New Light Carbon LCSF980 XC bike

[jefflinde]

If you don't mind sharing. What did you pay for the frame?
And please update on the progress! Would love to see this one being build up!

i was quoted $550 for the frame and headset, axle and seat color.  shipping to the US was 170 i think. 

[repoman]

If you don't mind sharing. What did you pay for the frame?
And please update on the progress! Would love to see this one being build up!

USD $783 shipped
XC14 bars were about $113
Wheels I bought were about $850

[repoman]

 

Got the frame and bars, started building it, mostly just dry fitting everything to see if it all goes together well right now.
So far-
The good: really well finished in appearance. Carbon looks really clean on the inside from what I can see. Bearing seats on the headset look uniform and crisp/well formed.   

The bad: the BB threads were AWFUL. I thought I would have to send the frame back, they are so chunky I thought I would never get a BB threaded into either side. Spent a couple hours scraping the thread with steel pick to smooth them out enough so that one side would thread. Had to make a precision mandrel out of acetal on my lathe to guide the other bearing onto where it needed to be so it wouldn't cross thread. Got both BB bearing halves on correctly and they have chased the threads somewhat, but this was REALLY bad. It should not have left the factory like this.

There is slop in the bearing seats in the headset. It's not horrible, but not good either. I think the headset will compress everything down but this is WAY sloppier than the seats on the gravel bike I have by Light Carbon.   

There is only 1 spacer for the headset, it's about 5mm in stack. They sent a headset by mistake that must be for some road bike as well with a gajillion spacers but they are completely different in shape. I might be able to get a normal round spacer on there or 3D print some others, but it's really crummy to only get 1 small spacer.



The handlebars look ok, but the bore for the fork post is really sloppy. 
Who ever put the seat post clamp on just slammed it on crooked and tightened it, I thought I was going to break the end of the carbon seat tube when trying to delicately get it off but managed to do so.



Overall, from where it stands, I'm disappointed in this frame so far. The worst part was the BB, borderline un-useable without something like a BB BSA tap to chase or some other involved process like what I've done. I cannot get a Sram branded BSA DUB BB into it, just the one that came with the Lexon crank which is SLIGHTLY smaller in OD than the Sram one. I'll have to take it to a bike shop to recut those threads when this BB is done.

[impmonkey]

That is disappointing. Was looking forward to this frame. Kinda glad I haven't ordered it yet.

[repoman]

 

I found this in the handle bar when trimming to length, dunno what to make of it. The carbon feels like it has no resin on the surface of the interior. I can feel the weave and pick at it. There aren't loose threads but I can feel the texture of the weave. Anyone know if that is normal? Never seen that on handlebars before.  Cross section of the tubing looks very solid. 

[baarsan]

Yea this is really disappointing, i was about to order a frame but im glad i didnt have the time to do so yet. Have you talked to LC about the issues? If so what have they said?

[repoman]

Yea this is really disappointing, i was about to order a frame but im glad i didnt have the time to do so yet. Have you talked to LC about the issues? If so what have they said?

 

Yes, apparently the handlebar is fine and should be like that. The cross section does look very solid and the threads in there are not loose or anything, just looks sort of weird.   

The main part that sucks is the bottom bracket threading...but at least with that there is enough meat in there to recut the threads since it is slightly undersized. I'm not really sure how it was even achievable since they said the BB is cut by hand, not on a lathe. I would have thought it was done on a lathe since the main defect was that the threads were full of chatter and not deep enough indicating a worn threading insert...I don't think a tap would do that...maybe the guy was mistaken?   I wouldn't be surprised if they don't even make these BBs, just buy them from a supplier and stick them in the frame when being constructed...they should have a dude with a thread go no-go gauge checking them before they are used.   
Still waiting on the wheelset I bought from them so I'll post again when the bike is full built. 
The 'road headset' I thought was road is actually for this bike, just full internal. It does have a lot of spacers and there is only one for the semi-internal headset, I can use normal round spacers with the semi-internal but it looks aesthetically bad since the headset and provided spacer have a unique profile.   

Routing was pretty easy, there are internal housing lines in the rear triangle.

[baarsan]

Ok, good the handlebar is ok but still kind of hasitent to place an order for the frame. What is LC saying about your issues? Any compensation?

[repoman]

 

Ok, finally got it built up and running (wheels were stuck in US customs for like 9 days).

I've never mountain biked before (If I don't count the Trek 930 I had when I was like 12 years old in the 90s that's I'd use on mostly smooth hiking paths, I've never ridden any technical stuff really save a couple times of doing cyclocross and some class 4 roads on my gravel bike that I'd usually have to hike-a-bike on) so I don't really have any worthwhile input other than the bike is fun.
There's a very good trail system about 0.5 mile from my house (which is why I built a MTB...I figured I was wasting opportunity and I get bored of gravel biking in the late summer) with a bunch of green, blue and black trails.
I just rode about 9 miles on dirt roads to see if the bike would fall apart. I was surprised at how slow pedaling a long on a MTB is (the tires I got for it probably are super slow rolling since I went with a really aggressive tread and super sticky compound), also shocked at how fast I could descend poor dirt roads, it just felt immediately natural to bomb over every feature I have to take caution with on my gravel bike. 
Rode it up to the trail system, played around with what sort of rocks I could plow over and was surprised again at just how good modern suspension is...rocks that were proud of the road surface about 4 inches I could just run right into at speed and hardly feel anything.  Took it on a green trail that had a ton of roots, rocks and switch backs, was a ton of fun on uphill rooty/rocky sections.

[Bigbobby1482]

 

Ok, finally got it built up and running (wheels were stuck in US customs for like 9 days).

