Giant XTC Team NRS 2000. Updated.

Spugnut

I've made quite a few changes to the bike recently so I thought I'd do an updated topic with the latest spec. This weekend it's been out with the old...



And in with the new...



Mmmm, carbon fibre. New Ritchey WCS Carbon bars, flat with a 5º sweep from ebaY, £50. Ritchey Pro Carbon stem, 100mm, 6º rise on a price match from Evans Gatwick warehouse, £45.47. They really didn't want to do a price match (they had them at £69.99) and tried to weedle out of it, but we got there in the end . Carbon spacer from ebaY.



Chuffed with way it looks and the handling has become a lot more direct. Not nearly as much of a pain in the wrists as I'd feared. Still got to tweak the set up a little but it's almost there.

Overall the bike looks considerably less ungainly than it did before.



I seriously love the look of the Ritchey bar and stem and it's quite a bit lighter than the previous combination. I've sorted out the routing of the front brake hose since this photo.



Looks like a completely different bike to a couple of months ago.

El Capitano

oooh shiney parts! That's made a huge improvement to the look of the front end. I'm assuming that the riding has been suitably improved as well.

Still not convinced about that saddle position though...

allthegearnoidea

ritchey carbon bars and stem = 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

sadle is an odd angle, bit too nose down, but! if its comfy whats it matter i suppose!

Spugnut

Cheers fellas.

I know the saddle is slightly nose down but once the sag is taken up it's a bit less so and I find it a lot more comfortable in the nadger region.

I got one of the Ritchey Torq-keys (5Nm) for the stem fasteners, nice little tool but you can't change the 4mm bit for any other size of hex bit (to do the stem to steerer tube bolts for example), which is a pain in the arse. I've got a normal torque wrench but it's still a bit of a cop out on Ritchey's part.

Andy

That saddle is at the wrong angle.

njee20

Saddle angle and pedal fail, otherwise not bad!

Spugnut

Andy wrote:

That saddle is at the wrong angle.

njee20 wrote:

Saddle angle and pedal fail, otherwise not bad!

Alright, alright, I'll change the saddle angle. Sheesh. :roll: Pedals are fine for me thanks.

More worrying is the persistent creaking/clicking noise that was coming from the headset/tube area while I was out this evening. First noticed it after a very lumpy downhill section. There's no notchiness when turning the handlebars and I've checked that I haven't overtightened the Nothreadset, but I've got a horrible feeling that it's more of a knacked frame weld sound. :shock: Most apparent when getting the power down. Trouble is that the paint is fairly generous and it's impossible to tell without stripping it. I'm going to get an opinion from the lads at Freeborn Horsham (my LBS) and hopefully it's something simple I've not thought of rather than a damaged frame.

Would be the perfect excuse to get an On-One Carbon Whippet frame though.

El Capitano

Could be a knackered bearning in the headset?

I know my NRS creaks like a creaky thing that's got a severe case of the creaks. Mostly in the rear sus area though. I need to replace the rocker plate bearings and hopefully that should sort it out.

BiciMapas

Spugnut


Did you find the cause of the creaking in your NRS? I am rebuilding my old 2001 NRS 3 and it works like a charm, except for a creaking that I have not been able to find where it comes form: Seems to be the headset area but also the bottom bracket.

Thanks

D-Cyph3r

I got a incredibly annoying creaking/cracking sound from the front end when I performed the exact same upgrade (carbon bars and stem, well faceplate for me). An extra quarter turn on the faceplate bolts and a couple of rides later and it was gone.

BiciMapas

Thanks, I have alluminum stem and handlebar, so I have to look somewhere else.

El Capitano

BiciMapas wrote:

Thanks, I have alluminum stem and handlebar, so I have to look somewhere else.

When I changed the bars/stem on my NRS, to KCNC alloy/scandium ones, I also got lots of creaking. Took everything apart, applied a smear of grease to all bolt threads and the underside of the heads, and a very light smear between the stem/bar and stem/steerer. Seemed to cure the problem.

Thewaylander

njee20 wrote:

Saddle angle and pedal fail, otherwise not bad!

was gonna say pedal win myself

Gazlar

Thewaylander wrote:

njee20 wrote:

Saddle angle and pedal fail, otherwise not bad!

was gonna say pedal win myself

+potato, I loved my wellgo's,

MountainMonster

Eww ergo grips and twist shifters are my problems with it. The bars and stem look absolutely beautiful, and the whole bike in general is very nice for it's age.

Spugnut

Found the source of the creak a while back. And it was...a swingarm linkage, just like El Cap' said it probably was. I could have sworn blind on a stack of bibles that the noise was coming from the headset area, but no, went over every fastener from front to back and it was one of the linkages that just needed pinching up a tad.

The Ergo grips are pretty unappealing aesthetically Mountainmonster but they sure are comfy. The plan is to go to 9 speed with X0 trigger shifters in the near future and I'm going to try some Ritchey WCS lock-on foam grips with them.

