Frame: I'm going for a standard frame with adjusted top tube length, can't decide on a finish though, Satin or Industrial Mill?
Fork: Rockshox Sid World Cup or Fox RLC FIT (unless you like playing with adjusting every single knob and dial there is, then go with Rockshox???
Bar: KCNC SC Bone - 31.8 x 600 get the 25.4mm version (lighter)
Stem: KCNC SC Wing - 31.8 x 110/ 120, Get Syntace F99+ti bolts w/ the 25.4 SCbone bar
Seatpost: Thompson Masterpiece - KCNC yoke kit and Titanium bolts. Makes for, as you all know I'm sure, a more secure saddle. No worrying about rails bending.
Crankset: Cannondale SiSL 2x9 (but it may cost more than the Lighting setup) then get some Mathias titanium chainrings
Rear Derailleur: Sram X.0 Gripshift - KCNC Jockey wheels, Usual aluminium bolts. Not going the Nobu Ti Spring route as they are apparently only a gram lighter and I can't see the point in a Fiberlyte back plate given the fact that RDs are such high risk components in terms of damage.
Front Derailleur: Shimano 7900 Dura Ace - Speen adaptor, Alu bolts. (XTR M952 or M953... your results may vary with the Speed Adapter, they have a new adapter that increases leverage to decrease shift effort. But only person who has seemed to try it is Nino. I ditched my old version Speen infavor of XTR M970 FD).
Chain: KMC X10SL.
Cassette: Recon Ti or XTR: Whats the final verdict, Recon's worth it ??? Recon is only worth it if you don't pay full retail on that thing. Wholesale cost is like 50% of MSRP (ebay pricing is around 220 USD I think, therefore whole sale should be around 120 to 140 USD). If you can't get it for cheaper than 220, get a XTR cassette. Recon cassettes appears to need breaking in. Perhaps the ramps and machining isn't as smooth as XTR or Sram. Also XTR and Recon cassettes come with aluminum lock rings. You will not be saving weight. Unless you don't like the color.
Housing: Aligator I-Link, or Mini if I can get hold of it. Or Shimano SP81 (white) or SP91 (black). The shimano derailleur housings are smoother than Alligator liner.
Cables: Powercordz - 1.2 mm diamatre. Don't bother. PITA to setup. You need to setup your drivetrain with steel cables first. Then go and take the steel cable out to setup with powercordz. Very finiky. Repeated repositioning and reclamping of cables = pinched outer casing = exposing inner fibres = failure of cable (snap). Steel is real in this case!
Rims: No Tubes Podium MMX.
Hubs: A2Z, the new XCRI units. Buy some nice hubs. Don't cheap out! Hubs are not easily replaceable, you need to rebuild the wheel to change out hubs and get new spokes. Re-using rims when rebuilding wheels is a crapshoot.
Spokes: Sapim CX Ray/ Dt Swiss Aerolite - Aluminium nipples regardless.
Skewers: KCNC.
Tyres: Continental Mountain Kings - 2.2, SuperSonic, love these tyres. Agreed
Tubes: No Tubes tape, valves and sealent. I hate seleant, but many seem to like it.
Brakes: Formula R1 Carbon, am tempted by the new Hope X2 Races. Gravity Bleeding = best ever! Forget the stupid syringes
Rotors: Scrub, if budget allows. Otherwise Alligator Cirrus's are decent second choice units. If I go for the Hopes I'll use their rotors given their weight is about on par with the Gators. Coefficient of friction between organic pads and aluminum surface is lower than that of organic pads and steel (Scrub rotors are Aluminum alloy... metal matrix aluminum originally developed by Alcan). Your braking power will decrease. Your call. I would only try it for rear. But cost is so high. I would rather spend money and get nicer hubs than spend it getting these brake rotors.
Rotor Bolts: Will pick up some titanium ones off of Pro Bolt if I go the Formula route. Go with Hope, no need to get additional hardware. Can cost you an extra 50 bucks in Ti bolts.
Headset: Mortop HS65.
Seatopst Collar: Mortop SPC273.
Headset Spaces: KCNC Hollow.
Pedals: Crankbrother Eggbeater 4Ti.
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR Fibra or maybe a Carbonio, if funds allow.
Grips: ESI Chunkys.
Bottle Cages King Ti with nylon screws.
Chainstay Protector: Ordinary black cork bar tape with some trusty 3M insulation tape. Superlight and cheap as chips.
Frame Protection Will make use of Aligator rubber shields and BBB clear frame patches.
Ok then so that's the proposed build. I don't have any weights to hand, I don't beleive in claimed weights. I'll weigh the parts as they arrive. A quick guess puts the final weight at around 8.5 Kgs/ 18.7 lbs. Not screamingly light but hardly a brick either. Your thoughts are appreciated.
Next question. Colour scheme??? I'm thinking Red - Hubs, headset, seatpost collar, housing, jokey wheels, headset spacers, spoke nipples.. Too much, too little, Help. But then blue's sweet as well and there's nothing wrong with black either. This is becoming real difficult.
[/QUOTE]
Color scheme...
Hubs, seatpost collar, skewers should match headset color. Anodizined aluminum bolts should match as well.
Stem should match seatpost color
Saddle and handlebar grip should match
Fork legs needs to match frame logos (ie red fork legs for Lynskey headbadge. or White fork legs for white logos).
Bike should have 3 main colors, none of which is dominating the other. Meaning too much red, or too much gold... etc...
Lastly... if you want your bike to stand out... Go purple anodized. This will increase your build difficulty (sourcing of parts) 100 fold!!! would look super sweet.
