I know exactly how that feels!
Gravel commuter / tourer build
- Thread starter ChrisEyles
- Start date
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I know exactly how that feels!
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Now we all love a good spreadsheet, so here's how the budget's currently looking now I have nearly all the parts on order:
I found an old rear rack I'd completely forgotten about in the garage, which is very pleasing!
Total net spend currently stands at £276 which isn't quite as bad as I feared! Still need to buy a suitable front derailleur and some bar tape, and have quite a few bits and pieces left to sell.
I reckon the total for this one's going to come in at under £250, plus a box of bits that would otherwise never have seen the light of day again.
A couple of bits are en route from China so don't expect I'll be able to finish this before early August if their shipping times are accurate.
Been spending so long wrapping & posting stuff for ebay that I've not made any progress at all with the actual build. Next job is to finish servicing the sus fork.
| Item | Cost | Project |
| Marin Hawk Hill | £200 | £200 |
| Headset | £9 | £209 |
| Sell old headset | -£5 | £204 |
| Cable disc calipers | £41 | £245 |
| Sell spare caliper | £245 | |
| Sell hydraulic calipers | -£32 | £213 |
| Brifters | £31 | £244 |
| Sell old shifters | -£12 | £232 |
| Rear derailleur (parts bin) | £0 | £232 |
| Front derailleur | £232 | |
| Sell old derailleurs | -£11 | £222 |
| Cables/pads | £8 | £230 |
| Drop bars | £25 | £255 |
| Bar tape | £255 | |
| Sell old bars | -£8 | £247 |
| Sell old grips | £247 | |
| Sell seat post | -£8 | £239 |
| New seat post | £24 | £263 |
| Sell old crankset & pedals | -£11 | £252 |
| New crankset & pedals | £33 | £285 |
| Toe clips | £5 | £289 |
| Sell old box of parts (silver bars; red bottle cage so far) | -£14 | £276 |
| Rack | £0 | £276 |
| Mudguards | £0 | £276 |
I found an old rear rack I'd completely forgotten about in the garage, which is very pleasing!
Total net spend currently stands at £276 which isn't quite as bad as I feared! Still need to buy a suitable front derailleur and some bar tape, and have quite a few bits and pieces left to sell.
I reckon the total for this one's going to come in at under £250, plus a box of bits that would otherwise never have seen the light of day again.
A couple of bits are en route from China so don't expect I'll be able to finish this before early August if their shipping times are accurate.
Been spending so long wrapping & posting stuff for ebay that I've not made any progress at all with the actual build. Next job is to finish servicing the sus fork.
OP
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Having spent a while looking for a suitable rigid fork, it looks like this will be either difficult or expensive to source.
So I'm trying out my first custom tune of a fork today, to make use of the bombers.
Since the negative springs had broken I replaced these with some pipe insulation foam top out bumpers. This will lower the travel by around 10mm, which should be good for the intended use.
Swapping the springs for a bumper will mean there is a lot less small bump compliance as there won't be anything to get the fork moving against the striction forces. But there should also be less bob - again both of which should suit the intended use for this fork.
I'm using a mix of 7.5 wt and 15 wt oil in the dampers, which is heavier than OEM spec, as the rebound seemed a bit too fast for my liking.
Hopefully the seals are still all good! Got the fork up to 45psi in each leg, leaving it now to see if there's any leakage before I top the oil up to full height.
Need to think a bit about what air volume & pressure to use. At the moment I'm thinking a more linear, higher spring rate would be best, rather than an initially soft spring that ramps up more quickly, which doesn't make any sense for a bike that's going to see a good amount of road miles.
So I'm trying out my first custom tune of a fork today, to make use of the bombers.
Since the negative springs had broken I replaced these with some pipe insulation foam top out bumpers. This will lower the travel by around 10mm, which should be good for the intended use.
Swapping the springs for a bumper will mean there is a lot less small bump compliance as there won't be anything to get the fork moving against the striction forces. But there should also be less bob - again both of which should suit the intended use for this fork.
