Word. Sorry I misunderstood.

With my EBB frame, tensioning takes about 2 minutes, 7 if you count the time it takes me to dig out my allen key.

No flip flop disc hubs yet, thank God. Why go with a flip flop anyways? With the Dos ENO freewheel, or a cassette hub with two cogs, you can run discs and have a choice of non-shifting gears. That's assuming you even want/need to change gearings mid-ride.

will,
i'm certain the frame is sold, but not sure about the components... i'm pretty sure the fork will be available. i'll ask him what's staying, going, and gone and i'll let you know.

-chris

At least around here and back home I cannot think of a single gear that would work well for both road and trail. Remember, all my statements where made under the assumption he is going to be switching at least twice mid-ride.

2min is alot longer then the 15s it takes with track ends and a qr(we can assume that his allen key is easily accesible on a ride). If he's just changing it at home then I agree it's not a big deal.

How many people really need a rear disk anway especially on a weight weenie bike?

I wasn't exaggerating when I said literally a ****-ton of custom bike makers in that range. Rock Lobster, Vulture, Spectrum, Circle-A, IF... I'm not going to check out all those websites, but you can. What you should do is find one that is LOCAL and talk with them first. It's always better if they can actually see you and how you ride.

If you're flip-flopping with track ends, it doesn't matter what kind of brakes, you will need to readjust brake pads too.

I was under the impression that there was alot more fudge room with rim brakes(I've only ever used disks on someone elses bike.) Maybe a dual chainring and two cogs spaced on a cassette rear are in order. Of course we still don't know if he has to change mid ride anyway.

ok sounds good

The fork that's posted on the Niner is made by Pace.

https://www.pacecycles.com/productlist.asp?catID=2

I know a couple that ride with them. One is on a Niner and the other is on a full custom Moots 29er. The guy on the niner swears by his, the guy on the Moots was just riding it and his bike for the first time last weekend with us. Inital impressions were good. You can read about his Moots here: https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=204319 but you'll need to be a member of MTBr's forums to see the pics. As good as the pics look, it looked even better in person. Super nice guy.

I'm not sure how much cheaper from you're budget you can go and still get sub 20. Most SS I know usually come in around 23-24, some a bit heavier with suspended forks.

One benefit to running a 29er frame is you could potentionally run the same bike for both road and off road with two sets of chainrings, cogs, chains, and tires. All in all that's about 30 minutes of swaping parts and having a beer while working.

A fine way to consume such a beverage regardless of occasion.

agreed!

I'm thinking that the S.I.R. 9 might be the best frame for me and the type of riding that I do. I'm also looking at Walt Works because he is in Boulder, Colorado and my brother lived up there so I might help my bro move down here and have a frame built for me at the same time. Plus Walt makes amazing stuff. -Will

WinterGreen -- I too am in NOLA. These SS would be great around here. I am a newbie on a MB but am riding 10-15 miles most every day. The simplicity of the SS appeals to me. I mostly use two gears anyway. Good luck with the selection. Jethro

I would still like some suggestions for frames if anyone else has some suggestions.

Where do you ride? I used to ride out along the Lakefront but now it is beat to hell and back. -Will

theres also the iro mia, although a bit heavier then these other models at a 4.5lbs, or 22lbs, built up they way they have it,it is also cheaper, allowing you the oppurtunity to spend you money on some exotic and lightweight components.

Maybe a very heavy disc-specific 29er (?) frame is not the best way to go if you want an extremely light MTB... That frame is a pound and a half heavier than a Litech. Add another half pound or so if you go 29", and a still another half for discs.

my mtb is right around 20.25 lbs, and is built up as follows:

frame: 1995ish gary fisher cronus w/ matching rigid fork
headset: chris king pink "pretty and strong"
stem: bontrager race x lite
bars: bontrager race xxx lite flat
brake levers: avid speed dial 7
front brake: avid single digit sl
rear brake: avid single digit 7
bb: truvativ gigapipe sl (this thing weighs a ton)
cranks: bontrager ss
front wheel: bontrager race x lite
rear wheel: white industries eno & bontrager mustang
tires: irc mibro
pedals: eggbeater 2ti

if i switched out to one of those Pace forks or something i could probably drop a pound or so, but those forks are all too long. throws the handling way off.

WinterGreen (Will) -- I ride everywhere between Carrollton and downtown and sometimes in Mid-City on errands and for exercise. I steer clear of Central City after having seen a couple of transactions. I don't ride offroad any appreciable amount and for the most part am pretty slow by most measures. Katrina got me riding . . . one positive outcome. Some bikes have been stolen recently in the GD in case you have not heard. Have a good holiday. Jethro

Does anyone know where to buy Ferrous Engineering frames? I saw one on lightbikes so I might as well see what they sell for. -Will

i was looking at the santa cruz chameleon for a little while. they look awesome in person. one nice feature is they have track dropouts with a derailer hanger for geared or single-speed. not sure how light it is though.

looky here:

https://antbikemike.com/29er.html

i like these too. i've seen a few in person and they're beautiful.
www.soulcraftbikes.com
they're the guys that built salsa bikes before it sold out.

Yeah, I've seen those before the look awsome but I am unsure about the dropouts. IMO it looks like that would be a weak spot in the frame, but I've been wrong before. -Will


I love their bikes, I saw one in person one time and asked the guy where he bought it and he told me all about them. He had one of these:



It's a Major Taylor. Atleast that's what I think he had. -Will

Is that a front drum brake?

yep

How much does the Haro Zero Nine weigh? I saw it yesterday while getting the fixed serviced, and loved the construction. Might have one on order soon, as I get a chance to ride it.

Can someone post the www address to the Niner website please? Thanks. Nice looking bike.