2024- Van Nicholas titanium Tuareg 27.5″ : 1*12 setup – cross country MTB
2024
It’s finally time to upgrade my Van Nicholas titanium Tuareg to a full 1*12 speed setup.
I’ve been riding the Van Nicholas Tuarag mountain bike for over eleven years now. Ever since I started building it in 2013 and going to a 1*11 setup in 2021
https://bit.ly/3sYbIhL
https://www.minty95.com/van-nicholas-tuareg-titanium-27-5/
The nice thing about Titanium bikes is they don’t age like Metal or Carbon bikes. So even now it still looks almost like a new bike. Sadly the model Tuareg is no longer available from by Van Nicholas. Now replaced by the model Revelstoke https://titanium.vannicholas.com/en/mountain-bikes/revelstoke
August 2024 : Breaking my crankset…..
A little while ago I was out riding a single, luckily for me just after a fast downhill section when my crank shaft came flying of with my foot still clipped onto the pedal. As it was a flat path, luckily stopping was easy, and I didn’t even fall off.
So after getting my wife to bring the car and pick me up at the nearest village. I popped into my local bike store to see about buying a new crankset.
I was lucky as they had an old but brand new Sram XO Truvatic lying around in stock. Exactly the same model as my broken one. An hour later and a 100 euros lighter I was up and running again, all in the same day who could ask for more ?
Later after cleaning up the old one. I realised that it wasn’t the crankset that was actually broken but the fixing bolt that had sheared. I later manged to extract the broken bolt parts. And immediately ordered a new bolt set, meaning once repaired I should be sell the crankset and recuperate some cash.
But this started me thinking, most of the parts on my Tuareg have been there since when I started the build around 2013, and so I said to myself maybe its time to update, upgrade and renew some of it’s equipment.
Going for a 1*12 speed setup
As I had the Roc d’Azur coming up again in just two months time in October 2024 and I had already been thinking about switching to a 12 speed setup for a while, even though it meant spending so serious money. I would need to purchase : A new shifter, cassette, derailleur, chain and chain ring. Also to be able to fit the cassette I would need to change the freewheel on the back wheel as it was an old Shimano, 10 /11 speed only.
So I started to spend some money : I ordered all the parts except the freewheel. I’ll get to that in a minute. All 12 speed (12v) Shimano XTR except the chain ring and chain which I choose to stay with Sram. (After all I’d just changed the Crank set…..) A 32 tooth 6mm offset chain ring and GX Eagle chain.
Building new wheels, again…
For the wheels I choose to buy once again from a french high end wheel building company https://www.jpracingbike1.com/en/ that I had used about ten years ago to build my ZTR Crest wheels. So a couple of emails later, I had already chosen what I wanted to order from them.
I decided to stay with Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Crest rims except now their latest model is Mk4 (I think my original rims were Mk1) and again Hope Pro axles/hubs. Again latest version this time, now Mk5, but this time with a Shimano 12v Microspline freewheel which is needed for the XTR 12v cassette. The spokes and nipples exactly the same as the last time, these haven’t changed and are still the best around.
Why Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Crest again ? while the choice of rims is quite large ? Well they haven’t ‘moved’ in ten years now. Why Hope axles ? Before I had started with Duke axles. Even more expensive that the Hope ones. I complete broke in half the back axle after a couple of years of riding. And later the front axle was starting to fracture. So that was enough for me. I switched to Hope. I have their brakes already and these are still perfect, even after all these years. So far they haven’t let me down and they look great.
Below : Stan’s Notubes ZTR Crest rims MK4 – 2024
Front Wheel build
Stan’s NoTubes Rim ZTR Crest MK4
Holes number – 32, Rim diameter – 27,5″, Rim profile – Asymmetric
Rim finish – Satin black
Hub Hope Pro5 IS colour – Red, Front axle – 100X15
Sapim spokes CX-Ray J-bend Black, length – 294mm.
Sapim nipples Polyax Alu secure lock 14mm 14gm – Red
Back Wheel build
Stan’s NoTubes Rim ZTR Crest MK4
Holes number – 32, Rim diameter – 27,5″, Rim profile – Asymmetric
Rim finish – Satin black
Hub Hope Pro5 IS colour – Red, Rear axle – 135QR5
Free wheel body type – Shimano Microspline
Sapim spokes CX-Ray J-bend Black, length – 294mm
Sapim nipples Polyax Alu secure lock 14mm 14gm – Red
I still have some old stuff…
A ROCKSHOX Reverb AXS dropper, a Brooks carbon rail C13 saddle (this saddle, like the XTR pedals is on all my three bikes). I’ve still have the Hope Tech X2 brakes, these are brilliant brakes. I had them purged and adjusted two years ago by Hope at the 2022 Roc d’Azur . Pedals are Shimano XTR M9100 and I still have the Race Face stem and handlebars with a Chris King headset.
It’s finished a full 12 speed Van Nicholas mountain bike ‘Tuareg’
So it’s finished, with new wheels and new components needed to run a 12 speed setup. Also as I was going down south for the Roc d’Azur. With normally a dry, sandy and rocky terrain, I switch out my regular tyres Maxxis Icon and Ardent to the newish Schwalbe Racing Ralph and Racing Ray as I’d read some good critics about them.
Although years ago I had binned some Racing Ralph’s as they punctured to easily, they seem to have corrected this now with new a rubber texture. I admit trying them at the Roc d’Azur I was really very pleased with them and found them better suited for the terrain than the Maxxis
Final thoughts
Almost two months later. I’ve ridden the Roc d’Azur. The bike performed perfectly. (I’m getting good at setting up my bikes) I had no problems with the bike or my setup. Riding a 51 tooth back cog did make my life a little easier that the Shimano 11v speed 46 tooth that I’d been riding for many years now. I’m now 66 years old , soon 67, so that was a little easier on my old legs
Van Nicholas titanium ‘Tuareg’ and it’s new 12 speed setup components.
Some pics of the Shimano XTR equipment and the Sram chain ring
All new Shimano XTR components, except the Sram chain ring
Setting up the correct chain length
While I’m writing all of this. Before installing the chain on the 10-51 Cassette and the 32 tooth chain ring, I double checked how to correctly calculate the length needed. Before on the 11v setup it was chain over both big rings and two more links, that’s slightly changed now, for a 12v setup. Shimano shows perfectly how to do it on a web page
Mine being a Hard Tail with quick link I chose the 4 links option plus the quick link and all works perfectly.
