Chiner 29'er Commute/MTB

[Isildur]

Heya All,
Finished this about a month ago now, but haven't had any spare time to post it up Was looking into options for a new commuter recently, and came across the Chinese 29er craze, so figured I'd give it a go - especially as I wanted to build it on the cheap as much as possible.

The only brand new things were the frame, fork, wheelset, tyres and seatpost(s) - everything else came across from my old XTC commuter and the spares collection laying around.

Started with a Thomson Masterpiece on there and that was great when the bike was on the street. Ended up getting a great deal on the Funn post, and figured heck, why not?!? It's now on there as I like this thing on groomed trails (OMV) as well as the road. It certainly is an absolute weapon on the trail!

I've posted the weights for the parts I was able to weigh myself

Enjoy!

Frame: XMI Play IP-057, 17.5”, 142x12 (1281g, inc internal cable templates, 74g Axle)
Fork: XMI Play FK-052, 486 A2C, 15TA (694g Fork, 82g Axle)
Handlebars: X-Lite 710mm Flat Bar
Stem: Raceface Turbine 60mm (118g)
Headset: FSA
Grips: ESI Chunky, Black
Saddle: Fizik GobiXM
Seatpost: Thomson Masterpiece (188g) / Funn Dropper (656g)
Seat Clamp: Thomson 34.9 (29g)
Front brake: Avid XX, 180mm Rotor (Rotor 147g)
Rear brake: Avid xx, 160mm Rotor (Rotor 120g)
Cranks: Raceface EvolveXC + Middleburn Rings (46, 34, 26)
BB: Shimano XTR 68/73mm
Chain: Shimano DuraAce 9spd
Pedals: Shimano XTR-Trail
Front derailleur: Shimano XT
Rear derailleur: Shimano XT
Shifters: Shimano XT 9sp
Cassette: Shimano XT 9sp 11-32
Wheelset: Shimano MT-66 (882g F, 1116g R – 1998g total)
Tyres: Schwalbe Thunder Burt 2.1, Raceguard Evo (460g ea, 920g for both)
Tubes: None! Spex Sealeant instead (80ml per tyre)
Total weight: 8.91Kg (Thomson) / 9.38kg (Funn Dropper)

Pics - Of Course!!

 

[mr636]

Sick build haha. Not sure i would take it off road, but looks like a rad commuter.
What is the frame and fork worth?

 

[Isildur]

Actually goes really well off-road, at least on groomed trails like OMV and such

Frame was worth $400 USD, Fork was $200 USD, $15 for the headset and $15 for each thru-axle. All up the build cost me $1300 in new parts

 

[Cúl-Báire]

Looks sweet; how do you find the Thunder Berts?

 

[Isildur]

Thunder Burts are going really well so far. Fast rolling but with semi-decent side knobs to give some good traction. Roll fairly fast on the tarmac too

Sealing them up was a mission though. I purchased the "TLR Raceguard" versions as the TLR Snake Skin were out of stock at the time. They came in approx 100g lighter per tyre than the quoted SS version, and were supposedly Tubeless Ready. I'm not sure that Schwalbe and I have the same concept of that term They pretty much leaked like a sieve. To the point where sealant was coming through the tread! Expected Sidewall leaking, but not tread!

Took about 3 weeks of riding and shaking to finally seal properly. Every couple of days a the sealant would push through another hole and the tyre would go down overnight. Been 2 weeks now and many rides and they've kept the air, so I think I'm in the clear.

Would definitely not want to brush a rock with those sidewalls though!

 

[mr636]

Wow, that is really cheap! How does it ride

 

[Ivan]

Where did you order the frame from? I might have to get one arty:

 

[mitchy_]

nice! should be able to push 1x10 with it that light, and consequently it will be lighter again then too.

 

[Isildur]

Wow, that is really cheap! How does it ride

Yep, that was my main aim with this bike, to rebuild my commuter with as little outlay as possible It rides incredibly well. Last time I rode a rigid was 16 - 17 years ago in high school and they've certainly come a long way On the tarmac, it's very direct, very light and rolls very well. Could do with Slicks to be honest, but as it's tubeless I wanted something that could hit the dirt too - changing tubeless every few weeks is not something I would look forward to

Where did you order the frame from? I might have to get one arty:

I picked it up from XMI Play, Peter was very helpful and was always very quick with email replies. There are a couple of vendors though that offer the same frames and there are a couple of other frames about. I went for the slacker option as I knew it would hit dirt every now and then and that I was also likely to go rigid, so slacker was better for me. Not winning any World Cups any time soon, so didn't want or need a super steep XC Race Machine

Hit up the MTBR "Chinese Carbon 29er" thread for more info. If you start at about the last 20 pages, you should be good!

nice! should be able to push 1x10 with it that light, and consequently it will be lighter again then too.

And if you want lighter, they've now produced a version using T800 modulus CF (I think mine is with T700) that comes in around 800g -900g, super light but perhaps not as durable and I wanted this frame to last as long as possible

 

[Isildur]

Thunder Burts are going really well so far. Fast rolling but with semi-decent side knobs to give some good traction. Roll fairly fast on the tarmac too

Sealing them up was a mission though. I purchased the "TLR Raceguard" versions as the TLR Snake Skin were out of stock at the time. They came in approx 100g lighter per tyre than the quoted SS version, and were supposedly Tubeless Ready. I'm not sure that Schwalbe and I have the same concept of that term They pretty much leaked like a sieve. To the point where sealant was coming through the tread! Expected Sidewall leaking, but not tread!

