Sorry to everyone. I just realized none of my replays to you and gotten to you. Trust me, I have replayed to all of you. I am really really sorry. Please don't think I was blowing you off. My wife just showed me what I was doing wrong.

I am finally back and ready to start riding again. I live in Las Vegas now so I am excited to ride over the winter. Sorry about the blog neglect but I promise I will be better. I have been thinking about buying one of those new Motobecane 29ers and seeing how light i can make it. Stay tune. If any one has one of these 29ers please let me know what you think of it.

Fanton VS,VS,VS,VS,VS,VS,VS,VS,

I feel really bad about the neglect of my blog since early summer. I have not been on the Motobecane since June. I am moving the Las Vegas and all my stuff is actually getting unpacked today. Thank you for continuing to visit my blog. I got a recent question about my opinion on the bike after one season. For the record I did NOT get a chance to race this bike and I only got about 150miles on it. I can say this though. The bike will take what you dish out. I took the Fantom team down to Moab Utah and that place is hard on bikes.

A reader just posted a question if I would take this bike over the a Trek EX 8. With a little research MY fantom team and this Trek are the same price ($2300-$2400) and I will guess equal weight. The Trek does have the new modern rear suspension design benefit over the Fantom but my bike specs kill the Trek. Here is the bottom line. PRICE what are you getting for the money. MY large fantom weights 26.5 pounds for 2400 bucks. I have the best parts on the market and the bike performs just fine as a cross country bike. When I went to Moab I took my Giant XO. This bike has 5 inches of travel like my Motobecane but the suspension technology on my Giant is awesome. The bike rides like on a cloud. Always soft and never a harsh hit from an obstacle. But the Giant that I put together retailed for $4200. The Motobecane Fantom uses an older style 4 bar with the pivot on the seat stay. This makes the axel path not as smooth and a harsher hit over obstacles. But it works. Its not as smooth as my Giant or a Blur but it works and its cheap. The question is what are you willing to pay for for what you want to do?

Fantom Team in Moab Utah

I took the Motobecane to Moab for a little test and decied to ride in on the 24 hours course used for the 24 Hours of Moab every october. I am pretty familier with this trail which offers many different types of terrain to give a trutest of cross county preformance.



I love this first picture with the sun light coming through that tree.


I have to appologise because my picutres will not move from where I have them placed. So I will just write and not worry about it.



The course is about 13 miles with lots of rock, sand, climbs, decents, just about everything.

The picture below shows one of many rock climbs that are on the course. That is literally a rock garden. You see very little dirt along there. The bike climbed great over all the rocks I took it through.

Sorry Everyone

I just started a new job and have been busy with all that goes with it. I did a great ride on the Fantom Team in Moab a few weeks ago and got some sweet pictures. I will get that stuff posted shortly.

Thanks for coming to my blog.

New Chain. Sorry KMC

I have to report that I changed the chain out for an XTR chain I had sitting around. The KMC chain that came on the bike worked well at first but now will not double shift up the cassette. I worked on the problem for and while before switching chains. I took the Fantom Team out for a ride and the shifting was perfect with the new chain. I put the tubeless tire psi up to 30 and noticed less flex which was better then the 28psi setting I had the tires/tyers at before.

I too the Fantom Team out for a ride and set the tubeless tire pressure to 28psi. The whole ride was great but as I was coming down this twisty downhill section with lots of turns, I noticed the tires flexing a lot. I will put the pressure back up to 30psi and see ft that make for a more stable tire. I changed the rear shock psi to sag at the 20% mark but I am thinking I liked the 30% setting a little better. The rear suspension can be set up to run 3-4-5 inches of travel. I have left it set at 5 in due to were I ride. I figure when I am going down hill my suspension will compress a couple of inches. Well that doesn't leave me a whole lot to soak up the bumps.

Shimano XTR vs Vuelta XRP Team Wheelset

I have received a few questions about my opinion concerning the Vuelta wheels that come on the Fantom Team. So I decide to compare the Vuelta Team SL Disc wheelset to one of the nicest most expensive mountain bike wheelsets on the market, Shimano XTR. Before I go into my own information lets look at the manufacturers features and specs for the two wheelset.

Shimano M975 XTR

1525g super light disc brake wheel set
Balanced spoke pattern for increased lateral stiffness
Scandium alloy rim
Ultra thin wall rim with reinforced spoke holes
Tubeless & tube tire compatible
Angular contact bearings
New quicker engagement freehub body
Center Lock rotor mount system

Retail: $1200

Go to http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content/global_cycle/en/us/index/products/wheels/mountain_wheels/product.-code-WH-M975.-type-.html if you want more info.

