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That would work for me, @Leftfield, I have a different crankset I want to use
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I have an Airnimal Joey in road-spec, with drop bars, 105 5700 10-speed for sale. I used it a bit when I was travelling with work but I'm barely leaving my valley these days (other than on rides) and I haven't ridden this in 3 years.
I originally got it in commute-spec with flat bars, a pannier bag, and a SRAM hub-geared rear. It wasn't my taste, and hence the second build kit.
I'm looking for £800, which seems a good bit cheaper than the bay; and you get two build kits!
I live in West Yorks now, but do occasionally travel (or can send it).
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The two mouldings are done, and I've also cut the elbow cups in two, respaced them for what I want, and bonded them together onto a piece of 3mm carbon. Its all starting to take shape! I am pretty happy with the way its coming together, but I remember from previous editions that there is loads of work to get the hand grips on/in the right position, plus there is no way I have enough strength in the stem mount area yet, so there's a lot more work to go.
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the mad scientist is at it again
Guilty as charged!
Today, I have done the elbow pad moulding and the central moulding. The central one came later and isn't ready for demould, but the elbow one has come out really well. There are a couple of very small ripples in the finish due to imperfections in the finish of the mould. If I am honest, I kinda knew this was coming, but prepping a mould for a top-quality end result is really time consuming, and the inside of the elbow cups is covered in foam anyway.
Next step is to cut the elbow pads into two, and bond them to a sheet of 3mm carbon I bought - which is quite a bit higher carbon (hence stiffer & stronger) than I can achieve on these complex shapes. It also allows me to fine-tune the angle of the elbow cups, and the wrist separation.
Obviously, there is also a lot of trimming and finishing work required on these, but maybe its interesting to see the process?
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Time for an update.
After getting the minimum viable bike built, the weather has been so crap that I have not been out more than 50m. Just to check nothing fell off/snapped. It didn't. But whilst I was whiling away my hours on the turbo, I started to get the urge to make more carbon things! So....
Aerobars
Having gone to the trouble of setting the 4 fixings into the top of the stem, I thought I'd start to make some progress on the aerobars. I've done some of these previously for my time trial rig and also the red Trek TTX, which is serving turbo duty. They work really well, but there are always improvements to be made.The requirement this time is for aerobars that will accomodate a 600ml bidon and a light system with 16h battery life at about 300 lumen. That should cover PBP with a bit to spare. Plus a Garmin mount and a back-up battery to coax 80h out of the Garmin.
So, as per previous designs, there will be two long elbow/forearm cups with tubes on the end to hold, then a lower central section that takes the bidon, with just enough room in front to hold the light head unit, and enough space behind for at least one battery. And this time, the whole unit needs to attach directly to the aerobar.
I've made two separate moulds out of wood. The trapezium shape is the elbow cups, which I will cut in half once the first layups are done. The longer, thinner one is the central section. Its got a flat at the bottom for the stem mount, plus a small flat at the top for the light.
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Union jack and your surname on the top tube in a really shit font. Maybe a single poppy on the head tube too?
I'm assuming this is another vote for no sticker? :-)@TheBonk - mudguards, hmmm. I did want the option for 'guards, but now spring is springing, I'm pushing this one out a bit, I guess. Its still there, but probably not until Sept.
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Thanks for the comments, all!
@jakemcree - I have some heli-tape sitting around (and has been sitting for 10 years) so that's going to be my first try! If it fails, I'll have a look at Restrap, thanks for the tip!@GideonPARANOID - I got mine direct from Sigeyi off their website, delivered by UPS. It was the carrier that was poor; failed to turn up, comms were rubbish. I'll let you know how the unit itself is, but it looks and feels decent, and fitting was really easy. The big advantage with these units is that they auto-calibrate when you pedal back. My Garmin Vector won't auto-calibrate, and won't calibrate without taking your feet out. This is a serious issue when doing long rides where the temps vary from morning/day/night - the power drifts way off, its just junk. The Sigeyi will recalibrate every time I freewheel, nice!
So, what's on the to-do list?
Chainstay protector. Heli-tape first, maybe Restrap second!!
Sort the Garmin mount (insert arriving in the post this week, I hope, needs insetting, more carbon work)
Retape the bars. I treated myself to some Supacaz Galaxy with red bits! Deee-luxe!
Shorten the rear mech outer cable now I've sorted the mech alignment.
Rebleed the brakes once they settle
Calibrate/back-to-back test the Sigeyi power meter (and post results)
Build a second set of wheels with 32mm tyres
Build the aerobar (mahoosive carbon project)
Mount some lights?
Put together a ride toolkit
Build some behind-seat storage. This could be another carbon project... I could integrate a rear light and a vestigial mudguard.
Add some bottle cages -
keen to know your opinion on this powermeter
did it come with the tool to install on the 3D24 crank?Sure thing, @amey. I had the option to buy the tool, but I already had one; I love the 3D24 cranks, and I have a few sets, I added a power2max spider to my race bike, and that has been mostly perfect. I say mostly, because changing the battery involves removing the crank, so a rechargeable unit is a positive. I did pay once for the power meter from Sigeyi, then separately VAT/fees from UPS, which was 86 sheets I wasn't expecting. But the install was really easy, everything was spot-on. I'll do a shakedown, then a back-to-back against some Garmin Vectors and possibly my Kickr Core, and post some more; but I'm unlikely to do better than GP Lama (who, in summary, likes the Sigeyi):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9z7CrO3Ims
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Whoop! I built a bike!
