Love mine. Doubles as light duty trail bike really well with the 34 SC
You can dm me what you’re thinking price wise.
I’ve been riding and racing singlespeeds the past several years. Most of those bikes have been rigid. I love the simplicity, efficiency, and lack of maintenance. A bad wreck in 2018 left me with nerve damage after completely severing my ulnar nerve, so I started looking for a singlespeed that would be a little more forgiving. Here’s what I ended up with:
Funk Laruta
60mm of rear travel
Custom geo
Designed around a 120mm Fox 34 SC
Clearance for 29x3"
Currently set up with 29x2.6
Under 24 pounds with pedals, 35mm rims, and 2.6 tires
68HTA
Dual lockout so it’s essentially rigid when I’m climbing out of the saddle
It’s the most fun bike I’ve ever owned, while still being fast and efficient enough to race. I could have definitely built up a lighter version with a 32SC and lighter rims, tires, etc…, but I really like how 2.6 tires compliment this amount of travel. It’s also nice having slightly larger tires when climbing with the suspension locked out.
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Rather than start a new thread I’d figured I’d post here, and I really value the opinion of the folks here on this forum as I feel for the most part we all have a common interest, we want to go faster!
So I’m due for a new xc bike this year! I’m tired of racing my 32lb Aluminum trail bike! It served me well but now that I’ve lost over 109lbs I think it’s time to shave some weight off the bike too!
I’m going with an orbea oiz M10. I like a lot of the other options from other brands but orbea is what my LBS sells and they treat me like a king, I couldn’t possibly shop anywhere else!
Here’s my dilemma, xc build or tr build?? I want an xc race bike. I don’t want a trail bike as my occam can still fill that roll. I don’t want/need suppleness, I’m not a fan of long travel, I want fast! BUT!!! I also don’t want to buy a bike with 32mm stanchions if they will be a thing of the past over the next couple years, it just seems like 34mm will be the new norm, if it isn’t already. My current bike is 120mm 32 fox performance. I’ve never ever wanted more travel. But what about stiffness between the sc32 and sc34? I called fox and the sales guy I spoke with said that stiffness and weight Difference is negligible. I mentioned buying the trail and reducing the travel to 100mm. He said if I do that then just but the 100mm 32sc.
I guess I’m afraid to buy the 100mm xc build and wish I had an extra 20mm of travel. I’m in eastern pa, we don’t have big bike parks, or super long descents, but we do have rock gardens on rock gardens.
Also the tr build comes with a dropper, which I don’t want, I would prefer the rigid carbon post of the xc build. So that most likely an added cost on top of the already more expensive tr build.
So the question is 100mm vs 120mm???
I have a 2018 Spark RC 900 WC with 100mm f/r. I’ve taken it around the Midwest, CO, UT and a MTB vacation in Scotland 
. It handled all of that no problem. I race XC Expert/Cat 1 and MTB 100s. At least half or more of the guys I race with are still on hardtails. For what you want to do, you will not NEED more than 100mm. Everything you want to do can be done very well on 100mm, adding a dropper post and proper tire choice per riding location. This is my current setup and everything included on a large frame on race day weighs 23.85 lbs.
In light of the Olympic XCO course being more gnarly and more “down country” events being available, 120mm f/r may become more popular but it is certainly not needed. It’s a trade off for additional weight for sure. What I’ve done for the past 2 years and what appears to becoming more popular is running “XC Wide” tires. I’ve been using Mezcals 2.35 where traditionally XC tires are narrower. Maxxis just came out with a new version that Nino has been running. Not that you should follow what the pros do, but I don’t see 120mm XC bikes becoming the new race norm. It would be better for certain events (BCBR) but not as a XC rig in the Midwest/East Coast.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I run my bike 95% of the time at partial lockout (trail mode) which I believe reduces travel to 70-80mm f/r and that is plenty in Michigan.
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Can you name some of the trail systems you ride? If they are same part of eastern PA I ride can perhaps give some better input to how different bikes and travel will work for you.
