Hi y'all,

I recently bought a Winspace SLC 2.0 frameset and had quite the adventure building it up.
I've always passively wanted one, specifically in the Kanazawa color, but for the price this lightly used Superlight Black frame was close enough. The steerer was cut too short and I hated the color, but whatever. I'll do something with it someday, maybe I'd lose some weight and magically become more flexible?    So it arrived and just sat for a while until I found a new, uncut SLC fork on Ebay. So with a new fork and way too much confidence, I started sanding and sketching out some fresh paint jobs!
The paint process took way too long. I had this idea in my head of a purple/gold galaxy looking alcohol ink pattern on a black background, how hard can it be? It's biggest pain in the ass and took up way too much time, 10/10 do not recommend. I dig the result, though. The base color is candy black over raw carbon. Most of the black half has the coolest dark raw carbon effect that you can see in direct sunlight, but some sections got too much black. A two stage white pearl and logos in Ford champagne gold to finish. Overall, I'm happy with paint but it was much too ambitious and the end result is far from perfect. Many mistakes were made and there's a few issues that I just didn't have the patience to fix anymore. They're hard to spot, but I know they're there and they'll always bug me. 

The actual build process was fairly quick and painless, even with fully internal routing. AXS builds are very straightforward and tbh I can't see myself using another groupset on my bikes right now. A lot of parts carried over from my 177.
Frame: Size 490
Wheels Farsports Kaze 45mm
Tires: Panaracer Agilest 28mm and Ridenow tubes
Seatpost: Elita One 63D, but looking at maybe getting one of those VFV or Ryet posts with the hole in it.
Saddle: Ryet 3D printed saddle
Handlebar: Fire Spider FS160
Stem: S Works SL 100mm
Bar tape: Silca Nastro. It's alright.
Bottle cages: Supacaz Fly Ano. Very light and good looking, but don't feel very secure
Groupset: SRAM AXS mix - Rival shifters, Force crankset, Force cassette 10-33, Red chain, Red FD, Force RD w/ JRC pulleys, CLX-R rotors
Crankset: Force AXS GXP 167.5mm - Wheels BB, XCadey spider power meter, and Stone 48/33 chainrings. Rotor 48/35 Q rings are sitting in the closet, I'll be installing those soon.

My verdict so far? This bike is sick. It's a classic aesthetic but make no mistake, this is a race bike. The ride is not very forgiving nor is the geometry. It's a super stiff frame and I can feel every imperfection in the road, on longer rides it kinda has me wishing for my 177. I see now what people mean when they say a bike "just wants to take off" or "holds its speed well". In reality, am I any faster or are either of those statements actually true? Strava and my legs both say I'm as slow as ever, but I sure feel fast af. 

Short frame walkaround: https://youtube.com/shorts/V-t9kH_zGyU

Anyone else have an SLC 2.0 build to share??

Hi y'all,

I recently switched from an HG to an XDR freehub on my Farsports road bike wheels with Bitex hubs. 
Long story short, the pawls on the HG freehub had some kinda gloop on them, definitely lubed during assembly. The XDR freehub I purchased was dry. I applied some drops of mineral oil (the kind for brakes) based on google searches.
The freehub is a bit louder now than it was with the Shimano freehub, but I kinda like that. Does anyone know if I'm causing any damage by not applying some kind of heavier grease? Is a heavier grease "worse" for performance?
If I should be using a heavier lube, does anyone have a recommendation?

Thanks!

Hi y'all,

I've got a TRP Hylex brake set for my gravel bike and about to install and undertake the initial bleed (if necessary). Before I do that, I have a question for y'all with more mineral oil brake experience.
Are all the different kinds of mineral oil the same? e.g. TRP red, Shimano red, Finish Line green, Campy/Magura blue juice, etc.
Can they be mixed? I'm assuming these brakes are filled with the red TRP oil, but I currently only have Finish Line on hand. Am I safe to mix, or should I find TRP oil? My gut says go ahead and mix...is there any difference other than color and the name on the bottle?

Time for some spring cleaning!
Riding season is back, so that means it's time to buy a bunch more stuff I don't REALLY need!
Real talk, I've also switched all (both ) my bikes to AXS groupsets and all of these drivetrain components are 11 speed-specific. Having this many 11 speed parts laying around is becoming kind of annoying, my girlfriend's bike is the only 11 speed bike still around and is very sparingly used, so all this stuff must go. I'm also looking to sidegrade my road bike from AXS to Di2 (potentially, just to see what it's like ) so the extra cash would be nice.

Please see below for parts list, availability and prices. Feel free to ask for more photos or details!

11 speed:
SRAM
Force 22 shifters - SOLD
Rival 22 front derailleur - $20
Rival 22 rear derailleur, medium cage with Kogel pulleys - $70
Force 22 rear derailleur, medium cage very light use - SOLD
Force 22 cassette 11-32 - SOLD
Apex 1 rear derailleur, broken for parts - SOLD

Shimano 105 R7000 cassette 11-32  like new - SOLD
Sensah Empire front derailleur - SOLD

Tubes/Tires:
Panaracer Gravelling SK- single tire, excellent condition - $20 Sold

Brakes:
Paul Klamper replica (not original) flat mount calipers only with pads, short pull like new  - SOLD
TRP RRL drilled brake levers - SOLD
Dymoece 160mm 6 bolt brake rotors light use - SOLD

Chainrings:
Praxis Buzz 52/36 5x110bcd 11 speed - $60
Absolute Black oval 48t 11 speed, 5x110bcd narrow-wide, 4 good bolts + one broken bolt - SOLD

Other stuff:
Zipp alloy seatpost, used but solid 27.2 - SOLD
Praxis M30 T47 inboard BB like new, installed but not used - $30
Robert Axle Project thru axle brand new, LIG 269 168mm M12x1.5 - $25. This one is thanks to Velobuild IG for giving me the wrong rear axle specs, with a special mention to me for not bothering to double check before ordering.

