A.R.S.E.

Found the most logic solutions, Took the crank arms off and will send tomorrow morning to bike shop in Norwood, got good mates that can help at Bicycle Express - she won't budge no matter what i did.

New pack day!

Picked up an EVOC Stage 6L with 2lt hydration bladder. The straw broke the Camelback's the other week when I had a rear tyre sidewall get cut down and didnt have a tube with me to repair it and had to do the walk of shame home.

Apart from the zip ties & gear cable ive needed these items at least once on a ride in the past. Hangers cover off both bikes and the first aid kit was a nice bonus to be able to get it to fit in. Should have had basic first aid with me since riding with the kids as they have scraped up knees in the past and I wasn't prepared.

Back ventilation, the dual helmet attachments and even a built in buckle whistle are the icing on the cake.

That gear cable came in handy at 8:30am this morning when I snapped mine on a tree log. Had.it.fixed trail side in about 20 mins, internal routing is a bitch!

that seems like epic forward thinking :P
suspect i'd just call it a day after a snapped gear cable. Can't for the life of me work out how you snapped a cable on a log though, especially with internal routing.

CLP wrote:Can't for the life of me work out how you snapped a cable on a log though, especially with internal routing.

It was a bit frayed at the fixing point of the derailleur. I think I might have bumped the actual cage on the log and the cable snapped as a result. The hanger is completely fine and the cage isnt warped. I thought as I rode past it that was close then then heard a small noise with the gears changing instantly. #$@&%!

I had never changed a cable on this bike before. I was going to simply give up, throw it in the small chain ring and limp home with it on the smallest gear on the cassette since I could pedal. Then It dawned on me that the kids would be up and I would have a better chance with a peaceful trail side repair since I had everything I needed with the exception of a pair of side cutters to trim the cable. Got it done and the indexing about 95% so rode on for another 1.5 hours.

Only real tricky part was just before the BB where the cable exited the frame and entered another piece of cable outer which goes under the BB and along the chain stay.

2nd ever ride with a spare cable packed and I needed it. Had to laugh.

my CX bike will be going through *yet another* brake set iteration.

I think the front fork flex coupled with my small frame just doesn't lend it self too well to cantilever brakes (as much as i would like it to) resulting in sometimes alarming amounts of front brake shudder. So i bit the bullet and purchased a set of TRP CX8.4 V brakes. Hopefully this solves it enough to get me through CX this year, at which point in might look at building up a new bike with those fancy new fangled disc brakes...

The Wilier build is happening - finally!!!
But taking my time while watching the Supercars @ Clipsal.
The build is going smoothly so far, I'm liking how it is looking & no the fork is not cut yet...

Very retro with that black and silver.

norbs wrote:Very retro with that black and silver.

dammit.. i was too slow.. i was going to make a "retro build" comment

Yep exactly how I like a bike too look.

But I've struck a little problem thanks to Chain Reaction's incompetence. (read carefully).


CBF doing anymore till I sort this out, it's pissed me off!!!

bummer you don't have an old Road BB that you could take one of the tubes off?

I do but have decided to wait till I get the proper road version.
Also the colour is silver & you know it's all about the looks (black FTW).

Duke wrote:I do but have decided to wait till I get the proper road version.
Also the colour is silver & you know it's all about the looks (black FTW).

not sure there's anything different about the road and MTB cups.. it's all about that spacer length..

but since you're in a buying mood, grab a BB from here:
http://www.hscceramics.com.au/

I have one on my Pinarello and it seems pretty good

The other one that I have is the Hope stainless steel BB which I have on my Giant.. that's still spinning super smooth after a number of years!

The saga continues but the build is progressing again, if not slowly.

So after getting the correct BB yesterday, I then discover that the BB shell drive-side thread isn't looking so flash.
("Damn it, I knew I should have got that done before starting the build & maybe that is why the frame was so cheap")
Anyway after a brief visit to the LBS who thankfully had the right tool to re-cut the BB shell, last night I installed most of the group-set components.

