Last month I got a great deal on a full carbon MTB hard tail frame. So after a few days of deciding what I wanted to do with it I came up with the following build list.
- Pedal Force MTB frame
- Fox F32 100mm RLC fork
- SRAM x.9 rear derailleur
- SRAM x.Gen front derailleur
- SRAM x.0 Grip shifters
- Easton EC-90 carbon flat bar
- Avid BB-7 disc brakes
- Alligator 160mm rotors
- Alligator iLink cables
- Vuelta Team SL wheel set
- Thomson Elite seat post
- Race Face Deus Ex crank set
- Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals
- Other miscellaneous parts
What I ended up with was a 21.4 pound fairly comfortable MTB that I will use on occasion to tool around some trails when I want to take a break from riding on the road. I have been out on the trail with it already. I found out that I have a lot to learn about MTB riding
Tags: Pedal Force
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One word…..WOW !!!
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Thanks Jeff, a couple of things had to change since I snapped those pictures. That awful Fizik Poggio saddle had to go. It was lying in a box so I had to use it to finish up the build. It is now replaced by a Selle Italia SLK. The stem is too short and it too was something I had lying around my garage. It will be replaced by a Ritchey 4-Axis 120mm stem. This will allow me to drop some of the spacers and still keep nearly the same bar height.
I was able to fool around with shock settings over the past week, I think it is close to dialed in. The Fox shocks just have a boatload of adjustments. One last change will be tires. The Kenda’s might be fast and light, but they have very little grip and sometimes I feel the front end washing out on some loose turns.
It’s fun to ride, but not that much fun.
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Hi,
Bike looks great and it makes me want one!
Since you’ve probably had time to ride it a fair amount by now if you could let me know what your final thoughts are on the frame? Does it handle the way you’d like it to? How does it handle technical descents?
Thanks
-John
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After having ridden this bike for a while what I can say is that while it is comfortable and seems to track well, I am not a MTBer and therefore really not qualified to make good subjective judgements about its ride quality. Since this is my case I did not really know what to expect from this frame and I got exactly that, a very generic ride without anything outstanding to make me sit up and pay attention.
Maybe I have a skewed perspective since I am a roadie and don’t like riding on tight trails. So if anyone was expecting a lot of insight on just how good or bad an inexpensive carbon hardtail could be, I am sorry I cannot supply that for you. Perhaps I will loan it out to one of my MTBing buddies so they can provide a more informed opinion and write about it here.
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