable at the moment and i got caught out on a couple of corners running a little wide on the Yelli.
The next part where the Yelli excells is in speed. I seemed to be 1 gear higher most sections today, even though both bikes are running the same gearing ratios, both 32T front. Same cassette fitted to both. The flat/downhill speed of the Yelli is fantastic, the thing cracks on and when you hit the downhills, you have to hang on because it picks up speed brilliantly.
The Yelli powers up hills standing really nicely, even seems to climb better sitting down. The perception of less fatigue was something i noticed a few times.
Overall, i think i'm going to end up with a bit of a dilema, despite them both being markedly different, they're also distinctly simillar. There's not THAT much difference between the 2 bikes for me to say "well, i'd use this one for XYZ and that one for ABC" So i see the longer term picture that only one of the bikes will remain in the stable long term.
It needs more testing before i begin to make that sort of decision though.
Nice build Weeksy & glad you're pleased with the forks 8)
Well the bike now has a new HOPE headset, which is excellent. All at a great price at my new LBS, supplied, fitted, setup... top job.
Swapped out the blue temporary cable ties for some back ones... checked it all and ready to ride as soon as the monsoon we're in the middle of has passed. 🙂
Just put a raceface atlas flat bar on mine and with the forks still at 140mm it seems to turn in a LOT faster. Stem is pretty much on the headset as well...big improvement imo.
Even at 6'3 I'm running a flat bar slammed with forks at 130mm and still wouldn't mind if the bars were a little lower. Despite being 6lbs heavier than my old scandal it doesn't give that much away on the uppy bits but is a whole bunch more fun pointing down.
Looks great 😀
If it keeps feeling too big, give me a shout, I really regret selling mine!
It's a long list mate, i've had 4-5 people wanting it...
It doesn't feel 'too' big... feels big... but not silly.
Again, this evening i've only been out with my lad to see the horses and goats. Tomorrow if it's dry then i'll be out giving it a proper thrashing 🙂
Looks great! Cant wait for mine to arrive on Monday.