Bionicon Edison - Redux (long-term WIP)

cat_with_no_tail

I decided that as I'm going to be off the bike for another 6 months or so, I wanted to give myself something shiny to come back to.

Probably looking at spending a few months getting stuff together, shopping round etc, so this is going to be a longish term build. Plus I'm not really going to be in any fit state to mess with the bike for another 6 weeks or so anyway.

I initially considered getting rid of the Edison and getting something like the new Intense Carbine, but decided that I love this bike far too much to trade her in. It is absolutely perfect for me and the only thing I could think of that could be improved (slightly) by buying a new one would be weight.

So, plan B.
Bike has been stripped down to the frameset and everything else sold on to new homes.

Plan is as follows:

Frameset to be sent to Bionicon UK, Frame will be completely stripped down and fork will be upgraded to the latest Gen2 model. This adds 10mm travel and drops about 3/4 of a lb. It also changes the dropouts from QR to 15mm.

Bionicon will take the frame over to Argos racing Cycles, who are going to do a custom paint job for me in Satin Black.
Bionicon are providing the artwork for me, more about that in a minute.

When the frame comes back, Bionicon are doing a full service, new bearings all round, new airlines for the travel adjust and so on. They're then going to crate it up and ship it back to me.

Build will be as follows:

Tyres: Nobby Nic TL front and Double Defence, TL rear
Wheels: Tune king/kong on Flow rims
Groupset: Complete 2012 XT 10sp, Double 28/40, Bionicon c/guide
Pedals: Straitline AMP Ti
Bars: Exotic Carbon 750mm 15mm rise
Seatpost: Gravitydropper Turbo
Assorted tarty pimpage.

Now, Colourwise, the frame will be Satin Black. The forks and stanchions will be Gloss Black. I need to make a decision on the decals though.
I'm getting Bionicon to do an exact replica of what's already there, but I'm not sure if I want to keep the lime green details, or have a different colour such as Blue or Orange. The rest of the bits will be coordinated with the frame (stuff like grips, pedals, hubs, nipples, certain bolts etc).

What do you reckon then? Satin black with Orange is my current favourite.

lawman

seeing as i love black bikes with lime green stuff, my opinion is obvious good choice on the wheels, personally i would go for black hubs and spokes, lime green nipples and white rims with lime green decals, would stick with the nobby nics though, fantastic tyres for most conditions! are you not tempted by a shadow plus mech? i would wait til june time before purchasing the groupset, see what shimano has to offer for 2013... what brakes do you plan on running?

cat_with_no_tail

Don't think white rims would look right on this one. I'm going for all black (including the groupset I think), but with the single colour just to accent certain bits.
Brakes will be supplied with the group, so XT. Heard nothing but good things about them.

I don't really get the point of Shadow plus.
As far as I understand it, you have to stop at the top of a hill, get off, take off your gloves, flick the switch thing, ride down. Stop, get off, take off your gloves again, flick the switch back.....rinse & repeat.
Just seems like a faff on for little benefit.

I like to get on my bike, ride, and get off when my ride is over. That's one of the main plus points of the Edison, and remote dropper posts.

Plus the c-guide should stop the chain flapping about too much anyway.

NORTHERNSHAGGY

how about gold instead of green and saint instead of xt? black white and gold wood look pimp

cat_with_no_tail

urgh, god no! Not a fan of gold at all.

and saint is a bit too heavy. Not building a DH bike

lawman

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Don't think white rims would look right on this one. I'm going for all black (including the groupset I think), but with the single colour just to accent certain bits.
Brakes will be supplied with the group, so XT. Heard nothing but good things about them.

I don't really get the point of Shadow plus.
As far as I understand it, you have to stop at the top of a hill, get off, take off your gloves, flick the switch thing, ride down. Stop, get off, take off your gloves again, flick the switch back.....rinse & repeat.
Just seems like a faff on for little benefit.

I like to get on my bike, ride, and get off when my ride is over. That's one of the main plus points of the Edison, and remote dropper posts.

