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Messages - frnchy

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1
Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Spcycle New Mold G056 Carbon Gravel Frame
« on: November 17, 2024, 08:38:09 PM »
Quote from: fhold on November 17, 2024, 10:33:10 AM
I need your help again ;D
My fork/headset came with a compression ring I have not seen before and I'm unsure if I use it correctly. If i put it right after the upper bearing It doesn't look like the stack will be without a gap.
Even if i compress it by hand, it dose not seem to be flush.
Any idea how or what i should do?

Thanks!

That's the crown race that sits on the fork, if it's not built into the fork already. Review integrated headset installation, there's many good videos on the topic, or written articles if you prefer that (here's a decent one by Cane Creek: https://canecreek.com/how-to-install-an-integrated-is-headset/ ). The compression ring for the top will be a much thicker C shaped ring much like the one in the pictures you posted previously.

This is worth getting correct because it's absolutely critical for safety, and with fully internal cable routing it's not easy to adjust/fix headset issues. It's much better to take the bike to a shop if you don't feel 100% about it.

2
Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Spcycle New Mold G068 Carbon Gravel Frame
« on: November 11, 2024, 10:31:51 AM »
Quote from: MHcell on November 11, 2024, 03:17:03 AM
I assume the new fork is still 31.8 mm in diameter? I was thinking about mounting a Canyon gear groove cockpit. But I guess thats not possible.

??

New fork should have a standard 1 1/8" steerer, like the other fork option; Canyon is the one with weird standards but even they went with a 1 1/8" steerer on the new Grail, so their cockpit should work just fine.

3
Metal Frames / Re: Experiences with Chinese steel frames?
« on: October 30, 2024, 12:18:30 PM »
Quote from: s3si1u on October 13, 2024, 05:17:43 PM
Quick plug for Marino steel frames: https://www.marinobike.com/categoria-producto/custom-frames/
They're in the same price ballpark as the ones you linked, but these are fully custom made in Peru to your geometry and specs. Their cheapest custom made gravel frame will run you about 350 USD plus shipping.
Their Reynolds 520 house gravel frame is only $379 plus shipping.

I have one of his custom gravel frames and can happily recommend. I don't think you can match this price point and quality for a custom frame.
Here's a quick shot of mine. It was 665 USD made with Reynolds 853. I think the price includes paint as well, but I took mine unpainted. Shipping was 145 USD. About 7 weeks from time of order to delivery.

Looks pretty good, but I must say I would've chosen a different picture than this to showcase a full build.... unless backwards forks are the new trend that I'm unaware of


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Maintenance, Mechanics, & Tools / Re: Anyone use a dropper post and an Shimano-style wireless groupset?
« on: October 28, 2024, 06:36:30 PM »
Yup, I made a post a while ago about the method I devised to stash the battery at the bottom of the downtube without rattling: https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4662.0.html

I've since used the same method on my new bike build, but I forgot the zip ties before putting it into the frame, so I stuffed a bunch of bubble wrap in there to wedge it against the frame, and it doesn't work as well. Don't forget them!

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Vendor Discussion & Reviews / Re: Best source for spare rims?
« on: October 22, 2024, 07:43:48 PM »
Light Bicycle, Farsports, Nextie, BTLOS, etc. Not sure if they might do a discount for a bulk order, you should ask.

6
Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Spcycle New Mold G068 Carbon Gravel Frame
« on: October 22, 2024, 05:58:34 PM »
Quote from: kubabike on October 22, 2024, 02:56:01 AM
@frnchy How do you like riding quality of the frame? Is the power transfer ok? In other word is it stiff enough to build a fast bike?

I'd say it's definitely stiff enough for whatever fast build you'd want to do. No BB or other frame deflection that I could feel or see evidence of when I did some sprints on my first few rides to test it out. My handlebars are pretty flexible though so muscling around the front end gets a little squishy, but that's build dependent, if you put on a super stiff handlebar I think the front end would keep up. Stiffness aside, the frame rides fine, there's nothing remarkable about it either positively or negatively in that regard. Ride quality is so much more dependent on contact points, wheels, and above all tires, and it's definitely more comfy with the 50 mm tire 650b setup than with my 30 mm 700c wheels. If you want more detailed and better-written analysis, seek out reviews of the newest Canyon Grail, the geometry is the same and that has a lot more impact on ride feel and handling than frame stiffness.

