Tomac Cartel

Christmas came a bit early this year for us at Whistlermountainbike.com. Our wish for a new bike came true and we have been busy building it up with a box load of new parts. Here is what we got.

Tomac Cartel frame. This is a limited edition frame that was built specifically for the Tomac Factory World Cup team. Designed around a 4x course, this machine is made from 6000 series aluminum, features a 1 1/8" heat tube at 69.7° degrees, 73mm bottom bracket, 16.5" chainstays and a wheelbase of 41.5".

Since it is a 4x setup we mated a Manitou Gold Label 100mm fork to the frame. The Gold Label has an 20mm hex axle and reverse arch, same as the Travis line of forks, which we have found to be strong and durable.

Tomac Cartel, Manitou Gold Label 100mm forks. Click for larger version.

We chose Sun Ringlé Str8 Track wheels for this build due to their strength and lightness. 32 hole Jumping Flea hub in the front with a 32 hole Dirty Flea rear hub both strung to Singletrack rims with a width of 31mm with DT Champion straight gauge spokes. Weight comes in at 1037g for the front & 1124g for the rear. Kenda Tomac Short Tacker 2.35" tires and kenda lightweight tubes keep us in contact with the soil.

Braking duties where placed upon the broad shoulders of the Hayes Stroker Trails with 6" rotors. They have proven to be completely trouble free, painless brakes that can stop me in any situation.

When it came to the controls, it was a complete no brainer. We decided on FSA Gravity bar & stem for the Cartel. The new Gravity stem has a recessed top cap for a cleaner look. It also has a mixture of ball burnished & polished surfaces giving it a pretty cool look. 710mm width for the bars, you can't do bar spins with a trendy 800mm setup.

Tomac Cartel, Gravity Stem & bar. Click for larger version.

Drive train duties are being covered by Gravity cranks with 175mm arms, e13 SRS chain guide with a 32 tooth chain ring in the front with an 11-32 cogset in the rear. Shimano XT Shadow deraileur is moving the chain through the gears with a single Saint shifter and Crank Brothers 50/50 pedals are keeping us attached.

Rounding out the build is a Gravity seatpost with a WTB Jaxon seat & WTB lock on Grips.

Final build weight is 32.5lbs on our scale, which can go either way depending on what we end up doing with the bike. If it goes to DJ only, dropping the front brake and making it single speed would cut some weight quick, but for 4x'ing, we would prefer to have the gears to help on getting out in front. Once we get some good miles on the saddle we will have a better idea of what direction it will end up in.

Thanks to:
Tomac Bikes
Gravity
Hayes
Sun Ringlé
Kenda
Hayes
WTB
e13

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