New XC Bike

amack23

Currently running a rockrider 8.2 ( older 08 model) and fancy a change. Hard to beat that new smell. I quite like the look of the black on-one scandal frame. Work runs a cycle to work scheme, though only halfords bikes and up to £500, so was looking at the voodoo. Would it be worthwhile kitting the scandal in voodoo parts. I have a reba race on the rockrider, so I'd sell the voodoo frame and fork to offset the price of the new frame. Or maybe keep the voodoo frame and fit a lighter wheelset. The voodoo's weight seems pretty hefty at 14 kg. Does most of the weight come from the frame, fork and wheelset? My rockrider weighs just under 11kg, with lightweight tyres and only one ring upfront. I'm open to any suggestions, cheers

supersonic

Sounds like you have a good, lightweight bike already. If you have the chance, weigh the frame.

danlikesbikes

No expert on the C2W scheme but if your buying a bike worth £500 from them to sell the frame and use the components on something else you would need to think about the final payment for you to own the bike & also what happens if you leave the company and they want their bike back. Like I said I am no expert on fine details of the scheme though.

amack23

Just come off a scheme not long ago, worked out around 3/5 of cost even with final payment, which they have yet to collect. Thought it could be a worthwhile idea given the outlay.

The Rookie

I really can't see you moving forward on this plan, parts on a £500 bike are mid level, roughly what you have now, if you spent £350 on upgrading your RR you'd have a much better bike!
Deore brakes, Merlin EQ25 wheelset and some Recons - sorted!

amack23

That's the kina advice I was after. Just happened to be in halfords for a chain and the voodoo and the kraken caught my eye. I'm a bit of a magpie like that. Shiny things. I don't see that wheelset on the Merlin website. How much are they. Had my eye on the mt65 though before I got sidetracked. Are the recons much better than the Reba race. Also after a cheap rim brake wheelset for another bike, preferably gold rims black spokes but all black would do. Don't see much out there bar screw on one's off ebay.

The Rookie

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/w ... lizer.html
Superb value wheels, just over 1900g for the pair, you will need centrelock discs though, several people on here have them and my daughter does as well.

amack23

Showing out of stock

The Rookie

Request an email, they keep getting them in! Alternatively, these are pretty silmilar and come with the discs!
http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/w ... otors.html

colinmcgray

I've been riding a Santa Cruz Superlight for about 2 years now and can't fault it. The name's not wrong, it's great for the uphills, but it still feels fast and responsive on the down.

Plus, you can get them for not too much second hand as they don't seem to be that in demand. Get involved!
Colin

amack23

Cheers Colin, done a quick google on that. Looking to stay hardtail for now, sweet looking bike though. Liking the price of those wheelsets, leaves money for other bits. Would they be a step up from what's on most entry level bikes and does anyone have any views on the on one scandal?

supersonic

What is the full spec of what you have? When upgrading the frame I'd be weighing it first.

amack23

Rockrider 8.2 frame large
Rockshox reba race 100mm with poploc
mavic xm317 on rockrider hubs
Geax Barro Race 2.0 tyres
XT rear deraileur
truativ firex cranks
Shimano LX 9 speed cassette 11-32
Shimano dual lx shifters brake
rockrider seatpost, bars and stem
Charge Spoon saddle
FSA 34T chainring
BBG bashguard

felix.london

As sonic says - first thing you have to do is weigh your current frame but not sure if this is going anywhere anyway - you already have a sub 11kg bike - that's pretty light in anyones book

If you do want a lighter bike, either save up and go for the carbon Whippet or save your pennies and upgrade the components on the bike you have, no?

amack23

Hmmm... So what should I be looking at first, new wheelset, fork and brakes as The Beginner suggested?

supersonic

No point in changing the fork, is light (and good) enough as it is. The wheels aren't too bad, but can get lighter.

Bars, seat post, stem saddle? Weigh them all.

amack23

Cheers SS, so would the x117 be a viable option or spend a bit more on somethin else?

supersonic

Will most likely be heavier. I'd spend more.

amack23

Any suggestions? Shimano MT65?

supersonic

As above, if you want to be sure of what weight you are losing then you need to weigh the parts. The Mt65 are about 1800g the pair. If yours weigh 1900g, them little point!

felix.london

You can get a set of Crests on Switch Evo's from Superstar for £200 and a set of SLX/XT brakes from Rose for about £150. Should save you some weight but good upgrades anyway

amack23

Ok, stripped the frame and parts weighed

Frame : 1.78kg
reba race with poploc : 1.66kg
front wheel with geax barro race (390g) tube (170g) skewer (66g) : 1.8kg
rear wheel with same and cassette : 2.34kg
bar and stem : 396g
brakes, cables and dual levers : 967g
pedals : 270g
rear mech : 270g
cranks, bashguard and 34t ring : 777g
saddle (charge spoon)and seat post : 510g
bottom bracket : 125g

kina butchered the bb taking it off (used the correct tool, is there a secret knack?)

supersonic

Lighter tubes and foam grips would be a good start.

amack23

Tubeless maybe? Thinking about stripping frame back to raw finish, anything better than nitromors for the job ?

The Rookie

From what I can make out, tubelss is heavier than lightweight tubes, I use Schwalbe 26x1.0-1.5 inside my tyres (upto 2.1) without issues, 125g each and just £3.99.

Paint will weigh about 250g

Based on your weights above, front wheel weight is 1.08Kg, rear will typically be about 150g heavier for the freehub, so potentially a good saving there unless you left the discs on?

Your skewers are heavy if they are external cam, but similar to my Shimano XT which I keep instead of using lighter external cam.

A CroMo Spoon is about 300g (mine was 297g), you'll save 100g with a Ti railed saddle, that leaves your post at about 210g which is pretty good.

Bar and stem are about 50g over a competatitive weight, if that's all on one item it's worth considering, if its 25g each the cost will probably not be worth it.

Foam grips can save 80g for about £8-10.

BB is heavy, Deore are about 100g, XT about 85g, not sure about GXP's.

An XT rear mech should be about 225-230g.......

amack23

Ok, stripped the paint, new weight of frame : 1.74 kg ( only 40g lighter ??)

The Rookie

Very unlikely....scales trouble or the paint was very very thin! (I've never got paint of a frame that easily!)

amack23

The scales r pretty bang on. The paint didnt seem very thick and bubbled up almost instantly. Theres still tiny bits around the welds and in nooks, any pointers to gettin it pristine? This was the frame yesterday :

amack23

Ok, so picked up a slightly used set of ztr crests with slx cassette and rotors. Weighs in over 600g lighter than current set up. Thing is, they came with tubes. So what do I need to do to run tubeless?

supersonic

The rim trips (or yellow tape), valves, and sealant - but only certain tyres work well.

personally I prefer light tubes.

amack23

You use any puncture protection with light tubes?