Now that I have completed my son’s Christmas Orbea MX 20 Team build (see other thread), it was time to turn my attention to my wife’s Christmas present.

Having had a Trek Lush which she never rode (too heavy for her), I decided to go back to basics and build her a hardtail with 1×11 for ultra simplicity. The requirements were that the frame should be really small (she’s 5’3″) and that it should be pretty light.

The new Kinesis Maxlight X looked ideal as it was available in a very small size (with 650b rather than 29er wheels). I picked up the frame and then went shopping… The spec ended up as follows:-

Kinesis Maxlight X – 27.5” Boost frameset (size XS)

Rockshox SID Worldcup Boost forks

Mavic Crossmax Pro Carbon Boost wheels

Mavic Pulse Pro 2.25” tyres with tubeless sealant – 1400g

Thomson 330mm seatpost

Thomson 50mm stem (I also have a 70mm sitting in a box in case she needs more reach)

Raceface Evolve Flat Wide 720mm handlebar

FSA drop-in headset

Ergon GE1 Slim grips

Fabric Scoop Elite 155mm saddle

Wellgo MG-6 magnesium pedals

Shimano M8000 XT boost crankset 170mm

Shimano MT800 bottom bracket

Uberbike 32t ‘Made in Sheffield’ Narrow Wide chainring

Shimano Sil-Tec 11-speed chain

Sunrace MX-80 11-50 cassette

Shimano M8000 XT GS rear mech

Superstar jockeywheels

Shimano M8000 brakes with finned pads

Shimano RT86 160mm Ice Tech rotors

Mucknutz facefender

Various bits of red bling

I haven’t weighed it yet, but it’s fairly light. On listed weights, it should come out at bang on 10kgs. There is an easy 1kgs that could be taken out quite inexpensively if I wanted to go weight weeny about it. The Sunrace cassette is a chunk heavier than the XT cassette (I bought a 11-42 XT cassette which I can switch over if this doesn’t work out) but the wheels are pretty light. I also have a set of Continental Race King tyres which I may put on depending on how we get on with the Mavics (I suspect the Continentals are a bit lighter and faster in a straight line, but the Mavics will be better on corners and on wet stuff).

All up build cost was fairly reasonable and came in just under £2k (approx £1,950 irrc). Not bad for a build using only new parts and with carbon wheels, XT and WC SIDS.

Logic suggested that I simply bought a Canyon or something, but wifey wanted something completely custom and she loved the idea of the Kinesis frameset (I have a Kinesis Racelight Granfondo Ti Disc as my road bike).

Just hope she rides it now.

Anyways, here are some pics… I hope you all approve.

That’s really nice, seriously low gear on 650’s too

yes, it’s probably overkill and i might switch back to the XT 11-42 (which will almost certainly be smoother and easier to set up), but i was curious by the Sunrace cassette and as I had the medium-range XT rear mech, it should in theory work out of the box without having to mess around with goat links etc.

I like that, well done!

I bought similarly sized ex a 26″ XS Kinesis and also built it up with SIDs. Less carbon bling unfortunately but again it was very light which meant she actually got out and enjoyed riding it!