wkkie
It's Not Easy Being Green
2020 Zerode 'po
Frame: 2020 Zerode Katipo, 505 (XL), sharknado grey, 140/150/160mm travel
Shock: Marzocchi CR coil, 230x65, 550lb spring / Fox Factory Float X2, 230x60.
Headset: Cane Creek 40
Fork: Marzocchi Z1 Coil, 170mm, 44mm offset / Suntour Durolux RC2, 150mm.
Stem: Ragley Stubbing, 40mm, 31.8mm
Bars: Chromag Fubars OSX, 25mm, 800mm, 31.8, 8deg back 5deg up
Grips: Odi Rogue
Bottom Bracket / gearing: Pinion C1.12
Cranks: Pinion forged, 170mm
Pedals: Chromag Scarab
Chain guide: Pinion bash guard
Chainring: Pinion Gates Carbon drive CDX, 39t
Chain: Gates Carbon Belt
Cassette: Pinion Gates Carbon drive CDX, 39t
Shifter: Pinion DS2
Brakes: Shimano XT M-8640, XT levers & Zee callipers
Rotors: Formula Cura, 203mm
Brake pads: Uberbike Race Matrix finned
Rims: Zerode Carbon, 30mm internal, 32H
Front Hub: Factor 15mm, boost
Front Tyre: Maxxis 29in HR2 2.5, 3C TR EXO with Huck Norris DH insert
Rear Hub: Factor single speed, 142mm. 120 POE
Rear Tyre: Maxxis 29in DHR2 2.4, TR EXO with custom 20mm x 50mm EVA foam insert.
Seat Post: PNW Rainer V3, 200mm, 31.6mm
Seat post lever: OneUp components, Ispec II mount
Seat: Dartmoor Trail V2
Seat Post Clamp: Sixpack Skywalker, 34.9mm
Frame protection / decals: Become Unique
A lot of firsts with this one. First carbon, first 29er, first gearbox, first belt drive, first grip shift.
I've been eyeing off a gearbox bike for a few years now. I like the idea of the simplicity, lack of maintenance, low centre of gravity and the extra weight doesn't really bother me. The entire spec of this bike is centred around me being lazy with the maintenance, set and forget (hopefully).
After reading review after review and comments on them, I had the opportunity to pull the pin and place the order. I ended up going for the frame, headset, gearbox and carbon wheels from Zerode. The shipping was very quick (6 days) and luckily it didn’t get caught up at customs which was a bonus!
I still haven't quite finished the build on this one, but it's mostly done, just cosmetic stuff left. The decals, because more green… Also the brake and gear cables will be changed to the Uberbike smoke braid. Ideally they would have been installed at the beginning of the build, but with the short time frame to get it up and running for the weekend, the black went on. I’ll also install some clear shrink wrap over the gear cables when they’re changed out to keep them together and a bit neater.
The build was fairly straight forward and came together quickly. It needed to as well, I had about a day and a half to get it ready before probably the biggest ride weekend of the year for me.
The wheels and gearbox both came with the cogs attached and the gearbox came with the inner cables attached as well, which just let the attachment to the shifter, which was pretty straight forward.
Initially it took me a little to get used to the new balance of the longer bike and 29 wheels. I was losing the front end around the moderate paced flatter corners, but after the first day at Falls I was finding a better position. I may look at a 50mm stem and / or dropping the front to 160mm down the track.
The climbing is much better than I thought it would be, tighter switchbacks aren’t any problems and same with steep climbs. The lockout on the Z1 is pretty handy, but I’ll only be using it on the fire road climbs. The rear also tracks pretty well up techy climbs, the coil definitely helps there.
Positives – It’s quiet, really quiet. Initially the only sound that came out of it was the cable rattle up front, but a few clips later and that was all sorted.
Gear changing, either standing still, in the middle of a corner, or in the air. Flick of the wrist and it’s in gear ready to go straight away.
Roll over - Definitely better roll over than the 27.5.
Air time – It’s really stable in the air, I think partly with the centred weight between the feet and just the extra weight in general.
Coil – The coil front and rear is so smooth. I haven’t run a front coil for quite a few years and it’s awesome. I’m only really using the majority of the suspension up front on the really big hits, so down the track I might look at going with a lighter front spring. The rear is just so smooth and soaks up the big hits really well. Nice and controlled and I think I got the rate just right with this. Initially I ordered a 500lb spring, but luckily they didn’t have any in stock because I think it would have been to light.
Negatives – Gearbox cover poor attachment. The gearbox cover is only clipped in place with some flimsy plastic clips at the top and bottom. I finished a run of Flowtown and looked down to see the cover missing, exposing part of the gear changing mechanism to the elements. I saw that the grease was still very clean, so I figured that it must have come off fairly recently and luckily for me I was able to back track and found it right at the exit of the trail, and unlike buttered toast, it didn’t land sticky side down! A high tech fix of gaffer tape top and bottom meant that it hasn’t come off since, but I’ll need to find a more elegant solution to that one.
Rear brake mount – The clearance on the rear brake mount is way to close for floating rotors. I usually use the Uberbike Radiator rotors and the carrier rubbed on the brake mount of the frame. Not quite enough to stop the rotation, but enough to cause issues. I know it’s also an issue with Hope floating rotors. I’ve changed to a standard 1 piece rotor and there’s enough clearance there.
Rear tyre clearance - I'm running a 2.5 DHF out the back and the clearance is a little tighter than I would ideally like. It's picked up some rocks and marked the rear stays and under heavy acceleration a few times there's been some tyre rub. I have a spare 2.4 HR2 that I'll probably put on soon.
Overall I’m really happy with it so far, and just need the time to get some more k’s on it.
