S40 Electric Blue Build Specs

Dave Arnold

Active Member
I'm planning a build for a new S40 Electric Blue. I'd appreciate comments and opinions on my choices from the experts. I'm trying to stay within $2,500 on components.

Wheels - DT Swiss RR521 rims + DT Swiss 350 Disc hubs (700C, centerlock, 28H, 32H) - wheelbuilder.com or I'll build myself

Tires - Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless (700 x 30)

Chain - KMC X11 (two)

Cassette - SRAM PG-1130 (34 teeth? Lots of hills in Skagit County WA)

Crankset - Vision TriMax Compact 155mm

Chainrings - Rotor QRings 34/50

Bottom Bracket - Enduro XD-15 (from the old parts box if I can make it fit) or FSA common BB

Brakeset - SRAM Force 22 hydraulic levers/calipers + mechanical shifting, SRAM centerlock rotors (140mm & 160mm)

Rear Derailleur - SRAM Force 22 Wifli

Front Derailleur - SRAM Force 22 Yaw Braze-on

Thoughts? Errors? Opinions? Better choice?

Thanks,

Dave
 

super slim

Zen MBB Master
I'm planning a build for a new S40 Electric Blue. I'd appreciate comments and opinions on my choices from the experts. I'm trying to stay within $2,500 on components.

Wheels - DT Swiss RR521 rims + DT Swiss 350 Disc hubs (700C, centerlock, 28H, 32H) - wheelbuilder.com or I'll build myself

Tires - Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless (700 x 30)

Chain - KMC X11 (two)

Cassette - SRAM PG-1130 (34 teeth? Lots of hills in Skagit County WA)

Crankset - Vision TriMax Compact 155mm

Chainrings - Rotor QRings 34/50

Bottom Bracket - Enduro XD-15 (from the old parts box if I can make it fit) or FSA common BB

Brakeset - SRAM Force 22 hydraulic levers/calipers + mechanical shifting, SRAM centerlock rotors (140mm & 160mm)

Rear Derailleur - SRAM Force 22 Wifli

Front Derailleur - SRAM Force 22 Yaw Braze-on

Thoughts? Errors? Opinions? Better choice?

Thanks,

Dave
Other Cruzbikers have gone from the 34 Q(10% oval) to a 36 QX L (15% oval)
 

rx7mark

Guru
[QUOTE="Dave Arnold, post:

Chain - KMC X11 (two)

Cassette - SRAM PG-1130 (34 teeth? Lots of hills in Skagit County WA)

Thanks,

Dave[/QUOTE]

Here are my thoughts on a couple of items.

You might want to get 3 chains, so you can make 2 spliced chains the right length. Then order the materials, and buy a small 1qt crockpot, to wax the chains. Keep the spare pre waxed in a ziplock ready to swap.

I am in WA also and found I needed a granny gear for the really steep stuff we have. I started 1X 11, 11-42 with a 42 chain ring, but had to upgrade my cassette with a Wolf kit to 11- 49 to deal with some of the hills near my home. Try running an online gearing calculator to see some options. Note: the slowest speed I can climb at is about 5 mph, and that took a year of practice to not be wobbling all over the road.

I built my own wheels. I had never done it before, but with the loan of a truing stand and a book on how to do it, I successfully built my own wheels, to my own specs. I enjoyed the process, it was quite rewarding. I recently found a truing stand on Craigslist, so if you want to try it, contact me via PM to arrange a loan. I am in Brier, near Lynnwood.

Mark
 

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
I'm planning a build for a new S40 Electric Blue. I'd appreciate comments and opinions on my choices from the experts. I'm trying to stay within $2,500 on components.

Wheels - DT Swiss RR521 rims + DT Swiss 350 Disc hubs (700C, centerlock, 28H, 32H) - wheelbuilder.com or I'll build myself

Tires - Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless (700 x 30)

Chain - KMC X11 (two)

Cassette - SRAM PG-1130 (34 teeth? Lots of hills in Skagit County WA)

Crankset - Vision TriMax Compact 155mm

Chainrings - Rotor QRings 34/50

Bottom Bracket - Enduro XD-15 (from the old parts box if I can make it fit) or FSA common BB

Brakeset - SRAM Force 22 hydraulic levers/calipers + mechanical shifting, SRAM centerlock rotors (140mm & 160mm)

Rear Derailleur - SRAM Force 22 Wifli

Front Derailleur - SRAM Force 22 Yaw Braze-on

Thoughts? Errors? Opinions? Better choice?

