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Nice one @anagallis_arvensis , that's pretty good service so far. Any suggestion of when you can expect a replacement?
I wasn't meaning to have a go at PX. I know others here have had issues, but they've always been great when I've been dealing with them.
Not sure on how fast they can turn it round, I go away for a week on Sunday so have told them not to rush!!
Morning All,
I have just bought a Whippet and thanks to all that contributed to this thread; its been really useful and has informed my decision. It's a great bike and I am really chuffed with it. I have changed the tyres which took some considerable amount of weight off, put some DyedBro frame protection on it so it now looks like an orange Zebra and put some alternative bars on.
As I live in a really flat part of the country I am looking at changing the rear cassette to something with a reduced range and am considering the Shimano Ultegra R8100 11- 34.
Has anyone done this or have any experience?
Dogsby
No but I’d like some pictures of your bike!
Zippy,
[img] 
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There you go! Looks good - I've got the DYEDBRO VHS on my matte black whippet with tan walls 😁
IDB,
Outstanding and thanks for assisting with my IT deficiencies!!
The DyedBros kit went on really easily and I am really pleased with it.
Dogsby
Looks better than mine did!!
^^that'll buff out eeehhhhh.
Mine arrives end of this week, hopefully it wont arrive like yours......
Yay new bike arrived, this time with no cracks!!
Quick question, two washers are taped to the crank arm, are they needed for all pedals?
I’ve always fitted washers on pedals, although seen plenty without and never seen any failures etc as a result.
Ps. My Whippet will be for sale soon.
/endstealth
I put the washers on. On closer looking it appeared they just protect the crank arms..
Went for medium in the end after sitting on both a large and medium at a race a few weeks back. Has a lot of seatpost but it's not at max.
Quick ride with son yesterday and it's seems good. It's been 20 years since I had a new mtb. Will give it a proper thrashing this afternoon
Good evening All,
Has anyone changed the 11-50 cassette for something smaller? I am looking at a 11 - 30 or 34 but no idea if the GX mech will cope with it.
Any advice or experience would be appreciated.
Dogsby
Giving the bike a few rides now. I'm not best placed to review it but it certainly feels a lot more planted and a lot faster than my 20 year old steel rock lobster!! I was surprised how much extra traction 29er wheels give on loose climbs. It is harder to pop off little jumps and I also got in a pickle trying to cross a narrow bridge that is approached at an angle with it. On a smaller wheeled bike I could manage the turn much easier. All in all I'm glad I bought it....must enter a race or 2 to see how it goes. Will change tyres and go tubeless at some point but a new bike, cycling holiday in Mallorca and lots of repairs to my old motorbike have left the toy fund empty currently. On that note the Panaracer tyres seem to get a lot of stick online, they seem pretty good to me. The cheap SRAM gears change well and the brakes are acceptable but those levers are pretty agricultural.
Hello Whippeters
There's something I've been wondering about: when I spin the back wheel of my Whippet it stops turning after a couple of revs, it seems to stop suddenly with no roll-back. Obviously a back wheel will not spin like a front but this seems very short - compared to my other bike at least.
There's nothing rubbing that I can see, I've carefully checked the brake pads. I cannot feel any 'pull' when I'm riding either, it's just when the bike is in the stand.
I have the GX version, from back when it came with WTB wheels (annoying, I wanted the Alex wheels, but there you go).
Anyone else noticed this? Is it anything to worry about or am I being needlessly fussy?
I can’t really help but does it happen when the wheel is not in the frame?
Sorry @zippykona, I hadn't realised anyone had replied. That's a good idea, I'll have a look sometime.
OK, more daft questions.
first: I have never, ever upgraded the wheels on any bike I've ever owned. I had to replace wheels once, but I got a shop to do it. Thus I know nothing about what fits what.
So, do you reckon that these alex wheels would fit a standard GX Whippet? And is it worth swap with WTB sti30s? It seems it to me as the Alex wheels are 2.3kg the pair, while the WTBs are 3.3kg
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/WPAEXR30F29SHICLR/alex-exr30-29er-on-formula-boost-6-bolt-wheelset---shimano-11-speed.
And I'm assuming it's easy to swap - is there more to it than I'm guessing?
Thanks for any help. Really, I'm a total virgin at this stuff.
I was going to say that you’d be better off saving for some posh wheels but they are bloody cheap. They came on my bike roll nicely ,have a clicks freewheel go up tubeless really easy.
Wheels will pop straight in.
Having said that , when I put my Stans wheels on I’m sprinting all over the place.
If they are a kg lighter you can’t go wrong.
Not really an upgrade with those wheels. Try looking for some used wheels that are lighter.
Ok thanks, I’ll think about all that.
The WTB wheels do feel a bit sluggish though. Does anyone have any suggestions of what a decent upgrade might be for a Whippet?
Im not a heavy rider, so they wouldn’t need need to be super-tough. As I said earlier I know nothing about wheel upgrades, I wouldn’t know what to start looking at. What sort of money would get me a worthwhile upgrade?
I went for some WTB KOM light i29's on DT350's from fitwheels.eu. cost about £420 ish and are much lighter. Perfect for 2.35 and 2.6 tyres.
Do you still have the stock tyres and inner tubes?
I switched the tyres fro some Halo Twin Rails - I really didn't like the Rubans it came with. I like the Twin Rails a lot more.
