joejack951

$15, just let me know the steerer tube ID, measured across multiple locations with an accurate digital caliper. Something tells me it will be ~23.5mm but confirming first would avoid disappointment down the road...

Probably not. Just adds cost and limits appeal, or is my joejack persona that intriguing on the interwebz these days? I do like the product name 'Tubestuffer' though.

rpenmanparker 

I did miss that. Maybe I can get Maelochs to make the measurement for the -066 so I don't have to.

Maelochs

I was hoping you already had the calipers. if I have to buy them my total cost is over the $27 the other piece would cost.

rpenmanparker 

I have some super cheesy ones. Ain't gonna cut it.

joejack951

Ok, you two...try this: A Shimano cassette lockring tool just happens to measure 23.5mm across the major diameter of the spines (per my Park Tool FR-5G). Can you fit one of those into your steerer tube or not? If so, is it pretty snug?

superdex

Tubestuffer?

oscarach

Hi Joe, If you are making more of those short arms for the HY/RD I would interested in buying as set, or possibly two.

joejack951

They are coming. I am currently trying to sort out the cable clamp hardware. I want to include it with the arms but so far my only option is standard Shimano hardware at near full retail price, which jacks the prices for a set of arms higher than I'd like. I'm working with TRP to try and get some of their Spyre hardware direct from the factory but I am forced to sit and wait for a quote as their US side can't guarantee me anything or even ballpark the price. This is all slowing down my CNC'ing of the arms because I need to slightly alter the geometry to use the TRP cable clamp vs. the current Shimano clamp as pictured. I'll be sure to keep everyone up to date on my progress, though.

joejack951

At this point, I'll take your super cheesy measurement. You will likely give me a better measurement by adjusting your current expander plug until it will only just fit into your steerer tube and then measuring that outer diameter. Measuring an ID of an inconsistent cylinder can be a little tricky, especially with crap calipers.

Of course, take the measurement without a stem clamped on the steerer tube!

rpenmanparker 

Yeah, that is the real problem. I am too lazy to take the front end apart.

joejack951

Would a free Tubestuffer entice you to take it apart?

Maelochs

Dang, bro, I was waiting for you. I don't want to take my bike apart or buy calipers ... and if i measured wrong ....

rpenmanparker 

Okay, okay, give me a day or two. I'll do it. But first I have a pair of wheels to overhaul for a customer. I like saying that: customer. Has a nice ring to it.

rpenmanparker 

So I made the measurement, but honestly I don't trust it. My caliper fell apart while I was using it.

I am ordering a new one now and will report a updated measurement as soon as I can. Meanwhile I got a high reading of 24.2 mm and a low of 24.0. Please wait for my update.

chrischin

I'm using a Shimano pinch plate from a spare caliper on the stock arm to suffice in the meantime. It addresses pinch pressure concerns that most have with the mod options. I'm restricted in posting URLs because of post count or I'd show photos.

rpenmanparker 

Okay, what a sweet electronic caliper for under $20 on Amazon. Crazy value. Anyway, with the new caliper I am still getting an ID of about 24.1 mm with a range of +/- 0.1 mm at different points inside the circumference.

joejack951

Good to know I'm not the only one that saw that cable clamp arrangement as a huge red flag with the modded HY/RD's. If I didn't say it already, my prototype arms have Shimano hardware on them. I also happened to have a spare Shimano caliper sitting next to me when I designed them so it was the obvious choice, and you can buy those parts damn near anywhere. I just wish I could get them cheaper. Still no answer from TRP

joejack951

Excellent. Thank you! Seems like 23.5 and 24mm are good starting points then. I can always expand the range as needed. Should be plenty of weight weenies out there with Workswell or similar forks willing to give this thing a chance. I'll finalize things to get production rolling and see how it goes!

himespau 

It's a cool looking bike (my preference would be some white "customize by JoeJack" or something decals on the downtube", but that's just me). You went down a couple of deep rabbit holes but have come up with some cool mods to make yours truly unique.

joejack951

Thanks! You've described my build well I have some thoughts on decals, though if I do add them they'll be subtle, likely gray. Maybe I'll try them in white in Photoshop just to see. Maybe I'll change my mind.

