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Ellsworth moment sst.2 build

22K views 57 replies 17 participants last post by  tajota 
#1 ·
Hey all, just built up my new moment sst.2. It's been a long wait since interbike. Couldn't be much happier with the bike and I honestly feel it was worth the wait. Took it out for a ride on Thursday here in southern California-I know the winters are horrible here when it's 70 out.

Size large frame came out to 30.1 lbs (without pedals) without being weight conscious on the build-could definitely drop some weight if I had chosen lighter components.

The team at Ellsworth treated me great and I really love this bike. It is the first and only (for now) gunmetal gray sst.2 moment.

For those of you still waiting for your pre-orders hang in there. The team at Ellsworth has had a huge demand for the new bikes and are getting them out as fast as they can.
 

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#5 ·
Thanks for the comments. The seat was fixed before riding. I value my special areas as well- photos were with the iphone straight out of the car.
The stem was switched out to 65 mm sunline stem. I liked the longer stem for pure x country but was long for descending.

Just have to convert to Stans and add the adjustable seatpost tomorrow.
 
#6 ·
That sounds just about perfect. it is a great build. Makes me want to rush ahead and order a moment but I am still waiting to see if it is the FR180 I want when it is released.. If I go for the FR180 then I will down size to an ephinany for my trail bike.
 
#7 ·
30.1 lb is really good for a Moment with a dhx air.. Can you give us the parts spec please?

Also as you have an iphone, if you have an app for measuring angles can you tell us the head angle and also the BB height?

That would be very useful to prospective buyers.
 
#8 ·
It's a bit of an eclectic build. I prefer sram shifters and deraileurs but prefer shimano brakes and cranks. I know that's a bad thing to some of the purists out there, but I built it to what I enjoy, plus as a large guy (6'2" 225) I am scared of carbon fiber cranks. Here is the build for those of you interested when I weighed it at 30.1 lbs.-
Large sst.2 moment frame
Fox 36 TALAS
Fox DH5 Air
XT cranks
XTR brakes
Sram x.0 shifters
Sram x.9 deraileurs-ripped off my share of rears and like the less expensive ones
Sram X.0 cassette
Loaded integrated headset and spacers
Thomson 90mm stem-Now changed to sunline 65 mm
Thomson seatpost-Now changed to X-fusion HILO
WTB silverado saddle
Loaded carbon fiber x-lite bar
Loaded AM wheelset-the AMx are lighter but I have bent a few rims....
Nevegal 2.3 tires with -now tubeless

The head angle and BB height are listed on Ellsworth's webpage as 68 degrees and 14 inches. I'll measure it on my own later-if I can find an app for that. I'll let you know if it's any different when I get a chance to measure.
 
#11 ·
Hey everyone, sorry for not replying earlier but I was out of town the last few days. I will post some pics of the seatpost as requested later this week, most likely Friday.

There have been several reviews of the HILO which are posted in the forums if you search for it but here are my two cents on the HILO as has been requested. This is the first adjustable seatpost I have used and unfortunately I can't compare it to other posts. I chose the HILO for the hydraulic action with infinite adjustability and the price- less than $180 shipped is hard to beat.

The seatpost drops quickly and rises quickly for the first 3-3.5 inches of it's 4 inch travel. The last inch to half inch of seems to take a bit longer to reach full extension. No side to side play noted and the post feels solid. The adjustment switch is easy to use, doesn't take up much room on the bars and didn't add too much to the clutter. My biggest complaint is with the actual saddle mount itself. The seat is held in place with a single transverse bolt that requires a bit of cranking to get tight enough that the saddle doesn't move around. I switched out a few saddles over the weekend of riding and it works with all of those I tried. Once the bolt is tightened sufficiently I didn't notice any movement or problems and the saddle felt solid, but as I said it did require cranking down the bolt a bit. Not sure about the long term durability of the seatpost but the first weekend was great and I would happily recommend it, especially for the low price as compared to all other adjustable seatposts which run around $300. Overall, I am really happy with it and it made a big difference on my rides the ability to change the height quickly and reliably was a huge bonus.

By the way, everytime I ride the Moment, I love it more and I can't recommend the bike highly enough. I heart it big time.

Let me know if you any more specific questions.
 
