Sooooooooooooooooooo... I made a slight alteration to the build spec during the rebuild of the Waltly. You could say it's got a touch of a retro vibe going on...
To be honest - it kind of started out as a joke with myself in my head. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought - It might actually come up alright!
Frame - Waltly Custom Titanium Hardtail Frame "Evo" 3
Front shock/fork - 2020 Fox 36, 160mm travel, 44mm offset, Grip2 damper.
Handlebars - Spank Oozy Vibracore (cut to ~760mm, but +10mm or so in use due to running single-clamp grips)
Stem - Hope AM/Freeride 50mm 31.8 bar clamp.
Headset - Works Components -1°
Grips - ODI Elite Pro
Saddle - Ergon SME3
Seatpost - Vecnum Nivo 212mm, (mechanical mechanism, air sprung)
Brakes - Hope Tech E4 with 203mm rotors & Uberbike Race Matrix pads
Cranks - Shimano XTR M8100 with XTR 32T chainring
Chain - Shimano XT 12sp
Pedals - Chromag Dagga
Rear shifter - Shimano XT SL-M8100 12sp (bar clamp type)
Rear derailleur - Shimano XT RD-M8100 12sp
Cassette - Shimano XTR M9100 12sp
Front hub - Hope Pro-4 Boost 32h
Rear hub - Hope Pro-4 Boost 32h, Microspline freehub driver
Front rim - 29" Nextie Premium Enduro 36mm (29mm internal)
Rear rim - 29" Nextie Premium Enduro 36mm (29mm internal)
Spokes - DT Swiss Comp
Tyres - Onza Pocupines
Tubeless Sealant - Stans Tubeless
Total weight - Unknown, don't care...
Extras - Deanodised fork dials, colour-matched brake lever pivot pins, Hope seat clamp with colour-matched clamp bolt, colour-matched brake-rotor screws (thanks
@Scotty675), Marsh Guard mudguard, and hand moulded Sugru chainstay protection.
May I present to you - my
Waltly; Retro AF...
Honestly - I love how it came out. Yes, the tyres will be "destroyed" the first time I actually ride it, but I'm actually quite interested to see how they go. They feel friggen light, and are a slightly harder 60a durometer so are more "trail" focused, rather than intended for shredding the gnar...
Was a bit of an accidental journey that led me to it. My first MTB when I got back into riding (and started annoying you all on here...), was my Octane One Prone 29er (
here). Decent bike, but brutal frame feel from the very thick alloy tubing. It was pretty though. "Candy" red over bare aluminium was a mesmerising finish, and looked amazing in the sun. In a sign of things to come, I bought some Spank Oozy 345 rims in red. But my matchy-matchy dreams were shattered by the fact the rims were not red at all, but an anemic dark pink. I shortly moved onto dual-suspension bikes and the Prone lay dormant for a while. Eventually, I decided to build it up into a "commuter" (bike path cruiser). I wanted to be rid of the washed out red Spanks, but still add some matchy-matchy, so I ordered a pair of Hope Tech XC wheels with red hubs (also happens to be why my front hub on this is laser-etched "Hope hoops" instead of the usual "Hope"). Due to the harsh-riding frame, I still didn't get much use out of the bike. Along comes Scotty675 selling his ('14ish) Santa Cruz Highball. Black with red anno BB, headset, screws, etc... I had all the bits spare from the Prone to swap over - happy days. Decided a little red wasn't enough, so I bought the red Hope E4's. Nice combos, but after Melbourne mega-COVID lockdown last year, it also sat neglected. I stripped this Waltly to build my Transition Sentinel (
here) frameset into a bike, which meant I needed a build kit. So I had a titanium hardtail frame, and lots of red anno. Sounding a bit 90's already isn't it? And what about the Porcupines? Well, I actually already had them. Pre-COVID I toyed with the idea of building a custom hand-built show-bike, before I conceded I didn't have the space, time or patience (or budget once COVID hit) to actually go through with it. I had by that stage already ordered the tyres from ze Germans though, when I was putting another order in and saw them heavily-discounted on a 24-hour sale at a price that was too cheap to refuse. Once the show-bike idea died on the vine, they just sat unused and without purpose. And then that thought about a very 90's looking bike popped into my head. It
had to be done!
Surprisingly, due to being like a red-anno targeting Bower-bird the last couple of years - I didn't actually have to buy (too) much to complete the build. The only new bits are the stem, seat clamp, one extra (203mm) rotor and the pedals. I was very fortunate I had the Fox 36 spare, along with a spare 160mm airshaft - so I set that up this morning and chucked it all together today.
Still a couple of tiny pieces to change in future. I have a red OneUp steerer nut coming (eventually,
I hope...), some black anodised Ti bolts for the stem, and more black Ti bolts for the brake caliper & adapter mounts - oh, and Uberbike pads without the cooling fins, because those fuckers do rattle.
www.uberbikecomponents.com
