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Final price drops on the R600 and FSA; or offers (save them from the 'bay)

Truvativ now sold.

Price drops on the R600 and FSA

R7000 now sold.

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?

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 £25 posted

FSA Gossamer with BSA threaded bottom bracket. 130bcd, 172.5mm, 53/39, pretty much unused, teeny-tiny storage marks. £30

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.

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.

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 moment

Thanks 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?

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.

This thread is unhinged. Love it, can't wait to see the final product.

I aim to please! I'm not afraid to experiment; although I sadly have a back-catalogue of near disasters that result directly from an overdose of creativity!

"Fast & Long" is also the title of my sex tape.

... Think I'll pass on that one!

Cheers, @amey - There's a lot I could probably learn from @hippy

I'd rather worry about getting a 30mm axle in a 41mm bearing first. Most press fit BBs work well, but the tiny bearings never last (many of these are probably hose-happy users but that's my experience)

Thanks. I should have said, I only run 24mm axles, partly because of the bearing size issue. As you'll have seem from the SpeedConcept pics, I am not shy of increasing the BB bore to accomodate the right bearing for the job!

If it helps, I think the EC90 is an imitation of a specialized romin

Thanks, much appreciated! It does help; the quality of the EC90 isn't ace. Although its been comfy, I don't think it will last forever. Although as it has sagged a bit, it got slightly more comfy... but I can forsee total failure in its imminent future!

Update: the frame has been posted! Is 3 weeks reasonable to expect?!

Saddle shenanigans

24h is a long time to spend on the same perch. I always thought I was quite saddle-tolerant, but that's probably only true to a point. Above about 3h on the turbo, or 4h outside, I need a comfy place to park.

I have a bucket full of saddles I have tried and cast aside in the search for perch-perfection. Brooks of many kinds, in many states of tune. Fabrik. Flite, Fizik. I've recently been using ISM saddles on my TT bike, and I have one on the TTX that is OK, up to a point. Is it unrealistic to expect to find a saddle that is still comfortable after 8 hours?

Anyways, following on from carbon experiments in insoles (and aero extensions, more to come later...) I have bought 2x saddles to experiment on. A chassis, if you like. My most comfy road saddle to date (excluding the ISM) has been a cheap EC90 Chinese lightweight thing. I am not 100% sure that I haven't broken it, it has sagged so much; it sort of resembles an SMP (although I have tried two SMPs and not ever been quite comfy).

The new one is, again, a cheap full-carbon thing off ebay. There only seems to be the one shape available? Although its close enough to the EC90, and its just a place to start. My current thinking is that I will buy some closed-cell foam in 3mm and 5mm thicknesses, and glue them to the top of the carbon saddle, then play around with cutting them, sticking bits on and what-not.

The tape and cross-marks in pen on the top of the carbon saddle are where I think my sit-bones contact the saddle. There are two distinct knobbly bones in my downstairs anatomy that seem to bear most of the weight, whether I ride on the hoods, drops or extensions. I'm hoping that I can spread the load a bit with the closed-cell foam, by making cut-outs in the right places.

Has anyone done anything like this before? Is this a completely stupid idea? I guess I can try it inside the house before straying too far...
Anyone got any tips for cutting and shaping closed cell foam?

When I've thought this type of build through in the past, I keep wondering about Genevalle shifters on TRP Hylex Hydro brakes, Friction shifting makes a lot of sense to me for reliability and simplicity.

Thanks for the suggestion(s)! I just watched the Gevenalle video thing. Mmmm. I do have occasional days when the STI just aren't happy, but its rare. Its more to do with my lack of tuning the gears rather than any fault of the shifter. It would be different if I was doing 'cross, and I can absolutely see these levers working for that.

I guess if I was going full simplicity, I'd go with downtube shifters (and I have a winter bike set up like that). But there's a trade-off. I have to take my hand off the bars to shift, and when I'm tired, that's not so good. Maybe I'd go with Shimano bar-end shifters? I don't know. I've ummmed and ahhhed about it a few times, but ultimately, I'm not unhappy enough with STI.

I also heard that the shifting on Shimano 11 speed is better than 10 speed (which is all my bikes currently), so I'm hoping my middle-of-the-road choice will be an improvement in braking AND shifting over my Genesis CdF.

I used Wheels Manufacturing BB with my Rotors but I have thread BB shells as much as possible because fuck pressfit.

I would 100% have gone for BSA, but it wasn't an option. I'll have a look at Wheels Manufacturing, if you're recommending.
On a bit of a tangent, I have a SpeedConcept TT bike that had the "Trek standard" BB90 - what a piece of sh!t that was! Trek had to sell 0.2mm oversize bearings because after a bearing change or two, the fit of the bearings directly into the frame was too slack to stop creaks.
I have a friend with a machine shop. We took a very big drill to the BB area and bonded in a new BB86 sleeve. Worked a treat, but I don't mind admitting that when we were putting the drill through the frame, I was a bit worried!

At least when you're braking with discs you're not eating away at £££ worth of wheels.

Yeah, agreed. And I'll be running carbon rims anyway. But one thing that I've found (and no-one seems to mention when you move to discs) is that when disc pads lose their bite, it happens fast. You can start a ride with decent brakes, and suddenly braking goes to sh!t. Is it just me? Or just TRP HyRd? It happened on PBP, and I was so bl00dy lucky that the French mobile mechanics ran around to find a spare set of pads.
So, spare pads always in the spares bag now.

