V20c Build Diary 2023 edition.

[ratz]

Create a User account on the forum to see the hires version of the photos

Ok the time has come to do it yet again. All the parts have rolled in minus two..

I am going to build a Qty 2 V20cs with detailed photo documentation over the next Month.

Disclaimer: A new disclaimer this time; I don't think your bike shop an do it cheaper or easier because everything is so much better now that it's easy to do by yourself so save you cash and learn to do the easy stuff.

One of the initial posts will again be the bill of materials and links to the best prices I had time to locate so that others can leverage my info to do better in the future. Found some new suppliers that I really like this time around.

Once again, I also promise there will be some simply unnecessary high-end parts used because it is fun, and I want to play with them. Let's hope none of them are miserable failures.

On tap for this go round "SRAM AXS" Wireless shifting, 1x12 tech, XDR free hubs, Hydraulic Disk Brakes, Carbon Wheels, Carbon Booms, Carbon Seats all the carbon all the time.... oh my....

Technically some of this is familiar because this is all based on all that came before but I'm going to attempt to slow down and show all the details for those that are joining the community and haven't read posts from 6-7 years ago.

Same as last time, we'll try and keep comments off the main build section of the thread so that it can be printed for reference. Please put comments and questions in the thread:https://forum.cruzbike.com/threads/...cts-from-the-now-a-v20c-design-journal.15224/ at least until this thread is done.

The thread will be mirrored at BROL for those that prefer to read over there, I'l start that once The main photos start rolling in.

So with that.......

 

[ratz]

After a 10 day wait time to see that's in these big boxes....




The packaging was great; everything was individually wrapped. It took about 20 minutes to unbox




I recognize many parts; friends from the past and others entirely new to me.

Initial thoughts:
1. Oh my, the boom and fork parts are so light.
2. The aluminum welds are still middling quality, but a weld is a weld if it keeps the cost down. These are on par with a lot of the industry. I'd rather have a strong weld than a pretty one. So I'm content.
3. Both of the chain stays have scuffing on the inside of them. It's minor, but it looks like sloppy handling in the factors. After the wheel is installed and removed 5 times, these won't be noticeable. I'll point them out during the detailed photos.
4. The new boom and slider mechanism looks to have removed all the complexity we use to battle a thing of beauty.

All and all the things that used to bug me and turn into Fiddly time wasters, yeah, those have all been solved via evolution and innovation.

 

[ratz]

Day 1 - August 27th 2023

Ok Let's take a close look at the V20c Gold Frame.

The paint continues the trend of getting better every year. The metal flake is amazing this time around.




The Head tube is clean and free of paint.



The ZZZZZZZZZ pattern is a nice touch. The RIM brake mounts are still in place for the rear wheel allowing for a Disc Brank Front and a Rim Brake Rear. We did that for RAM Descending and weight control. Not sure these are needed any longer and I would expect we'll see those go away in future editions



The frame now has a weeping hole so water can drain out. Rainy day riders rejoice
Cable grommets are integrated into the frame now.





Velcro is preinstalled and still pulls up in the valley, the same as it always has. And Happily, the Perez Clamp is standard equipment.

 

[ratz]

Day 1 - Continued.

Okay, how will I keep this frame nice and pretty? One of the bigger challenges I have had over the years is the slow pounding of grit into the underside of the frame. I'll preface that by saying bike frames and paint are tough. They hold up well, but the paint eventually chips slowly over time. In the past, I've used shark skins and the like to protect them. This time, I'm going to try something a bit different to provide frame protection from the jump. This might turn out to be an utter failure; we'll see, but it also allows me to build a color theme on this bike.

Enter the might PlastiDip; Spray paint.



The plan.... Use the Plastidip as a protective layer on the frame and do it in a way that adds an acsent color. This will either be really cool or peeled off the bike two weeks after it hits the road. Here goes nothing..... Err, well, actually, here goes a whole day's worth of work.

 

[ratz]

Day 1 - Continued.... Tape lots of tape.

