Found the LTwoo GRT 1x12 aluminum groupset (levers, mech, hydros) for under $200us delivered, so had to order it up for a not to distant future gravel bike. Maybe a Poseidon, or something else, shooting for a sub $1200 total cost.

Will update once I have it, then in the future once I find something to install it on.

Shopping for a rear TT wheel and don't want to spend a billion $$ so looking at Chiner Carbon.

I'm no stranger to this market, have an 057 Rigid Mtb and LightBike rims on another bike.

I'm debating between LightBicycle Falcon Entry level for listed $738
https://www.lightbicycle.com/precision-c22d-entry-disc-brake-triathlon-tt-rear-disc-wheel.html

 or LightCarbon with their hub for $529 or DT350 for $770
https://www.lightcarbon.com/lightcarbon-28mm-wide-super-aero-disc-brake-carbon-full-disc-wheel_p204.html

They look about the same,  but claimed weight is about 300grams more for LightCarbon.

Carbonda CFR505 being sold as Thesis OB1.  Well at least it sure looks identical.

https://thesis.bike/pages/the-ob1

http://www.carbonda.com/road/gravel/cfr505.html

What do you think?

What Black Friday or Cyber Monday Deals are you taking advantage of?

Here's one I saw, but not using.

LiteSpeed Black Friday, some of thier older 2012 road bikes are priced reasonably.

https://shop.litespeed.com/collections/litespeed-black-friday-factory-sale

Decided to take a few pictures before I did some cleaning.  My 057 is about 3 years old, probably has about 1000 miles on it, actually, probably less....  Most everything is great, she occasionally develops a creek here or there, that a cleaning, tightening takes care of.  Recently I bypassed the standard internal shift routing for a full length housing and things are shifting much better, better than New, I think I had a kink in the internal housing that caused me issues.

Anyway, this was the full custom pinstriping/wood grain, etc.  I didn't do any protective tape, and I don't care.  I planned to ride it and ultimately show the wear and tear.

DSC_0339.jpg by Matthew Kogan, on Flickr
DSC_0343.jpg by Matthew Kogan, on Flickr
DSC_0344.jpg by Matthew Kogan, on Flickr
DSC_0345.jpg by Matthew Kogan, on Flickr
DSC_0347.jpg by Matthew Kogan, on Flickr
DSC_0351.jpg by Matthew Kogan, on Flickr
DSC_0356.jpg by Matthew Kogan, on Flickr

I have my 057 with rigid fork and shopping for new axle.  The original China axle lever is bending, so I want to go DT swiss, but not sure which is the correct one.

Anyone have one already and know which is the right one?

https://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/dt-swiss-rws-axle-15x100mm-for-salsa-carbon-front-forks

http://www.nashbar.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?partNumber=NB-C9F&catalogId=10052&storeId=10053&langId=-1&utm_source=nashbar&utm_medium=email&utm_content=160720We&utm_campaign=Products&cm_mmc=Email-_-nashbar-_-160720We-_-Products&cm_em=koganmb@gmail.com&spMailingID=13184089&spUserID=NjA0ODgwMTU5MzgS1&spJobID=783543539&spReportId=NzgzNTQzNTM5S0

Nashbar 29er $549, use Ebates and get another 3.5% back.

Maybe this can eventually be made into a sticky once more info shows up.

I wanted to share some Axle info/experience.

I've had my 057 for almost 2 year now, have I would say, about 850 miles on it.  These are not easy miles, I'm about 220lbs "dry", have done some sprint races, 1 or 2, 20+ mile races and the rest just fun riding miles.  As some have seen, while not rooty and muddy, like East coast, it's dry, rutty, rocky out here, and I ride the same stuff I would on my Santa Cruz TallBoy LT, just a little slower.

From day 1 I've been using the axles supplied with the bike from Peter while at XMIPlay.  Both axles I've had come loose during a ride on me, the rear a couple times.  The front was maybe operator error, but the rear I know was set tight before heading out.  In addition to the axles coming loose, I've also had issues with the 12mm adaptors on my hubs (Novatex D882sb) coming loose.  During my race last week, both axle and adaptor loosened up enough that I began having shifting issues and probably 1-2mm play in the rear wheel. 

After this, I decided to resolve this issue once and for all and get a better axle.  I did a bunch of research and decided it would be DT Swiss, now the question was which one.....

The axle that I came up with as the solution is the DT Swiss RWS E-Thru.  This axle "appears" to include the nut.  I am in process of confirming, but when I originally received the axle it did NOT have a nut.  I contacted the vendor and they promptly supplied a nut, as mentioned I'm confirming if it's supposed to come with a nut or if they just supplied it to make good.

That said the supplied nut is nice, has 4 grooves, each the perfect size for the set screw to lock into.  I never had good luck locking down the China nut with the set screw.  The 4 grooves don't go all the way across, but stop short on the inner end allowing the set screw to lock the nut in place to prevent rotation, but also pulling out.

Here's what I ordered, and will update once I get confirmation if it was supposed to come with the nut or not.

http://www.jensonusa.com/DT-Swiss-RWS-E-Thru-Axle#brm-search?request_type=search&search_type=keyword&q=QR199a00&l=QR199a00