XC Open 1.0 (weenie mode engaged, now sub 9kg)

K

Klips

Likes Dirt
I saw this bike advertised on a certain well known facebook group and wasn't going to buy it. We live in a two bedroom apartment, both of us ride, there was no hook spare on the wall to hang a new bike etc but the missus saw how much I wanted it and told me I'd be in a lot of trouble if I didn't. Three phone calls later it was on its way up to Canberra and I was eager to get my hands on it and a leg over it.

Updates in bold, pictures with new wheels on post 13
Frame - Open 1.0 second generation
Front shock/fork - SID 100mm
Handlebars - Remember when everyone bought Easton Havens because they were $60? Finally found a home for the third pair I bought
Stem, Headset, BB - Rotor
Grips - ESI racer's edge
Saddle - Ergon Pro Arsehatchet
Seatpost - Thomson Masterpiece
Brakes - Magura Six (these things suck) gone, XTRs now with weenie Ashima rotors.
Cranks - Rotor 3D with 110BCD
Chainring - Fetha Customs 34t 110BCD NW ring (I would love to go back to rotor rings but I can't find an ovalised ring in 110BCD below 38t that I can afford, and that's too big a gear for me!)
Pedals - XTR
Drivetrain - X0
Wheelset - DT Swiss Spline 1600 gone, now Tune King/Kong to Stans Crests with CXrays
Tyres - Ardent Race / Ikon, both in 3C EXO gone, now treadlites front and back

Total weight - 8.98kg with bottle cages and garmin mount

In the end the ad was a bit misleading, it said a touch over 9kg and it arrived a touch over 10. With a 1x conversion and some new tyres it's now down a bit, if I wanted to go weight weenie I could chuck on RaRas (save approx 300g), a lighter saddle (maybe 100g) and LB 1500g wheels (save approx 350g) and come in under $3k with a 9kg bike. After that it gets expensive, which I'm avoiding at the moment (WC forks, lightweight stem, nextSL or xx1 cranks etc) but give it time and it'll likely end up somewhere in the 8s.

Anyway, here's the photos you probably came for:
open-1.jpg

open-2.jpg

open-3.jpg
 
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Z

Zaf

Guest
Haha, the Alice Race Rig!?
Those stays look as thin as the spokes! She's a good lookin' steed though.
Ride report soon, that looks like it'd be nice and compliant in the year and not a super ultra harsh ride you usually get out of a carbon XC hardtail.
 
K

Klips

Likes Dirt
This is the Alice-bound bike! Completely forgot the ride report.

I've got two MTBs, this and a Norco Sight 7.1ish carbon which are obviously completely different bikes. Since I got this one about two months ago I've been riding it almost exclusively to get comfortable on it with an aim to racing reasonably competitively (more on that later).

The head angle is quite steep, and this is with an angle set to slacken it off, which is great for ascending in particular. Combine this with the ridiculous stiffness (it's stiffer than my roadie using carpark crank test) and it goes like a weapon up hill - I set out on a point to prove mission up the main blue climb at Stromlo and knocked 2.5 minutes off my best time on a (now) 17 minute climb. Cornering is smooth, I run quite low pressure which probably helps - I'm often about 23f 25r despite weighing 80kg kitted - and the only washouts I've had are related to terrible line choice. The setup is very forward and agressive, which puts me in a position rather like my roadie. I'm still getting used to it on the descents, as the wheel is just so much more tucked underneath you and it's scarier. That said, in the 3 hour I raced at Kowen Forest last week I was still catching people on duallies (down rolling thunder, for Canberra locals) so I think it's just continuing to get better.

With regard to comfort, the 3 hour was the longest hard ride I've done on it and it held up great. I know that the seatstays can fail rather spectacularly, the guy I bought it from told me it was a warranty frame after a large stick got kicked up and snapped a stay so it does require a liiiiiittle bit of caution but so far, so good. Having spent minimal time on other hardtails I can't say that it's noticably better or worse, but it's certainly no worse than I would expect given the stiff-ish fork setup and lack of rear suspension.

In terms of outright performance, it's doing me well so far. I probably would have got 8th at the 3hr if I hadn't had to go buy a bike with a friend (I came in with 3 minutes to go, 2 minutes ahead of 6 others who I'd caught on that lap but didn't have 35 minutes to spare for another lap and they all went on), and I've just been bumped to A grade for dirt crits (although this is Canberra so the standard in B isn't super high). Tomorrow is my first xc race so that'll be another good test, but I think if I don't win then it won't be because the bike isn't up to it!
 
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mitchy_

mitchy_

Llama calmer
the reason you wont find an oval ring in 110BCD below 38t, is because 110BCD is predominately road and CX bikes. not many people would go lower than a 38t for a 1x** CX bike!

is it the 24 or 30mm spindle version? i might be willing to take it off your hands if you want to change to a more standard 104BCD. ;)

an AbsoluteBLACK direct mount oval ring, with an X0 carbon crank would be a nice, light and sexy looking upgrade!

http://absoluteblack.cc/sram-oval.html
 
K

Klips

Likes Dirt
Re the head angle, I don't know haha. It came with the angleset already in it. It's steeper than anything else I've ridden (including an XTC and a Scale) for what that's worth. Stock angle is 72, I think it may be 71.5 now?

