Hi there,

I am just back from a family holiday in southern France (Cevennes and Ardeche area). I had the chance to do a couple of pre-breakfast rides in a lovely hilly terrain (400km, 6000m of elevation altogether). Living throughout the year in lfat terrain this was the first opportunitiy to ride the bike uphill. The positive experience with the bike has continued. It feels not as all as a burden when going upwards and is responsive and fast when sprinting for the last meter to the passes. When riding downhill the bike always felt safe and gave me confindence although I am not the type to hurtle down mountains at breakneck speed. My overall conclusion remains very positive - a very fun bike for going fast on wahtever terrain (flat or hilly).

What’s the minimum seatpost insertion?
Just notice like a stop in the frame and the di2 battery stuck on, anyone notice this issue? Can I just sand it out?

I finally got an answer from David. The minimum insertion depth of the seatpost is 10cm.

Have you seen the broken fork over atbthe Tantan X86 thread? Scary. Is the R088 fork comparable to the Tantan X86 fork?

Is this a problem that the manufacturer has fixed on later frames, or does it still apply?

I do not have the problem (ordered in March, delivered in April).

Short update from my side. Today I could do the first longer ride (68km), all in all I have done 145km on the bike so far and I would like to summarize my first impressions. The bike is agile and responsive and accellerates very well. It is definitively stiffer than my other bikes (I sense that in my bum area after the ride today…) with the seat post being the most flexible part. This was expected, I guess this is a feature of a bike with such a short seat tube. And my seatpost sticks out particularly far from the seat tube since I I have a small frame given my body height.

By the way, I had redone the complete installation of bottom bracket, cranks and pedals by the book (I love Sram‘s video instructions). I turned out that I had forgotten the washers for the pedals. The creaking is gone now. But, the seat post started moving again. I removed the tape and got myself an (insanely priced) original SL8 seatpost clamp, which is a liitle bit wider in diameter and when tightened really tight. The Spcycle clamp was always a bit loose also when fully tightened.

To sum it up: I like the bike very much an am looking forward to the next rides.

Edit: Garmins‘s original Varia mount for seatposte like this does not work well on this bike. I need definitively another one.

Nice build! What is your weight for the build? And what handlebar is that?

Thanks. It was something like 7.9 kg with pedals, bottle cages etc. I also put such a foamy thing around the brake line, applied some protective films etc. I guess that adds up. The handlebar is a Lexon Thin Line from Aliexpress. Installation of the brake lines was not to difficult, I expected more problems (this is my first integrated cockpit).

Second test ride tonight. The seatpost holds now. I asked David vom Spcycle and he said „ apply more anti-grease in seatpost. In addition, use 6~8NM torque locking seatpost clamp“. I did both: apply a bit of tape, more carbon paste and 7NM torque.

Then I realized a bad cracking coming from the crankset area. Incould rule the saddle/seatpost and cockpit out, thus I will check the cranks and the bottom bracket. Fingers crossed that I will localize the cause. Where do you start looking for the source of cracking usually?