Thanks,

Dave


Sram Force is a great choice. You could go Red for another gazillion dollars and save the weight of a pair of nickels! Looks like a nice build. Post pics!
 

cpml123

Zen MBB Master
+1 for granny gear. I live in Sammamish. I have 10 speed 11/40 cassette and 52/34 front. Still doesn't feel like enough sometimes. :)
You may want to keep an eye on the 50 front. Mine never worked satisfactorily - keep dropping the chain at the most inopportune time when shifting from 34 to 50. Problem solved when I went to 52. So magical.
 

3bs

whereabouts unknown
I would be wary of 2x11. I could never get my sram force 22 to work perfectly. I would also suggest some granny gears. When I have ridden in Utah and Oregon I used the whole range.

Also look at the g one speed. I think Schwalbe has a sale going right now.

I like Reynolds wheels in carbon, and I like velocity in alum.

since you have a v, why not 650 b ?
 

Robert Holler

Administrator
Staff member
My professional opinion as a bike mechanic:

If you go with 2x11 prepare yourself for a world of hassle getting the shifting right. As someone who likes to ride and not mess constantly with annoying adjustments (because that's all I do all day on other bikes) I would never install a 2x11 on ANY bike I own. Save the 11 speed stuff for 1x systems.

If you want to run a double go with tried and true 10 speed. Widen that cassette to 11-36 or you can get by with 11-40 if you couple with the right long cage DR, have good slow speed balance, and also watch your chain length/do not cross chain the gears ever when shifting.
 

Dave Arnold

Active Member
Other Cruzbikers have gone from the 34 Q(10% oval) to a 36 QX L (15% oval)

I'm going with the regular Q-Rings because I already have them. In the future I might consider the QXL rings. I'm also eyeing the Rotor ALDU modular crankset with QRings.
 

Dave Arnold

Active Member
[QUOTE="Dave Arnold, post:

Chain - KMC X11 (two)

Cassette - SRAM PG-1130 (34 teeth? Lots of hills in Skagit County WA)

Thanks,

Dave

Here are my thoughts on a couple of items.

You might want to get 3 chains, so you can make 2 spliced chains the right length. Then order the materials, and buy a small 1qt crockpot, to wax the chains. Keep the spare pre waxed in a ziplock ready to swap.

I am in WA also and found I needed a granny gear for the really steep stuff we have. I started 1X 11, 11-42 with a 42 chain ring, but had to upgrade my cassette with a Wolf kit to 11- 49 to deal with some of the hills near my home. Try running an online gearing calculator to see some options. Note: the slowest speed I can climb at is about 5 mph, and that took a year of practice to not be wobbling all over the road.

I built my own wheels. I had never done it before, but with the loan of a truing stand and a book on how to do it, I successfully built my own wheels, to my own specs. I enjoyed the process, it was quite rewarding. I recently found a truing stand on Craigslist, so if you want to try it, contact me via PM to arrange a loan. I am in Brier, near Lynnwood.

Mark[/QUOTE]

Mark, thanks for your comments. Per your recommendation, I will get 3 chains. I already have the crockpot and Moltenspeedwax :) Been doing that for a few years now. I regret not doing it sooner.

I already own a truing stand--but, thanks for the offer!!
 

Dave Arnold

Active Member
Wheel building is fun. Therapeutic for the garage hack.

I will be building my own wheels unless I can find a pre-built wheelset that meets my needs/wants for a cheaper price than if I built them myself.

My current plan is still the DT Swiss 240 hubs with DT Swiss or Velocity rims.
 

Dave Arnold

Active Member
I would be wary of 2x11. I could never get my sram force 22 to work perfectly. I would also suggest some granny gears. When I have ridden in Utah and Oregon I used the whole range.

Also look at the g one speed. I think Schwalbe has a sale going right now.

I like Reynolds wheels in carbon, and I like velocity in alum.

since you have a v, why not 650 b ?

What would you recommend over a 2x11 system? It seems everyone is going 2x11 or 2x12, except on the very low-end. AFAIK, SRAM only offers 9-speed on the Apex and Rival sets.

As per your recommendation, i'm considering Velocity as well as DT Swiss.
 

