Most recent activity
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R7000 now sold.
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- 66 comments
- 5,386 views
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Cheers, @Yemble & @onyerbike - I do like these with the undrilled bed. No rim tape = easier tyre fitting, and one (or 24) less potential leaks to worry about! The last time I built a pair, I got a piece of cotton with a tiny bit of steel on the end, and a magnet. It was a complete and utter pain, although I did improve on the second wheel. Hard to say whether its my technique, my equipment or just that's the trade-off.
I've also been wondering about running tyre inserts, but I am only going to do it if it has zero impact on rolling resistance. I hope the GP5000S TL is pretty robust, certainly that's what I hear from folks. And I haven't suffered many punctures at all. But equally, a flat at 2am in the rain can be awful, and an insert does mean I could probably keep riding until I get some place to fix it. Am I "solving" problems that are unnecessary?
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Shimano R7000, 172.5mm, done a handful of miles before replacing with power cranks. 52/36 £75 posted - NOW SOLD
Shimano R600 (Ultegra-ish) compact 110bcd, 175mm, done a lot of miles, has a few minor rubs/marks. 50/34 £30 posted
FSA Gossamer with BSA threaded bottom bracket. 130bcd, 172.5mm, 53/39, pretty much unused, teeny-tiny storage marks. £35
Truvativ GXP Elita 170mm cranks and BB (the BB is pretty new, from memory), £10 posted. - NOW SOLD
I have more photos of them if needed. I'm between Leeds and Manchester for collection; or I can bring stuff to London at new year.
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Genesis Datum
Very nice, and we seem to have made some similar choices in terms of geometry and kit too. That's reassuring! :-) Let me know how you get on with your aerobar thinking... We all have some "solving" to do in order to live within the rules.
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I have been pleased with the two Hope BBs I have tried, one in PF46 and one in PF41. I was expecting to glue in the cups to avoid creaks. But in both installs I just followed their instructions, including grease, and all is good so far.
I had to dismantle one for a different problem and I expected problems after but none so far.
Also building for PBP at the momentThanks for the feedback, I'm really grateful (and for all the suggestions I'm getting - cheers, all). I'm 50/50 on the Hope PF41 and the Wheels Manufacturing. I'm never sure how well BBs in carbon frames are machined, so I am half expecting to have to epoxy it in!
Also building for PBP at the moment
Great to hear! Anything rad? Or middle-of-the-road reliable?
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Bike spec (pt 3)
Wheels, tyres
I'm wanting to run fast tyres as my default audax choice, and that's probably Conti GP5000s tl, looking at bicyclerollingresistance. Gone are the days when I slapped on a set of Gatorskins and wondered why I was still having to pedal on gentle downhills...
With disc brakes, the constraints on tyre diameter are only governed by availability (although a quick look on the Conti website isn't inspiring; all the decent sizes are out-of-stock). But anyway, the target is 700 x 28/30/32mm.Hubs - living in the frozen north, as I do, I'm inclined to buy local, and that means Hope. Barnoldswick is a short ride from here, and a set of their RS4 CL hubs fit the bill. Shimano freehub, 12mm axles. I hope they're a solid, reliable choice.
Spokes - Sapim CX Ray, 24 front and rear, crossing 2. I could see an argument for 28 rear, but for endurance rides, I am absolutely not putting a lot of power down (quite the reverse). I'll order a couple of spare spokes in case of emergency, but I don't carry them with me (or at least, I haven't ever bothered). Brass nipples for reliability.
Rims - I'm looking at LightBicycle WR45 disc. Its the widest mid-depth rim they do, at 33mm max outside width, which should work well (aerodynamically) with a 30 or 32mm GP5000s. I guess the tyre will come up at ~1mm bigger on a 25mm internal rim (they are true to size on 21mm, I believe). And the aero rule-of-thumb is to run a tyre that's 95% the size of the max rim width, so for 33mm, that would be 31.5mm. So, I'll go with a 30mm GP5000s.
At 45mm deep, with a very fat U section, the rims should be stable in cross winds. I've run 55mm and 65mm, and they're occasionally a handful when I get tired, which is never a nice surprise at the end of a 400k day.
I think the LightBicycle rims are available with a solid rim bed for tubeless. I've built two sets of wheels like this before, and its utterly painful getting the nipples through with bits of cotton and magnets, but once done, its soon forgotten, and its one less issue with the tubeless setup. -
Not so much to update on today, I'm afraid. I ordered the closed cell foam in 5mm, 3mm & 2mm for the saddle padding. My plan is to drill two holes in the carbon saddle that line up with my sitbones, and then cover the saddle with foam. Hopefully, my sitbones will find a bit of location in the holes, and my mass will be distributed over a larger arse-area.
I mounted the saddle on my turbo slave for some testing... Maybe I'll spread some plasticine or playdough over the bit where I make contact. I'm finding it quite hard to work out where my bones actually touch the saddle. On the ISM I don't move around much at all - and that's kinda what I am hoping for with the new one; one planted position.
Truvativ now sold.
Price drops on the R600 and FSA