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« on: June 02, 2022, 10:26:29 AM »
I'm a bit surprised there isn't a build thread on this frame on here, or a recent one at least. I purchased this XS frame from Velobuild for my wife as she needed an upgrade to her 2013 Aluminum Giant Avail with 8 speed Sora. I ordered on May 11 2022 and received the frame on May 25 2022, so pretty fast turn around which surprised me actually. This frame almost looks identical in geometry to my Canyon Endurace CF SL 7.
Along with the frame I purchased 2 custom paint colors (pink & chameleon blue) which actually turned ok. The fade job between colors could be better and maybe we would have picked a lighter chameleon color as the blue tends to look almost black if it isn't light out. However in the sunlight it does sparkle a bit which is nice.
I also picked up:
$5 carbon spacer pack
$39 carbon VB-HB-009 handlebars (which i asked for 400mm and I believe they sent 420mm, which is OK and it still works but wasn't told ahead of time)
$35 ST-002 80mm carbon fiber stem (right before shipping Chris did send me an email stating he's substituting this stem for the stem that comes along with their 2021 separate handlebar/stem combo. I didn't get this email till the next morning after shipping occurred and thought it might be ok. Turns out it was not. This stem is big, bulky and has a negative angle it seems. My wife didn't like it too much. I just ended up buying an aluminum stem from Amazon for $15 and used that. Chris is being awesome though and said he'd refund me the cost of the stem so I'm happy)
I got a used 105 fully hydraulic groupset off craigslist for $525 which was an awesome find. The crank is a 52/36 with 172.5mm cranks which might be a bit big for her but time will tell. It came with a 11-34t cassette, chain, F&R D's, shifters & calipers. I did have to buy little things like a bottom bracket, a spacer for one of the calipers, 160mm rotors, bottle cages, bar tape etc.
The wheels are from Elite Wheels that I had custom ordered in 50mm depth & 12k twill pattern & 1420 spokes. I asked them for a quiet hub but it's still pretty loud. The tires are GP5000's with pink latex tubes.
I didn't build it as there is a guy up my street that sorta runs a bike shop out of his garage. He charged me $150 to put it all together and that included all gear cables, hydro fluid (I had the hydro cables), installing the groupset, BB etc. I thought that was a pretty good price but I do wish I had the patience to learn myself. Maybe, if I end up doing another one...
The weight was a bit disappointing though. I know the 105 r7020 groupset isn't the lightest but the builder said it weighed 17.9lbs/8.1kgs. Maybe it was wishful thinking but I thought it would have weighed maybe 7.7kg or even less. The seat is temporary as we still haven't decided on one to get so maybe that will lower the weight but not sure what else I could have done.
The wife & I have our first real "test ride" tomorrow. Planning on going 30-40 miles and see how it does but so far seems to be great. If you have any questions let me know!