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Argon18 Gallium Pro

wexford

Maximum Pace
Jul 3, 2012
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It arrived. I snuck it unnoticed into the basement. Exciting!
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Gotta figure out how this press fit headset works also. Wonder how hard it will be to change height assuming I have enough fork. Guess I'd need to knock out the different holder choices with that tool they mention. Don't think this would damage the bearings as they go on top but wonder if it would damage the bearing holders. Anyway - guess I'll see when I get my hands dirty. Maybe the best approach would be to install the slammed approach first and leave some normal spacers on top of the stem that would allow me to try different heights in the normal manner before trying taller bearing holders. Damn - I have no tools to cut the fork either.
 
I went with rim. Wanted to re-use my current group set to cut some cost and I tend to not ride so much in the rain anyway, so didn't see the point of complicating a new bike further with disc. I also like the look of rim brakes better although I admit I was curious about disc so it was part of the thought process. Rim brakes seem to be on the verge of dying out a little with some manufacturers also, so wanted to get this done.
 
Wife and kids have finally left me... No not because of the new frame (I think) but for New Years. Finally decided on a plan of action late last night and started to strip my current bike of all the parts. Gave the fork a service too. Bearings are a mess. Need new ones but I guess its gonna be on the trainer so no rush there. With everything off, I'll probably spend tonight cleaning all the old parts before rebuilding my older frame and then move on to building the new one. Great to be hanging out in the garage again with music and new toys.
 

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Wife and kids have finally left me... No not because of the new frame (I think) but for New Years. Finally decided on a plan of action late last night and started to strip my current bike of all the parts. Gave the fork a service too. Bearings are a mess. Need new ones but I guess its gonna be on the trainer so no rush there. With everything off, I'll probably spend tonight cleaning all the old parts before rebuilding my older frame and then move on to building the new one. Great to be hanging out in the garage again with music and new toys.
I have garage envy.
 
Both bikes are now built up again. Happy days. Haven't ridden the new one yet so will probably try something local to check the bolts and check out the position a little. So many first experiences when building this thing up. I think the scariest jobs in order were:

1. Press fitting the bottom bracket.
2. Cutting the steerer tube
3. Press fitting the headset.

The bottom bracket is a BB86. I've only ever played with a screw in BB before. I so didn't want to destroy the bike putting the BB in before I'd even ridden it. It made some noise on the way in also, but once in, I realised it wasn't so big an ordeal after all. Cutting the steerer tube was a job that I did towards the end. It really had to be cut as it was protruding out so far. How far should I cut it though? Measure, measure, measure... faff, worry and re-measure. Somehow succeeded. Whew! I've a few cm to play with now for setup. Having the right tools made things easier for sure. Only thing that I had to go purchase was more brake cable as I thought I'd be able to re-used what was on my old bars. Turns out though that the bikes were a little different in terms of headtube sizes and locations of cables entering the frame so I needed some longer outer casing to make that work.

It's amazing how easy it is to strip a bike to a frame but long it can take to do all the little bits and pieces. One example was the seat post collar. Which way should it go on? I'd bought a collar which had instructions which said that on a carbon frame the bolt should face forward, my old bike was bolted at the front also. My friend had a problem when his bike shop put on a collar but faced it rear instead of forward and his frame cracked. Luckily he had taken photos after the bike shop built it so was able to claim. There were no instructions with the one provided by Argon18. But checking out photos of the gallium built up, I could see the collar was on facing rear in all photos. Must be the right thing to do if the manufacturer themselves do it that way so rear it is.

Anyway. Will add some photos when I get it outside.
 
Yeah. When the wife and kids go away, there is always a lot to do :) I need them to go away again for about 2 weeks so I can everything else I wanted to do. My big fail this new year was not getting any ride in. Mostly this was due to having two bikes apart and wanting to get them back together. I guess this is why you pay someone to do it for you, but then again I would not have learned as much as I did nor had as much fun faffing around with various bits and learning from all the silly mistakes I made along the way.

One of the funnier things was me requiring a newspaper to spread out on the ground of the garage. I went to the local combini and picked a paper that seemed to have the most pages. Got home, opened it up to put it on the floor and sure wasn't it full of boobs and sports results. Had a good chuckle about that.
 
One of the funnier things was me requiring a newspaper to spread out on the ground of the garage. I went to the local combini and picked a paper that seemed to have the most pages. Got home, opened it up to put it on the floor and sure wasn't it full of boobs and sports results. Had a good chuckle about that.

Sounds like someone fell for the old sports newspaper booby trap....
 
1. Press fitting the bottom bracket.
2. Cutting the steerer tube
3. Press fitting the headset.

Well done !
I messed up the headset setup when assembling my bike ( not reading the maker instructions carefully) and damaged the top of the steerer. Went back to the LBS, and the fork was sent back to Cannondale for some X-ray analysis. The top was effectively damaged but the steerer saved by just cutting an additional 1cm. It gives me a more aerodynamic position. More than 1 cm cut and I was due for a new fork. It was previously just fitting to my position.
Lesson learned but a lot of pleasure and self satisfaction
By the way, I still do not understand why the steerer is sooooo long when a frame/fork is sold.
 
Well done !
I messed up the headset setup when assembling my bike ( not reading the maker instructions carefully) and damaged the top of the steerer. Went back to the LBS, and the fork was sent back to Cannondale for some X-ray analysis. The top was effectively damaged but the steerer saved by just cutting an additional 1cm. It gives me a more aerodynamic position. More than 1 cm cut and I was due for a new fork. It was previously just fitting to my position.
Lesson learned but a lot of pleasure and self satisfaction
By the way, I still do not understand why the steerer is sooooo long when a frame/fork is sold.

Thanks @Elzico2012. I still haven't ridden mine... first ride this weekend I hope. Hopefully, won't be too short a ride. I expect to be stopping often to change position etc. Sorry to hear about your issues but also at the same time it is also interesting to hear about when folks mess up as we can all learn from it.
 
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