Well let the build begin (cont)....

Fellow Earthlings,

Again, apologies for the gap in blogs. Yet again, less interesting things, like work, continue to consume my precious time...

Right, now where was I. Ah yes. The last build session, part 2. The below is work I did in the first session.

The cranks...

At first I wondered what the hell I got myself into when I opened the installation instructions. Seriously. WTF!?

After getting my head around which diagrams were applicable to me I got stuck into it and found it was actually quite simple. Compared to a normal sealed bottom bracket the GXP system is light and simple. A little grease, a specialised tool to tighten it up and a few re-adjustments and yet another job the queen doesn't know about. I'm really happy with the cranks. Look good on the bike, smooth and very light (carbon fibre). I did notice the come very close to rubbing on the chain stay - I'll put some protective stickers over it.

Next it was onto the head set. Remember the headset looks like a small gold cylinder....

 

Well, I am holding it carefully - it is actually made up of about 15 bits, caps, cups, washers etc. etc. When mounted on the bike it sits above and below the steerer tube, above and below the handlebars etc.. It basically holds it all together.

Firstly, inserting the top and bottom cups into the steerer tube. Now it is recommended to machine the top and bottom of the tube so the surfaces are perfectly parallel, but as this is a new frame from a respected manufacturer, I took the assumption they already did this. The cups sit EXTREMELY tightly into the steerer tube, and you are meant to use a special vice like tool to put them in.... For fear of torment and ridicule, I am NOT going to tell you how I got them in...

 
Then, to give the front end perspective, and allow me to put on most of the other headset components (including top and bottom bearing runs), I mounted the forks, and put the stem on, lightly tightened, to hold it all together. I put aside the remaining parts of the headset still to be put on (such as the top cap). Now, there are several things wrong with this photo, namely I have not yet cut the fork steerer to size, nor are there any spacers between the top cup and stem and worst, the whole thing is not tightened. BUT, what do you think of the gold bling against the blue frame? Saucy?

 

To finish the day, I fitted the wheels to the frame to make me feel I had at least made some progress on the build. Unfortunately, I discovered I forgot to order a skewer to hold the rear wheel in place; my downhill frankenbike contributed his until I sort one...

 

 



I plan to crack on next with the handlebars - so I can start assembling all the controls (brakes, gears, lock out etc...).

Over and out,
Justin.