So the Turner build is yet to happen – and honestly, the only delay is a desire to do some sort of time-lapse video of it going together with no real idea how to achieve that. As well, I’m having a heck of a lot of fun riding my Ritchey, plus I’ve had an Ibis Ripley to bash around on, so the Burner has just hung quietly in the workshop rafters, patiently awaiting its turn.
I know exactly what’s going where, and the last few bits of the puzzle have arrived at Chez Robbo, including a very sweet Renthal Fatbar Lite and a set of triple-ring XTR cranks. Okay, so the plan was to run all of the stuff off the old XC Carbon, but the XTs look so good on the Ritchey and I picked the XTRs up for a (relative) song, so… yeah, I know, excuses.
But making excuses to upgrade to a set of Enve AM wheels is proving a little harder to justify…
So many Enves. So much money.
A set of 27.5-inch AMs has come up on Gumtree. 32 hole. Black DT Swiss 240 hubs. The right axle config. About the same money as buying them offshore. Less than 1500g for the pair. The pair!
If I manage to sell the Stans Arch wheels for $500, though, it’ll still cost me $8 for each one of the 250g of weight I’ll save between the two wheelsets. I feel slightly queasy just thinking about it.
So many people have said, though, that running these wheels are the single biggest upgrade you can make to a bike. The Turner really hasn’t cost me a king’s ransom considering its no-holds-barred spec, either; if I bit the bullet, the build cost would still come in almost four large shy of what Santa Cruz sells its top-end Bronson completes for at the moment.
So torn… better drop the guy a text, just to chat.
The Ol' Crank 