Budget XC Race build

Ed J · December 2013

Hi all,

Posting my newly finished Giant XTC. I was given the bike by a friend after he upgraded and I spent around £50 on getting it back up and running. It needed fresh cables and chain, wheels, tyres and the like. Spending so little money on the parts meant it was a bit of a tank, it was very much a budget build. It must've been over 30lbs for sure and the forks didn't work at all they were rigid! Anyway, while I've been riding it for the last few months I've been stockpiling new parts to fit, and with a budget of £500 (which I stuck to!) here's what I ended up with...

DSC00044 by Edj193, on Flickr

A little muddy after her first ride! Can't believe how nice front suspension is.

Specs:

Bottom Bracket: Shimano Octalink
Brakes: Avid Exilir 5 + Shimano 160
Cables: Shimano OT-SP41
Cassette: Deore 11-32 9 Speed
Chain: Dura Ace 7901
Crankset: Shimano LX w/ AbsoluteBlack 32t
Rear Mech: SRAM X0
Fork: Rockshox SID Race
Frame: Giant XTC
Grips: Ritchey WCS Foam
Handlebar: Chinese Carbon
Headset: FSA Orbit
Pedals: Shimano M525
QR: DT Swiss/Shimano
Saddle: Selle Italia SLK
Seatpost: USE Alien Aluminium Blue
Shifters: SRAM X0 Gripshift 9 Speed
Stem: FSA OS115 100mm
Front tyre: Nobby Nic 2.1
Rear tyre: Nobby Nic 1.8
Wheelset: DT Swiss XR 4.2 front, 420sl rear
Tubes: Geax ultralite

Final weight: Just shy of 10kg!

It's been specifically designed for the non-technical racing around Bristol, as that's where I'm based most of the time, so it's very much low and long.

njee20 · December 2013

Wow, amazed there are any of those forks left!

It's very blue! Seatpost is a bit much IMO, but looks good.

Edit: and they're not Shimano rotors in that pic, just FYI, not that it matters.

declan1 · December 2013

Looks good!

Ed J · December 2013

njee20 wrote:

Wow, amazed there are any of those forks left!

It's very blue! Seatpost is a bit much IMO, but looks good.

Edit: and they're not Shimano rotors in that pic, just FYI, not that it matters.

Thanks!

Ah yes, well the rear definitely isn't, my mistake, and as for the front, I'm just going off what the ebay bloke said...

Yep, still going strong, brand new Enduro seals in them as of yesterday evening. Light as anything, 1170g.

njee20 · December 2013

Nope, front's definitely not - if anything it looks like a Formula. But it makes no difference whatsoever!

It's a 2001 SID Race if I recall! I had the SLs the same year. Not sure I'd go back, but really suit a bike of that ilk.

Ed J · December 2013

You are indeed correct sir! I stripped most of the stickers off because they were peeling and bought a couple of new classic Rockshox ones just to put on the front of the lowers. Interestingly it has a sticker on the inside leg saying TF tuned shox. It certainly does suit the bike though, and not just on that perfect colour match, the geometry is spot on too.

I'm going to try some of those Ashima Ai2 soon anyway, 66g each!

RockmonkeySC · December 2013

I had one of these for a while earlier this year. It takes almost no effort to ride fast and flies up hills. Mine was a bit heavier at 26lb but I had shortened Rockshox Pikes an Mavic XM719's, a bit of an odd build.
The sticker on the fork probably just means it has had a service at TF Tuned, not necessarily tuning.

Ed J · December 2013

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I had one of these for a while earlier this year. It takes almost no effort to ride fast and flies up hills. Mine was a bit heavier at 26lb but I had shortened Rockshox Pikes an Mavic XM719's, a bit of an odd build.
The sticker on the fork probably just means it has had a service at TF Tuned, not necessarily tuning.

It's a solid bike for sure, geometry is dialled for xc racing, it just wants to be hammered!

RockmonkeySC · December 2013

Not all that solid. I snapped the drive side drop out off mine.

Ed J · December 2013

Well I weigh 10 stone and cringe at anything more than a foot of air, so I reckon I'll be okay

RockmonkeySC · December 2013

You will be fine. I'm 14 stone and quite happy riding 6 foot drops on an xc bike if the landing is right. To be fair I did really abuse it. It snapped while riding down a rocky chute full of baby head rocks.
I found it quite stable and I enjoyed the sharp steering on twisty single track.

