31 August 2014

Salsa 2014 Carbon Krampgrease is born

I have been toying with idea of 29+er wheel option for a while now and have gone ahead and built a bike up from scratch. A complete build Surly Krampus did not float my boat but a Travers Rudy Fat 29+ Frame and Travers Carbon Prong 29 did but it was over my budget by the time i bought some parts & wheel build that i did not have. The other negative side was that i could not run normal 26" fat tyres in the frameset. So back to square one and stick with what i have - Salsa Carbon Beargrease which is 26+ & 29+ compatiable. Then a Large frameset inc hubs etc came up at a good price and was here the next day thanks to Tim from Sidewayscycles. Job sorted just needed to get the hubs built up into a wheelset and order the remaining parts that i did not have. As normal Mark / Jason from Westbrookcycles sorted out the Surly Rabbit Hole 29+ rims, Surly rim tape, spokes/nipples and build. Whilst waiting for 29er wheels we swapped over the wheels from the Bergrease onto this one to try it out. An inline seatpost/wider bars gave a differnet riding position compaired to my more flatter back / racer position. Yesterday we collected the wheels etc en route to Whitby so completed the Krampgrease today. We have not ridden it off road yet and still playing around with tyre pressures but its certainly different. Below are some photos from the build etc. More reports to follow after some miles have been cloaked on.  
With 26+ wheelset

With 29+ wheelset

Large Beargrease frame inc mech hanger & bolt

Beargrease forks - un cut steerer

Getting a start on the build

Angus used it with my wheels on a few rides - loved it

Sticking with Sram 1-11 set up, has not gone wrong yet


One in each colour now !

Rear Wheel


Front wheel


Complete 29+ bike weight, easliy get it under 23lbs


Fork clearance - ok

Rear clearance alittle tighter

Plenty clearnace down the chainstay area


2 comments:

  1. How much did the wheel sets cost you to build? I am considering doing this to my Beargrease. Thank you, Erik

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    Replies
    1. Think it was around £300 from Westbrook Cycles - speak to Jason / Mark. This is the third set of fat wheels they have built for me

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