Practical Sub-5 On a Budget (4454g) - Officially Sub-10!

[Kayrehn]

It's cool that you have the knowhow to do clever stuff like using the cable link at the rear d and hacking the saddle to bits It costs me 650usd just for the Berd spokes and wheelbuilding service so being able to build it up on your own certainly helps the budget!



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[jpeterson1012]

It's cool that you have the knowhow to do clever stuff like using the cable link at the rear d and hacking the saddle to bits It costs me 650usd just for the Berd spokes and wheelbuilding service so being able to build it up on your own certainly helps the budget!



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weight weenie-ing in my books is all about creative exploits and careful planning. Having a budget certainly helps too but most of it isn't hard to achieve with regular tools and knowledge. The carbon saddle I went all out on with no fears of breaking it because it was cheap, ended up breaking it, slapped some carbon back on the weakest bits, and it's been fine ever since.

You don't need a special wheel building service for the berd spokes either, but you will need a tension-meter, a disposable piece of metal to cut and use as a spoke twist-resist, and some patience prepping your hubs (and the mental fortitude to void the warranty on your presumably brand new hubs). Lacing them is just like with metal spokes, except you only do half a turn of thread engagement to keep it loose. Whatever you do, do NOT fall for their 65 dollar scam of a "builder's kit." It is useless stuff that you can just DIY for close to nothing. Other than that, they work and act just like regular spokes, but are more annoying to lace

[Kayrehn]

Well my wheelbuilder friend have to dremel the spoke holes on the Carbon-ti hubs wider to pull it through

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[jpeterson1012]

Well my wheelbuilder friend have to dremel the spoke holes on the Carbon-ti hubs wider to pull it through

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carbon-ti use 2.5mm holes, right? that's what extralites are too. They say 2.6 in the rear but my calipers told me otherwise. Here's my trick to get them through the little holes: pull very hard Really, that's it; once the tip is through, the whole thing just slips right in

Edit: actual real tip: pull both ends of the spoke to get it tense amd thin, then pull the spoke through the hole while keeping it tense.

[jbaillie]

These are a couple pretty nice, interesting bikes you've added to the forum! I'm not familiar with Ican, are they a new company?

[Kayrehn]

Here's my trick to get them through the little holes: pull very hard Really, that's it; once the tip is through, the whole thing just slips right in

Edit: actual real tip: pull both ends of the spoke to get it tense amd thin, then pull the spoke through the hole while keeping it tense.

He apparently uses some wire to pull them through and said he got tired and broke quite a few wires before using the dremel. He should have asked me for help because I'm very much into rock climbing and wouldn't mind the effort

[fitty4]

The PYC SP1101 chain could drop the weight a few gram, mine is 211 gr. I think I have used kmc sl which has been 223-225 gr. The cost is the same, can the brake pad holders be tuned? Changed? Nice build you have

[jpeterson1012]

These are a couple pretty nice, interesting bikes you've added to the forum! I'm not familiar with Ican, are they a new company?

They've been around for a few years, well known on chinertown for their wheels and MTB frames, relatively well known on WW too.

[jpeterson1012]

The PYC SP1101 chain could drop the weight a few gram, mine is 211 gr. I think I have used kmc sl which has been 223-225 gr. The cost is the same, can the brake pad holders be tuned? Changed? Nice build you have

The pad holders are stock ciamillo ones, probably not the lightest, but not far off either, maybe 2 or 3g savable? not really significant for the money. As for the PYC chain, it's been on my list for quite a while now, 15g for 30 bucks isn't bad. However I've been afraid of swapping out the record11 chain due to worries regarding shifting performance. I tried a Red22 chain, was even worse than it already is. Would like to try a shimano chain too, but I can't just keep throwing money into a bunch of chains either...

[Lucendi]

This is my new favourite build on this forum. It's balanced and well thought through, I absolutely love it!

[de zwarten]

Great built and I am in awe looking at those spokes! Can you say anything about the wheel's stiffness and the overal frame quality?

[jpeterson1012]

This is my new favourite build on this forum. It's balanced and well thought through, I absolutely love it!

Thanks! There are a lot of awesome builds on this forum that are pure bike porn, but I tried keeping things more low-key with this build. The wallet also isn't heavy enough for THM, Schmolke, Darimo, and the likes!

Great built and I am in awe looking at those spokes! Can you say anything about the wheel's stiffness and the overal frame quality?

I weigh nothing (115lbs/50kg) so I can't really assess the stiffness of the wheels or the frame for others in a meaningful way. For me and probably most other casual recreational cyclists, they are stiff enough. The front-wheel only has 16 spokes, so it is less laterally stiff compared to my old 20-spoke alloy wheelset, but I hear that is actually a desirable trait for vibration absorption and better grip when banking/leaning. Honestly can't tell a difference with the rear wheel's stiffness. Can't get the brakes to rub when sprinting, so good enough for me I guess. Haven't strapped a camera to film it in action so I can't say more.

As for frame quality, from a mechanic's perspective, the A2 frame has been good. Design is standard, other than the weird seat post clamp outer diameter (still takes standard 27.2). Compared to many newer bikes like the 2020 supersix evo, it is well designed.

27.2 seatpost, standard 30mm fork brake post-nut, PF30 BB is well aligned, clearance for 25mm tires? or 28, haven't tried, weight is good for the price (630USD shipped), standard headset, good hanger geometry and design, rivnuts haven't spun on me, headset alignment is acceptable, there is something rattling around inside the fork from the molding process which I can't get out though, but that hardly matters as you can't hear it when riding (only when you flip the bike upside down).

[jpeterson1012]

I gotta say, I took a leap of faith with the Tesa bar tape expecting to hate it due to the lack of padding, but the fabric feels surprisingly pleasant under my skin! Not sure if it's the new carbon bars, but I don't feel much if any difference in road vibrations, and I would even venture to say that this Tesa stuff is preferable to my old stuff!

[tymon_tm]

cool build - this bike ticks all the boxes; weigth, looks, usability, price... makes me wanna build one myslef

[jpeterson1012]

cool build - this bike ticks all the boxes; weigth, looks, usability, price... makes me wanna build one myslef

Highly recommended! Just can't push it too far tho, I went along and tried tuning my red RD. Think i went a little too far, removing 15g of aluminum probably time for a new one... there goes some of the budget for my 1x conversion...

Gonna try selling the old one as "for parts or broken" on ebay, see if someone is ballsy enough to use it or scavenge it for its cage and jockeys, which have done less than 200 miles probably. It is still usable, just don't know about long term durability. I removed the bridge saying "red," only to find out that the pivot pin was interference-fit on the head and not the small end, so there is a little flex in the parallelogram. That was a miscalculation...