The eGR RD has a clutch, right? Wouldn’t the higher chain tension impact front shifting. Does it work reliably? I’d imagine it’s like with Sram’s mechanical 1x RDs. You can’t combine these with an FD AFAIK. Never tried it but I can’t imagine that it’d work with that amount of chain tension.

It works fine. GRX 2x RD also has a clutch. Shimano also has MTB groupsets with clutch and they work fine

I am leaning rux as it will match my fleet.  i have been very impressed with all of my Suntour forks and shocks so far.  Hubs was very tough for me.  i am OCD about my group set matching and my hubs not being mismatch.  that leaves very few companies that make a super boost rear and 20x110 front.  i ended up going with the Novatec hubs for now.  i bought some DT swiss FR541 rims so i can rebuild the wheels later if i have hub issues. I came across a set of saint brakes a while back.  i now have the drive train and wheels but fork shock and bar/stem are still up for debate.

Have you ordered the frame yet?

No, not yet but I should ASAP with the uncertainty over tariffs. Right now I’m putting together listings for some of the frames and parts I’ll sell to help fund the frame. I don’t expect to finish the build until around or after the start of park season (mid May) so there isn’t a huge rush otherwise…though staring at a half finished project like that all winter can be frustrating.

I have a Fox 38 on the 1003 and like the idea of being able to swap to a DH bike with a 40 and have minimal change in jumping behavior since that’s my focus….plus there’s the aesthetic issue of my favorite red mirror chrome decals from Slik Graphics not being available for the Rux. But Suntour makes great forks and i see them for under $1000 whereas the 40 GRIP X2 might not go lower than the $1475 Black Friday sales before spring, and even the GRIP 2 version still goes for ~$1300 new on eBay.

Lots of these kinds of decisions to obsess over this winter. Hopefully it’ll go by faster than it feels like it will right now

It’s obvious from your video that the crown race doesn’t go all the way onto the seat. Therefore it doesn’t sit flat and it has play. Make sure that it’s not the crown race itself causing the issue. Put it on another fork and see if it fits or try a different crown race on your Chinarello fork. But I imagine that it’s simply an issue of manufacturing tolerances. You’re probably going to have to measure the crown race seat to see if it’s out of round and carefully sand away excess material until it fits. Not exactly for the faint hearted but I think there should be more than enough material there.

Another good example of what can go wrong with frames like these.

There are aftermarket cassete options for 12sp that will work on your 11sp HG freehub.  You dont have to buy new wheels for that.

Yes, I realised that, I've gone with a Spedao lightweight 11-50t cassette which is 25% the price of an equivalent weight sram cassette.  I'm still thinking of going XD on my road bike wheel in order to go down to a 10t cassette.

That begs the question… who is the original? We should from them! Lol.

You want them to be known, so Specialized could force close them?