Unlike some people, Al basically told me to do whatever I thought would work best for his new 36er - so here's the current state of the art (keep in mind, he's 5'10" tall - no huge dude by any means).
-69 degree HTA, 90mm rake fork.
-510mm chainstays, plenty of tire clearance, 83mm BB shell and kinked seat tube.
-Paragon sliders to allow geared/single use.
-1 1/8 head tube - I see no reason to do a tapered setup when the odds of being able to build a tapered rigid fork anytime soon are next to zero. Plus, it's rigid.
-23.8" effective toptube (yes, that's right). Yes, there will be some toe overlap. Acceptable price to pay, IMO - if you're riding super-gnar chundery switchbacks, you should probably not be on this bike. It's for XC.
-33" standover (it's possible to get a little lower, but not a whole lot - once again, you gotta just deal - the darn wheels are just too big to have lots of standover for most folks).
I seem to be doing more and more of these - maybe it's time to start hassling WTB about doing a run of a "real" 36er tire...
Addendum: Feldman points out, quite correctly, that for many people, the state of the art head tube would be a 44mm ID version with an inset/zerostack headset, to get the bars lower. Not a concern for Al, so not necessary in this case, but a great idea for smaller riders who run their bars closer to saddle height.
4 comments:
Walt, definitely hit up WTB. I'm itching to join this insane club. More thoughts on your seat tube design? was Brad's curved tube really a hassle?
Bill from Vancouver.
Hey Bill -
Great question. The curved seat tubes are a PITA here, because the seatpost needs (minimum) 4" or so of straight tubing to fit, and ideally a bit more (in the bike pictured, it's 5.5") to allow some up/down adjustment for different riders, or those who like to drop the seat for descents.
It's possible (kind of) to make a smooth bend that replicates the geometry of the kinked seat tube, but it's much more work and requires a TON of post-bending manipulation to get a smooth look, because no matter what you do, you get a big dent where the bent section ends and the straight section begins.
So the kink is a lot easier and more practical. Some folks don't like the look, and that's fine. If someone really badly wants a curved tube, I'll do it that way, but as I said, I got carte blanche on this one, and this is the way I prefer to do it.
Do you have any insight into WTB's minimum production run for making a tire like that? I have no idea how hard it is to make a new tire size.
Hey Nateo -
I would guess 500-1000 units. But I am not a tire expert by any means, so I have limited insight into that part of the industry. There is some demand on the uni side of things for a lighter/better tire, so maybe it will eventually happen.
-Walt
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