BiciMapas

Spugnut

Thanks for the information. I will check all the linkages tonight. Was it a particular one (chainstay, seatstay, rocker arm)?

Greetings

BiciMapas

Hi all,

Finally I was able to find the cause of the creaking and unfortunatelly it is due to a crack on the left seat stay just above the disk brake fittings. The crack was not easy to spot, but after a 3 hour ride last saturday it showed clearly. The time for a new frame has come.

Thanks for all the help provided.

cat_with_no_tail

Spugnut wrote:

I got one of the Ritchey Torq-keys (5Nm) for the stem fasteners, nice little tool but you can't change the 4mm bit for any other size of hex bit

Yes you can.

Just grip the hex bit with some pliers and pull, it's not stuck in very well. Mine pretty much came straight out.

MountainMonster

Spugnut wrote:

Found the source of the creak a while back. And it was...a swingarm linkage, just like El Cap' said it probably was. I could have sworn blind on a stack of bibles that the noise was coming from the headset area, but no, went over every fastener from front to back and it was one of the linkages that just needed pinching up a tad.

The Ergo grips are pretty unappealing aesthetically Mountainmonster but they sure are comfy. The plan is to go to 9 speed with X0 trigger shifters in the near future and I'm going to try some Ritchey WCS lock-on foam grips with them.

Fair enough on wanting to changing from twist shifts. I used to ride with a pair and kept losing grip because of them so promptly switched to triggers. Found the change amazing.

njee20

Looking at that again, what have you done to it? The seat tube angle is all to cock, have you fitted a much shorter (or longer) shock? The whole point of the NRS was that it wasn't supposed to sag, Fox used to do custom shocks for them.

Spugnut

Looking at that again, what have you done to it? The seat tube angle is all to fool, have you fitted a much shorter (or longer) shock? The whole point of the NRS was that it wasn't supposed to sag, Fox used to do custom shocks for them.

Shock is exactly the same length and stroke as the one that it replaced, which was the original SID supplied with the frame.

As for the seat tube angle being "all to fool", I really haven't got a clue what you're on about.

Just ordered SRAM X0 trigger shifters, X9 rear mech, 9 speed cassette and chain and some Ritchey foam lock-on grips. Hell of saving on CRC especially with an extra 10% of everything if you're a previous customer.

njee20

Well the seat tube angle looks very slack, and the chainstays look to be at an odd angle, just doesnt look quite right.

Andy

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... highlight=

Thats El Capitano's one which is the way it should be.

Spugnut

Apart from the photos being taken from different angles I'm not seeing much difference.

njee20

Your seat tube angle is not the same, the whole bike looks jacked up. I guess it's because you changed the shock, they were designed to run with no sag. Fox used to do a Float RL NRS.

El Capitano

njee20 wrote:

Your seat tube angle is not the same, the whole bike looks jacked up. I guess it's because you changed the shock, they were designed to run with no sag. Fox used to do a Float RL NRS.

I changed my shock to a DT Swiss SSD190L, same length and stroke as the Giant NRS one that came with the frame (and was b0rked). I run mine with no-sag, going through the instruction manual for the frame to set it up. You can run them with some sag, and the manual gives instructions on how to set this up.

The only difference between our bikes that I can see is the saddle angle, which might just be throwing off the perspective of the frame. Also, mine's a medium and IIRC, Spugnut's is a large.

Spugnut

Aha, right, cheers El Cap', I didn't get a manual with mine. How much sag does it say to run? I've got mine at about 20% of the stroke at the moment. Got to say it rides fine. Mine is the large frame, as you say, 20.5".

When they say "no sag", what do they actually mean? Run the shock rock hard? I'm 225lbs so it's running at a pretty high pressure as is.

And I've adjusted the seat angle, now flat, but further forward, I think that's where the problem was. It's all a learning curve.

Looking forward to getting the 9 speed setup on it.

El Capitano

Spugnut wrote:

When they say "no sag", what do they actually mean? Run the shock rock hard? I'm 225lbs so it's running at a pretty high pressure as is.

Pretty much yes... Basically, you set up the shock so that it doesn't move when you sit on the saddle. This makes the frame handle like a hardtail most of the time and only moves when you hit the gnarly stuffs. For enduro events, I tend to run it with a small amount of sag (less than 5%) to give a little bit of cushioning.

Spugnut

My brother fitted the 9 speed bits I got from CRC yesterday. It's going to take some getting used to after so many years of gripshift but I like the feel of the X0 trigger shifters already. Ritchey foam grips are on but I'll have to do a decent length ride to see if I'm going to get on with them or not.



Need to have a look at getting some combined brake lever/shifter mounts.



Decided to go with X9 mech instead of X0 after reading several threads hereabouts, looks a lot more durable.



But of course, after getting new shiny bits to play with, I've managed to totally knacker my left hip and can't ride the bloody thing further than the end of my road at the moment anyway.

El Capitano

Pimptastic! I've got gripshift on the XTC and thumb-shiftes on the NRS. You'll be surprised how quickly you'll adjust to the new shifters.