Costco Northrock xc00 fat bike $300 with 100mm bbshd

[calfee20]

Hi guys. I have a beast xc00 2wd bafang 500w X2 with a 27.5ah 48v that I am loving. I have purchased a new suspension fork but I can not for the life of me get the crown race off of the original fork! I have taken it to three bike shops with the crown race puller and all failed to get it off. Does anyone know where one could get the proper crown race or even the headset dimensions I’d need to change the headset?

You are going to have to measure everything before getting a new head set. https://canecreek.com/headsets-category/

Those bike shops sound quite useless to me.

How about putting a wet rag inside the fork tube and using a torch to heat the race. Then tap the steering tube with a plastic hammer. Feel free to tap rather sharply. A specially sharpened chisel should also get it off.

If you go the new head set route you won't need to remove the crown race.

[Ryguyflyby]

Hi guys. I have a beast xc00 2wd bafang 500w X2 with a 27.5ah 48v that I am loving. I have purchased a new suspension fork but I can not for the life of me get the crown race off of the original fork! I have taken it to three bike shops with the crown race puller and all failed to get it off. Does anyone know where one could get the proper crown race or even the headset dimensions I’d need to change the headset?

[eternus]

Did you replace the crank arms? One of my biggest complaints with this bike are the short crank arms which don’t allow me to stand up to pump up hills, but that’s why I’m hoping the electric conversion will help. But I think a slightly longer crank arm would help a lot.

As I understand it, the Bafang BBSHD comes with 170mm cranks which is usually the length people upgrade the standard bike to for improvement.

[jsail4fun]

Did you replace the crank arms? One of my biggest complaints with this bike are the short crank arms which don’t allow me to stand up to pump up hills, but that’s why I’m hoping the electric conversion will help. But I think a slightly longer crank arm would help a lot.

[jrushford]

[Zpalmai]

If any of you would like to sell your original XC00 fork, please let me know...cheers!

[Greeno]

I had (2) Northrock frames crack on the drive side rear stay about 2" from bottom bracket. It's an aluminum frame and it flexes when under load, aluminum doesn't like to flex it fatigues the metal whereas steel will also flex but it doesn't weaken the metal. Harsher ride on Alum as its stiffer but riding hard off road has its drawbacks. If you keep it on the road and are mello you should get years out of that bike. Think about it $350 for a bike that converts to an e-bike pretty easily is hard to beat. Enjoy.

[Dinged]

Got the 80mm Weinman 36s rim from Luna for $50 with no holes and it works fine.Had to get the 120mm BBSHD Bare Bones Motor and used 6mm of spacers on the drive side but I can still use a 30 or 36t chainring and with the 19t 1/8" offset cog in the back and the chainlink is fine. The reason I went with the Surley is that it is steel and I have broke (2) north rock frames (rear drive side chain stay crack). I even have a torque bracket on the non drive side to help secure the motor unit.

I'm interested in your experiences and trying to prevent this from happening with my own north Rock. Why do you think it cracked? What's your primary riding behavior? How many miles before crack? Do you typically take off from stop at full throttle or gradual? Do you do jumps on single track?

Percent riding paved vs single track trails? What gear are you in primarily at start and while riding?

I have approx 600 miles , less than 10% single track, primarily paved on my bike. Towing mostly 2 kids, gradually accelerating from stop in gears 5/7(mega range 34t) with a 36t at the front. No cracks so far. Once up to speed, I may go to 1/2/3 gears solo but rarely..

[TheMan]

its nice to hear that

[Greeno]

One advantage with the color display over the stock greyscale display is that it shows the actual voltage left in the battery. The greyscale display shows a battery symbol and the more colored sections you have the more charge is left, supposedly. Problem with that is the display is calibrated for a 48v system not a 52v which you should be running and when the battery symbol shows a decline your running on fumes, ask me how I know. The Luna Lander fork was easy to install and worked great until it didn't. Got about a year out of it and it seems to be out of stock for the future???? You can sign for an e-mail notification when and if they come back in but I check pretty regularly and nothing yet. I did open it up and try to service it but the lock-out side air shock was blown and you can't get parts for them. So were going with another shock which seems to work ok it clunks a bit on the rebound after compressing, Maybe I'll just get a blot but I would have to replace my front wheel and get a 150mm hub as the Luna is 135mm. And yes the stock Northrock front hub is smaller so figure on another $175 for a new hub, spokes and labor to lace it up.

