Villain 3.0 is done!

I have a few adjustments to make, stem and a frayed cable and a few other things, but it’s ridable and ready to go.

To recap,
I started with a Look KG381 Jalabert Edition built-up with Dura Ace, and a Look KG381 Team bike from the 03 tour, converted to fixed gear. I pulled everything off the converted frame (Villain), pulled everything off the Jalabert Edition (JaJa) and set out to build up my road bike from the black frame.

The black frame was undergoing some issues under the strain of fixed-gear conversion… make that big-gear fixed conversion. i was running an 82 inchgear. It was an experiment. But it led to weaknesses in the design of the Miche Bottom Bracket becoming apparent ( no flange, slides in, cranks scrape the frame) and lots of undue torque on the dropouts, which have a 5mm rotational adjustment in them (which largely allowed for my magic gear in the first place.) Certainly the modern crabon frame can handle the torque of a big inchgear… this wasn’t even the biggest combination you’d get out of a standard 53/39 + 12/23, but while the front end of the drivetrain could handle it, the back end could not. Road dropouts just don’t suffer those forces like that normally. So, anyway, the condition of the frame was some nicks and dings in the finish here and there from the previous owner, some crank scrapery from me, and otherwise good to go.

Final build details:

Frame: Look KG381 Team (2003 Season)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Dura Ace
Crankset: Shimano Dura Ace (53/39)
Pedals: Shimano A520
Wheels: Easton Vista SL, debadged
Tyres: Conti Gatorskin Hardshells 23c
Cassette: SRAM Force (11/27)
Front/Rear Derailleurs: SRAM Force
Brakes: Shimano Dura Ace
Stem: Thomson X2
Bars: Ritchey Carbon Streem
Brifters: SRAM Force
Tape: Shimano vinyl perf
Seatpost: Thomson Elite
Saddle: Brooks Swallow

ping!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Swappery
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain

So last night I got home from work an hour early and hurtled myself into the bikeBasement(tm), head first, through three partitions and a large timber column. I was THAT motivated.

Drivetrain upgrade time!

So, I started by pulling all the Dura Ace parts off that I was replacing. It’s kind of cool to see both the changes in design philosophy over time, and the differences in problem-solving, especially in the rear derailleur design (I’ll do my best to avoid what happened to Andy Schleck, of course*).

As I was pulling the 9-speed cassette off of my wheel, I discovered I was missing a familiar-looking tool: The Park FR-5 rear cassette tool, which looks similar to a bottom bracket tool I have (well two) but wasn’t quite the same. This is where having a bike shop in Tam Junction comes in handy. I was able to get that tool and back to the basement in about 15 minutes.

Next up, moving cassettes. As you’ve seen from Lung’s videos on the subject (or will, once they are broadcast) modern cassettes come in a combination of single and group pieces. The larger three or four cogs, depending on the manufacturer, are carved out of a single piece of metal, in my case titanium, and then the remainder are single cogs with spacers. They have a specific groove design in the center and fit the hub body a specific way. There’s compatibility issues all over the place, but not for me: while the Dura Ace groupo I pulled would normally suggest incompatibility of my hub with this new cassette, in my case I got lucky, because the wheel I was using was not my ORIGINAL wheel, but a newer one retrofitted to use the 9-speed cassette. I had owned a Cervelo Soloist with a modern 10-speed Ultegra groupo on it (2006) and swapped it for this 9-speed Dura Ace from 97… I had used a spacer and adapter to make the hub work. So now, I was golden for using this new SRAM cassette. Nice! That doesn’t often happen to me…

The cassette comes on a plastic speedloader, much like the ballistic version of same concept. In my case, because of the gears I selected, I had to modify the speedloader configuration, but once I was ready, line up the grooves, slip slip and boom, ALL on. It’s interesting to see the newer cogs and their guide teeth with angled faces. Anyway, quick snap, we were good to go and get back on the bike.

Adjusted the rear derailleur, ran the cable (now the cable housing swings wide up and over the stays) and same with front, swapped out for my new 10-speed chain (swapped out my new 9-speed chain, mind you, grrrr) and set everything, and boom!

