Building the ultimate SCR apparatus

kingdav

I wrestled with tyre choice for a good while, the gp 4 seasons in 32 could end up being a bit big, but I might wear them out in the end and get to choose again. I'm genuinely interested to see how the frame feels in comparison with my allez, will it be a slug...

prawny

I'll be watching this thread then, I've been thinking about buying an Allez to replace the Saracen Hack I've got at the moment. I'm running Vittoria Hyper Voyagers in 37c flavour (I think, could be 38) they're light and fast, but I'm really feeling tired by midweek on my commute, and I didn't used to struggle on my old Tenet with 25c Durano Pluses with otherwise all of the same components.

Also, it could just be that I've got some kind of horrific underlying illness, which would save me some cash at least...

Moonbiker

Compass do fast 32mm tyres but they are ££££££££££££

https://www.velovitality.co.uk/products ... 0c-x-32-mm

I have: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/reviews/t ... x-pro-tyre.

Its more about weight and tpi than width for rolling resistance

prawny

I say no to expensive tyres.

Unless they're really tough, but light expensive tyres seem to be be the opposite in my experience.

Only because my commute is 200 miles per week and the train isn't that expensive.

kingdav

Most of the stuff I've ordered to complete this build has arrived now

Crucial items still needed are the rotors and skewers from the cosine wheels though, but hopefully they will be along soon.

Today I got busy inspecting and cleaning up the headset bearings because they seemed a bit rough. I will replace them so there's another thing to order.

I put it all back together and managed to reunite my other bike with it's borrowed headset spacer.

Other than that it was all cosmetics really. As mentioned before there's a fair amount of paint missing, mostly bag rub I expect.




Mrs King got busy with the nail varnish which has tidied things up considerably.


I finished off using a bit of autoglym resin polish and the new bar tape, finished just in time to watch England beat Sweden.

kingdav

There was a frustrating wait with this build, the cosine wheels offered through this thread came separately to the skewers and rotors, somehow royal mail managed to take 10 days to deliver the accessories. In the end I bought some cheap rotors on ebay as recommended above and built up the hunt wheels only for the cosine skewers etc. to arrive before I'd managed to put the tyres on. Anyway, I did manage to get the bike built up and out on the road yesterday.



I just did a few km round the block to try it out. The brakes were rubbing a bit and the saddle was set too high, but generally it rolled nicely. It does feel a bit sturdy on the big tyres, but wonderful over the cracked tarmac. The 36t chainring was definitely too small.

I did some reading and youtube watching on hydraulic brakes so I reset the position of the calipers and pushed the pistons in to reset them - assuming the new rotors with no wear were probably causing the brake rub. Also got out and bought a 44t chainring (the largest hope retainer available immediately at evans). This morning I made myself later than usual for work fiddling with the fit, fitting the pump, bottle cages, cameras and a bag so I could try it out on the commute.



That saddle bag pictured will fit a few clothes ok, but I'm waiting the deliver of a used carradice I picked up on singletrackworld which will hopefully take a laptop on occasion.

Even with the 44t chainring, the bike is still a bit under-geared for my relatively flat commute so I'll look out for a 48 I think. The brakes still rub a bit and I haven't got the fit quite right. Still an enjoyable ride and very satisfying now things are coming together. I'm going to try and pick up some slightly gnarly tyres now for the other wheelset so I can use this bike on light trails with my wife and kids when we're on an upcoming holiday in France.

kingdav

I never got round to fitting more tready tyres but the 32mm 4 seasons were good on offroad paths anyway.

We've clocked up 600km mostly commuting and I am really enjoying the bike. I've adjusted the brakes to salve some rubbing and getting used to maintaining hydraulics. Not especially looking forward to bleeding them when that time comes.

I got the used carradice (sqr tour, approx 2012 vintage) and a laptop fits perfectly, nicer to look at I think than the panniers I use on my Allez which was branded a 'touring bike' by a club mate. I've swapped the seatposts between the allez and this bike to give the saddle bag a bit more room.



Overall the riding impressions are good. It's not as speedy as I'd hoped for two reasons I think, the 32 mm tyres aren't optimal, but they are comfy, also I think maybe the geometry sticks you up in the wind. I feel like I'm riding on top of it compared with the allez where I feel more hunkered down.

I've survived so far without mudguards, but since this is going to be the deep winter option having discs I'm plotting that part now. Hunting around for options with decent coverage but a stealthy look. The default options of longboards or bluemels seem to have steel coloured stays and ideally I'd like all black to try and have them hide themselves a bit.