New (build) day
Building up an XC ride for my daughter. Base frame is a Liv Tempt 2, small, in the Mars Dust. We threw on a 120mm Fox Transfer dropper post, Fox Factory 32 Stepcast fork with 100mm travel and the 3pos damper. Raceface Chester grips in Kashmoney are mounted on a Bontrager Kovee Pro 35 carbon bars with a 0*x35mm stem until we massage the fit. Yet to install are Shimano EH-510 pedals, RD-M8100 with a sram Pg-1230 cassette, and Blackwell Conti Trinotals in 2.2 width, set up tubeless, maybe new wheels in the future.
Takeaways on the build so far, the frame is nice. I’m not sure how I feel about the 142mm rear spacing over boost or superboost, but there’s lots of good gravel wheels available. Routing the dropper wasn’t terrible, just had to problem solve a little to avoid pulling the BB, and used a cable taped to another cable at the bottom bracket to make the bend. The bike came speced with Microshift for the drivetrain, and it’s not terrible, but it’s only a 9 speed, so hand me down derailleur is gonna fix that up.
The fork is bonkers light, I was shocked when I got it out of the box. We’ll see how it performs soon, but I have high hopes. I almost regret not getting the remote lockout version, but I didn’t want to clutter the cockpit too much. The bars are also nice and light, and feel good with the little bit of riding I’ve done while setting the bike up.