29ers

The Atlas is an amazingly fun bike…got really close to picking one up but I went with the Prime instead. :) Enjoy the new bike man!

New bike, winter bike, pretty bike, finished building it last night, just have to trim the rear brake hose and she's good to go.

Chromag Rootdown 29er FTW. First ride on 29 inch wheels last night around the parking lot trying to see if there were any creaks, and boy is it different from 26. Looking forward to trying it on the trail and comparing to my old stylus.

New bike, winter bike, pretty bike, finished building it last night, just have to trim the rear brake hose and she's good to go.

Chromag Rootdown 29er FTW. First ride on 29 inch wheels last night around the parking loot trying to see if there were any creaks, and boy is it different from 26. Looking forward to trying it on the trail and comparing to my old stylus.

Awesome. I have a blue one I'm still accumulating parts for. Hopefully in the next month or two it will be ready to rip. What size is yours? (Mine's a M/L.)

Awesome. I have a blue one I'm still accumulating parts for. Hopefully in the next month or two it will be ready to rip. What size is yours? (Mine's a M/L.)

Looks good in blue, black was the only colour in stock when I ordered mine.

Accumulating parts is an exercise in patience, mine sat for 3 months before being built up. I have to thank Ryan Petersen at Cap's Sapperton for storing the frame for me while I waited for parts to come in (and finding me some short supply, out of stock bits for the build), also shout out to Alex at Marzocchi for finding me a fork.

It's a large. I have a longer torso and shorter legs (6 foot tall with 31 inch inseam) so the bend in the frame lends itself well for stand-over. Parking lot test suggests that top tube is a bit short but I will reserve judgement until I get some mountain laps in.

looks great rachid

i find i prefer a slightly shorter top tube on hardtails - lets you weight/ride the front end a bit more, which is important as its the only part that's tracking and providing any forgiveness when things get rough. makes fork setup that much more important, though; alex is your friend!

Here's what I have so far:

Blue Rootdown frame size m/l
Chromag Ranger Stem 50mm
Chromag Fubar OS bars
Shimano SLX hydro brakes and rotors
XFusion Hilo seatpost
Spank Oozy 29er wheelset
Specialized Control Butcher and Purgatory tires
Chromag trailmaster saddle

What I still need:

Fork (Depending on budget I will go Pike [my dream fork], Xfusion Trace, Fox Float 34 or maybe Revelation)
Drivetrain-I will probably go with 1x10 at either SLX or XT level. I like the idea of the RaceFace 30-tooth chainring and either a sram or shimano 11-36 cassette.
Headset/quick releases/skewers-Don't know. I'm going for a pretty stealthy build if possible although my Fubar is rootbeer in color.

Papa Taco, that sounds like a nice build. Mine is a bit different, as you can see. I considered the Pike but availability was scarce at the time of order and Omar (boomforeal) who reviewed the 44 for NSMB.com reassured me of the Marzocchi's chops. Built as follows:

Frame - Large Chromag Rootdown
Fork - 2013.5 Marzocchi 44 TA switch (travel adjust) 29
Headset - Hope Cups
Drivetrain - Shifter Sram x9 with matchmarker mount to brake, derailleur SRAM X0
Cassette - Sram 1070 - 11/34 - 10 speed
Chain - Shimano XT - 10 speed
Bar - Joystick - Analog Carbon DH bar
Brakes - 2014 Sram X9 trail (four piston)
Brake Rotors - Hope sawblade floating rotors
Crank - RaceFace turbine with Straitline 32t ring - 1x10 set up
Guide - Straitline silentguide
Stem - Chromag
Collar - Chromag QR
Saddle - Chromag with Ti rails
Wheels - King 135x10mm rear hub, Hope Evo front hub, Stan's Crest EX rims - handbuilt, DT Swiss 10x135 axle
Tires - Spec. Butcher 2.3 front, Ground Control 2.3 rear
Pedals - Blackspire Sub 4

Fork - 2013.5 Marzocchi 44 TA switch (travel adjust) 29

Do you find you use the travel adjust much? Also how do you like the fork overall?

Edit: sorry, I just realized you said you have only parking lot tested it so far. Let me know how you like the fork and the travel adjust after you get some time on it. Cheers!

Updated, Yo!

New bits/Winter build
New Chromag 32t ring
XT 11-36 10spd cassette
XTR Chain
2.3 Purg Rear, 2.3 HRII 3C EXO TR Front, both set up Gorilla Tubeless (Have a DHRII 2.3 thats going on the rear soon)
XTR Trail brakes 160mm rotors
Mucky Nutz arch fender and a SKS X-Board
Straightened out the Der Guide

I'm waiting on a Large green Rootdown which is coming in later this month. Also 6' even with a big fit and decided to go with the biggest size they make. After much debate over fork size, I'm going with a 140 Pike on Chromag's recommendation. A few other hand-picked bits and pieces are on the way.

also 6 footer and found this 2014 Surly (20") to fit the bill. 26#. Bikepacking, shore trails, commuting, you name it, these Karate Monkey's can do it. Thanks to Dream Cycle for making it happen…

^ Looks legit. Liking the colour.

Somehow the stars aligned this weekend and I sold both of my bikes hassle free. Now I'm bikeless and looking for a 29er hardtail for the winter. Some nice build on here!

Somehow the stars aligned this weekend and I sold both of my bikes hassle free. Now I'm bikeless and looking for a 29er hardtail for the winter. Some nice build on here!

get a HONZO sweet HT 29er