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My First Bike Build pt4 : On the home Run

macrophotofly

Maximum Pace
Aug 27, 2012
581
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Well the bike is "finished" and I'll be taking it out shortly for a quick 30k ride with the HF guys to allow me any spot tuning thats required. Let me cover the rest of the build first....
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I needed to get the fork fitted so I measured up the full set of spacers I had bought, another large one on top of the stem, and then marked up with a 3mm spacer removed to get the height down from edge. My approach to cutting it is to use a junior hacksaw; I do a light cut all the way round first (depth of 1-2mm) before doing the full cut. One interesting thing was how much harder it was to cut this stem than the one on my Boardman Pro. I suspect a higher amount of Kevlar/Carbon (over Glass) as well as a stiffer resin at play.
After greasing all the places the bearings touched and putting "fiber grip" on any parts that needed tightening to the carbon, the resultant stem looked like this (note I started with a 110mm stem but after some reach tests last night the shifters felt far too forward so I have dropped back to a 70mm for the ride today. I suspect after a fit I'll be 80mm finally).
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I don't quite like the finish of this FSA stem, but it is a cheaper (3kJPY) stem compared to their shiny ones (>7k JPY), has no red on it and bizarrely, but most importantly, is also their lightest!!
As you can see I had some BBB Carbon bars I picked up for 16k in an end or range sale (down from 40k JPY) a while back. I'll see how they do. Given the reduction in stem, I'm also wondering if a slightly more compact bar would be better. If you remember I have quite small hands (one of the reasons for choosing the Di2 kit was the smaller shifters) and the bars are going to be critical for comfort. Here's my initial shifter fit.
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I don't seem to be able to get the bar to shifter transistion entirely flat (shifters are lower)but its a lot better than some bikes I've seen. Any thoughts? Do I need them pointing skyward a bit more? A little cushioning at the point of transistion before taping up? I'll ride today with no tape and a allen key to allow some adjustments on the fly.
Just one more picture of the cable entry to the shifters -
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Next up the FD and RD. Easy fit with a band-on (no braze-on) and the red lower sticker on the FD really helped get the distance right to the crank -
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There's a little hidden screw that tightens on the band-on to get the derrailleur angle to crank right. I set it to be exactly parallel to the crank, though the instructions show 0 degrees to 0.5 degrees. Anyone tried anything other than 0 on a di?
I'm going to come back to that screw marked low in two mins
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Rear D on and attached.
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Here's the wheels on too! Note I used a 10 speed rear D-A 7900 set of cogs which meant I had to fit two spacers between the cogs and hub (spacer that came with the wheel and spacer that came with the cogs). Instructions were sparse on this, but later adjustments seem to suggest I got this right
In the end I had to reverse the battery - my routing of the cable interferred with fitting the battery. It does mean I will have to take the wheel off to detach the battery (gate openned for just show in this picture). The cable is a lot neater to. I'll explain in next part how the Garmin candence device will have to fit though....
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With the battery fitted the adjustments to FD and RD were a breeze. Infact the RD needed no adjustment other than end stops being brought in to instructions
Okay one problem. The low adjustment screw on the FD doesn't seem to do anything?
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I can't get the inside of the FD to be within 1mm of the granny crank. Doesn't seem to affect the changes but worry about a dropped chain. Any thoughts on that low adjustment?

Next up all the final bits (Garmin, full pictures, bar tape, adjustments, chain, water bottle carriers etc)
 
Thank you Alan!
Well post ride I'm happy the two spacers on rear wheel sprocket are correct, but the low setting of the FD I just can't seem to do anything with (no matter if I loosen or tighten).

I'm also not yet happy with the bar to shifter transition. There's a noticeable "valley" between the bar and the shifter (with the shifter seeming lower). If I raise the shifters to lose the "valley" then they are no longer flat to the bar. At least the shorter stem is right for reach.

Also just realised I forgot to mention the brakes above.....

My First Bike Build pt4b : b is for brakes
I took my time of the brake cabling - again used a jnr hacksaw to cut them so that they weren't crushed. Post securing to the frame, I found plenty of adjustment on the brakes themselves too (separate centring screw worked well and spring tension screw was nice to find), but a shame the instructions in the boxes were so lame.
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Assesment after the ride; well the DA 9000 brakes are good, but not as good as my hydraulics on my hybrid - be it wet or dry. Thus a little disappointed. I also wasn't happy the way the pads were hitting the front wheel - one side wasn't toed in nicely. I bought a brake adjustment tool today - bit pricey for the bit of plastic (2500JPY from Y's) but it meant I could adjust the pads properly. It tightens on the wheel and already has a toe-in. You just tighten the pads up against it, then remove and voila, both pads aligned! Sorry for the muck on this photo, no time to clean the bike before snapping
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Just hope this rain stops and the road drys out for a little run this evening.....
 
I don't have Di2 - Eric does and might be able to offer some advice. Tim has also set up Di2. Seems like the low screw should set the inboard position of the derailleur cage so it just clears the chain in the small chainring/large sprocket combination.
Re the shifters.....maybe rotating the bars up a little bit and moving the shifters down will give you a flat transition. Depends somewhat on the shape of your bars.
 
Lift the hoods off the shifters and you will find a reach screw. Problem solved.
 
And the barrel adjuster on the brakes is sticking out too much for a new install.
 
Looking good!

But can't understand why you would think caliper brakes would perform beter than hydraulic disk brakes??? Also the brakes don't come pre setup so you're always going to need to toe them in ;) The tool really is a god send for building multiple bikes but for one off's 2 credit cards/point cards sandwiched at the front of the brake pads and rim work equaly well, just requires a good eye and sometimes more than 1 set of hands.

As for the adjuster barrel being to far out, depends if he has more than one set of wheels that have different rim widths,if you are only rocking one set of wheels then Owen is spot on as it's going to mean that you will eventually need to pull the cable through further to get maximum wear from the pads.
 
I really like that brake pad adjustment tool idea. I can't seem to find one online. Could you post the brand name?
 
It's made by Tacx and the tool is called "Tacx brake shoe tuner t4580"

I've had one for about 3 years now and worth every penny!
 
The bike looks very swish (of course). But I'm really impressed by the way the hacksaw is in matching "livery".
 
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