# My 17 lbs Lynskey Ti hardtail



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

So for a very long time ever since I was a little kid I wanted a titanium mountain bike. Unfortunately paper routes + allowance money could never afford such luxuries. I remember reading Mountain Bike Action Magazines as a kid. Drooling over the pictures of Litespeeds, Merlins, Kona Hei Heis and King Kahunas. I actually was ready to buy a Kona King Kahuna reproduction for the past 2 years (2007 & 2008), but Kona never imported that frame to North America in 2007 and did not in 2008. Hence I went with a full squish last year. I had built up a full suspension bike last year to experience what full squishy is like. Prior to that I had only ridden hardtails, and I missed the shear sprint power that a hardtail brings.

Last year's build: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=427351

The 90s were days of anodized CNC'd parts from Kooka, Pauls, Ringle, Answer, Hope, TNT... I loved those days. My favorite color was definitely 3D Violet (3DV aka Purple aka my eyes hurt color). My dream bike back then was

Litespeed Ocoee
Litespeed stem
3DV Chris King headset
3DV Ringle Hubba Bubba Hubs
3DV Ringle Post
3DV Kooka Cranks
Philwood square taper BB
XTR M952 front D
XTR M952 shifters
Pauls Rear Derailleur
Mavic 517 rims
SID fork

For which I actually researched for many weeks trying to find NOS parts or even taking modern parts and re-anodizing them for the Lynskey frame. Thankfully the amount of effort required meant it was not feasible, and no one would do a custom one off purple batch of parts in Toronto. I even toyed with the idea of doing the anodizing myself, but questioned what I would do with all that acid afterwards and how to dispose of it.

The idea of lets spend stupid amounts of money and build a new bike when I had two perfectly good mountain bikes came from this picture:










The owner I believe posts over on the Vintage, Retro, Classic subforum.

So with the idea "Hey let's build your dream bike when you were a little kid." I fire sold my 2005 Specialized Stumpjumper Disc bike @ 22 lbs with every single part upgraded to put a deposit on the Lynskey frame.

Since Litespeed is a shell of what they used to be, and finding out that the Lynskey family had opened up shop after their non-compete clause with American Bicycle Group expired; meant my first seach went to https://www.lynskeyperformance.com/

The build started off with an email to [email protected] asking more about the M230 frame. There were some things I was looking for in the Ti frame. Breezer style dropouts, shaped tubing, under Top tube cable routing. The stock M230 frame that Lynskey offered on their site seemed to fit me perfectly. For a couple of hundred more bucks I got: slightly lengthened top tube, Level 2 bi-axially shaped downtube, the routing moved to the top. The discussion of selecting a Ti frame came to be in the thread below (thanks to all who contributed in that thread):

https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=463950

Jack from Lynskey was the guy I dealt with over the emails. This is what I told Jack during one of our email exchanges,

"What I want my bike to do?"

* Cut up the single track
* Climb like a mountain goat
* Win races
* Sub 17.5 Lbs race ready bike (sub 2.85 lbs frame if possible)

He responded. Not a problem. We traded emails back and forth regarding questions on BB height, angles, different cable routing, axle to crown measurements of the forks I wanted to use, color etc... The frame is basically a stock 2009 M230 17" frame with slightly longer top tube with shaped downtube and level 2 upgraded tubeset (butted tubes). Then I made the splurge and called him up with my credit card information to place a deposit.

One month later he sent me a PDF file of a CAD layout of my new Bike. We traded emails back and forth while I made redlines to each drawing revision until we were both happy and I gave him the Authorization to Proceed (ATP).










One week after ATP I got an email from Jamie who looks after all the post welding finishing to see if this is how I wanted the graphics to be laid out on my bike. Yet another PDF drawing for me to approve.










By end of November they had finished my frame. I had them get a copy of my bike's drawing autographed by Chris and David Lynskey.

Meanwhile the parts collection had started. Unfortunately the Canadian Dollar tanked against the USD right around the time the financial sector imploded. Crap. The parts come from various sources:

All fasteners came from https://torontocycles.com/
Tools and other odds and ends Universal Cycles & Mountain Equipment Co-Op
Hope Brakes from https://www.wiggle.co.uk/
Middleburn Parts from Chain Reaction Cycles
Tires and Cassette from https://sales.light-bikes.com/
Tune Parts https://www.royalbicycles.com/
Wheels by Jeremy and Sarah over at https://www.alchemybicycleworks.com/
XTR Parts and other odds and ends from Ebay USA and Ebay Hong Kong
Random items from Local Bike store: https://dukescycle.ca/ & https://www.gearsbikeshop.com/

The idea behind the parts selection was, Light as possible without going stupid. I can not come to terms of buying thm clavicula cranksets, or Ax lightness saddles and posts, nor could I ever justify a schmolke handlebar. So I picked what I felt was the best parts that mainstream manufacturers today have to offer. The Hope brakes pay homage to the days of CNC'd bling parts. The Easton carbon EC90 seatpost and handlebar reflect that they were one of the first companies to offer carbon fibre parts to the bicycling industry and I always wanted one. The wheels are just simply amazing, originally it was just going to be Notubes ZTR Race. After talking with Jeremy Parfitt I was again convinced to go full custom like I have done on all my other bikes.

I'm not going to re-summarize the discussion on each and every part. I do thank everyone who has contributed their 2 cents on the pros and cons of each part I have asked about:

Hope Brakes: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=483371
Middleburn RS8 DUO: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=477043
Bottom Bracket sizing: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=493284
Manitou R7 MRD cable routing: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=494385
3DV: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=468262
Frame: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=477909
Tune hubs, Ti spokes: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=495867

So here are some pictures...









Frame weight









Breezer Dropouts









100mm Manitou MRD R7 Absolute









Middleburn RS8 ISIS DUO 29T/42T









Front wheel









Rear Wheel

























Talc'n the tubes and inner tire (helps a bit for pinch flats, plus your bike smells nice afterwards)









The golden bling Ti cassette









Easton EC90 setback seatpost 31.6mm w/ Titanium bolt









Cycle King carbon saddle









Anything that didn't get copper antiseize got threadlocking compound. No threads were left bare.









checking to see if there is still a gap... .0015 feeler gauge









fork sizing









weight of remaining steerer tube









fork, stem, headset, spacers, cap installed









104g EC90 bar installed. If you have been following this forum you will know the story.









tuned w/ anodized aluminum gold bolts









Rear wheel put together









The bike being weighed









The final built weight










Those are my poorly taken pictures. Now for some beauties that my friend Bill took for me to use to submit to the https://www.light-bikes.de/eng/2009/02/06/bike-of-the-year-contest-2009/ contest.



























































































The bike has been assembled following all the NASA standards, processes and practices for mechanical integration of space flight hardware for manned and un-manned flight that I have learned over the 4+ years as an Aerospace Manufacturing Engineer. Comments and criticisms are welcomed.


----------



## Jake Pay (Dec 27, 2006)

Cheers,
Needless to say, but I'm *green* with envy..

Awesome build and write up....









