Midwest's 036 Build

[Midwest-MTBer]

Unfortunately this weekend my wheels were still stuck in customs... Being a little OCD about my build and anxious to keep working I decided to pull apart my brakes to free some stuck pistons. It actually was pretty easy to do and really was only frustrating when it came to freeing the pistons from the caliper halves. They were pretty dirty, so I lubed them up with some DOT 5.1 fluid and reinstalled and bled. Seems like I'm getting a lot more substantial piston actuation now.

Another thing bothering me is the way that my two cables are running down my downtube. Being a slow day at work, I decided to take a crack at solving that with a little bit of design work. I modeled up a little housing that would get zip tied into the single cable mount and allow me to run two cables side by side. Not sure if my parts will be the right size at all as I really only guessed looking at some pictures I took, but I figured it was worth a shot.


A little of sanding...


Matte black to match the frame


An image from this weekend

I'll try the housings out tomorrow!

[Midwest-MTBer]

So I was able to test out my 3D printed housings today and overall I'm pretty happy! Without taking any measurements or other prototypes I think they turned out really well. They could hug a little closer to the frame, but maybe I'll print some replacements in a few weeks. The adapter gets zip-tied into the installed cable guides, then the cables are zipped to the adapters sides. 3 zip ties per mount.. Not weight weenie friendly  (If you want the STL or SolidWorks file of the guide PM me)

I also took some time today to figure out what the vinyl finish on my chiner would eventually look like. I used Peters supplied geometry to develop some to scale drawings in Adobe Illustrator. Once I had drawn out a set of shapes I liked I threw them into Photoshop and painted what I thought it could look like. The material basically appears to change colors depending on the angle you view it at. Being on black carbon, it actually sort of mutes the range of colors that it can hit. I know that it isn't for everybody, but I think it looks pretty cool. The material is a film made by 3M called "Dichroic Blaze Multi-Color". I have a couple feet of it laying around so once I get access to a vinyl cutter again I'll do some cutting and get it applied. It might not be till mid September though.

Enjoy the pics.



Dual cable adapter


Dual cable adapter


Nice and clean routing! 


What I think my frame could look like with the Dichroic material... 




You can see the variety of colors that the material can appear as. I think it looks really good.

[Midwest-MTBer]

So it's been a number of weeks since I've updated this thread, but I did finish my build about a month ago. I got back from vacation and immediately went to the post office to pick up my carbon wheels I had Peter build up for me. They looked really great and were extremely light. I opted to go with the FHR930C rim without spoke holes to make going tubeless easier. I mounted my brake rotors and valve stems and put the tire on. It was easy to get the bead set with an air compressor, and the trucker co tire sealant seemed to seal them right up. Overall getting both wheels tubeless was probably under an hour. I mounted the wheels and they looked to be true right from the factory. I spent the rest of the day messing with brakes and shifting until I was satisfied. It took about 2 rides to get everything shifting and braking the way I wanted.

Ride impressions: Wow. This bike is quick! Climbing, cornering and descending are way fast. After a few rides locally, I took the bike for the real test up to Copper Harbor Michigan. It's some of the best mountain biking in the midwest and is a silver rated trail system by IMBA. I rode the bike on a huge variety of trails when I was up there. Rocky, flowing, steep and even some smaller jumps. The bike performed flawlessly. Except for one mistake I made.

I forgot to check my air pressure before I started riding and on my first trail I heard a loud pop from the rear tire. Instantly I knew something had broken. I checked the rear wheel and found this.



Pretty frustrating, but I decided I would take it easy and keep riding since the tire was holding air and staying true. I got it down, pumped them up to 30 PSI and kept riding. At first I was really worried that the whole wheel would just explode underneath me, but the more I rode, the more confident I was in the rim. In all I rode the damaged rim for 2 more days and just as hard as a rim in good condition. I figured that If I was going to replace it anyways I might as well get the life out of it I could. That happened about 2 weeks ago and now I have a new rim that should be arriving to my house this weekend. I'll lace the wheel and take it to a local shop for tightening and truing.

In the meantime I purchased the 54T hub upgrade for my DT Swiss 350's. It's probably one of the best upgrades you can have in addition to a dropper seatpost. Having my engagement angle changed to 6.6 degrees makes a huge difference when I'm in technical terrain. It's expensive at $100, but if you ride aggressively it needs to be on your list. Swapping out the ratchet was simple and I didn't even remove my cassette. It's a fair bit louder, but not nearly as loud as some of the other hubs I heard when I was biking in copper harbor.
 
Needless to say, everything I bought from Peter has exceeded my expectations. I'll continue to buy Chinese parts until I find a very compelling reason to stop. This weekend I'll post photos of the rim once I take it apart. I'm curious to see just how far this crack extends.

[carbonazza]

If the crack is only outside, I would try to patch it with a couple of layers of carbon cloth and epoxy, going up to the inner side, just before the bed of the tire touches the rim.

Interesting, I didn't know there was a 54T upgrade.
But... woah...$100+ that's quite expensive for two big "washers".

[Midwest-MTBer]

It's been a number of weeks since my last update so I thought I'd let you all know where things are with my 036.


