Dengfu M06

[Klaster_1]

So here's my open mold XC FS bike, it's not fresh out of the oven by any means, you can read the build thread from the beginning on Chinertown. I wanted to post the bike here after reaching 9kg or lower and today the mark has been reached.

The basic idea was to upgrade to 29" wheels and full suspension, reusing what I can from my previous 26" hardtail. Then I got a rise, and another job, and the goal post was moved first to sub-10kg and then to sub-9kg. I also wanted to keep the Manitou suspension out of the sentimental value and the premise that I should be able to service it myself, compared to more complicated and lighter alternatives. Suspension service and wheel building are the only duties that I always tried to avoid.

If you want to know how Berd spokes ride compared to Pillar: pretty much the same, the last time I rode Pillar was last year, so it's kinda hard to remember what it felt like.

The whole build cost me a tad under 5k USD and several hundred bucks for shipping over two years.

Dengfu M06

Dengfu M06

Dengfu M06 weight

M06 spreadsheet 23.12.2018

[Klaster_1]

After two years of waiting I received my single Xshifter, the main unit is 26g overweight, despite "The manufactured products will not be heavier. XSHIFTER 80g" in FAQ. If estimates are correct, the bike at least won't gain any weight over Shimano SL-M980 and full-length heavy housing. The installation will have to wait until Android app's available, but I only have a couple of months without snow and ice left at best.

[Klaster_1]

Disassembled the Pod today, this thing is ripe for customization. It should be relatively easy to design and 3D print a custom case, or make a custom buttons block, graft the button contacts and put the main PCB somewhere else, like a steerer tube or under stem. For now, I'll try nylon bolts, but a custom case would be a fun winter project.

[Klaster_1]

New stuff, didn't put anything on yet, but along with a cut steerer should be about 25g worth of weight drop. Other parts are still en route.

[Klaster_1]

Last two evenings were spent by tuning my RD-M9000.

What was done/change:
1. P-axle changed to a Ti one from Titanium Planet: very straightforward to replace.
2. Carbonice pulleys: spacers need to be sanded down, just like with RD-R9100.
3. J&L aluminium pulley bolts: same as with RD-R9100, these don't sit entirely flush, also I managed to strip one.
4. DIY nylon low limit screw: not worth it, I might put stock aluminium bolt back. High limit screw is even more not worth your time.
5. A tiny bit of inner cage plate material removed, just to see if I want to proceed further: I might remove some more later, but that will require a replacement for stripped pulley bolt.

With other upgrades it should be trivial to achieve sub-200g:
1. Fibre Lyte inner cage plate.
2. Ti cage tension spring (not available yet).

And special mentions:
1. Remove material from disassembled derailleur, like what KaiGreene did.
2. Get rid of clutch lever (it's partially steel).
3. Figure out where to get Ti versions of some other bolts for extra 1.5g (see next post).

[Klaster_1]

Here are the parts that did not fit into 10 images limit of the previous post.

[Klaster_1]

I spent the weekend putting new parts on the bike:
1. J&L e-thru 142x12 axle (-12g vs Mtzoom).
2. Risk hollow Ti post mount bolts (-4.7g vs generic Ti bolts).
3. Cut 1cm of steerer, removed two spacers (-12.65g).
4. Xshifter, Jagwire XEX-SL and shorter shifting cable (-16.2g vs full mechanical). Weight-wise, it was a letdown, the initial Kickstarter claimed that ELink would weight 80g (vs 106g after production); tuned XTR shifter, XEX-SL and Powercordz would be a tiny bit lighter, even more so if I didn't have to run continuous housing.

Final (spreadsheet) weight: 8915g. As per previous posts, I plan to tune RD a bit more (CF cage plate and Ti spring), maybe a custom Xshifter Pod mount too. Time to double down on marginal savings without spending a fortune, any ideas? I already know about Shiftup Manitou thru-axle, Titaniumplant carbon fiber bolt washers and Extralite cassette lockring. Lighter saddle like Gelu would be good too, but I'd rather spend that kind of money on lighter fork, which I don't plan to.

XShifter pros:
• Functions exactly as advertised.
• Pod (buttons on bar) is easy to hack and modify.
• Shifting through whole cassette is faster, just mash the button, no need to push the trigger all the way in, then retract your finger, then repeat several times like with mechanical setup.
• Cleaner frontend.
• No need to remove grip to mount the pod, unlike XTR.

XShifter cons:
• The tuning/setup app is incomplete, there's no Android version yet.
• Doesn't fit between R1r and grip, I had to cut 1cm off the grip to squeeze the pod between. The setup works, but I like it less than SL-M980. I plan to work on this more.
• It goes into sleep mode after several minutes, you have to press a shift button to wake up. It was very annoying to miss the first shift after taking a rest or riding in the same gear for a while.
• I misshifted several times, the buttons are way more sensitive than trigger shifter (obviously). Take this into account if you want to rest thumb on pod buttons.
• Due to suboptimal placement of hole, shifting cable was difficult to feed through ELink. I heard fishing it out is even harder, will see for myself when Powercordz arrive (kudos to @poynt for selling me some).
• Looks massive on seatstay.

Take into account that most of the issues are mostly expected for early adopters of the first product a new company just launched. Most of those can be addressed by either software patches, getting used to it and additions to product lineup (more pods). Overall, I'm satisfied with XShifter and won't put mechanical back unless something breaks. I'm also looking forward to put one on my road bike, but that would involve moderate amount of hardware modifications to frame and shifters.

I also love how I'm the only one who posts in my threads, lol.

[LeDuke]

Why did you go with the Radium over the McLeod?

I’ve been contemplating getting a McLeod with remote. Seems to get great reviews.


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[Klaster_1]

Why did you go with the Radium over the McLeod?

I've been asking myself the same question for awhile after reading through the epic McLeod thread on MTBR. Maybe I should get one for next year, but there are almost no direct comparisons between the two, which makes the decision harder. Sure, IPA and more tuning options sound convincing, but will I notice the difference? Assuming you wanted to put McLeod on your ASR-C, what do you except to get? Our frames are fairly similar.

[Klaster_1]

Here's the bottle cage mount bracket for Xshifter. You lose ability one bottle cage capability, of course. It should be possible to design a frame-specific mount, which sandwiches between bottle cage and frame, has C-like shape, with one of sides being on the bottom of downtube where you'd put Xshifter. Not much better than a pair of zip-ties, IMHO.

[Klaster_1]

Gonna wait until I get Ti springs (if at all) before putting the cage on.

[FLtrooper]

Looks sweet

[Klaster_1]

For a while I was contemplating whether I should replace the fork axle or put that money away towards a lighter fork, but in the end decided to stick with Manitou. The Shift Up axle assembly is 30g lighter than Hexlock SL, but not without it's price: the drive-side axle that slides into dropout is thinner, which in theory should affect stiffness; it also does not slot into hexagonal dropout slots. The Hexlock SL design looks better thought out overall. New total spreadsheet weight: 8885g.

[Klaster_1]

KA Engineering chainring, 10g less than Garbaruk Melon. And slightly more intense red.

[DOUG]

Great stuff @Klaster_1!

Reminds me I should get around to putting up a build thread for the Scalpel but I'm concerned I'll go all WW on it. My wallet cannot handle anymore outgoing $$!

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