Carrera Kraken - with new wheels 25/11/2014 (page 6) - 9.6Kg

poah

The Rookie wrote:

Latest update time!

Weight is now solidly (right word?) under 10Kg, weighing in right now at 9928g, not bad for a budget Halfords Carrera!

My ghost weights in at 12.495kg can't really save any more weight on it unless I went 1x10 and got a ti cassette

The Rookie

Looking at the specs in your thread, there is clearly more scope than that!

njee20

Agreed, you're running SLX... Not exactly ultralight stuff!

Post the full spec on that thread if you want. Bit of a different type of bike to this though, so comparisons are a little misleading.

mathematics

The Rookie wrote:

It's a 16" small size frame, I am 5'' 9.5" however I have short limbs for my height which is why possibly the small suits me better than a medium which I would 'expect' to ride for my height.

I have a quite short inside leg around 29".

I'm a rear mech hanger - think my frame is same year as yours - where did you get hanger please?

The Rookie

mathematics wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

It's a 16" small size frame, I am 5'' 9.5" however I have short limbs for my height which is why possibly the small suits me better than a medium which I would 'expect' to ride for my height.

I have a quite short inside leg around 29".

I'm a rear mech hanger - think my frame is same year as yours - where did you get hanger please?

I 'm a 28", I think a 16" will be the right size for you.

The rear mech hanger can be had from Halfords for just £7.99, cheapest you'll find anywhere!

The Rookie

So finally decided to build some wheels, lucked into an A2Z front hub cheap as well as a pair of Stans Alpine rims, I matched those with some black Sapim Race spokes and DT Swiss alloy nipples (apart from two blue Sapim ones to highlight the valve....tarty I know!)

Front wheel build has cost me just under £60 (less than the RRP of a hub or a rim) for a 628g wheel using all new parts (shock horror, the Rookie buys new!) I have a Novatec rear hub on order to finish the pair, total will be circa £160 for a wheelset of about 1420-1430g.

Front wheel bits

Lacing up

All laced

And finished....

Will be going tubeless using the Stans kit, but right now it has some ghetto rim tape (electrical insulating tape) and a tube.
Full bike update including a few other little tweaks once I have both wheels on and set up tubeless.

poah

how are the seals on the hub? known to be pretty poor

The Rookie

The front hub is good, the adaptors touch to the seal which shields the bearing, may not work as well as a 15mm though.

Not got the Novatec rear yet, but have a Suoerstar (Novatec made) and the sealing is OK but not great, but then a set of bearings is only a tenner.

Dirtydog11

@The Rookie Any idea of your frame weight?

Ta.

The Rookie

Frame is 1735g with my non standard paint, it was 1485g with no paint.

njee20

You added 250g in paint!? I'm disappointed!

I'd be considering one of these. 700g saved for £250, and a nicer frame to boot!

The Rookie

The original paint was a real Beatch to get off, so it had to be painted!

Next step is going to be a carbon frame, that is an option, or a whippet, or there are a few Carrera Titan XC frames coming up for sale now.

gt-arrowhead

Like those wheels. I would have went for a two black two blue colour scheme personally on the spoke nipples. Electrical tape as rim tape? I dont know why i have never thought of that... I always use masking tape. Hasnt let me down once despite a fair bit of abuse.

Carbon frame would really finish this bike off in terms of being a real lightweight, though i do like your Ford paintjob, quite a cool colour. Nice build.

The Rookie

Thanks, thought long and hard about the spoke and nipple colours and decided this is what I wanted.

Masking tape is OK, but the glues goes hard with age and is a pig to get off, you don't get that with electrical tape! One run on a 26" overlapping at the valve is about 5g, rim tape can be upto 40g.

Dirtydog11

@Therookie Thanks for that, looking for a inexpensive frame to replace my ageing Maxlight XC, never been 100% happy with it as its a bit on the short side. From a weight/price point of view the Kraken ticks the right boxes, never realised they where that light. Obviously they dont carry the same Kudos as Kinesis but that's not an issue for me, if one comes up secondhand for the right price, as they often do, I would definitely consider it.

Quite like the look of that carbon frame njee linked to, amazing what 300 quid buys these days, now only if I had 300 quid going spare mmm...might have to sell something.

The Rookie

Be careful with the Carrera frames, the early ones like mine with 27.2 seatpost are the lightest, the last few years stepped up to a 31.6mm post and gained some weight (about 150g), the latest ones with the bridge from top tube to seat tube are quite lardy at over 2Kg.

My 2006 frame is pretty much the exact same weight (within 15g) and geometry (within 2-3mm and same angles) as a 2006 Rockhopper frame - which would have been made in the same factory of course!

The Rookie

Rear wheel done as well, just got to get the tyre on and fit it and I'll do a full update.

802g with Novatech 772 hub, Sapim comp spokes, DT Swiss alloy nipples and Alpine rim, wheelset is 1430g for just under £180 (all new) so pretty happy.

Will be going tubeless but want to get them running tubed first.....

WindyG

Well done on the wheelset build very nice and light.

step83

Really need to get my finger out an shave some off mine. Really impressed with your attention to detail on this and those wheels look brilliant, really well done.