~Jake


----------



## dmcgoy (Apr 16, 2006)

Beautiful build. Titanium rocks. You should get the fork painted gold to match the chain/cassette! Also, a KCNC seatpost would save some weight. I doubt the CF is improving the ride quality. Though I suppose you wanted to match the handlebars? I'm assuming you'll be buying nino's magical tubes when they become available.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

dmcgoy said:


> Beautiful build. Titanium rocks. You should get the fork painted gold to match the chain/cassette! Also, a KCNC seatpost would save some weight. I doubt the CF is improving the ride quality. Though I suppose you wanted to match the handlebars? I'm assuming you'll be buying nino's magical tubes when they become available.


I'll look into getting a pair or two of the tubes to try out as long as shipping isn't killer on them.

regarding the KCNC Ti-Pro Lite seatpost, I'm a non believer of that seatpost, and any seatpost that shares the same clamping mechanism. YMMV of course, but I didn't have any luck with my. If you picked up the upper and lower craddle off of a thomson seatpost and used that with the KCNC Ti-Pro Lite that may be a worthwhile option. I had two issues with my Ti-Pro Lite, the front bolt head snapped off, and the small narrow cradle doesn't support the rails enough.










Others on this forum had the same problem. And I assure you I used a torque wrench that had just recently been calibrated to install the bolts on the KCNC seatpost.


----------



## amillmtb (Jun 24, 2005)

That final build is so awesome! :thumbsup:

Now that you got some pretty pics takes, its time to get 'er dirty!


----------



## CanOnlyRide (Oct 27, 2005)

Such a beautiful bike! Im only about 10 minutes from Lynskey.


----------



## Broccoli (Jun 11, 2008)

Very nice. Very very nice. :thumbsup: 

If I was assembling - I would have changed seatpost to Masterpiece. Just looks cleaner for the same weight. And headset to Crank Brothers SL - it looks integrated on a ti headtube, and 10g lighter. And maybe R7 to Durin in a custom color...


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

Curmy said:


> Very nice. Very very nice. :thumbsup:
> 
> If I was assembling - I would have changed seatpost to Masterpiece. Just looks cleaner for the same weight. And headset to Crank Brothers SL - it looks integrated on a ti headtube, and 10g lighter. And maybe R7 to Durin in a custom color...


I know... but the seatpost came off of ebay for 35 USD with me the only bidder. The seller spelled easton wrong. I couldn't complain for that price and it was brand new.

I didn't realize the cups on the Tune headset would stick out so far until I went to go install it. By then it was too late, but at least the headset matches the hubs.

The fork was 299 USD closeout special from JensonUSA because it is a 2008 model. I couldn't turn that down! Plus it is suppose to be the lightest 100mm XC fork on the market now (providing it works).


----------



## luffy (Nov 15, 2005)

Have you found that placing a housing seal after the pinch bolt on the xtr derailleur has adversly effected shifting in any way? I would have thought it would have bunched up when shifting to the larger gears.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

luffy said:


> Have you found that placing a housing seal after the pinch bolt on the xtr derailleur has adversly effected shifting in any way? I would have thought it would have bunched up when shifting to the larger gears.


Hrm... I'll keep an eye on it. This is the first time I installed the seals on the SP41 housings.

My main concern is will this fork work... I hope I don't have the dreaded click from the valve, and leaking air chambers pressurizing the wrong side of the piston.


----------



## 743power (Sep 25, 2007)

super nice, reliable, solid build. Many kudos to you on it. Please give some feedback on the cranks vs. the shimanos on your other bike. I'm looking into them myself.

Only thing I see on the build that I would have done differently is the headtube height. If I was going to add that many spacers, I would have made the headtube 1/2" or so longer.


----------



## Cranked (Jun 1, 2006)

This is what I was expecting from you and maybe just a little more. I really love the high quality photos to really bring it all home. The weight is nothing short of fantastic, mostly because I can't pick out anything that looks weak. I don't think I wold have chosen that saddle, but thats a personal deal. All in all, thats a really sweet ride, and I know you are going to love it. 

(Slightly off topic, but wasn't that you posting about the new gold GT zaskar at ww chat forum, just after you said this was your last bike?)


----------



## JaLove (Dec 24, 2006)

Awesome. Can you post some muddy pics after some miles? I'm still jonesin' here.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

Cranked said:


> This is what I was expecting from you and maybe just a little more. I really love the high quality photos to really bring it all home. The weight is nothing short of fantastic, mostly because I can't pick out anything that looks weak. I don't think I wold have chosen that saddle, but thats a personal deal. All in all, thats a really sweet ride, and I know you are going to love it.
> 
> (Slightly off topic, but wasn't that you posting about the new gold GT zaskar at ww chat forum, just after you said this was your last bike?)


Thanks for the compliments. Fortunately the that Gold GT Zaskar bike is not for sale. You have to win it by placing 1st in a GT sponsored race. I drink too much beer and eat too much ice cream to place 1st in anything.


----------



## rkj__ (Feb 29, 2004)

That's a beautiful bike Cheers! What category will you be racing in this year?


----------



## kcreager (Nov 13, 2007)

Very nice build. Looks very high qaulity and the parts are hard to say anything bad about. Great looking. Tell us how it rides. What rims are those (sorry if you already mentioned this)? And do you like running tubeless or no because if you use a minimal amount of sealant with just the yellow tape and stem it is even lighter.


----------



## Slobberdoggy (Sep 26, 2005)

Bike looks pretty darn good and well built!





What type of and who's tubing do Lynskey use?

Give us a ride report and comparison to your previous bike.


----------



## Fancy Hat (Apr 14, 2008)

First off, that was very well written. Most of these posts I skim, this one was worth reading.

Second, holy crap that bike looks fast. The cranks are beautiful. Nice build!


----------



## protocol_droid (Jul 7, 2004)

cheers-

fantastic write up and nice shots of everything. I've always had a thing for ti. I'd love to do titanium with pink bits here and there.


----------



## G-Live (Jan 14, 2004)

Cheers! said:


> Thanks for the compliments. Fortunately the that Gold GT Zaskar bike is not for sale. You have to win it by placing 1st in a GT sponsored race. I drink too much beer and eat too much ice cream to place 1st in anything.


ah, yes...another with "much upside" falls prey to the dreaded beer and ice cream combo dream killer:madman: :madmax:

G


----------



## CarbonFiberFootprint (Nov 4, 2008)

Great looking bike. Should roll super fast. I'm going to fool around and pickup a nice hard-tail frame myself here soon if you don't stop posting.


----------



## nikoli8 (Mar 23, 2008)

*Congrats..*

Looks unreal--- really love the write up.

Thanks again for all your help..


----------



## kitsuma (Jul 25, 2006)

Beautiful bike, inspiring build.

I have a '96 Waterford custom I'm trying to decide what to do with. Retire it and hang the thing on a wall, or send it back to Waterford for a repaint and disc brake mounts added to make it modern. I wish I could afford a Ti frame, but steel has always been real for me. Last time I weighed it, it was 20.5 lbs or so. If I could get it within a pound and a half of yours-that would be something.