Next up, final adjustments. I spent another hour this morning trying to adjust the index shifting with little success. I’m going for expert help…

*If you haven’t seen the footage, Schleck’s chain popped off on his acceleration up the climb in the pivotal moment of yesterday’s stage. There’s lots of controversy about attacking vs. waiting and all this other stuff, but I was more interested in what happened mechanically, as I always am when pratfalls occur in the tour with these guys. They have the best mechanics out there and the best equipment, but the wrenching is happening fast, and sometimes things aren’t adjusted, sometimes parts fail, and sometimes riders err. I’m always curious what it was. In this case, we don’t really know but there’s a good chance Schleck jumped the chain on a heavy shift. The nature of SRAM derailleur design led to the chain drop. IF that’s what happened…

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Upgradery
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain- The Magic Gear
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain- Build Day

Today, the front half of my new SRAM Force group arrived, and since I had to be home waiting for a Comcast technician, I decided to play around a bit. I didn’t actually intend to get as far as I did, but hey, I’m not complaining!

I stripped off the Dura Ace brifters and trade-boxed them and then studied the SRAM Force brifters for awhile. In a general sense, not much has changed. But boy, the details! SRAM’s Double Tap technology uses one inner lever under the brake to control both up and down shifting. You tap once to shift up, twice to shift down. It’s very cool. I’ve had Campy and Shimano but this is my first SRAM and it’s an interesting design. The brifters are adjustable to account for the different reach positions of riders with different hands, and the brifters also allow the shift cable to run along the inside or outside of the housing, depending on your preference.

Note the two tracks for shifter cable routing.

I decided on routing both cables to the inside track (shifter and brake) on each side, but only after I had previously taped them to be inside/outside. I redid it because I wanted to take better advantage of my bars’ cable valley along the underside.

One lever, two taps! It’s rule no. 2…

The Force brifters went on a lot easier than the Dura Ace brifters came off, I have to say. Granted there was a 13 year gap between the manufacture of these two systems, so I’m sure current DA 7900 brifters are much better. But these feel great and were easy to mount, adjust, set up the cabling etc.

Here I’ve routed the cables the way I wanted… in a Lovecraftian space madness of tentacled terror.

I didn’t intend to get very far, as I said, and didn’t really have an objective when I started today, so I was taking my time and going slow, imperative when exploring something you really don’t have much experience with anyway. Counting moving the DA stuff over format he other frame to this one, that makes… well, one pass at road bike component assembly for me so far. Heh. So yeah, I went slow.

I tried a few different ways to route the cables but settled on allowing them to spring out from the bundle under the bar and just find their best, least hassled paths.

I always tape the cables and the gel tightly before wrapping the bar.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, I says. I had a bit more time, so I thought I’d gel and tape the bars in preparation for wrapping them with the real tape later. I also noted a few things I wasn’t expecting, such as the fact that SRAM provides cables, housing, ferrules etc but they pre-size the cabling for you. I wasn’t expecting that, as I’m used to this all being bulk stock and in uniform lengths. So, the left and right brake cables were of different lengths, and of course reversed after I had installed them, so I had to switch them. No big deal, still interesting since you still have to cut each down.

Funny how Shimano is now providing the wrap for the brifter clamp to simulate electritole tape. For those that don’t already USE electritole tape. HA

The Comcast guy finally came and we took care of business really quickly, actually. However, not enough time to shoot back to work and my daughter was on her way back home from her Oma’s house, so I decided to work on this a little more. Wrap one side, I thought. Ok. Note that brake clamp wrap int he photo. Hilarious. Why not just provide some real electritole tape! Side note: I LOVE how you can hang your roll of elctritole tape on the bars ( or on top of your bike stand) as you work.

Oh, SWEET AS I says.

Before I knew it, I was done. That was unexpected! I only had to rewrap once, and for me that’s a record. I love this tape, too.. Took me awhile to find one I liked, since I’ve used Fizik black per on like three bikes in a row, and I hate most other tape. This is a black vinyl tape with perf, and it wrapped great. The perf pattern actually helped with spacing.