Here's a couple of photos of the rideable thing. I should really celebrate getting to this stage, but of course there are a whole lotta jobs I have either not got around to or been pushing down the road. Stuff like some heli-tape on the chainstay, and an aerobar (two jobs at either end of the trickiness spectrum).
So, I need a full jobs list next. But for now, coffee and feeling happy! Thanks everyone for your help and advice in getting here. Its very much appreciated! -
Thanks, @amey - that's what I was looking for! OK, so I've now got the mech & drop-link thing oriented correctly, but as a result I may have to take another 30mm off the cable outer.
In other news... my power meter eventually arrived! Its a Sigeyi, mostly because I couldn't get a Power2max Rotor 3D24 110bcd spider power meter. So Sigeyi was my next option to fit those cranks. The reviews I've seen are all good, so I'm hopeful that'll be my experience too. These have a rechargeable battery and a magnetic USB charger cable thing. Fitting was a piece of cake (which is nice after all the shenangigans with brakes and rear mech).
Anyways, now the chainset and power meter is on, time to fit the chain. I have got a YBN SLA gold for training (all nicely waxed for maxi-slippiness), and a DA for special days.
I also put on some cheap Lifeline 'bar tape, but its not the pro stuff that I really like, its like a cheap version of Cinelli cork. I'm not optimistic!!
So, photos of all this stuff tomorrow; too dark to get anything that looks reasonable this late. Sorry.
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Thanks @cheekysnaker and @coast_turtle - really appreciate that, guys! Its good to know I'm not the only one to make some mistakes first time through. The brakes both seem to have the same bite-point today (compared to yesterday - but they haven't magically equalised, so there is still a small difference side-to-side), and I cannot see any more fluid on the floor, so I'm going to ride for a bit and wait for any bubbles to rise.
I also realised that the rear mech wasn't quite oriented correctly, I think. This is another one where I cannot find a pic, so I am guessing, but... well, see what you think?
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Hydraulic brakes. This is my first (road) set, and I've sort-of been looking forward to them/sort-of dreading it too. And I was right to... Like all things new, it was a complete pain first time around, and I'm not 100% happy.
The hoses were through a few days ago, cut to length and connected both ends. Well. I thought so. The front brake was first; being a shorter run, and pretty much vertical, I thought it would be easier. To get the fluid in/bleed, I have a funnel-cup thing for the lever port, and a syringe and tube for the lower port. I filled both with 20ml mineral oil, and the antics began.
To cut a long and frustrating story short, I probably got half the oil on the floor via a number of booby-traps; the hose pops off the caliper bleed nipple far too easily, and generally once you are squeezing oil at pressure into the system. Sometimes when you are looking at the funnel thing, so you don't spot until half a syringe of oil is soaking your sock. There are torque settings for the hose fastenings, but show me the open-ended torque wrench? So, I thought I had the rear hose properly screwed into the caliper. Apparently not. I discovered when I had filled the non-drive-side chainstay with mineral oil and it started coming out of the BB hole. And the bubbles, the neverending bubbles!
Anyways. I have some lever now. Sadly, the bite point isn't quite the same; the front has a longer pull. But I'm going to leave it for a few weeks, wait for any air to hopefully rise to the top and repeat this wonderful job again.
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Thanks @ghettro! Have to admit, it was tough going in 2019, and hooking up with another rider on the final day made all the difference; sharing the work and a bit of banter, and I forgot about the aches and pains for a while. I am really fired up to get out there again!
Its a bit hard knowing how to approach PBP this time. I'm very lucky that I've good enough fitness that getting around isn't a concern (and I know this isn't the case for everyone). I spent a bit of time in the aftermath of 2019 trying to work out how to go faster. But the more I think about it, I think its just a magical event to be part of. And the crepes at la Tanniere are awesome!
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Slow progress here. It feels like 2 steps forward, 1 back. So, I connected the brake hoses to the calipers yesterday. Although the hole in the non-drive chainstay for the hose is a bit too big, so I ended up putting several bits of heatshrink onto the hose to pad it up a bit. Seems OK.
Then I came to bleed the brakes, and the bleed kit I bought doesn't contain all the bits!! No Shimano STI master connection, so I now have to wait for one to turn up (I may borrow one whilst mine is in the post).
The front and rear mech are on and connected, and seem to shift up and down OK. The chainset is on (although I have a spider power meter on order, so that'll have to come off in time). The chain is waxed. I can't put the rear wheel on because of the Hope adaptor issue (new one due to arrive tomorrow, yay!). So, actually tomorrow could be a good day; rear wheel on properly, hence correct cassette on. Then chain on. Then fettle gears, then cut the front mech cable and put the cap on. It'll look like a real bike! It won't stop, mind. But who uses brakes anyway :-)
I could use those centrelock Shimano RT70, will PM