Plus the c-guide should stop the chain flapping about too much anyway.

fair call on the wheels, its personal choice, unless i had carbon wheels, like enve AM's, i'd always have white i think...

think you may have got confused with the shadow plus mechs. afaik the only time you undo the clutch is take the wheel out, so unless you do that whenever you stop, i can't see a problem with it. i can't see why shimano would make a mech that needed that much effort...

the xt brakes are incredible, seriously unbelievable admittedly i only had a short ride on them, but it was enough to realise they are just epically powerful, would love a pair myself *curses rosebikes....*

cat_with_no_tail

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, now I seeeeeeeee.
I was wondering why Shimano would come up with such a useless feature. That makes much more sense if it's on all the time apart from wheel fitting.

Mmmmm, I like the idea of a silent chain. I especially like the idea of not dropping the chain all the time as I'll not be running a bash with the XT double.

I see I can get one for £100 at the moment too from ze chermans.

lawman

in principle its a great idea imo, one of those, errrrr why the fark didnt we think of that before kinda thing, just the xtr ones are so bloody expensive, even at that price, one of the reasons i went 1 x10 with an LG1 on the mojo, I'd rather ding a taco guard than smash £150 worth of xtr bling, which given my rep for destroying mechs, its easy to see why i did

tbh, i think if you run a full guide such as i do, the only benefit is the silent chain, as the chains going no where anyway, but on double ring setups like the one you're fitting, i can definitely see the benefit, as i was forever dropping the chain on the mojo when it was 2x10, and it just ruined so many descents i got fed up and manned up and its something i feel is the best thing ive done to both my bikes, along with dropper posts. if a xt shadow plus is made for 2013, i for sure will be getting though!!

cat_with_no_tail

tbf, I don't think £100 is too bad at all. Plus I can probably get a good 40-50 of that back from flogging the XT one that'll come with the XT groupset. So complete XT groupset with xtr+ mech for around £540. That'll do pig, that'll do!

I had considered 1x10 btw, decided against it in the end. Just doesn't lend itself to the trails here very well imho. We have too many lung-buster climbs and too many wide-open descents on the same ride that it's just too much of a compromise.

lawman

yeah thats a good deal all told! the new xt group looks awesome in black, as do the brakes, the silver looks awful imo.

i though that about 1 x10, living in wales and having a mix of short, tech climbs, long fire roads and singletrack and open moorland descents, but my 34t has been perfect so far sometimes wish i still had the double to fall back on, but as i say, i'd much rather have the chain stay where it is rather than get lodged in the DW link and wreck carbon

cat_with_no_tail

Just had a quote for some I9s (in orange) on Arch or Flow for £740
Its now between them and the Tunes (also on Arch or flow and in Orange).

Hmmmmmm

pastey_boy

do you reckon the arch ex rims will be ok for an AM bike ? im seriously tempted to try them. im guessing they will be the equivalent of a mavic 719 with a bit of en521 thrown in. the flows have been solid but im tempted by the weight saving.

cat_with_no_tail

I've just ordered some I9 hubs with regular Arch rims. I looked at the Arch ex, but it just looks too thin, and the bead hook looks too small.

I'm sure it'd be fine for lighter riders, but it's not for me.

ilovedirt

lawman wrote:

tbh, i think if you run a full guide such as i do, the only benefit is the silent chain, as the chains going no where anyway, but on double ring setups like the one you're fitting, i can definitely see the benefit, as i was forever dropping the chain on the mojo when it was 2x10, and it just ruined so many descents i got fed up and manned up and its something i feel is the best thing ive done to both my bikes, along with dropper posts. if a xt shadow plus is made for 2013, i for sure will be getting though!!

I agree about the single chainring, one of the best things I ever did on my bikes, not had a granny ring for a couple of years now! It really makes you fit as well. The noise never bothered me though, my chain guide is pretty noisy anyway. I would quite like to go 1x10 though if i can afford it over the summer, as the extra 36t cog at the back would come in pretty handy.
A dropper post is also on the list, It would probably improve a ride tenfold for me, as I'm always getting off to move my post up/down.