This was a gorgeous, warm weekend, atypical for January even for us here in Northern California. I’ve been itching to get out for some climbing on the weekend, but between baby illness, adult injury, and the relative dearth of riding partners in this footbal spectacularama season, it just hadn’t happened yet. But I intend to get back to form early this year, and yesterday was as good as any to start. Baby went down for a nap, and I made a break for it on Villain, my road bike. The objective: climbing Mt. Tam.

Observations:

1. I’m carrying too much winter weight. I’m lighter than I was when I started effing AIDS LIFECYCLE, but then again, I had 6 months of riding under my belt then, despite. Here, I was coming off cold, after a pretty gruesome holiday season of illness and pelvic injury. But really, I felt it in my ride. Too heavy. Too much excess being carried up the mountain, burning off too slowly, ha. But anyway, we do what we can.

2. My back ain’t healed. I mean, certainly my chiropractor thinks so, as I’m going every week for alignment. But man my back was aching by the time I got to Four Corners. I took a few breaks (I’m not proud, and see the long view) one at Four Corners and one part way up the mountain, partially to ease the asthma, but also to ease DEM BONES.

3. The weather was incredible. It was warm enough to feel great under the heat of it, but cool enough not to overcook. There were parts that baked me and parts that were chilly, as I passed through the darker patches under tree cover. Pretty great for effing January when our friends on the East Coast are snapping thermometers.

4. I’m proud of building my first road bike, but I have to say, work needs to be done. My shifter cables are either shifting or frayed from all the adjustments I was making. I can’t get into the big 27 cog in my crazy climbing cassette (and yesterday I’d have used it) without locking up the drivetrain, and the front derailleur was slipping a bit and didn’t like the big ring. The worst was that slip between a few gears on sustained climbing, where it hops back and forth between neighboring cogs and throws you off rhythm. It’s all a matter of adjustment, but man, out on the road you’re like COME ON, COUSIN.

5. Afternoon on Mt. Tam can be a freeway in parts. That’s not right.

6. I actually did pretty well, all things considered. I was strong where I needed to be, and I did almost the whole ride seated, and I didn’t stop half the times I contemplated it. Ultimately I got up to the split, took the East Peak route at the fork, but my lungs and my back were really bothering me. By the time I got to the open-air Tam theater, I saw it was 4pm and I was in trouble… this was more than just a quick loop, and I had a sick baby and lots of tasks at home. So I flipped it 3 miles from the summit, and bombed down the mountain to get home. And FAST. Faster than I usually go. It was exhilarating and not a little scary on a few curves.

Anyway, climbing ride 1 of 2011… only uphill from here, in a good way!