#14 ·
Went to ride on Friday and get some pics of the HILO seatpost for those of you interested but it dumped rain on Friday and Saturday here in SoCal. I know it isn't nearly as problematic as snow like many of you have to deal with but it does make it a bit more difficult to get out in the mud. Anyhow, finally got out on Monday and snapped some pics with the iphone. Sorry the seat is chopped off a bit on some of the shots, looked like it fit in the frame when I snapped them. The control to drop the post doesn't clutter up the cockpit too much. Enjoying the seatpost and the bike a lot, especially the bike. One unexpected benefit was the ability to drop the post and sit on the bike while I waited for my wife to catch up then quickly extend it to pedal when it was time to pedal.
 

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#20 ·
Hey guys. Out of town for a few days and din't see the post until this AM. I measured the headtube angle with an iphone app. It is right about 67 degrees. The app anly gave measurements in whole numbers so I couldn't give anything more specific to the decimal place. The tapered headset also makes it a bit more difficult to be accurate with an iphone measurement since the bottom flares out a bit. I'll have to see if I can find anything more accurate to better measure it.

By the way, I broke down and put the ellsworth titanium bolt kit on the moment and it definitely feels lighter. My scale is broken right now so it'll be a bit before I can actually measure any weight savings, but I am pretty happy with the upgrade.
 
#21 ·
head angle is a bit of a misnomer, what determines the geometrical handling is the angle the forks are presented to the ground,. it is called the steering axis angle and normally matches the steerertube and therefore headangle. On some forks (pace for example) the fork blades are presented at an angle to the crown.
If you think about the angleset headsets, the frame itself (and therefore the headtube) is actually steeper, while the forks themselves are presented at a slacker angle. A bit like a triangle opening up. Hence why the seatube gets steeper and the wheelbase gets longer.

If you want a true reading of the angles place your iphone on the lower fork leg.
 
#22 ·
Another SST.2 Custom moment 28.4 LBS currently

I love Kendali's Moment but wanted to share some pictures of mine, the color is a one of a kind... I may have some connections at Ellsworth. Don't call Ells and ask for a Raw they WON'T do it for you, unless it is a momentum, and repeated questions to Ellsworth about this post most likely means deleting it and not being able to share it. I have a Ti bolt kit on here and RC3 monarch and a Lyric on the front. Full X0 build accept for an XX cassette. I weighed it without pedals today and then photographed it, it comes in at 28.4 lbs if you don't beleive me I will photo the scale. Tomorrow i am meeting with cadence works to switch out every bolt they have in stock to Aluminum or Ti so it should save some more weight,

Really want to to find a super light 60, 65 or 70 mm stem in black suggestions?
 

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#24 ·
Thanks for the tip on the head tube angle. Honestly hadn't thought of just measuring the fork since that just probably made too much sense. Remeasuring using the front fork as the reference point gives the listed 68 degrees. But again the iphone only offers whole numbers and no decimal places so the real measurement may be slightly off from the measured 68 degrees.

And the raw moment is sure pretty. Love the blue rocker. I'll have to reweigh mine soon with titanium bolts and other small upgrades. Of course with the dropper seatpost (totally worth a bit of extra weight) and heavier rims I don't think I'll quite hit sub 29 pounds without hitting a prohibitive cost/weight ratio. Still, In my opinion the current build rides better than anything I've been on ever before and I couldn't be happier with it.
 
#25 ·
NEED ADVICE- moment or epiphany

I noticed many ellsworth moment riders use platform pedals, not clipless. I think I want a moment over the epiphany since I do more all mountain riding, however I ride terrain that lets me utilize clipless pedals (I still classify my riding as all mountain). Why do people use platform pedals instead of clipless on the moment?
 
#26 ·
mgeurin said:
I noticed many ellsworth moment riders use platform pedals, not clipless. I think I want a moment over the epiphany since I do more all mountain riding, however I ride terrain that lets me utilize clipless pedals (I still classify my riding as all mountain). Why do people use platform pedals instead of clipless on the moment?
There is no technical reason, pedals do not effect the suspension action in anyway.

it is just personal prefference. The Moment tends to be used by riders looking for more adventurous biking erring towards big mountain riding or free ride side of all mountain and they have a personal preference for flat pedals for this kind of more technical riding.

I swap between flats and clipless quite often. i just prefer flats for some rides and clip ins for others
 
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