Jaap's Niner RLT 9 Steel A.K.A. 11 speed is dead

Some weeks ago I bought a RLT 9 Steel size 56 frameset on the cheap, however it's an "older" post mount frame so I am gonna do some modifications. I don't think this will be a fast build, here is the plan.

Mods:

1. Swap out the (front) fork for a FK-CS01
   
2. Sandblast it to get rid of the horrible "dirty white" and "ranger red"
   
3. Cut of the rear post mount
   
4. Weld on a rear flat mount
   
5. Drill the downtube for internal rear brake cable/hose
   
6. Remove seat stay bridge
   
7. Spray the frame, fork and hubs bright green
   
8. Finish it with parts
   
   

Parts (bought):

• Niner RLT9 Steel size 56 frame
  
• FK-CS01 carbon fork
  
• Canyon VCLS 2.0 seatpost
  
• Fabric Line saddle
  
• Cannondale crankset
  
• Cannondale 44T spidering
  
• Chris King Turquoise PF30 BB
  
• DT Swiss 240s Centerlock hubset
  
• DT Swiss Competition Race spokes
  
• DT Swiss XR331 rims
  
• SRAM Apex 1 shifter and brakelever
  
• SRAM Apex 1 rear derailleur
  
• SRAM XG-1175 cassette (10-42)
  
• Wolftooth 46T cog
  
• Easton EA90 stem
  
• Specialized hover flare bars
  
• TRP Spyres
  
• Campagnolo 140mm AFS rotors
  
• Shimano XT di2 rear derailleur
  
• Bruce Gordon Rock 'n Road
  

bought it like this:
(without the wheels)

Bought a damaged Chris King BB on the cheap and cleaned it up on my lathe:

Used my sandblaster/sandblast cabine for the first time, turned out you need some suction in your cabine to be able to see something after 5 minutes of blasting. Will continue after I figured that out:

fuck yeah sub'd

All right!

Nice! Subbed.

Sub

you had my at "..on my lathe". Subbed!

Nice. But why changing forks? Rake?

Rake is actually the same. I swapped out the fork because of 12mm thru axle (instead of qr) and flat mount brakes (instead of post mount).

Tennis ball green or dale slime green?

Yamaguchi bright green

Tennis ball green or dale slime green? Also why remove the seatstay bridge, compliance?

💦

Cause it's really ugly and only there for mounting mudguards.

Perfecto

Keen to see how this shapes up.

Why non-hydro? And 10-42 over 11-42t?

Still in doubt over hydro, mechanical performance is good enough off road and a bit more reliable/easier to fix on the road. However R785 levers are the most comfortable levers ever.

Had a 1x10 setup on my AWOL with 11-42 and always felt like I needed another gear.

mechanical is [] a bit more reliable

I don't agree on this...

Why?

10,000 km on Shimano hydraulic with zero issues.

I had an O-ring fail/rupture on the caliper connector of my rear R785 after about 6000km while being somewhere in rural France. The bike shops there all had brake cables, non had the desired O-ring.

In my (admittedly limited) experience if the brakes are setup properly and working well after the bled then they will just work forever. If there's a problem it will be obvious straightaway (ie no catastrophic failure in the middle of nowhere).

edit: well there you go, you had the opposite experience :)