Custom, part III

On my extensive travels around the internet, I've come across some neat part tuning. Let's forget about Greg Melms, he deserves a post or two unto himself.

First off....Derailleurs. From MTBr:

Just to show how easy it is these days to get a reall light rear derailleur:

DA 7900 standard: 165g
pictured are all standard parts which later get replaced: 45g
tuning parts: 21g
removed cable adjustement bolt. not needed since you still have barrell adjusters on the shifters.
tuned DA7900: 143g

Note that i still use the standad plates. There's lighter carbon plates available but i still have them on my old DA...those should be another 5g lighter or so. i just thought that close to 140 is low enough. I also didn't install the Titanium spring. I would have needed to modify it too much since it didn't fit perfectly...so i still use the almost 2g heavier standard spring instead.

the DA once again fits perfect also with a 11-32 cassette in the back.

He later on mentions buying his parts at Toronto-Cycles, the weight weenie's paradise. Crazy that he could drop 22g off of Shimano's top road derailleur, crazy that there's more weight to be lost, just plain crazy...I worked out that I could get my X.0 into the 160g range. Such an expensive, addictive game.

Wheels! Still from MTBr:

Ok... looks like the forum seems to be slow these days with un-interesting posts. I just received these pictures from Jeremy over at http://www.alchemybicycleworks.com/

He just finished my latest wheel build and should be shipping them out to me shortly (so don't ask about ride impressions as I haven't received the wheels yet, and it is -9C outside (15.8F for the imperial users)

-"tuned the cassette body by replacing the stock 6902 bearing with a lighter 6802 bearing"
-"replaced the non-drive bearing with a ceramic hybrid"
-"internally butted the rear axle"


The build specification:

Front wheel:
Tune King Hub 28h (tuned)
28x PST TB 1422 Pillar Titanium bladed spokes
28x Aluminum Anodized Gold Nipples
Alex XCR Disc Rim 28h

Rear wheel:
Tune Kong (tuned) w/ Titanium Freehub Body
32x PST TB 1422 Pillar Titanium bladed spokes
32x Aluminum Anodized Gold Nipples
Alex XCR Disc Rim 28h

Total weight = 1185g

Absolutely ridiculous. Tune makes the lightest of the light stuff, and yet he manages to drop 6.5g off the front hub, and 15.7g off the rear hub. Attention to detail, mind-blowing. Just for some perspective...If he put on two Eclipse tubes and two Schwalbe Furious Fred tires, his complete wheel build would weigh 1887g. I weighed my rear wheel with tire, tube, cog, spacers, and chain tugs a while back...2175g. To be fair to myself, chances are he doesn't subject his wheels to what I do, and since then I've learned a bit about wheels and my next build would probably weigh in at around 2kg clean, but....damn.

I could add more, but I won't.

Anticipation

One of my bikes is coming together, at long last. Feeling all tingly, haven't ridden a bike of my own in a few months, haven't ridden this bike since mid-summer. So let's get some history, and pictures.

First off...history. This bike came to be courtesy a "Free Stuff" thread on Dropmachine this summer gone by. She was offered up by the user Stephen, and I quickly snapped her up. Turns out he lives close to me, so I was able to get her before he left for Fort McMurray or somewhere even more rural. Then I slapped on a few of my own parts (seat and pedals) and gaver.

At this point, she was SS, lite trials set-up...22:13 ratio, derailleur tensioner, 2 rim brakes, all fine by me, but the deal-breaker was really up front...a rigid fork, threaded, with a quill-type stem. I cannot ride rigid to save my life, and just looking at that quill-type stem, I just couldn't bring myself to spend money to remedy the problem. So she really got neglected for the most part, I rode some XC on her, rode her when my Specialized was in the shop, but really didn't like it beyond the novelty. The chain would jump all the time, and the rigid fork just killed me.

Then my Specialized frame cracked. Off to Specialized it went, and I was left, mid-summer and mid-stoke, with no street bike. So the Kona got pressed into street duty. I ditched the derailleur tensioner, turns out 22:13 is a perfect ratio with a new chain, which I bought (710SL for the Specialized). Even if I didn't really like the ride, those two weeks are really when I got an emotional attachment to the bike. She kept me riding when I otherwise would've gone crazy. Slow, unwieldy, but I still made it to every Wednesday Night Ride.

Then I got a new frame from Specialized. I haven't ridden the Kona since. That new frame is broken, no replacement for another month at least, and I've got a bike sitting in my basement. I'd really been annoyed at myself for getting this bike and not riding her, Stephen gave her up because he wasn't riding her, and here she was in my basement. Then I discovered the headtube was 1.125, not 1" as I originally thought. The rest is history...


Full specs and a full shot coming soon. Frame is a 2001 Kona Scab. She'll be built for XC and generally versatility. Finally, FINALLY, I'll be able to really ride her and enjoy it.

Here's some art.

I'm still learning to use the calculator as a medium and there's no eraser tool.