Frame: 2020 Zerode Katipo, 505 (XL), sharknado grey, 140/150/160mm travel
Shock: Marzocchi CR coil, 230x65, 550lb spring / Fox Factory Float X2, 230x60.
Headset: Cane Creek 40
Fork: Marzocchi Z1 Coil, 170mm, 44mm offset / Suntour Durolux RC2, 150mm.
Stem: Ragley Stubbing, 40mm, 31.8mm
Bars: Chromag Fubars OSX, 25mm, 800mm, 31.8, 8deg back 5deg up
Grips: Odi Rogue
Bottom Bracket / gearing: Pinion C1.12
Cranks: Pinion forged, 170mm
Pedals: Chromag Scarab
Chain guide: Pinion bash guard
Chainring: Pinion Gates Carbon drive CDX, 39t
Chain: Gates Carbon Belt
Cassette: Pinion Gates Carbon drive CDX, 39t
Shifter: Pinion DS2
Brakes: Shimano XT M-8640, XT levers & Zee callipers
Rotors: Formula Cura, 203mm
Brake pads: Uberbike Race Matrix finned
Rims: Zerode Carbon, 30mm internal, 32H
Front Hub: Factor 15mm, boost
Front Tyre: Maxxis 29in HR2 2.5, 3C TR EXO with Huck Norris DH insert
Rear Hub: Factor single speed, 142mm. 120 POE
Rear Tyre: Maxxis 29in DHR2 2.4, TR EXO with custom 20mm x 50mm EVA foam insert.
Seat Post: PNW Rainer V3, 200mm, 31.6mm
Seat post lever: OneUp components, Ispec II mount
Seat: Dartmoor Trail V2
Seat Post Clamp: Sixpack Skywalker, 34.9mm
Frame protection / decals: Become Unique
A lot of firsts with this one. First carbon, first 29er, first gearbox, first belt drive, first grip shift.
I've been eyeing off a gearbox bike for a few years now. I like the idea of the simplicity, lack of maintenance, low centre of gravity and the extra weight doesn't really bother me. The entire spec of this bike is centred around me being lazy with the maintenance, set and forget (hopefully).
After reading review after review and comments on them, I had the opportunity to pull the pin and place the order. I ended up going for the frame, headset, gearbox and carbon wheels from Zerode. The shipping was very quick (6 days) and luckily it didn’t get caught up at customs which was a bonus!
I still haven't quite finished the build on this one, but it's mostly done, just cosmetic stuff left. The decals, because more green… Also the brake and gear cables will be changed to the Uberbike smoke braid. Ideally they would have been installed at the beginning of the build, but with the short time frame to get it up and running for the weekend, the black went on. I’ll also install some clear shrink wrap over the gear cables when they’re changed out to keep them together and a bit neater.
The build was fairly straight forward and came together quickly. It needed to as well, I had about a day and a half to get it ready before probably the biggest ride weekend of the year for me.
The wheels and gearbox both came with the cogs attached and the gearbox came with the inner cables attached as well, which just let the attachment to the shifter, which was pretty straight forward.
Initially it took me a little to get used to the new balance of the longer bike and 29 wheels. I was losing the front end around the moderate paced flatter corners, but after the first day at Falls I was finding a better position. I may look at a 50mm stem and / or dropping the front to 160mm down the track.
The climbing is much better than I thought it would be, tighter switchbacks aren’t any problems and same with steep climbs. The lockout on the Z1 is pretty handy, but I’ll only be using it on the fire road climbs. The rear also tracks pretty well up techy climbs, the coil definitely helps there.
Positives – It’s quiet, really quiet. Initially the only sound that came out of it was the cable rattle up front, but a few clips later and that was all sorted.
Gear changing, either standing still, in the middle of a corner, or in the air. Flick of the wrist and it’s in gear ready to go straight away.
Roll over - Definitely better roll over than the 27.5.
Air time – It’s really stable in the air, I think partly with the centred weight between the feet and just the extra weight in general.
Coil – The coil front and rear is so smooth. I haven’t run a front coil for quite a few years and it’s awesome. I’m only really using the majority of the suspension up front on the really big hits, so down the track I might look at going with a lighter front spring. The rear is just so smooth and soaks up the big hits really well. Nice and controlled and I think I got the rate just right with this. Initially I ordered a 500lb spring, but luckily they didn’t have any in stock because I think it would have been to light.
Negatives – Gearbox cover poor attachment. The gearbox cover is only clipped in place with some flimsy plastic clips at the top and bottom. I finished a run of Flowtown and looked down to see the cover missing, exposing part of the gear changing mechanism to the elements. I saw that the grease was still very clean, so I figured that it must have come off fairly recently and luckily for me I was able to back track and found it right at the exit of the trail, and unlike buttered toast, it didn’t land sticky side down! A high tech fix of gaffer tape top and bottom meant that it hasn’t come off since, but I’ll need to find a more elegant solution to that one.
Rear brake mount – The clearance on the rear brake mount is way to close for floating rotors. I usually use the Uberbike Radiator rotors and the carrier rubbed on the brake mount of the frame. Not quite enough to stop the rotation, but enough to cause issues. I know it’s also an issue with Hope floating rotors. I’ve changed to a standard 1 piece rotor and there’s enough clearance there.
Rear tyre clearance - I'm running a 2.5 DHF out the back and the clearance is a little tighter than I would ideally like. It's picked up some rocks and marked the rear stays and under heavy acceleration a few times there's been some tyre rub. I have a spare 2.4 HR2 that I'll probably put on soon.
Overall I’m really happy with it so far, and just need the time to get some more k’s on it.
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It's a Katipo off with 
