Gone done built myself a new pedal powered dandyhorse

Top Fuel cracked, big up Trek who gave me a Superfly for a nominal cost as replacement, bits all sold, built up with lighter bits.

Looks like this:

Gave it a good 4 hour blast round the Surrey Hills with Gee yesterday, tis good. Impressed with the 29er-ness, didn’t miss the rear suspension at all, bags of grip, would’ve been sliding around a bit more on 26″ Rons. Was long enough to scuff the paint in various places though, much helicopter tape was applied earlier.

Light Bicycle hookless rims seem good, tyres went up perfectly, and I didn’t suffer an ignominious death of exploding tyres and latex at the first corner. Running about 25psi.

XX1 just worked. More chain noise on the stand than I’d expected, but outside it was flawless, Grip Shift was a bit odd after 5 years of triggers, but the shift is really positive. 32t ring seems about right. Left the chain long so I can go for a bigger ring.

Got a new Mt Zoom flat bar on order to get the front end a bit lower, probably combine with a shorter (90mm) stem. Ought to get it below 19lbs somehow, perhaps with Thunder Burt tyres in the summer!

Very nice, few questions if i may.

XTR brakes with gripshift, is it not a stretch to the brake lever? the gripshift units seem pretty wide.
What rims are they (standard or wide version?) and what width tyres.

Cheers.

Not a fan of those bars!

Didn’t notice any issues with the brake levers – I run them a fair way inboard anyway – a bit clearer on this pic, big gap on the LH lever, whilst the RH one is butted up to the shifter. Suggest if you’re a 2-finger (or middle finger) braker it may not be ideal:

Rims are these, I asked for the lightest ones they could do, and they were both 355g, so not too bad. They’re only 1mm narrower internally than their ‘wide’ 29er rims. Tyres are 2.25″, profile seems good. I’ll never run wider anyway.

Not a fan of those bars!

Graphics are a little excessive! More subtle on the flat ones, and they should only be 110g.

You could flip the stem over as well if you want to get things properly low! What width are you going to have your bars at out of interest?

You’ll lose the .18 once you cut that steerer haha!

Nice! What’s the finish like on the rims? Waiting for pay day to roll round and think I’ll get some road & 29er rims.

You could flip the stem over as well if you want to get things properly low! What width are you going to have your bars at out of interest?

They come at 710mm, may trim them a bit, not sure about that wide! Would have flipped the stem, but took the bars/stem off the Top Fuel – so they were already set up, with the new bars arriving shortly it barely seemed worthwhile to dismantle, thought I’d try it first anyway. Wasn’t a million miles off, may flip the stem and put a spacer back underneath with the flat bars, net neutral but avoids the stupid 30mm stack of spacers!

What’s the finish like on the rims? Waiting for pay day to roll round and think I’ll get some road & 29er rims.

Very good, really impressed! A couple of small scratches appeared in the lacquer after riding, probably transporting the bike in the car though frankly, none of my wheelbags are big enough! Only ‘issue’ was the time it took – they advertised 5 days lead time, but it was more like 3 weeks, then customs sat on them for another week. Took about 5 weeks from ordering to delivery.

Would absolutely have another set! Wheelsfar look to be slightly better for road rims though IMO, lighter.

been waiting to see what you came up with, knew it would be a pretty sweet build!

looks v. fast, id love to have a rag of that around around a race course, looks nice, much nicer than the f/s trek (althought that was incredibly light for a f/s)

Wow those XX1 cassettes are big! Every time I see one they seem to get bigger!!

SIDS or reba?

Nice build. The flat bars are lovely. What’s the seatpost?

19kg? That’s not very good 😉

SIDS or reba?

SID RLs, with the lockout removed – saves 180g including the remote lever!

What’s the seatpost?

New Ultimate – they’re a Danish brand who do really nice lightweight stuff. Not cheap, but that seatpost is only 123g.

looks v. fast, id love to have a rag of that around around a race course, looks nice, much nicer than the f/s trek (althought that was incredibly light for a f/s)

Certainly a little more normal looking, the Top Fuel was very divisive! Very welcome to give it a spin if we’re ever at the same race!