Fork: Rockshox Sid World Cup or Fox RLC FIT (unless you like playing with adjusting every single knob and dial there is, then go with Rockshox???
Bar: KCNC SC Bone - 31.8 x 600 get the 25.4mm version (lighter)
Stem: KCNC SC Wing - 31.8 x 110/ 120, Get Syntace F99+ti bolts w/ the 25.4 SCbone bar
Seatpost: Thompson Masterpiece - KCNC yoke kit and Titanium bolts. Makes for, as you all know I'm sure, a more secure saddle. No worrying about rails bending.
Crankset: Cannondale SiSL 2x9 (but it may cost more than the Lighting setup) then get some Mathias titanium chainrings
Rear Derailleur: Sram X.0 Gripshift - KCNC Jockey wheels, Usual aluminium bolts. Not going the Nobu Ti Spring route as they are apparently only a gram lighter and I can't see the point in a Fiberlyte back plate given the fact that RDs are such high risk components in terms of damage.
Front Derailleur: Shimano 7900 Dura Ace - Speen adaptor, Alu bolts. (XTR M952 or M953... your results may vary with the Speed Adapter, they have a new adapter that increases leverage to decrease shift effort. But only person who has seemed to try it is Nino. I ditched my old version Speen infavor of XTR M970 FD).
Chain: KMC X10SL.
Cassette: Recon Ti or XTR: Whats the final verdict, Recon's worth it ??? Recon is only worth it if you don't pay full retail on that thing. Wholesale cost is like 50% of MSRP (ebay pricing is around 220 USD I think, therefore whole sale should be around 120 to 140 USD). If you can't get it for cheaper than 220, get a XTR cassette. Recon cassettes appears to need breaking in. Perhaps the ramps and machining isn't as smooth as XTR or Sram. Also XTR and Recon cassettes come with aluminum lock rings. You will not be saving weight. Unless you don't like the color.
Housing: Aligator I-Link, or Mini if I can get hold of it. Or Shimano SP81 (white) or SP91 (black). The shimano derailleur housings are smoother than Alligator liner.
Cables: Powercordz - 1.2 mm diamatre. Don't bother. PITA to setup. You need to setup your drivetrain with steel cables first. Then go and take the steel cable out to setup with powercordz. Very finiky. Repeated repositioning and reclamping of cables = pinched outer casing = exposing inner fibres = failure of cable (snap). Steel is real in this case!
Rims: No Tubes Podium MMX.
Hubs: A2Z, the new XCRI units. Buy some nice hubs. Don't cheap out! Hubs are not easily replaceable, you need to rebuild the wheel to change out hubs and get new spokes. Re-using rims when rebuilding wheels is a crapshoot.
Spokes: Sapim CX Ray/ Dt Swiss Aerolite - Aluminium nipples regardless.
Skewers: KCNC.
Tyres: Continental Mountain Kings - 2.2, SuperSonic, love these tyres. Agreed
Tubes: No Tubes tape, valves and sealent. I hate seleant, but many seem to like it.
Brakes: Formula R1 Carbon, am tempted by the new Hope X2 Races. Gravity Bleeding = best ever! Forget the stupid syringes
Rotors: Scrub, if budget allows. Otherwise Alligator Cirrus's are decent second choice units. If I go for the Hopes I'll use their rotors given their weight is about on par with the Gators. Coefficient of friction between organic pads and aluminum surface is lower than that of organic pads and steel (Scrub rotors are Aluminum alloy... metal matrix aluminum originally developed by Alcan). Your braking power will decrease. Your call. I would only try it for rear. But cost is so high. I would rather spend money and get nicer hubs than spend it getting these brake rotors.
Rotor Bolts: Will pick up some titanium ones off of Pro Bolt if I go the Formula route. Go with Hope, no need to get additional hardware. Can cost you an extra 50 bucks in Ti bolts.
Headset: Mortop HS65.
Seatopst Collar: Mortop SPC273.
Headset Spaces: KCNC Hollow.
Pedals: Crankbrother Eggbeater 4Ti.
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR Fibra or maybe a Carbonio, if funds allow.
Grips: ESI Chunkys.
Bottle Cages King Ti with nylon screws.
Chainstay Protector: Ordinary black cork bar tape with some trusty 3M insulation tape. Superlight and cheap as chips.
Frame Protection Will make use of Aligator rubber shields and BBB clear frame patches.
Ok then so that's the proposed build. I don't have any weights to hand, I don't beleive in claimed weights. I'll weigh the parts as they arrive. A quick guess puts the final weight at around 8.5 Kgs/ 18.7 lbs. Not screamingly light but hardly a brick either. Your thoughts are appreciated.
Next question. Colour scheme??? I'm thinking Red - Hubs, headset, seatpost collar, housing, jokey wheels, headset spacers, spoke nipples.. Too much, too little, Help. But then blue's sweet as well and there's nothing wrong with black either. This is becoming real difficult.
Color scheme...
Hubs, seatpost collar, skewers should match headset color. Anodizined aluminum bolts should match as well.
Stem should match seatpost color
Saddle and handlebar grip should match
Fork legs needs to match frame logos (ie red fork legs for Lynskey headbadge. or White fork legs for white logos).
Bike should have 3 main colors, none of which is dominating the other. Meaning too much red, or too much gold... etc...
Lastly... if you want your bike to stand out... Go purple anodized. This will increase your build difficulty (sourcing of parts) 100 fold!!! would look super sweet.