At this point I'm a spacer set, a saw guide and container of waterproof grease away from having all the pieces necessary to install the headset, stem and handlebars. All have been shipped.
In the meantime the only component ready to install got installed, the crown race onto the fork. I had watched videos and made a DIY tool like this guy, but still lacked confidence in knowing which side of the crown race faced up. In one video, the person held a correctly oriented race up to the camera but the poor explanation and blurry picture helped very little.
Unfortunately, I was done before thinking to take pictures, but here's what I did:
1) The fork crown had some paint on it from when the forks got painted. Not wanting the paint to keep the race from getting a good seat, I took a small flat file and gently buffed the paint away. A knife or piece of sandpaper might have worked as well or better.
2) I had to figure out definitively which side of the crown race pointed up, which turned out to be quite simple. Placing the race against the bottom of the bottom headset cup made the answer obvious. I can't speak for all headsets, but with the Cane Creek 110, one side of the race fits flat against the cup bearing and can be spun smoothly. The other side did not. Obviously we want the smooth option.
3) I used a 2 pound hammer to hit the PVC pipe tool, considerably heavier than in any of the videos found online. Without hitting very hard, that heavier hammer provided good solid drive downward onto the race. It seated easily with just a few blows.
Well, that's all the bike building for today ... don't want to wear myself out.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Saturday, March 28, 2015
A Few More Parts Trickling In
Two packages arrived with the frame yesterday evening and one more arrived this morning. Contents included a Cane Creek headset, a Syntace Duraflite handlebar, a small handlebar bell and a couple of anodized orange bling for the headset.
The Cane Creek headsets have interchangeable parts, so the only difference between the 10, 40 and 110 series's is the material used. I had intended to go with a 40 series for some time, but with some knit-picky anguish. The 40 series has a blue ring painted around it and has little gecko images. My bike is orange and black with some white (lettering) and silver (chain and rotors). There just wasn't enough room in the color pallet for blue, nor cute reptiles for that matter. the 110 has stainless steel bearings and uses a stronger aluminum in the cups. That upgrade plus the no paint, no gecko thing forced an upgrade at the last minute. 110 it is. Image from Bike24.com website, one of the Europe order sites I used.
My search for a flat handlebar lasted longer than originally anticipated but this Syntace bar hit for the cycle ... strong, light, affordable and the right size and bend.
Now, about that little handlebar bell. Its not getting installed for two reasons; 1) Bike bells are not loud enough to make a real difference except at the slowest of speeds. 2) I'm a grown-ass man with testicles. Ding-ding, ding-ding ain't happenin'. The bell does have a bracket that fits in the spacer stack and can be use to mount a horn ... a man horn! I got the idea of a horn from ViventeBikes.com. Check-em out.
Parts Arrived So Far:
Soma Wolverine frame (54cm)
Matching Soma lugged fork
Cane Creek 110 headset (Black)
Syntace Duraflite 640mm flat handlebar
Horn bracket from a repurposed Mirrycle Incredibell bell
Anodized orange spacers (1mm)
Anodized orange headset bolt
Parts Installed:
None
The Cane Creek headsets have interchangeable parts, so the only difference between the 10, 40 and 110 series's is the material used. I had intended to go with a 40 series for some time, but with some knit-picky anguish. The 40 series has a blue ring painted around it and has little gecko images. My bike is orange and black with some white (lettering) and silver (chain and rotors). There just wasn't enough room in the color pallet for blue, nor cute reptiles for that matter. the 110 has stainless steel bearings and uses a stronger aluminum in the cups. That upgrade plus the no paint, no gecko thing forced an upgrade at the last minute. 110 it is. Image from Bike24.com website, one of the Europe order sites I used.
My search for a flat handlebar lasted longer than originally anticipated but this Syntace bar hit for the cycle ... strong, light, affordable and the right size and bend.
Now, about that little handlebar bell. Its not getting installed for two reasons; 1) Bike bells are not loud enough to make a real difference except at the slowest of speeds. 2) I'm a grown-ass man with testicles. Ding-ding, ding-ding ain't happenin'. The bell does have a bracket that fits in the spacer stack and can be use to mount a horn ... a man horn! I got the idea of a horn from ViventeBikes.com. Check-em out.
Parts Arrived So Far:
Soma Wolverine frame (54cm)
Matching Soma lugged fork
Cane Creek 110 headset (Black)
Syntace Duraflite 640mm flat handlebar
Horn bracket from a repurposed Mirrycle Incredibell bell
Anodized orange spacers (1mm)
Anodized orange headset bolt
Parts Installed:
None
Friday, March 27, 2015
Durable. Practical. Affordable
The frame arrived today as expected. The box got beat up a bit but remained fully intact, while the frame and fork arrived unscathed in a thick sheath of foam, bubble wrap and cardboard. The fork was housed in its own box within the box with an additional blanket of protection.
First impressions: This thing feels light. I don't doubt the 4.79 lb. spec on the SomaFab.com website, but something this big and made of steel should have a heftier feel to it. I almost bit it to confirm it was, in fact, metal. The fork, while lighter (claimed 2.3 lbs.) had that durable steel stout feel to it, perhaps because its smaller. Carbon fiber frames must feel like they are full of helium.
In the box, along with the frame and fork, I found a small bag of c-clips that fit the cable routing braze-ons on the top tube and seat stay, along with frame prep instructions. The frame prep instructions are of no use to me as the frame has already been prep'd. The good folks at AmericanCyclery.com, from whom I bought the frame, performed the necessary frame prep before shipping it. They will prep any frame they sell for the discounted price of $35 ... a no-brainer since I don't have the tools knowledge or skills to do it myself. Also in the box, a printed receipt and Tyson's business card. Tyson is the guy at American Cyclery who does the ordering and customer communication. List American Cyclery under the "Good Guys" heading.
The box, just above the large Soma logo, reads "Durable. Practical. Affordable.". I can't think of three words that best describe my decision to buy this frameset. Steel (durable), sliding dropouts and belt-ready (practical), and priced well below anything else with these features (affordable).
Components so far ...
Frameset: Soma Wolverine with matching lugged fork
Waiting for the UPS truck ...
Most of the components have been ordered but many are coming from Europe so the pace of this build will be dictated by the speed of the delivery process. The frame and headset have been riding around in a brown panel van all day and are due to visit my living room very soon.
The US dollar is pretty strong against the weakening euro right now, so much so that this build will cost around 20% less than ordering from domestic outlets alone, even considering the 5% import tax on bike parts coming into the US. A second reason for looking to Europe is the bike will be more European in style. Americans tend to think there are about eight countries in the whole world and only two types of bikes, road racing bikes and mountain bikes. This bike will lean heavily toward the more European trekking/touring style and will be a car replacement/commuter/light touring contraption.
I'm going to stand by the front window and watch for Mr. UPS. Will post unboxing pics once I have a box to unbox.
The US dollar is pretty strong against the weakening euro right now, so much so that this build will cost around 20% less than ordering from domestic outlets alone, even considering the 5% import tax on bike parts coming into the US. A second reason for looking to Europe is the bike will be more European in style. Americans tend to think there are about eight countries in the whole world and only two types of bikes, road racing bikes and mountain bikes. This bike will lean heavily toward the more European trekking/touring style and will be a car replacement/commuter/light touring contraption.
I'm going to stand by the front window and watch for Mr. UPS. Will post unboxing pics once I have a box to unbox.
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