Anyway, one side is a bar end blinkie (yes, the car side) and the other, a video game upright button, a la 70s arcades. You may have seen me pull this on Crook as well.

Brakes are strung and adjusted, cables are in place for derailleurs. Seat is on. I’m good to go for the next phase.

Next up: derailleurs and cassette!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Breakery
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Hangery
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds

The perils of cascading upgrades aren’t new in bikery. You change one thing, and it requires another thing, and another thing. Then a third thing doesn’t fit, and you upgrade that, and so on. Often, this happens piecemeal and it can be frustrating, when you were simply trying to solve a small issue, and created a big one as a result. Sometimes, you have the big picture in front of you, and can plan accordingly. SOMETIMES.

So, as per my last post, one of my Dura Ace ST-7700 brifters exploded. This put me in a pickle. Dura Ace retired the 9-speed 7700 in 97, as they brought in the new design thereafter. NOS are virtually impossible to find. I tracked four ebay sellers for the 7700 shifters used, and each auction creeped above $250. So, while I was trying to sort this out, it occurred to me, maybe one can buck Shimano’s groupo-complete upgrade path and work out a partial upgrade. And so my supernet research began.

My first objective was to replace the broken brifter, of course, and the next year’s model, the 7800, offered some improvements in design. They shift smoother, require less effort, and are more ergonomic in design. However, these are 10-spd shifters, incompatible with the Dura Ace 9-spd (if you sniff out my nostalgia for Campy, you’re correct) due to a much shorter index, and as a result, would require other upgrades. However, as I read up on it, it appears that by upgrading cassette and chain, you can get away with keeping your derailleurs as is (with some further adjustments.)

So, what the hell, I says, let’s take a look. And lo, I was able to score some aesthetically challenged but mechanically sound 7800 brifters for the same price as the 7700s. So, then I found a 7800 cassette slashed to $99 from $299, and decided to go for it. I don’t really need 10-speeds in back, but I liked the idea of more ergonomic shifters, and certainly NEWER ones. Replacing older technology with more old technology was a bit iffy. With the 7800 on, Shimano designed for more uniform compatibility. That seemed to suggest that by coming up to 7800, I’d be in better straits for future needs as may occur. And I have to admit, the 7700 brifters weren’t the most comfortable (especially given their top-of-the-line Dura Ace status)…

So, I scored these:

Then got this, and another SRAM chain:

So, more money than I wanted to spend right now, but hopefully I’ll be better off for it, and perhaps can recoup a bit when selling off the remaining functional 7700 lever and the old cassette.

He says with great confidence.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Breakery
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – SRAMery

That’s not ‘break as in brake’ either.

Si I was in the bikeBasement last night and thought to myself: ‘self? The reason you’re having trouble with that front derailleur stringing is that you no longer have something to compare to…’ which was when I remembered wifebot(tm)s sweet, sweet Bianchi hanging back there, so off I went to study her set-up. It’s Campy, and therefore more awesome, but I saw the gist of what I was doing wrong: I was overcomplicating the threading. The pulley is a stop against the frame, not for the cable. So, I strung it and voila, had shift! Except fof where no matter how much tension I gave the cable, I couldn’t get the cage to set over the big ring. It’s two positions were inner ring of the double, and nothing. So, after some consideration, further exploration of limit screws and cable tension, and noting the fraying cables, I decided to err conservatively and bring it into my LBS, Tam Bikes.

Scott helped me see the error of my ways. Well, one of them. We determined that the physical positioning of the derailleur needed to be a bit higher by some 2mm or so (which is double what my book recommended) and then after some more flim-flam, and fresh cables, we, and by we I mean he, got the limits right. I took apart the Dura Ace ST-7700 brake/shifter ‘brifters’ (as per Sheldon) and rethreaded cable for him to use. All seemed well.

Here’s that left side brifter, exposed, rethreaded.

I had total lust for this tool. It’s called the THIRD ARM. It hasd a tension plate so you can hold against the part, while squeezing the plies to create tension against the part itself, freeing your other hand to tighten the allen bolt of the part itself. MAN do I want one.

