Tom's Build

[Mark B]

Tom Roberts brought his new frameset and componet group/wheelset over to my house for the build. He was convinced I knew what I was doing after building two Silvios, but I have to say this was not the fastest or easiest build ever. Oh sure, I was cocky and told Tom to come prepared for a long shakedown ride. Yeah, right...

Tom showed up a little after 8:00 in the morning and I was ready to start. I had a table set up, ready for all the parts I knew were inevitable. We started out checking out the parts inventory and noticed right away we were missing rim tape. Cruzbike.... We need rim tape!!! Otherwise, the kit appeared to be pretty complete. I came to understand what Doug was talking about in another thread about playing with all new parts in the box. Even though it was not mine, I was just like a kid in a candy store going through all the Campy boxes. The parts are absolute works of art.... Beautiful and yet, functional!

We proceeded to put the frame together and had relatively few problems with that assembly, save running short one bolt set for the carboyoke/dropout connection. I stole one from my bike, just so we could do the build..... John/Jim...HELP!! Anyway, we got the frameset together and set about installing the bottom bracket. PROBLEM!!! There was a good amount of overspray in the drive side of the bottom bracket shell and the bottom bracket wouldn't even start into it. A quick trip to the bike shop for a thread chasing episode took care of the problem and the bottom bracket installed smooth as butter.

Our next problem occured with cables. The Campy cable set that comes with the component group is good except there is not enough brake or shifter housing included, nor is the rear brake cable long enough. Just be advised, while the groupo that is offered by Cruzbike is a great value, you still need to get a few, maybe four feet of brake cable housing and a tandem brake cable. The set came definitely for a road bike. The brake cable set was comprised of a standard length brake cable for the back, but a shortened brake cable that was useless in the Silvio application. We ended up using what would be considered the back cable for the front and a tanem cable for the back. The shortened front cable was excess. We had some difficulty in fishing the rear brake cable through the frame, but learned the trick. You have to turn the bike upside down, put a 45 degree kink in the last two inches of the cable, then fish it down through. It was still a trick and took two people to do it effectively. I thought it was a nice touch, but a bit much work for the trouble. The cable guides on the TFT caused me some issues, too. If you keep the bolt section of the clamp where you really want it, the guides are blocked.. To utilize the guides, you have to rotate the clamp so the fat, clamping portion is out in the dirty air. Maybe not a huge deal, but cause me some consternation. It seemed to me, it would make more sense to split the guides and weld them on to the outside of the clamp, so they would clear.

We got the thing rolling along pretty smoothly, then realized the hole for the front derailleur cable pulley was goobered full of bondo. We went looking for a 5M tap and after 6 stops, finally gave up and decided to do the best we could with a dental pick. Tom did that part while I started the process of wrapping bars. We finished up the bike and put Tom to test riding the bike at 10:00 at night. Yes, it was an all day deal and by the time we got all done sorting it all out, the front shifter cable was too short to extend the TFT out far enough out for Tom's knees to clear. So.... While the bike is running and ridable, Tom might have to come back out for some more fine tuning.

Tom took some pics, so hopefully he will post a few. I had a nice time spending the day with Tom building his bike. He owned up to his end.... Hooking me up with some beer and bought lunch for the Mrs and me.

I think the package deal that CB offers is a great deal, but it's not complete as you might think..... Not in reality. You still need...

road tandem brake cable
3-4 feet of brake cable housing
3-4 feet of shifter cable housing
2 rolls of rim tape

Still a great value and those components..... Man..... I wish I had the cash!


Mark

 

[3WHELZ]

Mark - I am also in the middle of my build. However, I have been working on it over the long weekend. You have broken a speed record compared to my pace. I thought having past experience in building bikes and recumbents that I might be able to whip through this in a day, a bit of a pipe dream on my part. Doug, Jim, and John have been of great help bring clarity to some of the areas I have encountered challenges. I think you have summed up much of what I have encountered. I promised Doug I would journal some lessons learned. I managed to make the cable housing work, but I think I may need to replace one of the brake housings. It is about an inch shorter than I would like. My fishing technique was bit different involving a strong rare earth magnet.

Some updates have been made to the frameset that are different than what is depicted in the installation guide. For example, the rear elastomer (shock) now resembles a perforated rubber cork that slides onto an all thread allen-keyed bolt. And, there are now eyelets on the boom that offer guides for the housings.

The Campy components look great, but for those not experience with Campy it can be a considerable challenge – especially the brake/shifting levers. Locating the entry point for the derailleur cable and the fact that the mounting bracket uses and English allen rather than metric through me.

I hope to be on the road today after picking up a tandem brake cable and maybe some more brake housing. I thought I had a couple in my parts box, but they were all derailleur.