Dave Arnold

Active Member
I will be building my own wheels unless I can find a pre-built wheelset that meets my needs/wants for a cheaper price than if I built them myself.

My current plan is still the DT Swiss 240 hubs with DT Swiss or Velocity rims.

I was also considering the Boyd Altamont rims, but they are sold-out on 32h for a considerable time. They do have the Altamont Light in 32h that has a shorter depth. I can't afford carbon.
 

Dave Arnold

Active Member
My professional opinion as a bike mechanic:

If you go with 2x11 prepare yourself for a world of hassle getting the shifting right. As someone who likes to ride and not mess constantly with annoying adjustments (because that's all I do all day on other bikes) I would never install a 2x11 on ANY bike I own. Save the 11 speed stuff for 1x systems.

If you want to run a double go with tried and true 10 speed. Widen that cassette to 11-36 or you can get by with 11-40 if you couple with the right long cage DR, have good slow speed balance, and also watch your chain length/do not cross chain the gears ever when shifting.

Thanks Robert!

I looked around for alternatives to 2x11 and it seems SRAM and Shimano have moved to 2x11 or 2x12 on all groupsets except the low-end (Apex and Rival offer 2x10, Shimano offers 10-speed on Tiagra and 9-speed on Sora). I was hoping for a groupset on-par with SRAM Force or Shimano Ultegra.

Does the negative comment on 2x11 apply to Shimano as well?
 

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
1x vs 2x - if your plan is sight seeing, modest club rides, commuting etc then I'd go 1x. But if you do go that route I would strongly recommend the wide/narrow profile front ring such as you can get from Sram for their 1x gravel or Absolute Black or Woolf Tooth. In additon I would go with a RD with a clutch mechanism to keep tension on the chain and avoid chain slap. Don't want to bomb down a big hill and hit some RR tracks and have the chain bounce off the front ring. I put many, many miles on a 1x gravel DF over some ridiculoiusly rough roads/trails and never lost a chain. I used the Sram CX1 11 speed RD. And it has the added benefit of having the cage lock feature which makes CB front wheel changes much easier. And if you don't need all 22 gears (see below) then I would agree entirely with Robert on sticking with 1x.

If on the other hand you are looking to do more competetive riding I would definitely go 2x11. The large jumps on a 1x set up make it much tougher to find and stay in that perfect cadence zone. Having 22 gear combinations is very sweet.

I have run a number of 2x set ups now on both S and V. It is cerainly more of a challenge on a CB than on any other DF I ever built but it can be done well. The high mount point of the CB FD is a challenge if you run anything under a 50 tooth large front chain - 52 is better. I'm currently running 48/34 on my S40 and it works extremely well with 1 exception. To shift small front to large I have to be in the larger half of the rear cassette or it overshoots beyond the larger ring and drops the chain. took a little while to remember that but now it happens automatically.
 

Robert Holler

Administrator
Staff member
I would say the 2x11 is doable in whatever brand - but just can be extremely finicky. No experience personally with 2x12 and I don't really see the point or benefit of that. The chains are so narrow and cogs so close - this is the main reason the indexing is so hard. If I could run all these systems in a full non-index friction mode life would be extremely simple then. Another

The front DR stalk on the new stays has a longer mount, so using smaller doubles is better than it was before.
 

chicorider

Zen MBB Master
My two cents:

I have been running Shimano Dura Ace 9000 drivetrains on my V20 and S30 for years now with no shifting issues ever, front or rear. I like close gear jumps and run 36/50 oval chainrings and 11x28 11-speed cogsets on both. Again, shifting has given me no issues after many thousands of miles. The equivalent Shimano Ultegra group has the 6800 designation. These are both previous generation groups, once removed, but the current 9100/8000 series might be just as good, if not better. And the 9000/6800 groups are still available if you look around (I bought most of my Dura Ace parts as "lightly used" on eBay and they have been great).