Took about 3 weeks of riding and shaking to finally seal properly. Every couple of days a the sealant would push through another hole and the tyre would go down overnight. Been 2 weeks now and many rides and they've kept the air, so I think I'm in the clear.

Would definitely not want to brush a rock with those sidewalls though!

So, as an update to this post, I've had to change the rear tyre out to a Snakeskin version. This wasn't any fault of the tyre itself mind, but just the crappy Spex sealant that I had in there. The Spex separated and was not able to seal a pin hole puncture I got last Friday, but the inside of the tyre was a mess as there was a brown liquid plus a mess of super sticky residue that even made the tyre stick to itself!

Now, that gave me the chance to purchase a SnakeSkin TLR version of the tyre.

Wow! Compared to the "Raceguard" version, it was night and day. Tyre beads seated straight away with some soapy water, and then I deflated and added sealant through the valve. The Raceguard literally pissed sealant through the sidewalls, tread and everywhere else, but the SS version has done a little on some small spots on the bead, the nothing on the sidewall.

So, for anyone interested in the Thunder Burts and Tubeless, don't bother with anything but the Snake Skin version!

 

[ClintC]

So, for anyone interested in the Thunder Burts and Tubeless, don't bother with anything but the Snake Skin version!

I already suspected this but good to know as I have the SS version sitting next to me waiting to go on my china carbon 29er once my wheels arrive.

With your FSA headset how many .25mm spacers did you need to install?

Good built mate, hope you are enjoying it.

 

[Isildur]

Hi mate,
Well, up until a few days ago I didn't have any spacers in the headset. Worked OK for a while, but then started to bind. I then found out that my headset had been shipped without!

The MTBR thread came up with the requirement for 2x spacers in the headset, so the vendor is sending me out a bunch of spacers.. I've actually gone with a CC 40 Series though, so I'll only install the FSA to do the testing once I receive it, then the CC 40 will go back in!

 

[BM Epic]

Looking good there Gab, how is everything mate?

 

[Isildur]

Looking good there Gab, how is everything mate?

Haha, cheers mate! Really well thanks Just moved house again, getting plenty of riding in and work is good - can't complain really!

How's things with you up there in the hills?

 

[dare007]

Looking to start a build similar to this, any update on how this bike is going? Does the rigid fork hold up OK?

 

[Isildur]

Heya Dare,
This bike is holding up beautifully! It's been almost 11 full months since I built it and I've not got a single complaint as of yet Stiff, light, and handling the daily commute with ease. I should probably say though that my daily commute these days is less than 4km, so not particularly long, but still great fun.

Took it out to OMV the other day and was still impressed by it's ride. The short chainstays and light weight make it a joy to flick around, almost more flickable than my 5.7 Carbon. And especially on the new back section of OMV which is a hard pack, berm filled wondrous bit of trail, it just railed! On the rough chundery stuff (i.e. roughly rock armoured stuff) not so fun, but then it is rigid!

All in all, I expect to get a long service life from this bike with it's main duty as a commuter. If it does go, $400 for the frame is pretty easy to swallow!

 

[dare007]

Sweet thanks, might start planning a similar build for the days I ride up to the trails via the road. I can always swap out the rigid fork later on if I want I guess. Your bike looks awesome.

There is pretty limited info on the xmiplay site, do you know what the difference is between the 057 and the 256 frames? What was your thinking for getting the 057?

 

[Isildur]

Sweet thanks, might start planning a similar build for the days I ride up to the trails via the road. I can always swap out the rigid fork later on if I want I guess. Your bike looks awesome.

There is pretty limited info on the xmiplay site, do you know what the difference is between the 057 and the 256 frames? What was your thinking for getting the 057?

Heya Mate,
Thought I had replied to this, but obviously not! Dunno if you're still looking at frames, but if you are then:

From my knowledge, the 256 is the SL version of the frame. Comes in closer to 1kg than the 1.3kg of mine. When I made my purchase, the SL version wasn't around.

I went with the 057 for a few reasons, the primary of which was the geometry of the frame, being a bit longer and slacker (for any particular size) compared to others in the mix. I wasn't looking to build a full on XC rig, but something more comfortable that would respond well to a shorter, wider cockpit setup, especially considering the other bikes in my stable (see sig).

If the 256 had been around when I was purchasing, I probably would have gone with that, purely for the weight savings. No point having a rigid commuter and having extra weight when there are options around it!

That said, I've actually now got a SID on there, as it's getting more trail time that I expected when I built it. The SID really mutes the ride a bit, in a good way. When coming off riding a 6" rig to this, I was often forgetting about the fact that it didn't have suspension, until I hit the first bit of rough trail where I got punished! The SID adds some weight, but the tradeoff is well worth it.

 

[Isildur]

Update:

Well, been thinking of a CX Bike recently, and some Sales this week got me thinking even more! Alas, my size was out of stock in store and at the distro, so this happened:

Put the rigid back on (have been running a SID XX for a while), and some Hutchinson Sector 28 Tubeless slicks on, as well as the Thomson back in place of the dropper. It's now at 8.5kg

Haven't ridden it yet, waiting for the tubeless to settle and make sure it's all sealed, but looking forward to it's first ride tomorrow!

 

[rtd]

Excellent build. I love my Carbonzone 29er, they're very good value and have good geo etc. I'm also impressed with the beating mine has taken. I originally intended for mine to be a commuter only but it's turned out to be a bit of an XC kind of rig. Mine is rigid currently and I'm thinking about going to a set of forks. Wouldn't want sell the SIDS cheap, would you ?