Santa Cruz Nomad 650b build

paul.skibum

Good excuse to spend a bit of cash! 5mm clearance will be totally worth it.....

Dick Scruttock

paul.skibum wrote:

Good excuse to spend a bit of cash! 5mm clearance will be totally worth it.....

LOL The main reason was so I could put the Next SL's on the Solo 8)

ej2320

couple of grams well spent

Cranks are awesome btw

BloggingFit

Have these earmarked for mine so good to see it looks great on the bike.

Dick Scruttock

BloggingFit wrote:

Have these earmarked for mine so good to see it looks great on the bike.

Will let you know how the 170's are but I think they will be the way forward

I am back thinking about Enve 70Thirtys. If I had not just booked to go to New York in December with my GF I'd be ordering them right now LOL

BloggingFit

Rick Draper wrote:

BloggingFit wrote:

Have these earmarked for mine so good to see it looks great on the bike.

Will let you know how the 170's are but I think they will be the way forward

I am back thinking about Enve 70Thirtys. If I had not just booked to go to New York in December with my GF I'd be ordering them right now LOL

I like 175mm cranks but the low BB has me thinking 170mm as I do get a few strikes on the Remedy with 175mm.

NY is great in December although your Solo may not thank you for the delay in hand me down ENVE wheels. I'm going LB with my rims again as I have been very happy with my current set. Will go wider this time and do something a bit different with colours. Will have to wait for the frame so I can do some Pantone checks. I also don't think I can justify the cost of 70Thirtys myself but they would be very trick should you eventually get them.

Dick Scruttock

BloggingFit wrote:

I like 175mm cranks but the low BB has me thinking 170mm as I do get a few strikes on the Remedy with 175mm.

NY is great in December although your Solo may not thank you for the delay in hand me down ENVE wheels. I'm going LB with my rims again as I have been very happy with my current set. Will go wider this time and do something a bit different with colours. Will have to wait for the frame so I can do some Pantone checks. I also don't think I can justify the cost of 70Thirtys myself but they would be very trick should you eventually get them.

Yep all my MTB's have always had 175's on but I think on this 170's is the way to go. I did a bit of research and the Capra comes with 170's and the BB height of that is the same as the Nomad. Over on MTBR 170's seem a lot of peoples choice too. I just think that extra little bit of clearance will help, especially when you are tired and drop concentration.

Yep I've been to NY myself in every month of the year and December is definitely my favourite. I promised my GF I would take her there in December as she wanted to see it at that time of year so its all booked, no expense spared hence the lave of Enve funds!

ej2320

I'm running 170s on my Covert and I haven't had many pedal hits.. I feel I can spin the cranks a bit faster too

BloggingFit

Rick Draper wrote:

Yep all my MTB's have always had 175's on but I think on this 170's is the way to go. I did a bit of research and the Capra comes with 170's and the BB height of that is the same as the Nomad. Over on MTBR 170's seem a lot of peoples choice too. I just think that extra little bit of clearance will help, especially when you are tired and drop concentration.

Yep I've been to NY myself in every month of the year and December is definitely my favourite. I promised my GF I would take her there in December as she wanted to see it at that time of year so its all booked, no expense spared hence the lave of Enve funds!

I'm sure one of the reviews mentioned a 170mm would be favourable although I forget which one. Supposedly a shorter crank is meant to work better with a larger wheel format but these things aren't an exact science out on the trail in the real world. I have them on the Hardtail which makes it even more fun.

We go out in November and come back the day before thanksgiving so got a cracking deal for that timing with a stay at the Waldorf.

fat_homer

I run 175 on my Soul and 170's on my TRc (for clearance.) To be honest I can tell the difference when switching between bikes.

Dick Scruttock

So its no lie to say I have been spending a lot of time trying to sort the real of both the Fox 36 and the Cane Creek DBA CS. After a few initial rides on both I started to fiddle and ended up going down a blind alley. On the last ride I was becoming more and more fed up with the 36, I had got it to a point where it was bloody awful and no matter what I changed it was not improving it.

I have started over again with both shock and fork, the shock has had a standard air can fitted as this is what CC believes will be suited to the Nomad when they put out the base tune for it and the fork has had the standard fitted blue volume spacer removed. Hopefully I will get them both dialled in this week, but I have toyed with throwing the Monarch back on so I can set the fork up then put the shock on and set that up.

