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UK trail bike. The story of an XCT5.

12K views 59 replies 11 participants last post by  jonjonjon3 
#1 · (Edited)
After messing around in the test area to get my post count up I can start a thread on my new(old) frame. The last time I visited mtbr was in October 2011!



I bought this in a private sale after seeing a listing on ebay. I think the seller is a user on here, and the deal included some raceface cranks and a seatpost, I suspect I will move them on just now. I built the bike up for now with donor parts from a couple of my other bikes, and will upgrade to more suitable parts in time. The forks i have fitted, Reba rlt's are a little short and this puts alot of weight on the front, this is the first and most important change i need to make.

In the meantime I have stripped the Curnutt shock as the rebound adjuster didnt seem to make any noticeable difference. upon stripping it I found that the return spring had moved and was no longer pushing on the needle so the settling was stuck on full slow.



I made a call to the UK importer of the bikes to order a seal kit but they won't sell me one, apparently I need special tools to strip and reassemble the shock. Which I do have. I will try the italian importer to see if they are more helpful......

Failing that, I will have to source all of the different seals separately, but this shouldn't be a problem. Just don't fancy having to buy ten of each size.

More as it happens. :)

Edited for clarity...
 
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#32 ·
This last week has seen some far from settled weather, but I have managed a few rides. Both weekends saw a visit to the Forest of Dean, and I only just remembered to take a pic at the top of the last DH section this afternoon.



No complaints from the bike as such, apart from the rear quick release may not have been done up tight enough as the wheel had moved quite a bit in the frame at the bottom of this downhill section. I thought the axle may have snapped which I have seen in the past with first generation pro2 hubs, but having taken it to bits just now all seems well.
 
#34 ·
Now, the brakes on the bike at the moment are borrowed from my Cotic. They are Hope tech X2's and normally perform faultlessly. I have been a fan of Hope kit for years, and dont usually have a problem with braking power/performance. After a mid week night ride this week I noticed that the rear brake was pretty poor, so investigated.

The pads were shot which was a surprise as the pads were new only in November, and they had worn unevenly. Closer inspection revealed that the rear discmount/dropout has some over hanging weld that was interfering with the disc mount. I rode the bike, mud and all into the LBS this afternoon and used the disc facing tool to straighten things out.



Please forgive the dodgy iphone image, its all i had to hand. You can clearly see there was alot of material in the way. A new set of pads later and braking is back to normal. :)
 
#36 ·
I like the red better, it has to be red, foes are red.

While the bike is in pieces, I am going to give everything a thorough clean, and service some bits. The rest of the bike is new, or nearly new. But it has had a hard couple of months, and the reverb was starting to lose air during the course of a ride.



On the right is one of the air seals, I found the torn away piece in the lower so it had been squeezed past the top out bumper. This was possibly a fault in assembly, as it would have been a tight squeeze.
On the left is a 10mm spacer I machined, to reduce the available travel to 115mm. Works perfectly.



And all clean, ready for reassembly. No more difficult to service than a pair of air forks, really glad I bought the tools and did it myself.
 
#39 ·
This isn't a proper update, as the bike is pretty much fully built. The LBS has ordered me a set of Hope brakes, just waiting for them to come in.

The frame was treated to a new set of bearings all round, seemed daft to put the old ones in even tho they felt ok. To help fit the main pivot bearings, i made a tool to draw them in, rather than belting them with le hammer.



I also picked up a decal kit from ebay, tho not technically the correct set as they are for a 4x, its close enough and crucially half the price of retail.... They look perfect fitted, tho I don't have a pic handy.

I sold the Renthal bars I was using, TBH hated the feel of them. Having ridden a few bikes with Burgtec bars, I was pretty happy to be donated a pair as the bend on them is really comfortable.



These were taken to be bead blasted to remove the anodising, and promptly powder coated white. :)

Proper update this weekend.
 
#40 ·
Mini-mini update, regarding a titanium spring. This:-



turned up on ebay a few weeks ago, attached to a broken 4x frame. I enquired with the seller about the spring rate, and he had it measured, the result was 450lb. Having made an offer for the shock only, we made a deal. It arrived this morning, and I popped over to my local suspension tuner, who I know very well, and used one of his tools to double check the rate.



The rate is exactly 450lb, which is surprising as a spring labelled '450' can usually measure anywhere between about 440-460. It is now fitted to the bike, and I am going to collect the brakes from the shop tomorrow.

I was also interested in buying the shock as it is XTD version, and I wanted to see if I could use the parts on this bike.

Upon stripping the shock, i was horrified to see the state of the oil. Not only was it black, but it was v smelly.



Although smelly oil isn't usually anything to worry about, black oil is. Something was worn inside and was depositing aluminium in the oil.Turns out the piston glide ring was completely worn, as was the piston oring, so the piston itself was rubbing on the shock body.



So much so that I assume the bearings were worn in the frame, and putting huge side loads on the shock. The shock bushes however feel brand new.

