Marin Team CXR 29er carbon HT - first impressions

After racing the Spring Challenge on a borrowed bike, I had two weeks to figure something out for Sage Brush. Warranty replacement for the Motobecane was going to take a while, so I decided to get a new race bike. The Marin Team CXR is a carbon 29er hardtail. The frame is tube to tube construction, where carbon tubes are bonded together to make up the frame. Cool features include a tapered head tube and bent chain/seat stays with the rear caliper located inside the bend. The front end and BB areas are huge (= stiff!). It comes with Black Flag wheels and Fox RL fork with 9mm QR. I swapped out the wheels for my Stans crest wheels, and installed my old Reba with 1-1/8 steerer. Basically, I didn't see the point of a new fork with 9mm QR setup, so I planned to sell the OEM fork and upgrade to a thru axle fork and wheel eventually.

Ride impressions  Using my old wheelset and fork made for a direct comparison with the Motobecane Ti frame. The Marin climbs like a goat. It's stiffer than my old Motobecane Ti 29er, which is evident in climbing, tracking through turns, and pedaling out of the saddle. At the same time, there's a subtle smoothness to the ride. It's clearly a hardtail, but an element of mellow takes the harsh edge off the trail - even in comparison to my old Ti frame. It handles tight switchbacks nimbly, unlike some 29ers (like my FS RIP9) that navigate switchbacks like an 18 wheeler. It picks up speed super fast on the downhills. The stiffer front end definitely shows up the flexiness in my old Reba and front wheel. Need more ride time to get familiar and dial everything in, but it's good so far.

the final piece

When I first got the Motobecane hardtail, I sold the OEM wheels (I also swapped out the bars, stem, and seatpost). In their place, I used my Stan's 355 Race front wheel, which I had been using with the RIP only on race days. I did not have a ready rear wheel, so instead I shared my Stans Flow / Hadley wheel between the RIP and the Moto. Swapping wheels is a bit of hassle, and the Flow / Hadley combo is a little porky for a XC hardtail-cum-race bike.

The solution? A Stan's Crest rim on a Chris King hub w/ DT Swiss spokes. Mike built it with his usual care and the wheel (w/o tire or cassette) weighed in at 890 grams. I put a Small Block 8 on (the Flow had a Kenda Nevegal). The total weight difference (tire and wheel) was 400g or nearly a pound! As a result, the bike feels more balanced front to back, and more zippy. The rear is smooth like butter.

Mike starts building in the evening

And works into the night

Pretty light for a 29er wheel. This does not include the cassette.

Is this normal?

A while back, John was kind enough to give a pair of 29er Kenda Nevegals that he couldn't use. I put them on the RIP9 and have been very happy. They hook up well and I don't have to worry about them even in nasty terrain. But they seem to wear quickly, and after my last ride I noticed a couple side knobs torn off. I guess that means I'm cornering hard? P.S. I have the Dual Tread Compound (DTC) version.

Notice that the side knobs have ripped away while the siping is still intact.

Suddenly singlespeeding

Actually, the single speed conversion took a while, it was losing the derailleur that happened suddenly. In engineering, failure testing is the process of finding the limit of performance by going past it. The same principle applies for bike skills, like cornering. Which is why I low-sided after losing the rear tire in a loose, sandy right turn. The sand was a curse and blessing, though, because it made for a soft landing. My rear derailleur managed to find a cobble, though, and sheared off at the hanger. The derailleur hanger is like a fuse; it's cheap and designed to break, sacrificing itself to save the more expensive derailleur and frame. Thank you, derailleur hanger. So, now what? I was <5min ride from the trailhead. Except that I rode to the trailhead, another 25min via 52 from Mast Blvd. Diana had ridden to work, so she wasn't coming to pick me up. There was only one option: single speed conversion, a classic trailside repair right up there with using a dollar bill as a tire boot. I was riding the hardtail, so it actually worked pretty well. I ended up in 2x5, which was good for riding up a long hill on the way home.

Not good

Better

RIP9 all-mountain makeover

Getting a race bike freed the RIP9 from being my do-it-all bike, so I gave it an all-mountain makeover. (And by 'I', I mean Mike, who actually did the work - thanks Mike!). Not that I'm very aggressive or planning to do drops or jumps, but the watchword is differentiation. Why have two bikes if they aren't all that different?

So far, the changes are on the front end:
Front fork: new 120mm Reba XX w/ 20mm thru axle and tapered steerer in place of old 100mm Reba Team w/ 9mm QR.
Front wheel: new Stan's Flow rim w/ Hope Pro 2 hub in place of old Salsa Delgados rim w/ XT hub
Grips: Odi lockon grips in place of my worn down rubber ones
Tires: new Kenda Nevegals on front and rear (thanks, John!)

Possible future changes:
Rear thru axle (the RIP has replaceable rear dropouts)
Gravity dropper seatpost (so I can experience the joys of seatpost failure like everyone else who has one?)

Before

Now things are getting serious... Let's do this!

The essential ingredient

I dub thee, "White Chocolate"

race bike: arrival and setup

The RIP9 has been a good bike for exploring world of xc and enduro races. But it's a lot of bike for most of those courses, and I got interested in having a light, hardtail, 29er. After considering a few options, I settled on the Motobecane Team Fly29er: <24 lbs, titanium frame, Reba Race fork (100mm), and quality components (full specs). It's available as direct order only, which is a little nerve-wracking but an incredible deal.

I swapped a few things:

• Thompson seatpost for OEM Ritchey post (too short)
• 90mm FSA stem for OEM 115mm Ritchey stem
• QR seatpost clamp for stock non-QR clamp
• FSA SL-K bar (660mm wide carbon bar w/ slight rise) for OEM 570mm wide Al Ritchey bar - ridiculously narrow, I think my road bars are wider.
• Stans wheelset (front: 355 Race w/ AC hub, rear: Flow w/ Hadley hub) from OEM Vuelta wheelset

The bike arrived just after we left for a long weekend out of town (a neighbor accepted delivery). Oh, the waiting.... The bike was well packed and arrived in good shape. The welds were neat.

Though well packed and fully assembled, it needed some work. The cranks, BB, and steerer had not been greased. Mike tuned it up:

As equipped (for now):

MBA article on suspension designs

On more than one occasion I've gotten stuck trying to understand my bike's rear suspension. So I really liked the June 2010 issue of Mountain Bike Action, which has a pair of articles describing the challenges in rear suspension design and analyzing the most commonly used designs. I'm not usually a fan of MBA (aka Wankers Weekly, as Josh calls it)... too many press releases thinly disguised as 'reviews'. But this is an in-depth and informative article that helps explain current rear suspension designs.

I can't find the article on their website, so here's an excerpt. I can send you the whole article if you email me. The full article discusses 4-bar links, single pivot, and designs used by Trek, Specialized, Santa Cruz, Felt, GT, Haro, Ellsworth. The color figures are much better than b&w, too.

New RIP9 frame

My warranty replacement RIP9 came in. Thanks to Chris at Adams Ave for working with Niner and building up the bike. The '09 model features major changes from the old version, including tapered head tube, hydroformed tubes, and replaceable rear dropouts (allowing rear thru-axle w/ adaptor dropouts)

RIP9 frame failure

My Niner RIP9 frame broke while climbing Cowles Mountain. Complete break of the two tubes running between the seat and chain stays. The frame was just under 2 yrs old - good timing, it's warranted for 2 yrs. Niner offered to replace the rear triangle for free or upgrade to the current model frame for $250. That's a great deal (the new frame has lots of improvements) so I'm taking it.

 

Niner