So I put on my Racing Ralphs and did 6 hours on it yesterday. No sore ass Lots of singletrack, lots of fireroads, lots of rocky sections and roots. I even did a couple of 2-foot drops (I know! ). The bike feels pretty great to say the least. Climbs well, brakes well, feels precise (enough) on fast descents and twisty sections. Have been not precise enough in assembling the crank, so had to re-tighten a few times during the ride. No biggie. Put on some loctite today.

Updates: Recieved my rigid carbon fork. 540g uncut in matte 3k (they sent wrong fork... I wanted UD), will need to cut it, so hopefully around 510-520 when cut to length. Also, the brakes worked so well I thought I'd might give Scrub a try. So I'm doing that, a couple of white workhorses (slightly used) on the way.

Rigid with maxxlites and the new rotors should be around 6.25kg including 1 Bontrager RXL bottle cage.

I'm in touch with a couple of people regarding a new road bike project. I'm dreaming of something Italian...

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WTB: MTB hubs, 29'er carbon rims

My 7.3kg/6.4 kg 29'er project buildthread!
My Bianchi Oltre XR

2nd ride today. I was doing around 7-800w standing up straight on a very steep section and the chain just popped off the smallest ring up front. I hit the stem with my stem (you know...), and after some swearing and shouting - scaring the mooses, I put the chain back on and tried again. 1 turn of the crank and the chain dropped again. I got off the bike and gave the cranks a spin, I bent the chainring around 5-8mm.

There was no roots or rocks on the trail, the rings have no marks from being hit and I know for sure I haven't knocked them into anything. They just bent under pressure.

The rings was Hellore 26T alu, and I don't want these again. Very soft and fragile. I accept a small weight penalty to get better performance, does anybody have any suggestions for a replacement?

26 or 27T chainring
Black or titanium color
64 BCD

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WTB: MTB hubs, 29'er carbon rims

My 7.3kg/6.4 kg 29'er project buildthread!
My Bianchi Oltre XR

sorry to hear about that, hope you are OK

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2013 rocky mountain vertex 29er
­Twitter
www.cyclingtrainingnuts.blogspot.ca

Similar thing happened to me. Bent the chainring and the chain dropped between the crankset demaging one of the granny bolts and got stuck as well.

Installed 27t FRM ring and also have Specialties TA as backup. These look solid and quality.

Chris.

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MSC Koncept Carbon Di2 - 6955g
Leichtkraft Team Carbon - 6868g.

Devinci: Thanks, yes I'm ok

krzysiekmz: Thank you for the suggestion, will take a look at the FRM. Specialites TA is probably a safe shot?

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WTB: MTB hubs, 29'er carbon rims

My 7.3kg/6.4 kg 29'er project buildthread!
My Bianchi Oltre XR

I have a 42 T specialitie TA 120/80 on my XX crank and its holding great and shifts good.

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2013 rocky mountain vertex 29er
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www.cyclingtrainingnuts.blogspot.ca

So Martin how is it going? I saw you are selling the cranks and read a comment about parting your bike and buying a stock bike...?

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2013 rocky mountain vertex 29er
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Yeah, I couldn't get the bb to work with this frame, so I've done some changes.

Changed to a smaller frame. I did a 3hr race on the bike and actually came to the conclusion that I want it 1 size smaller. 1 Mail and 2 days later it was at the lbs. 10 points to liggero

Put on Sram XX cranks: 156q, 170mm, 42-28

Shimano XTR pedals. The eggbeaters are better om mud and in-out clicks, but the wider and larger platform of the XTR are both more confidenceinspiring and short bursts are more secure and stable than EB. EB are lighter, but XTR makes me faster. And after all, it is about winning races.

So thats -572g-168g+741g+308g = 310g gain - 7g lighter frame. Might do titanium spindle for the xtrs to reduce the damage..

I've played with the thought of getting tubulars, but I don't know which... I'm also thinking about biolog an Archtek/cx-ray/am classic wheelset. Hmm...

Edit: devincii, did the TA rings save weight over XX rings?

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WTB: MTB hubs, 29'er carbon rims

My 7.3kg/6.4 kg 29'er project buildthread!
My Bianchi Oltre XR

Martin.F: Hope you are OK , why didn´t I know about the failure of chainring?
Send me a mail and hopefully we can solve it.

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Experimental Prototype

Martin

It was lighter but not much. IIRC it saved 5-9g over the XX ring but the XX ring had quite some use on it.

Fyi I have odered a mtb quarq. Will get it soon and Hopefully i can post a few comments on it

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2013 rocky mountain vertex 29er
­Twitter
www.cyclingtrainingnuts.blogspot.ca

Hellore: I bought it from r2-bike, and they refunded my money no questions asked

Devinci: 5-9 grams is not that much. What type of Quarq? I'm very pleased with my road version!

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WTB: MTB hubs, 29'er carbon rims

My 7.3kg/6.4 kg 29'er project buildthread!
My Bianchi Oltre XR

Martin.F: good it solved for you.
I´v sold around 1500 to 2000 rings until now, I think I know about 1-3% of them has failed due to design flaws or other causes.
So the track record is quite good.

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Experimental Prototype

Yup, it solved perfectly, no complaints That is a good track record indeed. Especially when they are in so light.

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WTB: MTB hubs, 29'er carbon rims

My 7.3kg/6.4 kg 29'er project buildthread!
My Bianchi Oltre XR

Martin

I ordered the sram mtb version 28/42 gxp

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2013 rocky mountain vertex 29er
­Twitter
www.cyclingtrainingnuts.blogspot.ca

Ooh, that is a very nice choise!

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WTB: MTB hubs, 29'er carbon rims

My 7.3kg/6.4 kg 29'er project buildthread!
My Bianchi Oltre XR