Here she is, born friday night at 5pm weighing in at 40.5 pounds. Did about 50 miles of heavy trail riding this weekend, and the bike rides great. I won't waste your time with any long winded reviews since one weekend of riding hardly tells the tale...
Before building this bike I did keep myself updated on the various options in regards to drivetrain, and their inherent problems. I opted for the following build: xl frame, race face 128mm dh signature bottom bracket, standard(bolt on)XT front derailleur, standard Evil DRS, race face north shore ISIS cranks with a 36/24 ring combo.
First of all, I have no idea why Santa Cruz would recommend an e-type front derailleur, even going as far as crafting their own adapter that looks stangely similar to how a standard derailleur attaches to the seattube. Anyway, my standard derailleur bolted up and adjusted easily, shifting flawlessly all weekend.
Next, I highly recommend the 128mm bb spindle length. This length creates a perfect chainline, and I experienced no mis-shifts or dropped chains, and could backpedal in any gear all day long. This does leave a bit of a gap between the DRS backplate and small ring, which is easily remedied by using 2 spacer plates supplied by Evil with their DRS. Now that the roller is properly spaced beneath the rings it's time to deal with roller position.
As you can see in the picture I have removed the bashguard and roller cover for a better view. The backplate of the guide was attached to the bb shell using NO spacers behind it, and as you can see the spacer plates clear the lower linkage but the main plate does not. The roller is positioned at about 7:30 and I think ideally it should be at 8:00(on most frames). I really see no point in spacing out the backplate to rotate the roller further since the chain will surely bind on the underside of the chainstay...no matter how far you space the backplate.
Anyway, that's all for now...
Before building this bike I did keep myself updated on the various options in regards to drivetrain, and their inherent problems. I opted for the following build: xl frame, race face 128mm dh signature bottom bracket, standard(bolt on)XT front derailleur, standard Evil DRS, race face north shore ISIS cranks with a 36/24 ring combo.
First of all, I have no idea why Santa Cruz would recommend an e-type front derailleur, even going as far as crafting their own adapter that looks stangely similar to how a standard derailleur attaches to the seattube. Anyway, my standard derailleur bolted up and adjusted easily, shifting flawlessly all weekend.
Next, I highly recommend the 128mm bb spindle length. This length creates a perfect chainline, and I experienced no mis-shifts or dropped chains, and could backpedal in any gear all day long. This does leave a bit of a gap between the DRS backplate and small ring, which is easily remedied by using 2 spacer plates supplied by Evil with their DRS. Now that the roller is properly spaced beneath the rings it's time to deal with roller position.
As you can see in the picture I have removed the bashguard and roller cover for a better view. The backplate of the guide was attached to the bb shell using NO spacers behind it, and as you can see the spacer plates clear the lower linkage but the main plate does not. The roller is positioned at about 7:30 and I think ideally it should be at 8:00(on most frames). I really see no point in spacing out the backplate to rotate the roller further since the chain will surely bind on the underside of the chainstay...no matter how far you space the backplate.
Anyway, that's all for now...
