hobbitman

Save Up to 60% Off Motobecane Cyclocross Singlespeed Fixie Bikes - Fantom Cross UNO PRO Track | Singlespeed Cross bikes | Save up to 60% off new bikes

Was randomly checking bikes direct today and noticed this. What say you?

seau grateau

It'll be heavy, and cable placement on the TT doesn't make sense given its intended application. 400 bucks for a disc brake SSCX bike is pretty tasty though. Seems like it might be a good deal at a glance.

legec117

I ordered on yesterday in ocean blue. Have read that the 56cm bike weighs about 23lbs out the box with 700x37 WTB Riddlers. Looks like a heavy crankset/chainring and wheelset. I'll run it as is until things start to break or I get bored and start replacing things. Not really concerned about the weight, bought it as a beater/city bike/light off-road. Wanted something that wasn't flashy to attract thieves and burly enough to take some hits while parked in bike racks. I don't feel comfortable doing these things with my carbon road bike on 23's.

Liked the frame material and overall look, Disc Brakes, and WTB Tires. for $430 delivered to my door was just too hard to pass up. I'll write something up when I receive it on Friday.

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legec117

better in which way? I'm pretty ignorant on steel ss bikes, so maybe the frame material or geometry is better for some uses?

It’s $150 cheaper, so the price is better for me. It comes with disc brakes, which is better for me. Come with wtb riddler tires, which are better for me. Possibly fits a bigger tire (up to 29x2.1) which is better for me.

Dylansbob 

The great thing about steel disc brake frames is that you don't have to use them. There's still drillings at the fork/bridge. The brakes are usually the clearance obstacles anyways.

I'd be all over the fantom once I see how 47-51mm tire fits everywhere.

legec117

Got the bike today. We'll packaged. Frame looks great. Front tube has a leak on delivery. Wheels aren't completely true, but not too bad. I've never had disk brakes before, and I suck at adjusting them. I can't get them tight and I'm basically pulling them all the way to the bars to start stopping.. I didn't realize the bike had both types of brake levers.

It's a little heavy, but seemingly would be easy to drop weight off of it. I like it alot.

DrIsotope

I just finished building my Fantom Cross Uno (non-Pro) this morning-- a process which took about a week, as I purchased the bike strictly for the use of the frame and fork. I wanted dropbar, but BD was out of stock on every color in my size (61) in both Pro and non-Pro at the time I ordered. So I checked the geometry chart to confirm that that flat and drop versions are identical (they are) and went for the "green" Uno, as all of the bits from the Pro would have been wasted. I already had a wheelset, tires, stem, bars, saddle, etc.



It's a good thing I had parts waiting, because everything that comes on it is CHUNKY. I didn't think to start weighing things as I was putting it together until I was a good ways in-- but the included crank + ring + BB with the Uno weighs a portly 1,200g, which I replaced with a thrifty SRAM Courier 300 at a total of 820g-- that's not a flyweight crankset, but still shaved 380g (13.4oz) for about $125. The wheel+tire combos are anchors. I imagine what comes with the Pro is a few ounces lighter courtesy of the Riddlers, but the rims themselves are heavy. I just weighed the front "assembly," rim + rotor + skewer + tire and tube, and it came to a remarkable 2,145g. I compared it to the Crank Brothers Iodine I'm using (with 180mm IceTech rotor, Shimano XT skewer, and tubeless 700x35 Ritchey Alpine JB) weighing in at 1,545g-- 600g (21.1oz) lighter. I trimmed off over 2 pounds with just wheel, tire, and crankset. No idea what the Cross Uno weighs out of the box, but as my finished bike in 61 is right at 25lbs, would say stock it's hitting around 30lbs. But hey, whaddaya want for three hundred dollas.