Again, it's a beautiful bike- there's something special in riding something that was built just for you. Let us know how it rides!


----------



## Hand/of/Midas (Sep 19, 2007)

kitsuma said:


> Beautiful bike, inspiring build.
> 
> I have a '96 Waterford custom I'm trying to decide what to do with. Retire it and hang the thing on a wall, or send it back to Waterford for a repaint and disc brake mounts added to make it modern. I wish I could afford a Ti frame, but steel has always been real for me. Last time I weighed it, it was 20.5 lbs or so. If I could get it within a pound and a half of yours-that would be something.
> 
> Again, it's a beautiful bike- there's something special in riding something that was built just for you. Let us know how it rides!


haha, i have a 90s custom Rockhound that getting powdercoated right now, i dont want the disk tabs yet though. my 19" frame is 1940g, so if you used the same parts as Cheers it would be about 1-1/2lb heavier.


----------



## Limon (Jan 26, 2004)

I love it! what about some ti headset spacers? this pic looks like it's flying downhill, have fun :thumbsup:


----------



## bholwell (Oct 17, 2007)

Nice build! Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Kris (Jun 15, 2004)

Wow! One MAJOR problem though... the pics should have been taken in the big ring!  I've a soft spot for brit kit, those Middleburns and Hopes are so nice!


----------



## LuMach (Jun 3, 2008)

That frame is absolutely gorgeous! 

a ti Lynsky or Moots are like my dream bikes *sigh*, congrats on a sweet build.


----------



## morrisgarages (Jan 25, 2009)

Damn, that's nice!!! How does the saddle ride and hold up? Thanks for showing me my dream bike!


----------



## Jimmy41 (Mar 24, 2007)

Gah..ats'pretty:arf:


----------



## doctorthirst (Apr 24, 2008)

Amazing. Love the photos! One of my favorite builds. This one and the Kona Hei Hei posted a while back are my favorite Ti Bikes.


----------



## mrfoxy76 (Aug 3, 2008)

i just build up the same bike not quite 17lbd but very happy with it!


----------



## Broccoli (Jun 11, 2008)

mrfoxy76 said:


> i just build up the same bike not quite 17lbd but very happy with it!


Out of those two builds I will take yours. 

Not because Cheers's build ain't pretty, but because your wheels and fork are a better fit for my 195lb ass.


----------



## mrfoxy76 (Aug 3, 2008)

haha i think mine is approx 21lbs not 100% sure, i love the I9 wheels and the world cup sid fork.
i am 195lbs also!


----------



## Ausable (Jan 7, 2006)

Cheers! said:


> The bike has been assembled following all the NASA standards, processes and practices for mechanical integration of space flight hardware for manned and un-manned flight that I have learned over the 4+ years as an Aerospace Manufacturing Engineer. Comments and criticisms are welcomed.


Do those standards allow yellow zip ties on a red fork?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

Ausable said:


> Do those standards allow yellow zip ties on a red fork?


Haha... not made in China crap zip ties. The space flight zip ties are thermal vacuum compatible (does not off gas), and use a metal tang inside the square that does the click.

I've only ever seen light blue colored NASA approved zip ties. I'm not sure if there are any other colors...


----------



## Broccoli (Jun 11, 2008)

Cheers! said:


> I've only ever seen light blue colored NASA approved zip ties. I'm not sure if there are any other colors...


You have to get some of those on it.

I should be able to find some chunk of aluminum used to manufacture a support structure for one satellite based experiment I worked on. I should manufacture some parts for my bike out of it...


----------



## raceer2 (Jul 21, 2007)

that is one beautiful bike man !!

not to mention a well thought out build

thanks a lot for sharing, the white stealth bike is not too shabby either 

thanks again


----------



## RML (Mar 19, 2006)

I always thought road derailleurs where bottom pull. Am i wrong? How did you set it up?


----------



## the rat (Jun 3, 2005)

Oh my lord. That is amazing. Absolutely amazing. You build a good bike cheers, ill give you that. I'd take any steed from your stable....


----------



## Ausable (Jan 7, 2006)

He using a speen adapter to convert a bottom pull to top pull. 
You will notice the adapter on the picture showing the (gorgeous) middleburrn cranks


----------



## Rivet (Sep 3, 2004)

Gotta ask, why so many headset spacers on a custom frame? I always find this baffling, especially on road bikes. Make the head tube longer from the outset, much nicer looking.


----------



## mrfoxy76 (Aug 3, 2008)

I agree on the spacers, I got CK blue spacers with the King TI headset but lost them so the shop just used what they had for now. also going to add blue alligator iline cable housings and that is it!


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

the rat said:


> Oh my lord. That is amazing. Absolutely amazing. You build a good bike cheers, ill give you that. I'd take any steed from your stable....


Thanks for all the complement guys.

Rat: That is quiet a compliment, I'm flattered.

For the reason for all the spacers is that I haven't dialed in the fit of the bike yet, so I've kept the steerer tube quite long. Also if I find that I don't wish to keep the fork, it is much easier to sell a fork with a long steerer tube than a short one.


----------



## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

Cheers! said:


> Haha... not made in China crap zip ties. The space flight zip ties are thermal vacuum compatible (does not off gas), and use a metal tang inside the square that does the click.
> 
> I've only ever seen light blue colored NASA approved zip ties. I'm not sure if there are any other colors...


Ha....so when is the launch date? Aerospace Engineers are so anti-failure!

Beautiful build....BTW


----------



## kitsuma (Jul 25, 2006)

Yea, I know it's possible... If I built the Waterford back up, it will be with my old parts bin stuff. That bike has had it's day. I've moved on to a full-suss bike. Cheers!'s Lynskey made me nostalgic for a super sweet custom hardtail.


----------



## coachjon (Jun 13, 2007)

pics arent working


----------



## rkj__ (Feb 29, 2004)

coachjon said:


> pics arent working


HAHA, bandwidth exceeded.  Too many people were checking out his ride.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

crap... You have exceeded the limit on your Photobucket account. I'll move it to google images... brb


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

ok fixed. Let's see how badly you guys can hammer Flickr before it starts to whine.


----------



## Duckman (Jan 12, 2004)

Cheers! said:


> ok fixed. Let's see how badly you guys can hammer Flickr before it starts to whine.


Awesome. I like.

Duck


----------



## coachjon (Jun 13, 2007)

i can see them now and i am glad crazy sick bike.

not bad for little wheels...


----------



## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

How does that thing ride, Cheers? Please tell us you ride it...


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

Zachariah said:


> How does that thing ride, Cheers? Please tell us you ride it...


The trials are all water logged now with the snow and spring rains. Riding the trails now means you will be walking your bike from one mud hole to another and ruining the trails for the rest of the season.

I did take it out for a spin around town. Spent an hour adjusting the sag, and trying to true the brake rotors. The Hope rotors are not as true as I would have liked them to be. Shimano, Avid, Magura, and even Ashima/Alligator rotors are more true.