Mitchy, sadly I'm aware of this. I was lucky that Fetha had some cheap (for them) 110 NW rings, otherwise I was going to be in a bit of strife trying to find what I was after. If I knew how to tell what spindle size it is then I'd tell you, but I don't. As it is, I'll probably hold fire on upgrading it for now - I have to save as (alluded to above) I'm going to race Easter in the Alice and then adventuring around a bit more through Central Aus. That said, it's a very, very nice looking combo. Maybe once they come out with the 34t I'll bite the bullet. 32 is too small, I've topped this bike out chasing a triathlete on a TT bike at a bit over 60kph down Belconnen Way and not having a 10 at the back makes it challenging (like, 150rpm challenging).
 
k3n!f

k3n!f

leaking out the other end
Stunning bike, those frames look amazing. I'm trying to work out how its 9.8kg, it looks like it should be lighter than my XC hard tail but it's a half kilo heavier?
 
ChopSticks

ChopSticks

Banned
god this thing looks fast!!!

best of luck with the race in Alice! might want to look into some sort of chain retention before then? (clutch mech? guide?)

look forward to seeing this evolve in a 8kg bike!
 
K

Klips

Likes Dirt
k3n!f said:
Stunning bike, those frames look amazing. I'm trying to work out how its 9.8kg, it looks like it should be lighter than my XC hard tail but it's a half kilo heavier?
Click to expand...
Thanks man. I think a lot of it is in the wheels (1900g), fork (haven't weighed) and the tyres which are fucking heavy, like 770g for the front and 700 for the rear which is well above average (per the MTBA thread) and above advertised. I don't know where the rest of the weight is hiding, but that's a good amount on it.

ChopSticks said:
god this thing looks fast!!!

best of luck with the race in Alice! might want to look into some sort of chain retention before then? (clutch mech? guide?)

look forward to seeing this evolve in a 8kg bike!
Click to expand...
Thanks Chops. I've dropped the chain once, but that was taking a particularly bad line through a particularly rough section of single track at Kowen. If you've done Luge at Stromlo, there's an A line at the bottom through a rock garden - I went full belt through there in today's race four times and it was fine so I think it'll be ok. If you don't know it but have ridden it, this guy does it at 4:57 onwards and I took it about this pace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEVzpjDpPmo (also, if you want tips on how to ride Stromlo I don't know who this guy is but he rails shit so check out his stream).
 
ChopSticks

ChopSticks

Banned
Klips said:
Thanks Chops. I've dropped the chain once, but that was taking a particularly bad line through a particularly rough section of single track at Kowen. If you've done Luge at Stromlo, there's an A line at the bottom through a rock garden - I went full belt through there in today's race four times and it was fine so I think it'll be ok. If you don't know it but have ridden it, this guy does it at 4:57 onwards and I took it about this pace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEVzpjDpPmo (also, if you want tips on how to ride Stromlo I don't know who this guy is but he rails shit so check out his stream).
Click to expand...
yehh the guys is def railing luge on that pivot! popping over all the rock features, he's so fast (compared to me) it almost seems like he's spend up the video LOL
Yepp I know that rock garden @4.59! its not particularly long but its def a nice little feature on the relatively smooth trails of stromlo.
Theres also a little gap jump further up luge? (i think its @3.15... but dont recall seeing woodwork?)

what ashima rotors you got coming? been eyeing off their new ones (AiNeon) which claim to be the worlds lightest 2 piece rotors !!
 
K

Klips

Likes Dirt
The one at 3:15 has had woodwork for years. There's another at 3:18 on the left that he doesn't take, but is huge, plus one at 0:48 (left), 1:01 (right) and new stuff like the double which didn't exist when this was filmed but is now at 5:52ish.

Rotors are the Ai2, however I'd not noticed until after I ordered them that my rear rotor is centrelock and the front is 5-bolt so I may have issues.
 
K

Klips

Likes Dirt
Ok, weenie mode had been set to "go" within the boundaries of my limited funds. I finally got rid of the boat anchor splines that came with this and put some Tune King/Kong hubs laced with CXrays to de-stickered Crests (1391g) and stuck maxxis treadlites on the outside (about 600g/end). Chucked her on the scales ready to ride (only missing the garmin, but including the mount) and she's at 8.980kg.

The real challenge for me is to find further 'real' weight savings without spending stupid money. I think going from xt to xx cassette would help, but after that you start getting well past the $10 per gram saved mark and so I may have to call time and just ride it heaps more until something brakes. I have to say though, anyone got an xx world cup fork going cheap?

open-2-2.jpg

open-1-2.jpg
 
K

Klips

Likes Dirt
OCD'R - yep, instant regret
Bell.cameron - it's an Open O1.0, you can either get them through eighty one spices (which is where I got the wheels) or from opencycle.com
 
K

Klips

Likes Dirt
Sure did. Not the tyre choice I'd go with next time. Rapid Ascent took pity on me I think, I ended up winning a 'social media award' for my 'gramming which was a snakeskin racing ralph that will go on the front in the next few days. Your Camber would have been good for the job out there, I was on track to come in about 5 minutes down on you until I copped the double flat mentioned in the blog post.
 
k3n!f

k3n!f

leaking out the other end
What sort of seat post did you snap? Over tight or under strong?

That wheelset is an impressive weight. Keen to hear more about those Tune hubs, particularly durability. I can't figure out how they have managed to get them so light.
 
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