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Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
Sadly Winter has finally hit Chicago. Only have been able to to put about 125mi/200km on the bike. First Impressions: Coming from an Allez Sprint as my primary bike (which personally isn't as harsh as people say) I was surprised how comfortable and compliant the ride quality is. Chicago has notoriously bad roads so it's something you're always aware of. You can hear the bad pavement with the 177, you just don't really "feel" them. For comparison sake, I am running the Hyper 65s and GP5000s on both my Allez Sprint and 177 (for now). The separate handlebar/stem combo is plenty stiff enough. I'm not a sprinter so my max watt is like 1000w, maybe 1100w on my best day. No flexing as far I can tell. One thing to note with the separate handlebar/stem, is that getting the compression plug and expander bolt to properly take up all the slack/play in the fork has been tricky. Perhaps I just need to cut the steerer a little shorter to allow the dust cap to further compress without crushing it. Lastly, I did order some 38mm deep wheels from VeloBuild. They should be here hopefully today or tomorrow. Curious to see how much they weigh. December 29, 2021, 10:07:11 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
Hey Everyone, My intentions are not to spam this thread with my photos. However, I finally received my VeloBuild 38mm wheels after a two week delay courtesy of my local postal service  . The Hyper 65s I originally had on the 177 are for my Winspace T1500 which I will be building up this weekend.1. They are pretty heavy. 1778g for the pair. For comparison sake, my Winspace Hyper 65s weigh 1610g. Lighter yet significantly deeper wheels, but also significantly more expensive. You could buy three pairs of VB wheels for the price of Hypers. Just something to consider... 2. Specs are tubeless clinchers with the tubeless tape already installed. 25mm external, 19mm internal. The wheels come with valve extenders, but sadly no extra spokes or tubeless valves. Standard Novatec hubs. I've used these hubs on my Yoeleo wheels and they are perfectly fine. 3. This is the final "form" for the build. Without power meter pedals, carbon bottle cage, or Garmin mount...final weight is 8kg I'm working on my official video review of the build, but for the price and weight I have to say it's a lovely deal. The light weight carbon of the 177 offsets the heavy wheels in my opinion, so basically you're getting a big-brand quality frameset, handlebars, and wheels for under $1000. Add your favorite groupset and you're looking at a setup that would probably cost almost double in price from one the main brands out there. PS - the gold chain is from OG-Evkin. I probably own about 8-10 different components from them. They offer solid value for the price. December 30, 2021, 03:08:31 PM |
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Re: Carbonda FM909
First ride finished. Great and amazing. I wasn't much slower than yesterday on a gravel ride. (Carbonda 505)I will change to sideloader cages , cut the handlebar down to 760mm and lower the front by 10mm. Besides that I never felt so good on a mountainbike before. (I started with mtb, realized then I like roadbikes, added a gravel and now finally came back to mtb )January 01, 2022, 01:33:52 PM |
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Re: Welcome to Chinertown - Introduce Yourself!
Hi all, I'm Casper from the Netherlands. I came across this forum recently and since then have been reading various threads on full suspension 29ers. Currently looking into buying a carbonda FM1001 or a light carbon LCFS947 to build as my first full squish bike. Thanks for all the great info that's on here already and I hope I'll be able to contribute to that in the future as well! January 01, 2022, 02:41:36 PM |
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Re: Carbonda FM909
Finally finished the build today. 11.27 kgs for an XL. I had the same issue with the axle. Solved it with a thin washer under the head of the axle. Looking forward to the shakedown ride.
