The 1x11 Enduro Racing Drive Train Journey Part 3

The 1x11 Enduro Racing Drive Train Journey

Part 3

Life changes and great opportunities are often placed in front of you without warning.

Case in point: One of Epic Racing’s great sponsors, Center Cycle, provided an opportunity to purchase a 2013 Santa Cruz Tall Boy LTc SPX AM at a very significant discount.  Now, my project takes a twist as my 1x11 drive train dream is now destined for glory on the Tall Boy LTc as my 2014 enduro racing rig and the Nomad will now see use primarily for bike park and giving Down Hill racing a try.

The Nomad drive train will be freshened up with the cast off Shimano XT 11-36 10 Speed Cassette, XT Clutch derailleur, and the XT 10 Speed shifter from the new Tall Boy LTc.  A 36T Drop Stop 104 BDC chain ring from Wolf Tooth Components will eventually be purchased and installed.

The new Tall Boy LTc arrived home and was immediately weighed at 29lbs 11oz on my Feedback Sports digital scale.  I can never leave things unchanged for long so I replaced the stock stem and handle bar with an Easton Haven 65mm stem and an Easton Haven Carbon Bar off another bike in the house and converted the tires to tubeless and the weighed dropped to 29lbs 4oz.

Within a week the friendly man driving the big brown delivery truck arrived and I quickly installed the XD driver onto the DT Swiss 350 hub, the XX1 cassette, XO1 Trigger Shifter, XX1 Chain, and XO1 Rear Derailleur I purchased from jensonusa.com for $870.  I also installed my XO GXP Crank with the 30t GXP Drop Stop chain ring from Wolf Tooth Components (described in Part 1) and swapped out the stock Thompson seat post for a Crank Bros Kronolog dropper post. 

 

Despite claims from Wolf Tooth that a chain guide is not required with the XO1 rear derailleur I decided to install my MRP Micro Chain Guide (described in Part 2) with the lower guide pulley removed for the chain ring protection from the integrated bash guard.  I also kept the top guide installed as an extra measure of security.  However, Wolf Tooth makes a bash guard that mounts directly to their GPX chain ring so I may have to give that a try at a future date.

This size large enduro racing ready 29r with dropper post, stout Maxis Ardent UST tires, and chain guide/bash guard now weighs a very respectable 28lbs 4 oz. 

Now with the Pacific Northwest winter settled in on us, and no reprieve from muddy trails, I am hesitant to take this new beauty out for some serious trail time.  Don’t judge…you all have had that fear of getting that new bike dirty.  It eventually wears off so expect a Part 4 of this journey soon…

Thanks to my wonderful wife and the following Epic Racing Sponsors for making this project possible:

Center Cycle 

Crank Brothers

Wolf Tooth

Marc Garoutte

The 1x11 Enduro Racing Drive Train Journey Part 2

The 1x11 Enduro Racing Drive Train Journey

Part 2

After returning from the final Oregon Enduro race I decided to install and test MRP’s Micro Chain Guide designed for 28-32t single direct mount chain rings.

  

The MRP Micro Chain Guide installation was fairly simple:   The top guide was aligned using the included spacers behind the backing plate and the ISCG-05 tabs.  But, to get the lower pulley to line up with the Wolf Tooth chain ring I had to add two 1mm washers (not included) on the lower guide shaft.   Use of this guide has been flawless and eliminated the minor dropped chain issues caused by using my non “clutch” derailleur.  There is some minor noise associated from the chain rolling on the lower guide pulley while pedaling but it is easy to ignore during a ride.

Marc Garoutte