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.

@chestrockwell @gurnster75

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

Fitting the 12-speed was no problem.

How strong are these frames? Would they take a heavy rider say 100kg down rocky paths XC?

Yes. I am 120kg and with rigid forks it handled me over loose first sized pebbles/rocks.

With front suspension and decent wheels, I’d take mine* on any Uk trail this wasn’t an obvious jump or downhill thing.

* if i still had it that is.

I’m 110kg and have no concerns with my rigid Whippet.

Thanks to the general enthusiasm, favourable reports and encouragement from this thread, I snapped up a medium in orange on the £299 frame only deal.

Probably, it would have made sense to go for a fully built bike as, despite having a stockpile of bike parts, I have almost nothing to fit the through-axle/ boost 29er generation, but at least this way, I will get the bike I wanted.

First job will be frame wrap; another new thing for me; last time I had a new mtb, it was lizard skins and duck tape! Perhaps some of you can advise on pre-cut kit vs cut from tape?

As this bike must replace ht and fs 26ers, I might go with a suspension fork. I have some new XT m8000 brakes, XT boost hubs, and a not-that-wide low-rise bar (but I am a whippet too so that’s OK).

Thanks for a great thread.

Keep us informed of your progress. I’ve never built up my own bike but I’d love to, so I’ll read with interest.

I have the matt black frame and I got a couple matt vinyl wrap sheets as a base layer, cut and moulded them around the frame with a hair dryer. This had the added bonus of hiding the horribly oversized branding. I then added some pre-cut bits on the downtube, seattube and chainstays.
The advantage of the unbuilt frame is you can take your time with routing the cables as needed, having both the bb shell and head tube open.
Also, now is the best time to consider possibly repainting; I saw some interesting attempts.

It’s my normal ‘stealth’ way of acquiring another bike; “What, this new bike? I just built it up out of parts I already had, and this frame I got on ebay!”😊

I nearly did that this time around too, with a nice Cotic that was sitting on ebay for a few weeks, but I realised I would be locking myself into old tech once more.

With everything being different; axles, freehubs, tapered steerers, integrated headsets, 1x drivetrain, it will take me a while as funds allow.

Also, now is the best time to consider possibly repainting; I saw some

😊If I get into repainting before I have started, I will never get it built!

Actually, I am quite happy with the orange, and the branding. There might come a time when repainting is necessary.

I think I will but enough film for a few mistakes, and wide enough for some wrap around critical points, and see how I get on…

First ride other than a very quick test spin on mine today since putting it together. Currently in long distance mode where I don’t have to carry anything on my back. 70 miles and 8100ft of climbing mostly on the SDW today, it was great. Going to need to loctite the bottle cage bolts as they worked loose while riding. 2.6 front and 2.35 back. Looking forward to trying it with the 27.5 3 and 2.8 wheels and tyres I’ve got for it.

Drive train is Deore 10 speed from my Ramin 3, brakes are new SLX with the rotors taken from an old Boardman which also supplied the bars and stem. Wheels are the very cheap Alex wheels from Planet X. Seatpost and saddle also from the Ramin.

So with my carbon fork stuck somewhere with no ETA, I am desperate enough to consider some suspension forks (no way I will pay £300 for a locally sourced rigid boost fork) to complete my build.

Website says both 100mm and 120mm are fine for the frame, but what is the user experience here? Any benefit of +20mm on the Whippet being what it is?

I’m also thinking about getting a bouncy fork for mine – any recommendations for something appropriate and in stock??

Lauf would look awesome. I thought about one but can’t afford it.

The new Whippet line is up, new colour schemes and double the price for the frame alone. As Planet X did not bother to update their description (still says T700), I assume that only the paint job (and the price) is new.

On the fork, the Whippet is offered with the RockShox 35 Gold RL DebonAir 100mm, but many here have run it with 120mm forks. I was just hoping some could chip in with their impressions.