The bike rides nice. Handling is responsive, the geometry fits me like a glove. All out sprint on big ring and little cog in the back seems to be putting down power very well. I'm sure there is no way the frame is as stiff as a scott scale carbon or a 90s Klein Attitude, but the bike seems to respond well to power.

Brake power is coming around with the pads bedding in a bit.

I think I can lower the stem some more and maybe chop the steerer tube. I'll wait till I get some riding time on the trails before I do that though.

Once the trails firm up a bit the bike will be making its debut on dirt.

:thumbsup:


----------



## RWGreen (Dec 5, 2004)

I don't like the positioning of the drive side crank arm for photos... other than that, I guess it's ok :thumbsup:


----------



## jmoote (Aug 31, 2007)

Nice build! Now I can't decide which of your bikes is nicer, this or the Hei-Hei 

You never answered rkj, what category are you racing this year?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

jmoote said:


> Nice build! Now I can't decide which of your bikes is nicer, this or the Hei-Hei
> 
> You never answered rkj, what category are you racing this year?


Senior Sport Male. I'm a little worried, that has got to be the most competitive class out of the whole weekend, and I haven't ever raced an O cup race. I've only ever raced the relay races, hopefully a 55 min lap around Albion in 24 hour races is good enough to race in Sport class. My goal this year is not to finish last.

On a side note: How do you laminate the UCI licence that the OCA mails to you?


----------



## jmoote (Aug 31, 2007)

Sounds like your lap times are similar or a bit better than mine at the 24h, and I'm racing Sr. Sport as well. I think it's safe to say we both will not be last.

As for laminating the license, I'm not sure you do? I just sort of stuck mine in there. The plastic keeps it from getting too beat up by other stuff in my wallet. Input from others is welcome on this subject though!


----------



## larsbaby (Apr 11, 2005)

congratulations on your new beauty! enjoyed the buildup pics, thanks so much for sharing! 

ride safe!


----------



## rkj__ (Feb 29, 2004)

Cheers! said:


> Senior Sport Male. I'm a little worried, that has got to be the most competitive class out of the whole weekend, and I haven't ever raced an O cup race. I've only ever raced the relay races, hopefully a 55 min lap around Albion in 24 hour races is good enough to race in Sport class. My goal this year is not to finish last.


A 55 min Solstice lap is pretty quick. You'll find that there is a big spread from 1st to last place. I think you have a very good chance of achieving your goal. :thumbsup:


----------



## nwd_26 (Jun 1, 2008)

BEAUTIFUL bike. I noticed elsewhere that you're from Toronto, will I get the pleasure of seeing that bik--...work of art... in the Don?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

nwd_26 said:


> BEAUTIFUL bike. I noticed elsewhere that you're from Toronto, will I get the pleasure of seeing that bik--...work of art... in the Don?


You bet! I could every couple of weeks to the Don.

But I'm at Albion Hills every Thursday after work once the trails are firmed up.


----------



## Kris (Jun 15, 2004)

I've taken my licenses to Staples, they do a good job laminating the picture in for a couple of bucks.


----------



## smoen81 (Aug 28, 2008)

Cheers, I think you build some great bikes. You should do a thread with all of the bikes you've built and their weights.


----------



## paneristi (Jun 9, 2004)

Cheers, very nice bike! Congratulations :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
I too have a Lynskey and, honestly (I was like ..  when I saw yours; what a coincidence!), was going to have similar build, but decided to go for more all-round / regular setup
It's 10kg even with some dirt
https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=492886


----------



## rob.char (Oct 5, 2008)

absolutely gorgeous, great build.


----------



## BunnV (Sep 7, 2005)

Cheers! said:


> Comments and criticisms are welcomed.


Comment? AWESOME

Criticism? NONE

Inspiration to build something really special? DEFINITELY


----------



## nikoli8 (Mar 23, 2008)

I see your Velo Plug weight is 9.5 grams.. but you qoute 3.5 per wheel... what am missing... Just ordered my plugs and am curious


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

nikoli8 said:


> I see your Velo Plug weight is 9.5 grams.. but you qoute 3.5 per wheel... what am missing... Just ordered my plugs and am curious


3.5g is correct... I guess it's just an over sight.


----------



## serious (Jan 25, 2005)

Cheers: *On a side note: How do you laminate the UCI licence that the OCA mails to you?*

I asked the same question of my wife and voila ... next day I had a laminated license. 

Congratulation on that amazing bike! I hope to see it at the O-Cups this year.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

serious said:


> Cheers: *On a side note: How do you laminate the UCI licence that the OCA mails to you?*
> 
> I asked the same question of my wife and voila ... next day I had a laminated license.
> 
> Congratulation on that amazing bike! I hope to see it at the O-Cups this year.


I had my copy centre at work print out a picture of my head via the high quality color laser printer, and they glued it to to the license. Then I mentioned if they could do laminating too, and they ran it through their laminating machine. I didn't end up using the clear plastic pouch thingy that OCA gives you.

I'm actually quite concerned about the April 26th race. I haven't had that many kms on my legs. Only jogging and weight since last fall. Plus I've been indulging heavily into the beers these past couple of weeks.


----------



## ilostmypassword (Dec 9, 2006)

Curmy said:


> Out of those two builds I will take yours.
> 
> Not because Cheers's build ain't pretty, but because your wheels and fork are a better fit for my 195lb ass.


I second that! Its a far more sensible build for trail riding- it even has tread on the tyres


----------



## rkj__ (Feb 29, 2004)

Cheers! said:


> I had my copy centre at work print out a picture of my head via the high quality color laser printer, and they glued it to to the license. Then I mentioned if they could do laminating too, and they ran it through their laminating machine. I didn't end up using the clear plastic pouch thingy that OCA gives you.
> 
> I'm actually quite concerned about the April 26th race. I haven't had that many kms on my legs. Only jogging and weight since last fall. Plus I've been indulging heavily into the beers these past couple of weeks.


I'm thinking that might be my first serious MTB ride of the season.  My cross bike will be getting the action in April.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

ilostmypassword said:


> I second that! Its a far more sensible build for trail riding- it even has tread on the tyres


I have like 600 bucks worth of mountain bike tires in a box in my garage. I just put a couple of tires into the trunk of my car and if the trail conditions are wet, I put on a set of Panarace FireXC Pros. If they are pure mud I use Maxxis Medusa. If it's loose but semi dry I use Racing Ralphs. If it's dry with sandy conditions I use Rocket Rons. If the trails are dry and hard packed like the local trails I ride very often (Albion Hills), I use Furious Freds. If I go somewhere where I have never been and the topography is rocky I have a set of Nobby Nics.

It all boils the trail condition. The furious freds happen to be the lightest tires in my collection and the ones I use most often mid summer. So they were chosen for the picture. I even spent an hour scrubbing the tires with a bucket of soapy water to get the "black" to come out rather than the brown dirt that it's caked in just for the photos.


----------



## serious (Jan 25, 2005)

I managed to have my very first outdoor ride yesterday. But I used the Superfly because I expected bad roads after the winter. It was great even if my legs were dead (due to indoor intervals the previous 2 days).