Unfortunately, defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. We were struggling to understand why the shifter could be shifted by the cable, manually by hand, but not by the brifter. As it turns out, the brifter is officially horfed. Check that photo out, and the 45 degree pivot of the shifting assembly. Nothing it holding it in place.

So, while the derailleur problem is solved, I have a NEW problem, perhaps more urgent. Replacing a 12-year old, top of the line Dura Ace brifter. So, that’s where we are. Worst case scenario? I’ll ride the Team Lope Tour de Lung with one ring. BOOM!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Hangery
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Cockpitery!
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Swappery

So in my last update, I had brought over most of the Dura Ace groupo from the Ja Ja to Villain. I was stalled by discovering that the Look 381 Team from which Villain was comprised did NOT have the braze-on hanger for the front derailleur that the Ja Ja frame had. This stalled my project out for a week. I did manage to bring over the entire cockpit, the brakes (strung), the bottom bracket, the crankset, and the rear derailleur.

I subsequently picked up a hanger from Valencia Cyclery. However, I brought it home and indeed it was too large. They are made in certain diameters, but the shape of the Look’s seat tube is not circular in section. I needed a shim to start with. So I picked one up on eBay and it arrived right before the 4th of July holiday weekend, affording me the opportunity to wrench a bit.

Holee SMOKEES! That’s tight clearance. I used one half of the shim, with some electtritole tape to soften the clamping on the crabon, I mean carbon.

I mean TIGHT.

I strung the derailleur, but not successfully. After a few attempts, and some research, I decided to wait and go through it with the boys at Tam bikes. I’m not entirely clear how to thread the cable properly in order to be in the right position to hold the hanger in tension. There’s a pulley back there, but I’m having difficulty making use of it, and what the hell. I need an EXPERT, and not in a Logjammin kind of way.

Side note: I really regret untaping the bars. As it happens, I may be reusing the same tape, depending on my final gut feeling on it. HA.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Swappery
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain- Yes Brake
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!

My conversion of my previously-converted fixed-gear Look to a road bike is well underway. In fact, thanks to some late night enthusiasms, it’s almost done!

I’ve never built up a road bike before. I’ve done simple maintenance, but frankly, the majority of my road bike riding time I was focused on riding, letting the LBS do the annual tuning, and that was that. As you have seen, I most recently have been riding a KG 381 Jalabert-Edition Look road bike, circa 2003, but got a second frame, the KG 381 Team, a spare from the 2003 season. I converted the latter into a big gear fixed-gear bike, which was awesome. But now I’ve decided to condense a bit. I’m attempting to strip the Dura Ace groupo off of the Ja-Ja build-up and put it on the Team bike, then sell off the former. I love them both, but purgery compels me.

I assembled everything additional I would need, which frankly isn’t much. The one stand-out change was new tyres. The Ja-Ja Look was running bright red tyres, which was cool and all, but the Team bike is a low-key affair. It isn’t murdered out, per se, like Lung’s Tumbler, but it’s mellow. If his bike is the absence of light in the shape of a fixie, mine’s the shadow. From the light that isn’t there. Or something. Anyway, since the Conti Gator Hardshells did so well down to LA, I went for them again here.

I was going pretty slow and being methodical, not only not being particularly familiar with the componentry and their adjustment from the mechanic side, but also because it was late, I had to be quiet, and really, you don’t want to eff up Dura Ace parts by being overzealous. I actually had very few issues. My biggest stalls were pulling the self-extracting cranks and then the BB behind them, and ultimately there was nothing wrong, I’m just gunshy about putting muscle into it, given the propensity of stripped-threads and tweaked parts being a part of muscly-mechanic behavior when you don’t know what to expect and how it should behave. Ultimately no problems. Everything was stripped, degreased, regreased, and reassembled. By the time I was done for the night I had the entire groupo swapped, front and rear brakes strung and set, rear derailleur strung and set, and the bars taken care of. All that remained was stuff that I needed to research or replace.