 

[Mark B]

3WHELZ wrote: Mark - I am also in the middle of my build. However, I have been working on it over the long weekend. You have broken a speed record compared to my pace. I thought having past experience in building bikes and recumbents that I might be able to whip through this in a day, a bit of a pipe dream on my part. Doug, Jim, and John have been of great help bring clarity to some of the areas I have encountered challenges. I think you have summed up much of what I have encountered. I promised Doug I would journal some lessons learned. I managed to make the cable housing work, but I think I may need to replace one of the brake housings. It is about an inch shorter than I would like. My fishing technique was bit different involving a strong rare earth magnet.

Some updates have been made to the frameset that are different than what is depicted in the installation guide. For example, the rear elastomer (shock) now resembles a perforated rubber cork that slides onto an all thread allen-keyed bolt. And, there are now eyelets on the boom that offer guides for the housings.

The Campy components look great, but for those not experience with Campy it can be a considerable challenge – especially the brake/shifting levers. Locating the entry point for the derailleur cable and the fact that the mounting bracket uses and English allen rather than metric through me.

I hope to be on the road today after picking up a tandem brake cable and maybe some more brake housing. I thought I had a couple in my parts box, but they were all derailleur.

I had built two Silvios before. The second was completed and test ridden in one evening, so I thought I would whip through this and we'd be going for a longish ride in the afternoon. Boy was I mistaken. The lower part of the TFT was the main source of paint filled holes. Before you start your build, check to see if there is overspray in the bottom bracket shell. If there is, you will probably need to take that part to a bike shop to have those threads chased. While you're there, have the 5M hole for the front derailleur cable guide chased. I did have to open up the opening of the hole for the recessed brake nut a little on the rear wishbone. This was an easy fix, of course, but kind of disconcerting when you're taking a Dremmel to somebody else's bike!! We had to wrestle a little with the leaf spring interface with the bike frame, too.

Acually, the mounting bracket on the levers uses a Torx bit for tightening, which also caused me a bit of a brain fart for a few minutes. But, those levers sure are SWEET! I was experiencing severe bike parts envy.

The frame improvements are nice... I certainly understand the advantages of the internally routed cable; it keeps dirt and debris off the cables and eliminates the possibilty of fouling the cable. Fishing the cable down that first stretch of frame is a challenge... We had to do it twice because the first cable was too short. It went better the second time because we had the technique down a little better. I liked the cable guides, too, but I thought they could have been placed a little better. My cables route nicely, two on either side of the clamp bolt. This would seem to be the logical place to put those guides, so you can keep that bolt in clean air instead of turned out front where it catches air. I know, it's a picky thing, not a great big deal-killer thing, but it is a thing.

I think if I had it to do again, I could probably build the bike faster. We wasted a lot of time running to the bke shop (three trips, two different shops) and trying to chase down a 5M tap at 0-dark thirty at night (six different stores). We also killed a lot of time figuring the fishing technique out. Finally, I killed a bit of time giving Tom the nickel tour of Redlands on our first bike shop expedition.

For all my whining, make no mistake about it, I think the Silvio package offered by Cruzbike represents a great value. If I had to buy today and was going to buy new componetry for my bike, I would get the package deal. I wouldn't buy the wheels, myself, because big fat guys like me have no business riding low spoke count wheels, IMHO. Tom should have no issues, though and those wheels sure are pretty!

Mark

 

[JonB]

Mark B wrote: I had built two Silvios before. The second was completed and test ridden in one evening, so I thought I would whip through this and we'd be going for a longish ride in the afternoon. Boy was I mistaken. The lower part of the TFT was the main source of paint filled holes. Before you start your build, check to see if there is overspray in the bottom bracket shell. If there is, you will probably need to take that part to a bike shop to have those threads chased. While you're there, have the 5M hole for the front derailleur cable guide chased. I did have to open up the opening of the hole for the recessed brake nut a little on the rear wishbone. This was an easy fix, of course, but kind of disconcerting when you're taking a Dremmel to somebody else's bike!!

I think that having to do the above to a $2190 frame is unprofessional delivery. Such an expensive frame should come spotless.

 

[Tom Roberts]

A public thanks to Mark for devoting a day (and a long one at that) to building my Silvio. My role was that of helper and moral support giver. Mark eloquently chronicled the build so I don't have anything to add. I did, however, take the bike out for it maiden voyage yesterday. By the time we finished the build it was too late to do anything except coast up and down the street in front of Mark's place. But yesterday I rode in ernest. I should say that I have a Sofrider V2 with about 3800 miles on it, so I could pretty much just get on the Silvio and ride. I did need to practice shifting gears though. I have never owned a road bike so it took a little time to feel comfortable with that. Afterward I rode from home to the office which is about six miles. Some of it is paved trails and some is bike lane. My time was better by two minutes than I ever did on the Sofrider. After a little time in the office it was off for a longer ride. The ride was on the San Diego Creek Trail which runs through Irvine, CA to Newport then around the Back Bay which includes a section of the Pacific Coast Hwy. It is a very scenic ride (one I've done many times on the Sofrider) and a good test for the Silvio - in all about 30 miles. The bike performed nicely. Looking forward to many miles of enjoyable exercise on the Silvio!