I just had a crazy thought. Imagine *Cheer*'s bike as a rigid single speed. It would be a 15 lbs bike, a full 3.5 lbs lighter than my road bike.


----------



## longcat (Apr 24, 2008)

What was the total price for these 3 builds?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

longcat said:


> What was the total price for these 3 builds?


I hope the gf doesn't see this thread...

Cervelo: 5000
Kona: 5000
Lynskey 6000

+/- 300 bucks give or take for each build...

The cervelo would've been more but I managed to sell all the parts from it after just 8 months of service and kept only the frame and the fork. It's the Soloist team so it is not carbon fibre. But it weighs 14.99 lbs.










In hindsight I could've skipped cycling all together, used the money that is in the bicycles + trade in my car and got a 2007 Subaru Impreza STi.


----------



## longcat (Apr 24, 2008)

That cervelo look kickass..


----------



## ilostmypassword (Dec 9, 2006)

That Cervelo clearly needs MORE logos....


----------



## racerick (Mar 15, 2009)

that IS a beautiful bike and i commend you on your build documentation 

however.... you obviously dont ride steep, rough terrain, or you would NEVER have mounted those silly tires


----------



## ilostmypassword (Dec 9, 2006)

racerick said:


> that IS a beautiful bike and i commend you on your build documentation
> 
> however.... you obviously dont ride steep, rough terrain, or you would NEVER have mounted those silly tires


but its all about how light it can look on the interwebs..... not how it really rides!!


----------



## Broccoli (Jun 11, 2008)

racerick said:


> however.... you obviously dont ride steep, rough terrain, or you would NEVER have mounted those silly tires


FF are not that bad.


----------



## racerick (Mar 15, 2009)

you would not want to be on semi slicks where i ride....

oh, i suppose they would work good, to and from the rides

granted, i run a kenda klimax lite in the rear, during the winter when its tacky


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

the bike is setup for where a ride. Tight fast cross country single track with lots of climbs. It has a relative short top tube with a long stem. The geometry is pretty much a traditional 73 seat tube and 71 head tube (give or take a little bit). The head tube height is short and the saddle to bar drop is a lot more pronounced than an all mountain bike. 

My bike would not work where you ride, just like how your bike would be pointless where I ride. 

I don't see the point in your post other than posting just for the sake of posting.


----------



## Broccoli (Jun 11, 2008)

racerick said:


> you would not want to be on semi slicks where i ride....
> 
> oh, i suppose they would work good, to and from the rides
> 
> granted, i run a kenda klimax lite in the rear, during the winter when its tacky


Around Concord? FF, especially with sealant and lower pressure should be OK in most places around here (I live on peninsula), not too durable, but plenty of places to ride them successfully. I did run Fast Freds 2.25 around, they do work. Definitely not a completely show off tire.

Some reviews on Furious: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=374432


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

In the trunk of my car I have a box of tires. 6 spare tubes, a tire pump...

Maxxis Medusa
Racing Ralph
Nobby Nic
Panaracer FireXC Pro
Continental Mountain King
Michelin XC Dry2
Kenda Small Block 8s
and the Furious Freds mounted on the rims. 

racerick: Which tire do you want me to use?


----------



## rkj__ (Feb 29, 2004)

Don't worry about the haters. Just ride your bike. Rumor has it, much of the Don has dried out nicely.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

rkj__ said:


> Don't worry about the haters. Just ride your bike. Rumor has it, much of the Don has dried out nicely.


Damn! I will have to check that out. I've been slaving away on the road bike... I haven't even ventured on any mountain bikes yet for 2009. Albion is set to open on the 24th according to the customer service at TRCA.


----------



## Domtar (Oct 29, 2007)

Those are all pretty beautiful, but doesn't putting baby powder on the tubes ad half a gram? That might slow you down 0.00007 of a second.


----------



## rkj__ (Feb 29, 2004)

Domtar said:


> Those are all pretty beautiful, but doesn't putting baby powder on the tubes ad half a gram? That might slow you down 0.00007 of a second.


:lol:

(a pinch flat will slow you down more than that.)


----------



## racerick (Mar 15, 2009)

Cheers! said:


> In the trunk of my car I have a box of tires. 6 spare tubes, a tire pump...
> 
> Maxxis Medusa
> Racing Ralph
> ...


just stating my opinion about those silly tires with no knobs...


----------



## rkj__ (Feb 29, 2004)

*my useless reply*



racerick said:


> just stating my opinion about those silly tires with no knobs...


Obviously you know what tires work well for you in the conditions you ride. There are lots of riders out there that can make the Furious Freds work well for them in certain conditions they ride in. Just because they are not well suited to you and the trails you ride, does not make them "silly" by default. But, you're entitled to your opinion about them I suppose.


----------



## Broccoli (Jun 11, 2008)

racerick said:


> just stating my opinion about those silly tires with no knobs...


Silly is you opinion. Tires work just fine for their purpose. Did you ever ride cyclocross bike with 35mm small knobbies? With just a bit of practice it can clear pretty much anything. Not everybody needs a 3.0 Nokian Gazzaloddi on a trail.

You are like most americans who think you need a 4L high clearance SUV anywhere there is no asphalt, when in fact a small compact will clear it just as fast or faster.


----------



## TabascoJoe (Aug 22, 2007)

Beautiful bike! Cheers! always has the coolest builds. That Kona last year was kick -arse too 

Have you ridden on a saddle like that yet? the reason I ask is I had something very similiar on my hardtail last year. It just hurt my butt way too much to keep. Ended up going back to a Aliante and Approx. +150grams but it was well worth it for the comfort.


----------



## racerick (Mar 15, 2009)

Curmy said:


> Silly is you opinion. Tires work just fine for their purpose. Did you ever ride cyclocross bike with 35mm small knobbies? With just a bit of practice it can clear pretty much anything. Not everybody needs a 3.0 Nokian Gazzaloddi on a trail.
> 
> You are like most americans who think you need a 4L high clearance SUV anywhere there is no asphalt, when in fact a small compact will clear it just as fast or faster.


amazing (and somewhat humorous) how you can judge me based on one statement about tires and blindly presume what i drive and what tires i run. my daily driver is a miata and
i ride 2.1 speed king front 1.8 trailblaster rear > which ive been heckled about, but take it in stride...
i think that guy's bike is totally awesome, just don't care for those tires

happy trails


----------



## longcat (Apr 24, 2008)

Curmy said:


> 3.0 Nokian Gazzaloddi on a trail.


hahahaha i need to get those.


----------



## ExileHunter (Sep 5, 2008)

Cheers, your bike is truly a thing of beauty. I am breathtaken.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

So here is a little update on my bike so far...

My Manitou fork suffers from the dreaded "click" noise as it hits a bump. It clicks A LOT! because there are lots of bumps on the mountain bike trails.

https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=355174

Thankfully it hasn't lost any travel yet. Which is a 2nd symptom this fork will have if the O rings rupture.

I'm most unhappy that this fork came in at 1360g, when the originally claimed weight was 1270g. My is also a later batch made in Taiwan and not Made in USA that Manitou was touting when they released this fork in 2007. I did only pay 299 USD brand new for it rather than 799 USD.

