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| My seatpost is Titanium. That should help in color comparison. |
I turned up with the above frame for my normal Saturday
ride and my friend Deck said : You bought a Titanium frame?!
On the way home and we met Bal and Podium Louie hiking
in Bukit Timah and they said : You bought a Titanium frame?!
So, although CRC assured me that what I am buying is a
grey colored frame, in real life, the color of the Brand X HT II
Triple Butted 7000 frame is actually nearer to Titanium color.
You can look at the picture above and compare the color of
the frame to my seatpost which is actually Titanium.
Ever since I started going to these Jamborees in Malaysia,
I have been going over to Togoparts and ChainReactionCycles.com
every night. I'm trying to get a hardtail frame that won't break
the bank. You might ask why, since I already have a Jamis
HT. The thing is my Jamis HT is 17" C-T. I stand 1.70m barefoot.
Most of the sizing charts that I see says that I should be fine
with a Medium frame (17" ?). But seeing all the pros in youtube
and even our local racers in Sg, I think I should be better served
by a smaller frame. Hence the burning desire to get a 16" HT frame.
... But I don't have the budget for a Ti or Carbon frame (as always)
and so I had to settle for an aluminum frame. If I could get a
second hand (cheaper!) frame from Togoparts.com then
that would be the ideal scenario.
However, CRC has been selling this Brand-X XC HT 7000
frame for just 174SGD (depending on the prevailing exchange rate)
and so I put that frame on my basket.... and when I was finally
ready to order ... yup, I was too slow again, the size 16" was
already out of stock. I grumbled to my wife and she asked if
there is another alternative? Of course, there is! Enter the
2nd version of the Brand-X XC HT frame.
You may ask what is 'new' to the second generation of Brand-X
XC HT frame ... and I don't know the answer. I just know that
the first version comes in three colors (black, silver and blue)
whereas the 2nd version only comes in grey. The nice thing
though is that the reviewers of the first version all said that the
paint on their frames, chipped easily. In the second version
nobody seems to complain about the paint ... must have been
solved by then? ... and so, with that in mind, I paid around
250SGD for the frame and conveniently forgot about it so that
I won't go crazy waiting for the package to arrive.
But I didn't even have to wait long! I ordered on a Wednesday
and the next Monday the package was delivered at home. My
wife smsed me saying she thinks there is something wrong
with my order ... apparently, the box is so big and yet whatever
is inside is soooooo light. I said there's nothing wrong hehehe
in fact everything is perfect nyahahahahaha!!!
So when I got home, the first thing I did after opening
the package was to weigh the frame. My frame is 16" C-T
and it weighed exactly 1.6kg. After that, I took out the
bosses for the v-brakes but I didn't bother weighing them
as they seem inconsequential.
The next day, I went to TEF @Novena and asked Wilson
to put in an Aerozine headset which costs 50SGD and bought
a set of Clarks shifter cables (everything you need is inside,
cables, housing, etc.) for 30SGD. I then went back home and
proceeded to transfer all the stuff from my Jamis to the Brand-X
frame. After just 1 hour ... tadaaaaa, I have a new bike :)
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| All the cables are on top of the top tube. CRC forgot that the cable guide for disk brakes are for mechanical disk brakes NOT hydraulics. |
How did it ride?
Of course it was nice! It's a new bike :)
In all honesty, I can do 'more' with this new smaller
frame. It was just an inch smaller (C-T) but now I can
'get out' of the bike more so I don't get too scared whenever
the trail points down. Also, it seems a bit 'softer' than my
Jamis. Anyway, that is subjective. But was I faster on this
than my Jamis? Maybe just a bit, on the downhill parts.
Was I faster on this than on my Anthem? On the road, of
course, yes. But on the trail, I'm still faster on the Anthem
and yes, that includes the climbs. Maybe I need some more
time on this hardtail before I can bring it to Malaysia
with confidence.
Is this frame for you? If you are looking for a nice, cheap
aluminum frame that you can use on the road for your XC
training as well as cruising on fireroads then this is the
frame for you. It is relatively light and seems to be as well
made as other aluminum frames from the more well known
makers. There is no choice of color but the grey is quite nice
and understated. My only complaint is that although it is
stated that this frame has the routing for disc brakes, the
disc brakes being referred to were mechanical ones. There
are no guides for hyraulic disc brakes on the top tube of the
frame. But hey, 250SGD for a new frame and delivered
straight to my house? I think I got a very good deal.
