Even after being in the industry for a long time, #newbikeday is still fun… Enjoy some detail shots of my personal bike a 2022 Mondraker FOXY Carbon RR with some spec changes. Read on for more info on why these spec changes were, or in some cases weren’t on my list.
2022 Mondraker FOXY Carbon Detail Photos
Spec’ing My Bike, for Me….
We take a lot of pride in treating all of our clients projects like they are our own. But, here’s how I literally treat my own. Where I put the emphasis to allow me the most performance for every dollar in my budget.
So were did I start?
Travel and Size.
Mondraker Forward Geometry
The Mondraker Forward Geometry was ahead of it’s time for sure. Now, since then all the top tier brands have come to the plate with the longer, lower, slacker updates.
At 6’1″ and a long inseam as well as long arm length (or short torso depending on how you wanna look at it I suppose) I have been kind of between the L and XL in a variety of brands.
To better understand the geometry I used BikeCo’s Interactive Geo Comparison (handy eh?)
I could quickly compare the travel, headtube angle, chainstay, bottom bracket, trail and then sizing specifics like Reach, Stack and Wheelbase.
The Large FOXY is a bit bigger bike in both travel – but not so much that I felt I was jumping way out of category – and geo sizing.
The two notable differences that jumped out at me where wheelbase and headtube/trail. 23mm longer wheelbase seemed like, oh, well, oh my right? But, then a quick glance at the math and conversion – it’s about 2% or about 7/8 of an inch longer. Not a big deal to me. The slacker headtube angle increased the trail measurement a bit, but again when you look at percentage it’s not that big of a change. Plus, I believe there’s a geo kit available so maybe I would end up going to the 170mm fork and then steepening the headtube angle. I haven’t yet, but it’s fun to think about the “I might” right?
Anyhow – the reach was just long enough on the FOXY that I stayed in a Large even though I had been pondering an XL in the Yeti lineup as when I climb I find the “heel” of my palm sitting on my grips instead of my palms. I figured the slightly taller and longer front end would help me stay in a more confident position uphill. But, more to come on that in our Mondraker FOXY Extended First Ride!
Mondraker FOXY Carbon RR – the Spec that Stayed
You know, these top tier manufacturers put together a pretty respectable build these days. In fact, there were a lot of bits that not only was I “fine” with but I was actually pretty excited by. Let’s go over some of the parts that stayed and why I like them on my bike.
SRAM GX Drivetrain*
*well, most of it…
I gotta say: the X01 and XX1 stuff is a bit lighter, and in all likelihood lasts a bit longer. But damn, the modern GX bits work well. And even the GX cranks are pretty light and look refined these days.
Being a heavier, non-uphill biased (I’m looking for a good term there – like ya I appreciate the workout, but as long as I get up on my MTB I’m happy enough right?) anyway, I personally don’t notice a huge “in the moment” performance jump upgrading past the GX level on drivetrain. That’s to say when I jump on one of our guys with ti or carbon cranks neither the weight savings or added stiffness really add up to me. So the GX level cranks, shifter and derailleur give me good performance and I can put a few bucks into other areas of my build that I will notice the performance.
I spec’d an AbsoluteBlack 32t Oval chainring – it’s the first time I’ve had an oval for more than a couple rides so I’m interested to see what I’ll think of it (again, keep an eye out for the upcoming Extended First Ride!). I did the gold KMC X-12 chain for a pretty specific reason too. (I would have happily done an XX1 Gold too, but availability was an issue) Anyhow for those who know me I’m not a big bling person. But, again those who know me or follow our posts know the gold represents the Children’s Cancer Awareness and my daughter is beating infantile fibrosarcoma. So, I wanted some gold to remind me of where we’ve been and where we’re going.
When this drivetrain wears I would look at possibly an X01 cassette – but the modern 12sp SRAM stuff seems to just last and last and last (keep it relatively clean and lubed). My previous bike I had for seasons with so little drivetrain maintenance it was mind-blowing.
DT Swiss Wheels
This is an area that may or may not get upgraded the next time I have some $ burning a hole in my pocket. But for now I’m going to ride the stock wheels.
What I love: 30mm internals give a great tire profile. 36t ratchet is installed (18t feels clunky to me and the 50 something tooth one can be delicate if you pedal, shall we say, not smooth maybe?)
What I’m kind of hmmm about: small diameter flanges paired with 28h drilling. Big guys need big strong stuff right? Maybe. I dunno maybe that’s a compensating concept, we’ll see. I’ve run 28h DT before, but on the larger flange diameter hubs. Potential upside is that this wheel likely will have good side load compliance adding grip at high lean angles at speed.
Maxxis Tires
DHF EXO+ front and DHR II EXO+ rear. What’s not to love? It’s like I picked them out for myself. 3C MaxxTerra front and rear balance wear and grip well.
I buy Maxxis tires as they last the longest and provide the most consistent performance throughout their life. Why mess with saving less than the price of a good lunch when your tires literally are where the rubber meets the trail?
Ohlins Suspension
This is actually a big, big leap for me. I’ve ridden exclusively BikeCo Pro Tuned FOX Suspension since, well, before we named it or offered it to clients…
After my test ride I knew this was a special chassis – but I also knew I HAD to have more compression support than the demo bike offered. Well, the Ohlins RXF 36 M2 features an adjustable air negative spring to fine tune ramp as well as low and high speed compression controls.