Bike spec (pt 1)

I'm busy scribbling down all the bits and pieces I want to bolt onto my frame. One drawback to getting a frame from China is the length of time it takes between ordering and receiving... I want it NOW!!

Anyway, the frame comes with fork, headset, thru-axles, seatpost and integrated handlebars. I've checked and rechecked the saddle-hoods reach measurements of my current bikes, but ordering the integrated bar/stem length still feels like a bit of a punt. I guess I'll be able to use a conventional stem and bars, just without the benefit of full cable integration.

I'm going to run a Shimano R8020 groupset. It'll be my first hydraulic disc road bike; on previous disc road bikes, I've used TRP HyRd and Juin R1 cable/hydraulic calipers. I'll take 2x spare brake pads (as I have had pads lose their bite mid-ride, and its no fun). This never used to happen with rim brakes... ;-)

Shimano 11-speed mechanical shifting is, to my mind, the most reliable/fixable choice. Every shop should carry spares. And there are loads of cassette choices. I'll probably go with 11-32 (with 46/33 chainrings).

I think I'll run my Rotor 3D24 175mm chainset - its been reliable over many years. I'll try to find a 110bcd power2max spider for it.

The BB is one thing I can't quite make up my mind on. As I understand it, the best options for BB86 will be single-piece tubes like Hambini, because the bearing alignment is best, and it largely dials out any inaccuracies in the frame. But I'm not a Hambini fan, and at over 200 sheets, its a lot to pay for a tube and two NTN bearings. The Hope PF41 is probably my preferred choice right now, even though its a two-piece sleeve.

Some adventures into carbon fibre

I've been farting around with carbon for a few years. Mostly on-structural bike bits. I redrilled all my shoes for mid-foot cleats (above), but I also made some insoles too after getting some problems with some heat-formed Sidas insoles. The Sidas ones (blue ones, below) were good for a few years, but gradually, the ridge where the carbon support stops (maybe you can see this ridge behind the ball of the foot, running all the way across the insole) became more pronounced and was really uncomfy.

I used the Sidas insoles as a mould for some new solid carbon insoles, and they've been comfy for the last 6 months, I guess. Power transfer (for what its worth) is good, and they don't absorb water. I use resins and cloth from easy composites, and nothing more sophisticated than that. I do it just like papier-mache, no vacuum, no oven. It takes a lot of sanding doing it this way, but with patience...

@Samuli - my French is OK, but that's a stretch! Does it say extensions are strongly discouraged in the peleton? But not outright forbidden? For sure, I wouldn't be using aerobars in a group, but I found there was a lot of solo riding in 2019.
I heard on the grapevine that prior to 2019, folks put padding on the tops of the bars, and a strategically placed 'bar bag at the right height/distance, and voila...

This kind of thing crossed my mind (and browser) many years ago

I love it! It'd probably scare the living bejezus out of most of the audax community, which initself is a good reason to give it a go!

Choosing a frame

So, from the geo of the CdF, TTX and Merlin, I have a shopping list for the new frame:
Stack up to 605mm, 590mm would be ideal
Reach up to 405mm. I can cope with a bit more, but that reduces stem length, which then quickens the handling, which isn't what I'm after. I want to run a 100mm -1200mm stem.
Front centre above 605mm; any less and I kick the front tyre too often, and destroy guards.
Head angle 72-73 degrees, trail 55-65mm
Must fit 32mm tyres
Must be disc-braked
Ideally, I'm looking for a cheaper, Chinese carbon frame, because a) cost, and b) I'll be more willing to modify it later if it doesn't cost £££.

So far, I've cruised https://geometrygeeks.bike/ for the numbers on:
Giant Propel (fits, but expensive)
Canyon Aeroad (front centre too short, I'll kick the front wheel)
Trek Emonda/Madone (too steep)
Trek Domane (too short/upright)
Boardman SLR 9.8 (fits, but only in XL, which feels too big)
Cervelo Soloist (fits well in a 58 - this would probably be my mainstream choice)
Yeoleo R21 (fits but only takes 28mm tyres)
Elves Eglath (and Winspace, and Trifox) (front centre too short, I'll kick the front wheel)
SPCycle SP-053D (fits and the price is good; so that's what I'm getting)

https://www.sp-cycle.com/spcycle-2022-new-t1000-carbon-road-bike-disc-frame-all-internal-cable-700c-racing-bicycle-carbon-frameset-p4139463.html

It will be my first brand-new bike in many, many years; and I now have my favourite task; writing the spec of everything to hang off this frame.

How much did you have to drop your saddle by after changing to midfoot?

Very good question. All else being equal, only a few mm (which is what I started with). But as I changed cleat position, I quickly learned that liked having my feet a bit flatter, so it worked out more like 10-15mm after a few weeks.
I think I used my ankles quite a lot; now, I don't. For long endurance stuff, I think this is an advantage.

I think that a modern aero road bike with 32mm tubeless tyres , a comfy saddle... cleats all the way back makes a lot of sense

I'm with you there, @Georghe
There's a good few to choose from, but the toe overlap thing had me searching for the one with the best front centre. The Canyon Aeroad (L) comes out at about 601mm; I could use a bit more.