I may see about upgrading the dampening cartridge to the new Absolute+ dampener that Manitou is releasing for this season... It will fit in all R7 forks.

https://seaotter.mtbr.com/2009/04/24/manitou-shows-new-damping-technology-absolute/

As for my bike. I had to make some changes to it since its first inception. I had to ditch the Easton EC90 Seatpost. The metal insert that is bonded to the top carbon clamp seperated. Once this happend there was no clamping pressure for the bolt to hold the upper and lower clamps to the seatpost head. THe saddle could not be sat on. I repaired this by cleaning off all the old epoxy and using Hysol 934A structural aerospace epoxy. This fixed that problem fine. It held the required 100 in-lbs of torque required by Easton. But the seatpost head has ridges that prevent the saddle from rocking back and forth in angle. This ridges were not deep enough. So what happens is that if you hit a bump the saddle would change angles. POS! I thew the seatpost into the garbage (I bought it NOS off of ebay). Then I picked up a Thomson Masterpiece.










Then I ditched the saddle. The Cycle King Taiwanese saddle I got (which is really light) is really stiff. The other carbon saddles out there such as the Selle Italia SLR or Tune Concord shell flexes. So it has some give. This Cycle King saddle has none. It hurt to ride it. So i picked up a traditional SLR saddle.

Then those mimimalistic titanium bottle cages that are made in Taiwan broke. The mounting tabs broke as the bottle cages vibrate violently as you ride the bike on dirt. I put some Tacx Taos on for the time being, and I ordered a pair of Andrews King Titanium Cages.



















So the bike gained a bit of weight...

Then I scored a brand new set of Chris King ISO Disc Hubs in black for a cheap price from a friend who was not using them. I had them built up with Sapim Laser spokes, Aluminum nipples, and Stan's Notunes ZTR Olympic 333g rims. Now I use this set of of wheels for racing so I wouldn't wear out the set of ultralight Ti spoked wheels (which ride amazing). Especially now that I've adapted the attitude during the races of "F it!", "hammer down" and go right through the course regardless of terrain and obstacles.

So far I've done 4 races on it and 2 endurance races. This is my 1st year racing in Ontario Cup. It's a lot different than the endurance races / relay races I've done for many years. The racers are all ultra fit and ultra athletes. I'm in the 19 to 29 age class. Sport class which is the lowest unless you go to the try a race day category. I thought I was decently quick, and decently fit. So far I've been placing near the bottom for each race. These guys sprint/hammer on the double track for the single track entrance and carry good speed through the singletrack. There is no passing on the singletrack because of the tight lines. I can keep up with them on the single track but I start losing out on the all out sprints on the double track. The race is 3 laps, 10 kms per lap. After the 1st lap I usually get dropped... and try to maintain a somewhat reasonable time gap between the lead group of riders and myself. The only really bad part is then the Expert women in my age class catch up to me and pass me by the end of the 2nd lap. Those are some fast women on bikes!

Here are some new pics of the ride:


----------



## indian fire trail (Nov 22, 2007)

Well, it looks as awesome as the first build...


----------



## Limon (Jan 26, 2004)

did you weigh the spokes by any chance?


----------



## TabascoJoe (Aug 22, 2007)

Yes, its still very nice.

How does the satin / Matte finish hold up to the abuse of the trails? Does it scratch easily?


----------



## superlightracer (Feb 11, 2004)

Cheers! said:


> Then I ditched the saddle. The Cycle King Taiwanese saddle I got (which is really light) is really stiff. The other carbon saddles out there such as the Selle Italia SLR or Tune Concord shell flexes. So it has some give. This Cycle King saddle has none. It hurt to ride it. So i picked up a traditional SLR saddle.
> 
> Then those mimimalistic titanium bottle cages that are made in Taiwan broke. The mounting tabs broke as the bottle cages vibrate violently as you ride the bike on dirt. I put some Tacx Taos on for the time being, and I ordered a pair of Andrews King Titanium Cages.
> 
> ...


Attaboy. Welcome to XC racing. As you've learned very quickly, novelty fringe weight weenie stuff gets eaten for lunch on the race circuit. It only gets worse! Unless you're under 160lbs, ditch those stans rims, or you're going to be making a second career of truing them every race. Slap on a nice 1600g wheelset, you're going to want the stiffness and reliability. In my experience, doing well in Sport Class is 99.9% rider.You want a bike that will handle every callous and rash move you make over rocks and logs. Thats pretty much the reason why I stuck with mavic crossmax's, a mid range bottle cage, and a thomson elite instead of a kcnc seatpost which is the same price and lighter.

Gonna make it out to the Buckwallow OCup? Its a course that rewards bike handling over absolute fitness.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

Limon said:


> did you weigh the spokes by any chance?


I have failed you as a weight weenie.

 :sad:

please don't think less of me.


----------



## jmoote (Aug 31, 2007)

Good advice from supa (of course). In Ontario I'd say most of the courses reward the rider over the bike even at the Expert and Elite level. Bike handling is crucial for some courses, while others favour a fitter rider. I'm also racing Sport for my first year, and have learned a lot about what I will need to improve on if I want to race Expert.



superlightracer said:


> Unless you're under 160lbs, ditch those stans rims, or you're going to be making a second career of truing them every race. Slap on a nice 1600g wheelset, you're going to want the stiffness and reliability.


The 333g Olympics, yes, but some Arches would make a solid rim for bashing around. My King/Arch 29er set with DT comps may be 1800g (so, perhaps comparable to a 1600g 26" set) but has held up to just about anything my 190 lb (formerly 200+) self can throw at it. In the 26" world you guys have more choices for solid tubeless rims (say, Mavic 819), but due to my 29er bias I have to recommend Stan's rims as they're pretty much our only options.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

I'm 168lbs... So I might be on the higher side compared to all the racers. But so far the wheels have held straight and true. 

I think no matter how hard I train and race I will never do my bike justice. I need someone like Emily Batty or Geoff Kabush to ride my bike to it's absolute limit... I'm just a hack racer who likes bikes. I'll be happy if I'm in the top 1/2 of my class.


----------



## liam2051 (Apr 19, 2008)

Cheers beautiful build, I love the mix of carbon/Ti

Nice Cervelo too! Mine says hi


----------



## Limon (Jan 26, 2004)

Cheers! said:


> I have failed you as a weight weenie.
> 
> :sad:
> 
> please don't think less of me.


:nono: bike is looking very good :thumbsup:


----------



## gte534j (Jul 31, 2008)

luffy said:


> Have you found that placing a housing seal after the pinch bolt on the xtr derailleur has adversly effected shifting in any way? I would have thought it would have bunched up when shifting to the larger gears.


That will not affect the shifting b/c the shadow rear deraillure cable stop/cable bolt is a constant length unlike the regular type rear deraillures. Its weird, but I noticed this when i installed my XTR shadow rear deraillure. Must say, i really like the shadow ones, they are nice. the only setback is that you have to cut the cable very close to the pinch bolt, otherwise it will hit the spokes.
BTW, you should check out the DT swiss 190 hubs, you can save some weight there, but they are bling. I have a pair, super nice.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

I agree that the Shadow XTR derailleurs are quite nice and shift very precisely.