For one thing, the Ja-Ja had a braze-on front derailleur hanger, and the team bike doesn’t, so I needed to source a derailleur frame clamp. I picked one up yesterday in the city on a ride-around with Lung, but it was the wrong size (of course, the one time I don’t get more than one just to be safe) but I ordered a shim, so that’s fine. I wanted to use a fresh chain, had to pick that up and did. I don’t think I swapped the previous chain in 4 years of riding (shudder) though two of them were almost exclusively dedicated to fixed-gear stuff so it didn’t see many miles.

I’m almost there! Yesterday afternoon I swapped out the tyres, set the wheels, readjusted the brakes, adjusted the wild cable housings in front (I’m so used to Campy from my Bianchis that with Shimano my instinct is to let them fly out, even though they usually get wrapped tight to the bars) and a few other things, and I’m pretty close to completion. I’m going to re-use some bar tape from another ride, swap another saddle on here, and then I can start trying to fine tune the shifting system.

Kind of exciting, working on a road bike for the first time. No major explosions in the pipeline yet!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain- Yes Brake
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds

OK, now that I’m back from Aids Lifecycle, it’s project time! What’s life without projects, I ask? Well, a projectless life, certainly, but anyway, onward…

I have four concurrent bike projects underway, and this is the first report from those efforts. It’s time to frankenbuild Villain 3.0!

You may recall I have two Look KG381 frames, my favorite vintage of my favorite road bike frame. One is the KG381 Team (one of the team spares from the 2003 season) and one KG381 Jalabert Edition, which was the special edition consumer model.

The Ja-Ja is currently built up as my road bike, with the Dura Ace groupo from that year, good to go. Note the saddle upturn was a joke, please.

The other frame was built into my first carbon road bike fixed gear conversion, Villain. Villain made it through two iterations, before being retired. I partially cannibalized it to form the drivetrain for Crook, my Cinelli MASH build, but also, it was struggling under the burden of the fixie conversion with a very high inchgear. So the thing needed an overhaul anyway, and the frame suffered some minor damage when the damn Miche flangeless bottom bracket worked it’s way inward, allowing the chainring to strike the wheelstay.

Between the two frames, the Ja-Ja is immaculate, and the Team frame is a little weathered: some sticker damage, some chips and that scrape I mentioned. But I LOVE the black bare carbon look.

So, Villain 3.0 is a fusion of these two rides. I’m attempting to pull everything off of the Ja-Ja road bike and put it on the Team bike, swapping out parts here and there, and building up a more subtle road bike as a result, then selling the Ja-Ja frame. it’ll be sad to see it go, as I love it so, but while I DO have many bikes in the stable, I bristle at an unused frame hanging there, and Villain in it’s fixie incarnation wasn’t necessary any longer.

So the first step is dissembly of Villain. Not too hard, given I gave his wheels to Raully Raul when I built up Fix-e for him, and I had already stripped the cranks off for Crook. But I pulled the bottom bracket, took the bars off, and cleaned the frame inside and out, noting no noticeable thread damage to the shell, which is good. Good bye, Villain headbadge! (don’t worry, replacement is already made)

I’m keeping some of the Villain gear. I love the Thomson X2 stem, and will be reusing that in lieu of the Ja-Ja FSA stem. I also prefer a few other small gifts from Villain that will make it over.

Not much more to see. I started taking Ja-Ja apart, but this is a slower process, because I’m going part by part, transferring the group over to the Villain frame. I’ve never built up a road bike, so I’m trying to be methodical about the transfer. That said, the best WhytheFace moment was then I pulled the Ja-Ja bars and unclipped the brake and so on and tried to lift it away and sprannnnnnng, it bounced out of my hand, because… you know… it’s cabled to the frame in three other places, hahahahaha. Shows I’ve been working on fixed gears for too long.

Anyway, fohhhhwahd! I have the service diagrams for the Dura Ace group (gah!) and all I have left to procure is a replacement derailleur cage from my recent calamity, and I think I’ll be good to go. Oh, I should mention, new tyres. I LOVE the red slicks but Villain isn’t a red tyre bike.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain- Ergo Post, Bars and Coggery
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain- Yes Brake

CommuteTest,activateds…

Lung and I rode this morning, he on Loosey and me on Villain. This was the first official test ride for Villain, not that Critical Mass and the next day’s meanderings don’t count… but the commute is the real test. If I can ride this on my commute, I’ll be, as the kids say, stoker nuggeted! Now, the problem is the inch gear. It’s big. I just don’t KNOW what I can and can’t do on it. Thus, the test.