I'm using a mix of blue painter's tape and yellow car detailing tape.

The plan is to tape off the areas of the frame that face out and up, and leave untaped the areas that face the tires and the road. Where the paint lines are going to be we use the yellow tape.

First he rear chain stays.



Then the under belly




Front Tire recess (Curves suck by the way)



Seat wings for fun




And what the heck we'll do the head rest area too.



Now I didn't really plan ahead; I kinda of made this up as I went along and twice I changed my mind and exposed more of the frame. That's not the best way to do this, and I wound up with WAY to much tape on the frame and not always in the best way. When I do the white one it will be much more precise but hey that's how we learn. (Foreshadowing..... I'll pay for this later)

 

[ratz]

Day 1 - Continued Bring on the Royals...

Ok so about two hours later; we have a taped up frame.




Time to mist on the first layer of Plastic Dip Just Mist a layer on.



If you want to know more about the basics of using this stuff watch this quick video:

 

[ratz]

Day 1 - Fighting boredom.

OK, what am I going to do while I wait 20 minutes between paint coats? Hmmmmmm I know let's paint something else.
Hmmmm. Ok, Let's stick to the wheel idea. What else could the wheel dirt damage. Ah ha

The fork and chain stays.........




Yep that'll be great. Let's tape them up.



Ok yeah you got me this is more about cool accent colors but I was bored.

We also got the cool carbon seats we are going to test. More on them later but here's a sneak peak.

 

[ratz]

Day 1 - Continued

And we paint on the 20 minute intervals.

The black hydraulic brake cables also got. in on the fun.





Sticking with the theme the bottom of the seat gets a protective coating.

 

[ratz]

Day 1 - Praying and Peeling.

Because we are not Plastidipping the entire frame (That would be criminal on this paint job) we are going to have a devil of a time peeling the tape off and not taking the PlastiDip right off or making a ragged edge.

This is where my indecisive taping got me in trouble. I had way too many small pieces of tape and I did too many pieces at the same time.

Hind sight says do them in this order from a painting stand point

Group 1
1. Fork - 5 coats
2. Chainstay - 5 coats

Group 2
1. Frame - 7 coats
2. Seat - 5 coats


Peel tape from Each item immediately after spraying the last coat. Pastidip has a solvent on it; when you spray each new coat it all melts together. When it's wet, it peels really cleanly on the yellow tape.

I had too many dry pieces at the end. So I wound up using a clear coat top layer of Plastidip to remelt the paint so I could peel it.

Due to my sloppy tape job, I had some blemishes on the front fork (The one I peeled first and discovered the problem)
This all cost me about an extra hour and an extra can $17 of top coat. I salvaged everything, and I think it turned out pretty cool looking.

Now, I must leave it alone for at least 24 hours while it dries and hardens. There will be some edge clean-ups to do after it's dry, and then, for some longevity, I'll go over the top with a layer of clear nail polish so there is an impact layer.

The Brake cables worked, but I really don't expect those to hold up; that was a flyer. I'm still trying to figure out how I'll route those without it peeling off.

The good news is that I can take it off faster than I put it on.

I'll clean this all up this week and do a post on the wheels, and then next weekend, we'll start assembling the bike itself.

If you have any Plastidip tips, head over to this thread and share what you know....

I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now, A V20c design journal

Step 1: Get up at 6am and take (5 of 5) for a 7 mile ride up to the Top of the Dam to wear her out. Step 2: Spend the entire day preparing the build space Step 3: Accidentally spend all the rest of the free time tuning up the existing fleet of bikes so everyone can ride again tomorrow.

forum.cruzbike.com

Having done this once, now I'm confident I can do the White Frame in about 4 hours without the errors and challenges peeling.

 

[DavidCH]

I'm always incredibly impressed by your presentations and food for thought.

And there was me thinking if I get one of these new frames I would just give it a coating of protection car spray ceramico!

 

[ratz]

Day 2 - The Wheel keeps on turning.......... (Five Days later; when did life get so busy).......