joejack951

Alright, finally got the word from TRP and they are able to provide me hardware at a fraction of the cost of Shimano stuff off the interwebz. I'll do my best to get the arm geometry updated this week and get production going. Probably looking at ~early-June availability if all goes well. Hardware has a 45 day lead time!

joejack951

So this is embarrassing, but I am finally able to give a 'first ride' report! I won't make the excuse that I've been too busy because people with far busier lives than me manage to fit in way more exercise than I do so we'll go with I've woefully mismanaged my time for the past month or so. So much did I waste time doing non-cycling things that I ran my first sub-7 minute mile in years a week ago. And today I proved once again that decent running legs =/ decent cycling legs.

I got in 27 miles around lunchtime making this the first time the Chinabomb has left my neighborhood. I realized that I never did get around to applying glue to my spare tubular so I left the house with a can of Pitstop and a mini pump and hoped for the best (I rarely flat and this ride was no different). Winds were 10-20mph throughout the ride so that gave me a good chance to evaluate how much the deeper profile wheels would be affected by crosswinds.

I realized pretty quickly that the muscle memory in my right hand was going to cause some wrong-way shifts with the Campy right lever. I lost count how many times I shifted down rather than up because I'm so used to the paddle behind the brake lever doing the opposite of what it now does. By the end of the ride I got the hang of it, sorta. Regardless of that teething issue, I simply love the new shifters. Surprisingly, my favorite feature isn't so much the thumb button as it is not using the left brake lever to shift up to the big ring. The positive feel of that shift is so good. My second favorite feature is the thumb lever, though, and a close third is the multiple upshifts (great for dropping to the small ring on a compact).

On to the frame/fork...Solid. Yet smooth, though I'd wager the latter has more to do with low pressure (85/90 F/R) tubular tires than anything else. Standing and climbing felt very good. No creaks (from the frame, more on creaks later) and no feeling of 'give' anywhere. 'Solid' is simply the best word I can think of to describe the feeling I got every (short) time I really pushed. I would not call it 'vertically compliant' so if that is a must have for you, this might not be your frame. Overall, I'm not sure what I was expecting from the FM079-F but whatever it was it has been exceeded.

Wheels...no brake rub And the crosswinds were more noticeable with the deeper profiles but not in an unsettling way.

My position on this bike is a little lower and a little longer (but barely) than I'm used but I definitely felt it in my arms. I'll chalk that up to lack of time on the bike for now. I may need do some tricep/core work if this feeling sticks around much longer. The Ritchey carbon bars are comfortable and fitting for the frame it seems. The flat tops, a new feature to me, are nice on climbs even though I didn't tape them. The internal routing of the cables leaves them as smooth as a bare bar which is something I instantly noticed and approved. The hassle of routing that stiff brake housing with worth it.

The TRP HY/RD brakes with custom arms and Icetech rotors are sweet. Very confident braking with the stock pads in dry conditions. I have some Shimano replacement pads to eventually install because I've read enough reports about the TRP compound wearing very quickly in the rain. I never got around to bedding in the stock pads, but I had a few chances to give them a good workout on this ride (like slowing from >35 down to 15ish on a steep downhill when the dump truck right in front of me smartly slowed for the sharp turn which I didn't really plan on slowing for) and they didn't disappoint. I am looking forward to slightly less lever travel with the latest arms which I adjusted for ~10% less throw, about the best I could do given the caliper geometry. Full hydro brakes may be a bit better, but I'll be happy with this arrangement for a long time.

The Vittoria Corsa G+ tubulars have also proven a good choice. I'm not sure how much of it is the short-ish chainstays on the frame (410mm) and how much is the nicely rounded tire profile but turn-in felt instant, surprisingly so to be honest. I had to correct my line a little wider at least once because my usual lean resulted in a sharper turn than expected. Or chalk that up to time off the bike. WTF do I know Future rides will clear that up.

The new wider Ultegra pedals feel easier to get into the older, narrow body pedals I've been using. It could just be my imagination or maybe the slightly bigger target helps. I'm using some older yellow cleats with a few thousand miles on them FWIW.

