Yeah, hamishthecat its a bit of a Tonka Toy build. The Maxxis Minion 2.8s are approx 1020g (2.25lbs) each, so pretty hefty.
The whole wheel set is hefty though – they are off my ebike.
I’ve got some 29″ Goma 2.4s to put on the Scandal when the new rear wheel arrives.
In Nov 18, I bough a Focus Jam2 emtb.
I’d been riding mountain bikes for 30 years and wasn’t really thinking of an emtb until I tried one out whilst on holiday in the Taygetos Mountains in Greece.
Anyway that was a revelation and I had to have one.
BUT, I didn’t want to stop riding normal bikes, but when I bought the Focus I realised that so much had changed in bike design since my last new bike (Santa Cruz Chameleon 2012).
I’ve got a few regular bikes but all are 26ers with QR forks – old school, and the type of riding that the Focus now allowed me to do just didn’t feel the same on the old style bikes.
Both my Chameleon and SC Heckler now felt too short and steep, with flexy forks!!
I’d never had 27.5 wheels, bolt through axles, dropper post, tubeless tyres, modern slack geometry etc., etc.
To get all of that in one go was pretty intoxicating.
Plus all the extra fun the power assistance gives you.
But as I’ve said I’m still keen on riding regular bikes, so my aim in building this Scandal up is really to create a bike that has similar geo, fit etc., to my Focus and offers similar poise and a confidence building ride – just without the Shimano motor!
The rides that I’ve done so far totally confirm this.
Drop the post and point in down a steep rough chute and it’s a blast, AND it climbs up stuff much, much better than I was expecting – Love it.
I think I’ll be spending a fair bit of time of this one, and it’s going to be a pretty fantastic winter bike too.