Ok, when we get to the brakes, I'm going to have many unkind words for the bike industry. But today wheels,

Boy, have we come a long way on wheels.....

When we last did this:
1. Skinny tires be fast if you ask the industry, but gosh, over on the recumbent forums, we had a lot of doubters.
2. Tubeless was entranced in MTB but on the road at high pressure, would it work
3. A few road tubeless wheels existed.
4. Any of us who play with it at all pay the prices in sore thumbs, latex in the face, and all over the garage and marginal success
5. Continental wanted nothing to do with tubeless
6. Aero wheels would save us all
7. The banning of front disc wheels in Kona meant we couldn't get rear discs for our vendetta without going broke.

But darn it, we didn't give up, and we got all that on the road...

Fast forward, and thankfully, everyone catching up with us on much of this is better, but at what price?

Ok, what price is simple:
1. We have to switch to disc brakes..... grumble, grumble, but yeah, they are better, and we go fast, so I'll concede that one.
2. We have to switch to through-axle because everyone has. I'm going to miss my Quick Release levels (what's going to protect my frame now when I crash), but after working with the through axles for a week, I'm starting to get the hang of it.
3. Tubeless is still a messy affair with the sealant, but at least the tires now mount and hold air on the first try and not the 10th try.

What did we gain:
1. Useable Tubeless - and Continental came to play, finally causing everyone to compete (looking at you, Vittoria) - check
2. Better braking - check
3. New wider tires for great rolling resistance (we told you) - check
4. Wider wheels that allow for wider tires that still can follow the rule of 105 for aero (Rims need to be 5% wider than the mounted tire). - Check
5. Tires that look like they will stay on the rims if you get a flat. (Trust me it's way way better than it was before). - Check
6. A bill for new wheel :sigh:

So per the technical specs thread, I present to you our wheel for this project the Reynolds Black Label Export.

•Rim Depth: 60mm
•Rim Width: 21mm
•Hubs: Reynolds/Ringle SBX Road DB, 4° engagement, 6 pawl phased
•Front Axle: 12 x 100 Thru Axle
•Rear Axle: 12 x 142 Thru Axle
•Spokes: Sapim CX-Ray
•Nipples: INT Alloy
•Hole Count: 24/24
•Size: 622c
•Weight: 1540g(Set)







Like most wheels, these ship assume you will be using 10/11 speed compatible gearing or that you will stay in the Shimano HyperGlide family of cassettes. In this case, we are going to be using the included XDR Sram Free hub (Wheel ships with HyperGlide plus your choice of one other)

So we grab the free hub and tug; The end cap which is press fit will break free, and both parts can be removed


Before we install the new free hub, we are going to grease up the engagement teeth inside the hub body. We don't want to overdo it as too much grease could cause the prowls to not engage when pedaling (unlikely on a brand-new wheel). This is a very important step because these free hubs are very loud; the grease will make them much more silent and with as much coasting as we do on a V20c behind the roadie we don't need to be any more annoying. Interestingly note both included hubs only had 3 actual pawl levers with 2 teeth each, meaning the spec is a bit of a lie since the pawl is the lever.



Next, it's very important to install the free hub upside down bringing the wheel down from above; other wise you'll be crawling around looking for your wayward pawls and spring.



If you have problems getting the hub installed; yank the axle out completely and then just put the free hub on it. After that, you can reinstall the assembly into the wheel. Either method will work depending on the wheel.



Give the free hub a good shove down and sping it in the coasting direction until it drops completely in place. Once seated you can reinstall the drive side endcaps. XDR driver end caps are not the same size so be sure to use the ones that came with the new free body. No photos of this one but I can assure yo there are installed.

