Carbonda Gravel CFR505 build

[carbonazza]

Finally !! After about a year of mental convolutions, I decided for this gravel frame:
http://www.carbonda.com/road/gravel/cfr505.html

My contact at Carbonda was Hedy Lee.
Perfect communication, very professional and kind during the whole process.

I received the frame, fork, bar and seatpost today from Carbonda.
Along with a matching pair of ultra light rims from Peter( 29er hookless, 300g - 19mm inner width )
What a day !
 

Just a couple of screws to tighten and ready to ride ! 

First impressions are great.
The frame looks of very high quality, outside as well as inside !

The objective is to have a winter training road bike, that can ride in the forest too.
Making the parts as interchangeable as possible between my 041 and my ultra posh Canyon Ultimate.

[325racer]

Looks like they did a good job on the fade..

What is the component build plan?

[carbonazza]

For the wheelset, the idea is to make them compatible as:

• Tubeless gravel wheels, with ~38mm tires( Clement MSO or Panaracer Gravel King )
• Ultralight XC wheels for the 041 when needed. I took a 15x100 fork instead of the now more common 12x100 for this
• may be a light wheelset for tubeless roadbike, if the max rim pressure of 60psi will be enough(?) and with a 15/12mm adapter tube for the axle/hub

I will give a chance to D411CB/D412CB Novatec instead of my usual expensive and heavier Hope's.
And straight pull for the first time too with 28 Sapim CX rays.

Then for the transmission.
Beware it becomes frankly aristocratic 

I did put a quarq powermeter on the roadbike this summer.
As a result, had a spare Sram Red crank that I will re-use here.
If everything is compatible as it seems, putting a single CX1 chainring on it.
Probably 38T like on the 041 or maybe 40T.

I should have gone for a road bike trip in the Alps this summer( I couldn't after all ).
But in that plan, I bought a couple of compact chainrings.
And a medium cage derailleur(wi-fli etap) and an 11-32 cassette.

Of this I will re-use the medium cage derailleur and buy a cheaper 11-32 cassette.
Keeping the Red cassette and rings for actual road mountain climbing, and able to swap rear derailleurs between my bikes.

All these re-uses "force" me to go with the SRAM etap hydro levers and brakes here too.
That way I'll have a totally swappable, set of components between my bikes depending on the need or in case of failure.
I hesitated a long time with the SRAM Force 1x groupset, but went for the big plan.

Here is my secret hope:
SRAM will provide in the coming months/year a 12sp etap long cage rear derailleur and road cassettes.
That will be compatible with the existing shifters.
And at that point I will be able to use/swap almost everything on all my bikes.

[Le Duke]

Any updates?

Considering the CFR 505 myself and I'd like to see what your end result looks like. Off to a great start, though. The frame looks amazing!

[carbonazza]

Family vacations are currently preventing any progress
However I’ll try to order the missing parts this week to get them when I’m back.

[carbonazza]

Everything but the chainring and brake discs are there.
I got even two Haribo bears bags from r2-bike.com

Build time !! 
Hopefully nothing is missing, everything is compatible, and my spoke lengths are correct( these are my first straight pull wheels  )

[bxcc]

I think this frame just moved to the top of my list. Well, when I get around to building a CX bike that is.

Any chance of running an internally routed dropper on it? I know that sounds odd but it would be nice to lower it a bit while on rougher stuff without getting off of the bike.

[carbonazza]

... Any chance of running an internally routed dropper on it?

If you stick to BSA you are probably out of luck, as the shells are usually closed.
You could still route it from the front derailleur exit hole if you go 1x or etap, for a semi internal routing.

But if you go for the BB86, there are holes in the BB space where you could route a cable from the front derailleur( 1x ), or both derailleurs entry(etap), fiddling over the BB to the seatpost.
However it is a 27.2mm, so not many options.

[bxcc]

If you stick to BSA you are probably out of luck, as the shells are usually closed.

Haha, well played.

I can live with BB86 or BB92 shells as the GXP cranks still work  . My daughters CS-406 frame I just got from Peter has the BB92 shell and that was open like you mentioned. I tried the OTSO Warakin and loved that bike. The durability of the stainless steel frame has some definite benefits but being lightweight isn't one of them. So I've been searching for a generic carbon frame with similar geometry and this one is pretty darn close. Some things are a little off but one calls for a 400mm axle to crown fork and the other calls for 385mm. That should make up for the HA difference. I guess I'm just looking for more of a road capable drop bar mountain bike than a trail capable road bike. If that makes sense.

[carbonazza]

It is built !