I went for Hunt Trail Wides (£330'ish?) to upgrade from the Alex Rims exr30's on my bike. They're lighter so it feels like it gets up to speed a little quicker. If the Alex Rims are a kilo lighter than your WTBs then you may feel a similar benefit (and those are crazy cheap). But...imagine tge weight saving if you went with Hunts? You'd just need to make sure you specified the correct freehub - I went for Sram XD on mine so I could also change to a 10-52 cassette.
I'd be very surprised if those Alex wheels are 1kg lighter given that they are the same width, similar budget hubs and similar RRP. Saying that, I don't rate the i30 rims on mine, they're made of cheese.
@easily if you do buy those Alex wheels, could you please weigh them and the WTB wheels, as I would like to know if they are a kg lighter. Or if anyone has any real world weights I'd be grateful if you could post them.
That was an error on my part, sorry about that. According to PX the Alex wheels weigh 2.3kg. I've since seen weight for the WTBs at 2.34kg which seems a lot more plausible than my earlier claim of 3.3kg - I cannot remember where I read that, though I definitely saw it somewhere as I jotted it down in surprise.
@luv2ride
Your Hunts look great, but out of my budget for the moment I'm afraid. That's why I was so interested when I thought the Alex wheels were a significant weight saving for such a small cost.
Oh well, maybe next year.
Mine is a black ridged with GX groupset
I bought a Mavic crossmax wheelset. 1769 grams (claimed 1690). Pretty bulletproof. Running Racing Ray and Ralph 2.35 with rimpact inserts.
Added a BrandX dropper, carbon nukproof bar.
The bike as delivered (small frame) was 11.2 without pedals. Original wheels were the Alex rims that were sold on.
The bike is now 10.5 with pedals (440grams), bottle cages, dropper post and wheels with inserts.
With my carbon wheels, same tyres and inserts plus XX1 cassette, it gets down to 10.1.
On rough stuff, you have to flow with the bike or it will kill your arms. It made me appreciate just how good Trek's Isospeed is on my Boone CX bike.
But, I bought it as a muddy winter bike that was simple to clean and not expensive. For that, it does a good job.
Plus I enjoy really riding it which is what it is all about.
I've got bontrager ergo grips on mine. They make a huge difference. On the bumpy bits I move my hands to the floppy bit and it soaks it up.
https://www.cyclesuk.com/components/finishing-kit/bontrager-xr-endurance-elite-lock-on-mountain-bike-grips__177423?currency=GBP&chosenAttribute=BXL537129&gclid=CjwKCAjwp7eUBhBeEiwAZbHwkZJxODL_QttfN04qDI7ouEdG885QMi0syM1md9uksJO0kBDjAto68hoCSVMQAvD_BwE
Good tip.
I just find you need to be active with the bike. Weight off the saddle. Upper body and arms nice and loose. Pick your line and lift the (very light) front end over any large obstacles.
Also, speed is your friend. The faster you go, the smoother it becomes. I'm now descending as fast as my full suss bike.
Dropper post is essential to get the weight back to keep the front light.
What kills speed is a succession of large bolder like stones or dried up parts of a trial that was heavily used by horses in the winter months. But, even full suss doesn't like that stuff.
With the Rimpact inserts, I run 11 on the front, 13 rear. A bit slow on the tarmac but fast and smooth on single track.
I think it is a great alternative to a gravel bike. Particularly if your journey is more off-road orientated.
The frame-only deal (£299) is back, I find it really tempting, as it pretty much matches Far East imports prices with far better chances of after sales support.
Now, if only I could've said the same for carbon boost forks...
I've just ordered a frame and the Selcof forks with the cage mounts. I got a pair of the cheap Alex wheels as well which will do till I decide exactly what to do with it. What I wanted was a lighter version of my Ramin 3+. The fork alone on that weighs the same as the Whippet frame. I might go 27.5 plus at the back and 29" plus at the front. Had a quick look at mullet carbon wheels from Lightbicycle which could be an option
I bought a Mavic crossmax wheelset.
Does the 12 sp cassette fit on them?
I bought some for my CX bike, and they were 10 sp only, the freehub was too small to fit an 11/12 cassette.
(though they may have been Crossrides, rather than Crossmax.)
@avdave2 have you got a link to those forks? I'm looking on the PX site but not seeing them. Cheers.
@gurnster75 I emailed them, I wanted to see if I could buy the whole bike on the £999 deal with the different forks. I couldn't as they are prebuilt but they said they'd create a manual order for the frame and fork. Frame, fork, headset and delivery was £595.
Cheers pal. Forks working out at £250 ish.
The Sonder Patherfinder fork from Alpkit could be another option. I only found it after ordering the Selcof's. They are £195
Looks nice, I don't suppose you weighed the Selcof before fitting?
Just because I can ,here's another picture
Forks arrived today, 750g with the axle and the small frame is 1350g with the axle and front shifter plate attached. First time I've had a frame where the bearings go straight into the headtube with no cups. Easy to fit I guess.
Spot on, thanks mate.
Hope the build goes smoothly.
Looks good!
I went for a Big Dog, which I love but I need to swap the large for an XL, so the eBay / STW / PB watch beings ffs.
The pain of being borderline L/XL for nearly every manufacturer