I'm using a mix of 7.5 wt and 15 wt oil in the dampers, which is heavier than OEM spec, as the rebound seemed a bit too fast for my liking.
Hopefully the seals are still all good! Got the fork up to 45psi in each leg, leaving it now to see if there's any leakage before I top the oil up to full height.
Need to think a bit about what air volume & pressure to use. At the moment I'm thinking a more linear, higher spring rate would be best, rather than an initially soft spring that ramps up more quickly, which doesn't make any sense for a bike that's going to see a good amount of road miles.
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
It's looking rather more MTB than gravel bike so far...
If the fork works out as I hope and can be kept on the bike, I'll need to cut down the steerer a bit!
Found an old rear rack lurking under my work bench the other day, which is a bonus.
If the fork works out as I hope and can be kept on the bike, I'll need to cut down the steerer a bit!
Found an old rear rack lurking under my work bench the other day, which is a bonus.
OP
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
I think I've got all the parts sorted now bar a front derailleur.
Haven't totted up all the bits I've sold yet, but I reckon £200 - £250 plus a box of old bits will cover it.
Would love to get cracking with the build... But too much housework to do! Hopefully make a bit of progress next weekend.
Haven't totted up all the bits I've sold yet, but I reckon £200 - £250 plus a box of old bits will cover it.
Would love to get cracking with the build... But too much housework to do! Hopefully make a bit of progress next weekend.
DCBassman
Guru
- Location
- The lumpy far South West
Have an Altus FD, what tube size are you needing? It's not pretty, but definitely works!
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
I'll need a 34.9mm clamp, and either bottom or dual pull.
Since I'm going to be using it with road shifters, I think I'm going to need a design where the cable clamp bolt allows the cable to be clamped on the "wrong" side to effectively shorten the lever arm, making up for the shorter cable pull of a road brifter vs a MTB shifter. A lot of designs use a clamp bolt who's length lies in the plane of rotation of the lever, where there's no scope for this. It's a bit difficult to describe in words, hopefully it makes sense!
I'm currently looking at a few FD's which look like they should be suitable on ebay ATM, finishing this evening. If I don't win the bidding on any of these, could you send me some pics of the Altus mech to see which orientation of clamp bolt it has?
Since I'm going to be using it with road shifters, I think I'm going to need a design where the cable clamp bolt allows the cable to be clamped on the "wrong" side to effectively shorten the lever arm, making up for the shorter cable pull of a road brifter vs a MTB shifter. A lot of designs use a clamp bolt who's length lies in the plane of rotation of the lever, where there's no scope for this. It's a bit difficult to describe in words, hopefully it makes sense!
I'm currently looking at a few FD's which look like they should be suitable on ebay ATM, finishing this evening. If I don't win the bidding on any of these, could you send me some pics of the Altus mech to see which orientation of clamp bolt it has?
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Sorted - got a Deore mech on the way 
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Too much damn work on to make any progress with this one at the moment - frustrating! May get a chance to do a few bits at the weekend... if I'm not chained to the laptop all day...
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Inching forward on this one!
BB spindle turned out to be the wrong length for the crank I have, so have ordered a new one. Needed a new rear brake ISO to post mount adapter too, since the rear wheel rotor is a 140mm instead of 160mm that I had an adapter in stock.
BB spindle turned out to be the wrong length for the crank I have, so have ordered a new one. Needed a new rear brake ISO to post mount adapter too, since the rear wheel rotor is a 140mm instead of 160mm that I had an adapter in stock.
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
We're moving house in a couple of weeks, and I doubt I'm going to get it finished before then.. and it may be a while before the dust settles and all the boxes are unpacked!
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Popped on a chain & rear mech today, and added cables. It's getting there!
Next job is probably to true the rims & rotors before setting up the brakes & gears.
Next job is probably to true the rims & rotors before setting up the brakes & gears.
