Pasteys Cube Litening Super HPT Titanium.WIP.

pastey_boy

RideOnTime wrote:

I think the wheels work well.
Good job.

They work very well, I hit a massive pot hole/ crater at 40+ mph at the bottom of a descent and thought I had severely damaged both wheels but upon inspection they were both found to be perfectly true, I have lots of confidence in these wheels. At their current price I am seriously considering buying another pair.

RideOnTime

At £350 I think that's a good investment.

pastey_boy

Here is a pic of the bike with the new chainset and Garmin 800 fitted, the Sram quickview mount seems a solid bit of kit and works well.

pastey_boy

Made a few changes, I am putting the bike back into lightweight mode for some upcoming hilly rides so back on go the Stans Alpha/ Am Classic tubeless wheels along with their new custom silver decals, the 11-28 Ultegra cassette makes way for a Dura-Ace 7900 11-28 model. Missed my Speedplays so I have swapped the Bebops for a set of Titanium X1's. Also put the black Stronglight chainrings back on purely for aesthetic reasons. Lastly I came across a set of the new Schwalbe Ultremo tubeless road tires in a pack with 2 tires, sealant and tire mounting solution plus tire levers for just £73 posted from our German friends so I will give them a go, will only save a few grams over the Hutchinsons but early reports say they are fast and roll well. Will post some pics when the tires arrive.
Link to the Schwalbe tire deal.
http://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;n ... id=6;pgc=0

pastey_boy

Even though I have the tubeless Ultremos on the way, I picked up a pair of Bontrager R3 tubeless ready tires today for a good price. They are quoted as weighing 265 grams but both tires came in at 261 grams which saves 100 grams over the Hutchinsons, the Stans wheels are 450 grams lighter than the Alex wheelset and the new Dura=Ace cassette is 50 grams lighter than the ultegra. The Speedplays are also lighter so in total I will be saving approx 650 grams. I managed to get the Bontrager tires on using just my thumbs and they inflated first time using just a track pump and up to now seem to be holding air well. As I have two pairs of road tubeless tires and a huge roll of tubeless tape going spare I am going to purchase some valves and convert my Alex wheels and my Open Pro ceramic wheels to tubeless.

pastey_boy

Here is the bike with a few minor changes. My Alex carbon clinchers are now tubeless, 2 layers of yellow tape, some 55mm tubeless valve stems and the Schwalbe Ultremo tubeless tyres I ordered a while back. With the tape and valves in place the tyres went on easily with a lever needed for the final bit, then I added 30ml of sealant to each wheel before inflating. Both tyres inflated first time with ease and ever since they have held pressure just as good as a normal tubed set up. They roll exceptionally well and seem to have good grip. Also swapped the Planet X cnc ti brake calipers for a pair of Quest branded cnc'd calipers, I had never had a problem with the Planet X brakes and found them to be good but on my last ride I was approaching some lights at the bottom of a hill at around 40ish mph, I started braking in plenty time but I struggled to stop in time, It could have been pad related but to be safe I have gone for stronger brakes.

pastey_boy

Made a few changes. Gone are the Sram Force shifters and rear mech, replaced with Sram Red levers and rear mech. The brakes although superbly powerful are a bit heavy for my liking so I have swapped them for a pair of 217 gram Kcnc CB4 brakes fitted with Dura-Ace pad inserts. I love the Stronglight Pulsion crank arms but I have gone through 2 of the proprietary bottom brackets, each died with less than 100 miles on the clock and at £65 a throw I decided to go back to a standard set-up so I have fitted a pair of the very stiff yet light Rotor 3d arms running on a Wheels Mfg ceramic bb. Chainrings are a set of oval Dovals which seem to do what they say on the tin, I fitted a pair of 52/36 rings and although they have quite a pronounced shape you do not feel it when ring the bike, they also seem to be very hard wearing. Stem and post have also been swapped over to previously used items, the inline 31.6mm Ti post is now a shimmed 27.2mm Ti post with a tiny bit of layback which should give a bit more comfort. Stem is now an ultra light 100mm Ti model with a shallow drop, the previously fitted 12% drop Bontrager carbon stem got a little uncomfy on longer runs. Also added a Thomson seatpost clamp to stop any slippage. Pics as soon as I take some.

wheelie-bin

Dunno how I missed this, enjoyed reading it. Thought I was bad with changing stuff all the time!

carl_p

wheelie-bin wrote:

Dunno how I missed this, enjoyed reading it. Thought I was bad with changing stuff all the time!

Me too!

Can't wait to see the winter bike

Keep up the good work Pastey!

RideOnTime

SRAM-mer dammer ding-dong.

pastey_boy

Here she is with the latest bits fitted, whole bike is working superbly I even have the front mech working fine with the oval rings. The brakes seem a step up from the other lightweight models I have used beforehand.