The Rookie

Thanks, I was nervous about building my own wheels so did my homework, decided what I wanted and what my budget was, did look at getting Hope hubs but even used ones go for more than the brand new Novatec and I lucked into the A2Z front for a very silly price (the rims I got cheap, but not as stupidly cheap!), would cost about £30 more if I'd used a new Novatec front hub and would have pushed the weight for the pair to 1500g, still not a bad price though.

The Rookie

So wheels all fitted up with a Rocket Ron on the back for winter

Total weight is now 9619g which I'm fairly happy with, cost as it stands is £711 including the £180 the all new wheels cost.

Total 9619
Frame 1767
Carrera Kraken Bare Frame (painted Ford met' purple) 1742
Frame blanking bolts (Nylon) 2
Rear derailleur hanger plus bolts 17
Plastic BB cable guide plus bolt 3
M-part guide plus 2 cable ties 3

Crankset 1436
XT HT2 BB 87
BB spacers 4
Deore XT Cranks complete 756
Inner chainwheel retaining bolts 11
outer chainwheel retaining bolts 19
Ally Gamut bash ring 68
Deore XT HT2 RH arm 368
Deore XT HT2 LH arm 220
HT2 preload adjuster 4
32T E13 single specific ring 26
Inner guide ring 40
M770 XT SPD pedals 349
Chain 240

Gears 329
Front Shifter 0
Front Cable outer 0
Front cable inner 0
Front Mech 0
Rear shifter - combined with brake lever but spun out for comparison purposes 103
Rear cable front outer 8
Rear cable inner 10
Rear cable rear outer 8
Deore XTR rear mech with alloy jockeys 200

Brakes 778
Shimano ST-M765 XT lever/M800 Saint calliper front (weight with M765 lever for comparison purposes) 271
Pads 22
front calliper bolts 12
Shimano M800 Saint lever /M965 XTR calliper rear 255
Pads 22
rear caliper mount and bolts 14
160mm A2Z Teppen Yaki spade floating 89
Bolts 10
Alligator rear disc 72
Bolts 11

Seat 400
Chinese Carbon seatpost 183
KCNC lightweight QR seat clamp 20
Bontrager Inform RXL 197

Steering 1833
FSA/Marin/Scott Cartridge headset bearing 82
Manitou Skareb Elite forks (Converted to 105mm, Min oil fill, SPV cap replaced with plain valve cap, with SFN) 1445
Star fangled nut 0
MT Zoom combi cap and bolt 5
Superstar 80mm stem with bikehut faceplate 122
Syncros UD Carbon 137
KCNC foam grips 15
Bar end caps 6
Carbon Headset spacers 21

Wheels and tyres 3076
A2Z hub, Sapim race spokes, alloy nipples and ZTR Alpine rim 634
Continental tube 130
Rocket Ron 2.25 Folding 479
Shimano XT QR skewer 58
Novatec 772 hub, Sapim race spokes, alloy nipples and ZTR Alpine rim 802
Shimano M760 Cassette 296
Continental tube 130
Rocket Ron 2.25 Folding 479
Shimano XT QR skewer 68

njee20

Crankset 1436

You've doubled the weight in there by the looks of it! Can't imagine I just saved you 700g though...!

The Rookie

No, the 'Crankset' weight includes pedals and chain, the chainset (listed as XT cranks complete - bolts through to guide ring) doesn't, I wish though as I'd then be sub 9Kg!

Loss of formatting (bolds) from the original excel document makes it less obvious!

CitizenLee

Looking great with the new wheels

Those brake mounts on forks must weight a few gs each though, get the hacksaw and file out!

supersonic

It's getting to the point where, weight wise at least, the frame is the weak point!

The Rookie

Yes I know! I don't really want to pension off the frame as its quite nice to surprise people with it being a 'mere Carrera' (a bit of reverse snobbery - works well on Hardrock owners who are convinced they have a great specialised), I did consider the Carrera Titan XC carbon frame but they are pretty lardy (1450g) for a carbon frame, in fact the same weight as if I get the frame pro-stripped back to raw alloy.

The other weakness is the forks, they are great for XC use but the 'less than ideal' compression damping is an issue at trail centres (Cannock for example) so I'm looking at various options for that, either
1/ Heavier wt oil
2/ Replace the SPV air cap with a conventional compression damper (have one that fits off a Sliver - just need to check clearance to the SPV damper assembly at full bump) for trail centres which will loose me the pedal platform (not a big issue) and swap back for XC use.

gt-arrowhead

Just realised how light your wheelset is for only £180. For that sort of money youre looking at 2kg at least (well, based on looking around on superstars wheelsets).

Your reverse snob thing about keeping a carrera frame is actually a good idea, id definitely do the same.

All thats left is titanium fastners and getting your frame striopped and polished up 8)

The Rookie

Yes well I did get lucky with the wheels parts, the front hub cost me £3.95 (with a near complete second one as a spare) compared to a list price of nearly £100 (if you could buy just a front that is) and the rims I got the pair for the RRP of one, the rest I paid the going rate for (with some careful shopping around for the best deal).

Indeed, although I'm thinking of reframing as an FS which will spoil that a bit!

Lots more before I get to Ti fasteners!