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Following up on Ironlung’s take on the MASH BLOG with chas, here’s my answers, same. Because I KNOW you were holding your breath…

~~~

what do you ride? (can be your stable or just one bike)
+ I’m enjoying the embarrassment of riches out here in Mill Valley of having enough room int he shop to have several bikes on hand, for science. When we were moving out of the loft in SF, we almost took a condo in Larkspur that had NO bike storage at all. I was going to be down to two bikes: one at the office, one at home somehow, and roate them out on legs of the commute. But as it turned out, I got a bike shop space as large as the house, almost, so I have hooks up and bikes hanging thereon, and even hoteling station hooks for my man Lung.
+ 01 Wrongbike: a fixed, converted 70s Vista, now yellow/orange wrongrobot color, with arc bars and gumwalls.
+ 02 Crook Type 3: a green/white 2010 Cinelli x MASH frame build-up based on the gray version that I rode Aids Lifecycle on, but now with bullhorns
+ 03 Villain: my first all-in road bike build based on a LOOK KG381 Team from the 2003 Tour de France, currently employing SRAM Rival components for the most part.
+ 04 Ye Blacke Death: an old late 60s Mixte frame now converted to a fixed cargo bike, with moon bars, wood fenders, knobby tyres, a front cargo rack and a front seat for my daughter, Wee Z.
+05 Ghostal: a new-parts build fixie based on an Origin 8 frameset, done in all white with chrome, for science. Not for death. This one is being stripped back down and partially sold.
The rest have either been gifted to friends, or are in use by others, or have been stripped for sale. See, I’m condensing!

how long have you been riding and what started you?
I rode a kids bike as a kid, but no romantic tale of me hurtling along with streamers and a #3 emblazoned on my glitter-tee or anything. In Junior High I started riding a KHS mountain bike around town for the same reasons Lung described: getting outta dodge. That was stolen in early High School, and I upped to my first road bike, a heavy as lead Nishiki which I learned to ride properly for distance despite it’s entry-level, again heavy as LEAD nature. I rode my first event rides on it, my first two day ride, and so on. I mashed the HELL out of that thing, so much so that on a climb in one of the event rides, I bent the teeth on the big chainring. Tells you both the quality of the steel used on that component, and the wrongness involved: I was big gear mashing to catch someone up a hill, which today i would have more sense that to do (assuming I had ANY gear choices at hand)… That guy expired and was abandoned when my parents moved, but I was in college at that point, riding a mountain bike, as it was windy and hilly and I was more interested in off road hurtling and alcohol consuming than distance endurance efforts. I upgraded to a much better, aluminum mountain bike when I first moved to SF, but after a few years, while I DID enjoy the shock absorption and relative hardiness while plowing through all the glass and shrapnel on Oak street, I longed for the road bike days of my youth. I bought a 2000 Bianchi Veloce, my first real road bike of relative quality (still consumer level, but with better components and racing geometry) and rode that through all the events and years of commuting before selling it to my man Lung after I had upgraded to my first pro-grade Look. From there, it got out of hand, as events conspired to force me to re-evaluate the one bike for all rides mentality, and Lung taught me to wrench.

do you wear a helmet and why or why not?
Absolutely. I ride all my ‘real rides’ with a helmet, as I do my commutes. I also admit I irrationally forego it on short jaunts to coffee while at work, or similar, but there’s no logic to that. I don’t believe helmets make you a safer rider. But I do believe they protect you THAT MUCH MORE, so why not, right. Definitely has proven a life-saver for me at least three times in my life where I’ve seen the split helmet foam.

favorite shop? why?
Too many, too many. Like Lung, it’s my own bike basement. But also locally, it’s Tam Bikes. I like the pedigree and eccentric selection at Bike Odyssey, but I know the guys at Tam Bikes, so. In SF, I prefer American (fixed side)…

clip or clipless?
I rode, at one point, SPD and Speedplay and Look clips… but now I condensed to all SPD to give me the most flexibility, even though it’s my least favorite system. Some of my townie fixies have half-and-half pedals, SPD on one side, platform on the other.

ride with headphones?
exclusively.

sponsors or teams/gangs/clubs you are a part of?
http://www.teamlopetyreclubbe.com is our life’s blood, ride crew wise. Team Lope started as Jeff Muadib Marks and I, in event rides and centuries we would do together. Then Lung got in on it and it evolved from just being the name used on group road rides, and became a way of life, seriously. Build it yourself, modernize it, give it a new use, funkify it, avoid style rules, push your limits and have fun riding. And anyone in the Bay Area that wants to ride with us, let it be known and come along. In 2011 we’ll be posting notice of our planned rides so you can hop aboard appropriately. We have some local riders who’ve expressed interest in joining us on the road, and we love it. Almost as much as we love taking climbs with roadies who stare at us. Heh.

fav. race?
I’ve never raced. I’ve always pursued my personal best, of course. Every commute ride is a time trial, every road ride where there’s a rider somewhere up ahead means I’m in 2nd place and need to catch them. But overall, never done crits or anything. I enjoy watching professional road racing, though the politics, business and scandal of the sport hurts the vibe. Tole you what though, if we had a velodrome, I’d give it a go.

fav. place to ride or route(s) in SF ?
Tough one, same. I really enjoyed my commute because it was all water’s edge, had climbs, and was beautiful, both in scenery and people-watching, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. My favorite city riding memories are the weekend morning noodles with Lung, takin it ‘teazy, having a cup of coffee, doing dorky bike errands. My favorite roads to ride, anywhere, though are where the trees overhang on either side and create long arched vaults of dappled lighting, and you have some undulation in the road. Good stuff.

fav. person(s) to ride with?
i prefer to ride alone, but of course my boy Lung.
As I’ve gotten older, and family life has taken a stronger grip on my social time AND free time, I’ve especially looked forward to group rides as a way to get the band back together in the first place.

dope chill spot?
Coffee shop! But only at the beginning of a real long ride, not in the middle. I’m looking at you Eric.

why SF (lung edit : you can put your own city, but just specify it)?
I love SF. Other cities I’ve enjoyed riding were Paris, Seattle, Dusseldorf.

what do you do for work?
Architect by day, comic artist by night [ http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com ]

best and worst thing(s) about riding in SF?