 

[ratz]

Day 2 continued. (2 hours later, after finding the pawl that fell into the carpet)

With our free hub installed next, we get to install our Cassette. For this 1x build, we are installing the Helix Race 12-speed 9-50T Cassette. This cassette installs a little differently than a normal XDR cassette; I'm not sure if that's technical (I think it is due to the 9T cog) or a we don't want to pay the licensing fee issue. Here are the key specs

Compatibility: Compatible with all SRAM Eagle, Shimano 12 sp, and TRP drivetrains.
Not compatible with SRAM Transmission / T-Type systems.
Freehub Mount XD™ and XDR™ (with shim) Drivers Only
Material: 2 aluminum cogs, 10 steel cogs.
Range 556%
Size 9-50T: 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 23, 27, 31, 36, 42, 50
Speeds 12 Speed
Weight 384g

Notice two items.

1. Not compatible with SRAM Transmission: That's the new flat top chain and the APEX/RIVAL/FORCE 1x Derailleurs and chainrings. In short, this means three things. You can't use this cassette with the New Chain + the New Chainring + the New Front derailleur. Basically, you could use the rear derailleurs from those families, a YNB speed chain, and any front chain ring that isn't "SRAM Transmission" compatible. If you don't know what SRAM Transmission is, head to YouTube. I get where they are going but don't have to like it. In our case, we are making a Mullet build with APEX shifters and Eagle Derailleurs, so we'll be staying away from "Transmission" even though we have shifters from the Transmission family, which is just fine because AXS is cross-compatible. (We need Eagle anyhow to get 50T without needing an adapter; the gravel lineup maxes out at 42T)

2. With Shim: Yeah, don't forget the shim, which means the included spacer ring. If you forget the spacer, you will fail to get the cassette installed, as I did for three frustrating hours when I could not figure out why I couldn't complete the last step. I was absolutely convinced I put the spacer on. (See the step where I dropped the pawls for when I removed the spacer and forgot to put it back on. Pretend you see a black spacer ring in the following photos. I can assure you it's there.

Ok, on with the installation. Take the aluminum cog grease it up, and slide over the free hub body.



Once the cog is on you must tighten the hex head bolt to 3nm. Ensure you have a torque wrench on hand that can go that low. Mine bottoms out at 4nm, and that slowed me down. A SRAM brand cassette at this point would screw on via the cassette key, but these are just oddly different.



Once you have the cog torqued down install the pressure fitting and dab 6 globs of grease on the connection points. The included instructions say to grease the pressure fitting, but the internet video says not to grease it. The Internet is correct (Good bye 1 more hour of trial and error)




With that done install the reset of the cassette body which is one piece and rotate it from unlocked to lock using a chain whip or a cassette key. If you forgot the shim, you will not be able to complete this step.



If you are unfortunate like me you can spend hours on the first wheel and approximately 10 minutes on the second wheel.



At this point without Tires, sealant and inserts the wheel are not too heavy.....(pst foreshadowing)

 

[ratz]

Day 2 continued .... the rubber meets the roa...... err floor?

Okay, it's time to get some shoes on these wheels. We are going to be running Continental GP 5000 SLR wheels.

The front tire will be 30-622 and the rear 32-622. My unnecessary assumption was that the 30 would mount aero on the new rims and be 105 compliant and that the 32 would mount non-compliant, but I wouldn't care because it was a back wheel.

Check out the comparison of the different sizes of the 5000s over at
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/specials/grand-prix-5000-s-tr-comparison

The short version is that the 30mm is 1.4 watts more efficient than the 25mm, and the 32mm is 1.9 watts better.


Now, a bit about sealant for tubeless tires. It's messy, and it has a habit of clogging the values. Given that I am going with Silca's tubeless sealant, that's even more of an issue. As I have learned, sealant must be put in through the tire casing when the wheel isn't mounted. There is no way around it, But the replenisher can be pushed in through the valve stem once a month for a year. That means I don't want the valves clogging.

Ether Filmore Tubless values. I'm unsure how these will work, but we will try them. They have a value piston that extends the entire length of the stem and seals so that the sealant doesn't treat the value egress point as a hole to clog every time you open it. Not sure how they will work with the front tire insert, but I guess we'll find out when we get there.