Available locally in Southern California! Shipping available in the US. Take a handful of things and I'll cover shipping cost.
HELP ME FUND MY COMPONENT ADDICTION!! 

Hi y'all,

I'm working on a new gravel build at the moment and starting this thread to share some info on the frame and talk some shop

• The frame is frame from Ornan Bike: https://www.ornanbike.com/best-chinese-carbon-gravel-bike-frames-with-flat-mount-type_p106.html
  It was the model R730-D when I ordered, they seem to have changed the model number since. This frame is also carried by Top Fire and a couple of others. I ordered mine in size 480 without a fork. 429 USD without fork, 605 total.
  I've since found this same mold out in the wild sold as the Franco Grimes, any frame spotters seen this one under other names/brands?
• Whisky No.9 CX Fork: I originally planned to use a replica from Ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/303880803441. This replica is pretty awesome, I used it on my old Poseidon X. It took forever to arrive, so it's now for sale if anyone is interested  I will say the forks look identical except for the finish...even the steerer tubes look identical and the weight is the same. I ended up buying a real Whisky fork locally and will move forward with that one as I've already painted it.
  
• ZNIINO 90mm carbon stem from Aliexpress. Looks nice, cheap and easy to paint. Finishing was a little rough around the edges, but nothing a little sandpaper couldn't fix, I was painting it anyway. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801745113305.html?
• I'm gonna give this Elita One saddle a shot (model 3143): https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832622302239.html?
• Zipp Service Course XPLR 70 handlebars. My gf has the road version on her bike and I always thought they were super comfortable and they're pretty cheap, so I got the gravel version in 42cm for this build.
• XPLR groupset: Pieced it together used from various online sources. Rival XPLR derailleur, 40t power meter crankset, 10-44 cassette, and Force chain.
• For shifting and braking I'll be using: AXS wireless blips, TRP RRL brake levers, and Klamper copies. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804206370295.html? I used these brakes for maybe 20 miles on my old Poseidon before we swapped the groupset to GRX 810 and sold the bike to my cousin. We'll see how these ride and I'll post some updates.
• Time Atac XC pedals
• Panaracer Gravelking SK tires in 700x38 for now. I have an old set of these in 700x32 tucked away somewhere as well that I may use for faster rides, but I may just get some slicker tires as well.
• Still working on a wheelset, I'll probably use an alloy DT Swiss set for a few weeks until I sort out some carbon wheels.

I'm already working on the paint job! I saw someone painting with smoke on motorcycle parts using a kerosene torch and thought it would look cool on a gravel frame. Here's what I have so far!
I'm about 60% done with paint. I've applied the slightly off white base coat and smoke effect, and then quickly sealed with a 2K clear coat as the smoke effect is quite dainty and will smudge and come off quite easily. The stem has been painted in a metallic bronze and the plan is to cover the white, uncovered part of the frame in this same bronze color, fading into the smoke. Does that even make sense?  I'll also be painting a couple small logos on the frame and repainting the Whisky logo on the lower right fork leg. Tbh I'm kinda liking the frame as is. I may just paint on the logos and forget about the fade, just leave it as is...what do y'all think? Shitty Paint sketch for reference 

Hello!

I have a road/gravel bike SRAM AXS groupset for sale. Mostly Rival AXS, parts as follows:
Rival AXS hydraulic shifters - new takeoff set with flat mount calipers.
Force AXS front derailleur - excellent condition, very light used. Light chain rub on the inner cage, but otherwise like new.
Rival AXS rear derailleur - good condition. Also lightly used, scratches from a fall or two
Wuzei 12 speed cassette - 11-32t Shimano freehub compatible

The derailleurs are from my VB 177, I switched them out for a Red FD and Force RD that I got for a crazy good price.
The shifters are basically new. They came off my cousin's bike and were used on a couple test rides, switched them out for Red shifters and passed these on to me.
The Wuzei cassette I bought on Aliexpress to use mainly on the trainer. Shifts well once the RD is properly adjusted, maybe just noisier than I'd like on the bigger gears. It's super light (230 g) as the bigger cogs are alloy. One piece cassette except for the two smallest cogs.

Asking for $650 obo, including US shipping. Happy to meet up somewhere if you're in Southern California! Sold!

Hey all,

I have both versions of the SRAM Red 22 shifters, the older version currently installed on my road bike. I'm about to do some work on the bike and I'm thinking of switching out to the newer version, I always thought the newer design look a little bit nicer. Now I'm not so sure...kinda warming up to the older design.
The differences are purely cosmetic as far as I can tell? Functionally they're the same I'm sure.
This leaves me wondering what everyone else thinks. What do y'all think looks better??