Dashine Bike Carbon 29er Singlespeed Build

[xcbarny]

After having a few issues with Workswell, but wanting a similar frame, I finally settled on the Dashinebike 29er on AliExpress:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2016-new-style-China-29er-MTB-Bike-29er-Carbon-Frame-135-10-and-142-12mm-thru/32546313850.html

Initial impressions are good. Quality looks on a par with the workswell. It came with a Headset, seatclamp, and both QR and TA dropouts (and the sent me some spare qr dropouts too).

It was fairly easy to deal with them, and they were very patient, since I was asking a lot of questions, to make sure that I was getting the exact spec that I needed.

Weighed in at 1Kg on my work scales, I probably wouldn't want to go any lighter on a chinese frame.



Some other pics

[xcbarny]

I have an issue that it won't accept the fun bolts on my Chris king Singlespeed hub, so I need to find a work around for that first. Either a 10mm x 135mm qr axle, or change the axle on my hub to standard QR one.

There's an odd hole between the bottle cage screws, that i have no idea what it is for - maybe DI2 battery?
I'll have to see how easy it is to remove the cable guides, since I'll only be needing the brake hose one.

[xcbarny]

Also this frame has the fattest top tube that I have ever seen. Fairly similar to the Workswell in flat profile, but I think its a lot wider?

Frame also takes a 27.2 post (aliexpress add said 31.6.). Which I'm happy about, since it should be more forgiving.
I tried to find what frame this is copied from, but so far have been unsuccessful. It is very similar to the Workswell in appearance, which is a specialized copy, but then the geometry on this frame isn't the same.

[Carbon_Dude]

Interesting frame, look forward to hearing more about it as you build it up.

[cmh]

Interesting frame, look forward to hearing more about it as you build it up.

Agreed. The way the UD carbon catches the light with the gloss coat is pretty cool.

[xcbarny]

Let me know if there's any other info or pics you'd like as I get on with the build. I'll try to see how the gear cables are routed through the frame, even though I won't be using them.

BTW, this build might get delayed a few weeks, as baby no 2 is due any day now.

[RS VR6]

Hey...congratulations! On the bike...and the baby.

[xcbarny]

Pulled a few late nights over the weekend to get this built up.

First was getting the Bottom bracket sorted. The shell seemed to be a bit undersized. Probably not an issue if I was using a standard bottom bracket, but since the Eccentric BB needs to rotate, to change the chain tension, I had to open it out a little, so I just spent some time on it by hand with some sand paper. Here's the EBB and RH crank installed.

[xcbarny]

As I mentioned earlier, the NDS dropout was giving me a few issues, as I couldn't get my bolt on Chris King hub in. This is the offending dropout:





I did consider cutting a slot in the frame, to match the alloy dropout, but then thought this might be a bit too drastic. I'm currently running an old shimano QR axle loosely through the hub, and then using a standard quick release.
I can either get a Chris King QR conversion kit for it, or get a 10mm QR:

http://www.avt.bike/WebStore/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AVT&Product_Code=PHB705&Category_Code=
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DT-Swiss-RWS-Axle-thru-bolt-aluminum-10-mm-135-mm-/331762531133?hash=item4d3e967b3d:g:6vgAAOSwHjNV8Du6

[xcbarny]

Fitting the brake hose wasn't too much of an issue (so long as you go from the front - which is an issue if you have a banjo on the brake calliper).

Similar to the workswell, there's a removable cover, under the BB shell. Its easy enough to feed the hose through from the front, to the BB. It was a bit trickier feeding it from the BB to the calliper. In the end a fed a bit of gear cable through, then used this to guide the hose.

Since I'm not using gear cable, I removed the hose guides on the front of the downtube, which left some fairly big slots:



I just covered these over with black insulation tape.

[xcbarny]

Wheels and forks on. Looks nearly finished, but still a lot of work to do:



Still have forks to cut down, rear brake to bleed, and chain to fit and tension up.

[xcbarny]

Close up of my XTR M960 Crankset, modified for 104 BCD rings and 1x use. Still needs to grinding and polishing, but it works and its light.

[xcbarny]

Bike finally all together:



And some pics from the trail:

[xcbarny]

Its probably 6 months since I rode a Singlespeed, so my legs were suffering, but apart from that, the bike felt great (certainly rides better than you'd imagine for a $305 frame). The tight geometry was helping the tyres hook up really well, and I found I was gaining confidence on it pushing it through the tight corners.

I can tell that once I get my form, this will be a KOM smashing rocket.

Final weight was a touch over 8.5KG. I was perhaps expecting it to be a bit lower for this build, but its let down a bit by the heavy but bombproof and reliable Chris King hubs, and heavier Snakeskin tyres.

So current build is:

Frame: Dashine bike Carbon 29er (medium)
Forks: RS SID RLT qr
Wheels: Chris King SS hubs, DT Revolution hubs on Stans Crest, 2.25 Schwalbe Rocket Ron Snakeskin F / 2.25 Shwalbe Thunder Burt Snakeskin R
Stem: Easton EA70 (80mm , -17 deg)
Bars: Ritchey Carbon WCS Riser (should probably change these to flat)
Brakes: Shimano XT M775
Chainset: Modified XTR M960
Chainring: Rotor Q-Ring singlespeed 34T
Sprocket: Surly 21T
Chain: Shimano 8sp
Saddle + Post: Merek full carbon
Headest: Chinese - included with frame.
Pedals: Speedplay Frog Chromoly

[cmh]

Bike looks great! Congratulations!