Flounder's ExPo Build: Form Cycles - COMPLETED
- Thread starter Christophe Noel
- Start date
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
A local rider bought a set of those rims. They look super sketchy. The rims appear to be molded in five small sections and then bonded together with an outer cosmetic layer of carbon to dress up the aesthetics. They also have a highly glossed epoxy outer which has to look like hell after the first few rides. They also had some pretty rough looking edges around the eyelets and valve hole. They look spooky to ride. His frame...same story. Lots of rough finish details.
Bluedog, I did kick around the idea of the Si cranks. That option is still on the table.
slowtwitch
Adventurer
Be careful with more tension and King hubs. It's a common thing for the hub shell to actually stretch out due to 'too much tension'. The fix? After paying to ship it to King, you get to pay to have an oversize bearing pressed in.
King headsets are tops, but the hubs are not up to par with high end cup and cone offerings with cold forged shells (XTR). Too much drag, too many issues with the rear hubs, non forged shells.
st
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
King admits they let some of their machining tolerances slip a bit, and by that I mean within fractions of a mm. That, combined with some over tentioned wheels, and I agree they had a bit of mess on their hands.
I also agree with you about the advantages of cup/cone systems. I understand the axial forces on hubs and the theory that cup/cone handles those loads better. However, I've got one set of Kings on my road bike with over 25,000 miles on them. My current King mtb hubs are five years old and have been flawless. I think as long as I keep the tension under 115kgf I'll be fine. I'm building these up with 32 spokes which should reduce some of the tention demands.
Jay H
servicedriven.org
Almost every time I have adjusted any hollow axle quick release hub I have found it to be improperly adjusted to start with. A perfect adjustment accounts for the force of the quick release clamping closed. When just held loose i.e not mounted in the frame it ought to have some play that goes away when clamped. I use washers and the skewer to check this. Take a hub that feels perfect i.e as loose as possible with our play and then put some washers on it and clamp down a skewer, it will suddenly feel notchy and too tight. I am sure a lot of king hubs have extra drag because they are adjusted to tight.
slowtwitch
Adventurer
Yeah proper preload is key with Kings (another good reason to go XTR imo), but still, they have a ton of drag as compared to a nice cup n cone hub, even after being well broken in. On a car, no big deal, on a bike, not so good. I think it's just one of the concessions they had to make in order to have the bearings be reasonably sealed.
I'm running Kings now, so I'm not a left field hater. Some go forever, some don't work (freewheel) out of the box. I've just been around bikes long enough to have some rigid opinions! Cold forging and grinding bearing surfaces = state of the art. Add easy to work on with basic tools/parts to the list of XTR pluses.
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Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
We've got wheels
Wheels are complete. These rims built up very well. It took a little voodoo magic and a ton of patience to get the Mezcals to seat. Ultimately, I wasn't satisfied with the way the tires mated to the rims, so...in went the tubes. UST tires on order.
Wheels are complete. These rims built up very well. It took a little voodoo magic and a ton of patience to get the Mezcals to seat. Ultimately, I wasn't satisfied with the way the tires mated to the rims, so...in went the tubes. UST tires on order.
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
The titanium seat post is being turned. I went with a zero set back. Should really accentuate the compliance of the finished bike.
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
It won't be long now!
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
Looks like I'll go pick up the frame on Thursday. So excited.
More gratuitous glamor shots:
More gratuitous glamor shots:
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
It won't be long now
It's in the blasting cabinet getting some final finishing details. This thing is going to be sick.
It's in the blasting cabinet getting some final finishing details. This thing is going to be sick.
trailsurfer
Explorer
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
Trailsurfer,
I put it to the dirt for the first time on Saturday for 32 miles. I put in another 38 on Sunday. I started today with a pre-work 28. It's nothing short of perfect. You were right, those wheels are fantastic. I couldn't be happier with the end product. Daryl does beautiful work and his attention to detail is what I think sets him apart.
Pics to come soon.
By the way, if you want a Form you might want to get that process going now for a spring delivery. After NAHBS and a few glowing reviews in various magazines, his workload now includes over 25 frames in the works. His new aluminum oxide media blasted logo is just awesome, by the way.
I put it to the dirt for the first time on Saturday for 32 miles. I put in another 38 on Sunday. I started today with a pre-work 28. It's nothing short of perfect. You were right, those wheels are fantastic. I couldn't be happier with the end product. Daryl does beautiful work and his attention to detail is what I think sets him apart.
Pics to come soon.
By the way, if you want a Form you might want to get that process going now for a spring delivery. After NAHBS and a few glowing reviews in various magazines, his workload now includes over 25 frames in the works. His new aluminum oxide media blasted logo is just awesome, by the way.
trailsurfer
Explorer
Looking forward to the pics. Cant wait to see it.
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
It's almost done. One last part is on the way. My custom Form Cycles seatpost is going to be awesome. Daryl does nice work. Note the ENVE seat clamp.
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