[dewaday]

An LBS near me is doing their own build on CC's. Anyone care to offer an opinion on their choice of components? It's a pretty interesting possibility, but I'm not much of a parts weenie, and wondered what others thought.
TIA

http://centurycycles.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=1&id=2064

 

[brianmcg]

An LBS near me is doing their own build on CC's. Anyone care to offer an opinion on their choice of components? It's a pretty interesting possibility, but I'm not much of a parts weenie, and wondered what others thought.
TIA

http://centurycycles.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=1&id=2064

The only thing that stands out to me as something I wouldn't want is the crankset. I would want a Sugino 48/36/26 at least. I think this would be a better match for the CC especially if you are going to be riding on some trails.

 

[dewaday]

The only thing that stands out to me as something I wouldn't want is the crankset. I would want a Sugino 48/36/26 at least. I think this would be a better match for the CC especially if you are going to be riding on some trails.

Thanks Brian,
Can you give me the simple explanation. I still have a hard time translating gear numbers into pedaling resistance. Trails are a decent amount of my riding, so definitely a consideration, pretty much a do everything style bike is what I'm after.

 

[brianmcg]

Thanks Brian,
Can you give me the simple explanation. I still have a hard time translating gear numbers into pedaling resistance.
Trails are a decent amount of my riding, so definitely a consideration, pretty much a do everything style bike is
what I'm after.

Sure. On a regular road bike for just riding around and not hitting many big hills and never putting anyting other than yourself on the bike the 105 chainrings of 52/42/30 would be fine. But even then you would probably never use the 52-11 or 52-12 except going straight downhill.

But if you are going to be loading your bike with racks and putting stuff on it or riding up and down some nice trails the 52/42/30 will have a lot of gears you will never ever use. They would just be way to tall on a bike like this.

Check out this gear calculator:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

If you set up your bike with a triple crank of 48/36/26 or even a 44/34/24 you will have a lot more usable gears for the type of riding you will be doing.

Using the gear calculator your tallest gear (48/11) at 100rpm you will "only" be able to go 35.1MPH. If you can maintain that type of speed loaded up with stuff or riding on some trails I would like to know why you aren't riding for a Pro team.

However, there will be many times you will love having the 26/32 (6.5MPH). That sounds really slow, but imagine riding up a very steep climb with 50lbs of stuff or up a really steep mountain trail, its still a lot faster than walking or even running for that matter.

 

[dewaday]

Wow, awesome explanation, thanks for taking the time.:thumbsup:

Any guess why they'd install this crank on a Cross Check? I've ridden enough to have a decent idea of what I like, but trying to decipher specific build combinations is still tricky. I'm trying to determine what this build would be optimum for, and use it for future reference.

As far as 35.1 MPH loaded, I think i hit that once, downhill, unloaded, with a tail wind, and a favorable lunar cycle....

Thanks muchos for the time. You do this for a living?

 

[brianmcg]

Wow, awesome explanation, thanks for taking the time.:thumbsup:

Any guess why they'd install this crank on a Cross Check?...

Thanks muchos for the time. You do this for a living?

Thanks. I really have no idea why they would put that crank on the CC. Its really a crank that you would put on a racing road bike, something with 23mm tires pumped up to 120psi and you would never have anything other than a small saddle bag on it.

It would still "work" but it definitely is not the "best" gearing for this type of bike. I would think they would be able to swap that crank out with an LX at no cost other than labor, or an XT for a little more in cost.

As for your last question, no I don't do this for a living. I just ride bikes a lot and have some free time at work to play on the internet. Thanks.

 

[surlywhore]

I am the one who built the bike at Century Cycles. The reason we ran the gear range we did is because of our area, 35 mile rail trail, lots of climbs in and out of the valley. We wanted it to be a road bike, trail bike, commuter, and cyclocross. We stock full coverage fenders, and road tires, you can have so many options in one bike. I feel we speced it out with all of these options in mind. Stop Down and check it out, take it for a spin! There are 5 of us in our bike club that have CC all set up different, Mine has been set up everyway. Now it is in fixxed winter mode. Check out our bike club too! www.theblack13.com

 

[dewaday]

Thanks Mr. er...Whore,
I've exchanged a couple emails with Kevin at your place, then winter decided to finally show up. Thanks for poking your head in, just gonna have to try it for myself and see. I probably ride or walk or stumble by your place 100 times during the warmer months, so plenty of opportunities coming up "soon".
thx

 

[roadiegonebad]

I'd bag the triple and get a compact... with that wide range cassette, unless you are going to be touring or pulling a trailer you should not be lacking for gears... and 175s might be a little long

 

[Henry Chinaski]

I don't like triples. Agree with the compact double crank. And I would have gone with wheels with 130 spacing--much more standard if you want to use them on other bikes. I also hate the looks of 15 degree rise stems (minor quibble--the Cross Check does have a rather short head tube). And with a 72.5 degree seat tube angle, most people aren't gonna need a seatpost with that much setback.

Here's how I built mine for commuting--higher end parts and spent way less than $1,300--though I started with some stuff.

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=78173&highlight=surly+commuter

 

[surlywhore]

Henry, You started off with quite a few parts. If you compare our spec to a complete CC from Surly, You are still getting a deal. This is a very popular spec with a lot of our customers. It fits with our area. I also like compacts, but we still sell most completes with triples, that's just the way it is.

 

[Henry Chinaski]

Henry, You started off with quite a few parts. If you compare our spec to a complete CC from Surly, You are still getting a deal. This is a very popular spec with a lot of our customers. It fits with our area. I also like compacts, but we still sell most completes with triples, that's just the way it is.

You guys have a decent build but I'm not sure it's worth the extra $400 or whatever over the stock complete Cross Check. I did have a bunch of stuff to start with but could still probably whip something pretty slick together for less than $1000. But then I'm patient, willing to surf eBay and do my own wrenching...

 

[rockhound]

That looks like a decent build to me.

We had many cross bikes come out of our shop with a road triple crank. I personally would rather have a 48/36/26 (ala LX M-581 touring crankset or the Sugino if you want something traditional), but for rail trails, a roadie triple would be fine, even with a 12-27 cassette, let alone a 12/32.