Vandiesel

That's very cool! Im loving that chair..

meagain

Not looked at road bikes for years - and then I come across this beauty! Interesting and informative stuff - so nice to see something different from the off and yet still evolving.

pastey_boy

Made a big decision today, I have decided to get rid of the matt finish of the frame for a brushed finish. Armed with a big roll of scotchbrite and a few trick drill attachments plus a large portion of elbow grease I am going to buff the frame to give a more natural brushed finish as seen on the seatpost, this in turn will remove the painted on graphics which wil be replaced with simple matt black vinyl decals that are easily replace in the event of any damage. I have done a test patch on the drive side seat stay so no turning back now.

Camcycle1974

Good luck with that, a braver man than I. I think the build would look more coherent with a SRAM Red chainset and brakes. Not keen on either of those elements on the bike. Wheels are loud and shouty too. Once polished I would go for a no-decal 50mm rim and simple, co-ordinated components. Pretty much like the B17 Bomber Van Nicholas looks like on Ianho's thread.

pastey_boy

Camcycle1974 wrote:

Good luck with that, a braver man than I. I think the build would look more coherent with a SRAM Red chainset and brakes. Not keen on either of those elements on the bike. Wheels are loud and shouty too. Once polished I would go for a no-decal 50mm rim and simple, co-ordinated components. Pretty much like the B17 Bomber Van Nicholas looks like on Ianho's thread.

I did the top tube with minimum effort so brushing the whole frame will not be as hard as I first though although it will still take a few hours of graft. I love the chainset although it has changed since the last pics, still Rotor arms but the 3DF with 30mm bb axle running on Zipp Vuma ceramic bearings, bit stiffer for same weight. I also love the Doval rings. The brakes are much lighter than Red calipers and in my opinion they offer more power and better modulation ,I also love quirky out of the ordinary parts. As for the wheels, I will be getting a set of 50mm deep full carbon rims with minimal decals which will be over a pound lighter than the wheels fitted.

Camcycle1974

Sounds good Pastey, keep up the good work. Wish I had the time, inclination and cash to upgrade my Ribble 872. I reckon it could be got down to less than 7kg given a lot of time and money. I might invest in some ARC 50mm carbon wheels for it next year, around 1kg for the set! Have a look at their site (ARC carbon). Not a plug as I don't know them, just saw the wheels at a trade show. Might upgrade the groupset in due course to something lighter. Those two changes alone should reduce weight by about 1.5kg, getting it close to 7kg.

smidsy

pastey_boy wrote:

[did the top tube with minimum effort so brushing the whole frame will not be as hard as I first though although it will still take a few hours of graft.

Progress pics and technique details required please.

pastey_boy

smidsy wrote:

pastey_boy wrote:

[did the top tube with minimum effort so brushing the whole frame will not be as hard as I first though although it will still take a few hours of graft.

Progress pics and technique details required please.

No worries, I'm using a big roll of scotchbrite, scotchbrite drill pads and smaller scotchbrite type dremel attachments for the awkward bits. I blitzed one side of the top tube with one of the drill pads , along with removing the painted graphics , it left a perfect brushed finish . Will try to strip the bike and sort it this weekend , I'm looking forward to it being finished as I think titanium frames should have a nice lustrous, brushed finish. The matt finish looked distinctive but after the recent rebuild of my Titus Solera I took one look and decided I had to do my Cube. Will upload progress pics as I go along.

pastey_boy

Camcycle1974 wrote:

Sounds good Pastey, keep up the good work. Wish I had the time, inclination and cash to upgrade my Ribble 872. I reckon it could be got down to less than 7kg given a lot of time and money. I might invest in some ARC 50mm carbon wheels for it next year, around 1kg for the set! Have a look at their site (ARC carbon). Not a plug as I don't know them, just saw the wheels at a trade show. Might upgrade the groupset in due course to something lighter. Those two changes alone should reduce weight by about 1.5kg, getting it close to 7kg.

I have a customer who has an 872, he bought it with a very low spec (Sora, r500's) but hes got the cycling bug bad and wants to upgrade the frame to Sram Red. We have made a start by fitting a Sram BB30 Red chainset which meant removing the BSA bb sleeve which took some doing. He has also fitted a Controltech carbon seatpost and carbon saddle along with some bar tape, it already looks better. His next change will be shifters, mech and cassette. I think the 872 will be stunning with full Sram Red. With light wheels and cockpit it will easily be under the 7kg mark.
Here is an image of it as it stands

smidsy

But add 3kg for those water bottles.

Camcycle1974

pastey_boy wrote:

Camcycle1974 wrote:

Sounds good Pastey, keep up the good work. Wish I had the time, inclination and cash to upgrade my Ribble 872. I reckon it could be got down to less than 7kg given a lot of time and money. I might invest in some ARC 50mm carbon wheels for it next year, around 1kg for the set! Have a look at their site (ARC carbon). Not a plug as I don't know them, just saw the wheels at a trade show. Might upgrade the groupset in due course to something lighter. Those two changes alone should reduce weight by about 1.5kg, getting it close to 7kg.