Value installs like any other tubeless value, and I had no problems getting the tie over the top of it. Now, same as always, when mounting the second side, the tire gets the first side edge of the tire all the way into the valley of the rim. Place the valve stem at 12 o'clock and start mounting the tire at 9 o'clock, seating at 10 and 7 o'clock at the same time, and work your way around the rim finish at 3 o'clock when your hands meet. If you approach it this way, you have a chance of getting the tire on without a tire iron depending on your rim tolerance. In my case, I got 2 of 4 on without irons, and the other two had to be wrenched on, I'm sure at least one will now have bad rim tape and not hold air as well as the rest.

(Edit: Larry turned me on to a new tool to make this easier. I had found it and thought Nah that'll never work without breaking. So on his say so, I ordered one and I will describe it when I come back to the tires later in the process).



With the tire mounted; we connect the shock pump; charge it to just 95 psi and let her fly. The tire jumped on the rim with a happy SNAP POP! no problems at all; no sealant was installed at this time, and no insert on the front wheel. First impression the new values work great, but they only can be sealed with the end cap on. The cap is dual threaded one threads on the stem and the other threads onto the plunger pulling tight.




So with the tire mount time to measure for 105.



Happy surprise the RIM measures 36.5 under load, and the 30mm and 32mm tires are only 27 and 29mm wide mounted on these rims. So that means we are going to have a really nice low PSI and still be as aero as we can get at the greatest yaw angles. This is a big improvement over the Gen 2 tires. and I'm glad I'm skipping over Gen 3 right to Gen 4.

 

[ratz]

Day 2 - Better to be seen than to be run into

We are taking a page from the RAAM Relay bag of tricks to wrap up the wheel build. I don't recall who cooked this up when we were working late to make the bike reflective; I think it was Carly or Lucia. In any case, it's supper efficient and low cost

First, we get 1in wide 3mm reflective tape from Amazon for $10 for a bag of assorted colors https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R63CL8B




Pick a color that is going to compliment your frame; Red and Gold match nicely with the red and gold frame. The other colors all look great with the white frame.


Next, cut a strip in your desired color to the width you want the biggest arrow to be. Once you have it size cut 6-10 total per wheel. For this build, I cut 16 pieces with 4 per side; 2 sides per wheel, and 2 wheels 4x2x2=16. In any case, you'll barely dent the roll of tape.



Now cut the sticker diagonally but not all the way through.



Then hold the sticker together and cut it completely through on the other diagonal.



Then make your final cut to get 4 pieces from the 1 sticker as follows and install on your wheels





With that you have you first piece of you safety gear an your wheels are ready to go fast and look good doing it.



Unfortunately, the brake rotors are on back order and we'll have to stop here.
This weekend we get to go to battle against hydraulic DOT fluid and headset bolts



In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this installment of as the Wheel Turns.

 

[ratz]

Day 3 - A slippery Topic, aka DOT Fluid (actually was the next day)

Okay, it's time to route the hydraulic brake cables. So, of course, I forgot to take a picture of how the brakes come out of the box. But if you recall the painting phase, the brifters, calipers, and hose were all connected. I'm guessing this is because they assume on the low end APEX that you are going to put them on an externally routed frame, and this yields a faster install... Nah it's clearly just a cheaper way to do it and ensure most people need to go to a bike shop.


Both ends of the brakes are bolted with a compression nut with an insert and and Olive. We must un bolt the compression nut



Peel back the hood cover, and press out the locking barrel. You'll need two wrenches to unbolt this.
Be sure to wear face protection and gloves when you do the unbolting and any time you might have exposed fluid. The DOT fluid SRAM uses is super slippery it's also toxic and slightly corrosive. You will want Isopropyl Alcohol around to clean it up. While it's a pain to work with, the Alcohol neutralizes it quickly. Do not get DOT fluid on your Brake Pads it will ruin them. Yes, it's that slippery.



Once you have the cable disconnected very little will leak: This end is pressure fitting, and you can just set it aside upside day for as many days as you like.