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Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Gravel frame with 47mm tire clearence, space for 48t chainring and UDH hanger
« on: October 01, 2024, 08:39:14 AM »
Quote from: carbonazza on October 01, 2024, 04:24:04 AM
Is this your bike?
What kind of rack is that on it?

Nope, as stated in my post, it's landboard's bike from the 068 thread here: https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4875.30.html (my build is a couple posts down on that thread). It's the same size as my frame though so the measurements are the same for both. I'm not sure what the rack is, I thought it might be an Ortlieb rack but I just looked at their lineup and didn't spot any matching rack, so you'll have to reach out to landboard if you want to know for sure.

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Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Gravel frame with 47mm tire clearence, space for 48t chainring and UDH hanger
« on: September 30, 2024, 02:22:50 PM »
Quote from: tgarne on September 30, 2024, 10:16:23 AM
It is on my short list. However SPCYCLE stated that it only takes 46T:

Interesting - that's got to be for a road chainline, and even then I'd say that's REALLY conservative. You got me curious though, and I just did some measuring:

-Distance from tire centerline (most convenient proxy for bike centerline) to the outside of the outer chainring: ~47.5 mm (+- 1 mm or so)
-Outer chainring thickness: ~2.7 mm

So the chainline of my outer ring is approximately 46 mm, which is 1.5 mm inboard of the WIDE 1x chainline, and at their closest point there's almost exactly 8 mm of room between the tip of the outer chainring's teeth and the chainstay. A 48t chainring would 100% fit (that's what my outer chainring is), and you could probably fit 52t or even a bit bigger before getting close to the chainstay, at least with a WIDE chainline.

Actually, in the G068 thread, landboard posted his build which, counting teeth, looks to use a 46t chainring with room for a large glob of mud right behind it. I don't know if this is a WIDE crank but even if so, it gives pretty definitive proof that 48t would fit.


9
Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Gravel frame with 47mm tire clearence, space for 48t chainring and UDH hanger
« on: September 30, 2024, 09:00:44 AM »
My SPCycle G068 ticks all your boxes - I'm running a 2x setup with a 48t large ring on a road chainline, and there's 5-6 mm of clearance to the chainstay. 48t 1x on a WIDE chainline wouldn't be an issue.

10
Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Spcycle New Mold G068 Carbon Gravel Frame
« on: September 17, 2024, 07:48:38 PM »
Quote from: mrdimi on September 17, 2024, 07:22:22 PM
Hi new here and looking to build out a gravel bike and this frame has me interested as I'd like UDH. I'm stumped on size as this my first gravel bike, I'm about 178cm and sounds like from the posts here the small size is the way to go.  It would be odd as I mountain bike and am on a large there so was expecting to be a medium road/gravel bike.  Anyone sized one and recommendations?

I'm about 180 cm and the size small is perfect. It weirded me out too, considering both my previous road and gravel bikes are 56 cm frames, but the geometry charts didn't lie. Canyon's sizing, which the 068 copies, is just really weird and skewed larger, especially on this frame. Don't pay attention to the size labels, just the geometry. bikeinsights.com is my preferred geometry comparison site since it has the 068 info in there already, plus most other common frames, so take a look if you have a reference bike that you know fits well.

11
Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Spcycle New Mold G068 Carbon Gravel Frame
« on: September 16, 2024, 10:02:17 PM »




My 650b rims came in about 10 days earlier than I was expecting, so I built them up over the weekend and took them on their first ride today. 34 miles with 3300 feet of climbing; pretty short in absolute terms, but it was a good split of surfaces, about 45% pavement, 35% smooth/slightly washboarded dirt, and 20% jeep doubletrack with lots of rocks. Not a ton of distance or vert, and it is only one ride, but my impressions of a bike rarely change after the first ride so I think I can provide some useful info.