Thanks for the recommendation for the DTswiss 190s. I looked at them before but passed on them for several reasons.

-crazy expensive
-I don't agree with crazy expensive ceramic bearings for bicycle applications
-you have to use the centre-loc rotors or get an adaptor. (adaptor negates any real weight savings over DTswiss 240s).


----------



## Trek7000rider (Sep 7, 2008)

I honestly cant get over how freakin gorgeous your Lynskey is... I bet it rides damn sweet too.


----------



## jw8725 (Jun 12, 2009)

Truly gorgeous bike!


----------



## morrisgarages (Jan 25, 2009)

VERY nice bike cheers! And thanks for the weight breakdown. Any shifting problems with those recon cassettes? Are they as good as xtr?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

morrisgarages said:


> VERY nice bike cheers! And thanks for the weight breakdown. Any shifting problems with those recon cassettes? Are they as good as xtr?


It shifts ok. It doesn't like to shift under power or when you get caught off guard and you are in completely the wrong gear and you gotta jump lots of gears.

XTR cassettes (the M960 or M970) shifts 100x better. Even the Sram PG cassettes are better. Once this Ti cassette wears out I probably won't buy another.

If you have to pay full price for it, I would pass and just get a XTR cassette.


----------



## Broccoli (Jun 11, 2008)

Cheers! said:
 

> If you have to pay full price for it, I would pass and just get a XTR cassette.


You are moving in the right direction. 

Sensible seatpost and saddle. Non-exotic wheels. Now get XT cassette, Durin or SID fork.. And shred. But I am repeating my post #7 from back in March.


----------



## pernfilman (May 24, 2007)

"So the bike gained a bit of weight..."

What is the weight at there in the pics with the king wheels and rocket rons ?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

As displayed in picture

Tune wheelset: 1185g (actual)
VeloPlugs: 9.5g
Furious Fred Front: 307g
Furious Fred Rear: 300g

Tune total: 1801.5g

With Chris King wheels
Custom CK Wheelset: 1469g
Stans Yellow Tape: 10g
Rocket Ron 2.1 Front: 445g <--- way way over weight!!!
Rocket Ron 2.1 Rear: 338g <---- way under weight

CK Total: 2262g

Delta = 460.5g or 1.01lbs

So my Lynskey with the CK wheels and Rocket Ron versus the Tune wheelset w/ Furious Freds is about 18lbs versus 17lbs...

I would go and weigh the bike for you, but I have a set of Maxxis Medusa Mud tires on the CK wheels and a pair of Conti RaceKings on teh Tune wheelset and I'm too lazy to go swap out the tires.


----------



## pernfilman (May 24, 2007)

Wow that is some discrepancy with the tires. I am planning on running that tire UST version real soon. Hopefully its underweight than over.

A pound lighter for tires and wheels you can beat the crap out of not bad at all. Still in the 18's


----------



## parkrider (Mar 7, 2008)

Love the bike so much, quite nice to see a Weight Weenie give honest feedback on the components he's trying out as well. For some reason most seem to stick by the fact that their stupidly light, stupidly sketchy components are worth the money, nice to see someone build up a beautiful and light bike and actually race it.

 congrats!


----------



## rob.char (Oct 5, 2008)

parkrider said:


> Love the bike so much, quite nice to see a Weight Weenie give honest feedback on the components he's trying out as well. For some reason most seem to stick by the fact that their stupidly light, stupidly sketchy components are worth the money, nice to see someone build up a beautiful and light bike and actually race it.
> 
> congrats!


I concur! Bike looks fantastic! Hopefully I have the chance to do the same someday.


----------



## pernfilman (May 24, 2007)

rob.char said:


> I concur! Bike looks fantastic! Hopefully I have the chance to do the same someday.


I think it is a great point. As much as I love the idea of a 16 lb or 17 lb hard tail, there truly is no limit financially to what you can get a bikes weight to. However actual functionality is another. I have been working the last few months on getting my Litespeed into the sub 20 area. I am there now however not a single piece was sacrificed in the name of speed or control or safety or comfort on the trail. Many of the incredible bikes here are incredible however real world conditions I have to question.

Cheers! your builds have always been most impressive and inspiring.


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

Key to building a nice bike is to balance everything.

Selection of parts needs to factor in, weight, functionality, cost, and aesthetics. One can easily just surf the interweb and go to all the weight weenie sites and companies and just order up the lightest money can buy and bolt it onto a bike. Balance the bike. Make it look nice while light. You have to ask yourself when you are ordering parts, will this part stiffness/color/weight/style match with another part that needs to compliment it? 

There are so many parts to choose from out there. With the interweb it has helped that you don't need to flip through endless magazines (sometimes in a foreign language) to find out about parts. 

The days of MTB that were my most favorite was the early to mid 90s. Everyone and their mom was offering CNC anodized mountain bike parts. One had to be a keen consumer to pick out ones that would work and ones that would not. Then you had a rainbow of colors to choose from. I was too young back then to afford those parts. If those colors were again offered I would have a field day. 

I spent so many nights (maybe an entire month worth of nights) trying to find purple parts to put this lynskey together. Part of me still wants to. I could not obtain Tune parts in Purple. Even though they existed on German Ebay. I even tried calling up shops in Germany who deals in Tune, but their english was horrible, and I speak zero German. So that avenue came to an end. I can still see this Lynskey decked out in Purple Tune cranks, purple tune hubs, purple tune headset. Purple Tune stem. I even had a line for an old school Synros Titanium seatpost in 31.6 diameter. Super Rare piece. I was going to strip the fork and send it to get powder coated in candy purple. 

But that was going to be sheer lunacy.


----------



## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

Jason is absolutely right...balance is the key to fully enjoying your build. I could have easily built a 17lb Cannondale hardtail...but I would not be able to ride it! Instead, I compromised some weight savings for durability and full rideablilty on my local trails, and couldn't be happier. Jason, my 19lb Cannondale hardtail(here's some purple!) is a *boat anchor* compared to your sweet bike. Great job!


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

mmmMMMMmmm purple goodness!

That is a beautiful cannondale. I always loved cannondales. they are always so different, I remember when I was younger a blue Cannondale, with yellow tires, with Volvo as a sponsor. 

19 lbs is an awesome weight for that bike. I think the headshock limits it a bit for lightness? I'm not that familiar with cannondales to be honest. 

Bottom line is. You build the bike to suit your riding style, your terrain. If you build it with, "I have to achieve this weight of X lbs no mater what." You will fail. You will have built a bike that doesn't ride well.

To be honest, I did not target 17 lbs as the weight of this bike. Nor did I target 16 or 18lbs. I just happened to land at 17 lbs. Mind you if it came out to be 15 lbs. I would have to pinch myself.

If I really wanted to, I could drop another 4000 bucks in parts and get this bike to 15 lbs. All I would need to do is goto AX-lightness, BTP, Tune Schmoke, extralite, etc... and in one night and one credit card I would have the lightest titanium mountain bike ever assembled on the internet. But that is not the point of a mountain bike. A mountain bike is meant to be ridden.


