TanTan TT-X38 Build

[coffeebreak]

Good looking rig! I would like to see that bike in good light outdoors.

[patliean1]

Best looking X38 in here. Congrats Sebastian!

[Frank]

Very cool bike Sebastian - congrats! May I ask how much out of round your steerer tube is (I'm the guy with the very out of round one)?

[lantz]

Best looking X38 in here. Congrats Sebastian!

Rude. 

[Sebastian]

Proper outdoor pics will follow.
The steerer was out of round by around 0.2-0.3mm IIRC.
Luckily, it was most prominent on the very top of the steerer - so at the part that I cut off anyway.
It’s much less of an issue where the stem actually sits and it was easy to slide on and off after I cut the fork.

Also the chain is a tad short because the cage on this RD is considerably longer than on my old bike. Combined with the plus in spring tension that this RD has it creates a lot of tension when on the bigger cogs in the back. Almost like on a 1x setup. That might explain why the front is hesitant to shift sometimes particularly when I spin the crank slowly.

[Sebastian]

Rude. 

Note how Pat made sure to not include his own in that comment? 

[lantz]

Note how Pat made sure to not include his own in that comment? 

No rig with gold mailbox letter stickers on it can be considered.

I kid, kind of wish I had gotten mine unpainted tbh - the raw carbon is sick.

I took mine out for 20 miles this weekend and things felt pretty good.

Still dialing in the tuning on the group set - was a little jumpy as I went up and down but that’s to be expected as I fine tune and the chain starts to stretch a bit. Shakedown is feeling good tho.

[Sebastian]

First 100k done. No real issues apart from fit. I needed to dial the saddle in and refine the position. I tried a 170 crank on this one mainly cuz I got it cheap and there can be a benefit to shorter cranks. I absolutely hate it. I got 175s on all my other bikes and it just feels like I got no leverage on the crankarms when standing up and sprinting up hills. So that will have to go. I found a used sram crank. Luckily I won't have to get another BB. The dub BBs are merely BB30 BBs with a delrin spacer left and right. So just pop these out and put a BB30 crank in and maybe readjust spacing. Also the pedals will have to go. I got so used to the Assioma pedals on my other bike that I'm gonna get a pair of Look Keo-like pedals. The Time pedals feel just way too loose and are giving me anxiety to accidently clip out.

The bike feels great and plenty fast. I got very windy autumn weather here atm. So it's hard to tell just how quick it is. It feels slightly more suceptible to cross winds than my VB-R218. The bars are a pleasant surprise. They feel super solid, very stiff and very comfy. I love the hood shape of the LTWOO. The hands just fall in place. The bike is actually very very comfy which might have to do with the wheels and wide tires. Also, the corner grip with these wheels is off the charts. It's crazy how planted it feels around bends.

The handling is more neutral and a lot more forgiving than my VB-R218. That's no surprise as the 218 has a very steep steering angle and super aggressive steering characteristic. This one is a bit more muted.

The only issue I got is with the front wheel. I get disc rub when standing up. And the rotor has slight play on the hub interface when I rock the front wheel back and forth under braking despite the lockring being torqued down. A bit of research reveals that this seems to be a common issue with centerlock. It might have to do also with the cheap color matched lockrings that I got on Aliexpress. Not sure. I'll get it sorted. It's annoying. This is the first centerlock wheelset that I got. I had 6 bolt interface hubs on my gravel bike where I never had troubles like this. Makes me wonder just what exactly the alleged benefit of centerlock is supposed to be apart from creating another standard.

There's really not anything bad I can say about the LTWOO er9. It just works super reliable. I rode in bad weather. The group got covered in road grime. I washed the bike afterwards. Everything seems solid. So far.

[Sebastian]

So I took off the rotor. I see no wear marks on neither the hub nor the rotor splines. I applied a Layer of textile tape between the rotor and the hub splines. Torqued it down. But I still get play if I want to. I might try and apply some Loctite bearing retaining compound between the splines and see if that fixes it.

