CP: The Topcross (Low trail CX + touring)

Looking forward to seeing pics from the trip! :)

I will bring my camera then ;-)
I share most photos of builds and rides here http://hulsroygundersen.com/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/flapcrack/

@Hulsroy, @edscoble Do you find you have to adjust the Hylex every few rides? I find the levers start to rattle after about 100k and need the lever reach screw turned to bring the levers out again.

Mine did rattle (right hand side) when I used the reach adjustment, but when it's fully adjusted it doesn't anymore.

Bit annoying but managable with the reach on full luckily (prefer it to be a little closer).

I put it down to the fact that it's the only single speed hydraulic levers out there and hope that they'll produced a V.2 soon.

I haven't had any issues what so ever. No rattle.

Will you be here August 8th? thunking to put a ride in the calendar.
Got more than a few to @ when it does happen.

I am not sure when I will be leaving.

Cool, would be great if you make it. Relaxed pace scenic roll for sociability.

Sounds great. I am struggling with Danish unemployment stuff, so I am not sure if can leave the country that early, yet. I can bring 3 months of unemployment benefits to the UK while looking for a job, but you have to go through hell first.

was your old crankset carbon - if so how did you strip it?

cheers

<3

Fine grit wet sanding. Grit 600, 800, 1000 and 1200.
If the logos are small you don't have to sand it all down. Just remove logos with razor and clear coat on top. That way youll have the original protection of the carbon.
I am having issues getting my cranks replaced by FSA because I sanded all the logos.

awesome - mine are FSA. Hate those stupid logos gonna sand for sure.

;-) My advise is just to not buy FSA again... ever. Ugly and poorly fabricated.

You will end up having shoe rub on the cranks. The clear coat the factory applied will be a little tougher than the naked carbon. But you do get shoe rub no matter what and you can re-sand the cranks once a year or whatever...

I have been missing my road bike a lot lately. So put on some 23c tyres and carbon forks. It can be pretty fast apparently ;-)

Puts on 23c... rides on gravel.

You can't help yourself!

True... ;-)
My girlfriend was on her road bike, so I switched to 23c to make feel better about riding gravel. It's not easy to get the tyres on mtb rims, but it looks pretty rad with tyres and rim aligning perfectly.

Do you think it was the tyres or the fork which made the difference to it feeling fast? I've been thinking a carbon fork might be nice for my cross check when I get back from touring to make it nippier, but it's on 35mm tyres atm too

Getting the rack and steel forks off surely made it lighter. Tyres make it roll faster on tarmac, but not on gravel. For cyclocross, if you train hard and race, carbon forks are a must. The fatigue of one hour of cx is mental and after 30min you want your bike to be as light as possible. Or you could train really hard like Dan Chabanov.
If you just semi-mtb around local forests dont bother buying carbon forks. Also if you need 1 1/8" disc forks, you dont have many full carbon choices out there.

Scenic. No hidden message, I hope?

No just felt goth

This bike met a car door.

Top tube kinked, down tube is salvageable. I am replacing the 28.6 top tube with a 31.8 and brazing a gusset to the down tube. I feel like building a completely new frame, but on the other hand this one has been through so much, and I feel that it deserves another season.

You're oversizing the top tube? Wouldn't that make it unnecessary stuff?