Main thoughts:
  • With tires measuring almost exactly 50 mm, I have 4 mm clearance at the chainstays on each side. I expect the tires to stretch a little bit over time, so it's good to know that if they plump out another 2 mm I'll still have adequate clearance. I didn't bother measuring the front, there's easily >6 mm of room on either side, the fork could probably take a 2.1" tire if it's not too knobby.
  • The total diameter (including tires) of my 650b wheels is about 1 cm less than my 700c wheels; the ~5 mm difference in radius didn't really change handling but did lower the cranks by that much, which is important because I got two or three pedal strikes, even with a decent choice of line so as to avoid the larger rocks. I'll be getting crank boots since my crankarms are carbon. Not really an issue on terrain where you're not trying to navigate through a rock field, but that does make up some of the more fun routes around here so it applies to my use case.
  • Probably due to the far fatter and squarer tire profile, the handling at the front was more sedate than with the 700c wheels; it did take a bit of persuasion to rapidly change direction when I was crawling uphill. No real change with how the rear wheel tracked, though, which was nice. Overall the handling is quite stable but I wouldn't classify it as slack, certainly not on the level of a Stigmata or similarly headtube-angled frames. No problems staying upright the few times that the rear wheel broke traction, which fortunately never happened up front.

Side thoughts:
  • The downtube bottle cage mounts are a bit too far up to fit a 750 ml bottle. I used a bottle cage extender (https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805494776538.html but the design is generic) to drop the cage about 2 cm down, which works well. I did drink all of that extra water so it's worth it.
  • I didn't get any chainslap on the way up even as I was bouncing around, but did get a fair amount on the rutted dirt descent, even in the big ring and lower gears in the back. I'll be putting on another layer or two of clear tape on top of the single layer that's already on the chainstay, just for a bit more cushioning.
  • Being able to run a dropper post may be the single biggest advantage this frame has over an actual Canyon Grail. The dropper is pretty much mandatory for the dirt descents I do and I also use it quite a bit to get aero on parts of descents faster than I can spin my 48/11 top gear (i.e. most of any descent). I have the clamping wedge torqued to 7 Nm and the seatpost hasn't slipped at all - I put a ring of silver Sharpie around the base to make sure - which is impressive, considering how fat I am.
  • The rear rim already got a few small nicks from rocks flipping up from under the tire, but I've found with my road rims that a tiny bit of clear nail polish hides such marks on glossy carbon very well.
  • The wheelbuilding process on these rims was quite nice. LightBicycle AM728 rims, i9 Torch rear hub + i9 Solix front hub (Torch hubs are effectively impossible to find now and purple ones simply no longer exist  :'( ), Sapim CX Ray/Sprint front/rear respectively. Was my first time building with alloy nipples, Sapim Double Square, and they performed no different than the brass ones I've used before. The internal square part is easy to fit an internal tool (https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802115683590.html) and rotate, which is nice because it allows a spoke holder to keep the bladed spoke aligned without a spoke key in the way.

Quote from: frnchy on August 25, 2024, 11:04:50 PM
I'm using the SRAM T47 BB and even though it's nominally for 85.5 shells, I can confirm it works perfectly fine in the 86.5 mm hubshell of this frame. With RED cranks, the fit is absolutely perfect with a 2.5mm driveside spacer and the preload adjuster turned all the way out. My subcompact chainrings sit a little closer to the frame than stock chainrings would, so with a 2 mm driveside spacer you could get some preload adjustment.

Slight amendment; this did work fine but when the chain was on the inner chainring it was like 0.3 mm from the frame, close enough that wax got onto the downtube. I ended up sanding about 0.7 mm off the inner face of the preload adjuster ring and swapped to a 3 mm spacer on the drive side. This bought me ~0.5 mm more clearance, which is good enough. This problem is likely unique to my setup - the Bikingreen chainrings sit further inboard than stock chainrings due to the weirdness needed to fit subcompact rings to a 110 BCD spider.

