Yeah, those are just parts I picked up during 2020 when there was zero inventory of anything. Eventually, when I give a damn and plan on racing mtb more, I’m projecting this build to come out to around 24 lbs with a wheel swap.
£2500ish, give or take, so about $3000
A fair point - but there are plenty of cheap weight saving but performing choices you can make.
Case in point: you’re running Trail casing tyres with tubes in vice xc casing tyres tubeless. That’s a choice that would be cost neutral to fix.
FWIW my frame is a Large - so 491mm reach once long-shocked.
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Wow, that’s really good then. I built my FM936 up to <26lbs for $5500 CAD and that include pro deals on suspension and carbon wheels. I could save ~0.5lb with lighter tires, but I don’t see a cost effective way to get under 25lbs. It’s amazing that you have a 23lb bike for $3000 (USD presumably?). I would love to see a breakdown on your specs. I’m assuming you built it up yourself and it isn’t stock?
It seems rare for fully functional FS bikes made within the last few years to be under 25lbs with pedals unless you’ve spent $10k on the thing. People I know with decent carbon bikes with carbon wheels still are in the 27lb range.
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22’ 34sc, float dps, bonty rsl one piece bars, hope xcr on ashima 160s, prologo dimension nack, lev carbon, miche k1 carbon wheels, race king protections (tubolite rear insert), xtr shifter/mech, xx1 cassette and dub crank, xpedo mforce pedals, carbon-ti finishing kit (clamps etc), ti bolts throughout.
Rear lockout only - to me I found a dual lockout too restrictive and I wouldn’t use it as much whereas just rear gets used for 50% of the circuit.
All bought secondhand except the tyres, chain, cables and insert. I do buy/sell a lot of stuff though, so have ended up “trading up” or “trading sideways” for a lot of it.
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That’s an outstanding spec, and a well put together package. That part list is super spendy though if you don’t manage to pick them up second hand/at a great deal.
Hope XCR brakes for example are something like $1000NZD, and I’ve never seen any in person. You could pick up Magura of course which are light.
Also, for those wondering about the 909, I’ve found these two threads:
https://www.mtb-news.de/forum/t/carbonda-fm-936-vs-fm-909.970130/
The German one has a few opinions from riders with both. The Chinertown one is interesting, and there’s a post about halfway through that talks about the leverage ratios. The gist was that the 936 is probably the better bike in terms of suspension design/mid stroke support.
I’m only halfway through the Chinertown thread. It’s mostly people asking about colours and how to fit the wrong parts/get the right parts, but hopefully there’s some ride impressions soon. I can’t see the photos in there, but there seems to be lots of discussion about different pictures of bikes and frames.
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The only thing I’d love - honestly - is to find a medium frame to trade it to.
I’ve even considered buying a medium 909 or 936 to put the parts on but some of the NS modifications are good and make it a more finished bike (better hardware, rocker etc).
I don’t mind a 491ish reach, but my enduro at 480 is better and a little shorter would be easier to get around some of the trees on the shorter circuits in the uk.
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Finally got my bike out. But just for pictures.
Anyway, here it is in “Gravel” form (minus the 36t chainring). For XC, I’ll yank off the inner grips and swap for my 150mm dropper.
All y’all talking about bike weight… as pictured this is around 26 pounds (24.5-ish bare bones). So around 27 pounds in XC mode. And I don’t have a rear shock.
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I went down that rabbit hole a while ago. There’s one guy who has a deep dive somewhere in there. He rides his in Squamish and whistler. Gives it a rave reviews. If I recall correctly he had a very nice part spec on it.
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I have run 2.4 Bontrager XR3 and Maxxis Rekon Race 2.4 for years and just put some 2.35 Mezcals on a couple weeks ago for the first time. So far I am loving them. They definitely seem to roll faster and are a little lighter. Cornering traction might not be quite as good as Rekon Race but seem predictable so far and no complaints. Haven’t ridden them in wet yet but have a race next weekend that’s looking like it’ll give me the opportunity… Unless I swap them for the Barzos I just bought (haven’t even mounted yet).
