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Chromag Samurai build for DH'er - help!

ZHendo

Turbo Monkey
Oct 29, 2006
1,661
147
PNW
Hey gents,

I finally got my hands on my dream frame - a Chromag Samurai. She's been used but I'm going to give 'er a fresh powder coat and then do my best to throw together a decent build with my very limited budget. I have already scored some absolutely steals off of PinkBike, but I'm struggling a bit with figuring out a few of the more vital parts like wheels and fork.

For wheels, I have access to some industry deals through my line of work, but I'm really not sure what manufacturer to go with. The stock Stan's Flow EX prebuilts are probably the best deal, but I am not sure how their house brand hubs are. I may be able to get my hands on some Pro2 hubs but I'm not 100% sure, and I could also potentially get some Sun Ringle wheels or some of the red nippled XTs from a year or so ago for $200. Opinions? I'm comfortable building up my own wheels, but I'm just not sure what I can find on a budget.

As for the fork, I really don't like the CTD setup on the newer Fox forks so I have confined myself to Marzocchi, Rockshox and Xfusion. I'm thinking about an Xfusion Slant RC2 and think that's the top of my list, but the Marzocchi 44 is pretty intriguing as well if I can get my hands on one of the RC3 Ti's. The only reason I mention Rockshox is because I can get a Revelation from 2012 for $200 in really good shape. Opinions on those?

Thanks for the help, I'm stoked to get this bike built but have never operated on a budget this tight before so my options are a bit different than what I'd typically be looking at.

Cheers.
 

kazlx

Patches O'Houlihan
Aug 7, 2006
6,985
1,957
Tustin, CA
Buy used hubs. I'm sure you can get a deal on something. I run Hadleys on my Stylus. Even if they need bearings, the rebuild kit is easy to do. If you can build wheels, there's no reason to get prebuilt wheels, unless you find a killer deal. Maybe find a Pike or a Lyric for a fork. I run a lowered Lyric on mine and it rips, although a new Revelation would probably be good too.

That being said, my Stylus rips and it's one of the most fun bikes I've ridden. I've done all day rides, to shuttling DH trails to riding it to the market and work.
 

banj

Monkey
Apr 3, 2002
379
0
Ottawa, Ontario
Buy used hubs. I'm sure you can get a deal on something. I run Hadleys on my Stylus. Even if they need bearings, the rebuild kit is easy to do. If you can build wheels, there's no reason to get prebuilt wheels, unless you find a killer deal. Maybe find a Pike or a Lyric for a fork. I run a lowered Lyric on mine and it rips, although a new Revelation would probably be good too.

That being said, my Stylus rips and it's one of the most fun bikes I've ridden. I've done all day rides, to shuttling DH trails to riding it to the market and work.
Agree'd on the used hubs new rim build, that's how I like to do it as well. You can get hadley or dt's relatively cheap.

I've been running a stylus for a bunch of years too. I'm not up on all the new forks but my one recommendation would be to get an adjustable travel fork. I've run a u-turn pike and a 36 talas on mine and I'm constantly cnanging the travel. I drop it down to 4" for jumps, pumptrack and long climbs and put it back up for everything else.
 

Mr Lahey

Monkey
Sep 23, 2009
183
28
From friends experience, I'd go Revelation over 44. Have heard good things about the former, while the latter has already had to go back for internal rebuild.

PS - Canadian built steel hardtail = way cool
The best part of this deal is the black stanchions and excellent customer service when the internals go crunch. Once you get passed that the fork is heavy and feels like a jack hammer.

Not many choices for a standard steerer/ 15mm axle...

Mine is on a Nimble 9 set up single speed.

In terms of wheels (components in general) I would go light. These bikes are heavy and pretty taxing to ride up hills and around flowy stuff.
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
My two cents go for the Revelation over the 44. Three months ago I swapped from Marz to RS (those two exact models you mentioned in your post) and I couldn't be more happy. I caught a deal similar to yours and a friend of mine wanted to buy my 44, so I pulled the trigger. The bike feels lighter in the front end and I didn't notice any weird torsion coming from the fork. Maybe I'm too familiar and comfortable dealing with RS products, and that helped me feel at home with the Revs.
 
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dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
I'm thinking about an Xfusion Slant RL2 and think that's the top of my list
IMO, that's where it should be. I'm super happy with mine. I haven't had it that long but probably have about 15 or 20 rides on it. So far really good. Lots of mid stroke support. I was coming off a '10 Revelation and the Slant feels so much better, noticeably stiffer too.
 

ZHendo

Turbo Monkey
Oct 29, 2006
1,661
147
PNW
My Samurai will actually accommodate a tapered steerer, so I'm looking strictly at tapered steerer options. I found a Revelation RL for $200 that is in good shape, I may have to take that option. Decent used hubs are few and far between it seems, especially for a reasonable price, but I'm starting to think I may just go with the Stan's Flow EX on Stan's hubs. Anyone have experience with those hubs?