Monthly Archives: March 2026

Race Face Aeffect 165mm cranks and 30T chainring from the parts bin.

ZTTO cassette is crazy light and shifts amazingly.

Weight has gone up by 200g due to the heavier (but shorter) 165mm cranks. BB is still super low though so I might even look into 155mm cranks if I want to keep the mullet setup (will have to see how these go with the extra 5mm clearance).

If ya ain’t fallin’, ya ain’t tryin’?!

First time out there on a mullet setup yesterday morning and first time tackling this janky segment at Loftus on the hardtail. Definitely got more pedal strikes (might put on my shorter 165mm cranks), but damn the mullet setup is so much more fun on the flowy stuff, and quite confidence inspiring on the techy stuff too (climbing up tech was fine!).

The mullet setup got the total weight down to 12.08kg’s and I had been contemplating grabbing the anemic lightweight stem off of my Amflow, and at the same time, stealing the carbon OneUp bars off the Amfow too which would get the bike into the high 11kg’s, but man I’ve got to stop tinkering, and just ride more.

IE: If I had the carbon bars and the weenie stem on for today’s ride, the fall I had would have damaged them much more than the light scratches on my Renthal bars, brake lever and stem.

All in all just super happy with the setup. The fit feels good, the Fox fork is amazing, I could go lower for my weight, but 17psi front and 20psi back tubeless feels right, the mullet setup definitely feels slower on the firetrails but the fun factor everywhere else is worth it. I did have one huge front tyre washout, but it was a loose off camber corner, so I’ll stick with the Schwalbe Hans Damf front for now before considering something wider/grippier (the Maxxis Dissector rear was solid).

Had a meeting with Guido of Revolve Recycling today. They’re working on a new web site and wanted to use some of my existing photos for it, but I just wanted to let them know that I’d be more than keen to shoot more content for them for the love what they do, as well as the love of bikes!

Angry Bees!

Couldn’t help myself, the 170mm XX1 carbon crankset I had in my parts bin went on. OneUp chain guide too.

I’d been tubeless sweaty styles, but no more vigorous pumping needed with the Airshot. So good!

Got a Ratchet EXP HG freehub in the mail and now my DT Swiss wheels with DT180 hubs are on the bike too.

Then there’s this thing. A 140mm Fox 36 SL. Kashima goodness!

You too, Mr. Fox.

Almost 2kg’s saved, very nice.

Hnnnng!

Nothing better than tinkering with bikes when it’s too wet to ride.

HG freehub for my DT Swiss wheels came in the mail today so I got that on and ripped off the Tufo XC tyres. Whoever created tyre inserts can go EAD. Trying to break the bead to remove the rear tyre was impossible. I ended up cutting the tyre (they were trash anyways lol)

Fox fork came in the mail too. Chopping the steerer and inserting the nut went smooth as, but I fucked up with the post mount brake adapters. Front +23 was right for a 203mm Galfer rotor I had in my parts bin, but the rear +23 didn’t work as the frame is designed for 160mm rotors (there was a +20 adapter on there already). I’m re-using the 180mm Tektro rotor for now.

Really happy with the weight savings (and how it all looks!). Not set up the fork yet, but will do tomorrow. More rain predicted over the next few days but so keen to get out on the trails to dial it all in.