LightCarbon 918?

[Peak district XC]

Hi ChristEr

I did get the XC14 bars in 70mm, it’s not too aggressive with stem spacers puts but mines set up as xc marathon bike, depends on usage and if you’re used to that position you still get some adjustment but nothing like with separate bar/stem. I wouldn’t swap back as pros are worth it but the buzz and stiffness is noticeable.

Integrated bars/cable works amazing, you’d never know they run through the bars by feel etc no extra weight in the steering or binding. There isn’t much slack needed in the system though with the routing down the bars in my case and between the bearings, as the lengths are pretty fixed as you don’t need too much extra at the front for bar movement. I suspect it would be more of an issue with the top cap style depending on the angle entering etc as you’d need to allow more hose/outer housing. With the integrated bars you do lose some steering angle compared to the headset cap but this would only really affect you turning the bars beyond anything like normal.

Over 1000km on the bike now and really pleased with the bike.

[ChristEr]

Just finished building my 918 in crystal red matte, size L
I used the following components:
Their MC932GP-XC rims- 28 holes (320 g each), XC03 handlebar (220g), SP02-31.8 setpost (193g)
Full XT M8100 1x12 groupset (34x10-45)
Kalloy uno stem 60 -7
SID SL Ultimate 110 fork
Monarch RT3 shock
Shock bushings from offsetbushings.com
DT-swiss 350 CL straightpull hubset
Sapim laser spokes
DT-swiss standard brass nipples black 12mm
Schwalbe tubeless valves
Schwalbe Racing Ray and Ralph
Ergon GA3 grips size L

Total weight by adding up all the components: 9,8 kg. Real life weight 11.1 kg.

The paint job looks very nice and I didn't find any imperfections. From a distance you get a darkish red color
Everything went together very well; including headset, bottom bracket and brake mounts. Although the bottom bracket wasn't faced after the paint job and the rear brake mounts were faces just a little, everything fitted perfectly and the crankset spinned smoothly.
I only sanded a sharp edge where the top tube meets the headtube to prevent damage to te brake en shiftlines.
Only drawback of the frame design I think is the limited choice of shocks due to unconventional imperial sizing and standard mount. I actually only found the monarch to fit the frame. The Monarch has been updated through the years and seems like a fine choice. And the hidden cables look nice, but would be more convenient for future service to have the lines routed through the side of the headtube.
All in all I'm very happy with my build. I did a quick test ride and it was very responsive and light compared to my alloy Cube stereo pro 120 from 2018 (13.9kg)