January 02, 2022, 07:55:43 PM |
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Re: Lexon "Riot 10"
Finally got the build completed and took it out for a ride yesterday...unfortunately on gravel due to a lot of recent rain. While I wasn't able to pedal on miles of singletrack I did manage hit a few short rocky descents and climbs along with some wet roots and the bike handled it all very well (I set 3 new PRs without even trying). On these features the bike felt very secure and the rear wheel really planted, I'm coming from a hardtail so this is one of the riding aspects I was looking forward to in a full suspension bike. On the gravel trails it felt exactly like how an XC bike should feel, quick and snappy. On that point, based on current categorization the Riot is an XC bike, however when compared to my 2014 Specialized Crave with its 71.5 degree headtube angle, to me the Lexon Riot felt down right "Downcountry" with its 68 degree HTA and longer fork travel (120mm vs 100mm). My build is a couple pounds heavier than what I was shooting for weighing in at 27 pounds, than the targeted 25 pounds. However I don't think this will be too much of hinderance for the trails I ride along with the 2-4 races per year I compete in (CAT 2 middle of the pack). I've never been overly concerned with weight, I like having a dropper post and BIG flat pedals, therefore if I wanted to shed some weight I could, change out the seat post, pedals, go with carbon rims, etc. For now I think I'm set. By the way, I ended up mounting the new Mavic rear wheel and e13 cassette, the DT Swiss rear wheel that I was planning on using during the winter needs some new bearings in the hub. Below are all of the components: Frame: Lexon Riot 10 Shock: Rockshox Monarch RL - Purchased with the frame Fork: Rockshox Reba 120mm travel with Charger 2 damper - I upgraded the internals on old 100mm Reba Wheels: Mavic Crossmax (142mm rear with spacers to conform to boost)- The wheels are a warranty replacement and Mavic wouldn't upgrade it to boost, the new front wheel hasn't been mounted yet but fits the fork without any need for spacers Tires: F - Maxxis Ardent / R - Continental CrossKing - I like this set up, Ardent grips the corners well and the CrossKing is very efficient, good traction and rolls well. Cassette: e*13 11 speed, 9x46 - New and doubtful I'll be using the 9t cog too much, but the 46t granny gear is nice Crank and Chainring: Sram dub 32t (non-boost) - This pairs well with the non-boost rear wheel, drivetrain shifting is spot on. (Never used before, I had purchased it for my old bike) Pedals: Pedaling Innovations Catalyst (I like big flat pedals, my 5/10 shoes really stick to these pedals) and from my old bike Shifter: Sram GX 11 speed - From my old bike Derailleur: Sram GX 11 Speed - From my old bike Dropper Seat Post: PNW Loam 150mm travel - New Dropper lever: Wolftooth - From my old bike Saddle: Fizik Gobi M5 - From my old bike Handlebars: Nukeproof Horizon (carbon) - New, 780mm seems a little wide but want to ride them for awhile before making any adjustments Stem: Ragley 50mm - New, It seems to be the right length Brakes & Rotors: Shimano Deore (older reservoir version) F - 180mm, R - 160mm - From my old bike Grips: ODI waffle (old) - Switching up to PNW loam grips once they arrive Cables: Jagwire - Also used the Jagwire foam in the downtube to keep the cables and brake hose from rattling Wrap: Ride Wrap Covered - Help protect the frame from scratches along with some mastic tape in a couple of spots Final thoughts, I'm pleased with Lexon Riot. I've always done my own bike maintenance, but building a bike from the ground up was quite an experience and took a lot of patience. The challenging part was using some old bike parts for the build and figuring out how to make them fit the latest standards. Also, be prepared to buy the necessary tools if you don't already own them: torque wrench, headset press, brake line cable cutter and barb driver are the tools that I purchased during the build. I'm going to need to get a bearing press sometime as well for future maintenance. I have named my bike...The Rocket! Many thanks to this site and those who contribute, I don't think I could have researched, purchased and built a mountain bike without Chinertown.com. January 03, 2022, 10:31:14 AM |
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Re: FM1002 / FM1166 - 150mm frame
For anyone following along at home, the frame arrived just before Xmas (3wks postage to Australia). The finished quality of the frame and paint job is great. Paint near the bearing is generally good, only looks like one spot where the paint might flake off, time will tell. The only thing I don’t like is the top cover for the headset but you can’t really complain for $15. Overall I’m quite impressed with the whole experience. I can’t comment on how the bike actually rides but my partner seems to like it. I’ll try take it out for a spin and offer some feedback in the future. I’ll take some more photos when the dropper post arrives. January 04, 2022, 04:25:26 AM |
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Re: Carbonda FM909
Some of the details of my build. Shock pivot pin threads were kind of buggered up, so made a new Ti pin with some stainless bolts. Also turned a custom 8mm to 1/2 bushing for shock mount out of TECAPEEK. Accents in copper, plan was for "dolemite" to be in chrome, but that failed miserably so black for now.
January 04, 2022, 01:56:55 PM |
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Re: Painting reccomendations
I completely stripped down (sanded) my lexon frame before painting. Used spraymax 2k epoxy primer, Montana cans for colors and most importantly spraymax 2k glossy clearcoat. 2 coats of primer (wet sanding between layers) and before paint, 1 base color metálic black, 1 layer of logos and effects in metálico gold , 1 layer of hollogram glitter effects, and three layers of 2k clearcoat with wetsanding and polish in the end. For my first project came out a huge success. Very professional result. Will not buy a complete bike again from now on 
January 04, 2022, 05:52:26 PM |
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Re: LCFS947 - 160mm 4-bar 27+/29
It is finish
January 10, 2022, 03:16:02 AM |
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