After having my Ragley Blue Pig stolen I have been building up my new Rize. Been wanting a full susser for a while so this was the catalyst to me getting one, specs are:

Cannondale Rize 130 travel
130 Cannondale Lefty PBR
Mavic Crossmax Wheels
Shimano XT Front/Rear Mech
Shimano XT Shifters
FSA K Force Carbon Cranks
DMR V8 Pedals
Random Motocross bars to offset raise & extension of Lefty stem
Formula Oro K24 Brakes
Cinelli Seat Post
Nukeproof Plasma Team Saddle

I’ve managed to put it together on a tight budget but think I have a lot of bike for the money. Mainly ride trial centres but love getting the OS map out and exploring some bridleways and http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/outandabout/gettingactive/cycling/mtb/mtb-findaroute routes. Im split between Yorkshire and Chester so a good range of trial centres and exploration available.

Would love to know your thoughts.

IMG_5082 by adamr100, on Flickr

IMG_5085 by adamr100, on Flickr

Sorry to hear you got your Ragley pinched!

The bars look interesting! Are they upside down?

Nice train set!

Yeah swines hey.

Yeah, the bars are upside down back to front…tey certainly turn heads. The lefty setup means the stem is really long and pretty high, I like being as low as possible, so a friend gave me these which negate the lefty stem pretty well, looks very odd but feels great.

The train set is a spanish layout, there is a really impressive one on the right, several layers, might pop some pictures up of that if i can find time.

And I get stick for running Jones bars!

Umm, why not flip the stem and run some “normal” bars?
A WTD ad might turn up a shorter less rise Cannondale stem from someones spares box as well!

Ha, they do the job, function over form…

The stem can’t be flipped, the steerer/stem is one piece, even if you could it would still interfere with the lefty.

very nice. Just built myself up a RZ120 recently too. Only ridden it twice but so far so good.

Got any photos of your Paul? I’ve only had mine out for a few hours, but compared to my Pig it is super light, really rapid. Very happy.

That must have the steering leverage of a piece of cooked spaghetti with those bars like that.

They’re 720mm wide and the steering isn’t too slow or sluggish for what I like. With a lefty, if you want to be low, it’s always going to be a compromise, I like the handling at the minute so it works well for me.

With a lefty, if you want to be low, it’s always going to be a compromise

Why?

Codswollop, there are plenty of stem options out there so you can run your bars in a normal fashion.

That set looks stupid and dangerous IMHO.

Checkout the options in this link

http://qwertycycles.co.uk/collections/stems/products/cannondale-2012-qse-headshock-stem

don’t have any photos of mine yet Adam, i’ll get some up when it stops raining/snowing!

You can get different stems for the lefty fairly easily if you want to tweak the position.

Hope stem

Can be mounted with a positive or negative angle.

I should have said to be low, and not have a massive stem. You can’t fit a short stem as the bars will interfere with the upper crown, so you can either fit a long stem and have a big backsweep. The stem that came with mine was high so I used the bars like I have to negate it and bring the reach closer.

In that case, I’d ditch the lefty.

I will in time, but I was building it as cheaply as possible, the frame came with a lefty, I had those bars hanging around, so as a short term fix, it works. In time I’ll get a pair of Fox Floats or something.

The bars look unusual, but I can’t see them being any more dangerous than a more conventional set up. Looks as if your weight would be in a similar position which you would get with a very short stem. Of course the proof would be in the riding but looks like a good bodge to me 😀

Edit: especially considering it is a budget build.

It’s not the danger that I can see – as you say, shouldn’t be any more dangerous than normal – it’s just the lack of steering leverage that makes me shudder a little. However if the OP is happy with it then fine.

I thought they would polarise, I could have bought a different stem, but currently I’m trying to keep it as cheap as possible, the bars work, they feel pretty decent so for now, as far as I am concerned, all is well and it means can get back to having fun on my bike.

If it was a new Jones and they called the reverse cowboy everyone would love them ( possibly )

Having looked at it a bit more, I would make sure the bars could not slip round on the stem, and check the face plate bolts were tight enough.

Stick to the train set mate….. 🙂

Cant help feeling that is a dangerous setup you have there.

Dangerous? in what way? I would have thought that as long as the bolts are all done up right it would be fine… or is it the non-normal angle of the bars that will increase the leverage on the stem bolts?

or is it the non-normal angle of the bars that will increase the leverage on the stem bolts?

That could be an issue. I would guess the rotational force on the bar clamp would be significantly greater than on a normal set of bars. If they did work loose, the extra leverage could have pretty dramatic consequences.

yeah, that’s what I was geating at really. Makes sense.

Think you might have the top clamp for the lefty upsidedown ? Having owned an rz with lefty for a while I would advice you to keep an eye on the seat stay pivots the bolts can work loose and the bearings can become unstuck.Good fun bike I like mine.Shortest lefty stem is 80mm with about 5 degree rise though I think you would need a new steerer , still have to watch handle bar choice so it leaves the lefty top cap clear.Looks nice in the red enjoy (bear me in mind if you want to sell the lefty 😉 )

Adam, here’s mine. Built it up a couple of weeks ago and only had a coulple of rides on it so far.

Spec:
RZ120 frame
RS Rev 120-150 u-turn
Hope XC Ti rear hub, Hope Pro II front hub on Stans 355 rims
Conti Rubber Queen 2.2 rear, On-One Chunky Monkey front
LX crank with E-13 bash guard, SLX shifters, XO front Mech, SLX rear mech, XT cassette and chain
X-Fusion dropper post with Charge Spoon saddle (getting a reverb next month)
XT brakes
Nukeproof 760mm bars and RaceFace Atlas 70mm stem
Time Atac pedals.

Thanks Dale, I’ll make sure those spots are prevalent in my weekly checks

Paul, it’s looking nice, I like the green, looks sharp. Very jealous at your prospect of a reverb.

Sod the bikes, I want more pics of the trainset!!