Klein Budget for a Klein bicycle / gravel's biggest chopper

I've actually just been looking at these and I'm thinking they'll be definitely be the best for the price, thank you!!

Yeah, those 7700 switch to friction easily. There's a little thingy on the right hand shifter that you have rotate 90° which switches off indexing. Respect for choosing 10-speed friction! The thinking man's drivetrain.

I've got a pair of 105 bar end shifters, 10 spd. DM me if interested

Build Update:

Parts are slowly beginning to come together for the build, so far I've received: the DA 9 speed shifter (also friction shift), 122mm (73mm casing) Shimano bb, Tektro SS brake levers and a set of Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres kindly donated by a colleague.

Might keep my eye out for another 160mm 6 bolt rotor as I only have access to one and a 180mm currently.

Also just waiting to collect the Surly Troll Fork from @platypus tomorrow night and then we should be good to start the build.

In the meantime, here's a cheeky mock up of the frame:

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Great work, looking forward to seeing it finished! Love a parts bin/smash it together kind of build, but obviously with some good knowledge here.

Friction shifting is great at 8sp - bearable at 9sp - but a pig at 10sp.

Cogs much closer together, so much harder to 'trim' to the precise gear without slipping up / down... Take it from me, it gets very frustrating.

There is a reason why shimano 10sp barcon shifters are index-only.

@D_Mars I'll keep an eye out for this and see how I go. I don't doubt that you're right, but I only have access to a 10 speed 11-30 cassette so I'm trying to make it work!

The DA bar end shifter I have isn't 'pure' friction shift like I've used before where the lever moves freely, which makes me hopeful that it might work. It converts from nine speed into much shorter 1-2mm increments so I feel this might help with indexing somewhat.

There isn't a reason, as they did make friction/index 10 speed. I've got a pair.

They did do another variant that was index only though.

http://si.shimano.com/pdfs/ev/EV-SL-BS78-2282.pdf - Friction/Indexed
http://si.shimano.com/pdfs/ev/EV-SL-BS79-2873A.pdf - Indexed only

I rode 10 speed friction for a while (necessity as I only had 7 speed levers available). It wasn't great but it was manageable. In fairness it was on my pub bike and I didn't change gear all that much.

Build Update:

So, since where we left off I have collected the fork from @platypus and began a more substantial build on the Klein. Not sure what to think of the geometry yet, kind of nice that the bb is so high but I'm thinking about putting a 90mm stem on to replace the 100mm because my initial guess is that it might not be that responsive?

So far I have got the drive train fitted and indexed which went somewhat smoothly. I initially encountered some problems with cross chainring which inevitably lead to consistent chain dropping, however this was resurrected by placing the chainring facing the opposite way around or the back of the spider. This was also a bonus because the chainring was slightly worn, so flipping gave a more favorable tooth angle. I was also able to do this without modifying the frame to accommodate the chain ring due to running such a wide bottom bracket, another bonus.

As well as this, I have also cut and mounted all of the cable housing to the frame so that I can begin to assemble the brakes to the frame (hopefully this weekend) which will complete the build.

Lastly, I managed to get hold of a Hope M4 160mm rotor so I won't have to run a ridiculous 180mm on the front.

Looking forward to getting it finished, its been quite steady progress since getting back to uni and not having a single day off to really knuckle down and get it finished, so apologies for the slow progress!

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Looks rad!

Nice! I had a mild panic a week and a half ago (on holiday) when I realised there were 10-speed Deore derailleurs around which would be incompatible with that bar-end shifter. Thought I might have led you to waste your hard-earned cash. But relieved to hear it's working!

Any reason why you've fitted the bar end shifter upside down? How did you find it shifting like that?

Thank you for the great feedback! I'm glad its been positively received.

@frankenbike I had been contemplating for a while just buying a 9 speed cassette after hearing about the mishaps people were having trying to run the friction shift with 10 speed derailleurs. I decided to just play it safe in the end to avoid any disappointment! I was intrigued by 10 speed and wanted to give it a go, but then remembered that, none of this really matters as long as it works, this bike is essentially a means to an end to see if I like gravel riding and if I would ever invest a bit more into a build!

@ElGato I did this mostly for neatness and compliance. The cable navigates around the brake more cleanly, as well as also being infinitely comfier than if the cable was mounted 'traditionally'. As for shifting, still works like a dream. Nice and quick, no skipping. The only problem I'm having gear wise is with the front chainring being slightly less than ideal!

Fair enough, I haven't seen it fitted like that before.

@ElGato The title does say 'Gravel's biggest chopper'

It certainly does :)

why do you have a framed picpus?

@fredtc Curious leaflet I picked up from a Bookshop on Broadway Market and I decided I liked it on my desk

Ask me about the bike god damn it

How come you have so much loo roll?

@frankenbike I do a lot of very very big shits.

I'm finally able to confirm that I'm not dead and that I have not infact died as a result of this build. @toojac pointed out the build on the spotted thread the other day so I though I should get my act together and atleast post something about the completion of the build.

Since where I left off, I was disappointed to find that the Hope M4 rotor I bought was a complete shambles and totally warped, whoever was selling this obviously knew about it but decided not to describe the defects in their sale, so I'm going to be chasing up.

I ended up buying a brand new Shimano XT 160mm rotor for the front and using the original 160mm mentioned on the back.

The brakes were relatively 'easy' to set up and have gone together surprisingly well considering the heritage TRP HY/RD brakes seem to have.

Also fitted a 90mm stem instead of running a 100mm stem as it was like riding a frickin barge when riding the 100mm.

I've been out for a cheeky ride out to Beckenham Place Park just yesterday to test her out and she rides like a dream, the super high bottom bracket is an absolute god send. My only issue was with the relentless smashing of the saddle on my butt and sack so in the not so distant future, I'm planning on buying and fitting a dropper seatpost that a friend wants to sell me on the cheap, for extra rad points, as well as getting hold of some new Sora shifters to improve practicality and so that I can hook the dropper seatpost up to the LH shifter to keep things tidy.

Unofficial photos:

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