The prime assembly for the Crook project occurred Monday.
I think this was my most anticipated build. Except for Villain, wrongBike and Ghostal. I guess I’m pretty much generally uniformly enthusiastic about such things.

I have to say, some builds are harder than others. Full conversions like wrongBike are multi-day builds, from the stripping of old to the prepping for the new, to the painting, to the cleaning and repurposing of original parts, to the problem-solving when things go wrong on the assembly. Others, like Ghostal, are snap-together affairs with some minor delays here and there. Bikes like Villain are somewhere in the middle. I’d say Crook, so far, has been one of, if not THE easiest, build. For one thing, I’m working from almost entirely new stock, and the reuse of old parts wasn’t that onerous. For another, I had a lot of time to sit down there and think through everything and plan ahead a bit on some things that would have stalled me out had I not. Lastly, I think because the vision was consistent throughout, I didn’t have a lot of question marks going in about how things would work. I’m using same brands and same parts I’ve used on other bikes, and I knew what I wanted. I didn’t finish, but I got damn close.

Plus, I have to say, when you work and have family obligations and a young baby, just getting out there to wrench for a few hours is a wonderful thing. A few more and that bike would have been on the road today. But all in all, a wonderful build day.

One item to note was that, like Lung’s Leaser, this is an aluminum frame with a pursuit geometry. That stiffness means two compromises: creaks and discomfort. On the creak side of things, the infamous creaking bottom bracket was already plaguing Lung. We both did some research that indicated some additional lubery between bracket and cups, not just cups and shell, seemed to be recommended. Lung also had a cracked plastic cup on Leader, which he replaced with aluminum when he overhauled the BB recently. Leader is now whisper smooth.
So, I followed the same process, lubing up both the inside and outside of these cups. I’ve used the same Miche BB on Villain, and one frustrating problem, as of yet unsolved, was that the entire assembly rotated inward into the shell, away from the drive side, over time on that bike. I don’t yet know why. Stands to reason it could happen here too. So, I’m still looking into that. But for now, we’re in good shape.

On the discomfort side of things, I ride a Brooks saddle which is supportive, if not cushy. Other than the all-important rider’s triangle adjustment of bar reach to seat, the only other thing I can do to mitigate that ride discomfort on this frame is to double up on the gel padding on the bars. Padding, double upped! And if I have my way, TRIPLED up, for science, pending sourcing another gel kit. With two layers, it’s already buttery But you know how THAT goes. Not the same feeling on mile 60, 70, 80…

The front end came together very quickly, as I’d done the legwork on the headset and test fitted everything like 33 times. Not that it’s intended to be HARD, with an integrated headset and all. But I had some things to work out, largely me tricking my own self into over-complicating it, and me believing blatantly outdated marketing materials from Cinelli. But we’ve already covered that. Liberal lube of all bearing parts and the lower half of the steerer, and everything came together nicely. I won’t be cutting the steerer until i can get out there and feel out the ride position. I also have mismatched black spacers, so for science I’ll probably make them all uniform, once I determine the proper stack. Good to go! Also, Lung recently pointed out a great trick for stabilizing the front end in the bike stand involving a sock or an arm warmer. Since I use these big plastic clamps, this is how I do it: the clamp handles act as the stabilizers over the top tube.

What took the longest? Would you believe the CHAINRING replacement. Tole you what, I’ve been looking for a table-mount vice grip for awhile, which I think Lung looked for for me as well, and I sure could have used it yesterday. Chainring bolts are allen keyed on one side and have a receiver on the other side that needs to be secured from a slotted groove. OK, two hands, already required. Now, hold the crank securely in order to bear down. Crap. So, I spent a good amount of methodical, frustrating energy gripping the crank arm with my knees and working at the bolts with my hands. So much so that my legs are SORE from it. The worst part? The receivers take a flathead screwdriver to that slot to hold them in place, if you happen to have one big enough (which I didn’t) or a special tool. I must have muscled for 45 minutes all tole, getting all but one free, and then had to put it down. This bolt would NOT break free. Miche loctites them, I suspect. Anyway, on a lark I went over and reviewed my handy Spin Doctor kit and YES, of COURSE… there was the tool. It’s not marked such. it was just one of the only tools I’d never used. I actually went over looking for something to use as a jury-rig solution, looked at this tool, and felt like an idiot. Well, it wasn’t easy, but that last bolt came off finally, using, Cthulu forbid, the proper tool.

