My bb7 heavy duty AM bike.. love it. Can't get over how well it handles and pedals. It actually pedals quite well. .. Was truly surprised. Weighs 15.2kg.
The balfa is running the following:
Original Equipment
-2003 Balfa BB7 frame( i think its a medium)
-balfa seat (hence why i havent put a modern one on)
-azonic cranks (not sure of model but they seem to be pretty light)
-Blackspire chain device (although i have removed an idler off it after going to a NW chain ring)
-token head stem of some sort with weird non tapered bearings (might have to change to a chris king or cane creek just because)
-optional balfa floating rear caliper mount
New Equipment
-very custom hand-built (by NS dynamics) 170mm Marzocchi 55 CR Ti's which were made from new parts (as in never sold as a fork) with the lockout ability, converted to air, nickel coat stanchions, low friction seals and bushes and ata travel adjust. (it makes my pikes with the 500 dollar NOVI parts upgrade feel a bit lame now... and that upgrade made the standard pikes feel lame)
-CCDB with 450lb race steel spring (so much lighter than the standard one) and a thrust bearing to boot (going to try and get a CS piece added to it, it will remain a coil shock)
-Easton Havoc 750 or 760 bars
-Thomson 60mm stem
-2012 Codes (with 200mm rotors)
-oury grips
-straightline defacto pedals
-32t wolftooth NW chain ring
-saint 10spd shifter
-XT shadow plus rear derailleur
-xt 11-36 cassette with an e13 42t rear cog and 16t cog added
-Thomson 27.2mm, 125mm dropper post
-Flow EX Rims on hope pro2 hubs running tubeless minion on the front and ikon on the rear to help pedaling (plus rear shock allows for heaps of grip anyway)
Total weight 15.2kg (down from 20.5 when it was in DH guise), losing the old formula hubs, MTX rims (still perfectly true), maxxis DH tubes and Minion DHR dropped 3.5kg alone.
Ride report
- since doing the mods, I have completed over 75km and 1500m+ vertical of single track riding in 3 days.
Climbing
-climbing is a lot better than you would expect for a 12yr old DH bike, in fact it is much better than a majority of AM bikes up until the era of the SB66 (when long travel, proper am bikes started to be able to climb). Yes I have had to dial up the low speed compression a bit but it is no where near the limit of what the CCDB can achieve.
-It however is a lot harder to climb up a big slope compared to the jekyll (especially when set in the 90mm travel climb mode), it will never be the fastest to the top but it will get you there (and up things that other bikes struggle with)
-Where it does come into its own on climbs is on technical climbs (the rooty, ledgy rocky climbs that upsets suspension and has you spinning the rear wheel), this thing can climb and clear sections that i have never been able to clear before as there is zero pedal kick back, zero chain growth (due to the idler), and relies on the high pivot point gove good efficiency rather than locking up the rear suspension (basically the suspension stays active, yet efficient). The 9" of vertical and 2" of rearward travel in the rear really allows you to just pop up and over sections without any loss of traction, even with something light like the ikon.
-Body english is required on the really steep stuff to keep the nose on the deck
-She does like to wander a bit at anything slower than a quick jogging pace.
BUT I NEVER BUILT IT FOR ITS CLIMBING PROWESS, it only ever needed to make it to the top of the hill and to be able to ride all of the trails at the you yangs flat out (on the downs)
Riding (where it counts)
-it is the the best AM bike i have ever ridden on a twisty, rough, descending trail (those that know the bikes that i have ridden and what suspension/geometry work that i have had completed on the jekyll will know that, that is a big call)
-Once the trail flattens and lots of pedaling is required, i'd rather be on the jekyll but i do DH tracks on the Jekyll too (although i do have a V10C for the proper stuff)
-i have never been on a bike that is so fluid when you change directions, so easy. It just tips in, grips, extends out the wheelbase and gets super stable, then shoots you out the other side.
-even on flatter trails that require a lot of pedaling, as long as there are a lot of corners, the thing is fast. I truly am astounded by the lines that this things can hold and just how much i can lean on the front end of the old girl.
-even though the bottom bracket is fairly high, the weight is so low and she just feels so stable and just wants to tip into the corners (you truly have to try it to understand what i mean)
-i have never been so confident in my life to hit big doubles (i hit them on the jekyll no worries but new trails that i dont know), super stable in the air and as i found out, if you case it, that massive travel makes it all dissapear.
-another plus with all that travel, when you hit the rally rough stuff, you can just lean back and let that massively rearward axle path do its thing, again with zero pedal kickback.
Overview
-obviously not the lightest or most efficient bike available but it will get you to the top no problems, even up technical sections that you didnt realise was possible before. Where this bike shines is its cornering prowess, you really do feel like one with the bike (in no time at all), it tips in fast but is ridiculously stable unless you want it to be playful; it also has the added bonus of being able to destroy doubles and even gnarly rock gardens at serious pace.
10/10 would ride... unless you only like to climb hills on your xc hard tail...
But still a cool idea to use 650b+ wheels on the old trusty BB7. Did you measure the clearance against the seat tube under full compression...? I remember it was tight with "normal" setup.