Weathering the Tempest

Last year I had my first taste of cycle touring, riding from Rome to Nice on a borrowed road bike. It was great, but left me with a thought rolling around my head: Maybe I need some gears.

So I set about looking for options that would fit my (conflicting) needs: Light enough for fast road riding, solid enough for touring, and practical for commuting.

This translated to:

1. Titanium - I love my 4130 singlespeed, but it's not light. Hoping the wonder material lives up to the hype.
   
2. Hydraulic disc - Having seen one of our group ride 800km with a wobbly rear wheel that was damaged during the flight I was sold. Wet weather braking is also a plus for the commute.
   
3. Wideish tubeless wheels - I made the move to 28mm IRC roadlites last year and haven't looked back. Let's throw in a dynamo for good measure.
   
   

After a few months of eBay and classifieds scouring I ended up with a Planet X Tempest frame for a fairly decent price. My initial (naive) goal was lower but if I can beat the new build price (was £1400 but has since gone up) with a bit more spec I'll be able to live with myself.

Here's what I have added so far (current total is 648 inc delivery):
Fyxation Sparta Allroad fork - A bit snazzy, but ticks all the boxes.
Cinelli Vai XL seatpost, stem & handlebar
Planet X bits (dropout hangers, rear axle, seatpost clamp , headset, ripoff A530 pedals)- Annoyingly the frame came without, and they're bloody expensive.

Here is what's outstanding and my current selections:
Groupset:
Shimano 105 R7020 - Currently £520 on Wiggle, and seems to get good reviews. A big part of the budget...

Wheels:
Shutter Precsion PD-8X-m (£123) - I spoke to The Cycle Clinic today and they said they had had QC issues, so recommended the SON instead. Not sure if I can justify it.
Shimano 105 R7070 Rear Hub (£40) - Any better options?
DT R460 disc (£80 pr) - These are cheaper from bike24.com but they won't arrive in time
Sapim force (£64)
Light - ????

Saddle: I'll borrow one from another bike until I see a good used deal here.

Anything I've missed, or should do differently, or you can save me money on, let me know!

£64 for spokes seems a lot.

I get all my spokes from cycle basket (aci alpina) and have never had one snap even though I've built the wheels (Probably badly).

Unleas I wanted mega weight weenie or thought I needed areo (which I never will) I'm not sure what buying posh spokes achieves.

Cool. Post pics of things, pls.

@russmeyer ill do the obligatory everything on the floor photo once some more bits arrive!

Yesterday I ordered a SP dynamo, Kinlin XR26, and black Sapim race (not quite £64,but still a premium over silver). Going to pick up a Shimano 105 R7070 from Evans on Monday.

Spa were a bit more realistic with me trying to keep the budget down, highlighting the 2 vs 5 year warranty of Son (they said SP had honoured theirs when necessary). They suggested the Kinlin as they have an offset version, and offered to double check my spoke calcs. So far very impressed with them.

Looking for suggestions for a dynamo light that won't break the bank. Mostly commuting, but ability to ride unlit roads would be good. (is this better in the dedicated thread?)

Which leads me to the build up. I'm happy with basic maintenance, and have the tools to do that. Installing headsets, bottom brackets, and hydraulics are new to me. I'm considering London Bike Kitchen for access to tools, and a watchful eye. Any experiences?

Re lights, on my commuter I run a SP8 dynamo hub with the B+M IQ X headlight. It has a clever mounting ring that lets you mount the light sideways and even upside down. I hung it from my front rack that way. The light is great, I think. It's not as bright as a battery powered 700 lumen light I also have but it throws a really wide beam. The whole setup was reasonably affordable (once you get over the fact that running dynamo hub lighting is expensive).

(once you get over the fact that running dynamo hub lighting is expensive).

This just isn't true. The bling stuff is but you can have a basic setup for crazy cheap.

Any recommendations on this side of life? There seems to be many options that are hard to separate. I think why the expensive options are well represented because people vouch for them.

Also because people are keen to show off their nice kit?@dr_frankenbike had a mad cheap build planned but readybuilt wheels are available at decathlon and b&m lights are cheap and good

Popped into LBK yesterday, and they seem friendly enough. £50 gets you a year's worth of off peak workshop time. You're not allowed to bleed hydraulics there which is a pain.

Dropout inserts arrived from Planet X, but without screws. £45, and not including these is bullshit. Eyeballed it, and ordered M4x12mm from Amazon.

Groupset (R7020) arrived yesterday, which lead to any inevitable array of questions.

Where are the bloody olives?
Not an 'overhead in Waitrose', but a misunderstanding about the hydraulic brakes. The levers come separately from the calipers which have hoses installed. Everything comes pre filled. I squeezed the lever, and found myself covered with mineral oil. Fuck.

DON'T SQUEEZE THE LEVERS.

On the videos I saw the process to install is clamp the in supplied block, trim to length with sharp blade, hammer in the end, slide end and olive over tube, insert and tighten. On this kit the end and olive are already in the lever, so you just trim, install the hose insert, push it into the lever and tighten. Shimano are trying push their magic tool so don't supply the block to hold the hose. Anyone know where I can get hold of one?

How do I run the cables?
The groupset comes with pre trimmed cable sleeve, split on the downtube. The frame has partial guides (see link). Do I need have the full cable run sleeved? My old Tiagra had tensioners at the levers. Do I need these with the 105?
https://imgur.com/a/7jJLkIU

Would like to see this build, was it rim brake perchance? I don't think that decathlon has ready built dynamo wheels with a disc hub and thus if you're comparing prices with battery lights, the battery lights will surely win pretty handily (Decathlon for ex has some front and rear 30lux B&M lights on sale right now for #60)

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/232621/?offset=1350#comment14525433
Some chat here

Nice! thanks.

Finally had all the parts ready so took the obligatory 'everything on the floor' photo.

Dropped off all the bits at LBK and tried to find a parking space. When I came back the woman working there greeted me with "did you know about this?" and showed me the crack in the chainstay. Fuck.

We're now one month on and and after plenty of hassle with the seller, eBay and Hermes I have my money back.

What to do, what to do, what to do...

Left with everything but a frame, and a cycle tour at the start of September I'm weighing up my options:

1. Buy the Tempest frame again new £700
   +I think it looks good, and still meets my spec.
   -I'm put off after seeing one break, and Planet X's 2 year warranty.

2. Buy a different titanium frame - Lynskey Sportive Disc £800
   +Nearly like for like so a simple choice.
   +Lifetime warranty, which helps justify some of the cost, and ease my concerns.
   -This only takes 32mm max, which might look a bit odd with the 42mm ready forks.
   -Less pretty (I think I can de-ugly it by removing the decals).
   -Some less favourable shop reviews about the geometry.

3. Sack off this titanium nonsense and buy an aluminium bike
   +Plenty more options (Kinesis 4S Disc, RTD, Bowman Pilgrims Disc) at similar price point, money back from selling the fork.
   +Comparable weight for the more speedy days.
   -Hassle of selling said fork, and losing fork mounts.
   -Not many have pannier mounts for if I decide to do fully loaded touring.
   -It's hard to see the distinction between some of them.