My newest 855

[mootsguy]

Hello again, after a longish absence I have returned with a freshly rebuilt 855 that includes Risse Genesis front and rear and a modified Rapid Descents Long Travel Kit.

Here is a look at the whole bike:

Some interesting components were used in the rebuild such as a Campy Chorus front derailleur, xtr rear, Paul Thumbies and some other neat little things. More pictures to follow.

[orange]

nice

[Spokes]

 :oHow cool does that look! Full marks!!

Chris

[mootsguy]

Here is a couple of looks at the upgrades:

Campy Chorus Front D:

Mods to the Rapid Descents LTK:

I also will be replacing the missing sticker after a fresh red paint job. I rode it today and it is everything I thought it should be. I will be working on the long travel kit to see if I can drop some weight from it. Right now the bike weighs 29.8 pounds and is not using the lightest stuff. I believe with some work 25 pounds is not unreachable.

[shovelon]

 
Fantastic indeed!!!!

Totally awesome in fact.  Wish I had one now.

What did you mod on the LTK?

Terry

[mootsguy]

What did you mod on the LTK?

Terry

Thanks, it still has some stickers and paint work to be done.

I machined all of the components of the kit (the grooves in both sides) and in so doing was able to remove 495 grams from the weight of the kit.

[fyrstormer]

Looks cool, but short of switching to air/air shocks and replacing all of the steel parts with titanium where strength is necessary and aluminum where it isn't, I don't see how you could hit 25lbs on that frame.

[DugB]

I'm really interested in hearing how the LTK works with the Risse. I thought you needed like 500 - 600lbs on the rear when running the LTK to prevent excessive sag, but haven't ever been able to get my rear Risse above 280lbs. For my LTK setup I bought a 600lb spring, but haven't had a chance to give it a try yet.

There are a ton of opportunities to lose weight on these bikes...I seriously believe the 956LE is pushing 20 lbs at this point, if not lighter. And that's with the Magura HS33s on there, which definitely add weight compared to v-brakes. Some of my mods are:

- TI BB (White Industries: 150g)
- Cook Brothers RSR crank and Race Face Racerings (all alloy rings)...sadly the Coda Magic crank & BB setup I bought was only marginally lighter :-/
- all TI hardware (I know the issue with the rear pivot bolt...except for the lower rear fork bolts, because switching them caused some play...no idea why)
- Ti rear cassette (9-sp)
- alloy chainring bolts
- KMC X9SL hollow-pin chain (250g)
- XTR M95X series shifters and derailleurs (including carbon cage plate) (was running a Proshift rear for a while)
- lightweight saddle (not bad comfort wise)
- Hutchinson Python tites (folding - 550g each) with lightweight tubes
- not the lightest wheelset...those Nuke Proof-like Rival carbon hubs on eBay with new Mavic X719 rims and Wheelsmith DB spokes
- Scott LFX carbon bar (120g)
- no bar ends
- Ritchey foam grips
- Risses front and rear
- Thomson Elite post
- Kooka stem
- carbon front legs and rear swingarm

Waiting to go on: a brand new set of Altek levers for the Magura HS33 setup

[shovelon]

I'm really interested in hearing how the LTK works with the Risse. I thought you needed like 500 - 600lbs on the rear when running the LTK to prevent excessive sag, but haven't ever been able to get my rear Risse above 280lbs. For my LTK setup I bought a 600lb spring, but haven't had a chance to give it a try yet.

There are a ton of opportunities to lose weight on these bikes...I seriously believe the 956LE is pushing 20 lbs at this point, if not lighter. And that's with the Magura HS33s on there, which definitely add weight compared to v-brakes. Some of my mods are:


Waiting to go on: a brand new set of Altek levers for the Magura HS33 setup

So you are the guy that snagged those levers. I love Altek parts.

Try Bolt-on skewers, they are only 66 grams.
Terry

[mootsguy]

Looks cool, but short of switching to air/air shocks and replacing all of the steel parts with titanium where strength is necessary and aluminum where it isn't, I don't see how you could hit 25lbs on that frame.

The first things I will do to it are replace the wheelset with lighter stuff, replace the wire bead tires with tubeless and continue working on making the LTK lighter where possible. After that I will begin looking at replacing some of the individual components, just don't try and take my Paul Thimbies away though...

[mootsguy]

I'm really interested in hearing how the LTK works with the Risse. I thought you needed like 500 - 600lbs on the rear when running the LTK to prevent excessive sag, but haven't ever been able to get my rear Risse above 280lbs. For my LTK setup I bought a 600lb spring, but haven't had a chance to give it a try yet.

I contacted Risse about using their shock with the LTK and they set them up for me and assured me that there would be no real problems. They did increasing the damping in the rear to account for the increase leverage provided by the LTK.

