Zerode

UH DH

Back a few years, I got myself a third-hand GT gearbox bike. It broke. A lot. It was a nightmare to maintain and keep running. However, when it worked, it worked beautifully and sold me on the gearbox concept.

Fast forward to last summer. I first saw the Zerode at the bottom of the Supermorzine lift. The rider said he'd designed the things. We chatted and he answered questions I had about his solutions to flaws the GT had.

And then I bought one last month.



When you're building up something like this, you don't want to skimp on parts.

Frame - 2012 Zerode G1
Rear Shock - Cane Creek Double-Barrel
Forks - 2012 Marzocchi 888RC3 Evo Ti
Stem - Raceface direct mount
Bars - Nukeproof Warhead
Brakes - Hope V2 with vented rotors
Hubs - Front DMR Revolver, Rear Hope Pro2 Evo
Rims - DMR DeeVee

It's finally been finished this afternoon, and it's inaugural ride will be at Fort William after the World Cup. I'm sort of scared of damaging it. But I don't plan on letting that stop me.

Also, no comments about the saddle. It looks crap but I find it quite comfy. Big seat for a big arse.

cat_with_no_tail

looks nice, but needs more pics of the gearbox. You can't tell us about something like that and then just not provide any pics, that's just wrong.

UH DH

Cat With No Tail wrote:

looks nice, but needs more pics of the gearbox. You can't tell us about something like that and then just not provide any pics, that's just wrong.

Ok, I plan to. Honestly though, that photo was a quicky on a crap camera. The other ones were too rubbish or blurred to show off. I will provide some in good time.

RideOnTime

Coolio... nice wheels.

DCR00

Cat With No Tail wrote:

looks nice, but needs more pics of the gearbox. You can't tell us about something like that and then just not provide any pics, that's just wrong.

+ potato

more pics please

jay12

saw one of these at a race. they are so quiet and the neatest gearbox design. probably my favourite gearbox dh bike ever.

you said you didin't want to skimp on the parts... so why did you get dmr rims on a dh bike.ahhah. apart from that it looks awesome and i love the colour of the frame

leaflite

Looks fantastic!
Saw the article about these in mbr a while ago and have been in awe since.

UH DH

jay12 wrote:

you said you didin't want to skimp on the parts... so why did you get dmr rims on a dh bike.ahhah. apart from that it looks awesome and i love the colour of the frame

Because I've run DeeVee rims for years and never cracked one in years of Alps riding. I've ridden those things on flat tyres down Pleney and barely had to knock dents out. They are cheap, they are heavy, but they are pretty much solid as a rock.

jay12

UH DH wrote:

jay12 wrote:

you said you didin't want to skimp on the parts... so why did you get dmr rims on a dh bike.ahhah. apart from that it looks awesome and i love the colour of the frame

Because I've run DeeVee rims for years and never cracked one in years of Alps riding. I've ridden those things on flat tyres down Pleney and barely had to knock dents out. They are cheap, they are heavy, but they are pretty much solid as a rock.

fair enough! they're just not the rims i would choose on a build like this tbh

rockmonkeysc

Very nice. Frame looks tiny, is it a small?

leaflite

jay12 wrote:

fair enough! they're just not the rims i would choose on a build like this tbh

Im inclined to agree-just checked on crc and 800g/rim! Wow!
Wouldnt something like a mavic ex823 be strong enough?

UH DH

leaflite wrote:

jay12 wrote:

fair enough! they're just not the rims i would choose on a build like this tbh

Im inclined to agree-just checked on crc and 800g/rim! Wow!
Wouldnt something like a mavic ex823 be strong enough?

For the wheels, I'd rather go with something I know works and works well for what I do. Most other rims I'd feel a bit nervous bending the dents out of, but I know Deevees can take it and run well after.

It's the same with most of the other components. I could have gone for something from Fox, but I've always loved my Marzocchi 888RC's from 2005, so I'm keeping in the same vein there. And so on. Most of the stuff is either stuff I've tried and tested, or updates of them.

bluechair84

I'm as equally interested! Get a ride in and get back to us! Does the gearbox give it a high CoG? Where the heck does it pivot from??

angry_bird

bluechair84 wrote:

I'm as equally interested! Get a ride in and get back to us! Does the gearbox give it a high CoG? Where the heck does it pivot from??

This^ What's the BB height like on it?

Looks brilliant though.

jay12

Angry Bird wrote:

bluechair84 wrote:

I'm as equally interested! Get a ride in and get back to us! Does the gearbox give it a high CoG? Where the heck does it pivot from??

This^ What's the BB height like on it?

Looks brilliant though.

IIRC the guy i was talking to said the BB heigh was 14" on his zerode

UH DH

Sorry, took me a while to get back to this thread.

No more pictures for now, as I've not actually got a camera. Had to borrow one for the previous shots.

Ridewise, it's a pretty smooth ride, gear pickup is near instant, shifting is smooth every time. Gear adjustment and tuning takes about 15 seconds, but not needed to do it yet. BB height is an issue, at Fort William I managed to ground the BB several times, and cracked the BB guard that protects the shock reservoir. I'm enjoying the ride so far, and hopefully will even more once I get the suspension tuned right.

Suspension seems to work best on sudden sharp edged hits.

One major downside I have found is that the bike doesn't let you ride as much as you want to. More accurately, you can't because people keep asking about it, so you have to explain it.

mrmonkfinger

great stuff

keep us posted on how it rides when you've tweaked it a bit