Honestly, it’s not SF specific but cultural: I love riding where I live, where there are a great number of diverse riders on the road, lots of choices of route, lots of funky rides to be inspired by, and enough of a rider presence to give us some leverage politically in local legislative issues. On the other hand, the sword cuts both ways: I strongly dislike riders with elitist attitudes, riders who ride 3 wide and block traffic, riders who ride so unpredictably that car drivers grow angry, and trouble makers who happen to be on bike. All these come with the territory when you are in a bike city. And regardless of what Portlandia posits, cities like ours may have a plethora of tall bikes and fixies and fun bikery going on, but we’re still at the mercy of aggressive drivers, and that’s always the biggest dampener on my riding pleasure. So any ride that goes off without conflict is a treat! I aim for those!

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Day 3 back in the saddle.
Another cold ride in, with the bundled normal clothes routine that only really has been part of my situation since moving to Mill Valley (before, riding in from SF, I was always dressed in ride kit, so summer was the basic ride kit and winter was the addition of winter vest, warmers, booties, etc)
But we’re up some 15 degrees from last week, so it was a relatively balmy 47 degrees. HA!

I was LOVING riding, as I always do but still not yet taking it for granted the way you do when you ride daily. Irritated slightly that, since I haven’t re-strung my derailleur cables (they took a beating when I strung them the first time, due to my inexperience and later, shop assistance and re-assistance) so I have an uncapped front derailleur cable that scrapes your leg in some gearings….

Anyway, ride in: perfect. Foggy, pre-dawn, little hairy but fast!

Ride home, marked with a return to the usual: aggravated driver interaction.
You know from reading my entries that I tend to TRY and blow off irate driver conflict as it’s going to inevitably lead to my being one of those tragic news items you read about on Urbanvelo… but this one got to me and I pursued it. The guy was driving along and I was behind and slightly to the side. Traditional semi-blind spot. Traffic on this single-lane road was going in the low 20s. He creeps ahead by a half car length, then taps breaks I mean brakes, just a hair, so I reflexively tapped mine. You never know with these drivers out here, the way they weave around… Anyway, he suddenly does an immediate right turn into a driveway, without signaling. I lammed on the breaks I mean brakes, and narrowly avoided both hitting his back third, AND going down.

I pulled in after him and as he rolled to a stop i came up and said, and not in an angry way but definitely with urgency: ‘Hey, do we know each other?’
Him: ‘no?’
Me: ‘So why are you trying to KILL me?!’
Him: ‘what?’
Me: ‘You made a sudden turn and didn’t signal, man! You almost laid me out.’
Him: —
Him: ‘Your bike is BLACK!’

Really.

Me: ‘Your signal isn’t supposed to suddenly improve YOUR powers of observation, it’s to tell ME what you might be doing so I can try and get out of your way!’
Him: ‘Whatever!’

So I rode off, because it was a lost cause. His attitude was that I shouldn’t have been on the road, I couldn’t be seen, my bike is dark, etc etc etc. Look, I’m no fool ( no more than normal): I know it’s hard to see bikes, even when emblazoned with bright colors and blinkies and what not. We move differently, we’re a sliver in their backwards glance, and with headlights and changing driving conditions and so on, they’ve got a lot to process… I have trouble seeing bikes as a driver, too. But that’s why predictable driving, AND RIDING, behavior is so important. So effing SIGNAL, dude.

Anyway, that didn’t even mar my ride. Home in time to make lentils, happy as a clam.
Side note: seized up the gears again shifting on a climb. I need to sort that out. Im not going out like the Schleck!

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Related posts:

1. Back in the Saddle, Day 2: Villain
2. Back in the Saddle, Day 4: Wet Wrongbike
3. Back in the Saddle, Day 6: Let it Be Known

Second day back on the bike, this time the LOOK KG381 Team that was my first complete road bike assembly. I finished it before ALC9 but barely rode it thereafter before the holidays.

The good? Fast, quiet, nonemorematteblack (except for white)
The bad? My effing rear derailleur has slipped a bit and is not capturing the big ole 27 cog. It seized. Which gave me the panics until i remembered I wasn’t fixed.
The good? I LOVE bikes I built myself.
The ominous? I was flanked by a phalanx of pie-plate hunting GEESE.
What does it all mean…

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1. Back in the Saddle, Day 3: Dark Villain
2. Back in the Saddle, Day 4: Wet Wrongbike
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!

So today I finally had the opportunity to do what I’ve been wanting to do for a few weeks now: get Villain back into rotation. Ghostal is now for sale, so I’m not riding it, lest it explodes in irony, and my riding time has been split between Crook and Ye Blacke Death. But I built up the new Villain 3.0 in anticipation of the Tour de Lung road ride Team lope is hosting, now hopefully set for October. But I need some saddle time to iron out any kinks in what was my first road bike build.

So far so good! MAYBE seat comes down a hair. Shifting and braking are solid. Feels great.

Tell you what I forget about road bikes after a lot of continuous fixie riding: they’re FAST. I was flying today, both directions of m commute. Just flying.

Anyway, that is all. Just good times, with gears=gasp!=I=said=gears!

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When my guy at my LBS helped me adjust the derailleur on Villain, I noted he was using a very awesome tool, referred to as the ‘third hand’ in that shop. Obviously that’s a name you’d want to buy the tool for, regardless of what it does.

The industry actually knows it as the ‘Fourth Hand’ because it serves the purpose of two hands… just by the time you subtract a hand holding it, you’re down to three. But you COULD let it hang, back up to—-

– OK, dork out over. Anyway, it clamps the brake or shift cable in place and then locks that position, nice and tight, so you can hold a nut or clamp and allen it with the other hand.

I’ve done 3,000 brake cable adjustments now without it. FINALLY I have the damn thing.

Ironically, I suppose, it’s not needed on center-pull brakes like YBD, which constitute the most recent 2,999 of those adjustments.

But fohwahhhhhd!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Breakery
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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!
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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
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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
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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

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