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Re: Fake eeBrakes G4
I had the Bontrager Speed Stop Pro brakes which are very similar to these. And while they did stay centered, I just could not get them set up so the two arms would apply the brake force evenly. So much so that the pads would wear much more on one side. That’s why I took em off. My Campy Record brakes are heavier, sure. But they work so much better.
October 24, 2023, 01:00:29 PM |
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Re: TanTan TT-X38 Build
So here it is: The build process was a mixed affair. The things I thought would be an issue turned out to actually be pretty straightforward such as: - Routing the brake lines through the headset and bars. - Setting up the brakes rub free - Getting proper preload on the headset There were things that usually take minutes which took ages on this one, like: - Routing the RD cable and plug through the chainstay. Like I said, I had to sand inside the chainstay at the RD cable exit port because there was a sharp edge in there. After that it went through pretty easily. But it took me literally a whole evening of trying. - Setting up the FD - like I just wrote. What an odyssee. It might have to do with my particular cranks. But the FD hanger does sit very far inboard on this one. The seatube is narrow to begin with. There's a recessed area where the FD hanger bolts on to. - My steerer wasn't smooth internally. It also wasn't 100% round. Not as bad as somebody else has posted here but still. Cutting it down revealed no issues. So that's good. But it was a bit of a headache. I'm super happy with how the build turned out. It looks very nice. I was able to replicate my favorite position, but I had to slam the cockpit all the way down with only the top cap. I'm also super happy with the brakes. The Campy calipers look very sleek and they work absolutely flawless with the LTWOO brifters. It's cool how on this bike there are components from LTWOO, Shimano and Campy working happily together.  Final weight is 7.85kg as pictured, including pedals, cages & Garmin mount. Not bad for a 58size frame. But there's a few weight saving components that I migrated from the bike that I retired. TPU tubes, the very light saddle, an SROAD monobloc cassette. Also, the Campy calipers easily save 50-100g to the LTWOO hardware. And the tires are ridiculously light also at roughly 210g a piece. The wheels are very impressive. I'm super stoked to ride them. I've weighed them at 1480g. 24.5mm internal. 31mm external. These 28c tires measure just above 31mm on these rims. There's still ample tire clearance. That was a bit of a worry for me. But this frame easily clears 32mm tires. 32c labelled tires on rims as wide as these might be a different story. But honestly, I think this frame has all the clearance you could ever want from a road bike. I haven't ridden it. The weather is awful here atm and I probably won't get out on the road before Sunday. I'll give this a proper shakedown and at least a few hundred km until I will give a verdict. October 27, 2023, 12:50:11 PM |
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Re: TanTan TT-X38 Build
Rude. Note how Pat made sure to not include his own in that comment?  
October 28, 2023, 12:50:54 AM |
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Re: LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets
It's like a quarter of a mm of play, tho it shifts pretty nice now but I want to know if other guys are experiencing this so I can report this to LTwoo I can move the FD cage by that amount if I try. But the motor or some sort of spring tension is acting against it. So there’s not really any play. I’ve done 100k so far on er9. It works great. I wish there was a bit more tactile feedback from the shift buttons. It’s a bit hard to tell whether or not I actually pushed the button. Apart from that all is good. October 29, 2023, 08:21:06 AM |
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Re: TanTan TT-X38 Build
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. October 30, 2023, 12:13:51 AM |
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Re: TanTan TT-X38 Build
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. October 30, 2023, 02:17:46 AM |
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Re: TanTan TT-X38 Build
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.
November 02, 2023, 06:26:22 AM |
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Re: LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets
I fixed it now and it shifts as expected. It seems to be a combination of things. My TanTan TT-X38 has the FD hanger sitting very far inboard. I’m using a SRAM Wide Axle BB30 crank which has the big ring sitting at 49mm. So particularly far outboard. And I think the er9 FD is a little bit more limited in movement compared to other FDs - mechanical ones for example. I had it at the outermost extreme setting with the high limit all the way outboard at 99 and it still wouldn’t shift well enough for my taste. But I spacered the bolt on FD hanger about 3mm further outboard and now I’m able to set it up so it shifts super smooth. So it’s more the frames fault than the groupset‘s IMO.
November 08, 2023, 03:13:55 PM |
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Re: Elves Falath EVO 2023
Rectangular tube profiles and the fattest headtube in the game. It’s so clearly a LARP of an aero bike. I agree. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But to me this looks like Homer Simpson’s idea of an aero bike. November 16, 2023, 02:49:25 PM |
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Re: TanTan TT-X38 Build
I’ve only done around 250k so far. Finally put 175mm cranks and Look pedals on there so I don’t feel like riding a child’s bike anymore. :-) But it’s raining here all the time atm. So either Im running my VB-R 218 on the turbo or my gravel bike with full length mudguards. But it’ll be more dry this week. So hopefully I’ll have the chance to test it a bit more. These Tufos and Tufo tires in general are a bit of a revelation to me. I’m running the Thundero gravel on my other bike which honestly is the best gravel tire I’ve ever ridden. Tufo has a bad reputation which stems mainly from their low end tubulars. But I think they’re massively underrated. The wheels are plenty fast. I’m still on the fence as to whether I find them stiff enough. More riding needed. Build quality is very good. Labels are cheap vinyl stickers. I don’t really mind. They are very good value for money. But bear in mind that 28s come very wide on these. And because of the huge internal width you can’t really put on anything smaller than 28s. But these wheels and 28c tires feels is the goldilocks standard for me. Plenty fast and yet super comfy. And the tires match the rims in width pretty much exactly, so it should still be aero. November 20, 2023, 09:00:44 AM |
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