Tom

 

[defjack]

Nice to have another Silvio in town. Jack

 

[Mark B]

JonB wrote: I think that having to do the above to a $2190 frame is unprofessional delivery. Such an expensive frame should come spotless.

It's really not that big of deal. It happens with frames much more expensive than the silvio. That's why bike shops have those tools. I was a little surprised by it, though, because neither of my bikes had those issues.

Mark

 

[3WHELZ]

Tom/Mark - congratulations on the completing the build! I am 99.9% complete, but ran into a snag -- the dreaded chain rub in the lowest cassette socket against the fork. Given these are likely identical builds using the Campy components, was there anything you did to compensate? Thank you!!

Oh, and a big duh on my part regarding the brake levers. You are absolutely correct, it is a Torx bolt.

 

[Gromit]

Mark B wrote:

JonB wrote: I think that having to do the above to a $2190 frame is unprofessional delivery. Such an expensive frame should come spotless.

It's really not that big of deal. It happens with frames much more expensive than the silvio. That's why bike shops have those tools. I was a little surprised by it, though, because neither of my bikes had those issues.

Mark

I tend to agree with Jon.
Regarding Mark's comment. I wonder if someone at Cruzbike "fettled" the earlier batch of Silvio frames.
This thing with the rear brake cable is a bit strange too. The Cruzbike website clearly states that the Campagnolo kit includes the cable. "long brake cable (to reach the rear wheel)" :?

 

[Mark B]

Gromit wrote: I tend to agree with Jon.
Regarding Mark's comment. I wonder if someone at Cruzbike "fettled" the earlier batch of Silvio frames.
This thing with the rear brake cable is a bit strange too. The Cruzbike website clearly states that the Campagnolo kit includes the cable. "long brake cable (to reach the rear wheel)" :?

It's just a fact of life with painting frames. Paint gets places you don't want it too. Chances are, it's not every frame, every TFT.... It just so happened this frame was that way. It really wasn't a huge deal. We still got the bike built in one day. The troubles I outlined aren't uncommon, but they were a little unexpected. The assembly went really well, we just lost some time to these unexpected problems. These weren't brought up as a knock on Cruzbike, but moreso a wakeup call that things happen, even for experienced builders. Bottom line... The bike still got built up and was ridden in one day.

As to the cables.... I think the folks at CB did a great job speccing the package out. The cables that came were genuine Campy cables and housings and were in a sealed package from Campy. They are intended for a road bike. There was a long brake cable and a short cable. For a road bike, they would probably have been perfect. For the Silvio, though, the short cable is too short for the front and the rear is to short to reach its destination. The long cable was fine for the front, we just had to get a tandem cable for the rear. The shifter cables were just fine. This whole component package thing is still kind of in its infancy... I'm sure they'll get it dialed in.

Make no mistake..... I was not complaining. I believe the Silvio package is a great value. Tom has one helluva nice bike and I was proud to help him put it together.

Mark

 

[JimParker]

I'm responsible for not including the long brake cable. I might have known better if I had built my Campy-equipped Silvio, but I took the easy route and had my LBS mechanic do it for me. I had been told by another customer (apparently erroneously) that the rear brake cable that comes with the Campy brifters was quite long enough (at 2.0 meters). I removed the reference to the long brake cable from the main website description, but, alas, it was still listed on the shopping cart page, which I don't have access to. In the future, I will include the long brake cable (they only cost a few bucks anyway). I apologize for the inconvenience this caused. Mark, thanks for the detailed record of the build process for Tom's bike. John, Doug, and I have studied it carefully, as well as everyone else's feedback. I hope the folks here in the U.S. had a great Memorial Day weekend. Maria and I rode our Silvios on our first 100 mile ride of the season on Saturday. We took Sunday off, and we went out today and did a fast 20 mile ride. Tom, I hope you enjoy your Silvio as much as we do ours!

Jim

 

[Tom Roberts]

Tom, I hope you enjoy your Silvio as much as we do ours!

Thanks. I did another 30 miles today.

Tom

 

[John Tolhurst]

Thanks for all this feedback, very useful. We're working on these items to make sure the Silvio goes together as smoothly as possible.