Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Mooto X YBB weight, potential build weight

I’ve been asked how a (front) rigid 29er Mooto X YBB comes out to 22lbs as equipped, (without the saddlebag of course just for clarity) and what room for improvement there is… it seems that this is mostly from people considering the Mooto X YBB. I’m not sure if there’s an RSL version of it, but that’d be fantastic.
  • Frame: Note this has S&S couplers, and therefore straight gauge front tubes, and the slider dropouts. For simplicity, I’m going to say that adds a pound. It’s probably a bit over that. My tube as chainstay protector isn’t there to hold the fully housed rear cable in place (this frame has no cable stops on that side as it was originally a Rohloff bike), so take off say 150g for a tube.
  • Saddle/post: ~400g as pictured with a Specialized Toupe at 180g. If you’re ultra keen, you could trim that back a bit with a carbon post and lighter saddle. I don’t choose to, part for looks, part for comfort.
  • Stem: I don’t have the stat, but it’s above average weight relative to aluminum or carbon ones. I like the uniform ti look.
  • Bar/grips/brakes: you can go lighter than XTR brakes but why... the power and quality are great, bar is a Bontrager carbon bar of reasonable weight, and I did Ergon grips which you could trim back according to preference.
  • Fork: it’s light (565g). I have a Reba too. Lefty would be the lightweight way of doing suspension which would probably be my next pick.
  • BB/cranks/pedals: if you’re doing 1x whatever, one of the spiderless bling rings on a SRAM carbon crankset or a Cannondale one is going to probably make nearly a half pound disappear off this version.  I've got old chromoly eggbeaters on there which there's functionally lighter options on.  The chain guide isn't necessary so far, those Shadow derailleurs eliminate chain slap.  I'm not a huge SRAM fan, but the 1x11 would seem to be an entirely functional concept with this.
  • Wheels and tires: no budget constraints would have an Enve XC wheelset, and right now one of the tires is a “snakeskin” version of the Racing Ralph, one is the non-Snakeskin tubeless ready (70g diffference). 
A careful, luxe budget for a new build should have one of these at at or under 20lbs w/o front suspension, probably possible to do at or under 21 with a Lefty. IMHO, that’d be a beautiful, long lasting ride… just not worth the incremental cost for me over having this setup mostly out of parts I had.

Now here's the general truism that's dawned on me last few days.  The grand theoretical and pointless question - if I could have only one mountain bike... this would be it.  I have a stiffer one and a plusher one, but this can do everything.  It does so timelessly, without pivot lubing or squeaks, with enough comfort, that this is it.  De-minimus maintenance, clean look, two bottle cages instead of some mega-complex suspension, suspension that works year round (typical shocks aren't really good to put miles on in particularly cold weather as seals don't seal as well, then they lose air, bottom out and break).

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