----------



## rob.char (Oct 5, 2008)

These mountain bikes are lighter then my 853 reynolds roadie haha oh joy oh joy


----------



## Cayenne_Pepa (Dec 18, 2007)

Cheers! said:


> mmmMMMMmmm purple goodness!
> 
> That is a beautiful cannondale. I always loved cannondales. they are always so different, I remember when I was younger a blue Cannondale, with yellow tires, with Volvo as a sponsor.
> 
> ...


Actually, the 2.8 pound Headshok is one of the lightest 80mm travel front suspensions around...its the bombproof Mavic SLR wheelset that is weighing me down, at 1585g!


----------



## FoShizzle (Jan 18, 2004)

rob.char said:


> These mountain bikes are lighter then my 853 reynolds roadie haha oh joy oh joy


LOL...i hear you

My brand new Lynskey hardtail built up last week came in at 28.93 lbs, 70% heavier than that of the OP! :thumbsup:   :skep:


----------



## retrokonarider (Dec 27, 2009)

Cheers!

What an awesome bike - A real inspiration. 

I am in the process of buying a M230 however I am undecided on whether to go with the Hand brushed or Satin finish. I saw a Satin finished in my LBS and it look quite marked with finger prints, knocks etc - unlike yours which looks perfect.

What's the Satin like to live with/clean after a muddy ride? Does it mark easy or was the one in my LBS a bad example?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

If I had to do it again I would have chosen the industrial finish. But they didn't offer it when I bought my frame. 

My isn't so marked up. It does have finger print issues. But that is ok. I'm not that anal. I ride my bikes.


----------



## hifiandmtb (Sep 3, 2007)

retrokonarider said:


> What's the Satin like to live with/clean after a muddy ride? Does it mark easy or was the one in my LBS a bad example?


I've got a satin Ridgeline that I'm building up now & the fingerprint marks are pretty annoying. I've tried several types of automotive polish but am having no luck. Surely there's some product out there that can keep the satin Ti finish looking more beautiful?


----------



## Dex11 (May 4, 2005)

WOW, nice bike Cheers!
How about the Tune GumGum, is it easy to use ? How does is hold up ?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

hifiandmtb: This is a mountain bike. It should be treated like a mountain bike. I only wash my bike every 5 to 6 weeks at best. You should just ride your bike and forget about finger prints. If you are so concerned about finger prints, what is going to happen when you crash for the 1st time with the bike and you scratch it? Are you going to have a mental break down on the trail?


Dex11: The Tune Gum Gum works ok. it's a little finiky to setup correctly. Meaning you will be fighting it a bit initially to get the preload on the headset tight. I have found you need to clean the inside of the steerer tube with alcohol to make sure all oils are removed. Then you have to really crank down on the preload bolt to get the expander to snug up the preload.


----------



## hifiandmtb (Sep 3, 2007)

Cheers! said:


> hifiandmtb: This is a mountain bike. It should be treated like a mountain bike. I only wash my bike every 5 to 6 weeks at best. You should just ride your bike and forget about finger prints. If you are so concerned about finger prints, what is going to happen when you crash for the 1st time with the bike and you scratch it? Are you going to have a mental break down on the trail?


Whatever. Thanks for the assistance. I ride my bikes hard & enjoy them for what they are.


----------



## Singlespeed McGee (Jun 14, 2009)

Unless it has already been said, Bikelust might do the trick. Finishline is who makes it , methinks. Hope this helps.


----------



## egebhardt (Nov 16, 2004)

Cheers! said:


> I hope the gf doesn't see this thread...
> 
> Cervelo: 5000
> Kona: 5000
> ...


Yes. You coulda bought the car. I sold my car, so I have none. Just 5 bikes. With the bikes, I don't pay licensing, insurance or oil and fluids of any kind. Cars depreciate faster too. Sorry. A bit off topic.


----------



## Fbomber (Mar 26, 2010)

To the original post:

Wow...


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

I'm surprised there are people who are still following this thread. 

As an update, I'm going to be switching out the fork to a 2011 Fox Fork 100 FIT RLC w/ 9mm dropouts. 

This manitou R7 MRD sucks. The damping adjustment is poor. 

I ordered a Absolute+ damping cartridge via my local bike store here in Toronto to try to give the fork a second chance. Right now I can not figure out how to fix the non stop clicking and I don't get 100mm of travel. Even if I empty all the air out of the champer the fork will not compress to 100 mm full. The distributor in Canada for manitou is Trident sports. According to Manitou USA, trident recieved their order of absolute+ dampers. However trident is not responsive in full filling the order for my local bike store. I actually have tried 3 local bike stores now. I can not buy this damper from Manitou USA directly. I don't understand exactly how manufacturers put up with such poor customer service with their distributors. Do they not want to sell products? 

I ordered this back in Dec 2009. May 2010 and nothing. 

2011 Fox fork it is. Fox for the win!


----------



## Broccoli (Jun 11, 2008)

Cheers! said:


> 2011 Fox fork it is. Fox for the win!


Why not Durin?


----------



## Cheers! (Jun 26, 2006)

Curmy said:


> Why not Durin?


Good question. I've ridden a Durin fork before. Good fork. Good stifness. But I felt that when I tested a 2010 Fox Fork of equivalence it was easier to get the damping I want. It felt stiffer. The fox also seemd to react better.

So the Durin is good. But I feel (my opinion) that the Fox is even better.

I'm sure others will disagree. Every manufacturer has their fan base. In my case, I'm a fan of Fox, Hope, Shimano, Easton, Syntace, Chris King, and Tune.

So with my impression of the 2010 fox fork, the 2011 should be even better.

Fox just as ligth, and a bit cheaper than Durin. I know how to tune the fox forks as well. So that is a big plus as I've been riding them for a while now.


----------



## bholwell (Oct 17, 2007)

I think you'll be happy with the 2011 Fox F100 RLC FIT. I went with the 2010 model for my Lynskey M230, and I'm super happy with it. Compared to the 2010 SID WC, I feel it has more lateral stiffness and tracks better. I get about 90mm of travel out of it at my preferred air pressure.

BTW, my Lynskey is now down to 20.7 lbs., and I plan on dropping a little more soon with a new wheelset.


----------



## csm929 (Aug 24, 2010)

I just ran across this post, beautiful machine and build! 

I agree with you on the 90s 3dv (purple parts), esp because i have a violet pearl 95 cannondale with 3dv ringle bubba hubs (got them nos off a show bike) violet brakes and levers and seatpost. Im waiting for the final piece, a 3dv ringle stem. I also have black ringle skewers and a chrome and black kooka crank (im almost too much purple so i went with the black spyder). 

It was my bike when i was 15 and rode on the regular till 2008 when it retired, so i decided to restore it, 90s style with all the parts i lusted after. You either get purple or you dont, some people lust others laugh, but if you know mountain biking you gotta have some respect for the 90s 3DV haha.


----------

