Intense Socom FRO

Drivetrain:

Cables & Housing – Shimano SIS

Standard Shimano SIS housing was used in this build. It’s very lightweight and works great.

Regular SIS housing

Cassette – Shimano Dura Ace 11-12-14-16-17-19

For the cassette, we opted with a 6-speed custom cassette. It’s made from a 11-23 Dura-ace cassette and a 16t XT cog. We opted with this custom geared cassette as it provides a few benefits in our specific bike. It gives a small security zone (3 less cogs) which means the chances of getting a derailleur in your expensive wheels is drastically reduced. It also is a specific setup of gears that I use and like so there’s fewer big gaps that you typically see in a 9spd mountain cassette. No need to double shift that typically happens with a road cluster as the gearing on them is often only 1 tooh difference per cog. It may not work for everyone, but if you know what gears you need it makes sense especially if you’re gearing a bike to be a lightweight steed. The custom 6 speed cassette weighs in at 106g, which is more than half the weight of a standard Sram 12-26 pg970 road cassette. If the gearing is a bit to steep, adding two more gears (dura ace 21-23) only adds an additional 40g. In addition to the benefits outlined above, using such a small cassette allows for quick gear changes. Essentially you can traverse up the entire 6spd cassette in one full thumb stroke on the shifter enabling you to get that right gear that much quicker.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Chain – KMC X9SL

The KMC X9SL chain shifts well and is very lightweight. It’s a lightweight chain that doesn’t compromise quality where some other chains fall short. We’ve had no issues with these chains.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Chainguide – E.thirteen LG.1 ISCG Wide Backplate

The e.13 LG1 was chosen as their guides are almost defacto in the downhill community nowadays. They continue to improve their guides and are reliable. The LG.1 also now comes with a taco, so no need to hacksaw a supercharger bashring up to make one. The taco is a small bash that bolts directly to the e.13 backplate to give you a little bit of protection from impacts. The LG.1 is a lightweight chainguide and we’ve modified ours slightly with an e.13 wide backplate to help clear the VPP frame (clock the guide properly) and added a little custom unique plastic setup for now… until someone borrows that idea.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Chainring – e.thirteen 36t guidering

Light and strong. The e.thirteen chainrings are great and it’s a no brainer picking this for me.

Crankset – Shimano Hone Double Crankset 170mm

I chose these cranks for a few reasons. Shimano has their cranksets dialed and it’s rare you’ll find someone that dislikes them for good reason. FSA’s or Race Face’s would be my second choice in cranks as they both make fine products. We could’ve gone with a super lightweight crankset like the XTR’s, but we wanted a little bit more security. The Hone’s combine the lightweight features of the XT/XTR crankset, but provide additional security in the steel pedal insert and washers that is seen on the Saint cranks. They don’t come in 165mm, so 170mm was selected. The weight penalty over the Shimano XT’s is only about 30g (~100g compared to XTR). Should you want a more bombproof setup, Saint’s are beefier but for our lightweight race build we felt it was important to seek a middle ground and the Hone’s are not too expensive as well so they fit the bill perfectly.

(click to enlarge)

Pedals – Straitline / Shimano XTR / Wellgo MG1

For pedals, the Wellgo MG1’s are hard to beat. They’re not too expensive, and offer good grip. Alternatively, the Straitline pedals also are some of my favorite, so for sake of this being a lightweight build we opted to choose the Welgo pedals as they come in at a svelte 377g. Another option if you run clipless pedals is to run a XC clipless pedal. While it won’t provide you with the additional protection and room to sit on of a more caged design like the Mallet or DX clipless pedal, they will give you more clearance in corners and in rock gardens. Should you however catch an XC clipless pedal on a rock though, your chances of needing a new pedal will obviously increase as well as there being less room to rest your foot on in case you are not clipped in.

(click to enlarge)

Rear Derailleur – Shimano XTR GS M971

The Shimano XTR derailleur is smooth and solid. Shifting is pretty effortless and XTR derailleurs have been reliable for me for a long time.

(click to enlarge)

Rear Shifter – Shimano M800 Saint

The Saint shifter is designed for gravity racing and it utilizes super short paddles to make sure you have ample room to grip the bars without interference. It doesn’t have a gear indicator on it and shifts are crisp and quick with it. It’s also a more knee friendly design as well and rarely does it feel in the way. The positioning of the shifter is vital with its shorter arms but its design is quite well for the intended purpose.

(click to enlarge)

< - previous page next page ->