Hi All,
I am planning to build myself a frankengravel (or sixty-niner monstercross if you like) bike and I would appreciate your thoughts on whether it's even worth building something like this and if it is, which frame to pick.
Build option 1:
- Take my (very) old Mongoose NX 7.1 26er frame that's about a size smaller than I need; Frame weight is 1.9kg.
- put a 29er carbon fork up front with a 700c wheel & disk brakes;
- Change rear wheel from 26" to 27.5" (the frame has enough clearance); disk brakes.
- Install flared drop bars (on one midge) and brifters (I have a spare set of 3x9 Micronew).
The brifters have road brake pull, but I have Avid BB7 road calipers to match.
Build Option 2:
As above, but use my mate's old noname frame that's similar size and geometry as my NX7.1, but can only comfortably clear a 26" rear wheel and only allows v-brakes. On the plus side, the frame is 500g lighter and lack of rear disk brake will probably save another 200g. I'll need to get something like a travel agent pulley to be able to run rear v-brakes with brifters.
Which frame would you use? Would you have any preference of 27.5x29 vs sixty-niner? Is ~700g of weight worth the saving? Anything obvious I am missing in the build that I need to think about?
Thanks.
I am planning to build myself a frankengravel (or sixty-niner monstercross if you like) bike and I would appreciate your thoughts on whether it's even worth building something like this and if it is, which frame to pick.
Build option 1:
- Take my (very) old Mongoose NX 7.1 26er frame that's about a size smaller than I need; Frame weight is 1.9kg.
- put a 29er carbon fork up front with a 700c wheel & disk brakes;
- Change rear wheel from 26" to 27.5" (the frame has enough clearance); disk brakes.
- Install flared drop bars (on one midge) and brifters (I have a spare set of 3x9 Micronew).
The brifters have road brake pull, but I have Avid BB7 road calipers to match.
Build Option 2:
As above, but use my mate's old noname frame that's similar size and geometry as my NX7.1, but can only comfortably clear a 26" rear wheel and only allows v-brakes. On the plus side, the frame is 500g lighter and lack of rear disk brake will probably save another 200g. I'll need to get something like a travel agent pulley to be able to run rear v-brakes with brifters.
Which frame would you use? Would you have any preference of 27.5x29 vs sixty-niner? Is ~700g of weight worth the saving? Anything obvious I am missing in the build that I need to think about?
Thanks.