In seeking the ultimate BC marathon race build, I constantly tweaked the parts specs until arriving at what you see before you. For me, this was the best blend of weight and performance in a sleek package.

I started the build with a large Allied BC-40 with a custom paintless layup. I wanted the frame to be really light (without paint) and to see the individual details of the composite. This paired well with the aesthetic of our carbon rims, which are made without any sanding or paint. While the frame comes with a minimalistic wrap, I removed it and had a glossy Ride Wrap tailored kit installed by Western Bike Company. The gloss wrap doesn’t mute any of the frame details and you can see the various weaves used, especially in the sunlight.

Wheels

I debated using the NOBL TR35 rims which are about 3mm wider than the TR32’s I usually run for XC, but with the tire choices I wanted to run, I felt confident sticking with the TR32’s. I planned on being fairly light and haven’t been folding tires on the narrower rims, so I might as well keep them as light as possible. Berd spokes were a no-brainer for this build as they are the lightest spokes available, but also extremely comfortable to ride. I’ve broken two Berd spokes in ~four years of hard riding: one was user error, and the other was on a 35 pound enduro bike. I’m quite confident in them, and the durability is excellent considering how much I ride – the trails I prefer aren’t exactly blues and greens…

The hubs are DT Swiss 180’s I’ve been using for years. They’re a bit beat up, so we stripped the paint off and polished them. It took forever, but turned out super sick! I’m running the stock 36 tooth ratchet as I felt the 54t would have more drag and be louder.

Initially I ran a Rock Shox Sid 120, but felt like it wasn’t quite enough for some of the rough trails and sustained downhills I’d be riding. A spring stage race in Pisgah (North Carolina) confirmed I made the right choice! I opted for a Fox 34 Factory with the lighter Fit4 and 130mm travel. To keep the geometry intact on this “120 bike”, I swapped in the Vorsprung Luftkappe air piston kit, which provides a larger negative air chamber. With this setup I can run 40% sag instead of the stock 25%, and have a smoother ride with more front end traction.

I am still running the stock Sid Luxe shock which came with the remote lockout kit. While I did use the lockout on some gravel sections at some races, I found that I was bobbing more with it locked out on road sections. When I went back to a wireless dropper post, I was swayed to remove the remote lockout in order to shed some weight and clean up the cockpit. 

After several years of waiting, the Trickstuff Piccola’s arrived, and wow they were worth the wait! They are about half the weight of my XTR 4-piston brakes and are unbelievably smooth and light action. The aesthetics and minimalistic size is so nice in person, but the most impressive part is their modulation. It’s a similar explanation as to why I choose to run the Reverb AXS post even though it’s super heavy. It just functions so well, that I find myself micro adjusting the height more than twice as much as a lever actuated post. With the brakes, I can feather them in the turns and only use 5% or 8% or 12% power for example, whereas with most brakes I feel like they have something like 30/60/90 percent power. There is so much more operating range with these brakes that it’s a whole new level of performance unlocked.

The reviews are legit, the new SRAM “Transmission” technology is awesome! The only problem is I want it on all of my other bikes. I love how solid it feels no matter how much power I’m putting out, it’s so reliable up and down the cassette – flawless so far.

I was on Maxxis 2.4” Aspens for quite a while as I loved how predictable and durable they were, and their speed is undeniable. However, after some back and forth I settled on the Vittoria 2.35” Mezcals. They have a bit less volume and a rounder profile which actually suits the TR32’s really well. They feel just as fast as the Aspens, and if you dig deep enough on the internet you’ll see rolling resistance reports that confirm this. For loose over hard, I find that the Mezcals just have more traction than the Aspens and don’t break loose as often. Given that they are the same weight, I feel more confident running the Mezcals in a wide arrange of conditions for serious XC racing. That’s big praise as I am a pretty die hard Maxxis rider, but the Vittoria XC tires are legit.