XC Wheel & Fork

PuttyKnees
PuttyKnees Posts: 381
edited December 2013 in MTB buying advice
I'm building up an xc race bike for my daughter and I'm looking at the following combo for the front:

Rockshox SID RL 100m 15mm axle and a ZTR Alpine rim on Stan Notubes ZTR XC 3.30 hub. Would that rim be able to withstand the demands of XC racing? And is that combo a good option? My daughter is probably only 45kg.

An alternative is to go cheap and roll with a Reba and pick up an MTB wheelset from on one, but I presume that the quality of SID/Alpine combo will be noticeable?

Comments

  • benpinnick
    benpinnick Posts: 4,148
    The rim will be a little fragile but at 45kg should be no worries. Everything else would be 100% fine.
    A Flock of Birds
    + some other bikes.
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    Why will the rim be fragile? Alpines are barely lighter than Crests. I'd be considering Podiums at her weight, I'm 25kg heavier and never had any issues with my Podiums (or Crests, or Alpines).

    I'd probably go QR too frankly, not like she'll be getting a lot of flex at the front end.
  • PuttyKnees
    PuttyKnees Posts: 381
    Thanks both.

    Choice of both forks and wheels are a little constrained by practicalities. Here is my thinking - she really only needs 100mm travel (XC + low rider weight), the frame we have requires a tapered steerer. Good quality fork without going overboard on cost meeting those requirements - having looked around I think limits me to

    http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/f ... -2013.html
    (15mm axle)

    http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/rock ... prod109672
    (QR)

    These are broadly the same price. For £10 or so extra, I guess the SIDs would be worth it?

    The podiums are definitely a temptation, but the Alpine based wheel is a good deal at JRA at the moment, so cost/benefit tells me to go for that.

    I was wondering about the flex on that combo, so thanks for the comment on that. I guess at her weight flex is really not going to be an issue at all?
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    If it's of interest I have a Fox Factory F100 RL FIT Remote Kashima (or whatever the technical name is) with a tapered steerer and QR dropouts I need to sell. Cheaper than either of those!

    Do also have my Podium and my Alpine wheels for sale, but that really would become a thread hijack ;-)

    I think the flex is a red herring to be honest, I think folk worry too much! Like I say, at 70kg I never really noticed it, I much preferred the way my 1246g Podium wheels rode compared to my heavier (stiffer) Alpines, even at places like Afan.

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