Chinertown
Chinese Carbon MTB => 29er => Topic started by: timwa on April 12, 2015, 08:16:24 AM
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Hi everyone.
Just wanted to say thanks for the help in answering my small queries that enabled me to build my bike. It is really appreciated.
And just to show off the finished project, let me present:
(http://i57.tinypic.com/9sdte9.jpg)
So far I am very happy with how it has turned out. I am loving nearly every part on it and of it.
It is a fairly basic build with mostly Shimano XT running gear, but it turned out OK. Weight is around 10.2 kg.
A couple more pics follow.
(http://i60.tinypic.com/255kjcx.jpg)
(http://i57.tinypic.com/sctb46.jpg)
I was originally going to add some paint or colour, but right now I am diggin' the stealthy black look. Time will tell. Only thing that is a little annoying is the internal cable routing (which was much easier to do than I expected) is setup backwards for us aussie builders. The runs are to suit left hand drive countries where the brake levers are on the wrong sides. But it does work out ok.
(http://i58.tinypic.com/2iuvm6o.jpg)
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Nice build! Yes, paint will make your build stand out over the many basic black builds. Later you may add some paint or graphics for a more custom look. Your build looks like it will be very low maintenance. My trails would not do well with a rigid fork but that sure makes a nice lightweight setup.
As for the brake lever setup, it is funny that in the US, all motorcycles have the front brake lever on the right side but bicycles have the rear brake lever on the right. It doesn't bother me the they are not the same and I get on and ride either one without thinking about it.
The Conti RaceKing tires look good, do you have them setup tubeless?
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Nice. One of the sharpest builds I've seen thus far. Simple and understated but I really like it a lot. Good job, man! Hope you enjoy it. Only thing it needs (imo) is some thinner flat pedals with some bling on it to match the seat.
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Nice. One of the sharpest builds I've seen thus far.
I had the same impression when seeing the pictures.
I guess the wheels/spokes contribute a lot to a light design.
For the internal cable routing, you can always cross them, at the top.
Accessing them from the headset holes.
On a 256 frame it is easy. However it looks on a 057, some drilling may be necessary.
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I agree, the Crank Bros wheels always is a cool look.
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Thanks for the replies everyone, appreciated.
The tyres are not tubeless at this point as was quicker/easier to just put tubes in. Having said that, I will prolly convert over to tubeless.
Izzy, what pedals do you recommend? Because I am a bigger heavier guy (thus the 21" frame) I find some pedals a bit lightweight and not robust enough. Always welcome others ideas tho.
For the colour scheme, was even thinking of just adding some simple detail in red/white to the forks to go with the seat. Just for a bit of balance. Would like to keep it subtle tho.
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Hi
As a matter of interest. What BB set did you choose with the frame?? Im looking into getting the same cranks. Im pretty new to building
thanks
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Yeah, definitely keep it subtle. That's why I thought the pedals would be a good place to add some bling. Plus, those Shimano Saint flats are pretty bulky and heavy. That sad, if you like them and fell comfortable on them then by all means ride em.
These come in red (although in the pink the red looks a little pinkish but maybe that's just the pic) are decently light weight and have plenty of foot surface area:
http://www.amazon.com/VP-Components-VP-Vice-Pedals-16-Inch/dp/B006ZH1H7M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428925766&sr=8-1&keywords=vp+components+pedals
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Hi Byrt,
the BB was the set that came with the cranks. Some Shimano ones:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/en/shimano-zee-chainset-10sp-m640/rp-prod82416
HTH.
Izzy - those pedals do look cool indeed :)
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Nice ride... What are your thoughts on the Crank Brothers wheels? I gave them some serious consideration when I was building up my 057, but caved and went with a XMIplay carbon rim setup. Reviews online tend to be polarizing - either everyone loves the Crank Bros setup or hates them.
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Well I must admit I mostly ride in the urban jungle so I was building this bike to have some bling factor, along with the 29er tuff stance I like. Hence the Crank Bros wheels, which I think look awesome. The rear hub is a bit noisy in it's ratchet system compared to my previous ride, but overall I am very happy. I also like them because they look different to most other wheelsets you see.
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Love the geometry.
I like a noisy rear hub in the city; it's a noise that pedestrians associate with a bike and they run for cover when they hear it.
I bought a 140dB "cricket piezo" bike bell and despite being as loud as a 747 the noise was so far removed from anything related to
what a bike normally sounds like that people didn't respond to it.