I've never mountain biked before (If I don't count the Trek 930 I had when I was like 12 years old in the 90s that's I'd use on mostly smooth hiking paths, I've never ridden any technical stuff really save a couple times of doing cyclocross and some class 4 roads on my gravel bike that I'd usually have to hike-a-bike on) so I don't really have any worthwhile input other than the bike is fun.
There's a very good trail system about 0.5 mile from my house (which is why I built a MTB...I figured I was wasting opportunity and I get bored of gravel biking in the late summer) with a bunch of green, blue and black trails.
I just rode about 9 miles on dirt roads to see if the bike would fall apart. I was surprised at how slow pedaling a long on a MTB is (the tires I got for it probably are super slow rolling since I went with a really aggressive tread and super sticky compound), also shocked at how fast I could descend poor dirt roads, it just felt immediately natural to bomb over every feature I have to take caution with on my gravel bike. 
Rode it up to the trail system, played around with what sort of rocks I could plow over and was surprised again at just how good modern suspension is...rocks that were proud of the road surface about 4 inches I could just run right into at speed and hardly feel anything.  Took it on a green trail that had a ton of roots, rocks and switch backs, was a ton of fun on uphill rooty/rocky sections.

Wow finally someone with the Lexon carbon crank for mtb. I've been eyeing that one, how is the quality and was there any problems? I've been hesistant on buying it, so keen to know how well it works. How bad was the bb it came with?

Also on tires, it's way to common for mtb'ers to "overtire" most people really don't need the DH crazy knobby tires for their trails, unless they're really really steep ect or super technical. For flow tracks knobby tires doesn't really do much.

Most of the time an XC tires which is nearly half the weight and rolling resistance are plenty sufficient. I ride black trails no problems with Maxxis rekon race in both front and back in 2.4. I came from maxxis dissector and rekon, and didn't feel much difference in grip tbh.

[Aradell]

Ok, finally got it built up and running (wheels were stuck in US customs for like 9 days).

I've never mountain biked before (If I don't count the Trek 930 I had when I was like 12 years old in the 90s that's I'd use on mostly smooth hiking paths, I've never ridden any technical stuff really save a couple times of doing cyclocross and some class 4 roads on my gravel bike that I'd usually have to hike-a-bike on) so I don't really have any worthwhile input other than the bike is fun.
There's a very good trail system about 0.5 mile from my house (which is why I built a MTB...I figured I was wasting opportunity and I get bored of gravel biking in the late summer) with a bunch of green, blue and black trails.
I just rode about 9 miles on dirt roads to see if the bike would fall apart. I was surprised at how slow pedaling a long on a MTB is (the tires I got for it probably are super slow rolling since I went with a really aggressive tread and super sticky compound), also shocked at how fast I could descend poor dirt roads, it just felt immediately natural to bomb over every feature I have to take caution with on my gravel bike. 
Rode it up to the trail system, played around with what sort of rocks I could plow over and was surprised again at just how good modern suspension is...rocks that were proud of the road surface about 4 inches I could just run right into at speed and hardly feel anything.  Took it on a green trail that had a ton of roots, rocks and switch backs, was a ton of fun on uphill rooty/rocky sections.

The bike looks great! I love the way the schock sits against the top tube.

Like you thought, the Specialized Purgatory tires are way overkill for a XC bike.
Some basic XC tire combo's I would recommend:

• Specialized Rengade 2.35" rear, Specialized Fast Trak 2.35" front. This is a good and cheap option
• Maxxis Rekon Race 2.43 front and rear. Really confidence inspiring tire, but quite heavy
• Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.35" rear, Schwalbe Racing Ray 2.35" up front. Probably more excpensive in the US

Of course, there are faster combo's or option. But these tires are all really predictable and give good grip for XC riding.

[repoman]

Yeah, I'll switch out the tires for something faster rolling in a bit, but I bought the sticky purgatories because it gets pretty wet/muddy here in the fall and even the easy trails are completely packed with roots and rocks. Figured it'd be good to play it safe since I'm such a MTB noob.   


The Lexon crank is pretty nice IMO. Don't have much to say about it so far since I've only used it for an hour, but it is finished well in appearance/machining. The BB that was included seems fine.
First time using an Oval ring, I can't feel any difference in stroke whatsoever compared to round. Most surprising thing was how different the gearing is compared to round. This is a 34t, but you can definitely feel the longer stroke making it equivalent to something like a 36-38t. I knew it would impact the gearing somewhat, but not nearly as much as it actually does.   

Weight for the build is 25.1 lbs, If I stuck a XTR cassette on it and used some normal XC tires the weight would be down to around 23-ish. (The tires are 1kg each, something like Thunder Burts are about 600g).

[Ludo]

I have the schwalbe combo, got it on AliExpress for descent prices and I found them to have really good rolling but they suck and getting rid of the dirt if it’s a bit tacky like the clay stuff we have in Houston.
Really like this frame though, might be an option but a little concerned about the quality issues

[jefflinde]

I find that ordering from R2-bike for schwalbe tires is cheaper even when shipping to the US than buying locally.  Also Merlin Cycles has good prices but their stock is very limited.  I have the Ralph ray combo and it is by far my favorite.  The cross king and race king are close seconds. I just with they made them in the 2.4 casing size. 

[repoman]

2nd Ride
I've noticed there is some play in the rear linkage. Makes a knocking/rattling noise a lot and is pretty annoying. Is that normal?
Any ideas on how to fix that? Not really sure which pivot point is a bit sloppy. 
It seems like one point is the bolt that goes through the rear shock bushing is a tiny bit loose in tolerance, there might be some play in the top swing arm as well. 
Bushing in the shock is new.