Apart from that: One cool thing about this frame is that because of the shape of the downtube it actually shields the lower headset bearing from road spray. Maybe if you ride in torrential rain and through huge puddles there might be some water ingress. But just riding on wet roads with a bit of rain leaves the lower headset completely dry and free of dirt.

On my VB-R218 the lower headset bearing is shot after doing a few wet rides this season.

[lantz]

Appreciate your updates - bike is looking very sick out on the road!

Agree about the L-Twoo britfter hoods, love the feel. They're a smidge taller and a little thinner than my 105s and they just feel great.

[Sebastian]

Update on my centerlock rotor issues. I tried tape, I tried Loctite 601, I tried threadlocker. It helps but it doesn't solve the issue. Incidentally, I talked to two friends of mine who both only realized upon me asking them that they also can make their centerlock rotors rock back and forth on their hubs if they try. It really seems to be a centerlock problem that everyone just agrees to leave alone. Even DT Swiss themselves answered to a guy on a German speaking MTB forum and basically said that it's a problem of tolerances between different manufacturers that is annoying but doesn't pose a security risk and therefore should just be ignored. I have another set of lockrings on the way which I will try together with micro shims and see if that solves the issue. If not, then I'll consider this case closed anyhow. I don't notice it when riding. Braking is fine. It doesn't look like there's wear on either the rotor or the hub splines. I guess it's just another case of the bicycle industry inventing a new standard and then failing to meet its tolerances.

[lantz]

I've had chain slip off of my big ring when pushing power twice now - I don't think it's the limiter/positioning; I'm wondering if using a 11sp crankset with 12spd setup is creating some minor slippage (or) if my chainrings are a bit worn and need replacing (or) there's just enough play in the frame that the chainline is adjusting when I drop 1000w...

Either way, i have a gash in my ankle from a tooth on my chainring, so that's gnarly.

Hehehehe.

[Sebastian]

I've had chain slip off of my big ring when pushing power twice now - I don't think it's the limiter/positioning; I'm wondering if using a 11sp crankset with 12spd setup is creating some minor slippage (or) if my chainrings are a bit worn and need replacing (or) there's just enough play in the frame that the chainline is adjusting when I drop 1000w...

Either way, i have a gash in my ankle from a tooth on my chainring, so that's gnarly.

Hehehehe.

Yes, 12sp chains on 11sp chainrings can slip. I've had just that happen to me as well on my VB-R218 frame. When I upgraded my Campagnolo groupset from 11 to 12sp I thought I can just keep the chainrings. But the chain slipped on the big ring as soon as I put a lot of torque through it when climbing. I switched to 12sp chainrings. No issues at all. Same cassette. Same chain.
I found my DCRF26 frame to be pretty stiff in the BB area - probably stiffer than my VB-R218. I'm crap at sprinting, though. So your experience might differ from mine.

[Sebastian]

I put 200k on the bike with no issues. Really liking it so far but I feel hampered by the 170 cranks.
I got a pair of SRAM S900 in 175 lying around but it turns out I do need another BB for them. The DUB BB I got uses plastic spacers. But if you do take them out then the inner race of the bearings is actually ever so slightly oversized and the BB30 axle has play. So the bike is sitting idle until I put the new cranks in. I’m curious to see how it feels then.

[lantz]

Yes, 12sp chains on 11sp chainrings can slip. I've had just that happen to me as well on my VB-R218 frame. When I upgraded my Campagnolo groupset from 11 to 12sp I thought I can just keep the chainrings. But the chain slipped on the big ring as soon as I put a lot of torque through it when climbing. I switched to 12sp chainrings. No issues at all. Same cassette. Same chain.
I found my DCRF26 frame to be pretty stiff in the BB area - probably stiffer than my VB-R218. I'm crap at sprinting, though. So your experience might differ from mine.

Sounds like that's the culprit. I'll look to swap the rings - use any from Ali?