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Hi everyone. So I have a bit of an update.
The bike has been going generally quite well, and it sure is a blast to ride. I really enjoy the light weight of my build. Anyways, was all good until tonight.
:'(
(http://i64.tinypic.com/acptvr.jpg)
(http://i67.tinypic.com/xcka54.jpg)
(http://i67.tinypic.com/nh1gs0.jpg)
I was only riding about 20 kmh when I had to do a very quick stop so I just jumped on the front brake. And you can see the result above. A complete catastrophic failure of the front fork. Luckily for me I did not fall off, but I did go close to going over the handlebars.
Anyways, this fork came from XMI Play. Are they still around? I am wondering if it is worth contacting them about this. The fork is only 8 months old and has never been jumped or even used that much.
Else can anyone recommend a good robust replacement?
Thanks
Tim
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there is no way that all came from just slamming on the front brakes, that looks like you hit something from the deflection on the right fork leg near the crown.
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That sucks! Could you tell what order the things fractured, or was it all at once? My guess is the brake side broke, then the right side collapsed. Hard to be sure from the picture, but it looks like the right leg just buckled from the unbalanced load. XMIplay is still around, but if you bought from Peter he has a different company now.
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So far I've seen people post way more Chinese rigid fork failures than frame failures. Contact Bert at xMI play and see what he will do for you. However I think I would be considering a Niner fork as a replacement, I haven't seen anyone post about breaking one of those.
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Jenson has the Niner forks on sale for 250. QR only.
http://www.jensonusa.com/Niner-Carbon-Rigid-29-Fork
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Jenson has the Niner forks on sale for 250. QR only.
The Niner "RDO" version has 15mm through-axle. On sale for $299....I may have to make my wife mad at me, because this'd let me change my bike to a 19lb gravel racer.
http://www.jensonusa.com/Niner-RDO-Carbon-29-Fork (http://www.jensonusa.com/Niner-RDO-Carbon-29-Fork)
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Only thing that is a little annoying is the internal cable routing (which was much easier to do than I expected) is setup backwards for us aussie builders. The runs are to suit left hand drive countries where the brake levers are on the wrong sides. But it does work out ok.
I believe with Shimano hydros you can just disconnect the brake lines from the levers and reconnect each to the opposite lever.
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Hi guys, thanks for the responses. Rock - this did all just happen from slamming the brakes - I did not hit anything. I was riding on smooth road at the time so was really nothing to hit.
And having a good look at the failure points this morning, I would say what has happened is the left leg broke first upon the heavy brake application, and after it has failed the resulting twist right leg has caused it to fracture at the top. If you understand loads and breaking forces, you can see that the failure mode of the right leg is due to twisting, not bending. The shape of the fracture reveals this.
It did all happen fairly quickly tho.
Tim
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The Niner "RDO" version has 15mm through-axle. On sale for $299....I may have to make my wife mad at me, because this'd let me change my bike to a 19lb gravel racer.
http://www.jensonusa.com/Niner-RDO-Carbon-29-Fork (http://www.jensonusa.com/Niner-RDO-Carbon-29-Fork)
Thanks for this link - I will have to give this some serious thought. A question tho. The specs say suits rotors up to 185mm. Right now I run 203mm brake rotors, fitted with the 203mm caliper relocation mount. Any reason this size wont fit the niner forks?
Thanks again.
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I would think you would just need the proper caliper spacer for the rotor. I'd be surprised if you did not already have the spacer on the old fork as most are designed for 160mm rotor and to go larger you always need a spacer.
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Hi Carbon_Dude. Yes I know the forks are designed for 160mm and you need the spacer to get to 203mm which I am already using. But given that, why have niner then put on a limit of 185mm? Are the 203mm too powerful for the forks? Or is there another reason?
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Now this is something I'd rather not have seen :) If you can get this riding on tarmac with 20km/h, imagine what happens when doing 50km/h on a rooty forest descent.... Hope my fork is better build and this is a exception.
At least you're not hurt, this could have gone really bad easily :)
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Agree Cnasta - I have already had a worry about this as well. I am trying to decide if maybe I should pay the extra for a name brand for the all important forks.
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Hi Carbon_Dude. Yes I know the forks are designed for 160mm and you need the spacer to get to 203mm which I am already using. But given that, why have niner then put on a limit of 185mm? Are the 203mm too powerful for the forks? Or is there another reason?