BloggingFit

Rick Draper wrote:

So its no lie to say I have been spending a lot of time trying to sort the real of both the Fox 36 and the Cane Creek DBA CS. After a few initial rides on both I started to fiddle and ended up going down a blind alley. On the last ride I was becoming more and more fed up with the 36, I had got it to a point where it was bloody awful and no matter what I changed it was not improving it.

I have started over again with both shock and fork, the shock has had a standard air can fitted as this is what CC believes will be suited to the Nomad when they put out the base tune for it and the fork has had the standard fitted blue volume spacer removed. Hopefully I will get them both dialled in this week, but I have toyed with throwing the Monarch back on so I can set the fork up then put the shock on and set that up.

http://nsmb.com/2015-fox-36-rc2-ridden/

Interesting point made on HSC and LSC adjustment for Fox. May be worth a try...

Dick Scruttock

BloggingFit wrote:

http://nsmb.com/2015-fox-36-rc2-ridden/

Interesting point made on HSC and LSC adjustment for Fox. May be worth a try...

Thanks! I did a lot of net surfing the other day and found that review. I have been in contact with them to get the rebound and volume spacer settings as well

Made this crib sheet of all the settings I found find for various different weight riders:

Fox 36.

Fox recommended base settings:

Air spring:

15-20% Sag
170-185lbs 72psi
185-200lbs 78psi
One blue volume spacer

Damper settings:

HSC: 18 clicks
LSC: 13 clicks
Rebound: 13 clicks

NSMB 185lbs rider:

Pressure: 63 psi
HSC: 7 clicks
LSC: 9 clicks
Rebound: Torwards the fast side

Vital 175lbs rider:

Pressure: 67 psi,
HSC: 10 clicks
LSC: 9 clicks
Rebound: 12 clicks

LCW 195-200lbs rider:

One blue volume spacer

For mellow trail riding:
Pressure: 75 psi
HSC: 20 clicks
LSC: 15-17 clicks
Rebound: 13 clicks

For gravity trails:
Pressure: 78 psi
HSC: 14-15 clicks
LSC: 9-11 clicks
Rebound: 12-13 clicks

argibson 175/180lbs rider:

No volume spacer
Pressure: 69-70psi for trail riding
HSC: 14 clicks
LSC: 18 clicks
Rebound: 9 clicks

172lbs rider:

One blue volume spacer
Pressure: 78psi,
HSC: 12 clicks
LSC: 12 clicks
Rebound: 14 clicks

Dick Scruttock

So I've bought a pair of these:


And have some levers on the way too .

chute6

Hi rick, the bike looks amazing.

I demoed a nomad with the monarch shock on the weekend and thought the shock was poo so I'm after either a cc dbair CS or a Fox float x.

Have you done any long rides or long climbs with the dbair? Or long climbs? What do you think of it?

I can get both shocks for identical prices so cost isn't a factor although I can get the float x push tuned at a later date.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated mate

Dick Scruttock

chute6 wrote:

Hi rick, the bike looks amazing.

I demoed a nomad with the monarch shock on the weekend and thought the shock was poo so I'm after either a cc dbair CS or a Fox float x.

Have you done any long rides or long climbs with the dbair? Or long climbs? What do you think of it?

I can get both shocks for identical prices so cost isn't a factor although I can get the float x push tuned at a later date.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated mate

Thanks for the kind words.

The longest ride I have on the Nomad is about 20 miles around Borrowdale bash in the lakes so plenty long climbs in that. It's a great shock and perfect on the Nomad I believe. I now run a regular size air can and am delighted with the feel of it, I've changed the tune on it substantially from what TF had put on it initially. This is one of the things I like about it, been able to tune with the turn of a allen key rather than tearing the shock down. One thing I don't like about it is it uses proprietary shock mounting bushes, I can live with that though for the great performance.

There was a long thread over on MTBR recently where people were saying about the leverage rates of the new Nomad rear suspension. Apparently Santa Cruz don't sell the Nomad with a Float X as the rear shocks air volume is not ideally suited to it. If this is true or not I am not sure but SC always sold bikes up to now with Fox shocks so make of it what you will.

Also on MTBR people are reporting issues with the Monarchs. I've never been a huge fan of RS rear shocks.

Dick Scruttock

Rick Draper wrote:

chute6 wrote:

Hi rick, the bike looks amazing.

I demoed a nomad with the monarch shock on the weekend and thought the shock was poo so I'm after either a cc dbair CS or a Fox float x.

Have you done any long rides or long climbs with the dbair? Or long climbs? What do you think of it?

I can get both shocks for identical prices so cost isn't a factor although I can get the float x push tuned at a later date.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated mate

Thanks for the kind words.