I have built my own wheels for years now, and I love doing it because I can build the exact wheels that I need for a given bike. For example, I weigh 130 pounds and climbing is my strength, so I know that I can get away with building lightweight, lower spoke count wheels, even on my two mountain bikes. My Clydesdale buddy, on the other hand, beat the crap out of his aluminum OEM wheels, so I build him a set that came in lighter (thanks to carbon rims), and has held up for two years now without a complaint. I don't want to make it sound overly simple. It isn't. But neither is it the impossible voodoo that some people make it out to be. I started by reading the immortal Sheldon Brown's advice on wheelbuilding--may his saintly soul reside amongst the cycling gods. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html

Speaking of carbon rims...I pummeled a few aluminum rims on my first Cruzbike, my V20. Unlike an upright bike, you can't pull up or hop over road debris or potholes. I try to ride around it all, but I still hit things on occasion. And on a V, I might hit something--a small rock, or the edge of pothole--at 25 mph or more. Nothing that would cause a crash, but enough to make front wheel say "ouch!" After denting three aluminum front rims, I switched over to carbon, and it was an excellent move. Stronger and lighter. I have four seasons now with the carbon wheels on the V20, and three seasons on the s30, and both sets are as round and straight as new, even with lower spoke counts--24 front, 20 rear. The issue with carbon rims has traditionally been cost, but there are a few Chinese carbon manufacturers that have good reputations while offering affordable carbon rims. I have used both Nextie https://www.nextie.com/ and Light Bicycle rims https://www.lightbicycle.com/ with excellent, long lasting results. Light Bicycle even has an American distributor now. In my opinion, the old nightmare stories about "cheap Chinese" carbon rims that you read about online don't really apply these days. There is still junk carbon out there, but there is really good stuff out there now too.

Finally, my V20 has fancy, expensive DT Swiss 240 hubs, which have been great. My S30 has Bitex hubs--slightly lighter, and less than half the cost--which have been just as solid, fast, and smooth as the 240s. My s40 and one of my mountain bikes also use Bitex hubs, and they have been bombproof. I buy them from BikeHubStore (they have decent prices on spokes and nipples as well). https://www.bikehubstore.com/

However you go about it, enjoy building your bike. Very exciting.
 

paco1961

Zen MBB Master
Also cut my wheel building teeth on the sheldon brown site. Have built everything from Dura-Ace high flange track hubs on Velocity rims for my Ti singlespeed to super light weight, Sapim CX-Ray bladed spoked alloy rims with White Industries hubs. Actually started out by buying a few $15 garage sale bikes and tearing apart and rebuilding some old, rusty wheels. Fun project if you're into that kind of thing. I'd imagine it torture if you're not into it. Have probably built 40 or 50 sets of wheels for myself and friends. Great rainy day basement activity.

I have a set of lightbicycle 55mm carbon hoops with their brand hubs on my S40 and now on my V. Love them. Cost was reasonable and much lower than most other carbon wheelsets out there. I had to order mine from the mainland China distributor becasue the US distributor was out of stock on the set I wanted. But from the time I placed the order it was about 2 weeks to get the wheels in my hands. Are they as fast as Zipps? No idea. Are they durable, light weight and dependable? Absolutely. they have a great website that allows you to track the progress of the wheel build and shipping. Excellent customer service.
 

Robert Holler

Administrator
Staff member
A big thing with the 11 speeds and these systems everyone should know - the real problems happen when you start to go way outside the norm of the stated ranges for the cassettes, etc. For a long time recumbent riders have been able to get away with gearing combos that - in reality - didn't make much sense but mixing and matching components was much easier. Those days are largely over.

Especially if what you need is very very low climbing gears, a 1x system cannot be beaten. For these new 11 speed setups - you are more limited when it comes to having super low geared cassettes.
 

Dave Arnold

Active Member
A big thing with the 11 speeds and these systems everyone should know - the real problems happen when you start to go way outside the norm of the stated ranges for the cassettes, etc. For a long time recumbent riders have been able to get away with gearing combos that - in reality - didn't make much sense but mixing and matching components was much easier. Those days are largely over.

Especially if what you need is very very low climbing gears, a 1x system cannot be beaten. For these new 11 speed setups - you are more limited when it comes to having super low geared cassettes.

I just ran some speed/cadence numbers using a standard Shimano Ultegra 11-34 Cassette and Rotor ALDU (30x46) crankset.

With this configuration (700C wheels&30mm tires) in the lowest gear (30 tooth chainring, 34 tooth sprocket) cadence would be 71 rpm @ 5 mph and
in the highest gear (46 tooth chainring, 11 tooth sprocket) cadence would be 105 rpm @ 30 mph.

Certainly reasonable for getting me up steep hills and I am not usually pedaling much above 30 mph before I blow a head gasket.
 
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