Going out this afternoon for the first real test of the bike, I'll let you know how it works.

[DugB]

Nice that Risse gave you the green light...come to think of it, maybe the issue is more with my pump than the shock.

Terry: yes, I snagged a set of Altek's, but it was the first set to show up, not the used set that appeared a few days later. They're really nice, but I'm struggling with the red clamp. I may send it away to be re-anodized clear/silver to better match the color scheme. That said, the yellow of the Magura levers goes nicely with the carbon leg tops so I don't know what I'll do. Maybe I should ride more and think about the way the bike looks less :-) Yes, already have Ti bolt-on skewers (ControlTech race skewers).

The machined out centers in the LTK looks awesome...matches the similar treatment of the fork's top link :-) Nice work!

- Doug :-)

[fyrstormer]

There are a ton of opportunities to lose weight on these bikes...I seriously believe the 956LE is pushing 20 lbs at this point, if not lighter. And that's with the Magura HS33s on there, which definitely add weight compared to v-brakes.

Well, that may be so, but the other side of the coin is that adding ultra-light parts to compensate for a relatively heavy frame sacrifices a lot of durability -- too much, some would say. After all the stuff I've done to my bike, I'd be willing to bet it actually weighs a little more than it did when I first got it.

Some may have noticed in my intro thread that I mentioned in-passing a collision with a moving car. I was riding behind a Pontiac Firebird on my trusty Pro-Flex back in 2000, shortly after arriving at college, and the Firebird suddenly swung left into a roadside parking space. My cyclometer said I was doing roughly 25mph at the time. I grabbed big fistfuls of both brakes, but I was so close and moving so fast that I still hit the front left fender hard enough for my front tire to put a 6-inch dent in the fender (removing some paint in the process) and launch me and the bike completely over the hood of the car. I landed face-first, naturally, and when I looked up I saw the bike cartwheeling through the air a couple of times before crashing to the ground.

The initial impact stretched the rear-facing portion of the lower headset race, twisted the Girvin Vector fork, and spalled the bearings in the front hub. The landing bent the rear wheel and spalled the bearings in the rear hub. One of my roommates was an EMT and hauled my ass to the ER because he was convinced I had a concussion -- something about one of my pupils being fully-dilated and unresponsive to light. (To date, the only ill effects I've suffered are a loose right knee that starts aching if I don't ride often enough, and some scars on my hands.) But all in all, the bike was in good-enough condition that I was able to get it back in working order using a $50 Topeak multi-tool. If I'd had superlight cranks, seatpost, and handlebar, a single-crown air fork, superlight wheels, etc. etc., I probably would've been rolled away from that accident with a pair of broken knees and who knows what else, because the bike would've collapsed on impact instead of holding together. Because my bike had strong heavy parts on it, I walked away, dabbing my face with a Kleenex that the driver so graciously provided me with before he walked inside with his girlfriend.

That little incident convinced my dad that I was not completely insane for spending a whole $537 on that bike. He understood then why it was worth the money.

Pro-Flex frames are heavy and outdated. Still good, solid bikes, but heavy and outdated nonetheless. No sense trying to make-believe they aren't.

- - -

The Long Travel Kit looks cool, btw. I'd be interested to see an animation of how all the levers and pivots work.

[DugB]

Well, glad to hear that you're OK!

The funny thing about these frames is that I think they're more relevant now than they have been maybe over the past 8 years because rear shock technology has come so far. Fox's innovations with reducing pedal bob and such make single pivot bikes more feasible now...I've seen some PF rigs with different forks that look like real contenders.

Re: bike fitment, it sounds like the only thing that impacted while you were still on the bike was the fork, and strong they are. Once you were in the air, though, none of the other stuff would have mattered re: injuries. Glad the bike didn't land on you, though!

Let us know how that ride goes, esp. re: whether you're able to have 10-20% sag on the rear with the air shock, and what the behavior is like on bumps. It might be enough to get me to pull the LTK off the wall and give it a try. :-)

- Doug :-)

[fyrstormer]

My point regarding the other parts is that the cranks, seatpost, handlebars, or front wheel could've each caved-in under the amount of force it took to send me and the bike flying into the air high enough for me to completely avoid touching the hood and for the bike to land a good 15 feet further down the road. The wheel and fork may have absorbed the force of impact, but the rest of the bike (and the contact points I was attached to) had to be strong enough to catapult me into the air with no warning. Carrying enough extra weight to get that kind of strength and durability is well worth the effort, especially when I think about where a busted seatpost could've ended up. That goes double for a bike that looks like it'll be seeing a fair amount of downhill action.

Are those LTKs still for sale? I doubt I'd ever get one, but it would be nice to think I could if I wanted to.