So, I recently purchased a Santa Cruz Nickel frame, on closeout from competitive cyclist dot com, for a crazy deal. I was actually originally in the market for a 4" travel 29'er frame, to swap all my parts over from my Surly Karate Monkey.
However, 3 factors came into play that swayed my decision. The first factor was that I love the Karate Monkey the way it is and would be shamed to stripe 'er of parts for some new mistress. The second factor was geometry, I couldn't find a 29'er frame with the geometry I wanted, for the price I was looking for. Most of the 29'er frames have looong chainstays and steep angles. But the third reason is what pushed me back in the direction of 26" wheels, the Nickel frame on closeout for $699, with 16.7" chainstays....and then reading about the 140mm travel upgrade in other threads!
The Karate Monkey gets the thumbs-up and lives as my smooth XC trail speed machine. The Nickel shall be built as a rough and tumble big-all-mountain bike, with concern for weigh. I have a lot of spare parts laying around to use, but need to build a new wheel set. Hopefully I can get a reasonable weight on this thing.
Here is the Nickel frame, popped fresh out tha box:
The first thing I did was call up Marzocchi and inquired about end-of season deals on 2012 items. Big mistake, as I am now the owner of a Roco LO and a 44 RC3ti, and a big bag of Quinoa from Costco. The Quinoa should provide enough protein and sustenance to survive on while I get my finances back in the safe zone.
The Roco LO is 200 x 57, bringing the rear travel of the Nickel up to 140mm, as demonstrated in other threads. The Marzocchi 44 RC3ti is 150mm of travel, with a tapered steartube. Should be nicely balanced...MTBer4Life has this same suspension setup on his Nickel, the reports have been very positive.
Official frame weight on the local bike shop digital scale was just under 7 lbs, with the Roco LO...something like 6.95 lbs. The 44 RC3ti weighed in at 4.4 lbs. Not bad, so far.
After some time, I place an order on parts. First up is the wheel build. This was a tough decision, but I finally settled on limited edition ano-electric-blue Halo Feedom Disc rims.
I have black Halo Freedom Disc rims on my Karate Monkey, and have been very pleased with their weight and strength. They built up real true-like and have remained so. I am a fan.
Halo also makes them in ano-red, but I have red parts on other bikes, so blue is the risk I shall take....laced to a green Chris King hub. What am I doing?!?
btw, Universal Cycles has the Halo rim weight wrong...they show 645g, Halo's website shows 545g. The digital scale at the local bike shop weighed them at 540g.
Not seriously, but I did buy a big bag of quinoa to help out. Eggs, cans of tuna and homemade salsa are part of this bike build, too. I am on a serious spending budget now.
Adding tension to the secret weapon, and 4th reason I went with this frame, dropouts compatible with this hub. I won't be conforming to the new standards for a while.
An Alfine hub has been abused on my Karate Monkey for about 2 years now, without a single problem...one should be able to survive on this bike.
Love the idea of a IGH one my suspension bikes, but hate the idea of still needing a tensioner.
I feel the same way...but my hate for the tensioner is less than my hate for the deraileur.
One overlooked advantage of the IGH is being able to shift without pedaling. This is nice in technical little descents with steep gully climbs at the bottom.
Hopefully I can come up with a low-profile tensioning setup.
Borrowed the XTR cranks off of my Karate Monkey to start prototyping the chain tensioning devise. I have a feeling this would not work on it's own, but it was worth a shot. Even with a super high roller, the over all difference in chain growth above the cranks is still greater than the chain length shortening below the cranks. In conclusion, chain tension still gets tighter.
I'm going to attempt to invent a spring-loaded roller to make this work.
Yup, Avid mechanical disc brakes...mis-mached pair of calipers, laying around in the garage. Currently rocking a pair on the KM, definitely a fan of these simple yet powerful brakes. Pretty easy to dial in a no-drag setup.
Or on the cheap, use an old rd and use the screws to set in one spot.
I have a variety of hanger based chain tensioners at my disposal, in the garage...a Surly Singulator, a Paul's tensioner and a couple of old road deraileurs.
Those are my back-up options. I want to try and tension the chain from the bottom bracket.
I need to order an Alfine cog, that has the plastic chain guide built in, to keep the chain on track.
Although I'm anxious to ride the Nickel, I'm kind of savoring this build for some unknown reason. I have a set of Shimano SLX cranks on order for this bike.
Have you thought about going with a belt drive system. My understanding is some of the belt drive systems sold in Europe incorporate a belt that stretches so you do not need a tensioner.
Have you thought about going with a belt drive system. My understanding is some of the belt drive systems sold in Europe incorporate a belt that stretches so you do not need a tensioner.
Had not considered belt drive. I did not realize some of them stretched.
Had not considered belt drive. I did not realize some of them stretched.
One of my riding buddies is from accross the pond and when we first linked up he was using this belt drive system on a FSR to power his Rolf rear hub. No tensioner required. He said he liked it alot. The system did eventually wear out on his bike and he was unable to find a replacement belt at that time so he put a tradional set up on his rig. Unfortunately I am not able to remember the Manufactures name.
One of my riding buddies is from accross the pond and when we first linked up he was using this belt drive system on a FSR to power his Rolf rear hub. No tensioner required. He said he liked it alot. The system did eventually wear out on his bike and he was unable to find a replacement belt at that time so he put a tradional set up on his rig. Unfortunately I am not able to remember the Manufactures name.
Interesting. I wonder if you lose any power, due to the stretching belt? Or maybe it acts like a rubber band, storing potential energy and releasing it.
Interesting. I wonder if you lose any power, due to the stretching belt? Or maybe it acts like a rubber band, storing potential energy and releasing it.
Do do remember him saying that he got no feedback at the pedals.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Steve.E