Next step is to measure the Azzurri too replicate my bike fit so I can get the bar stack height as close as possible, to then cut the fork close to what it should be (slammed or otherwise) & then finish the build. I found a real handy cheat sheet on how to do this, which I have also modified to cater for saddle height & it's fore/aft position using the BB as the datum: http://www.velonews.com/2012/05/bikes-a ... lly_216035

All going well I'll be riding it this long weekend.

I continue to be frustrated with this build, last weekend turned into a total disaster, loosing close to 2 days trying to get the rear brake cable routed. Long story short, there is a small tube within the top-tube for the cable to run. Somehow it got disconnected from the rear port (ferrule), it is either a manufacturing fault or occurred during shipping or while it's been in storage for 6yrs. Anyway I finally worked out a way to get the cable routed & by late last night all that is left is to tape the bars, test ride & adjust before getting out in anger.
(yes I will be dropping the stem & cutting the fork-steerer once I have the fit dialed in)

Saw the email. Those 6amer dudes are hilarious. So much testosterone!

It is the 2017 HAAS of pushbikes

Duke wrote:Anyway I finally worked out a way to get the cable routed

Interested to know how you got it thru in the end.

KNAPPO wrote:

Duke wrote:Anyway I finally worked out a way to get the cable routed

Interested to know how you got it thru in the end.

Hopefully this makes sense...
So I eventually figured out that I could get a shift cable (smaller diameter) to go from the front port through the inner cable tube then do a 180 after it hit the seat tube.
It then came back up the top tube where I could grab it out of the head tube, yes after pulling the forks out.
I could then tie cotton thread to the shift cable & pull it back through into the inner cable tube & out the front port.
I then pushed the cable from the back port into the top tube & up to the head tube, tied off the other end of the thread & pulled it back & out of the rear port.
This gave me a a pull-through between the 2 ports but the next issue was I couldn't just pull the brake cable through as the inner cable tube was not lined up to the port.
So instead I tied the thread at the head tube & pushed the brake cable up the inner cable tube, then pulled the thread tight from the rear until it lined the tube up with the port while feeding the brake cable through.
So it was a real PITA but at the same time I was very lucky that I could get the cable in. Otherwise I was looking at having to run it externally with no cable stops or mounting points which would have ruined the whole look of this beautiful machine.

First ride done & gave it a proper initiation up Melbourne's most popular climb. I didn't even need to touch a single bolt & the fit is pretty good as is.
The handlebars could probably come down a little bit but I'm going to leave it for now as I'm sure my position will get further fine-tuned over the coming weeks & months.
As much as I loved the trusty old Azzuri the Wilier is on another level & was definitely worth the wait (probably not 6yrs though)
What a machine!!!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1454986518

Happy for you Duke, it has been a long time coming.

Is that a Fly6 on the back?

How are the hairy chested guys at 6amers coping with that stem height?

Sure has been a long time, never ever thought when I first bought it that I would then give up racing let alone riding for 3 yrs.
Yes it's a Fly6 but not the new CE model but the one before it - Fly6[v] which does 720p & is good enough.
As for the stem height, they can deal with it as I'd rather be comfy plus I'll be smashing most of them again soon enough. Hahahaha
What's funny is that the stem height is not that far off what I originally had on the Azzurri. It's just that the headset bearing cover is much flatter compared to the old FSA one which is 15mm high & tapered. The Wilier is also a lot lower especially at the front end as you can tell as my bar drop (seat to handlebar) is still pretty large.

Thanks for the routing explanation Duke. Makes sense but what a ball ache that must have been.

Bike looks excellent and I agree with Norbs, its the HAAS bike.

Cough, cough, shit getting serious now.

nice work Duke! now you'll be able to show me just how pitiful my power output is...

Me too Carlos.

Lets have a guess.

1297W