For what its worth I just set up a Surley Wednesday frame with horizontal dropouts and went with a Stermy Archer SX-RK3 3 spd internal hub so I could get rid of the derailer. Got the 80mm Weinman 36s rim from Luna for $50 with no holes and it works fine.Had to get the 120mm BBSHD Bare Bones Motor and used 6mm of spacers on the drive side but I can still use a 30 or 36t chainring and with the 19t 1/8" offset cog in the back and the chainlink is fine. The reason I went with the Surley is that it is steel and I have broke (2) north rock frames (rear drive side chain stay crack). I even have a torque bracket on the non drive side to help secure the motor unit.

ALERT!! If you happen to go with an internal hub on the Northrock just remember that the rear frame is OFFSET so when they lace up the rear wheel all the spokes will be on one side. Looks funny but my buddy says it rides fine. Only issue I can see is that 1/2 the spokes will be severely bent going back to the opposite side of the hub.

[jrushford]

I've just bought a Northrock XC00 from Costco and have been reading through this thread. How is the stock fork? Is an upgrade to a suspension fork quite an improvement?

[SimonLeLoup]

The Northrock comes with a tapered headset. You have to remove the bottom piece that is pressed onto the stock fork and install on new fork. On the Luna it's a straight 1 1/8" steerer tube. you will have to press in a star nut into the top of the fork tube to connect into the stem mount on top. you will have to cut the tube to fit the height you need. Good luck.

Thanks Greeno! I'm in the thick of it right now actually, and today I had a bit of a surprise that I haven't read about in the forums, so I thought I'd post.

First of all, I'll say that I swapped out the old crank and bottom bracket, and put in the motor all by myself. I also wanted to add a new fork, but I got stuck trying to remove the crown reducer, so that's when I decided to bring the bike in to the local shop to get some help. They were able to get the reducer off (by sawing an indent into the base of the crown of the old fork for greater leverage). The fork I wanted to install is the RST Guide sold by Biktrix. It is a straight steerer tube, and similar dimensions to the Luna Lander which I've read a couple of others have used on the Northrock XC00. The RST Guide and the Luna Lander are both 135 mm wide at the hub.... and apparently the stock Northrock fork and hub is narrower (I think they said 100mm?)... others who swapped forks didn't mention having to get a new, wider wheel, which is what the shop is telling me I need. It makes sense to me, the Northrock fork is definitely narrower... I wonder what others who swapped forks ended up doing... swapping for new wheels too? Surprise for me...

[Greeno]

The Northrock comes with a tapered headset. You have to remove the bottom piece that is pressed onto the stock fork and install on new fork. On the Luna it's a straight 1 1/8" steerer tube. you will have to press in a star nut into the top of the fork tube to connect into the stem mount on top. you will have to cut the tube to fit the height you need. Good luck.

[SimonLeLoup]

The Northrock works very well as far as converting to an E-bike. Went with a BBSHD (hot rod) and the 13.5ah shark pack along with the Luna Lander fork, gear sensor, color display to monitor voltage for battery state, 36t chainring (soon to be 30t) and have about 400 miles on it so far and only issue was a couple of flats. Changed out the stock tires to some Panaracer Fat-B-Nimbles and got better traction on the corners and zero flats in the last 100 or so miles. Ordered a larger disc brake for the rear as the existing one gets pretty hot on some of the downhill sections. Overall for a buck fifty you can't beat it.

I think I'll install a suspension fork on my new Northrock XC00 too. The Luna looks great. I read on some other forum about installing forks in the tapered headset, and they made it sound very complicated. Can you please provide just a bit of detail on how the Luna Lander install went? Any adapter or crown race or other pieces required for the install? Any difficulties at all?

[SimonLeLoup]

Yes you will need the 100mm kit and get the 30t chainring for the front, gear sensor, and upgrade to the color display DPC-18. Currently using a 7 speed cassette in the back (14-34) and everything works great. Did a few mods on the bike. Hydrolic brakes front and back, 180mm front rotor, Wider Spank bars, Fat-B-Nimble tires, Thudbuster seat post ( worth the money and cheaper than a dual suspension). Currently are using a 27.5ah battery that fits inside the main triangle. Ride the bike hard 3-4 days a week. Love it.

Hello! New to the forum. I will convert a Northrock soon too. Why do you suggest upgrading to the color display DPC-18? Is it a preference thing, or is there really a good reason as to why not to just get the standard grey display? Thanks!