Precious Metal - Duster Ti

It has been a while since I indulged my addiction to bike building, but when I spotted a Charge Duster Ti frame on Singletrack Classifieds some weeks back it all kicked off again!

The long cold winter had made me think about rationalising my choice of bikes. The 5-Spot is now refined to the point I am completely happy with it for the rougher stuff. The other bike that I use most is the S-Works hardtail, but with only 80mm of travel I had been thinking of a longer travel hardtail. The Duster is about the same weight as the S-Works, but a more comfortable ride in theory.

Although I did carry over some bits from other bikes, the classifieds provided some quality bits to add to match my 'niche' frame - you will notice a red theme, (not sure what came over me here). Brakes are Avid Elixir, shifters SRAM X-9 with matching front mech and X-0 rear. Cranks came from On-One sale -FSA MegaExo Carbon 170mm. I did a deal with a guy on Ebay for the Fox F100RL forks. Wheels are Bontranger Rhythm tubeless ready off a Trek - came new with tyres, but I have added a pair of Racing Ralphs.

The 'build' did stretch out over more weeks than I had hoped and provided one or two challenges - the biggest puzzle was that the rear mech mounting fouled the chain as the hanger is quite thin and I ended up making a washer to solve this conflict.

Last Friday it all came together and I was able to get out for the first ride. The geometry and set-up is very different to the S-Works, which is now really set up as a road bike, so it felt like much harder work in places. I think the 2.25 tyres may be a bit OTT, but do offer a good ride. Trying a Fizik Gobi saddle again and this feel good, but realised that the seatpost is slipping down, which partially explained why it felt like hard work at times.

Sunday saw a longer ride with some nice off road sections - pleased to say that it felt very comfy and agile, so feel I am getting used to it. I had tried and given up on SRAM shifters before, but this time I am completely sold they work perfectly and I love the space-saver mounts on the Avids. Some will remember that i had 170mm cranks once before, (without knowing it), hopefully I wont regret this choice...certainly smaller tyres might just make it all a bit easier on the legs.

It will be sad to see the Specialized hardtail go, it has been with me a long time now and has covered more miles than any other bike, but hopefully the Duster will serve just as well and be a bit more versatile.