John's IP-057 build - first bike build ever

[jwilds1]

Arrrgh... attempted the rear brake today. People reading this, learn from my mistakes if you want to try and do it without bleeding:

1 - when removing the hose at the lever, remember lefty-loosy,  righty-tighty.

2 - you can pull the cable routing tube that came with the frame. I sat there puzzled on how it would route without any sort of guide, or pulling the hose through. I used the tube to route some extra shifter cable I had, and tried to use the cable as a snake, but the hose + cable + tape wouldn't fit through the opening. I gave up and just pushed the hose through, and wouldn't you know it, it came out the opening!

3 - because of #1, I ended up totally crushing the olive nut around the nipple. No amout of screwing around with it or cursing at it would get it to budge.

Was able to finalize the shifter cable routing for both the rear and front, and at least installed the rear caliper.  Right now, I still have it sitting downstairs with a cut rear brake hose. I'm hoping that no air will get in there for the next few days, because I won't be able to hit the LBS for that long. Hose is still way higher than the caliper. Hoping i don't need to bleed and can just get by with a new insert

[Carbon_Dude]

Don't worry about the brake line too much, I have gone through a few olives and barbs.  Even if you do get a bit of air in the line, bleeding isn't that difficult but you will need a basic Shimano bleed kit.  You might as well get one now anyway, unless you plan on just taking it to the shop and having them do it.  If you do brake work yourself, it's not a bad idea to have a few spare olives and barbs in your tool kit.

[Vipassana]

The olives and barbs are technically meant to be one time use if installed properly. The olive deforms upon proper torquing.

I'm not sure what the aversion is to bleeding brakes on this site!  It's so damn easy and the kits don't cost that much, especially if you puck up a generic one on eBay.  Though the slack lever kit is really affordable in its own right. 

I observed a marked improvement with only a lever bleed on the 3 sets of Shimano XTs I installed.  And it took maybe 10 minutes per lever.  Is it required? Probably not, but the results are better with one.  The Shimano brakes seem to tolerate a little air far better than any Avids I've worked with.

[jwilds1]

Such frustration this weekend.  I didn't have  a chance to work on it Saturday, and Sunday I went for a ride on the fatbike and helped build some trails. On my way home (about 1 hour away), I searched out 8 bike stores to try and find the right olive & barb insert.  2 stores were closed, and the remaining 6 didn't have what I needed...

So...  Today I hope to find the right part (not-so-local LBS shows having stock when I check online, going to call later), borrowing a bottom bracket wrench from a guy at work, and going to top off the Stan's and re-inflate - tires are flat again.

Really wish I could have finished it last week to ride yesterday, but oh well.

[blueducati]

Did you try Fraser? They always seem to be a cut above the rest...

[jwilds1]

Fraser?  Are they up by you?  I haven't heard of them.  I was riding the new trails in Hines Park (I-275 and Hines Drive), and I was working my way south using Google Maps to find bike stores on my way home.

Tree Fort Bikes (in Ypsilanti) said they had some on their web site but I'm glad I called because they didn't have any in-store.  I just called Trail's Edge in Plymouth and they have what I'm looking for...

[outriding9800]

I dont care for fraser.. they seem to elitist for me..

I like performance in bloomfield, klm off of rochester road.. main street in utica..

[blueducati]

Fraser is in Fraser, MI (which is just east of Warren/Sterling Heights). I think 15 mile and Utica. They are opening a new store in Canton soon.

outriding-
I like KLM too, but the Rochester one is small and usually doesn't carry a ton of stuff. I'm sorry to hear that you feel Fraser is elitist. I've never felt that way, they've always been really great to me. Then again, I'm coming from a road / triathlon background, and those athletes have a stereotype of being elitist too (haha). I usually do all my own maintenance, but I had a warranty fix that needed to be done on my Cervelo, and I wouldn't take it to anyone but them to have the work done.

Another pretty good one is Paint Creek in Lake Orion. Again, a smaller shop but they really seem to know their stuff there and carry a good amount of stuff.

[jwilds1]

Ahhhh, progress is good. Bottom bracket, crank installed. Derailleurs hooked up. Was finally able to cobble together the barb and olive nut and hooked up the rear brake and it seems pretty solid, but I have a bleed kit and extra olive nuts on the way.

Buuuut, rear tire won't hold air. Leaking through the spokes, so that means my Stan's is probably under the Gorilla tape. Going to have to pop the tire off, clean it all off and try again. Not looking forward to that mess.

[jwilds1]

98% complete. Two issues holding me back:

1) screw tubeless. I pulled off the rear tire, cleaned up the Stan's, pulled off the gorilla tape, cleaned off the gorilla tape glue from the gorilla tape, reapplied gorilla tape, remount ed tire, filled (with Slime this time vs. Stan's ), and it's still not holding air. Leaking around the bead. I only did it for weight savings  (no major thorns or anything around here I need the sealing for), so I'm just going to throw some tubes in and call it a day.

2) front derailleur adjustment.  Shifts fine going from big to little ring, but jams up going from little to big. Any words of advice before I look at it?

Getting there!

[Carbon_Dude]

1) After adding sealant, mounting the tire, and filling the tire with air, are you shaking the wheel up and down in a horizontal position?  Have you watched the Stan's Notubes video on how to get the tire to seal?  When I first went tubeless, I was also a bit frustrated.  Once you learned how to apply the tape, make sure the valve stem sealed properly, and shook the sealant around to seal the bead, I've not had any problems since getting a tubeless setup to hold air.  Make sure you also have at least 2 oz of sealant, don't skimp on sealant if you are having trouble.

2) I run a 1x11 setup so I have no advice on the front derailleur adjustment other than checking out some Youtube videos on the best way to adjust.

[jwilds1]

Yup, AFAIK, I did everything right. Did the shake, rattle, and roll, little over two ounces. Not sure if any of the Stan's dried up around the bead and that's what's causing the leaking.

[blueducati]

I had an equally hard getting the tubeless set up. I found gorilla tape to be so much easier to work with than the stan's tape, that really helped. Did you locate the source of the leaks? Is it around the whole rim, or just in a small spot? If it's the whole rim I'm guessing the bead isn't seated perfectly. I'm guessing you did the soapy water / compressor / removable valve core deal? I had a hard time getting my beads to seat until I did that, then they popped right in place. After that, I had a small pinhole leak on the side of my tire that was leaking air overnight. I finally did the "hold the tire horizontal" thing, and you could hear the air leak turn off, it was pretty cool.

So, I understand where you are coming from, it's a pain in the butt to start, but you will get it eventually.

[final forum]

Took over a hour to tubeless my first maxis aspens. Which aren't tubeless ready. But ever since then I have taken them off tons and put back on. For some reason its instant now.

I feel that air compressor power means a lot on hard to seat tires. Fat bike tubeless experience says this. But with these small tires its the first burst.

I also let the air blow through the holes spitting glue for 30 sec and then stop and repeat. Maybe it does nothing but eventually it seats.

Just so you know it can be done and I never had a flat all year.

[jwilds1]

Oh, I'm sure it can be done, but I'm wondering if it's just not my bag...  I had it going for a little while myself, and if it wasn't for the Stan's getting under the Gorilla tape, I think it would have been fine.

I tried to get as much of the dried on Stan's around the bead area off before re-mounting, but that may be an issue now as well.  All of the leakage is around the bead area.  I am using a compressor and Stan's removable core "bolt-in" stems.  Beads seated w/o sealant no problem. 

I seem to remember my first go-round I kept having to inflate multiple times before it finally held, so all may not be lost (yet).  Still going to pick up some tubes on the  way home from work today, though.