Changes and updates after ~3 months and a few hundred miles with the X2.
Would I buy it again?
Absolutely. There is still no bike for my purposes that ticks
my boxes better, including the LudiV2 controller.
The Z1 with it's UART Ultra or Hydra w/Archon are the only other options I see at the moment. The Monte Capro is CANBUS and $$, and the Monte Lite is beautiful but Bafang programming. Maybe Luna or Innotrace will sell standalone controllers for M600 in the future, which would be great for existing owners and open up options.
Has anything broken?
Nope. I did have to do a controller swap early on, which may or may not have been needed - the Bluetooth range isn't as far as most of us would like, and the antenna position is kind of important if riding with the phone attached to the bars. It's possible a future firmware update may improve BT TX/transmit power. Odometer doesn't work with the LudiV2, but I know this is in process and likely part of the next firmware update.
What have you changed? Did you need to?
Most changes were from my personal preference, either to make the bike 'mine,' to make it fit better, etc. There really isn't anything I 'needed' to change - other than the atrocious stock seat. Good brand/model (WTB Volt) but way too narrow at 135mm.
I also like to tinker, but here's the list so far:
- Hope red floating rotors F/R, and will be moving to 200mm in rear shortly. Have a few different pad compounds to play with.
- SRAM 'deslackinators' to take up free-play in the SRAM G2 levers.
- Ergon SMC Core seat
- Front/Rear MuckyNuts fenders, mini - will be replacing with the longer versions soon - the minis work well to protect the chainstay/suspension pivot from crap, but still spray my back.
- Re-arranged controls and added a thumb-drive throttle @JRA found from someone in Poland. Much better than the OE one, although I had initially filed that one down to make it narrower/more usable with controls layout.
- Ergon GA3 grips - because they don't suck.
- Granite Stash tubeless repair kit in bar end
- Mirracycle bar end mirror on left
- Lamin-X and 3M clear film - battery cover and chainstay under chainstay protector mainly at this point
- 'Fire Lizard' chainstay protector
- Alston mtb pedals
- Miranda 16-mm crank arms, after also trying the Luna 150mm arms
- Replaced Alex MD35 wheelset with a set of ARC40/DT Swiss 350 hubs running Johnny Watt 27.5x2.8 - converted to tubeless. I like DT Swiss, and wanted a more 'dual-sport' on/off-road tire. Working well so far.
- Foam strips on top/inside of battery cover to remove any minor rattling
- Replaced KS 125mm dropper post with SDG Tells 170mm post. Nice dropper, and user-serviceable with parts. However, the RaceFace universal dropper lever is a huge POS with a single grub screw that lets the cable strip. Replacing the dropper lever/remote.
- Replaced the SX or NX shifter with a GX MMX shifter. Didn't 'need' to, but wanted to condense bar clamps etc. Works fine, not a huge difference in feel but more metal vs plastic, and a low $ part at ~$42.
- Added a Spurcycle compact bike bell - after jogger u-turned as I was passing on the left and did a stoppie that nearly became more.. yeah, need a bell.
- Added a front light which I like pretty well. Good mount, USB-C charging although a bit finicky on cables. Ironically they give a 'free' CR-2032 tail light that is actually awesome and wish was rechargeable - I just put it on slow pulse mode when I remember. Victogen off Amazon...just ignore the claimed Lumens.
- DVO Topaz Air T3 rear shock - was considering going coil, but wanted to see what a higher end air shock felt like first, so picked up used (210x55) along with a (non-offset) bushing kit and DU bushing tool from offsetbushings.com
- Only have 15-20 miles on it, but seems like a huge improvement over the RS Deluxe+ at this point, much more compliant at chatter/low-speed compression. Probably still needs some adjustment yet, but am liking it so far.
- Yari to Lyric Charger upgrade kit - damper and air spring.
- The Yari is decent overall. I do notice some fork flex, but all forks will have some flex to them. What I haven't yet been able to tune out entirely is low-speed chatter, much like the difference I noticed with the DVO Topaz rear vs the prior rear RS shock.
- Have not yet installed, but will bring the Yari up to Lyric Ultimate specs. Note on the air spring - this is a cheap ~$40 upgrade, and you can change your fork suspension travel distance by selecting a different length air spring. Stock is 160mm; I believe 140-180mm are available.
- Will see how things feel after this upgrade, and either stick with it or possible pick up a used DVO as backup plan.
I'll be building a wheelset shortly, mostly for grins. Components are somewhat difficult to get at the moment, but will be building a set of 32H (good luck finding 36H > i30mm rims..) ARC35s, DT240S Hybrid J bend front, DT350 Hybrid rear, Alpine 3 rear spokes, probably DT Comp front, and put another set of Johnny Watts on them. The 240 front was down to parts availability - want the wheels to be semi-indestructible so going ahead with the Hybrid hub variants, which have larger bearings in them, but it was impossible to find a DT 350 Hybrid front hub...as it was, I did get a nice deal on the 240S Hybrid front, so no harm, no foul..