From a quick tour around the block, the first impressions are great.
Feels light, stiff, agile to turn and I love its ultra-flashy look compared to my other black bikes

Some doubts or issue I had during the build:

• Straight pull hubs & spokes:
  I thought the hubs were two cross, while they were 3 cross.
  The ERD was 593mm instead of the 590 announced, that would have made a difference too.
  So I had to return and reorder a set of spokes.
  They were the easiest wheels I ever built.
  And the lightest at 1218g(Ultralight 29er rims from Peter, CX-Ray spokes, SAPIM alloy nipples, and Novatec hubs D411CB/D412CB.
  The rear hub freewheel is dead silent ! And without a front derailleur, this is a very silent bike. Will need a bell !
   
• Tires:
  One of the most complex choice to me was about the tires for a gravel.
  There doesn't seem to be a best solution.
  Either you want to ride more on hard or soft terrain, and need appropriate tires.
  So in the end I took them light and mixed. The Maxxis Rambler 40mm.
  They were surprisingly easy to setup tubeless on the internal 19.6mm rims.
  Mount. Inflate with the compressor. Pop/Pop. Done.
   
• The axles:
  I ordered a pair of Hardlite axles on ebay.As another Carbonda owner did( although poorly detailed ).
  They looked good but in fact were not compatible.
  The front 15x100 was an MTB one. Road ones are shorter, 125mm long axle.
  So I took a ROCK SHOX Maxle Stealth 15x100 with 1.5mm pitch.
  The rear drive dropout is not threaded, but need a nut, like the DT Swiss E-thru axle.
  I have a temp solution for now, but will find a M12x1.5mm nut somewhere to put on the Hardlite rear.
   
• SRAM Red Etap:
  Using etap without front derailleur, is not a problem.
  11x36 cassette(CX1 Cassette PG-1170) with the wifli version of the rear derailleur is not an issue either. The capacity of the derailleur is 28T.
  The conversion of my two ring crank(with hidden bolt) to a single CX1 chainring went without issue.
  The Titanium bolts are from Ali. And used the hidden screw that came with the ring. The 2mm washers were useless.
  I rotate with 3 chains,  the SRAM PC-1170
   
• Brakes:
  I didn't have the bleeding edge tool to bleed the brakes(damn SRAM to add yet another nozzle).
  So, I was extra careful when cutting the brake hose and route them through the frame.
  And not add air to the system.
  Setting the lever to have the nut vertical and adding some DOT liquid in it before remounting everything.
  It worked.
  The internal routing was very easy. A white tube was there in the frame to guide the rear hose. And there are holes in the fork for the front.
  Unfortunately I cut the front hose a tad to short( my first road bike bar... ), it is quite ok but sad.
  I was scared by taping the bar too, but it went well. I hesitated a long time between black and the yellow, but returned the black.
  And I didn't receive the brake disc from Ali yet, so I've temporarily put some used ones I had.
   
• Design blues:
  Just for the aesthetics. When I see now all these useless black holes and screw, I could have ordered the frame without them. I saw later it was possible.
  Carbonda provide a set a various plugs/end caps but they didn't think as minimalistic as this build. No plug at the rear derailleur exit cable. No second rubber plug for the right shifter hose entry.
  Not sure I will ever use mudguards. And I replaced all screws with vinyl ones for now.

For the ones who care about this: it weights just over 7.4kg as it is on the pictures, and feels very light when holding it and riding it 

[MTB2223]

WHOW !!! Awesome build !!!!!

And at the end, what did you spend at total ?

Can you please tell me the rim types ? Or a url to Peters shop ?

[carbonazza]

WHOW !!! Awesome build !!!!!

And at the end, what did you spend at total ?

Can you please tell me the rim types ? Or a url to Peters shop ?

Probably about 2600€ but reusing a crank and rear derailleur I had already.
Probably around 3300€ otherwise.
A Force CX1 groupset would have been a quite cheaper option, but incompatible with my etap road bike.

The rims are http://xmcarbonspeed.com/Productinfo.asp?f=1472
Beware they are limited to 60psi/~4bar max.
I'm not sure I'll be able to reuse them on my road bike, as mountain climbing wheels because of that tire pressure limit.

[bxcc]

That’s an awesome build! You must be stoked.

So they can make the frame with fewer cable routing holes?

Also, what about the hubs? Why did you choose Novatec hubs? Just curious on your choice over other options.

[carbonazza]

That’s an awesome build! You must be stoked.

Stoked is the right term, yes totally!
I can't decide myself to ride it in the mud yet

So they can make the frame with fewer cable routing holes?

Yes some folks on the ridinggravel forum asked for not having mudguard screws, so I guess there is some flexibility available.

Also, what about the hubs? Why did you choose Novatec hubs? Just curious on your choice over other options.

I wanted to try a straight pull and light wheelset.
Then I saw these, relatively cheap for their weight, compared to other light brands.
Read about good and bad stories about Novatec hubs on the web, and decided to try.
They look very well built, we'll see how long they last.

[Rick64]

Awesome looking bike Carbonazza, love the paint, whats the saddle your using? It looks very light and comfy.