Flounder's ExPo Build: Form Cycles - COMPLETED

[Christophe Noel]

I've been eyeballing new frames for about six months now. I've talked with a number of builders, big and small, and I've decided to throw a leg over a Form Cycles frame. Not really a tough decision as they're amazing frames. Most of you are familiar with Form Cycles from Scott's build thread and from his feature of that bike in Overland Journal. Scott and I visited the Form Cycles HQ a couple years ago and developed an instant respect for Daryl Roberts and his beautiful machines. Scott's bike turned out incredibly well.

I'm after a bike with slightly different ride objectives than Scott's awesome rail. I'm after a bike that can be ridden at high tempo, day in and day out. I want it to be my race rig and even serve as a high performance bikepacking platform. Living in what some say is the singlespeed capital of the Southwest, I want my one gear, but like the idea of being able to add a full drivetrain for long epics and races like the Colorado Trail Race.

My first choice was obviously titanium. My second choice were flanged slider dropouts. These dropouts will indulge my singlespeed needs and provide derailleured options as well.(sample photo from Form Cycles)


The other thing I really wanted was a PressFitt 30 BB and 44mm head tube for added stiffness. I also went with Daryl's very stylish and subtle sandblasted frame "decals." (sample photo from Form Cycles)


The last thing I really wanted were internal cable guides. Not only do they look amazing, when I'm rolling singlespeed I won't have empty cable stops cramping my style.


I admit, I'm excited to be a part of the buzz surrounding Form Cycles. The press has been going wild about Form.

Bikerumor.com

Bicycling.com

There are some other build decisions I've yet to make. I'm undecided on a few things.

Not sure what fork I'll ride. I do have some other fun ideas in my noggin. Stay tuned.

 

[Scott Brady]

Awesome!

 

[Christophe Noel]

I just got word from Daryl at Form Cycles. Materials are ordered! The frame should begin taking shape very soon, now!

Ssssstoked.

 

[Jay H]

Nice I liked the forum stuff i saw at NAHBS in Richmond. As the owner of a dean TI softail I am envious of the new paragon sliding drop outs. I have paragon breezer style drop outs and like them a lot but the slider is a clear improvment. I know it's really not a concern in the southwest but in other parts full length shift cable housing runs are greatly preferred. If I had a bunch of money to drop on a new bike a rohloff hub would be my drive train of choice. Carbon is certaninly the ultimate rim material.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Jay, Have you seen the Paragon Rocker dropouts? They're another really cool option. I looked at another frame with these drops, but my concern was the weight, they are heavy, and the connections between the dropouts and the stays. Anyway, another fun option.

This is on a From Cycles project.

 

[Christophe Noel]

And then there were cranks

The cranks have been chosen and ordered as of today. Because this frame will have a Press Fit 30mm bottom bracket, I wanted to get something to compliment the stiffness that format provides. First, a brief word about PF30 bottom brackets.

We are clearly in the age of varied bottom bracket options. Currently, the trend is for BB30 or PF30 bottom brackets, especially within the custom builder audience. The "30" refers to the 30mm diameter of the crank spindle. This is far larger than the 24mm spindle diameter used by other manufacturers from Shimano to SRAM, and even Campy. The BB30 system of the last few years is great, but more complicated than necessary from a builder's standpoint as the bottom bracket shell has to be further machined with grooves for C-clips to retain the bearings. With Press Fit 30 bottom brackets, the builder only needs to provide a faced shell for the cups to be pressed into, much like headset cups. It does present a slight challenge in that not many 30mm cranks are available these days.

Furtunately, Rotor offers their awesome 3D cranks in this 30mm (BB30 and PF30 compatible) format. This promises to make my bottom bracket and crank combo outrageously stout.


What sets these cranks apart is the manufacturing process and overall design of the arms. Each arm is a pretty hefty chunk of billet aluminum. To reduce the weight without compromising the arm stiffness, each arm is drilled three times to reduce unnecessary weight. The result - cranks with the stiffness of a DH crank and the weight of even the lightest carbon fiber XC cranks.

This is a cut-a-way view of the internal structure of a 3D arm.

Initially, I'll be running this as a singlespeed with a single 32t ring and a carbon outer chain guard.

Stay tuned. Next stop - hubs!

 

[Christophe Noel]

Gimme a brake!

The brakes arrived for this project. I left myself two options, XT and XTR. I decided to save a few bucks (nearly $300) and go with the XT.

I admit, I'm a Shimano-phile, so this was an easy selection. The evolution of these stoppers is interesting and speaks to Shimano's perennial pursuit of perfection. The product development department at Shimano was in need of a new brake platform, so instead of just tweaking what they had, or assigning the project to their regular team, they did something different. They split their brake team in two. They gave both teams the same objective of designing the next great brake. Both teams didn't communicate or collaborate, in fact they didn't even know there was another team on the same project. In the end, both teams presented their brakes, and as luck would have it, one group had the best lever, the other the best caliper. Pretty slick.