Minor detail but the Tacx Deva cages are really nice. Secure but ingress/egress of a bottle is super smooth. Much better than the Tao's I've always used. Hopefully they are as durable.

My one issue, which, thanks to this forum I instantly tried to blame on the BB30 crank, was an incessant creak from the front of the bike. However, I quickly realized it wasn't the crank because it was nearly always there, pedaling or not. I can't be certain without swapping some bits but it sure seems like the front hub. I do recall a slight 'tick' when spinning that wheel on my truing stand but I blamed it on something or other at the time and forgot about it until today. If I'm on the hoods, sitting, and pedaling normally, it ticks constantly. If I sit back with my hands on the tops, removing some weight from the front end, it stops. If I stand and mash, it stops. Probably just a bad bearing, hopefully. I'd hate to have to rebuild the wheel and wait for another white hub. I'll give it a few more rides to 'break-in' and then move on to new bearings first. Anyone else with Bitex hubs get a dud?

I won't post a Strava link as my speed was pathetic and I'll spare myself further embarrassment until someone feels like Strava stalking and finding it. Really looking forward to getting my legs back (at least running has kept the weight off for the most part) and putting in some good miles on this bike. If this first ride is any indication, I nailed the spec and fit making this bike a deserving replacement to my old (cracked) LOOK frame.

joejack951

About that bad wheel bearing, turns out the noise was coming from the front brake pads touching the disc. I discovered this after pulling the wheel out and inspecting the bearings every which way I could and not finding anything obviously wrong, which prompted me to remove the rotor and see if that changed anything. Sure enough, what seemed like a tiny bit of rub when I first installed the caliper had developed a 'sticking' point (for lack of a better description) and was making a noise just like a bad bearing at one particular location. I tried, again, to align the brake caliper with the compressionless brake housing in place and only made things worse. The housing is so stiff it must deflect the rotor a bit due to the not-so-perfect path it takes into the cable stop.

So, I loosened the brake cable, pulled the housing out of the cable stop, aligned the caliper with nothing forcing it in any direction, then carefully but forcefully directed the housing back into the stop. Success. I shouldn't have given up so easily when building the bike but it really seemed nearly impossible to get the housing into the stop with the caliper fixed in place. The housing must be taking on more of a bend from use.

I almost rode my old Trek today because I didn't want to make a bad bearing into more of an issue but the Chinabomb went on a second ride after sorting out that noise. I still suck but I did PR a downhill segment without even trying which must mean that I've made some significant aero or rolling resistance gains. It's likely nearly all in my position on the bike but I'd like to believe that my risk of running tubulars and the weight penalty of going deeper on the rims is benefiting me slightly.

I do need to sort out the reason why I dropped my chain to the inside on a (quickly becoming) routine double shift onto the 34T ring and up 4 cogs on the cassette. Happened right at the base of a nice hill/segment so pretty annoying. I'll tweak my inner limit screw and see if it happens again, then possibly request the help of some with more Campy tuning knowledge than myself. Perhaps there are some nuances of which I am unaware.

I also discovered that my gentle tightening of the handlebar clamp on the stem was not enough, at least not enough to hold the bars in place landing a bunny hop over some railroad tracks. I didn't have a T20 bit with me so I got to ride the 6 miles home with my shifters about an inch lower. I've since snugged up those screws and I doubt the bars are going anywhere. I'll try to land a little more gently from now on, too.

Maelochs

The rest of us have been waiting for about as long as you have ... AND YOU DIDN'T POST PICTURES!

Maelochs

Good to know it works. better to know the hubs work, after the pages of travails you put us through.

Re stiffness, etc ... yeah I find mine is not At All compliant, but somehow mutes bumps. It is weird. I don't know what i was expecting, and I like what i got, but while it isn't bone-jarring old-aluminum stiff, it is simply not vertically compliant. One the other hand, I don't suppose it will flex laterally either .... not at the pavement-warming wattage I am laying down.

Now I might have to ride it tonight ... I was planning on the old Cannondale ....