Damage Assessment


Damage Assessment


Damage Assessment

First! This is the crack on my rear rim. I'd like to give Peter kudos for providing me with a product that even when I damaged it held up to a brutal beating. This rim held true and didn't get worse with even a few weeks for riding. Nevertheless, I hated feeling like my rear wheel could explode at any minute so I bought a new one.I got my replacement rim and new red nipples from Peter very quickly and packed professionally. I can't recommend him enough! I was lucky to have the correct spoke wrench laying around at home, so I got to work disassembling the cracked rim. It didn't take that long to disassemble, but since these are the spoke hole free rims I did need to take care when removing the nipples, so that they didn't get stuck in the rim channel. I bought a super strong magnet off of Amazon and that made moving them around really easy. Lacing the wheel wasn't that hard either, more just tedious and time consuming. Since the spoke nipples are aluminum I had to use a tiny piece of a spoke that I had cut and thread it into the nipple to move it into position. I didn't tension the wheels or true them, I thought taking them to a local shop would be faster. Boy was I wrong! The shop had no idea what they were doing with these type of rims. The first time I picked them up and mounted them to my bike, the front wheel was egg shaped and the rear wheel was dished so hard it was rubbing on the left chainstay. It took them over 2 weeks to get them done correctly for me. I was not so happy about that. I'm now planning on buying the tools needed for wheel work! 


Vinyl cut and ready to apply


Vinyl cut and ready to apply

After that was all together I shortened a brake line, applied my vinyl and took it out! The 036 is so fun to ride. I'm so happy with how my build turned out. It's definitely pleasing to ride something and know basically everything that's been done to it.








Future work:
I've ordered some longer valve stems. I really underestimated how different the rim profile would be on these rims.
I'm considering going from a 90mm stem to a 50 or 60mm stem. I feel like my arms are stretched a little too much when I ride. I've adjusted the seat position, but I feel like the better answer would be a different stem
I found a carbon repair shop that's not super far away, but I'm really not sure if this type of a crack can be fixed. I'll have to get a quote and send some images his way.

[JohnnyNT]

Vinyl looks sick! Great job!

[carbonazza]

wow... what an amazing look!

Too bad for your wheel, some details on how this happened?
Were you tubeless and it kept the air?

[SportingGoods]

Wow as well

Vinyl is really cool. You don't seem to get any clear coat on top. You are not afraid it will be damaged prematurely? That said, I'm not sure what kind of clear coat you could apply considering that the frame is matt. A glossy coat would not fit.
Anyone has an idea on this?

[Midwest-MTBer]

@Carbonazza: So the damage to the wheel.. I took my bike to some pretty aggressive trails after a week with no use and started hitting it hard right away. I neglected to realize that during the week the rear tire had actually lost a lot of air pressure. Going through some small jumps and rock gardens was just too much. the rear wheel came down hard and I heard it snap. The tire just couldn't hold up to that direct of a hit with low pressure. The tubeless worked fine and all was well.

@SportingGoods: I don't have a clear coat on. I know that it will get damaged and I've kind of accepted that.. I'm going to cut out a few more decal sheets to replace worn ones in the future. I'm also considering pulling everything off and putting a coat of matte black automotive paint on the frame. The unfinished layup would be better looking in 3k vs the UD.

So I've been riding for a few months now, and this bike kicks ass. I know it's not the latest and greatest technology, but this is enough bike for what I want right now. Everyone asks about it and when I tell them the price of it their shocked. I've had a few people turn their nose up to the "chinese" part of it, but I don't care. This bike has gone through everything I expect a normal branded bike to go through. Plus by building one I have all the tools and expertise to now service this bike and other bikes like it. Overall a really great experience. I would highly recommend this bike and the aspect of building your own to anyone.

[gohloum]

Man, your garage is waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy too clean, LOL!

I need to sell some stuff and make room for more bikes... 

[Midwest-MTBer]

Haha  Yeah it stays pretty clean... Until I have to work on the bikes then It looks way different!

Speaking of new bikes...  picked this baby up a few weeks ago for a price I couldn't pass up. Was thinking about building a chiner tri bike, but I couldn't get anywhere near the price that I paid for this. Now I have something to ride when the trails are too wet! But.. When my wallet allows, a deep dish chinese wheel set will have a home on her.

[OffRoadTriGuy]

How is the flex in the 036? Does it feel stiff climbing?

[Midwest-MTBer]

This being my second full suspension bike and without much experience with them before, I'd say that I don't feel any flex when I ride it. When I have it in a work stand and try to shift the rear triangle from side to side I have very little play. It could be I got lucky with my frame, but I also tore the whole thing apart before building to grease and re-torque the suspension bolts. It's worth noting that my friend who has the 2016 Trek Remedy rode it this summer on some pretty challenging terrain. He didn't mention anything about the stiffness at all. So no, I don't feel any flex in my rear triangle when I ride. When I lock out the rear suspension and climb it really is awesome. Not quite a hardtail, but definitely a vast improvement from my previous FS bike.

[Midwest-MTBer]

It's been awhile since I updated this thread, but I feel like it's worthy now that I've installed a 140mm fork. I've only had it out on one ride so far, but I'll update this once I have a better idea of the changes it makes!

[gohloum]

Do you still have the cracked rim?  By looking at the damage, I would say it's repairable at least enough to have laced up in a cheap hub as a backup.  A good carbon repair kit will run you less than $50. 

Might be worth taking a stab at.