So, the shock stripped.



In no hurry to put it back together, I may get some parts made so that I can use this shock in the xtc, but I think it will be easiest to contact Foes to get the correct parts as spares, rather than make them. I would like to try a xtd shock, as the architecture is much more complicated inside, and I think the feel would be very different.

In the finish, the spring coming off is 444g, the ti spring going in is 230g. Happy, me.
 
#42 ·
Although smelly oil isn't usually anything to worry about, black oil is. Something was worn inside and was depositing aluminium in the oil.Turns out the piston glide ring was completely worn, as was the piston oring, so the piston itself was rubbing on the shock body.

I wonder if my XTD was doing this. It makes sense with how it felt on compression and rebound. I sent it back twice trying to get it fixed and the first time they said it was good, the 2nd time they said they rebuilt it, but it always felt terrible. Although I attributed it to the damping which isn't as speed sensitive as most any other shock (hit a sharp bump at high speed and it was like a jackhammer), this could have been contributing greatly if it was the case. The shock was new and did it from the start, yet a problem with the glide ring would greatly explain how it felt.
 
#43 ·
I would be very surprised if this type of wear would show in any less time than three or four seasons use without service, the hard anodised coating on the shock bodies is very robust. I have never seen this amount of wear before on a shock, but it is common on fork stanchions.

I would love to transfer the xtd parts onto my frame, but I am missing a few parts to make it work. No rush.

In other news, the bike is built, sans pedals. looks really nice, bright. :)
 
#48 ·
I would be very surprised if this type of wear would show in any less time than three or four seasons use without service
I had piston drag that eventually caused the separation of the piston head on my romic shock over a time period of about 2 weeks. Shock ended up literally coming apart. Before that, it had just been rebuilt a 2nd time to fix being blown. There's usually a glide ring that goes around a piston, or o-rings, or something, but if it's not machined right, something's crooked due to QC, or not assembled right, this would happen and I'd think the time span would just depend on how screwed up it is.
 
#45 ·
Finished.



The bars refinished in white powder coat, to match the forks.



The ti spring fitted, and the dropper guide cleaned up and polished.





2x10 gear fitted now.



Profile shot.



Brake rotors are 203mm front, and 183mm rear, i like the power and balance this combination affords. The chainstay protector is simply neoprene sheet, 3mm I think, with self adhesive backing. I have never tried it before in this application, time will tell if it is effective or not.

Very happy with the outcome, should get out on it on Monday and/or Tuesday.

:)
 
#47 ·
Looks really awesome man! I bet it's an absolute blast on the trails.

I've made a lot of changes to my XCT as well. Last change I want to make is from 3x9 to 1x9 drive train. Still breaking in the Curnutt Air. I'll throw up a post update with pics in a few weeks.
 
#49 ·
Long time, no update. I have been enjoying the summer, it's a scorcher!

Keep forgetting to take pics while I am out, mostly because one of my riding buddies has discovered Strava, so is trying so hard to beat me on certain sections. We hardly ever stop now, unless someone crashes!

Anyway, this evening I took a short ride out on my own, just before sunset as it is the only time of day worth riding in, as I find it impossible to get up early....



Happy with that, and taken with the iphone.
 
#50 ·
Wow, where is that. Reminds me of section of trail I used to ride in the Chilterns....
 
#52 ·
Summer has long gone. The nights are long, and the days are cold. When I finish work, I just wanna go home, and be in the warm. We moved premises at work late last summer, and the new unit is smaller, and very cold. There is little to make me want to stay and work on the bikes, so I have done very little with them this winter.

The last time the Foes was used was boxing day, a friend used it to join in the big ride we do. He liked the ride, I knew he would.





Thats him dressed as a reindeer, me as a tiger......

Last weekend I started to service the bike ready for the summer:-

With the bike washed, the she came apart easily. Each part was then cleaned properly, everything except the frame and forks which will see extra maintenance. With the forks stripped, I noticed that the spring shaft I made was starting to wear very slightly, not something I could capture in a photograph. But I could see that the oil was slightly contaminated.



I had decided to try the forks at 140mm this year, so I have made another shaft, 10mm longer. I am toying with the idea of getting it ti-nitrided which should stop the oil contamination. I have a friend who can get this done for me as he runs a motorcycle suspension shop. Turnaround would be a few weeks, and I'm not sure I can leave the bike in a state of disassembly for that long.



Apart from that, the forks are perfect inside and out. Ready to be reassembled.

The shock also is serviced, no problem whatsoever. looking grubby:-



I did notice that there were alot of bubbles in the oil when I popped the screw out of the piston. Perhaps this is a sign of my not quite bleeding it effectively, or air is getting past the seal on the IFP, or the shock is taking in air past an external seal? Either way the oil is very clean, after a years use.