Vuelta Team SL Disc

Rim: GX395 19mm

Hub: Team SL DiscBearing: 2x4 precision

Drilling: 28f/28r

Pattern: three crossSpoke

Gauge: 2.3-2.0-1.6-2.0

Spoke Profile: Aero-bladed

Nipple: Alloy w/eyelets

Quick Release: cro-moly

Spacing: 135mm

Color: black

Weight: 726g / 830g

Retail: $800

Go to http://vueltaxrpwheels.com/team_sl_disc.asp for more info.

I will test both of these wheels on the Fantom and comment on how the Vuelta wheels compare to the XTR. I can say at this point with 82 miles now on the bike, the Vuelta wheels are GOOD wheels.

1 Pound/16 Ounces= 454 grams

1/2 Pound/8 Ounces= 227 Grams

Here is the XTR wheelset along with the weights of the parts going on.

I bought the wheels set at the end of last year on eBay when Microsoft was running their cash back program and got the wheels for $570. Great deal for a $1200 wheelset!

XTR 12-34 Cassette $235. eBay $140

XTR Rotor. Retail $140 for the pair. Bought new on eBay new for $75.00 including shipping. Yea, I know, a great deal.

I chose these Michelin XCR AT UST tires/tyes because they are tubeless, great tires, and are normally $60 per tire or $21 on eBay. I wanted to get some sweet Continental race tires but they are more expensive but much lighter than 757 grams.

Here is the final wheel weight including Stans in each wheel. 8 pounds 9 ounces


Here is the Vuelta Team SL Disc wheelset with all the parts.

I am using an XT cassette because the XTR are really expensive

Final wheelset built up. 9 ounces lighter. Keep in mind though that this has the XT cassette on it which is heavier than the XTR but the tire and tube combo is lighter than the Michelin UST tire that I chose to put on the XTR wheelset.

I think we forget how heavy tubes can be

I have ridden Hutchinson Python tires for a long time because they are light and have tall side walls offering a big tire for a 2.0

Tire and tube weight combo. You could even add a little for for the rim strip if you would like.

Well its that time of year!! I can tell because people are looking to by a new bike for the season so I have been getting more hits lately. If you are thinking about buying a new bike and you ride and or race cross country, the Fantom Team will be a good choice. As long as you are not worried about what people think you will be fine. Prove them wrong and kick there ass on a great bike.

The above bike is a 2009 Kona Hei Hei Supreme. Sorry the picture is so small. Now this is a nice bike with a Scandium frame, full XTR, and Crossmax SLR wheels. Kona chose to put their pivot on the seat stay to avoid having to pay Specialized a bunch of money. This suspension design should ride very similar to the Fantom Team. The big difference is the price. This bike retails for $6499 and my Motobecane was $2353. The Kona might be a pound or so lighter but a $4146 is a BIG difference.

This next bike is a Scott Spark Limited retailing for for $12,419. I used to work at a shop that sold a few of these and they are awesome. These bikes weight about 21-22 pounds. I rode a full XTR version of one of these and it was nice. Once again though, look where the gold rear pivot is on the frame. The bottom of the seat stay. This frame would have a similar ride to the Fantom Team.

My point to showing these two bikes is to show that the frame design of the Motobecane is old but there are plenty of companies still using it. The $12,000 dollar Scott above uses bushings instead of bearings to save weight which you will be replacing at least once a year. But lets be honest, if you buy a $12,000 mountain bike you probably are not worried about bushings prices.
I heard the Fantom Team called a parts dump. This means that the frame is cheap with nice parts. This is a incorrect assumption. Stay tuned to my Blog and I prove you all wrong.

Motobecane Fantom Team's TripleActive 4B

3"/4"/5" Adjustable Travel - Four Bar Rocker Arm

I want to explain the difference between the Fantom's 4 bar linkage and the ever so popular Specialized 4 bar design. There may be more to it for all you engineer types out their but the difference is the placement of one very patent protected chain stay pivot. Below is a picture of an Ellsworth which licenses Specializes 4 bar design.

You can see the pivot at the end of the chain stay right above the rear derailleur and before the derailleur hanger.

This picture shows the Fantom's pivot at the bottom of the chain stay right above the hanger. Here is some info on the 4 bar lingage system with a pivot on the seat stay that I put together doing some research.