Now, the RXF is known as a very plush, linear package. So, as a heavier rider who likes a lot of front end support (typically even more than would be based on just weight – but as your ground speeds increase that suspension support improvement, even if it’s at the cost of a bit of front end grip tends to be the goal) I wanted to see if the RXF would have enough tuning range for me to dial it in the way I liked.
The FOXY’s Ohlins TTX air shock features high and low speed compression as well as volume spacing to fine tune support. I suspect that will be a pretty confident shock and doubt anything else will end up on this bike – especially if Joe keeps riding Ohlins and undoubtedly will look at narrowing the performance windows like our FOX Pro Tunes!
Part Swaps & Upgrades
OK onto the parts that went, which of course vary from a bit of vanity to straight nope, that won’t be on my bike…
Cockpit
I need my hands where I need my hands climbing or my low back isn’t going to be happy. Typically I’m looking at 35mm or 40mm rise bars to keep the stem as low as possible and the steer tube as short as possible. I run a 35mm diameter bar / stem combo. So for this bike I went with the RaceFace Turbine-R in 40mm with a 40mm rise TAG T1 Carbon bar.
The TAG T1 bar provided a bit wider, 800mm versus 780mm, larger diameter, 35mm vs 31.8mm and taller rise, 40mm vs 25mm. The Tag T1 also features the OvalTech design which creates a more sophisticated riding bar by varying the wall thickness for better vibration damping. You can see some of the details of the Tag T1 Carbon here.
The FOXY features super clean internal routing through the headset assembly. The stock build has some “teardrop” shaped spacers which look kind of cool. But, I put a front kid seat on my bike and prefer metal spacers. So I filed off the lip and made the standard spacers fit. I don’t foresee issues with this, but the kid seat mount is the reason you see it.
Ergon GE1 Grips. Well, RIP to the PadLoc WTB grips for now! After about 5 years of them change was of course terrifying hahaha… I like the Ergon grips having a bit more damping on the edge of the grip to minimize trail feedback. I also ride grips that don’t have “flared” ends as I tend to ride with my hands slightly over the edge of the trip for whatever reason. I kept the bars a bit wider to see if that negates this habit – but we’ll see. Flared end grips dig in if you ride over the edge which compromises some grip and tends to cause major pain.
Wolf Tooth Light Action seatpost remote. I prefer the lower pressure required by the slightly longer throw. I also appreciate the robust construction and attention to detail in the design giving it a lot of mounting options. Speaking of which, part of me wants to use the Magura specific mount, however, having the remote on its own mount allows more fine tuned placement for ergonomics.
BRAKES. Capitalized.
Honestly, brakes and tires are probably the most notable personality bits on your build. Get em right and you’re stoked. Not right, well, it’s not right.
I run Magura as they have the best combination of total power (similar to Shimano’s power) with great modulation (like Hope). Also, Magura offers brakes across a variety of budgets. Going with the MT5 saved me notably money which allowed me to redistribute the budget into areas for maybe a little bit of gold bling for my kiddo or to focus on performance parts.
The Magura MT7 and MT5 are the most popular brakes in the lineup. They have some slight differences in the master cylinder shape however the major differences are in the lever and lever options.
Believe it or not I prefer the MT5’s longer “2-finger” lever, run inboard to accommodate 1 finger braking of course. Like the longer Light Action Wolf Tooth the increased length means it takes a bit more pull to get through the full stroke. This means for each mm of travel you get a more precise feel on the brake application.
Riders looking for more snap onto the power will look at the 1 finger Magura options. Riders looking for the ultimate adjust-ability will run the MT7 with the HC3 lever. Which, is awesome too… You can shop the best brakes in MTB from Magura and Shimano here.
Our staff will tell you I stared and stared and stared and tried to make myself OK with keeping my red Chris King handbuilt wheels on this build. But, when I pulled the pucks out of the Magura calipers and saw this clean, murdered out look I knew it had to be black hubs… Even if Ian kept trying to find ways to make the red “work…”
Seating
If you find a saddle you like why change? I ride Ergon saddles. They work. They’re comfortable. I don’t have to think about them. Perfect. I tend to run the CrMoly versions which can save you a few $ to allocate into different areas.
Liiiiiike, the seatpost. Honestly pretty close to pure vanity here. Swapped the all black 175mm OnOff Pija dropper for an all black 175mm FOX Transfer Performance. Maybe I was nervous not having any FOX on my bike? I do ABSOLUTELY love the revised saddle mounting for the FOX Transfer. Hardware is simple and brilliant. So, going with that as an upgrade reason. Wanted the easier adjust-ability and confidence I wouldn’t destroy as many bolts? Are you buying that? Maybe? OK, but it wasn’t ALL vanity…
OK – so there’s the starting spec on my 2022 Mondraker FOXY Carbon. I’ve got a few rides into it and am putting together a FOXY Extended First Ride Review that I will link to as soon as its wrapped up!
Shopping 2022 Mondraker MTB or eMTB? Work with the very best here at BikeCo.com to get the best attention to your spec, setup tune and after sales service.
Learn more about the Mondraker FOXY’s on trail performance – check out Extended First Ride a Mondraker FOXY Carbon Review!