I typically ride High Rocks, Wiss, Round Valley, Nox And between self and buddies have everything from SS hardtail low travel to big enduro bikes.
If none of those trails look familiar we are in different area.
Mark
I’m like 10 minutes from bear creek ski resort. So I’ll ride that occasionally, which is probably the most aggressive type of riding I’ll ever do. But also places like wiss, green lane, French creek. Which I would ride any of them on a hardtail as well. I also compete in the M.A.S.S xc series, which includes trails in the tri-state area.
I have both the Fox SC 32, currently on a Niner Air 9 RDO hartail, and a Fox SC 34, currently on a Niner RKT 9 RDO with 90mm rear suspension. I’m in Ohio, ride Mohican a lot, also Brown County, and took the Air 9 RDO to Colorado last year a few times and road Leadville with it.
Both bikes are fast and very “raceable” on local terrain. The SC 34 definitely smooths things out a little more and on 2+ hour rides I get a little less arm fatigue with the SC 34. I personally don’t notice much difference in the stiffness between the SC 32 and SC 34, but I’m not the biggest guy at about 154 lbs.
This year I’m adding a Supercaliber to the mix with 60 rear/100 front, but with a RockShox SID instead of a Fox. We’ll see how it compares but from what I’ve heard it may be a little less “plush”.
I’m lucky to be able to have a few bikes. If I could only have one, I would probably go with a bike that had 90-100 in the rear and a 120 Fox SC 34 in the front. The would give you a ton of versatility, be fast, but also handle some rougher terrain while keeping you comfortable on long days.
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Nice, I’m 90 min or so from Bear Creek.
From what you are describing as primary focus, and not wanting a dropper, you want an XC race bike. 100mm 32mm saves some grams and is a nice fork.
What I was going to say about the trails I ride here is most of the time 100mm would be just fine. Wiss, Nox, Allaire, 6-mile et al don’t require F/S let alone much travel up front. But when hitting the rocky downhills and trying to go fast at places like Round Valley or High Rocks, the 34 or 36 forks with beefier tires just makes the riding a lot more fun.
So it becomes a horses for courses thing. If the focus is going fast, racing, etc, then 100mm with the right tires works. If it is race sometimes and ride a lot of different terrain on the same bike then I’d go 120mm and step up a size to the 34.
You could torture yourself with facts and figures on this. But to me, both 32 and 34 are really nice platforms so go with the 80% use case and you’ll be fine for the other 20%
MIXC makes the critical point. It won’t be 20mm of travel or a small difference in stiffness (if any). It will be the tires for the day.
So… you can’t lose, both are great so lean the way your gut tells you.
MC
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I was riding Roadbikes for years before I got my first XC Hardtail. So your skills might be way better than mine - so keep that in mind, while reading my 2 cents… The steeper headangle and longer stem (compared to my Enduro) makes riding steep techy hills without a dropper post really scary for me. Sure it’s doable if you got the skills, but I wouldn’t want to miss the dropper just to save a few grams. If it’s about the weight, personally I’d chase those grams in the rotational mass before anywhere else. I definitely would put the dropper on either bike and wouldn’t want to miss it even on my hardtail.
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Agree. I have a dropper on my XC race bike. Not because I absolutely need it, especially in MI. However, it allows me to rail downhills and is much safer. A race I won last year had a tricky quick and loose downhill right near the finish. As I was battling for 1st place I dropped my seat and nailed that section. The guy on my wheel wasn’t able to hit the corner at speed and washed out in a loose corner. I’ll gladly take that 0.5 pound weight penalty even if I only use my dropper in a few key sections.
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I’m in western MA (no long sustained climbs or descents, a bunch of rocks but there are a couple of smooth trail networks near me) on a 2020 Oiz M10 TR that I’ve had for a couple of weeks. I’m coming off a hardtail with a 100MM Rockshox RS1 & I’m a smaller guy at 5’5" and weigh between 145-150. The first thing I’ll say is that I don’t really like the 34 Factory SC fork that much. So far I’ve found running 15% sag is my best option which prevents too much bob while standing to climb but leaves me wanting for a bit more compliance in the saddle & motoring along. I highly doubt I will but I’m thinking of putting a Rockshox RS1 on it -I love that fork. It provides does a good job of damping out the trail chatter & provides a great amount of stability when I’m out of the seat mashing.