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Wheels and rotors are all nicely trued up now
Went for a quick test spin - first impressions are:
The Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes are awesome! I didn't even spend agonisingly long setting them up, and they're miles better already than any mechanical disc brake I've previously used - this so far without compressionless housing too.
Getting the position of the brifters right with flared drop bars is difficult! Took a lot of faffing to settle on something I was happy with, and as always with this style of brifter shifting from the drops is a little compromised, but otherwise it feels good.
Stem was a little too long so swapped for a slightly shorter one. Saddle has been moved forward a bit on the rails to further reduce the reach.
The Marzocchi Bombers feel really nice!!! Once I was confident in the brakes I took in a nice steep rocky track and they feel a hell of a lot more composed than I expected. Rebound damping is maybe a smidge too much right now, but that's easily sorted.
The cheapo dropper post is also a pleasant surprise and works just as it should.
Since it's near as damnit finished, I wrapped the bars (always a job I like to leave until last, as it finished a build off nicely and is something I really enjoy doing).
Shifting at the front is the only thing that isn't really working well at the moment... I think because I'm using a MTB front mech with road brifters. There isn't an obvious way to adjust the point at which the cable clamps onto the lever arm on the front mech to change the leverage ratio, so I think I'm going to need a road triple front mech to finish this one off.
Other than this, just need to give it a few shakedown rides and tweak the indexing and brakes as the cable outers bed in. I think it's going to be a good'un
Went for a quick test spin - first impressions are:
The Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes are awesome! I didn't even spend agonisingly long setting them up, and they're miles better already than any mechanical disc brake I've previously used - this so far without compressionless housing too.
Getting the position of the brifters right with flared drop bars is difficult! Took a lot of faffing to settle on something I was happy with, and as always with this style of brifter shifting from the drops is a little compromised, but otherwise it feels good.
Stem was a little too long so swapped for a slightly shorter one. Saddle has been moved forward a bit on the rails to further reduce the reach.
The Marzocchi Bombers feel really nice!!! Once I was confident in the brakes I took in a nice steep rocky track and they feel a hell of a lot more composed than I expected. Rebound damping is maybe a smidge too much right now, but that's easily sorted.
The cheapo dropper post is also a pleasant surprise and works just as it should.
Since it's near as damnit finished, I wrapped the bars (always a job I like to leave until last, as it finished a build off nicely and is something I really enjoy doing).
Shifting at the front is the only thing that isn't really working well at the moment... I think because I'm using a MTB front mech with road brifters. There isn't an obvious way to adjust the point at which the cable clamps onto the lever arm on the front mech to change the leverage ratio, so I think I'm going to need a road triple front mech to finish this one off.
Other than this, just need to give it a few shakedown rides and tweak the indexing and brakes as the cable outers bed in. I think it's going to be a good'un
OP
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
It rides (and ended up looking) more like a MTB with drop bars than a gravel bike, but on reflection I think that's a good thing. Reduced efficiency on the road bugs me less than reduced capability off-road when I do mixed terrain rides on my other bikes. We're moving house very soon, and while I'm currently spoiled for choice with a selection of great bridleways on my doorstep (and even a proper DH set of runs a couple of miles away in the woods), it looks like I'll need to put in a fair few road miles before getting to the good stuff from our new place.
Unfortunately the rear rack I found in the shed won't fit around the disc brake caliper, so I'll be sticking with a backpack for the time being. Will look into a suitable rack when/if I have time to do some bike/camping trips again (not looking desperately likely this year unfortunately!).
Unfortunately the rear rack I found in the shed won't fit around the disc brake caliper, so I'll be sticking with a backpack for the time being. Will look into a suitable rack when/if I have time to do some bike/camping trips again (not looking desperately likely this year unfortunately!).
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ChrisEyles
Guru
- Location
- Devon
Oh yeah, and it turns out that the body mechanics of bunny hopping a drop bar MTB is a tiny bit different from a flar bar one... first one I tried off a little lip the back end went miles up in the air, and I landed a disgraceful nosedive on the front wheel. Probably a good job I had a sus fork fitted!
