(ORBO) Massif Build

[blown240]

I saw that there was a Off Road Build Off so I had this thread moves here!

I mountain bike, its what I do. My boy has been riding his Specialized Hotrock off road a bit, but as a single speed, he struggles. And he has been bummed a couple times when I do sand or snow rides, and he can't come because he doesn't have a bike that will ride in those conditions.

So I put my boy on the Massif after about a year of him only wanting to ride his Specialized Hot Rock. I asked him to be honest and tell my why he didn't like his fat bike. He says the Specialized feels faster and more stable. Clearly the weight of the Massif is the issue. I asked him which he would prefer if they both rode the same and he said he likes the look of the Massif and likes that I usually ride a fat bike when we ride together.

So i need to get the Massif to weigh what his hot rock weighs, and make it a legit off road bike... I love a challenge!

I already have taken about a half pound off the Massif with a its current mods. Now I need to take another 12.59 pounds off of it!!!

Here is how I plan to do it:

Specialized tires 3.5 lbs off
Tubeless about 1-2 pounds off
Drill the wheels and remove paint from rims, hopefully 1.5 pounds
relace the wheels to 24 spoke - a bit of weight....
Seatpost, maybe half pound?
Crankset - about a pound

Thats about 7-8 pounds right there, theoretically.... And other than the $80 for new tires, $50 for a crank, and some tire sealant, its almost free. I also have 2 girls that are younger than him, so they will get this bike once he grows out of it, granted Ill have to paint it....

I started taking it apart 2 nights ago. I weighed all the parts as they came off.

I added his tires to the growing pile of fat bike related wheels and tires

Depending on how light I can get the bike, there is a chance that I will widen this 24" shock. Its about 5 pounds though, so it probably wont end up on the final build until he gets to where he needs it.

 

[dezzie]

Put standard forks on, save a few pounds right there, you dont need suspension forks on a fat bike unless your doing gnarly terrain and competitions on high end bikes.

 

[blown240]

Ya thats the plan.

 

[blown240]

I got a bit done last night.

I haven't really been riding my full suspension beast, so I stole the hubs out of it. The front is an alloy fat bike hub, and the rear is a widened Deore hub. They are lighter than the stock by a good bit, and allow me to ditch the freewheel in favor of a cassette

Top is stock hubs, bottom is new.

Speaking if Casettes. I pieced this 7 speed 11-42 together. Granted, the 11 is a big step from the next cog, but maybe ill get a 13t first posisition to replace it with. Its going to be much better climbing gear that the stock 13-34 freewheel, and its lighter.

I center drilled where the rim cutouts will be, Im just going with 1-1/2" holes.

And digging thru my parts, I ran across this aluminum 3 speed bar that is the perfect width and only 255g. I am debating between this bar and a regular straight MTB bar. I think the 3 speed bar will be more stable for him, and its only 39g heavier than the straight bar i was going to use.

Here is where I stand with weight loss:

Stock weight of whole bike - 40.51 pounds

Remove kickstand -280g
remove reflectors -120.4g
3 speed bar -163.2g
new stem -47g
front hub -113.1g
rear hub -36g
casette -95.1g
trigger shifter +51.2g
foam grips -39.1g

total savings so far 842.7g or 1.85 pounds
The new tires will be here monday, and that should save several pounds, and new cranks will be here today.

 

[blown240]

I just got done stripping the paint off of the outside of 1 rim. It was 55g. That doesn't sound like much, but inner and outer of both rims will be around 200g of weight, and thats nearly a half pound of just paint!

Plus the silver looks better than the yellow.

 

[blown240]

I got as much paint as is reasonable off of both rims. They each lost 85g. Not quite as much as I thought, but still a decent amount.

Total weight loss so far 2.23 pounds!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Great work so far, welcome to the ORBO.

Luke.

 

[metalchewy]

Cool build. Looks like a good start. [emoji106] [emoji605]

That was some thick or heavy paint... were they powder coated??

Building... riding...

 

[OddJob]

More fatter more better! Maybe this build could also be ......
aka Biggest Loser. Welcome to the build off!

 

[blown240]

Thanks for the positive replies! The rims may have been power coated, the paint was thick.


I'm stoked to be part of this build off.

 

[Fv2]

Only about 10.5 lbs. left to lose, should be interesting to see how you do it.

 

[blown240]

I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it as light as his HotRock at 27.4 pounds, but I'm going to give it my best stot. There is a lot of weight to loose in the tires....

 

[GuitarlCarl]

I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it as light as his HotRock at 27.4 pounds, but I'm going to give it my best stot. There is a lot of weight to loose in the tires....

I'm watching too...
I pick mine up and it feels so light, but I haven't put the crankset in yet...
Can't wait to see the mockup.

Carl.

 

[OddJob]

The key to bike weight is the wheels. If you can get the weight off the rims, spokes, hubs, go tubeless, and tires, you reduce the rotating weight (mass) which makes the bike quicker to accelerate, brake, turn, etc. So anything you can do to reduce that will increase the ride quality for your son! Unfortunately, it can cost a lot of money to lose grams, much less pounds. A really light weight fat bike tire can run $100 a piece. I took almost 6 lbs off my original tire and wheel set using a cheap hub and good DT spokes on my fat bike a couple years ago. But it was very costly, even at bike shop employee prices....

 

[blown240]

Yup I agree! I took 14 pounds off my mongoose beast and That included making it a 9 speed with front and rear discs brakes.

I have tires coming for this bike that should take about 4 pounds off

 

[blown240]

I finished drilling the rims tonight. The holes took another 175 grams off of each rim. They are 620 grams each now, they were 880g to begins with.

Total weight loss now is 3 pounds. 1.14 pounds just in the rims!

 

[blown240]

Now I need to decide if I am going to lace the wheels 18 or 24 spoke. Though I am leaning towards 24. After all, the kid is light, he doesn't need 36 spokes!

 

[OddJob]

Nice work on the holes! I would consult the wheels that are out there for spoke count. And from the looks of it, this thing is going to be so cool that there may be more than just your lightweight son riding it....
You will want some kind of rim strip to line the holes before you put the tube in. There are many colors / patterns of duct tape out there now, you may find something to match your paint scheme. Also, I run a 26 x 2.4 tube in my fat bike, it works fine. And you will save almost a 1/2 lb per tube over a regular fat bike tube! Rat on!

 

[blown240]

Thanks oddjob!

I am familiar with the differnt duct tapes out there. I have batman tape that I will probably use for him, and I found some 105g 16" tubes to do split tubeless. If I need to, I'll run a strip of gorilla tape on the edge if need be. I have 2 bikes that are tubeless and I haven't gotten any flat since converting to tubeless!

 

[OddJob]

Thanks oddjob!

I am familiar with the differnt duct tapes out there. I have batman tape that I will probably use for him, and I found some 105g 16" tubes to do split tubeless. If I need to, I'll run a strip of gorilla tape on the edge if need be. I have 2 bikes that are tubeless and I haven't gotten any flat since converting to tubeless!

Awesome! I forgot you are going tubeless. This is really going to be the essence of old meets new klunker! And the gorilla tape is a great sealer for tubeless. Which fluid do you use? I have been using Orange Seal Tire Sealant in my Santa Cruz 29 er and it is holding up well. They use some particles in the mix and it's supposed to be able to seal up to a 1/4" size hole! So far I've only had a few cactus thorn holes and it works great. Love your build