In Part 1 of this review I covered the design features of this bike. Here in Part 2 I’ll cover the parts I used to build up the bike. A couple important things to note 1) I am using a lot of existing parts I had laying around and 2) I bought some new parts back when I was expecting to have a production frame instead of this custom Daambuilt frame. So if I was starting from scratch today my build would look a bit different. That’s fine I’m not unhappy about any of the parts I am using.
Mega Krampus Build
- Fork: RockShox Pike RC2 – 140mm travel with 42mm offset
- Headset: Chris King Inset 7
- Stem: Kore 35mm length – 31.8mm clamp
- Bars: SQ Labs 12 Deg bars – 780mm wide with 12 deg backsweep & 4 deg upsweep
- Grips: Ergon GA3 with ODI metal plugs
- Dropper: RockShox Reverb 150mm travel
- Saddle: WTB Pure
- Front Brake: Shimano XTR with 200mm rotor
- Rear Brake: Shimano XTR with 180mm rotor
- Shifter: Shimano Zee 10 speed
- Derailleur: Shimano Zee 10 speed with Wolf Tooth Goat Link
- Cassette: Shimano XT with Wolf Tooth 42T GC Cog
- Cranks: Race Face Turbine with 28T RF chainring
- Chain: SRAM 10 speed
- Pedals: Kona Wah Wah II Composite
- Wheels: Velocity Blunt 35 rims with Hope Pro4 hubs + Wolf Tooth Boostinator kits
- Tires: Maxxis Rekon 29 x 2.6″
- Accessories:
- Wolf Tooth Morse bottle cage
- Porcelain Rocket half-frame bag
- Old Man Mountain Sherpa rear rack
- Garmin ETREX 20 GPS with bar mount
- Bike Armor Heli-Tape
- Topeak Modula XL 1.5L bottle cage
You’ll notice I’ve got 2.6″ tires on the Mega Krampus to start with. That’s totally because I thought at one point I was getting a production frame that maxed out at 2.6″ clearance. While this is a lot smaller volume than a true 29+ 3.0″ tire it’s still big compared to “normal” rubber. So I’ll get rolling with these tires which will suit my initial mixed surface use of the bike well. When an opportunity comes to get a bit more shreddy I’ll swap in some more aggressive tires.
Most of the bling parts [XTR brakes, RF Atlas pedals & Velocity/Hope wheels] came from the parts bin. While the newer parts [Shimano Zee 10 speed drivetrain, RF Turbine cranks] are more workman level components. Regardless of how fancy they are all these parts have a reputation for being solid performers that are reliable and won’t let me down when I am far from the trailhead.
In an age of hyper-specialized bikes the Mega Krampus is a do-almost-everything mountain bike.
If I was starting from scratch with no existing spare parts laying around what would I have done differently?
- 29+ compatible fork that would fit a 3″ tire + a fender
- 3″ tires [Bonty Chupas] on 40-45mm rims
- Cable actuated dropper with an ergonomic under the bar lever
- SRAM Code brakes
- SRAM Eagle GX drivetrain
- Custom UL rear rack
So other than the fork/tires/rim changes nothing too radical.
Hi Vik, Lovely bike. Would you put a 3″ tire on those Velocity 35mm rims? I’m asking because that’s what we did on our ECRs three years ago and our rear rims began showing cracks around the spoke holes while in Australia, and when I took my wheel apart the inner rim had actually begin cracking – splitting apart. I had to build a new wheel. When we came home, Velocity warrantied them but told me those rims are not designed for 3″ tires, although at the time, in 2016, they were. We’re now running Velocity 40 mm rims on the back and will probably do the same on the front although those rims seem to be holding up.
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No I wouldn’t use 30mm internal width rims with 3″ tires. I just built up some 40mm internal width rims that will go on this bike. They currently have 2.8″ tires on them [measure out to ~2.7″ with calipers] and they have a nice profile. I would run 3″ tires on these 40mm rims. If I was only going to run 3″ tires I would go for an even wider 45-50mm internal width rim for the best sidewall support and tire profile. Wheels are expensive so you often have to compromise unless you can run only one type of tire on a set of wheels.
The 30mm internal width rims will end up on a trail bike with 2.6″ tires [that probably measure ~2.5″ with calipers].
I would not expect a 3″ tire to damage a narrow rim because you should be running them at very low pressures. The issue is the tire profile will be overly round and the sidewalls will not be well supported so they fold easily making handling poor.
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I built these 30mm wheels for a previous frame I ended up not buying and also bought the 2.6″ tires for a frame I didn’t buy. Since I had them I used them on the Mega Krampus.
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