I need to turn off the scale backlight
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| 327g Intense stock 760mm Al bar |
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| 186g Niner RDO 760mm Carbon bar |
The Niner bar is a little flatter, so if it feels yucky might put on the SC Nukeproof bars. The height of the Meta bars are a good 100mm higher than the Intense...
Okay got a new bike, a complete that I have been watching for a while hoping a good deal would get better. An Intense951 XC - its like a Sniper TR but with cheaper parts. Available "on sale" as Open Box or Refurbished. I watched a long time waiting for a Refurb at $3200 but when no XLs showed and all the L's began to disappear, I grabbed an OpenBox for $3500.
The bike showed up a week earlier than expected, just after Boggs 2022, another story. I snuck it home and into the shed, unpacked and built it up. I finally took a ride on it this morning with the resurrection of the WMD, it pedaled well.
Loving the buzz of the quick ride and new bike legs, I rode it to work to show it to the office MTB crew.
I convinced myself I really wanted the frame and would swap parts to sell a member of the fleet, then it seemed I would keep it whole. I am ending up somewhere in between.
First I swapped out the saddle - the one sent along seemed very short and just a hair to wide. Volt 142 was fine. The standover is super low, but the fully extended 170mm dropper was a hair long riding flats with Vans. Shimano XT lipless and Sidis with the Volt a little forward are all working great.
NOW the wheels. The bike shipped with tubes, then valves and fluid were delivered with a nice toolkit by Intense. HS at the office got the torque wrench and shock pump.
Boost front and back, and 12 speed with a steel NX cassette, the rear wheel had to weigh a ton. Really? Then lets move the Rekon/Icon combo from the Meta HT "race bike"'s big Light Bicycle hoops to the Santa Creme's 30mm Light Bicycle boosted hubset.
The only instantly compatible swap is from the Intense to the Santa Cruz. But I wanted the Meta HT's tires on the Santa Cruz hoops. Got that? And the disks - too big on the Santa Cruz @ 203 and 180. Put on the old/hanging 180/160s centerlocs.
And lets check the weights, focusing on rear wheel:
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| 2675 (thought it was 2800+)g: intense hub 28h, wtb i27 rim, Kenda 2.0 w Tube, 160mm rotor, 12sp NX steel cassette |
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| 2530g: 11sp cassette, XT hub, 160mm bolt rotor, LB carbon 38mm wide, Maxxis Icon |
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| 2549g: 30mm LB, 180mm Magura Rotor, 12sp slx cassette n hub, Maxxis Icon |
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| this should read 2450g: 30mm LB, 160mm Shimano Rotor, 12sp six cassette n hub, Maxxis Icon |
So it works. I think? None of that EV torque and zoom from the Tesla or even the Nissan Leaf, or before that as from the Tronbike Ninja 1000 Conversion. Just a little pull, constantly, that needs goading to get going. Sort of defines "assist", but its a honestly a little lame.
The Resurrection Process
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| The Starting Point, $300 from Craigslist - I recognized this as a pricey sexy ebike of the 2010's |
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| I hoped it was a fail in the Arduino controller, but this was sealed and proprietary... |
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| Digging Out the Original Battery from the Downtube... |
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| Removal of the Torque Sensing Niner Accentric Bottom Bracket was Required... |
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| More Square Tapered Bottom Bracket Shots... |
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| The Battery - Big Long Rod of 18650s - Turns Out it Was Dead... |
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| and if it was not dead, I killed it with curiosity (thats the BMS torn in half)... |
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| Stripping the Aluminum Reveals 18650s In A Complicated Pattern I did not want to try fixing and repacking into that downtube... |
SO I bought a Stylish, External Battery, and You Can Too:
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| The End Point - External Battery Hotwired Into Internal Wiring. Frame Drilled and Tapped to Hold the Cage... |
Strava Output:
For the 7.5 mile ride, averaged 8 mph around town. No sweating in jeans and a sweatshirt, but its freezing out today (California 45 degree sort of "freezing"). Trading back and forth with Zeb, his Meta Hardtail 29er provided a better ride with just barely more effort. Maybe the whole electric thing is to make up for heavy cheap bikes?
If you have Strava, you can explore further below:
Title pretty much says it, fork's first run today. Big surprise - no lockout! Also, the recommended 100 psi for my weight is way too high, cut it down to 25. Also found the rebound was way too turtle, cranked it to 10 clicks to middle position and it worked much better.
The fork comes with 180mm spacing by default, so for the 203 rotor I was stuck as of Friday for a ride today. Mikes Bikes mechanic suggested I try a 160-180 adapter and add spacers on one side. It worked, just barely, but there is weight reduction/simplicity over the funky offset as in the 160-203 adapter - I did run the Fox for a week with the 203's. I have an adapter on order from Amazon but might not use it.
ALSO rather than messing with a Starnut, I also ordered a OneUp tool and threadless installer - worked great. Goal is to run smaller fanny pack/no pack. Carlos has a tube strap for me. Good too since I tore the waist strap off the backpack, making it slammy when taking jumps. Bike ridden at Tamarancho. No lockout on the fork is concerning me a little, but its got 3 controls plus sag pressure I am learning to use.
Now what to do with the spare 150mm Fox? going to check my notes but it measures over 150mm travel like the new fork - I assumed it was 140mm but thats the other Fox. The non-boost forks both need work, maybe sell the working 150 and focus on the 140s/find a shop?
The RM29C19 Rim Indeed has a +-5 degree angle for each spoke, and I think I have the direction right.
See the "direction" arrow below near the first spoke of the wheel near the valve hole.
Needed a place for photos on this one so I thoughts I would post here.
Prepping the bike to ride last night late, I found a spoke hole staring back at me and noticed something rattling around in the rim.
Removed the tire, then rotor, then the cassette, cleaned up with Stans, and the let out the metal - not only the nipple but the chunk of the threads.
Found the spare spokes, used as new nipple, marked the spoke with tape, trued (though it was not out much) and tensioned the new spoke, duct taped the rim, then tire, some air, cassette and rotor back on.
Got it all back together, pumped it to 50lbs, went to bed woke up and rode WMD with the gang.
I scrubbed some air out along the way, everything working fine. We decided on the final leg and I did hear some rattling, I assumed it was my noisy hub or derailleur (each with their own issues and recent maintenance).
Back home, bike on the stand and I spin the wheel, here noise inside the rim and find another hole staring back at me. It was not the taped spoke, so its a new thing. Took some pictures, and here we are.
Data on what I ordered July 19, 2020:
I reached out to WheelBuilder tech support to see if there is anything I should do before tearing off the tire and duct tape again.