-----------------------------------------------

Final thoughts, having put ~175 miles of road riding in on this frame with 700c wheels plus this one ride on 650b: this frame is really good at being a road bike, pretty good at being a rough-terrain gravel bike, but it's not a master at either discipline. Where it felt the best was the smoother dirt, and I think it would be absolutely outstanding when ridden on such roads with a set of 700 x ~45 mm tires. Still, it's plenty good enough at fulfilling the dual role I ask of it - a keeper for sure! 

12
Maintenance, Mechanics, & Tools / Re: First Time Bike Build
« on: September 04, 2024, 11:46:23 AM »
This diagram shows the order of headset pieces pretty well, though ignore the star nut - that's replaced with a compression plug for carbon steerer tubes. Also the 2 bearings are the same size in internally routed headsets, and there's no dust seal on the lower bearing.



The black ring in your first picture goes slides over the fork and sits below the lower bearing, providing an appropriately angled surface for the inner part of the bearing to sit on. The black semicircular piece is the headset compression compression ring which sits between the upper bearing and the top cap, with the open part facing forwards so the cables go through the gap up to/through the stem and/or handlebars. Personally I really don't like that style of compression ring due to the risk of steerer damage (see https://youtu.be/sKD2JSW9ul4?t=150). I ordered a Token S-Box headset for my G068, which comes with a far better and safer compression ring, and can confirm it works great.

Make sure you understand how a threadless headset works so you can preload the bearings properly - when fully assembled, there should be absolutely no play in the headset when you rock the bike back and forth with the front brake engaged. Don't hesitate to consult a bike shop if something doesn't seem right; the fork and headset are critical safety areas and need to be set up correctly. Also make sure you know how to cut a steerer tube, you shouldn't use just any old hacksaw blade and there's some finesse to it to make sure everything is good. Consult https://escapecollective.com/wrench-like-a-pro-how-to-cut-carbon-components/ for what I think are some of the best tips in this area.

I kind of agree that the "dream build" videos are a decent starting place if you haven't built up a frame before, they're easy to watch and cover the basic steps fairly well. However, they're definitely not a be-all end-all instruction manual (especially with regards to torque, which is critical for carbon components), and I highly recommend consulting the Park Tool videos/articles - they're very well filmed/written and were super helpful to me when I was learning what to do (and what not to do). The "Rides of Japan" youtube channel also has some good videos that are more instructional than the "dream build" videos, if not completely comprehensive.


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Vendor Discussion & Reviews / Re: Any boutique frame makers for one off replica frame?
« on: August 30, 2024, 08:47:02 PM »
Quote from: kwantani on August 30, 2024, 03:41:48 PM
Yes something similar... boutique factory willing to invest in special replica frameset as mentioned above to served the vintage/collection market.

https://bikerumor.com/aasq8-how-much-does-it-cost-to-mold-a-carbon-bike-head-tube-woes-and-fat-bike-29ers/

The price of molds starts around $60k USD and very rapidly goes up from there... and that figure is for just one size of frame, doesn't include forks nor frame testing nor layup scheduling, etc etc etc... there is no universe where any boutique manufacturer could break even, much less make a profit, on replicas of frames that aren't exactly super hot collectors items and are illegal under UCI rules for competition. Not to mention the "vintage/collection market" is, by definition, interested in vintage frames and not replicas. Sorry, but it's not happening.

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Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Spcycle New Mold G068 Carbon Gravel Frame
« on: August 26, 2024, 07:09:35 PM »
Quote from: raisinberry777 on August 26, 2024, 06:02:54 AM
Where did you end up sourcing the Token headset from? I've had a look online and they don't seem to be particularly easy to find. Is it the TK1556SP model?

