29er

Put together my new Motobecane Fantom Elite. At last, a do-all bike that I've wanted for a long time. I sold my Rockhopper and a frankenbike to fund this project, and I'm more than pleased. The new 30 speed Shimano Dyna-Syst system shifts like a dream right out of the box. The Avid Elixir brakes were easy to set up, stop well, and are pretty quiet, though I haven't gotten them mucked up yet. The stock stem was a big, heavy clunk, but I had a nice FSA mtb stem in my stocks, so that went on instead. The seat post is also a stone, so I'll swap that out next.

The 29er wheels really do roll as well as I'd heard, ride very nice in comparison to my old 26 inch wheels. I rode down our crater strewn street and I could tell the difference immediately. With the fork locked, it still rolled through the rough crap nicely. climbing was much better due to the close ratio gear set. Shifting is light and positive, almost better than my Ultegra 6700 road bike. Very Impressive. The XT rear derailleur is a thing of beauty, too. I almost hate to get it dirty! Upfront is the SLX shifting up and down an FSA crank set. I'll hit some trails after work tomorrow to see how it handle the rough stuff. Probably better than me.