• A four-bar, seat-stay pivot suspension is similar looking, having a pivot above the drop out instead of in front of the drop out (ie no Horst Link and no patent problem). Having the pivot in front of the drop out (i.e. on the chain stay) allows the linkage components to affect the path of the rear axle, thereby allowing for a more complex arc of the axle path. Placing the pivot on the seat stay (above the drop out) effectively makes the rear axle travel path more like that of a single-pivot bike, since the chain stay is the only component that affects the rear axle's arc.
  Seat-stay four-link pivot bikes perform exactly like similarly placed monopivots under acceleration and chain forces, which means they aren't as neutral under acceleration as Horst-link, four-bar bikes, dw-link, or Split Pivot bikes. However, when brakes are mounted on the seat stays, dw-link, Split Pivot and FSR four-link bikes have an advantage while braking over rough ground. One manufacturer well known for their long-time use of the seat-stay pivot four-bar link suspension is Kona, who incorporate the design on their entire line-up, along with other manufacturers such as Infiza and Icon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_suspension)
  

So basically what this is saying is a 4 bar linkage system with the pivot on the seat stay does not have a smooth rear axle arch as compared to the 4 bar lingage with the pivot on the seat stay. Also the rear suspension will have a tendency to lock up a little while using the rear brake.

Motobecane Fantom Team Rebuild

Its now time to take the Fantom Team apart and rebuild it from the tires up. The tear down will allow me to make sure the bike is built perfectly from the ground up. This is the ideal way to build any bike. Most shops are not going to take apart a boxed bike and then rebuild it due to the time it takes. Well here we go. I made sure I had a nice open areas on my bench to lay all my parts out in order making sure that I wouldn't loose anything.

I pulled all the drive train part and put them in my solvent tank which consists of a bucket with a lid and some orange degreaser. Next was the frame.

My large frame weights 7 pound 1 ounce. You may say that this is really heavy but when a company claims a medium frame weight of 5 pounds 4 ounces that does not include the rear shock most of the time. The rear shock is 205 grams which is almost half a pound. That would put the frame weight to 6 pounds 9 ounces. Considering the gussets on the downtube and seat tube its not a horrible weight. I pulled off the rear end and started taking a razor to all the clear coat around the pivot areas. This will help the pivots have a more consistent torque because you wont be dealing with the clear coat cracking in some areas and not others. The pivot area will be nice and round on the frame. This is called Frame Prepping.Just hold the NEW razor in a slight angle and the clear coat will come right off.

You also want to get the clear coat off the rear drop out to make sure your wheel has a nice even fit. I took the hanger off and put blue lock tite on both bolts.

Next I did the headtube after pulling the headset off.

JUST BE CAREFULL!! This is a great time to look over a frame for any cracks or other problems. Now is its time to rebuild the bike. The rear end is super easy to take apart and rebuild which is good because you should do it at LEAST once a season. If you ride mud, do it every two months.
Lube is our friend. Use plenty of grease because the bike will take what it needs and the extra will scrap off allowing you to reuse.

The rear shock can use a little grease in the area where the bolts go through. The black pieces that I am pointing at come out by just pulling on them. Put a little grease on them and reinstall. IF you can't get them out don't worry about it. Just leave them be.

When installing the pivots back into the frame you will need blue lock tite and a torque wrench. The torque wrench is not definitely needed but makes getting the pivot bolts to 12nm more precise. You can use your judgement just not to tight. You will need the lock tite for the bolts to ensure they don't come loose which makes the bike ride like crap.
Time to put the headset back in. DO NOT PUT LUBE ON THE INSIDE OF THE HEADTUBE! Headsets are a friction fit so NO LUBE between headset and frame. Do clean the races where the bearings rest and a little grease would be good for a wet environment. Leave clean for dry environment to keep dirt from sticking to the cartridge bearings.

I decide to take apart the seat post clamp and lube the bolts a little to help prevent any squeaking. I also put some grease under the seat collar. Make sure you put grease in the seat tube to prevent the seatpost from getting stuck in the frame.

When you pull the crank and bottom bracket out the BB shell will probably look like this.

It need to look like this.

Now that I got the bike all put back together, I wanted to take the rear wheel apart and check out the pawls on the freehub body. Once I got the hub apart I noticed the pawls and the drive teeth were pretty dirty only after 75 miles.

The rear hub is VERY easy to take apart and add some mineral oil too. Use mineral oil because you want a lube that is very thin and will not bind up the engagement between the pawls and the engagement teeth.

I removed the rotors from both wheels and retorqued them to 6.2nm. Also when building a bike double check to make sure the rim strip is running right down the middle of the rim and not riding up the side of the rim. If the rim strip gets between the tire and the rim seat then the tire could blow off the rim at a really bad time.