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Over the last few years I have dabbled with a bit of racing. I've built and ridden light bikes and have raced on my fat bike.
I'm never going to be troubling the podium but over the last year have considerably improved my fitness - mainly from riding a SS 29er plus bike 🙂
Sooooooo I'm embarking upon the start of a new HT 29er Plus "Race" bike.
The Rooster is a lovely frame. The Large ^^ that I ride feels great but it is a bit short in the TT. I have long arms so the bike is set up with a 90mm stem, 780mm bars and a layback post.
I have a 100mm 29er Plus Yari en route and I think fitting that to the Rooster would make the eTT length even shorter.
So I've been looking at other 29 Plus frames. I'd like to be able to run SS without a tensioner if possible.
So far I've considered a:
1) Trek Stache
2) Travers (current favourite and have spoken to Michael) but would probably need to go custom as the XL is a bit short.
3) Surly Krampus - Not really going to be all that light.
4) Stooge Speedball in Ti - and forgo the suspension fork.
So what else should I be considering?
Cost wise the Travers would in theory get me a custom steel frame but I wouldn't know who to try for a plus frame.
So any suggestions/help/recommendations?
Thanks in advance,
Mark
BTW to those that are thinking 29er plus isn't what I should be looking for in a "race" bike .... I've ridden light and really not got on with it .
Carver Gnarvester in alloy with a carbon fork world be my choice (goes up to a 21" frame), or a stache which are bloody fast, but it would upset my niche points to own any Trek other than another 69er
custom Ti speedball could be had for a good price if you knew the right people to talk to 😉 and are astonishingly fast bikes.
Young Timothy at sideways cycles used to be able to get Carver stuff, so may be worth a call to him.
you get an alloy gnarvester with some nextie or LB carbon plus rims for good money, pop on some Terrene Mc Fly 29 x2.8 rubber and a smattering of carbon bits and you could build a sensibly light and very capable bike that can SS with sliding paragon syle dropouts as soon as you take the gear dangler off
Stache (fully rigid here) would be my vote. My "race" bike is faster though. Same tyres (Bontrager XR2 in different sizes which are the old 3" Chupas). Bikes weight about the same 26lbs but the race bike has sus forks and light rims.
Stache is more fun and singlespeeds easily.
What about a carbon Salsa Beargrease, light frame and forks, and it has BB30 so easy to singlespeed with Onza EBB adaptor and although it is a fat bike frame, i have really enjoyed mine riding it 29+?
Mark,
Shameless plug but if you decide to go down the route of a Stache I have a XL carbon frame for sale. Â I also have a Magnum pro fork to sell but I get the feeling you might be looking at a rigid option. Â There is a Salsa 29+ carbon fork on my Cutthroat that I might sell to make way for a Lauf tr29 fork. Â I rode the SDW on the Cutthroat last Thursday and some of the descents felt like an earthquake on the rigid fork.
BTW I have a Travers fat bike and I am happy to share my thoughts off-line.
Cheers,
Rich
Thanks Rich - Thats reminded me to drop you a mail about your Stache 🙂
Mark,
i've actually got a custom XL travers RusTi 29er with a slightly longer TT & shorter ST. I can highly reccomend them. Hoping to get mine down to 24lbs with some drivetrain upgrades this summer.
Not the best but here you go.
[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/29972468396_63e27476cc_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/29972468396_63e27476cc_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/MEyJCu ]RusTi[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/65116677@N02/ ]marcusandcath[/url], on Flickr
Thanks Marcus.
What did the ST& TT end up as?
Is that a Magura post - presumably due to lack of routing?
Lovely garden/View BTW.
Cheers, yes its a Vyron, bought because i'm a doofus & forgot to ask for hose mounts. You can't mount a saddle bag on them which means using one of those Endurobro Strap-on thingys (i'm not a fan of camelbaks).
Its a 670mm TT & 500mm ST (measured to the top).
Currently running Lightbicycle 38mm carbon rims, but really could do with 50mm ones as the tyre is a bit too round for super low pressures.
Thanks Marcus - Thats a very similar set of numbers to what I'm looking at albeit maybe a 485mm ST.
Hmm.
Does it take an internal tapered headset inc cups or do the bearings it in the frame - its not clear on the Travers website.
Thank you again.
M
Internal cups if i remember correctly. Have a look at the pics on the complete bikes section on the Travers site.