So far, awesome! The short climbs on the way in included Bay Street (where I had to hop off during Mass due to the densities and the inexperienced riders around me and going 3mph) and then again climbing up into the Presidio from Crissy Field. I won’t lie, that’s tough going. The last few meters of it are this weird little hop and it always tasks you, but on Villain, it was extra-tasking! Anyway, Lung peeled off at the bridge, and I continued on.

The Villain is a totally different fixed-gear riding experience. The thing I was hoping for has proven true: the big gear allows for not only a faster ride, but a comfortable optimal cadence… it feels a lot closer to my road riding normal speeds… it’s not as fast, mind you, but it’s far closer than my other fixie projects. This was especially evident on the descent into Sasualito. This was the first time I actually rode the descent not on my brake the whole way down. I tapped it here and there to make sure I still had it, etc. but I pretty much bombed down the hill… still spinning very fast, but much more doable. On my 60-something inchgear fixies, you spin SO fast far before you reach your bike’s terminal velocity on a descent that it’s sort of wooly and out of control. On Villain, though the cadence on the descent was fast, it was manageable. I didn’t bring my bike computer so i don’t know WHAT I was doing, but far, far more than on any other fixed-gear I’ve ridden.

I was a little tired when i got to work, largely from my reduced calorie intake from my diet, but it felt GREAT even noodling up to the office. Fortunately, though the first ride back out of Marin was challenging, I was able to do it. That was a huge revelation.

:::

So Saturday I took on the task of refining my sweet sweet ride. Because two sweets are not brand aware.

The first item on the task list was the installation of these stoker levers, otherwise known by a certain cigaweed TL mechanic as stoker nuggets. They were the result of a ton of searching I did for a brakeless hood. See, I’m obsessed with the hood hand position when riding a road frame geometry, and while the Villain LOOKS ill with plain wrapped drops, I really wished I had something to hold onto when climbing. And, having a bar-mounted lever, I didn’t want redundant brake levers hanging around bloating me with their unwanted weight or aesthetics. So stoker levers are actually designed to be used on the drops in the back position on a modern tandem. Pretty ingenious!

As I feared, I was forced to unwrap the bars completely. The rings that bind the lever to the bars were not the adjustable type you see on some hood designs. They were a solid, fixed loop brazed to a nut. It was actually challenging getting them out of the stoker assembly without losing the bolt, because you can’t get into the hood if the bolt were to slip out and rattle around in there. I didn’t want to do that sort of surgery. So I was careful.

Anyway, I measured and test fitted, then mounted the levers one at a time, rewrapping the left, then the right, to make sure it worked. On the left, I left a bit of metal from the lever looping visible under the wrap, but I learned from the mistake, and covered it with black electrical tape on the right. Unfortunately, the tape I use is a soft perforated leather that frays when you undo it, so while I got through the unwrap and rewrap without issue, I didn’t want to unwrap AGAIN just to cover that tiny metal exposure. Further, rewrapping later this year will be inevitable because a) a tear formed on the underside of one side of the bars where I tried to correct a tape pinch, and 2) I’m going to want to put gem strips under here for really long rides to come, and d) for science.

The second item on the task list was to replace the 130mm stem with a 110mm version I picked up the other week. It’s not a huge difference when held side by side. But this, combined with the seat adjustments, made an INCREDIBLE difference. I’m using the stem at an upward angle this time, not a downward angle, and that improves the reach further. This pretty much equalizes for the extended reach the stokers require, actually, since you are kind of forward from where you’d be on the drops. The one thing less desirable about having the stokers on there is that they are wider in diameter than the bars, so they look clipped on. But the function, man. WOW.

I took the bike out for a few test loops int he neighborhood, but I really wanted to give it a whirl, so i did a SoMA/waterfront loop in the unfortunately biting wind, and I’m happy to report: 100% minimum awesome.

