Here’s the latest on the Misfit Psycles frame and fork we recieved to test/review. The build up, which we will lay out for you in detail on The Bike Lab, is now complete. Here we’ll give you a look at it and lay out some numbers for you who like to crunch such things.
A look at both sides of a Misfit.
The build went well with no quirky troubles or pitfalls. Things lined up, fit right, and worked just the way you would expect them too. Of course, building a single speed up is almost like instant gratification, they are almost too easy. Of course, when all the parts gel together like they did on this build, it tends to be that way.
170mm long cranks were used since they are my favorite length for single speeding.
The sliding drop outs seemed easy to adjust. We’ll see if they hold their posistion during the testing phase.
The unusual Quad “Dime XC” brakes are pretty nice stoppers.
Here are the numbers on the 19.29″ size. (No, I’m not making that up. It really says 19.29 on the Misfit site!) These are all actual measurements taken by myself.
Effective Top Tube- 24 1/8th”
Seat Tube Angle- 73 Degrees
Head Tube Angle- 72 Degrees
Wheel Base- 43″ (Sliders almost all the way forward)
Bottom Bracket Height- 11 3/4″ (WTB Prowlers on Speed Disc Rims)
Stem- 100mm
Centerline of Handle Bar at the Stem to Center Of Saddle- 28″
Weight- 25lbs even
My impressions so far are that the bike came out looking great. I was mildly surprised at the weight, since I didn’t even take weight into consideration in the build. Everything was based on a budget. I have no doubt that I could get this build under 23lbs easily with a few easy part changes. Down a couple more pounds than that with a bunch of cash thrown at it.
The fork is still an unknown at this point, but a quick jaunt ’round the block shows that it seems to react much like a carbon fork. It displays a similar amount of fore/aft movemet to the legs. They definitely flex when pushed down on by the handle bars, which also have a wee bit of flex to them as well. It promises to be a decent ride from the early indications, but we shall reserve final judgement as of now.
Stay tuned for a first impressions post coming soon.
The guys behind Quad are good fellows too. A Brit and a Taiwanese. Even their first mechanical disc 10 years ago (holy cow! has it been 10 years already!) was quite nice. Unfortunately, the US consumer is much more brand driven than function.
And please tell me you are going to trim those housings down
Not sure about the way you have the bars set up. Everyone I have seen who runs the FUBAR on a 29er puts them the other way up, so that they curve downwards. You might want to give them a try that way…
Mike: The lines will get trimmed after I am satisfied with the bars, (I have Fu2Bars as well to try) and I like the lever position. I have the olives and whatnot all ready to go.
Unglued: Yeah, I have seen the FuBar run “upside down”, but the pic is just a bit misleading in that the saddle height there is about an inch and a half lower than where I will ride it normally. This will get me my ‘proper” saddle to bar drop that I like for general XC riding. The “upside down” FuBar would be too low at my saddle height.
That said, the angle of the bar may change once I get to riding and tweaking on the set up some.
I just flipped my fubar this past weekend and put in 20 miles on it. Felt like I was in a more ‘racey’ position without compromising comfort. Looking forward to your review of the diSSent. I couldn’t be happier with mine.
The build looks good, GT. All black to cut through the woods like a ninja. I like it.
I’d love to hear more about the brakes even more than the bike. What’s the scoop on those Quads??
Dust: Thanks man! I’ll have to remember to wear my all black kit with hood next time I am out there with this rig.
MMcG: Quad is distributed through J$B Importers here in the States. I found that they get pretty decent reviews in the English press and are well thought of in the U.K. market.
The modulation is incredible on these and they are effortless to operate. I’m told the bleeding process is painless as well, so after I take Mike’s advice to cut the hoses shorter and bleed the system, (If necessary) I’ll report back on that.
GT –
I am interested in your preference for 170mm cranks. I think you are a pretty tall guy, which seems to fly in the face of conventional thought. Do tell -
NHNiner: Long story short: I heard that the early Crested Butte 29″er guys, and Wes Williams in particular, were fans of 170mm cranks on 29″ers. I never really could find out why, so I gave it a shot. I’m not convinced in terms of a geared bike, but for single speeding, I could discern an obvious benefit for me. Your mileage may vary.