Yup, got it from the Token US website: https://tokenproducts.us/collections/all-headsets/products/s-box-semi-integrated-cable-router-for-road-bikes-tk-1556sp

I've finally completed the build and taken the bike out for its first trip up a familiar local climb, and it performed great. The paint in direct sunlight is amazing. There's a few minor fit tweaks to do, and I need to put on a longer chain (this one is left over from my road bike with shorter chainstays), but overall, very nice and I'm happy to have gotten the fit right on the first try. There's absolutely no flex between the headtube and bottom bracket, which is noticeable out of the saddle and when sprinting, but it's not uncomfortable. It does feel a bit more squat than my road bike, but that's likely because of the 14 mm shorter reach and slightly lower BB height. The handling characteristics are much closer to my road bike than my gravel bike, which makes sense given that I sized this frame to be closer to the former. It's definitely not sluggish, if not as extremely precise as my road bike (one day I'll rebuild it into something... maybe make it as light as I can for fun).

I don't have any more major build notes; the only thing I forgot to mention is that the rear brake mount is 160 mm native, so there's no way to run a 140 mm rotor. I'm not interested in doing so, but something to think about if you like that size in the back. Also, with a +20 mm adapter in the rear and the fork in the 50 mm offset position, you could run a 180 mm rotor in the rear and a 140 in the front... wacky and dumb, but possible!

Unless something goes really wrong, this is my last update until I get my 650b rims in 3-4 weeks and get those wheels built up. Stuck with just road wheels for now, I'm gonna be doing all the longer road rides I haven't done in a while, so I won't be able to judge this frame as a proper gravel bike until then.



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Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Spcycle New Mold G068 Carbon Gravel Frame
« on: August 25, 2024, 11:04:50 PM »
Quote from: raisinberry777 on August 25, 2024, 05:49:44 AM
Thanks a bunch for this post - I had exactly this frame and colour (even size!) sitting in my AliExpress cart and I've just gone ahead with the order thanks to this info.

I'd be keen to hear how you get on with other tyre sizes - I've got some 700x48 Tufo Thunderos ready to go in mine. Looks like from the earlier posts though there's at least room for a 50mm in the rear, so I assume the fork is similar.

Sweet! I think 48 is about the max I would comfortably run in this frame for 700c, though 50 would fit with not a ton of room for tire knobs or mud or anything. The fork is not a problem, there's lots of room.

Chainstay width measurements:
- 311 mm from rear axle (i.e. edge of 700c rim, roughly the fattest part of a 650b tire) = 60mm
- ~325 mm (i.e. fattest part of the 30 mm tire I have right now) = 59 mm
- ~330 mm (i.e. roughly at the fattest part of a large 700c tire) = 57ish mm

Quote from: Dinmamma123 on August 25, 2024, 02:53:12 PM
Would a pair of race kings fit this frame?

Probably not, see chainstay width measurements above.

Quote from: Dinmamma123 on August 25, 2024, 03:13:27 PM
Also, i can't find a proper BB if i want to use sram dub? They don't have T47 with 86,5mm?

I'm using the SRAM T47 BB and even though it's nominally for 85.5 shells, I can confirm it works perfectly fine in the 86.5 mm hubshell of this frame. With RED cranks, the fit is absolutely perfect with a 2.5mm driveside spacer and the preload adjuster turned all the way out. My subcompact chainrings sit a little closer to the frame than stock chainrings would, so with a 2 mm driveside spacer you could get some preload adjustment.

--------------------------------

I'm nearly done building up the frame, I only have routing through the handlebars + brake bleeding left to do. It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, not because of the frame, which has been really clean and easy to work with, but because using a dropper post with Di2 is a foolish choice and the build process sucks (Shimano is seriously so far behind SRAM in this space that it's depressing). Doesn't help I've messed up a few steps and had to backtrack. The only notable frame modification I've had to do since my last post is to scrape off the paint around the lip of the bottom bracket - trying to install the BB without doing this shears off a whole bunch of clear coat/paint and it's not great. 10 mins of scraping with a utility knife completely solves the issue, and the BB edges are nicely flat and the BB sits completely flush.

I should be able to get a little ride in tomorrow - will see how it handles in the 50 mm fork offset position, I'm aiming for quicker handling currently.

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