Possibly Niner wants to limit the torque load on the fork to what a 180mm rotor can impart to the leg of the fork. Having the larger 203mm rotor may have contributed to your initial failure.
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Yeah - that's what I am worried about ....
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Wow, 203 mm rotor on a city bike? I use a 160 for cross county and rough trails, and never thought I needed more braking power (more skill, maybe:)). I also wonder if the fork would have held up with a smaller rotor.
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Wow, 203 mm rotor on a city bike? I use a 160 for cross county and rough trails, and never thought I needed more braking power (more skill, maybe:)). I also wonder if the fork would have held up with a smaller rotor.
I'm sure it contributed. If Niner wants to limit rotor size to 185mm on their forks to reduce torque load (assuming that is their intentions) than I can only assume the same guidelines should be followed for a chiner carbon fork. Not saying it shouldn't be able to withstand that - I'm really not sure - just saying I feel confident it played a role in the failure.
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When I bought the chiner fork I did check the add copy to see if there were any limitations and none were stated. But yes, I do now wonder about the big rotor.
And I like big brakes for city riding because city drivers are crazy!
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Hi Carbon_Dude. Yes I know the forks are designed for 160mm and you need the spacer to get to 203mm which I am already using. But given that, why have niner then put on a limit of 185mm? Are the 203mm too powerful for the forks? Or is there another reason?
Possibly Niner wants to limit the torque load on the fork to what a 180mm rotor can impart to the leg of the fork. Having the larger 203mm rotor may have contributed to your initial failure.
I'm thinking it was a contributing factor as well - Niner forks are built sturdy as hell, I know several guys who have them and they all say the same thing - STIFF. If Niner is limiting rotor to 185mm on that fork, and you're a big guy adding 10% more braking force higher up on a Chinese fork, that might be an issue.
As a point of reference, I'm 6'3" and 220, more with riding gear and such, and I ran 203mm on my Rumblefish for a while, with a 185mm rear. After a while, I switched back to 185/160 (what came from the factory) and didn't notice any lack of stopping power. While the 203mm has numerically increased stopping power, it's not massively different, and I've had zero complaints about a 180/185mm front - and I never use more than one finger for braking. Pretty sure I could survive a 160/160 setup if I wanted to get weight weenie, which... yeah, no. :)
Without a maximum rotor size specified, it's not something you could have known unless you saw it elsewhere and knew to ask the question - so hopefully they'll still help you out, but you might wanna step down that rotor size at least one step.
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Hi Carbon_Dude. Yes I know the forks are designed for 160mm and you need the spacer to get to 203mm which I am already using. But given that, why have niner then put on a limit of 185mm? Are the 203mm too powerful for the forks? Or is there another reason?
Possibly Niner wants to limit the torque load on the fork to what a 180mm rotor can impart to the leg of the fork. Having the larger 203mm rotor may have contributed to your initial failure.
+1 to all of this. Too large of a rotor for the fork.
I've never even seen anyone go beyond 160 on a rigid carbon fork. I did a bikepacking race this year with some steep technical stuff and ran a carbon Niner fork with mechanical brakes and didn't have any issues (on a metal bike loaded with camping gear and 100oz of water). With those (look to be) XTs you should be fine at 185, but I'm willing to bet even 160s would work.
I'm thinking it was a contributing factor as well - Niner forks are built sturdy as hell, I know several guys who have them and they all say the same thing - STIFF. If Niner is limiting rotor to 185mm on that fork, and you're a big guy adding 10% more braking force higher up on a Chinese fork, that might be an issue.
As a point of reference, I'm 6'3" and 220, more with riding gear and such, and I ran 203mm on my Rumblefish for a while, with a 185mm rear. After a while, I switched back to 185/160 (what came from the factory) and didn't notice any lack of stopping power. While the 203mm has numerically increased stopping power, it's not massively different, and I've had zero complaints about a 180/185mm front - and I never use more than one finger for braking. Pretty sure I could survive a 160/160 setup if I wanted to get weight weenie, which... yeah, no. :)
Without a maximum rotor size specified, it's not something you could have known unless you saw it elsewhere and knew to ask the question - so hopefully they'll still help you out, but you might wanna step down that rotor size at least one step.
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Here is a discussion about the rotor size and fork strength: http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/16963/disc-brake-rotor-size-and-forks-strength
There is a reply(in yellow) from a fork builder saying to not use a 203mm rotor, or the fork may break.
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TIL stackexchange has a bikes section. Huh.