All of our bikes have details and features that you may at some point need to know, torque settings, cable replacement, the percentage of vanadium in the titanium etc.. You will find these below as well as in the information/warranty details when you bought your frame.
General care - The Vendetta XFS is built to be tough and handle any abuse thrown at it, but due to the stresses endured by any mountain bike you should regularly check key areas of downtube. In the your frame for signs of fatigue, specifically; the welds, gusset and unlikely event of any issues, your limited two year warranty from the time of purchase covers your frame for any issues related to manufacture, but not misuse.
Fork usage - The frame warranty covers your Vendetta XFS for forks from 130mm to 160mm travel.
Brake usage - The frame is able to fit a rear rotor up to 185mm and uses standard tab brake adaptor mounts.
Seatpost Insertion - We recommend a minimum seat post insertion of 130mm on a small/medium frames and 150mm on a large/XL frames.
Headsets - The XFS uses a straight 44 head tube SHIS, top: ZS44 or EC44 lower: EC44 for tapered forks.
We recommend using ti-prep or Tunap 113 Brake paste on insertion of headset cups. Recommended minimum insert for both headset cups is 11mm.
Bottom brackets- The bottom bracket shell has been checked and faced, but take care when first inserting a bottom bracket as the titanium thread is extremely sharp and can easily cross-thread your bottom bracket.
Never force the bottom bracket into the BB shell. If it binds even slightly, remove it, clean the threads with a cloth or wire brush and start again. Again we recommend using ti-prep or Tunap 113 Brake paste.
Dropouts - Your frame uses alloy 7075 T5 alloy rear derailleur hangers. These are designed to bend and break before your frame does so replacements are available at www.kingdombike.com.
Shock - Your XFS frame uses a 200x57 shock to achieve 143mm of travel, you can however reduce the travel by using a 200x51 shock to ‘short travel’ your frame and reduce the travel to 135mm. Fixings are rear: 35.95x8 front 22.2x8.
Shock bolts - If there is play in the shock area do not over tighten the shock mounting After riding bolts as it is more than likely play in the shock bushing mounts. Excessive over tightening of the titanium shock bolts can cause them to snap. We recommend tighten to no more than 5.5 Nm
Brake compatibility - Your frames rear brake tabs have been checked with a SRAM caliper/mount/rotor. This test involves fitting and tuning the brake to work correctly, the yellow sticker on the frame denotes that it has passed this test and is within tolerance for SRAM/Shimano brakes. But we have found some UK brake brands brake mount adapters have inconsistent anodizing on the mounts and less tolerance between the brakes pads. This may lead to brake rubbing and conclude that the brake tabs are not aligned correctly but this is not the case. If you are using SRAM or Shimano brakes you will not encounter this problem.
Contact points - Titanium is sharp and can bind with other metals so you must liberally apply ti-prep, Tunap 113 Brake paste or assembly compound in contact areas and not normal grease. If you use normal grease it will wear the parts and may seize and cause failure. If this happens it may affect your warranty.
Your XFS frame is made from certified aerospace grade Ti3AL2.5V. For the technical minded that’s: 3% Aluminum, 2.5% Vanadium and 94.5% Titanium.
This grade of titanium is used for missiles, fighter jets and submarines due to it’s high anti-corrosion properties mixed with a tolerance to extreme heat. It will not rust or corrode and has a very slow fatigue rate which means it will more than likely last as long as you can ride it.
Cleaning is easy, you can use normal water and detergent without any problems. To return the titanium to its natural luster and original appearance you can use acetone spirit and a rag to wipe down the frame, always removing any excess after cleaning. After washing always check and drain any water from the seat tube as water can reside in the bottom bracket shell and eventually corrode bearings.
Check the welds and key stress areas regularly. Titanium is a very strong metal and does not fatigue in the same way as other frame materials, but the stress to failure threshold when exceeded is very fast so it is important to regularly check your frame for signs of damage. If you find damage, get in touch with us as soon as possible.
Magic Scotch-Brite - Your frame has a raw finish so the welds are exposed, should you which to bring it to a polished finish use a Scotch-Brite pad in a circular motion around the tubing.
Please use ti-prep or Tunap 113 Brake paste in all of the mounts and fixings where the rear shock attaches to your frame. Used instead of grease it will extend the life of your shock fixings and bushing mounts significantly.
Linkage- The XFS frame is fitted with alloy hard coated linkages. Care should be taken to remove excessive dirt or mud from linkage areas where there is minimal tolerances to the frame.
The linkage alignment can be tuned using different stacked washers, spare washers are included in a small packet with your frame. If you decide to adjust the alignment of the linkage using the washer/linkage tune, start by adding 0.5mm on the side you want to tune and reducing by 0.5mm on the adjacent side of the linkage.
When reassembling your linkage, bolts should be torqued to 10-19nm. Dry bolts give incorrect torque readings.
Take care not to lose any of the washers when disassembling and assembling the linkages as they are custom parts, made specifically for your XFS.
Always use a healthy amount of grease in all linkage parts when assembling and keep an eye on the bearings for play and excessive wear.
Bearing part codes and washer parts breakdown
Top linkage - 4 x 6902-2RS MAX (OD28xID15xW7)
Stacked x 1/1.6/2/4mm washers
Bottom linkage - 4 x 6902-2RS MAX (OD28xID15xW7)
Stacked x 1/1.6/2/4mm washers
1. Decide the entry and exit hole for the cable. If you’re running UK (left side rear brake), we recommend running the left brake hose round the front of the head tube and into the right hole in the top tube, and vise versa for rear dérailleur cable. The brake hose and gear cable then cross over in the top tube and exit the opposite side.
2. Insert a (new folded in the middle) inner gear cable into the exit hole. Push the cable along the top tube until it reaches the end. Then insert a J-spoke into the exit hole and hook the folded gear cable with the J part of the spoke. Pull the gear cable out of the hole with the J spoke. (A gear and J-Spoke are included with the frame).
3. Once out, separate the gear cable and pull one side of the folded gear cable through the frame whilst holding the other ‘nipple’ end. Tape it to the top tube so it doesn’t slip back down the tube.
4. When the outer gear cable or brake hose is ready, insert the inner gear cable (from step 2) into the end of the gear outer cable or brake hose (depending on what cable you’re installing).
5. Feed the inner gear cable guide and outer cable (or hose back) into the hole and down the top tube using the inner gear cable as the guide. Exit the cable through the exit hole, but don’t pull the inner gear cable too hard as it will come out of the cable outer and you’ll need to start again. You may need some needle nose pliers to grab the cable outer as it exits.
Always leave enough cable/hose under the BB to allow for full suspension compression.