So what's so great about these brakes? One of the primary design goals was to address the one thing that brakes suffer from most - heat. Heat build-up causes all sorts of woes, mostly it screws up lever feel. As heat moves to the brake fluid, it makes the lever stiffen, and the continuity of brake lever feedback changes. The Shimano SLX, XT and XTR brakes feature ceramic brake pistons, aluminum backed brake pads and even cooling fins on the pads themselves. Yes, cooling fins. They also feature the expected benefits of adjustable reach, pad contact, and adjustable banjos to keep your line routing nice and tight.

I will be running 160mm rotors front and rear, but might opt for 180 later.

 

[RiverCityDave]

I agree with everything you said except the PF30 plusses. I have yet to see one that didn't creak or groan, YMMD.

I have XTs on my new Niner, they rock.

 

[Christophe Noel]

I agree with everything you said except the PF30 plusses. I have yet to see one that didn't creak or groan, YMMD.

The sure fire fix to creaking PF30 is proper installation and quality headphones.

 

[Christophe Noel]

UPDATED 5/22 - FRAME IN THE FIXTURE

Now we're talking! Daryl was nice enough to send over this image from today. Won't be long now!

 

[Christophe Noel]

The parts are slowly rolling in. My UPS guy has become a welcome pal at my door.

MRP BLING RING
This is a really slick innovation. This is a one-piece ring and spider that bolts directly to a SRAM X.O carbon crank. This eliminates four bolts for chainrings. This is nothing new in bikes, but what is new is the dished arms of the machined spider. This improves chain line. Pretty sweet. I also will retain the 2x10 chainring set up that came with my cranks.


Selle Italia SLR XC
I simply cannot build a bike without at least one Euro-branded part. Here it is. Lorica leather, kevlar wings, 165 grams. Mama mia!! I know...looks awful, but I like racing saddles, even for long rides.


Easton EC90 SL carbon stem and carbon bar
I'm trying to make this bike stiff in all the right spots. This stem should do the trick. Darn stiff for just a scant 110 grams. Gotta love carbon fiber.



Chris King ISO Hubs
It's hard for me to build without King hubs. I chose pewter anodized hubs. It should look great with carbon rims, ti tubing and black Sapim CX Ray spokes.

 

[Christophe Noel]

ENVE 29er XC Tubeless Carbon Fiber Rims

I'm as excited about these rims as I am the whole bike. Trailsurfer has been raving about these hoops for a while now. So, here we go.

ENVE 29er XC Tubeless Carbon Fiber Rims
At well under 400 grams per rim, these are light. Not crazy light, but light. What they are - is stupid stiff.

 

[Christophe Noel]

SRAM X.0 Carbon fiber BB30 cranks


I'm not a huge fan of SRAM in general, but these are pretty nice cranks for the weight. My ambitions to run Rotor cranks were thwarted by an excess of common sense. Rotor cranks with BB and rings are almost $950. Uh...pass.

 

[Jay H]

This is going to be a really nice build.

My only beef with SRAM cranks is that the shimano / profile method of attaching the arm to the spindle with pinch bolts is better than press on and allows for very fine tuning of the bearing preload. I would also choose SRAM over FSA.

I really want to hear about the wheel build. Carbon is an ideal material for rims. I suspect that those enve will be a very easy build since they ought to be perfect radially and laterally. I keep wondering if there is any thing special about lacing a carbon rim other than being able to bump up the tension. Enve is so far out of my budget but there is now a more affordable carbon rim. Light-bicycle.com has been getting rave reviews. Of course enve is the rim by which other carbon rims are judged.

 

[Christophe Noel]

This is going to be a really nice build.

My only beef with SRAM cranks is that the shimano / profile method of attaching the arm to the spindle with pinch bolts is better than press on and allows for very fine tuning of the bearing preload. I would also choose SRAM over FSA.

I really want to hear about the wheel build. Carbon is an ideal material for rims. I suspect that those enve will be a very easy build since they ought to be perfect radially and laterally. I keep wondering if there is any thing special about lacing a carbon rim other than being able to bump up the tension. Enve is so far out of my budget but there is now a more affordable carbon rim. Light-bicycle.com has been getting rave reviews. Of course enve is the rim by which other carbon rims are judged.

These X.0 cranks may be temporary until I can muster the nerve to pull the trigger on Rotor cranks. $1000 for cranks is insane. That bill piled on top of the others for this project was one big bill too many.

ENVE rims really are unique. These rims are so beyond my budget it's stupid. But, I figured what the hell. The objective here was to build the ultimate high performance bikepacking machine for my ride on the Colorado Trail Race. I do get a little knot in my gut when I think about the price, though.