I’m happy to report the Villain is now sweet, sweet, sweet ridery!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Hangery

So Saturday was the big build day. I was very excited. Unlike conversion projects based on old bikes being re-used, this was a simpler process as it didn’t involve stripping down and reconditioning anything. It was a bolt-on affair, which is much simpler. But it involved new technologies for this bot, and was fraught with it’s own little challenges.

All my remaining parts had arrived over the past week, and all that remained were some various small items, which I picked up on our Saturday FixCrawl, so by noonish I was home and ready to go. Brief one hour interlude to assist wifebot(tm) with some stuff, and off to the wrongRoom(tm) I went, caffee thermos in hand, to attack my project. The way build days usually go for me is that i get about an hour in and find a critical failure in my plot, which forces a delay while i solve. Didn’t happen until the end, this time, and it was OK.

This is my semi-traditional pre-build extrusion. Please note about 33 parts containing 100% minimum awesome.

:::

Stage 01: Front End

I started with the headset, as this was my least familiar territory. The Look frame came complete with a Cane Creek integrated headset, which was awesome, but I wasn’t familiar with how to use the compression bolt. I read up on it online, and learned about the star nut, how the compression bolt expands it in the steerer tube to hold the fork in place before you secure the stem. Sure, OK. Dutifully following instructions as provided by the stem manufacturer (I’m like that) I dug out my file, rounded the edges of the steerer tube, sanded for burrs on the tube itself, then dropped my 18mm worth of carbon spacers onto it, loosely set the stem in place, and then regarded my headset pieces parts, which, as had confounded me initially, did not at all look like the star nut and compression bolt I had read about.

Lung loaned me a star nut installation tool and explained it’s use, and i was prepared for an installation that required the bolt to be removed, and the installation tool using the threaded hole in the star nut to get it up IN there, or down there as it were. However, as you can see, not the same. It’s a special Look system, and confounded me until I realized it was assembled out of order. I couldn’t figure out how to expand the flanged ring, as if it had started to expand, it couldn’t get into the tube, and if it hadn’t, it got lost in the hole and didn’t work. However, I experimented until I figured it out:

The expander piece was cone-shaped, and when I reversed it, and put the flanged ring between it and the cap above, the tightening of the integrated compression bolt would force the expansion as desired. So, armed with this theory, I executed same, and it worked very well. I got the front end set up as described in my literature: tight enough to hold things in place, loose enough to allow the fork to rotate without binding, spacers just loose enough to be able to be finger rotated.

Excellent! Stem secured thereafter, my sweet, sweet Thomson X2.

Here’s a shot of the special Look top cap holding it all together. Nice!

Stage 02: Cranks

Working out the bottom bracket and cranks was kind of interesting, because again, it differed in technology some from what i was used to. For one thing, the crank bolts are integrated and are not greased.

For another, while I did have a Shimano compatible cartridge bottom bracket installer tool, it didn’t QUITE fit the same teeth as the splining on the Miche bottom bracket cups. It was close, but like a millimeter too big in diameter. But as I was technically capable of screwing the cups in farther than flush, it wasn’t a problem. On the drive side, I hand screwed a liberally greased cup to flush, then inserted the cartridge tight against it from the opposite side, then spun the non-drive cup on. As it got close, it was time to use my tool gently, but a second challenge: my tool has a long rod coming out of the center of it, which is inserted into the hollow core of the square taper spindle… however, the Miche spindle is hollow only to a point, where it’s plugged. So, the teeth of my tool didn’t even reach the splines of the cup. So, I improvised with a small screwdriver and some leverage, and got it into place.

The Miche Piste Advanced crankset is a beautiful thing, I say. I have no remorse whatsoever on this little carbon-spent gem.

I have to say, using a frame from 2003 that was well cared-for, it was a refreshing change not to have any threading issues on the bottom bracket cups whatsoever. On they went, correct orientation of course, and no issues! What’s even MORE unusual, in my experience? I had no problems with the pedals either, despite being used. On they went, no threading mishaps, well greased, good to go.

