Proutster's SX Trail

Proutster

Bought this back in March of this year from a lad off of Pinkbike, it's a 2008 Specialized SX Trail One that the lad had fitted with 180mm Domain RC's and Shimano XT brakes.



Used it for a bit of XC where it really shone on the descents but was a little heavy to pedal up hill, even in the granny ring!

I then booked myself onto a Jumps & Drops skills course at Stile Cop DH and it began to make a bit more sense...

Then took it up to Scotland with me for the Crudcatcher weekend at Glentress & Innerleithen and on the Sunday at Inners DH it really clicked.

So when I got back I converted it to a single ring at the front as I'd decided that I was never going to pedal it uphill again

Took off the front mech & shifter, took off the bash-guard, Blackspire Stinger and removed the granny ring, then filed down the granny tabs and then fitted a Blackspire single ring, an E13 LG1+ chain device, a short cage X9 rear mech, an SRAM PG-970 close-ratio cassette and some Superstars nano flats:







And here's how it looks now:





I think one of the best things, for the looks, is where I took off the self-amalgamating tape from the seat & chain stays and replaced it with Shelter tape (thanks for the tip Ritchie63).

Really loving it and it seems perfectly suited to my local Macc Forest DH tracks

ilovedirt

Looks pretty tidy that! Those old SX trails are great bikes, can proper take a beating.

Proutster

Thanks dude!

You're right, it seems to lap up all of my cased landings with no ill effects what-so-ever

rockmonkeysc

I like these old SX trails. Solid bike and they ride nicely.
Go big and give it some serious abuse!

The Rookie

Not my type of bike, but that does look great....just needs a short cage rear mech now, or are you waiting until you break a rock on the X9?

Proutster

The Beginner wrote:

....just needs a short cage rear mech now, or are you waiting until you break a rock on the X9?

That is a short-cage X9 (one of the changes that I listed above), they're nowhere near as short as Shimano short cages.

I couldn't be arsed to change the shifter as well so that I could swap to a short-cage Shimano rear mech

When (if) it gets smashed then I'll probably change to a Saint mech & shifter.

ilovedirt

Aye that is a short cage. I've smashed up many a long/med cage SRAM mech...

rockmonkeysc

That looks a lot longer than my short cage X0 DH mech.

angry_bird

RockmonkeySC wrote:

That looks a lot longer than my short cage X0 DH mech.

Yours is DH specific though isn't it and will only work up to 28t, X9 short cage ones aren't, and work with larger range cassettes, needing a greater capacity though surely...

ilovedirt

Doesn't look longer than any X0 short cage i've ever seen. Maybe in the first photo, because that's not a short cage mech...

angry_bird

Lovely bike you've got there by the way. I'm really liking the colour.

Proutster

ilovedirt wrote:

Maybe in the first photo, because that's not a short cage mech...

Correct - first photo is as I bought it, with medium cage X9 and the other pics are with the short-cage X9 fitted since.

Proutster

Angry Bird wrote:

Lovely bike you've got there by the way. I'm really liking the colour.

Cheers Rich! And at least you know that I ride it!

When you're back from Uni we'll have to meet up at Stile Cop again.

The Rookie

If you break it, go SRAM road surely? You running a road cassette!

Proutster

The Beginner wrote:

If you break it, go SRAM road surely?

Don't quote me if I'm wrong but I don't think SRAM do any 9-speed road rear mechs (not new anyway), I think they're all 10-speed.

I don't seem to use more than 2 or 3 gears on any DH run, so definitely can't see the point in changing rear mech, cassette & shifter to go to 10-speed.

The Beginner wrote:

You running a road cassette

No, it's the PG-970 DH, close-ratio MTB cassette (OK, I fell for the marketing BS and liked the red body :oops: )

The Rookie

SRAM 10 speed road rear can be used with SRAM 9 speed shifters just fine......so I have been assured on the roadie forum on here as I'm after a Force to replace the X9 on my commuter!