2011/2012 Hoodoo

Antm81

Picked this up Wednesday for use with the family seeing as the Trance now lives at work where I live during the week.


Untitled photo by antm81, on Flickr

Only change so far are a new tube and fitted a Maxxis ADvantage I had in the shed while I was changing the tube to replace the ardent.

Removed the bell, front reflector and mud guard but the reflectors on the wheels are a little stubborn and do t seem to want to come off so far. One of the bottle cage bolts is cross threaded and the insert it screw in to in the frame is spinning so will need repairing at some point.

So far only planned changes are:

A QR seat clamp
Possibly fit my Charge Spoon that's in the shed
Probably a new set of grips.

May look at upgrading the drivetrain a little possibly 2x10 Deore with a hollotech 2 crankset or more likely 1x10 probably a set of deore brakesthen will look at a lighter wheelset.

Weighs 13.4kg right now.

BoredHousewife

Nice bike, ridden it yet? None stock stem?

I have the bantu and was shocked how nicely it actually rode

The Rookie

The wheel reflectors should come off by undoing the 1/4 turn fasterner.

Spoon is always a good upgrade, the stock seatpost clamp is quite nice as it incorporates a 'skirt' that clovers the frame slot, so worth seeing if you have another 31.8 bike to fit it to, it's also fairly light by OE part standard, I use a Voodoo clamp on my Carrera commuter.

Antm81

BoredHousewife wrote:

Nice bike, ridden it yet? None stock stem?

I have the bantu and was shocked how nicely it actually rode

Took it out this morning, nothing taxing but rode well. The stem is the original voodoo branded one.

My charge spoon will be fitted asap as the stock saddle isn't nice. Not a fan of the grips either won't cost much to sort, after that just needs a few weeks for now.

The Rookie

Both stem and saddle and Merida parts and you'll find the same physical parts on many Merida bikes (Carrera, Boardman, their own brand etc), the saddle isn't as good as a spoon, but better than many, the stem is fairly light.

Antm81

Saddle certainly didn't suit me, half a mile in it was painful. The stock giant saddle on my trance suits me better.

The Rookie

Saddles are very personal, I keep a Carrera saddle (physically identical to the Voodoo) in our overseas office as the hire bike (Giant Rincon usually) I use have a saddle that I find only marginally less comfortable than a razor blade!

Antm81

Quick update.

Recent changes:

Raceface ride 70mm stem.
Charge spoon fitted
Supertar QR clamp fitted (more than twice the weight of the voodoo one)
Crank bros iodine 700mm bars fitted
Stolen thermalite pedals fitted (seem decent quality and under 400g for the pair for less than £10)
Lizard Skins grips fitted.
Bottle cage bolts now sorted



Most of the parts have come from another bike I stripped so spent very little on it.

Possible future changes include a set of Shimano brakes off my trance when they get upgraded, then may go single ring on the front.

Antm81

Quick update, plenty of changes, Mavic Crossride wheelset i had has been fitted, along with going 1x10 with parts from my Trance, and a set of superstar Nano pedals. Also changed the seatpost for a superstar one. Scales now say 12kg for the bike, which isn't bad from the start weight and that I've spent about £25 on it.