after riding the enduro for 3 years i was becoming a bit disenchanted with it. i did like the forks, but the rear end just couldn’t keep up and felt wooden and the head angle could have been a bit steeper to give me more confidence on the descents.
when the forks decided to blow up i figured it was time to retire the bike.
i’ve always had my eyes on the nomad. it is widely acknowledged as one of the best ‘do all’ bikes. my only problem was that the frame alone is in a price range where other people typically buy entire bikes (and that has only gotten worse over time!). well, other people as crazy as i am that is; other ‘normal’ people would probably buy 3 or 4 bikes for the same money.
luckily (i thought) i got lucky: i found a bike built around a medium nomad frame on ebay for a good price and i was also impressed with the quality of the components the guy had chosen – i would have gone more or less for the same. well, mostly. the bike was built for downhill duties and had a very short stem, only a single chainring in the front, a bash guard & chain guide and heavy (and short !) saint cranks. it also had elixir brakes, which are not bad, but i do love my hope mono m4s dearly. the dhx 5.0 air shock is as good as it gets, and the fox 36 talas are not a bad choice either.
so: i bought the bike, got a new xt crank & xtr front derailleur, and then went about transferring the goodies off my other bike: the crank bros mallet m pedals (i will rebuild them later, they need new bearings), the joplin seat post, the hope monos, the x0 triggers. the wheels with the mavic 521s around hope hubs are slightly heavier than i’d prefer, but good solid wheels, so they stayed on. so did the chris king no thread set.
unfortunately i quickly found that instead of a medium frame i got a small one which did not fit at all. so i decided to suck it up, buy another frame and use all the parts to build a new bike. good thing the aussie dollar was going through the roof at the time …
i never sold the bike. once i replaced enough components on the other nomad i found i had all the parts to rebuild a bike around the small frame. kris rode it for a while and now it is waiting for natalie to outgrow the commencal.