I’ve also got the shock set up for about 15% sag. At 20% the bike squats too much for be & doesn’t feel especially efficient but 15% works pretty good for the way I ride. I might like a bit more small bump compliance but it’s generally ok. I’m going to try a small volume spacer in there & see if running a bit less pressure will help, if not, it’ll be ok where it is. I’ve heard that the rear shock on the 100mm Oiz is tuned more progressively & provides a better pedaling platform out of the box. I should also note that I’m running both fork & shock wide open. At some point, I will fiddle with the lockout & find a good middle position for the rear shock via cable tension.
So with those suspension settings, I’m pretty happy with the pedaling efficiency but on rougher descending, I feel like I’ve got a bit more travel available but just won’t get into because of how firm I’m running from the get go. Maybe I’d have been better served with the 100mm Oiz for my riding style.
This is a good Oiz thread with a bunch of info on MTBR: New Oiz | Mountain Bike Reviews Forum
-Huge caveat: I don’t have a ton of suspension set up experience & am just experimenting to see what works best for me. If I could still do it, I’d be on a rigid singlespeed (no, I’m not “that guy” but I learned how to ride in the woods on rigid bikes & singlespeed simplifies gear selection oh so much!) but my aging body won’t tolerate it anymore-
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The new Kona Hei Hei looks fun…looks like it could double as race/endurance bike and trail rocket.
Thanks for the help! Many valid points! I’m def. leaning towards the 100mm version. A dropper isn’t out of the question. Having raced just about every venue in our tri-state xc series, I can honestly say I’ve never used my dropper post on my current xc bike in any of the races. I only use my dropper to clear large obstacles on the trail, down trees etc. which rarely occur in our xc races. I was still competitive in just about every race (cat2) and am forced to race cat 1 this year due to series rules regarding the amount of podiums a person can have, forcing them to the next category.
I would certainly consider an axs dropper that I could throw on for the once a year trip to pisgah or similar. Or if I decided I wanted to get extra rowdy some days, but I also still have my 120mm trail bike with a dropper post installed that I plan to ride with quite often for training rides and places where I know things get a bit crazy.
You could always get a 120mm fork down the road and swap them back and forth. After the initial setup, swapping a fork takes all of 5 minutes.
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Very true as well!
Now, if I could only pick out what color I want the bike to be. Orbeas “my o” program has way too many options. Although at this current time they don’t list xl frame size an option for the program.
I’m curious about this. Does a lightweight XC MTB with dual lockout allow you to compete in gravel races? I’m in the market for a new XC (looking at a Lux, Epic or Blur), and I’m telling myself that the XC bike is going to be efficient enough for gravel races, too. Has that been your experience? - Fellow Texas racer.
Sure you can do the events but be competitive, I’m not sure. I have a 2018 Epic Expert and in anything other than single track it’s hard to stay with a gravel bike. I can do my super easy XC loop faster on my gravel bike than my Epic.
Ah, you answered my question here. Thanks!
Just to add - it really depends on the course. With a 38 tooth front chain ring (with eagle) and running 700/45c gravel tires, I think the biggest handicap is just the poor aerodynamics. I ride a bunch with my hands centered against the stem, but it’s still not as good as the aerodynamics on a drop bar bike. I’ve tried some mini clip on aero bars, but they were crazy low with no stack adjustment and I just couldn’t make them work. I’'ve never won a gravel race outright on my MTB (except where there was an MTB division), but I’ve gotten a 4th overall and have been top 10 a few times. It’s also just fun being “that guy on the MTB” and the ride is more comfortable. I’ve never been in a gravel race on my MTB that I thought I could have won if I had been on a gravel bike. Maybe cost me a podium or 2, but even that is debatable.
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