The Rookie · December 2013

Nice bike, probably about 10.5 kg at a guess all up?

Alligator discs are just 68g and a lot cheaper, I run 3 of them across my bikes although in the front of the MTB I run a slightly heavier 102g Hayes as it copes better at trail centres.

I'd consider swapping the Nics for Ralph's or Ron's, just as grippy and about 150g lighter each end.

declan1 · December 2013

The Rookie wrote:

Nice bike, probably about 10.5 kg at a guess all up?

Alligator discs are just 68g and a lot cheaper, I run 3 of them across my bikes although in the front of the MTB I run a slightly heavier 102g Hayes as it copes better at trail centres.

I'd consider swapping the Nics for Ralph's or Ron's, just as grippy and about 150g lighter each end.

Yup, my dad has a pair of Ralphs and they grip surprisingly well in deep mud and roll nicely too.

Ed J · December 2013

Thanks for the input chaps.

The Ashimas are very cheap, about £10 each! Are the alligators cheaper than that?

Yes, I'm considering swapping out the rear for a racing ralph, and will definitely do it when I convert to tubeless.

It is about 10kg, but I have a few upgrades planned, notably changing the pedals (they weigh 500g)...

Ashima rotors: 132g, saving of 125g
XTR 11-34 cassette: 292g, saving of 76g
Exustar pedals: 280g, saving of 220g
Aerozine skewer rear: 22g, saving of 43g
New stem w/ titanium bolts: 100g, saving of 50g
Tubeless setup: 160g, saving 123g

Total savings: 637g which would see me easily down to around 9.5kg for an extra £150 or so, even allowing for little discrepancies on claimed weight. I'll leave it at that unless I swap the wheelset for something lighter. A ZTR crest build, and racing ralphs would get it silly light, it would take it down to sub 9kg.

The Rookie · December 2013

I got my Alligators for around a fiver each off eBay (used but pretty much as new).

Personally I don't compromise on skewers and am running XTs.

Doubt you'll save that much on tubeless once you add the weight of the fluid it's about break even on lightweight tubes.

Personally that spec looks closer to 10.5 than 10 kg.....

WindyG · December 2013

Nice build, that's a proper head down giving it some bike

declan1 · December 2013

No wonder you fly up the hills - 10 stone with a 10kg mountain bike!

WindyG · December 2013

declan1 wrote:

No wonder you fly up the hills - 10 stone with a 10kg mountain bike!

Lol I'm the same, it does help a lot.

Ed J · December 2013

For sure it helps! I ate and drank too much on holiday in summer and peaked at about 11 stone :shock: Needless to say when I lost that weight again I felt I was flying! Losing the best part of 4kg has absolutely transformed this bike, and the new cockpit helps enormously too. I was given a pair of Easton riser pairs by my local LBS who are into their DH who advised they'd be best but always had my elbows bent trying to get lower. I have naturally long arms so like a slammed position.

Can't wait to get back onto Ashton Court, I'll be flying on this!

njee20 · December 2013

I used the KCNC rotors and did find power dropped off a bit, fine on the rear, but I prefer just using normal rotors on the front.

XTR cassette is quite a chunk, certainly wouldn't be my priority to upgrade. Best lightweight skewers I've tried are Mt Zoom - the KCNC ones scared me! Not tried Aerozine admittedly.

Ed J · December 2013

njee20 wrote:

I used the KCNC rotors and did find power dropped off a bit, fine on the rear, but I prefer just using normal rotors on the front.

XTR cassette is quite a chunk, certainly wouldn't be my priority to upgrade. Best lightweight skewers I've tried are Mt Zoom - the KCNC ones scared me! Not tried Aerozine admittedly.

I think I'll risk it on the Ashimas. If the front power is below par, although I suspect it'll be more than adequate, I'll just take it off.

The XTR cassette may be a chunk at 292g, but it's less of a chunk than the deore at 368! I'm going to fit a Dura-ace 12-27 for races, which would be 177g but I really need the 34t cog for some of the hills around Stroud, they get quite steep, like this one:

http://app.strava.com/segments/1538984

I will take a look at the MT Zoom skewers. Problem is I have a 9mm through axle on the front fork, so would only need one...

njee20 · December 2013

But XT is 1/3 the price, put the rest of the money elsewhere.

Why the 12-27? You'll lose more time having to change gear more than the marginal weight saving gains. I find I'm more thankful of lower gears in races too.

Budget XC Race build

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