Spcycle New Mold G056 Carbon Gravel Frame

[lantz]

Well damn it’s already been a week and the frames not shipped, so not gonna hold my breath.

[lantz]

Frame was 13 days and my Elitewheel order was just short of 2 months. I was getting nervous because they asked twice to extend delivery time but they eventually did come. VERY happy with the wheels.

David, did you use a BB they provided or did you buy one? What's the width of the BB shell in the frame? They only list "T47" but not the shell size.

[Daviddavieboy]

David, did you use a BB they provided or did you buy one? What's the width of the BB shell in the frame? They only list "T47" but not the shell size.

 The shell is 86mm T47. No I didn't use the provided one because it's for a shimano crank and I have SRAM DUB, I made the mistake of getting a cheapie from ALI and the 'ceramic' bearings lasted 500km. I have no idea of the quality of the provided one.

 On another note I was off work for 11 days sick and repainted mine. I like it much more now I just need to come up with a name for the downtube. Thinking of "ASPLODE! " LOL

[lantz]

Good to know, thanks.

That new paint job looks way rad!

[Daviddavieboy]

Good to know, thanks.

That new paint job looks way rad!

 I like it a lot better for sure. I just need to come up with some lettering for it. Made these in vinyl just to see if I like it.

[lantz]

How do you print vinyl transfer? I haven't looked into it at all,  but I have bought some from some folks, seems like it should be easy? Is there a tool/provider you use?

[Daviddavieboy]

How do you print vinyl transfer? I haven't looked into it at all,  but I have bought some from some folks, seems like it should be easy? Is there a tool/provider you use?

 It's a hobby machine called a cricut. Graphics are made on a computer (I use photoshop) and then the machine cuts them out. I restore vintage bikes and I use the machine to make logo stencils for airbrushing.

 The one here is just a mock up to see if I like it and if so, I will paint it on with color shift paint like the rest of the bike.

[lantz]

Rad. I can definitely make the assets in photoshop or illustrator or whatever else, just wasn't sure an easy route to home-making vinyl stickers. I'll do some research.

[Ultramic]

I hope someone can help me with this frame build. I recently purchased the version sold by "Surprise store" on AliExpress. My issue is installing the headset where there is a gap between the lower bearing and the fork and also a bigger gap between the frame and the headcover for the top bearing - this is using the supplied headset. With the top bearing in particular, this sits flush with the frame and when you put the the compression ring on, it sits too high the the headset cover leaving quite a big gap. Any advice is appreciated.

[frnchy]

I hope someone can help me with this frame build. I recently purchased the version sold by "Surprise store" on AliExpress. My issue is installing the headset where there is a gap between the lower bearing and the fork and also a bigger gap between the frame and the headcover for the top bearing - this is using the supplied headset. With the top bearing in particular, this sits flush with the frame and when you put the the compression ring on, it sits too high the the headset cover leaving quite a big gap. Any advice is appreciated.

For the upper bearing, I would definitely not use that compression ring, not just because it sits too high but because that C-shape design can easily damage a steerer tube (refer to Luescher Teknik: https://youtu.be/sKD2JSW9ul4?t=150). I'd recommend a Token A-Box or S-Box headset, which isn't too expensive and comes with a much better compression ring. If you can buy just that ring, it would certainly be cheaper than a full headset, but in 5 minutes of googling, I can't find a well-designed compression ring sold independently of a headset. There may be one out there if you look further than my casual searching.

For the lower bearing, are you sure the extra crown race is needed? Most of the time the bearing sits directly on a crown race molded directly into the fork; if that's not the case here then I would explore bearing/crown race combos from Cane Creek, they're the only reasonably priced source for good bearings + crown races that I found with another couple minutes of searching.

https://canecreek.com/product/headset-bearings/
https://canecreek.com/product/crown-races/
https://canecreek.com/product/headset-parts-accessories/

[Ultramic]

Thanks for your reply, it confirms my thoughts that the headset is just a badly designed one and I should look at other options. I can confirm the crown race is needed as the bottom of the steerer is not tapered and is right angled and therefore needs a crown race to contact the lower bearing properly.

Anyone else who has built on this frame with the supplied headset and can comment would be much appreciated.

[Daviddavieboy]

I am wondering if they sent some wrong parts. I used the supplied headset and it looks fine to me. The race on the fork doesn't look right for one thing IMO

[lantz]

Frame arrived today, the package was beat to shit, but the frame was untouched and well padded.

All in all, pretty impressed - the paint job is a little chunky, but it's clean.

The bottom bracket seems well made and the interface was clean as a whistle - super smooth.

The only issue was the same old bullshit with the headsets on these 1 1/2 - 1 1/2 head tubes, the top c-ring just doesn't work for any non-provided bars and spaces. Had to send down about 3.5 mm off of one to get it to allow my internally cabled stem, but it worked fine.

Routing the electronic cable and the 2 hydraulic lines was almost flawless, bar a little fuckery getting the charging cable through the bend on the chainstay, but I got it through just fine after a coulple of tries.

The BB that it came with is a freaming 49mm external, which I don't have a wrench for, so waiting for that to install the crankset.

Only issue is my bars are going to be like 2 more weeks, so I my have to use some deda superzeros I have, but I super don't wanna bleed my brakes again in a couple of weeks when the new bars come, wompwomp.

[bliblablub]

has anyone tried other of the shelf headsets like FSA or Ritchey that would fit the frame?

[lantz]

Thanks for your reply, it confirms my thoughts that the headset is just a badly designed one and I should look at other options. I can confirm the crown race is needed as the bottom of the steerer is not tapered and is right angled and therefore needs a crown race to contact the lower bearing properly.

Anyone else who has built on this frame with the supplied headset and can comment would be much appreciated.

Yeah, the headset it comes with mostly won't work with any other traditional internally routed headset, as it creates way too much space above the bearing assembly - I'd wager that if you got the bars with it, there's a specific first-use space that fits well. Annoying.

I had a plastic c-ring/cable guide/centering ring from another bar that I shaved down with 80 grit sandpaper to just barely 1mm of height above the frame and it allowed me to use the Fire Spider internally routed stem.

The crown race and lower bearing worked fine for me so not sure what's going on with yours.