Wondering what you did to remove the remote lever? Tempted to get rid of the one on my Reba’s but not sure how to keep it in the open position.

Very nice njee20, when you putting a number on it and giving it a real blast?

Nice!

You know if you get it below 19lb you’ll be tempted to try & hit 18lb don’t you 😉

At least your dad’s bike gave us a fighting chance……

mmm, looks great nick. did it help you keep up with gee?

It feels fast even through the images. Top Fuel was my first bike – rode really quickly and wish I had kept it running.

I hope this song is in your head on every ride

Wondering what you did to remove the remote lever? Tempted to get rid of the one on my Reba’s but not sure how to keep it in the open position.

Just remove the entire MoCo cartridge, buy an air top cap, and away you go. You can theoretical adjust the compression damping by changing the air pressure in the RH leg, no idea how effective it is, fork feels fine to me, but then I’ve never been one for fettling suspension!

Very nice njee20, when you putting a number on it and giving it a real blast?

Two weeks, first round of our Southern XC series. Not sure about a ‘real blast’, but I’ll pootle round with a number on, bemoaning my dreadful form!

You know if you get it below 19lb you’ll be tempted to try & hit 18lb don’t you

At least your dad’s bike gave us a fighting chance……

Ha! 18lbs would be very expensive! Could save a pound in the frame though… My Dad’s bike is still sat in the corner of the garage muddy, can’t bring myself even to wash it!

mmm, looks great nick. did it help you keep up with gee?

Not really, his fat bike closed the gap a little, but I’d need something with an engine to keep up with him!

Top Fuel was my first bike – rode really quickly and wish I had kept it running.

Yeah I really liked the two I had, but I must say I was impressed with the Superfly, I’d expected to miss the rear suspension more than I did, didn’t find the back end harsh or anything.

I hope this song is in your head on every ride

Shamefully not! Will be now!

Don’t leave it outside on a windy day, it’ll just blow away…… 😉

nice that njee, frame looks very nice,

Muchos like! Looks lovely does that, dare I say it nicer than the full susser!

Just remove the entire MoCo cartridge, buy an air top cap, and away you go. You can theoretical adjust the compression damping by changing the air pressure in the RH leg, no idea how effective it is, fork feels fine to me, but then I’ve never been one for fettling suspension!

Hang on, you removed the whole cartridge?! So you have no compression damping at all? I know the search for lightness is important but that’s just daft!

Changing/adding air pressure to the damping side won’t do anything other than provide a air bump-stop, which your seals will not appreciate. At least you still have rebound damping I suppose.

I like that idea – always thought compression damping on pushbike forks is a con
Anything other than fully open just feels rubbish
Pro pedal on the back end fair enough

‘Fully open’ is never fully open tho, there are always ports for oil to flow through adding resistance. Also, your rebound setting would need to be much lower as the work would compress more and need to return more in the same space of time, again reducing the control of the fork.

Ive ridden a broken DH fork with no compression, damn scary!

100 or 120mm SIDS?

Ha! 18lbs would be very expensive!

Singlespeed.

Hang on, you removed the whole cartridge?! So you have no compression damping at all? I know the search for lightness is important but that’s just daft!

Yeah, I’m a heathen, can’t tell a difference frankly. DH forks having rather more travel it’s probably a lot more noticeable. they’re 100mm SIDs.

Singlespeed.

Would need to be rigid SS to save that much!

thanks

Nice!
What spokes and lengths are u using on the wheels?
Thinking of the same rims and hubs.
What weight did they come out at?
Thanks,
Max

Sorry Turnerfan, just noticed you’d replied, probably far too late now! I used Revolution spokes: 286 on the front, 284 on the rear, both sides. All too short, not helped by having to use the same both sides on the front as Revs are only available in even lengths. Would probably go up 2mm (and get away with 4mm) all round.

They’re 1370g built, and I’ve not managed to break them yet!

Bike has gained a 710mm Mt Zoom flat bar and 90mm stem, it’s good fun.