Bah Humbug

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for sating my curiosity. You can see why I was confused.

kaliayev

Make sure to post some pics when you get the Nemesis on, those should make for some sweet hoops.

Sexy_Lugs

Beautiful bike ba63!

I am glad to hear that the bottom bracket is stiffer than expected, the sway, I was wondering myself how stiff it would be. Keep us updated on the seat slipping.

Lightingguy

This is an occasionally reported issue that is typically solved by using a different brand of seatpost. I'm currently using an Easton EA50 with setback which doesn't slip.

SB

primov8

fa63, great looking build. I was considering building up a surly lht but your bike has me thinking otherwise. Nicely done.

fa63

Thanks for the compliments. Slight change in plans, instead of a Ritchey WCS stem in white, I went with one of these:



And a couple of 5mm white spacers:



I might try to do alternating black-white spacers to see how that looks. What do you guys think?

Anyways, I am planning on getting the seatpost powder-coated tomorrow, so this build should be all wrapped up by the end of next week when the stem and spacers come in.

HAMMER MAN

great build!
Since you are a fan tsuanmi bikes what happen with the new ISP and custom build that you don't like about it

fa63

Let's just say that the ISP experiment was a failed one for me. Plus it rode and felt very similar to my other Tsunami (which is not a bad thing), and it made me want something a little different because it was like having two of the same bike. I had always wanted to try out a steel frame anyways so I went ahead and built this up.

fa63

Here is a quick picture with the Ambrosio Nemesis / DA wheels after this morning's ride:



Strava says I set quite a few personal bests (especially downhill), so it seems the placebo effect is strong with this one

Also, the seatpost did not slip at all so it seems the friction paste did the trick.

kaliayev

The Nems look stellar. Needs a black seat post. Looks great though.

Sexy_Lugs

Thing is looking wicked! Placebo or not... i am saying steel +1!

pallen

Very nice!

Bah Humbug

Mmm... placebo.

fa63

The seatpost is done, here is a quick picture:



The color match wasn't as close as I would have liked it to be, but oh well. Still not bad.

fa63

Here is a quick outdoor picture after this morning's ride with the white seatpost:

RoboIsGod

Looks awesome! Now I want one...

cwk132

White seatpost does set it off, looks good (Ritchey does make a glossy white seatpost in most sizes too just FYI). I'd almost leave the stem and headset black unless you plan on going with white bars, tape, and hoods. I think it offsets the black fork well.

fa63

Thanks for the compliments.

Unfortunately, the Ritchey seatpost wouldn't have given enough setback based on my experience with it on my other bike, so I went with this (Velo Orange Grand Cru long setback) instead. As for the stem and headset spacers, I would still like to give white a try, but I agree that black looks good too.

fa63

The white stem is on:



To be honest, I am not exactly thrilled with it right now, but I will leave it on there for a while and see if it grows on me. Anyways, I want to give a quick update on my impressions of the bike:

- The ride is slightly smoother than the aluminum frame it replaced. Nothing drastic, but it seems to absorb high frequency vibrations and large bumps a bit better.
- I can't feel the extra weight (a little over a pound heavier).
- The bottom bracket stiffness is good, very good in fact. I was a bit worried about this, but I don't get any chain rub even when pushing really hard so all is well here.
- The handling is very good; it is quick to respond to inputs but not overly twitchy.

Sexy_Lugs

That is one sexy looking bike there!

My opinion is the black stem/seat post is a better match with the fork/crank set up.

Glad to hear you are satisfied with the frame, its been added to my Christmas list.

FKMTB07

Black stem/post would look better. Matching whites is very difficult, and the Smoothie is a pearl white that won't be matched easily in powder coat. Also, the black would match the fork and cranks.

puckett129

Go with a black seatpost and white hoods!

FKMTB07

Finally got some pics of my Smoothie. Sorry for the picture quality, my camera doesn't do so well with pictures of white bikes, but you get the idea.

PatrickGSR94

I think keeping the white frame and everything else black would look awesome. Basically the pic in post #40, but with a black (carbon?) seat post, which would make the frame by itself totally jump out at you. It almost does with FKMTB07's bike above, but not as much with the white fork.