-
Some more bits and pieces for the frame...
Lifeline headset, Wiggle house brand carbon headset. This seems perfectly fine and nearly half the price of an FSA one which I don't necessarily think is 2x the headset...
Carbon braze-on adaptor for the front derailleur and seatpost clamp... mostly for bling factor
Fizik Bar tape & Stem
-
Wasn't sure about the silver spokes but they look pretty tight when everything else is muted.
Good build. Now take the Italian stuff off and go SRAM 1x if you actually want to get off the road!
-
The assembly was pretty straightforward, although I have heard a few people complain about the internal cable routing it wasn't too hard. The frame has these removeable bits which let you fish out the cables pretty easily. The rear brake cable is a full run of housing so it's pretty easy. I also fitted new handlebars, Salsa Cowbell 3's in the widest 46cm width. I used to have 42cm bars on my old bike but had 46cm ones on my tandem. I got so used to it that I preferred it despite not being a big guy.
The first ride was just in the park near my house, first impression was that damn these tyres are super supple! It just floats right over any terrain and feels really settled without bouncing around. I didn't realise that the thru axle would make the steering feel so much more direct as well, it's noticeable stiffer in this aspect but it still doesn't feel harsh going over the bumps. The wider flared Salsa Cowbell bars are perfect, the extra width and flare give it so much more control and comfort. I'll write up a full report once I take it for a proper ride.
-
Hey, yes it's going great! I've taken it on a few rides now all off road, the frame is great to ride. I took it along the South Downs way which is the perfect kind of terrain for this bike, not too technical but mostly tame gravel. I'll be posting a bit more shortly...
There's a few mechanical issues that are related with the chainrings that I will post about, however life got in the way :P
-
Thanks, I'm thinking of getting the sram apex 11x1 setup bike which on-one have for Β£1000 currently. The idea would probably be to gradually upgrade the parts over time.
Probably go for the same colour as you, don't fancy bright orange or green
Looking at similar bikes but doesn't seem anything at that price. I like the look of the Genesis datum but ready to ride they start at a fair few more Β£s
-
Originally I wanted to try 650b on it, I've ordered a 2.0" tyre to give it a go to see if it will fit. I've measured it at the rear chainstays and it looks tight, but if I can fit it in then it's really not too far from a rigid MTB :)
Yes otherwise very happy with the bike, the Β£1000 Apex build is an absolute steal! I actually like bright orange like on the Open U.P however I found the yellow text horrible
-
Update...
I bought a cheap 2.0" 650b WTB Wolverine and test fitted them on the back and front. Back barely fits, bugger all clearance (1-2mm) so if your tyre is not perfectly straight and the wheel is not perfectly true expect wheel rub... so basically a no go. Actual inflated width of these tyres is 47mm at the widest point so narrower than 2.0" (50.8mm)Loads of space at the front however as expected...
-
Full post here https://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/bish-bash-bosh-part-7-teething-issues.html
In the course of this build up I had to do some replacement of worn out bits, the Campag drivetrain I had was originally bought in 2010 and had quite a lot of mileage on it at this point. After replacing the bearings previously, I had to replace the chainrings too. However this was a lot easier said than done, as the availability and fit of replacement rings was not so clear...
Firstly Campagnolo changed the chainring bolt design on later cranks, going from two piece bolts as per standard, to bolt that threads directly into the small ring. New vs Old:
Secondly because of Campagnolo's hidden bolt design, and proprietary BCD pattern (the hidden bolt is offset at 112mm while the others are all 110mm on a compact crank) you are limited in choice. This is the bit that screwed me up as unbeknownst to me, the 2010 Athena Carbon CT cranks are a bit oddball and actually have a different chainring fit to the Chorus/Record cranks of the same year despite having a very similar appearance.
Due to cost and availability I ended up buying the Stronglight CT2 chainrings which are meant specifically for Campagnolo cranks... they even have a milled out section where the hidden bolt goes... fantastic I thought....
However the milled out bit was too thick and caused the crank to not sit flat on the spider... Also in small-small combination the shift pins would pick up the chain, indicating that the chainring was not sitting too far inboard...
So I had to mill it out that pad a bit and add thin 0.6mm spacers to get the big ring out to prevent that...
Looking good...
-
With both chainrings replaced it should have been sorted... not so easy. Now I had a new problem... The chainsuck on these new rings is worse than with the worn originals...! I couldn't really find factory replacement so the only real chainrings on the market were Stronglight or SpΓ©cialitΓ©s TA. I suspect this is happening due to a mismatch in phasing of the teeth when shifting or possibly caused by spacing the big ring out further...
It happens whenever shifting down from the big to small ring, even with a tiny bit of load it jams up. The original rings never did this until they had a lot of mileage on them, and even then only when the chain was filthy... disappointed!
-
Its strange, I'm having the exact same chainsuck issues with my 3T.
Only when shifting down to small ring.
I suspect I'll be forced to go 1x soon enough (when I can find a suitable rear derailleur).
I was beginning to consider drilling out some Sram rings by 2mm, just to see if it would work better. First step is to consider a Campagnolo chain. -
Yeah it is very strange as I've never had chainsuck issues on any of my bikes before... I suspect that the chainring teeth are out of phase, normally you are meant to buy matched pairs so all the typical shift points are matched to avoid this happening... The Stronglight/TA chainrings come in lots of sizes and none are indicated to match with each other
-
Interesting updates but shame about the 2"s.
I got my self build BBB with Apex 1x in the same colour as yours back around 3 weeks ago. been really busy so just part built it so far, just waiting to upgrade wheels as the ones supplied from PX are pretty rubbish.
The apex 1x stuff seems good for the money, looking forward to completing the build and getting out on it
ππ¨ππ‘
at313
deleted
Shroom-
Post a reply
About
On One Bish Bash Bosh gravel/bikepack/rando/allroad build
Posted by
Yeah I think they are related to the Italian FRM company as well, they make lots of CF goodies