I have a customer who has an 872, he bought it with a very low spec (Sora, r500's) but hes got the cycling bug bad and wants to upgrade the frame to Sram Red. We have made a start by fitting a Sram BB30 Red chainset which meant removing the BSA bb sleeve which took some doing. He has also fitted a Controltech carbon seatpost and carbon saddle along with some bar tape, it already looks better. His next change will be shifters, mech and cassette. I think the 872 will be stunning with full Sram Red. With light wheels and cockpit it will easily be under the 7kg mark.
Here is an image of it as it stands

Looking more business-like already. I specced mine with R500's too but they came straight off in favour of some handbuilt Archetypes. Not massively lighter but much better looking on the bike. The 105 kit I have on it is functional but heavy. In due course I will swap this over to my steel frame and upgrade the Ribble with SRAM Red or maybe Force (not much heavier than Red). Not keen on the red tyre look, I have black Conti 4000s on mine so its an all black theme. I will need a lighter, all black seat post as well at some point. will stick with alloy bars and stem as I much prefer them to carbon. Wheels will make the difference. With light carbon rims and light tyres/tubes I reckon I can shave about 1.5kg from the wheels alone, I will keep the carbons for dry summer rides and have the Archetypes as winter training wheels. I must take some photos and get them up on here. Can't wait to see your finished frame. Other than black I love a brushed Titanium frame

Harry182

pastey_boy wrote:

Camcycle1974 wrote:

... meant removing the BSA bb sleeve which took some doing...

I've got a BSA adapter sleeve I'm looking to remove too. How'd you do it?


I was wondering how the Cube could possibly be upgraded further - without replacing the frame that is. I have my answer and am looking forward to the results. I'm a keen follower of its continued evolution.

pastey_boy

Harry182 wrote:

pastey_boy wrote:

Camcycle1974 wrote:

... meant removing the BSA bb sleeve which took some doing...

I've got a BSA adapter sleeve I'm looking to remove too. How'd you do it?

The Bsa adapter was a b@st@rd to remove, I ended up using a headset press and various cylindrical items I had knocking around such as old inch and a half headset cups. Once moving it came out ok but if I didn't have so many bits lying around it would have been almost impossible.

pastey_boy

New wheels ordered, they come from a Chinese firm called Blade-X, 50mm deep clincher rims and 25mm wide which should give the tyres a nice profile. They weigh just under 1400 grams and have a 120kg weight limit so on paper they look great. I paid £360 delivered so if the deliver on their promises they look to be an utter bargain. I will be converting them to tubeless using yellow tape, extra long UST valves and a pair of the superlight Hutchinson Atom Galactik road tyres. The Atoms usually retail between £60-70 but French retailer A-Cycles is doing them for £40 each. The combination of the wheels and tyres along with lighter bolt on skewers will save 750 ish grams on my current set up and the usually narrow for their size Atoms will be wider due to the wide rims. The frame polishing is coming on a treat.
Fitted wheels
Wheels: 1898 grams
Tyres: 600 grams pair
Cassette: 240 grams
Skewers: 134 grams
Total: 2872 grams

New wheels
Wheels: 1397 grams
Tyres: 480 grams pair
Cassette: 187 grams
Skewers: 60 grams
Total: 2124 grams

Total weight saved 748 grams !!!!!

Link for wheels
http://shop.bladexcycle.com/en/48-g3-pr ... 450g-.html
Link for tyres
http://www.acycles.co.uk/hutchinson-ato ... -7524.html

Yellow Peril

Pastey

As I'm 95kg I'm seriously interested as to how you get on with those Blade X wheels. TBH I can't see how such a low spoke count could cope with the claimed 120kg upper limit.

pastey_boy

Yellow Peril wrote:

Pastey

As I'm 95kg I'm seriously interested as to how you get on with those Blade X wheels. TBH I can't see how such a low spoke count could cope with the claimed 120kg upper limit.

I'm 105kg so I will report back once I get some miles in. Bit of a gamble but they look good, the rims look solid bits of kit so it will be down to the spokes. The G3 spoke pattern has good feedback so fingers crossed. The rims also have a basalt braking surface which should help with both rim wear and braking performance. The 20/24h spoked Superstar wheels I have been running have done some miles and hit some pretty bit potholes and have coped with everything I have thrown at them.

J273

Like the look of that R872. Do you know what saddle he's using?

Thanks

pastey_boy

J273 wrote:

Like the look of that R872. Do you know what saddle he's using?

Thanks

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BK-WHC-Ultra- ... 232e282cd2

J273

Thanks