I moved up from a 46t to a 49t ring. Not a huge difference visually, but a big one on the road.

Lubed and applied, quick snap! Pedals on! I was going to use new pedals, but I cannibalized Villains’ pending what happens with that project. Vy nott, as my mother-in-law would say!

I’m using a sweet cog retainer system from Sugino in this build. Similar to designs by Miche and White Industries, it involves a carrier, a lock ring, and grooved cogs that fit to the carrier snug. This means that on the road, you unscrew the lock ring and pull the cog right off. Couldn’t be any faster. The Sugino system uses a curvy sine-wave shape to that connection, to maximize efficient bearing surface. It’s a beautiful, beautiful set up. The only drawback is that it requires a Shimano-compatible BB tool to adjust it, which is a new tool for the ride kit. But man, SWEET stuff.

Here’s a money shot of the back end. Check out the gold cog with the gold hub. I’m pretty pleased. It really has the effect I wanted.

These wheels Joe built for me are wonderful, and that’s a DEEEEEP section. Check that out against the wheelstays, for scale.

I think the second longest part of the build day was the cockpit. I’m using FSA K-Wings and they offer an internal cable routing design. Let me tell you, routing stiff cable housing from a hood a short, inflexible distance to enter the bars and come out farther down, very difficult. FSA have an ingenious helper tool, though, which I definitely made use of: it’s a strap of nylon that you push into the wider exit channel, then open wide, creating a loop. Push the cable housing through, snare it with this nylon loop, and pull it out the exit channel. Brilliant! Still not EASY, but I couldn’t have done it without it. This process was time-consuming because of the measure twice, cut once philosophy. Actually, make that measure thrice. You have to get the cable housing measurement just so, then route the cable itself, and get the brake strung, and if anything doesn’t measure up correctly, you have to start over. Tool long and it wouldn’t work. Too short, and, well, more housing required. Worse, I have 33 feet of black housing, but of COURSE I’m not using that on this build, so my stock on hand was less bountiful. Overall, it worked find and is all good to go. Gel on, brake strung, just waiting to wrap the bars until I confirm hood alignment position.

:::

The build as it stands:

Here’s the bike as a whole. Not great pics, in low light conditions down in the bikeBasement, but you should gleam at least 33% of the awesome from these pics. It looks EXACTLY as I visualized it. I’m so in love.

Here’s the front end, with most of the detail obscured, of course.

Here’s from the vantage point of the haters behind me. GORGEOUS.

What’s next?

- I need valve extenders. Badly. My long-valve tubes have valve lengths of 48mm. The rim is 42mm section. I was able to gain purchase on the rear tube somehow with my pump and inflate it, but just barely. The front, however, eluded me several times. it recedes a bit into the rim section. It’s clear that if in a controlled shop condition it’s this much trouble, on the road it’d be far worse, so I sourced some black valve extenders and I’ll pick them up shortly. They’ll be looooong and jangy, but get the job done! I don’t mind that. I like some distance from the rim.

- Once the front is inflated properly, I’ll do some test fits and ride around, checking the angles and stack height. That will tell me what spacers I still need, if any, and then I can cut the steerer and cap it.

- Brake adjustment, of course. Hasn’t happened yet. Just threw the wheels on this morning for the photos.

- Final wrap of the bars pending verification of the hood positions.

- Of course something critical is uninstalled: the chain! But it’s here, ready to go. Solid BMX half-link beastie. See, without loud clackity Campy freewheels, Lung and I need SOMETHING to warn you we’re approaching from the rear…

-Final step: beautification. i have some custom graphics and bar end work underway.

Oh, one final note: This is my first time using a Thomson post and I’m sold. I love it more than those Ergo posts on the Look frames, as light as they may be. First, it’s a FAT section. But also, two bolt adjustment for seat positioning, fore and aft. It’s never been easier to quickly align seat angle. So awesome.

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3. Bike Build Process Log: Crook – Assembled and Ridden