My seatpost was a lot less of a considered purchase and more of an impulse.  When purchasing the Crankbrothers Bars, I saw that there was also a promotion on their Cobalt 2 seatposts, and they had them in my size, 400mm, 31.6 with a 20mm set back.

This is a solid seatpost aimed more at the AM side of the market, what is great about this particular post is that it has a one bolt clamp meaning its a cinch to work on and use.  Along the front of the post there's a series of spaced dots which make it easy to find the correct length and remember it, a nice little touch.

One of my favorite sites to check out cycling content is NSMB.com who first drew my attention through their very funny paradoy videos on How to be a mountain biker and How to be a road biker.  Their latest video features a rap battle between a Mountain Biker and Road Biker....enjoy!

With the new bars, it was only fair to match them up with some new grips.  I'd had some success previously with lock on grips but had heard a lot of good things about silicon grips and their performance, in particular the fact that the grips have a 'memory' which forms to your hand over time was great.  They were simple to install requiring little more than a wipe of the bars with a damp cloth and they have not moved or slipped in 100s of miles.  I have to say it will be hard to go back to rubber grips after using the silicone ESIs for a period of time.

After increasing the length of my bars I wanted to shorten up the stem to give me a slightly more upright riding position and a little bit more of a snappy feel when turning the big 29" wheels.

Purely experimental I wanted a cost effective option that I knew would be a solid performer.  Having used Race Face stems before I settled on their trail oriented 'Ride' stem.  I have to say I've been extremely impressed by this and the Race Face logo looks great on any bike.

If you are looking at a value orientated stem with all the performance you need this is one I'd be happy to recommend.

Having switched everything across from my Airborne Goblin frame, it got me thinking about all of the components making up my bike and its current spec.  I though it would be a good idea to post a little bit of info on each along with my thoughts on why I selected each component along with how they are holding up.

The bars I'm running are Crankbrothers Iodine 2 Risers at 720mm.  I've found the wider bars increase the control I have and are a lot more comfortable as they suit my shoulder width more than the narrow 660mm bars I was running before.  The bars themselves have marks if you want to cut them down and also marks to help you make sure the are correctly aligned with your stem.  I'm definitely a wide bar convert, if anything my next set of bars will do away with the rise and be completely flat as pretty much all the riding I do here in NOVA is XC orientated and these bars as described by Crankbrothers are a little more on the AM side:

"In Crankbrothers' line, Iodine does battle in the all-mountain arena, and the Iodine 2 bar is a worthy contender. Constructed from 6061-series aluminum with a 30-millimeter rise."

You may recall my recent post talking about my cousin snapping the chainstays on his Specialized FSR.  After a brief search he sent me a note to say he'd settled up on the Yeti 575 as a direct replacement sticking to 26" wheels, so all of his parts could swap right across.

The Yeti 575 frame has custom butted hydro-formed 7005 alloy tubes and true modified single pivot suspension design, combined with the high grade sealed bearing offers a pretty maintenance free set up. 

The badly broken Specialized had served him well

All stripped and ready for the parts bin

575 in all its glory

Mid point

The finished article

Final spec:
2011 Yeti 575 Carbon Frame
Rockshox Pike 150mm Fork
Shimano XT 1x10 drivetrain
Shimano Saint BB
Gamut p30s Chain Guide
E Thirteen 36t Chainring
V8 DMR Pedals
ZTR Flow ex Front Wheel
Mavic en521 Rear Wheel
Maxxis High Roller Tires
Shimano XT Brakes
WTB Saddle
DMR Stem
Sunline bars

Having had the Niner EMD frame sitting in my garage for a few days, I couldn't wait to get it built up and all the parts from the Airborne Goblin swapped over.

It started out with a well earned clean for the Goblin, the last thing you want when working on a bike is to be handling dirty parts and everything that goes on the new frame should be as clean as possible in order to do it justice.

I picked a sunny afternoon to start the project and moved the work stand out of the garage to make the most of the weather.  The first part of the work is always the easiest as taking things off and stripping down a frame is much easier than building it up.  I start from the back of the bike, removing brake caliper derailleur and then moving onto the crankset leaving the last pieces to remove being the forks and cockpit.  I've found doing it this way can often mean that you can leave everything connected up to the bars allowing for an easy transition in reverse when they are on the new frame.

Assembly this time is the reverse of dis-assembly, again I chose to work from the front, connecting the fork and the bars and then working back over to mount the derailleur and rear brake caliper while giving thought to the cable routing.

The final steps were to put the wheels back on and get things dialed in, including checking the cable length for the rear derailleur and shortening the brake hoses where necessary.  I also chose to reuse the inner tube wrapped around the chainstay and will replace the blue tape when I manage to source some black electrical tape.

All told the total amount of time was just under 4 hours, including the initial clean of the Goblin, final adjustments, brake hose shortening etc.  I am now super excited to get out there, hit the trail and put this thing through its paces!