The longest ride I have on the Nomad is about 20 miles around Borrowdale bash in the lakes so plenty long climbs in that. It's a great shock and perfect on the Nomad I believe. I now run a regular size air can and am delighted with the feel of it, I've changed the tune on it substantially from what TF had put on it initially. This is one of the things I like about it, been able to tune with the turn of a allen key rather than tearing the shock down. One thing I don't like about it is it uses proprietary shock mounting bushes, I can live with that though for the great performance.

There was a long thread over on MTBR recently where people were saying about the leverage rates of the new Nomad rear suspension. Apparently Santa Cruz don't sell the Nomad with a Float X as the rear shocks air volume is not ideally suited to it. If this is true or not I am not sure but SC always sold bikes up to now with Fox shocks so make of it what you will.

http://forums.mtbr.com/santa-cruz/nomad ... 27767.html

Also on MTBR people are reporting issues with the Monarchs. I've never been a huge fan of RS rear shocks.

chute6

I did have a quick gander at that article and reading that would suggest the xv can dbair would be the better shock due to the more linear spring rate it would produce but Cane Creek actually suggest the standard air can is working better during testing when I started hunting around their lounge forum.

It's odd they haven't spec'd a float x option as it seems loads of team riders are using them, even the first video of the 2 nomads in Chile that Sc released had float x shocks??

I think the Dbair Cs will be the better option for me once it's set up but dreading using the monarch as I'm not much of a fan either although their pikes feel pretty nice.

Have you got the saint brakes on the bike yet?? I'm in two minds as two whether to go for these saint brakes or a set Hope tech 3 V4 brakes with the braided lines...............

Dick Scruttock

Not got the saint brakes on yet, I am combining them with XTR race levers though.

I know people like peaty and other fox sponsored riders are running the float x but then they have to really don't they! I'd guess the reason it's not sold with one is that for 90% of people it's not ideal.

BloggingFit

I've been giving some more thought to tuning the fork and having read through the MTBR thread about the Nomad characteristics, in that it needs to be treated like a race bike to get the most from it, the same should be applied to the fork. It is by it's construction a fork that wants to be ridden hard and I can see how the NSMB tune worked quite well for them. Reduced air chamber with a spacer (assuming they kept it in. I would think so given the lower presssure) and setting both HSC and LSC towards the closed side for the support. Rebound slightly on the fast side although I would look to set this in balance with the rear shock.

Dick Scruttock

I actually emailed Cam and Pete at NSMB and this is the reply I got:

"Despite my earlier impressions, the 36 has been better with compression almost all the way off and a bit more pressure. More sensitive to small bumps and easier to use all of the travel."

On speaking with the guys at the trailhead they gave me some base settings with the HSC wide open or 2 clicks in after chatting with Chris Porter. Its the same settings Dan and Sandy run on there 36's.

BloggingFit

Very interesting to hear.

I run my Pike wide open all the time which mimics an open HSC setting of sorts and with little LSC which works well for me and the fork. Surprised at the Fox settings being so similar but the Trailhead guys will know their stuff.

Dick Scruttock

BloggingFit wrote:

Very interesting to hear.

I run my Pike wide open all the time which mimics an open HSC setting of sorts and with little LSC which works well for me and the fork. Surprised at the Fox settings being so similar but the Trailhead guys will know their stuff.

One thing I have seen written is the LSC on the Pike actually alters the HSC as well.

BloggingFit

Excellent. With engineering like that it really is trial and error.

Did you try copying your Pike set up?

BloggingFit

Another take...

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/learn/reviewed-2015-fox-36-fork

Dick Scruttock

BloggingFit wrote:

Another take...

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/learn/reviewed-2015-fox-36-fork

I would say this part is pretty spot on:

The feel is more track-prepped racecar than the Pike’s performance-luxury-sedan in terms of the ride.

Dick Scruttock

Got the new brakes on:



Feel really good, I don't know why shimano don't offer them. Very sharp and precise and with a very firm lever feel.

dusk

Can you compare them to other brakes? Power/feel etc

paul.skibum

Every time this thread pops back to the top I think "he's either spent more money or he's selling it..."!

Dick Scruttock

paul.skibum wrote:

Every time this thread pops back to the top I think "he's either spent more money or he's selling it..."!

LOL

I have just ordered a full face helmet and some goggles, going to get amongst it a bit more this coming year.

Will report back on the brakes once I have some miles on them, initial feelings are promising though.