Mountain Biking - My first hardtail in over 10 years

So I'm building an Identiti Mr Hyde frame up for all mountain riding and jumping.

Head angle is rated at 70 degrees with a recomended fork travel of up to 130mm, Head tube is well gusseted, so I'm rebuilding and throwing on the old Risse trixxxy set up at 6" to slacken out the head angle just a little more, I'll see how that rides before I decide on just how big of new fork for it.

Then from there, 24" Halo Combats with 3" Contra up front and 2.6" Ception in the rear, Dia-Tech Anchor disk brakes (With Galfer lines, pads, and rotors), Gusset Pigmy chromo cranks in 170mm with prosecuter pedals and an MRP system 3 chain guide, S.O.D. Stem, G-Cup Stainless headset, Prison bars, Bastard grips, and a Prayer Stool saddle.

I know it will be pretty heavy for a hardtail, but with a 38t front and 8 speed rear, I'll still be able to make the up hills well enough.
This will be a fun bike and build up in general.

Wow, that bike is going to be a tank. I'm guessing it will easily be 50lbs+.

Is all that really necessary, considering you said your building it up for all mountain riding and jumping. 3" tires, 24" wheels, cromo cranks...You must be Bender!!

I've been accused of being the destroyer of all things great and small. lol
I'm thinking somewhere in the low 40 pound range.
I do free ride more than anything else and do like to go fairly big, although I'm not going "bender big".
I've never been the ultra smooth rider who just finesses everything, I'm more the bigger rider at 225 lbs who likes to jump everything in sight and slam my way down the mountain.
Riding the heavy bike back up is just part of it.

on a light bike you can go fast up and down

Ya Salsa,

I know that's true. I've never been able to not break the light bikes though.
After way too many taco'd wheels etc, I came to the realization some years ago that I needed to just get stronger and pedal heavy bikes. Over the years the bikes just kept getting heavier.

Funny thing is that I'm not at the back of the pack even though I ride heavy stuff.
Don't get me wrong, the hard core XC riders eat my lunch up the bigger hills, but then I look back down the hill and see about 1/2 of what ever group I'm riding with still behind me, so I doubt I'm all that slow either.

It'll be the Hummer (H1 mind you) of trailbikes :D

H1,
Ya that about sums it up.
I can't help it, I just love big bikes. Good thing I'm strong enough to pedal them or I'd not be very mobile on them.

Change #1 to the build up:
I'm throwing on an Identiti chain guide instead of the MRP just for the sake of having one that's different from the others I see out there.

The build up is coming along nicely.
Got the drop outs bolted onto the frame and adjusted properly, the stainless headset pressed on, the fork and wheels on the frame, stem mounted, and the wheels on. The hard part was coming up with 2 - 5mm spacers for the front hub because it is a standard 20mm x 110mm hub going onto a Risse fork that is a 120mm spread.

Tomorrow evening I'm assembling the bottom bracket / crank set and mounting them with the chain guide and putting the derailleur and chain on and probably the bars, brakes, and shifter.

From there the biggest part will be adjusting it all up and then riding crap out of it.

I'm stoked. This is turning out to be a really cool bike.

Don't forget the pictures, and to ride the crap out of it.

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! :D

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! :D


Don't forget the pictures, and to ride the crap out of it.


Hey.
I bet you guys would like some pictures.....
I'll take some here tonight and get them up either tonight or tomorow night.

Hey.
I bet you guys would like some pictures.....
I'll take some here tonight and get them up either tonight or tomorow night.

I want to see this creation where're the pics?

Pictures are too big for the forum thing.
Go here and you will see a pic of the build in progress:
http://www.gravityworxracing.com/frame.html

Now to just get the time to finish building it....

A couple of those team riders look pretty sketchy to me.....

A couple of those team riders look pretty sketchy to me.....
:lol:

what does the frame weigh? At a quick glance the geometry doesn't look too bad for climbing.

what does the frame weigh? At a quick glance the geometry doesn't look too bad for climbing.

I didn't weigh just the frame, but Identiti rates it at 5.56 pounds.
Geometry with 100mm travel fork is supposed to be 70 deg head and 73 seat tube.

I'm a larger rider at 210 lbs. and I've been riding a Specialized Stumpjumper Pro hardtail for years without any problems. I've taken that bike down some of the craziest downhill courses and hit trees at 30+ mph and it keeps on truckin and at the same time been able to fly on the ascent. The notion that light=weak is crap. As a 200+ rider on a 19lb. bike I can personally attest to that. The frame you have isn't that heavy so I don't see why you can build it up with lighter components and still keep it bomb proof.

He's going for more of a 'Pacific Northwest bombproof' build.

He's going for more of a 'Pacific Northwest bombproof' build.

Looks more like the "don't get too close, my bike has its own event horizon" build to me. :D

Ya Doug,
That's pretty accurate. I was thinking Idaho back country bomber, same general idea though.
The back ground in motorsports shows through quite a bit as well.

so I don't see why you can build it up with lighter components and still keep it bomb proof.

I could go lighter, but that wasn't the idea.
The idea was to go basically as bomber as possible.
The bike is getting ridden at quite a few ski areas as well as in the back country.
I like to access the same areas that we hit on the snowmobiles and that does include some hairy drops etc.