Motobecane Mulekick CF

Not too shabby—I picked this up since I’ve found I really prefer to have a dedicated ‘single track’ drop bar bike and a ‘go long’ bike for those 50/50 road oriented rides, and not try to make one bike do both.    I had parts and wheels to swap around so this isn’t stock.  The GRX groupset is, however, and it’s awesome.  Original wheelset was as you’d expect on a $1600 bike, solid but on the heavy side.  Rear tire clearance with the dropped chainstay is awesome, so I decided to make this the single track bike.  Bikes Direct would have crushed it with this bike but unfortunately the fork they spec does not have the same generous clearance as the rear does.  So I ventured out to ebay and picked up a generic carbon fork, Hylix brand name, with more clearance.  It’s Ok, no complaints whatsoever with flat mounts for the brakes and overall finish looks fine.  I’ll just be watching it more carefully than I normally would.  But in this configuration it rips...the front Rocket Ron 2.1 measures out closer to 2.3, and I’m sure it would go in the back.  Back Fast Trak 2.0 measures out close to 2.1 on the Hunt wheels.  With dropper post and shock stop stem, and the excellent 2 finger braking from the hoods with the GRX brifters it will bring smiles carving tight turns through the trees.  As you see it, minus only the water bottle, it’s 23lbs, so not too bad (that’s with toolkit).  

The upshot—not bad value just as it comes.  If they’d taken a little more care with matching a fork to the rear tire clearance for a straightforward conversion to 27.5 x 2.1 it would be a real winner.  For an off the shelf, solid gravel grinder you can just ride as is it’s still a pretty good deal at 1600 delivered.  Sizing on website is weird, but I went with what they recommended and it’s fine.  This is a 49 and normally (Specialized Crux for example) I’d ride 54.  It works.  Plenty of standover for those who are concerned with that, and extra seatpost length exposed opens up dropper possibilities or just having more flex for comfort.

I really like what you've done and the appeal of big rubber in the frame. This may be taking things a bit sideways, but given that its Motobecane, I have to guess this frame is an open mold. I wonder if it can be identified. The reason being is I do like the groupset being sold but I would scrap practically everything else off the bike, and replace the fork as well just as you did, and there's zero appeal in trying to sell of those bits. If they offered it in a "rolling chassis" like another model, it might be fine....but unfortunately they don't. I know there are people a lot more savy when it comes to this stuff so any info would be greatly appreciated (if there is any at all).

As for who specifically made the frame, yeah, I don’t know either—just that it had a “made in Taiwan” sticker on the headtube.  Zero complaints on the frame quality, but didn’t move a single cable or hose on the groupset, just swapped cranks, wheels, but everything looks really good and it has a nice feel.  Downtube appears slimmer in side view, seen from above/below it is very beefy and stiff.  Dropped drive side chainstay, as is becoming very common.  Great rear tire clearance as mentioned.  Mounts all over for more of a bikepacking focus if wanted—downtube, two water bottle cages in the main triangle, and top tube “gas tank”, and fender/rack points.  A removable plastic bridge in rear triangle for fender mount.  

With bikes direct, seems to me you take a bit of gamble information wise—as in, they aren’t going to tell you “yes, a 2.1x27.5 will fit”.  It will be ‘some customers report...’
But the actual quality seems quite reliable.  And of course you are usually focussing on getting a great groupset at a good price...

Looks looks like a pretty good deal. Shame about the fork though. They have a GRX Di2 version for $2500. Pretty tempting. Do you think an internal dropper would work on this? Perhaps if I went 1x?

Sorry haven’t been checking in on the forum.  But I did make a mistake in my original post—the tire I ordered and had already been using on another bike (Schwalbe Rocket Ron 27.5 x 2.1) was not a 2.1, but a 2.25.  I checked the order and it was supposed to be 2.1, and I’m pretty sure I looked at the packaging and verified 2.1 before I pulled the tire out.  Now have a 2.1 Racing Ralph for the rear, and looking at the difference I read the size right off the front since I was surprised how much bigger it was than the rear.  So just holding the stock fork over the 2.1 it looks like it would be OK—sorry for the f-up...  Looks like the Mulekick CF can take a 27.5 x 2.1 front and back in original form.  Still more room in back though, which has me thinking of trying a 2.25 front and back for full singletrack mayhem.

All in all a good bike, and as a side note the GRX 2x rear derailleur will handle a 42t cog, so running a 46-30 front and a 10-42 Sram XD rear (if you have that xd capability) makes for a ridiculous gear range, more top end and endless bottom end. Only drawback I’ve found is that the dropped drive side chainstay doesn’t play too well with a 30t chainring, and it’s best to stay out of cross chaining down too far when in the small ring up front.  The frame has a metal protector to help with that, but easy to get some scratches and chips from chain hitting bottom of stay and even chain suck on occasion.

Just an update after a year...The MotoMule is still going strong, got bored with the black and hit it with some Plasti-Dip.  Weighed it with pedals and cages off, the ‘standard’ sort of format, and it came in at 8.3kg (18lb 5oz) in this format (aftermarket cheap Hylix fork, trusty old Roval control sl wheelset, ebay used SLK cranks and some carbon seatpost or other.  Still loving the GRX, someday maybe I’ll get a Rival AXS groupset or something, but then again, maybe not.  Works great.  Of course Bikes Direct, like everywhere else, has pretty much nothing available, and overall very glad I pulled the trigger on this, plan to ride it into the ground.

Also, BD has a similar bike with 50 cm 29er tires stock. It is called the Zilla.