End to End Build AND Ride

[jackosbournesnr]

I'm doing a full South-North (Lizard-Lands End- John O'Groats- Dunnet Head) ride in the second half of May and following a change of plan regarding the bike, here's the build thread (V2).

First up were the wheels... Pacenti SL25 on 32h Hope Pro 4 hubs built with ACI Alpina DB spokes (2.0-1.7-2.0). Build up very easily and look great except when you look up close at the Pacenti stickers which are really thick, cheap affairs.



Those that know me will be aware of my strong preference for Campagnolo and almost equally strong aversion to Shimano... Which is fine for roadie builds and commuting but makes things a tad challenging if you're needing touring bike ratios...





The whole thing is based around a beloved 48-39-30 Record chainset with not-quite-frameset-matching green Crank Brother Pedals... Which is great on an audax, but will be waaaaay too highly geared when fully loaded and paired with Campag's lowest gear sprocket of 29t.

The solution for me is 10 speed SRAMpagnolo - basically, a full Campag groupset with the rear mech swapped out for a SRAM one... Which, in this case is a mint condition shiny silver X0 long cage from eBay. It's an absolutely gorgeous thing which is a first for me to say about SRAM!




And that allows me to use the biggest dinner plate sized cassette I've ever had on a road bike...



It's "only" an 11-36 cassette, but there's a 160mm brake rotor hiding behind it!

More soon...h

 

[Lacuna]

Re:

I've read that the long cage sram mechs play well with the sinrace 11-40t cassettes if you needed a bit more

 

[hamster]

Re: End to End Build

Looks good!
You can go as small as a 24T inner on the chainset, which keeps the ratios on the cassette nice and close and keeps the large sprocket smaller. The stock Campag triple front mech is quite happy with the 24T range.
My preferred all Campag setup is to use 24/39/48 with a 12-23 on the back, not tried the BBB 12-27 casette on it yet.

 

[jackosbournesnr]

Re: End to End Build

I thought about downsizing the granny ring, but having already dropped cash for new middle and outer chainrings, I'm going to wait until I've had a couple of fully loaded test rides.

My other concern with going lower is to be cadence... lifelong masher vs tiny little twiddly gears... could end up stalling!

 

[hamster]

Re: End to End Build

I'm just about to experiment with a mech hanger dropper / extender thing to get my Record short cage rear to run with a 12-27 and double. It's fine on chain wrap range, but doesn't sit low enough even with the B-tension done right up. I realised that this mod might also work for you with a bigger cassette.

Will report back.

 

[jackosbournesnr]

Re: End to End Build

Would be good to hear how you get on with that. I have heard 32t is doable on some frames.

Sounds like you've got a really short hanger. All v2 9 speed and 10 speed rear mechs should shift to 29 and your biggest enemy should really only be chain wrap.

I've got a 9speed (v2) short cage Record running 12-28 with a standard 52-39. Its fine

 

[hamster]

Re: End to End Build

Just swapped the mech onto the hanger dropper. It is 1996 Chorus, shifts have cleared up massively now with the 12-27.
The frame is a 1994 Litespeed and has a very short hanger, certainly compared to my Witcomb.

 

[jackosbournesnr]

Re: End to End Build

Excellent! Glad it's made the difference you hoped for.

Even a 96 vintage 9 speed mech should go to 28, so the hanger on your Litespeed must be tiny!

I'm guessing it was designed as an all out racing machine and therefore wouldn't have anything bigger than a 21 block on the back!

Can you share a couple of photos with/without the hanger extension? I'm intrigued by both the frame design and how the gizmo looks when fitted.

I'm running Shimano cassettes at the back on this bike (disc brake hubs) so I'd be unlikely to use it to revert to full Campag, but it does open up possibilities on my other bikes or if Campag spaced Shimano fit cassettes appear back on the market.

 

[kipperthedog]

Re:

Do we get to see a picture of the whole thing yet (or as much of it as there is)............

 

[jackosbournesnr]

Re: End to End Build

I'm planning to finish the build this weekend, so I'll post more pics as that progresses.

I still haven't unwrapped the frame so even I don't know what the bike actually looks like!