Continuing with tweaking, mixing and bastardizing the parts on this frame (I never had a bike with one groupset at any one point in my life - I always mixed parts like Tektro, XT, LX, STX, Shram and Ritchey) I did some changes to this build recently.
First, I managed to find a pair of wheels with Sun Ringle rims, DT Hugi hubs and double butted Sapin spokes. I was after a DT Hugi wheelset for a long time and so when they showed up I went for it. Having serviced / repaired plenty of Shimano, WTB, Campagnolo and other hubs (see Joytec!) for me DT Hugis stand apart. The craftmanship, design and engineering that goes into them are in my view unsurpassable. You can basically take apart these hubs with a plastic hammer using the spindle in the process as a tool to remove the bearings. The bearings and cartridges / bodies are made with so tight tolerances that no screwing is needed. All parts are pushing against each other into place. Simple Swiss engineering perfection at its best. Also, their sound is unique. Not so loud as the new DT Hugi hubs (and that’s actually a good thing) but just thin and crispy.
Then, with the help of very kind member of this forum who handled the shipping and custom formalities at his end, I managed to get a P2 triple butted fork. So the old double butted one with the shorter steering tube were finally replaced. This means that no ugly steering tube extender is now needed either. I am not sure, I can tell the difference in the ride quality between the two even though the triple butted ones are close to 250gs lighter than the double butted. The front end though is far more nibble and reactive as without the extender and the heavier fork is now about 400gs lighter.
Next, to reduce the flex in the seat stays (which was considerable it has to be said) I used a bridge / brake stiffener. It’s an IRD one and surprisingly although it reduced the flex it did not eliminate it completely as I expected. Perhaps the fact that these IRD are also made of steel is the reason why. If I had aluminum ones I think the flex would be gone. Still though the modulation I get with the Sun Ringle rims and the salmon Koolstops is the best I have had in any bike baring the Thorn.
Finally, on the front end I replaced the Ritchey cantis with Avid Arch Rival 50s. To do that I had to upgrade the levers / shifters to XT that are made for V brakes (can’t remember their code name). For some reason, I just can’t see a brake hanger on top of the Chris King headset.
All, in all, with the Contis gravel kings back and front this bike now feels more like a gravel / x country ripper which also means I reached the end of the road with changing parts on it. Now, it’s all about spending as much time as I can riding it!
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But, does he have a Brodie though? Don't tell me Paul Brodie himself gifted him one for free??? 
