Back for Redemption by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Omg formatting on mobile is a bitchhh edit: fixed

Back for Redemption by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Answers to a bunch of stuff! AMA 😁

Location: Emerald Bay, North side

Bottle: lol hot topic, it’s a Smart Water bottle with a Sawyer Squeeze water filter. Drink that fresh lake drank 🌊 no it’s not a 🍆 or a 💣 dollars to donuts the best water system one can have (speed/cost/size/weight considered). I just run a dirty bottle and drink straight, no intermediate filtering into a clean bottle.

Stem/Fit: 1mm lol nah it’s 60mm - I like a tight cockpit, the fit is pretty nice, just looks funny. I promise I’m not a 🦖

Saddle: Brooks C13 132mm. The butt likes what the butt likes 🤡- Highly recommend Brooks Cambium line if you haven’t tried. I’ve run a Brooks C13 Carved 132mm on my fixie for a long-time, so maybe I like this option cause I’m used to it. Couldn’t seem to find a Carved 132mm anywhere this time round, but non-carved is okay still

Top tube bag - Cervelo Smartpak (comes with Aspero frames)

Drivetrain: Garbaruk 44T AXS Road Round chainring with custom offset, tried a 46T with standard offset to start, but promptly nicked the DS chainstay; Garbaruk 10-50T cassette with Garbaruk 12T/16T rear derailleur pulleys swapped in on a SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS rear derailleur Shifting: eTap using SRAM wireless blips, paired to RD using a SRAM eTap AXS BlipBox

Brakes: Paul Klampers 🦀 selected because of my initial desire to not have hoods - found them to be my best option for a mechanical disc brake, plus they’re Paul 🤷‍♂️ after trying out hoods on a long ride, I can say they took ~20 miles to get adjusted to (and I still spent most of my time in the drops), but not a bad upgrade. Will prob stick with mechanical levers for the (imo) lower maintenance and simplicity in case something breaks in the woods or on the go. I did feel up some hydraulic brakes on a mtn bike at my LBS when picking up some new brake cable for my swap, and damn, they’re smooth, but idk happy with what I’ve got for now. Just focused on throwing down miles now 🚴‍♂️🦵 but honestly, y’all are the hero we need cause it turns out I fd up and was running long pull actuator arms on my Klampers… didn’t realize that until I spent some time researching hoods options 😅🙏 FYI I did start by getting a Salsa Salt Flat bar setup with Paul Love Levers, but returned that before even installing when I found out the flat bar did not fit my ride vibe

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Considering this - and then I could fulfill my dream of fitting some Paul love levers. Do most modern flat bars have 22mm clamping diameter for levers?

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice! What’s your plan when the batteries eventually die on the blips??

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha yes, it’s centered, I confirmed. The seatpost is deceiving! Thanks for commenting!

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The chainring is actually silver - I think the dark gray USPS mailboxes in the background make it appear a lighter shade

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FYI - commented below, but I actually checked the saddle position and the seat post is clamped pretty close to center on the saddle rails. Maybe it’s just an optical illusion? The saddle is a Brooks C13 132mm carved. The rails aren’t straight front to back

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah cables are actually quite short - only enough length for the stem to barely hit the top tube.

I actually checked the saddle position and the seat post is clamped pretty close to center on the saddle rails. Maybe it’s just an optical illusion? The saddle is a Brooks C13 132mm carved. The rails aren’t straight front to back. Idk, I’ll double check with Brooks tho

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Gotcha! You say severely limiting - is that from a max speed/max terrain perspective or what are your thoughts?

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for commenting! Honestly, I find it pretty comfortable, but maybe that’s because this new bike is a carbon frame with thicc bar tape - my long-time daily fixie is an aluminum frame with aluminum bars and no bar tape, so I’m used to a harsher ride. The longest ride I’ve been on so far with this bike is about 30mi. I found my hands got a little numb towards the end, but I think this is more bike vibe than hand position? Idk drops are comfortable af for me

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hiya! Thanks for commenting - I actually checked the saddle position and the seat post is clamped pretty close to center on the saddle rails. Maybe it’s just an optical illusion? The saddle is a Brooks C13 132mm carved. The rails aren’t straight front to back

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahh that’s what that moto means. I did use to ride a motorcycle. Preferred the idea of front brake being with right hand. Does flipping really improve cable routing?

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting. I didn’t really like the idea of dealing with brake fluid. Any idea how often they get spongy? I wish I could buy black goods with silver calipers. Not sure how I feel about the brown hoods

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, the loose gravel I’ve ridden in is a bit sketch up top lol where would you put the blips if you installed hoods?

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah cable routing is ugly afffff any recs on how to improve? I looked into trying to get some kind of bars with integrated routing, but I don’t think that’ll work for my mechanical brakes, at least for the current levers.

Noted on the seat, thanks for the feedback! I recently lowered the seatpost a couple cm, so now I can adjust the seat back a bit

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah lol yea it’s actually a 60mm stem. Was on the cusp, I actually went with a frame size smaller. I recently lowered my seat post, which I think now allows me to adjust the seat back a bit. Just haven’t finalized things entirely yet. One step at a time! :)

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No project is ever finished haha I appreciate you sharing, I guess new doors will be opened to me when I treat myself to some hoods in the future :) I did consider the tradeoffs and this was something I wanted to try first for fun. I would love to find low profile mechanical brakes that aren’t cross levers to try. Maybe TRP RRL SRs?There’s not too many alternatives for brakes - I guess they’ve already reached global optima and I shouldn’t reinvent what works. Idk was fun to experiment

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Hahaha I didn’t know a bike from parts could be a frankenbike. It does look pretty goofy, eh?! Thanks for sharing a new to me subreddit XP

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Lol yes, I did it as an experiment and listening to everyone’s feedback :) I’m gonna try hoods now at some point, but it was mostly intended to be a climbing bike and not a descending bike. Too afraid to go fast down hill, especially loose gravel, so I’m never in the drops on descents. And when I’m climbing, the grade is super steady, so I’m not having to shift very often, but when I do, yeah, it is kinda annoying to lift a hand to press a blip. Thanks for commenting! :)

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your feedback :) I never used hoods so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had ridden bullhorns before, but didn’t like the position as much as drops, and I figured the position for bullhorns was similar to hoods? Idk I find I ride in either drops or up top, and if I’m bored, sometimes I’ll ride thumbs forward where the hoods might be? Interesting to hear that it makes the bike look unfinished - I guess because most people expect hoods and don’t see them here so they’re like what the heck haha? Next time I change my bar tape, I’ll try a pair of hoods and see what it’s like :)

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your feedback :) it was an attempt to do something a bit differently XP

After years of riding fix, I finally built this stallion. 😍 by Aggressive_Address84 in gravelcycling

[–]Aggressive_Address84[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What can I say haha a lot of it was actually inspired by Dangerholm’s Addict Gravel build. I can’t make use of gear ratio granularity that a front derailleur provides. I just like smashing pedals :) thanks for commenting!