Stage 03: Brake

Brakes aren’t the most glamorous thing, but I quite like this one. The SCR-3 is the same one that Lung uses on Loosey. I admit, I bought it for the ’3′ despite lighter models available from CC, but what the hell. Respect the brand! Please note the highly elusive brake pads I installed. I saw them on the Kool-Stop site but had some difficulty actually securing the dual compound road/wet design in Dura Type compatibility. But there they are, and brand aware for both the bike schema and the TRDL way. I have to admit, in this regard, as well as in a few others, it was nice to be able to refer to my road bike to check orientations and configurations. Though that bike uses Dura Ace, it was similar enough that I was able to answer some of my simple questions using the road bike as a case study.

Stage 04: Wheels

Things were going better than I anticipated, and I was getting superstitious. No headset problems? No crank problems? No PEDAL threading issues? I knew the wheels were going to bite me. You know, binding up the tube in the tyre, struggling with a pesky spoke protrusion or something, or even just the classic stubborn bead.

And yet, wow. rim tape, tube, tyre, air and cap went together in a snap, even with a social circle gathered around the garage for distraction.

Back wheel, same. Of course, until the drivetrain was connected, we still wouldn’t KNOW, dude.

Stage 05: Drivetrain

This was the moment of truth. I had calculated my magic gear, had my 46/15 good to go, pulled out my DED chain, and discovered a number of challenging issues, chief among them, no masterlink. OK, that’s not a deal breaker. However, I didn’t really note this until after I had begun the process of breaking links one at a time to get to the exact length I needed for this gearing. And by then, it was too late: I had popped the pins OUT, so they weren’t going back in. And I tried. For an hour. Screwed! Fortunately, Freewheel came through, having one 1/8" masterlink in stock. So I raced down there in the threatening light sprinkles, under a dubious sky, and grabbed it. For a sweet, sweet, appropriate three bucks I say! Lucky for me, and again, atypical, to have discovered this issue shortly before they closed, and not after.

So, the 1/8" masterlink took a little more effort than the 3/32" ones I’ve used on the other bikes, because it’s a three piece affair: a male, a female, and a locking plate that secures the one to the other. It took a little work with a screwdriver, greasy hands, greasy chain, etc. But soon enough, the success were mine!

And this was where, as was becoming clear as I assembled, I had too much chain slack. It was like I needed half of one link removed. But I wasn’t sweating it. After all, I had my ace in the hole:

Adjustable vertical drops. 5mm is a pretty big margin, when dealing with chain slack and already wielding a half-link. The drops, as you can see above, were set to the closest point by default (meaning the wheel would be as close to the center of the frame as possible, in the semi-aero design of this geometry that puts the rear tyre millimeters from the downtube.

Sweet! So, I moved these back and forth until settling on the middle dimension, which was what I test measured before I started all of this magic gear business.

This con-fused mish-mash shows the drivetrain complete! I was, as the kids say, stoked.

Stage 06: Wrap-up

Man, this was awesome. The one day build was finally coming together. My garage neighbor Redding came by and we talked economic policy and other probably boring topics while I wrapped one of my bar ends, then rewrapped it (I always wrap to tightly the first time and run out of tape, and have to go back and do it again to get it right); wrapped the other side, taped it up, installed these sweet new larger blinkie bar ends, and brought it down. I seated the Brooks saddle at the same dimensional increment on the Ergopost’s markers as with my Road Look, but since this frame is one size larger, I decided to bring the saddle down a bit more to even it out.

The moment of truth: Test ride! Not having the brake cable installed* I wasn’t going to bomb down the street to my villainous end, but I took some loops back and forth along the street and man, what a RIDE. Tight, responsive, and the gearing feels awesome. I was delighted. Enthused!

*The remaining tasks include brake and badging. I ran out of time to string the brake cable before being summoned to come in for the night, so I have to take care of that. Excluding these two remaining details, and including the Freewheel trip, lots of reading of my Zinn book, etc the build-up took 5 hours. Five thrilling hours.

:::

Here are a few other pics.

And this one’s for Joblue:

You can see all the pics, including some not posted here, in the [fu]Villain{(tm) gallery on Flickr.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Swappery

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