-
Thanks for the heads up!
External BBs are new to me. They do ask for unnaturally large amounts of torque (~15nM) for such small bolts. I have a wrench that only goes to 10, the extra I did by feel so I'll keep an eye on it.
So far so good.@e54 Thanks man. The Hydra are painted but I think it will come off with acetone.. but I like the look the plus there isn't much else to look at with no paint! haha.
-
-
-
-
^ yeah man, very unfortunate. It was a pretty great look.
Have to say, it's been hard to get my hands on decent black cranks.
I was hesitant about getting Omniums due to potential for clearance issues but by chance I found Sugino had listed their remaining DD1 stock at a discount. Still not cheap, mind, but peace of mind. Don't reckon I will complain much about this setup.Hopefully have some time this weekend to do the axle swap and put it all together.
-
-
-
Far out, this build has been a rollercoaster.
The good:
Initial ride impressions were amazing. It's true what they say about titanium... smooth.
Size is spot on for me too. Seller says he spec'd Look L96 geometry so I was expecting long and low with a slack headtube but both seat and head angles come in at around ~75 and top tube is quite short. Almost to a T exactly how I would order it myself. Takes 28s comfortably too!The bad:
As I was truing the wheels I noticed the allen bolts on the rear hub were not square.
This made it very difficult to set the wheel straight. I had to really torque - over torque - the bolts to get the wheel to hold in the dropouts. There are nasty sounds as the washer squashed to accommodate. The wheel still moves about and I had no confidence to ride hard.
I emailed to inform my axle threads were faulty causing grip issues and they admitted they were actually aware of the fault but didn't see it to be a problem...?
I would guess with all the previous delays the didn't want to disappoint customers further with more delays. IMO shipping a faulty product was an even more damaging move.
To their credit, they have been excellent with communication and posted a replacement axle once it was manufactured. 1.5 months later it has arrived as well as some improved knurled washers.
Good lads but fuuuu...
It's such a shame as the hubs are extremely well engineered and the build quality is otherwise outstanding. The axle manufacturing is outsourced and not even a fault of their own so I do feel for them.
I also feel sorry for me. I ordered the hubs in July 2019... hehe :(That's not all!
I also noticed vibrations somewhere in the drive at high cadence. Closer inspection, the entire crank spider has a slight wobble to it. Some kind of machining or fitment error with the 2 piece construction. Plus even with the aluminium spider it still had the signature FSA play. There is no way I'm going to settle for imperfection with such a nice build.ANYWAY.
No more fucking around. I have a delicious package coming from Sugino Engineering Co. this week and we gonna do it right this time.Axle fault:
Replacement axle:
!!!!
-
-
-
-
-
-
^ not a massive fan of Rotors personally... plus $$$ too much for me.
Still waiting on the hubs to arrive. :( I'm hoping this week...
Meanwhile.. did some customisation on the cranks. Mostly for aesthetic but shaved a bunch of weight too.
Built a little jig and with a guide in the middle to carefully run a router against and finished up the straight edges with a jigsaw.Gonna try out this product from the gun shop called Aluminum Black to clean up the scratches on the spider and blacken out those logos while I'm at it!
-
-
-
Just picked up the frame from the mechanics. Faced, threaded and fitted BB, headset races squared (they were way off) and steerer chopped.
Ended up stripping the stem clamp and hitting it with some rattle can satin black enamel.
If it doesn't hold up I can always order a replacement from Moots direct but looks great for now.A few small changes to plans as I've picked parts from local classifieds instead of the 'bay because the exchange rate sucks but very happy with my finds.
The FSA cranks have the (rare?) machined alu solid spider which is rad but also a bit heavy, planning to drill out some the unneccesarsy bulk around bolts.Now just waiting on my Raketa hubs preorder to arrive and to purchase a chainring.
I was hoping that a new 44rn release would be out by now so I guess a F5 Lattice ring it is instead I reckon. Cheaper anyway :)I haven't done the maths but this gonna be light.
-
-
-
-
Definately no matchy matchy anodising for me. Not sure how much the frame cost man I bought it second hand (unused) but ~Usd900 seems to be the mark for these. Made in China yeah.
@BigH 31.6 blasted finished only haha. (Nice posts those USE tho!) -
In wake of my every day lopro being thieved by local crackies it's insurance build time.
As a 1 bike each household I was itching for another 700c track machine anyway. Now I am permitted!
This time I want to build something a bit modern, something a bit hip-hop, something kind of silly but something I can still take to local velodrome.Waltly Ti, Intergrated HS, pista leggera and a delicious matching Moots stem? We are go.
With this I'm gonna load up on all the slave parts I've wanted but never had a frame for: Flite Ti, Slam that stem cap, 44rn, solid spider cranks, Raketa hubs, wide bars, all black everything.. and (of course) Soma mini rack and Wald for backpack free commuting.
Need to do something about that nasty blue stem clamp though haha.
-
Brilliant.