Stripped, cleaned, checked and ready to reassemble:-



I spent extra time to ensure I got as much air out as possible. I am also trying 5wt oil this time, as I kept winding in the damping adjuster to add compression, but at the expense of too much rebound. Hopefully I can learn how they interact with each other.

The little clip that holds the bottom spring perch on looks to be made from mild steel welding rod, and was starting to rust. So I made a new one from stainless welding rod. :)



And back together.



More later in the week as I reassemble the bike. :)
 
#53 ·
Did a little more today, I have polished the frame. Looks pretty good.





I have also re-done the chainstay protector. This was originally an experiment as I didn't have a sock that fitted well.
The self adhesive neoprene didn't stay put back in the summer, so I just wrapped it in pvc tape. The protection it afforded was brilliant.



I did the whole of the top, and a little bit towards the front on the bottom.



All clean and ready to go back together tomorrow:-



:)
 
#54 ·
The build was completed today.

I have added another ring to the dropper guide, as when the cable was muddy or gritty, it would bind slightly and not run smoothly in the guide. This third ring helps keep this part of the hose straight, and should prove more reliable.



The rest of the build was easy, as I know everything fits up perfectly. I fitted a new hose to the Reverb, and had the option to run the hose about an inch longer, which helps with routing.



All set for the nice weather to return......
 
#56 ·
Hey all! I have used this bike more in the last year than I did the first year of ownership. And that is surprising, as I didn't start riding it last year until the end of July! The first year of having the bike, it was ridden pretty much constantly through the year, only laying dormant while the frame was being painted.

If I am honest, after the strip down and tune up last Feb, I was scared of getting the thing dirty, and just kept riding the Lynskey.

But since then it has had plenty of use, and having upped the fork travel to 140mm whilst in bits back in Feb, I thought the bike was perfect. This week though, I did a quick service of the forks as they were getting a bit sticky, and put the 150mm rod back in. What this has allowed me to do is run 10psi less in the fork so it sags to pretty much where it was before, but the forks are much more supple. I have found I use the lockout more, and this is a pain as I forget to unlock them usually, but they are definitely even better than before.

Last week we did Cwmcarn, the first time in years. I have heard people say its wrecked now, rough going and not what it used to be. I say man-up, it's exactly as I remember, and the braking bumps make it even more fun. Plus, they've planted trees in the open section on the top so that's fixed the only bit I didn't like before as well.





Now, I am planning another complete strip, but don't want to do it for another few weeks or so.

Here's a question. I want gold hubs for a new build, and Hope no longer offer them. I do have blue hubs left over from the Lynskey, and a bb and bits-n-bobs, do I stick them on this and use the gold hubs on the new bike?
 
#57 · (Edited)
Nice trail shots...bike looks great! I still owe you a review of the Curnutt Air. And I have to say I really like it. I sent the Ti coil over in to Foes for reg interval svc not too long ago but haven't been able to do a side by side comp between Air and Coil bc I'm a bit over weight for the 300lb Ti coil. But I've been riding my butt off lately to get back down to normal weight for spring XC racing. Regardless, the air is pretty awesome. And I think if you plan on keeping the bike for a long time it's worth picking one up as a back up if Foes still has stock. If my weight loss goes according to plan I should have a good side by side comparison April - early May at the latest. So at this point can't say that I like one better than the other, but either way I'm liking the air version a lot.
 
#58 ·
Interesting. I rebuilt the shock this weekend, as part of another complete service/stripdown, and it occurred to me that the normal shock with a ti spring is actually really light. I wonder if you have your air shock handy, and can post a weight up for comparison?

Anyway, the bike is apart, again, completely. Just like last year. I'm waiting for my new frame to arrive from Lynskey, and I'm riding my singlespeed alot at the moment. The Foes was starting to make some real noises, so a service at least was on the cards. So far, everything apart from the forks are clean and checked for wear, the forks I will tackle next weekend. The only thing to note is that I have a problem with the rear wheel, I will post up the situation once I have fixed it.



Same, pretty much as last year. 2.5wt oil, 10mm IFP height when compressed, careful bleeding. I ended the year with pretty high air pressure, 90psi, and will continue with this. Only thing to note is that the internal spacer, that is bonded to the seal head, had become detached. I suspect this was audible when you ride, possibly, and I have changed the type of epoxy used to glue it to see if it lasts any longer? After all, the last time it was glued, it lasted two seasons, and if I'm honest, can I really see me using this bike for more than two seasons further?
 
#59 ·
After weighing my bike with both shocks I found, to my surprise, that the Air version is only marginally lighter than the Ti Coil. It was less that 0.25 lbs lighter, according to my scale, 0.15 lbs to be exact. So yes the Ti Coil is comparably light.

I'm really glad I have a second or spare shock (I have a spare fork and wheels as well). I do really like the Foes F275 & Shaver 29er and might pick one or the other up someday. But either way, I really enjoy the heck out my XCT and will keep it and ride it long as I can.
 
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