Santa Cruz Solo/5010C build

Dick Scruttock

lawman wrote:

I want one. No, I need one... Shame it's a medium and not a large or I'd have it off you in 6 months

You make it sound like I change bikes often

Anyhow the fork decals arrived this morning and I changed a few bits around between this and my Soul. Ive fitted the 180/160 formula rotors, XTR M970 pedals and chopped the steer down and . Still waiting for the rear tyre, saddle and grips though.




Weighs 26.2lbs which is not too shabby when you consider just how heavy the Maxxis tyres are! If I went to another brand I could drop almost 1.5lbs

Festerfeet

That is a great looking bike you have built, enjoy.

Antm81

Stunning bike, I'm not jealous of any of your bikes at all honestly.

Lewis A

I reckon a bike like this is all most of us need travel wise. Those tires are heavy :shock: 875g!

felix.london

Rick Draper wrote:

Not a bad pair:

Sweeeet! Very nice pair indeed.

Thewaylander

I love a nice pair... have you weighed them carefully in both hands?

CitizenLee

Looking great Rick, but you know this

What's the usage split going to between the two?

Dick Scruttock

CitizenLee wrote:

Looking great Rick, but you know this

What's the usage split going to between the two?

Probably 40/60 in the Solo's favour, it depends what I feel like when I go out on a ride. If I'm going to go out with my local club then I will pick the Solo as rides are longer 30+ miles and not Nomad shaped terrain! If I go out locally then it will be either depending on what route I choose.

The Nomad is a great bike but it is a lot of bike at the same time.

Dick Scruttock

Well, before I've even ridden her in anger she now looks like this:



Was going to go out tonight or tomorrow for its first ride but when I was setting the sag up I noticed a imperfection in the paint around the upper linkage area. It looked like a crack but I think the frame might have just taken a smack in that area during transit and the flex has caused the paint to crack. I emailed Sandy at The Trailhead as soon as I noticed it and I had a reply off him that night, the guy is a total legend and I cannot recommend them enough. I'd also sent pics to SC UK/Jungle too and I got a reply off Jonty the following morning. A new front triangle is on its way to Sandy and it would be ready to collect tomorrow but as it needs a invisiframe kit fitted it will be Saturday.

Was pretty gutted when I noticed it but its not the end of the world and the customer service has been great. If anyone is in the market for a new Santa Cruz The Trailhead would be my first port of call.

buddy_club

I can vouch for the trailhead too as one of my LBS', always had great service even just for little things like a few bolts or a chat.

BloggingFit

That's good to see hut when you're paying for top end brands you should get top end service.

ej2320

Shame about that, better to get it sorted thought.. The trailhead seem like a real nice bunch, and to be honest most local bike shops are. It's the one thing that stops me buying a frame online

Should be a great ride though Rick, probably well suited to a lot of UK trails

What's that saddle you've got? I'm looking at getting a new one and I've seen that used on a lot of builds

Dick Scruttock

BloggingFit wrote:

That's good to see hut when you're paying for top end brands you should get top end service.

I agree but you don't always expect to be kept up to date with whats happening. Both shop and retailer kept me fully up to date and TBH I never expected a email off Sandy after hours last night, thats going the extra mile. I even got one off Jonty to say it had been dispatched, massive thumbs up to both.

Dick Scruttock

ej2320 wrote:

What's that saddle you've got? I'm looking at getting a new one and I've seen that used on a lot of builds

That saddle in the latest picture is a Fizik Gobi XM braided carbon. Ive got both Klum rails and carbon on different bikes and both are amazing. I did want to try a Specialized Phenom pro as its a bit lighter and I love my Specialized 143mm road bike saddles. Everywhere is sold out of 143mm width saddles though so that put pay to that.

ej2320

Rick Draper wrote:

ej2320 wrote:

What's that saddle you've got? I'm looking at getting a new one and I've seen that used on a lot of builds

That saddle in the latest picture is a Fizik Gobi XM braided carbon. Ive got both Klum rails and carbon on different bikes and both are amazing. I did want to try a Specialized Phenom pro as its a bit lighter and I love my Specialized 143mm road bike saddles. Everywhere is sold out of 143mm width saddles though so that put pay to that.

That's the one! I remember reading an article on it and it was highly rated.. I'll give that a go when I get round to changing the saddle.. Thanks

Dick Scruttock

Merlin are very cheap for them.

Dick Scruttock

Lets try again


Had a few changes while I was waiting for the triangle, I am waiting for brakes, a 150mm drop KS LEV Integra with a Southpaw and a different shock 8)

Hopefully next week will see most of it here bar the shock as thats in New York awaiting collection

declan1

Ooh, looks nice. Glad to see you're treating it safely

Is that a 1-series?

Dick Scruttock

declan1 wrote:

Is that a 1-series?

It is :shock: 123D M-Sport Coupe.

BloggingFit

Collecting from Sids?

Dick Scruttock

BloggingFit wrote:

Collecting from Sids?

Nope, its at my hotel after I ordered it from Universal Cycles at a killer price

Dick Scruttock

Well its all back together once again and ready for its first ride later today :

With some shiny new brakes:

And more new bits arriving next week, a CC Inline and something I need this for:


I have aso sourced the parts to make a 150mm drop 30.9mm Reverb stealth just in case I don't like the 150mm LEV.

dusk

Why the change of brakes? Weight saving?

paul.skibum

really like the look of the southpaw - might have to get one of those for my Lev - cant imagine why you wouldnt like the lev - as far as I can tell its operation is no different to the reverb in use, smooth and comes up with a sufficiently audible/tangible bump to tell you its there. Standard lever action is nice, like the look of the southpaw though!

Dick Scruttock

dusk wrote:

Why the change of brakes? Weight saving?

Pretty much. These were cheap and apparently Formula have cured the pad retraction issues that blighted them in the past, use will find that out though! It was a tossup between these and XTR Race and I fancied a change.

Dick Scruttock

paul.skibum wrote:

really like the look of the southpaw - might have to get one of those for my Lev - cant imagine why you wouldnt like the lev - as far as I can tell its operation is no different to the reverb in use, smooth and comes up with a sufficiently audible/tangible bump to tell you its there. Standard lever action is nice, like the look of the southpaw though!

Yes I am looking forward to trying the KS LEV, I know the one I have is the version 1 of it so I will need to send it off to have it updated as V1 does not play well with SC bikes.

dusk

Rick Draper wrote:

dusk wrote:

Why the change of brakes? Weight saving?

Pretty much. These were cheap and apparently Formula have cured the pad retraction issues that blighted them in the past, use will find that out though! It was a tossup between these and XTR Race and I fancied a change.

I've got Formula R0's, never had an issue in the year and a half I've had them

Dick Scruttock

Got my first ride in on it today and I bloody love it! Rides very well and its just feels so right! I think 125mm of travel out back feels spot on as well for a lot of the riding I do.

I did manage to snap the pro mount billet garmin mount so thats going, I was never sold on the garmin over hanging the rear of the stem and when my knee hit it, snapped it off and sent my garmin flying that pretty much confirmed it.

paul.skibum

The V1 version? Not sure what version I have but it works fine with the Bronson.

Dick Scruttock

paul.skibum wrote:

The V1 version? Not sure what version I have but it works fine with the Bronson.

Here is a picture of both, first is the V1:

V1.2:


V1 requires the cable outer to move and did not work well on any frame without full dropper internal routing. Basically if the frame had stealth dropper post routing with a entry from the bottom of the seat tube it did not work. V1.2 works using movement from the inner cable only.