On the topic of weight, I’ve done a lot of upgrades recently to my XL Scott Spark RC and got the weight down from over 27lbs to 23.5 with 2 water bottle cages, pedals, dropper, and power meter. It is definitely a noticeable difference riding. It’s the heaviest version of their carbon frame; the lightest version would be about a half pound lighter and that’s about the only way I could get much lighter.
Drive side pic from before replacing brakes, bolts, and fork decal😎
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This is overall really good build, IMO. Hats off for doing it so well. I’ve taken some notes… if I was going to gripe about one thing it’s 160mm single piston brakes (but I’m a big guy so I like my 4 piston 203/180 rotors and never getting arm pump). I’ve got no experience with the Hope XCR - are they quite powerful for 2 pison brakes?
It’s an xc race bike - I race xco and marathon on it, not DH (I have an Enduro bike and race Enduro; that has 203s).
It’s not about weight - braking is about heat management (and then about keeping warm). I’m just not braking nearly enough to keep 200 rotors and 4 pot brakes warm and so effective. One or two fast descents and a lot of climbing. 180 2 pots might be fine. The Pinkbike ‘needs codes and 220s’ only works if you’re travelling at world cup DH speed.
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I don’t imagine your Mezcals or Rekon Races would be able to provide enough traction to fully utilise 203mm 4-pots.
Each to their own of course, and build a bike that makes you excited to ride it, but if you get an opportunity, you might find 180/180mm is plenty (and 4-pot, 2-pot - or 2-pot only).
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I was actually thinking about that last night. Mine’s a 910 with aluminium rear triangle. I wanted that for robustness, but I imagine I could drop a bit of weight easily with a carbon rear triangle.
I’d love to know if they’re the same across all the Spark models.
I’d still have the slack STA and short reach that is the only thing that is really holding me back. I really like the idea of the Carbonda. There’s some really slick looking builds of both the 936 and 909 on that German forum. Sub 10kg in size large on some with exotic parts.
Only difference between the Spark 910 and Spark RC is the fork length so you could definitely replace the rear triangle if you can get a carbon one.
2022 Scott Spark RC Review | 6 upgrades to turn a Spark into a Spark RC
I’ve actually been checking out those same Carbondas for my son. Wish they made an XS frame bc he’s not quite tall enough for a S yet.
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I agree to webdev a bit here. The Ray/combo have a bit more grip IMO. For me, they are the fastest tire available, but I would choose mezcals any day over them for a longer or multi day race, they are so much more durable.
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The issue with mezcals is the 4c top layer wears out rapidly, after which the grip and rolling resistance takes a massive tank.
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Honestly there are only a few workable choices for race tyres.
Maxxis are out if you aren’t a pro because you can’t get the good casings.
Schwalbe rr/rr, conti cross/race kings, Michelin wild xcs, pirelli scorpions, s works 2/5s.
Within that, they’re all much of a muchness balancing mud clearance, weight and RR.
I like having all one brand for some reason, and conti make the best road and Enduro tyres - so race kings it is!
Having been introduced to road cycling just over a year ago, I decided to mix it up a bit with a “do it all” mtb and picked up a Spark 940 - I was limited to £3k using a cycle scheme at work, so bought it with the intention of making a few upgrades.
I mainly went after quick and easy weight and performance/usability upgrades in the form of a new set of wheels, lighter cassette, GX mech and shifter and a power meter.
That’s been enough to drop a kg and takes it to 12.9kg.
There’s some room to take a bit more weight out - I went for 1800g trail rims to let me take it more agressive places. I think some XC wheels/tyres, lighter cranks and one piece carbon bar/stem would probably get me under the 12kg mark.
I’ve really enjoyed mixing up the road riding with some off road. I had hoped to replace some of my endurance rides with off-road but I’ve found that I simply cannot take it easy on the MTB 
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Very nice 
I have one of the RC versions, and I’m certainly enjoying it so far!
Which power meter did you go for? is that the xcadey spower?
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