Dale wanted a new Titanium bike built for riding our local trails around Auburn and Tahoe with new school XC geometry. Slacker head tube angle and a longer front center but short reach for a more upright position. Finding that balance for each rider is a puzzle and each bike is different because every person is different. We used Paragon Slider dropouts for a range of chainstay lengths – from 420mm all the way forward to 440mm back. This allows for a variety of tire and wheel sizes, 29er if the added BB height doesn’t bother him, and up to a 3″ tire on these Ibis S35 carbon rims. The half-yoke makes this possible, as well as up to a 34t oval ring (seen here is a 32t Absolute Black ring).
He wanted Shimano XT for the most part but splurged for an XTR cassette and shifter. Thomson Ti riser bars, Syntace Mega-force 40mm stem (one of the only and lightest stubby stems that has a +/-6 deg rise). The Fox 34 Stepcast 120mm fork is light and all he desired in terms of travel. I like this option for XC riding because of it’s weight but also adustability with the Fit 4 damper with lockout. The Transfer 150mm dropper is slammed to match his saddle height so to maximize both dropper travel, standover, and front triangle space for two bottles in and the option for one underneath. The build was to be light so zip-tie guides and external cable routing was chosen. The Fox Transfer dropper posts are great in this way with their collar mechanism that is so subtle and also simple to remove the post when needed. As seen here the bike with bottle cages and pedals is 25.3 pounds.
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