First curveball was a 26.0mm seatpost, a new one for me, and a sadmaker as I have a rack of 27.2 posts here (every bike I own save this one uses the same size post,) but it Origin8 saved the day with a decent looking post for about 25 bucks. I knew I would need to spread the dropout to accommodate a 135 wheel-- something I have never done before-- but figured that a $299 frame was as good a place to start as any. A foot of 3/8" all-thread, some nuts and washers, and it took all of 30 minutes. It would be pretty tough to mess up, I think-- each "spead" only moves the dropouts about 1mm each time, so I had to crank it open and back it off probably 20 times. It seems to have bent pretty straight, as the disc doesn't rub, it goes in a straight line, and it's great no-handed.

I lathed the 12x142 TA endcaps for the rear wheel down to 135mm wide, then fabricated a 12mm to 10mm axle adapter out of aluminum rod, using M8x30 hex cap bolts to tighten the rear wheel down. Last fabrication was spacers to set the chainline on the CB freehub. I used delrin scrap, and an old 12T outer cog with it's teeth lathed off-- so the lockring would be biting into metal, not the plastic spacer. I feel like I got the chainline straight-- it's quiet and it doesn't feel like it's dragging at all, so maybe I got lucky. If there's any issue in the future, I'll just give in and order one of those spacer kits.

Took it out for it's inaugural voyage this morning, 25 miles with about 1,300ft of vertical. I must have reached for the non-existent shift lever a dozen times.

legec117

So much of what you said went over my head, but I like your bike! you added that the tensioner/holder thing? Mine

doesn't have that. I may go the opposite direction and put a flat bar on mine.

DrIsotope

The tensioners are Origin8, the cheapest ones on Amazon. I don't think I could get the back wheel straight without them.

legec117

Brakes are getting a little better. The lever pull kind of sucks. The inline cross brakes feel like they activate quicker, but aren't as strong as the drop brakes. Weird. I have to adjust them frequently.

Other than that and a bad tube on arrival, I love the bike. Have about 25 miles on it so far, and the more I ride it the more I like it. Single speed and wind have been crushing my legs lately, but I love it!

DrIsotope

I could not bear the "mantis green," which was a pretty good approximation of zinc chromate yellow. I bought green because I wanted green. Spray.bike to the rescue. And just like that, I'd say it's about done. About a hundred miles on it so far, should be another 35 or so tomorrow.

legec117

I'm loving the bike! Anyone know if this frame fits about a 700x40/42 tire max, what size 650b/27.5 tire max I could fit? Looking at getting a beefier set to take on local single track!

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DrIsotope

It's a super thin metal badge, affixed with foam tape. No holes or anything underneath. Peel it off. Might need a little Goo Gone or alcohol for the adhesive residue.

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legec117

I didn't realize this either, but I ended up using them much more. I'm not satisfied with the pull on them, but I'm converting to a flat carbon bar tomorrow and Avid speed dial 7 levers. This bike looks like it will turn into a frame and fork purchase eventually. Will likely change alot on it, but i'm having fun with it.

You should be able to remove them, but will likely need new housing at the bare minimum. I saw a video online on how to covert to interrupter/inline levers like that, if you can find it, it may give you an Idea on how to remove them.

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Dylansbob 

Interrupter levers are notorious for ruining braking feel. Unless your bars are super wide, it requires the housing to make too sharp of bends and extremely careful setup. One trick I sometimes use is to use vbrake noodles for some of the housing bends, but that adds one more housing cut that has to be perfectly square or it flexes.

legec117

I'll post a pic soon. Looks great, the avid speed dial 7 levers are great, jagwire cable kit, 720mm carbon bars. Brakes grab great now.

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AlmostTrick

Changing tires can't change the brake set up. So if it wasn't rubbing before it shouldn't be now. Try realigning the wheel in the drop outs. I like to put the bike on the ground with the quick release loose so the axle seats fully. Then clamp. If that doesn't correct it then you have to figure out which side is rubbing, and adjust from there.

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Dylansbob 

It doesn't take much to tweak a rotor to rub.