Now when you view the cable end you see the silver Olive on the end. These Olives are one-use items, once they are connected to the compression head on the brifter they pinch lock, and seal the housing. To do internal routing, we need to remove these and replace them. So cut them off with either a hydraulic hose cutter or a traditional hosing cutter. Once you have it cut tape with electrical tape.



Repeat with the second brake line. ONLY cut the end by the brifter; do not cut the end by the caliper.

 

[ratz]

Day 3 - continued.

Ok before we fit the brake to the frame a little house keeping. The V20c not only has the wheel reversed but it also has the disc brake mounts reversed. So you need to remove the mounting bracket from the brake with the longer hose and install it on the other brake.



If you use a 160mm rotor, that arrow should point at the cable. If you are going to use a 140mm rotor, that arrow will point to the cable. The smaller of the two brackets you removed, you can discard. The front fork on the V20c expects you to mount the brake directly on the fork, and it requires you to use a 160 mm rotor; there's no option to correctly set up for a 140mm rotor; you could install one, but you'd only get ½ contact with the brake pads. This makes complete sense, as only a crazy person would consider 140mm enough braking force on a bike this fast.

Like all Disc Brakes, you'll need a T-25 Torx driver to change the bracket.

I will use an old brake wire to route the back brake hose. One end is clipped wire and painted with clear nail polish to keep it from Fraying. The other end has a metal cable end cap on it, which is held in place with the cable end cap crimped on. This fatter end ensures I don't pull the cable in too far.

To feed this pull wire I used a Jagwire Magnet tool from my Cable builds of the past.


Simply feed the tool in the front exit hole and bend it so it's against the frame. Then insert the wire in the bottom hole and use the second magnet to drag the wire along the inside of the frame. Until it connects with the tools magnet; then just life off the second magnet off the frame the wire will stay put because it's again the frame and the other magnet. Carefully pull the wire out.



Now the easy part. Tape the hydraulic cable to the wire and gently pull it through



Mount your cable and Brake Caliper


At this point verify that the tape on the end of the cut end of the brake cable is tight and not leaking we won't be getting back to this brake cable for many hours and we don't want it to leak and make a mess.

 

[ratz]

Day 4 - Stick a fork in it

Ok, it's time to get our fork installed.

First, we repeat the process of using our routing wire. Fee the wire in through the top of the fork and out the bottom. Use earth magnets or a magnet tool to make the turn where the steer tube meets the fork arm. Same as last time, tape the brake cable to the wire and pull it through. Be sure to install the place hole cover into the fork before you feed the wire (see next photo). If you forget, you can cut one end of the plastic cover to get it around the wire and installed.




Next, bolt the brake caliper to the fork; remember to remove the bracket and run it directly to the fork.



To install the fork, we'll need the two bearings (silver), a 3.8mm spacer, a blue "beam" ring, and some grease.



First, paint some grease where the steer tube meets the fork. Use a paintbrush, not your finger your animal... Okay, I used my finger, but the plastidip ruined my brush, Slide the large bearing onto the steer tube, and make sure the slanted cup interface is facing up. Wipe up any excess grease before installing into the frame. If you don't it will be a dirt magnet and that dirt will eventually work it's way into your bearings.



Next, add grease to the bottom bearing cup (sometimes called the bottom bowl). The cups are already press-fit into your frame. This grease is for a compression fit; Excess may be squeezed out, so be prepared to wipe it up. Slide the steer tube and brake hose up into the frame.



Now add grease to the top cup/bowl. Don't do this until after the fork is in; anything you can do to keep the steer tube clean helps.
Slide the smaller of the two bearings over the brake wire and down into the cup.

 

[ratz]

Day 4 - Continued

With the fork in-place, slide the beam washer over the wire and press it down into the top bear. Yes use more grease and keep cleaning up the excess.



Next slide the spacer over the top.



Find the boom clamp and loosen the two screws to spread the wings. Feed the brake wire through the clamp and slide the clamp down on to the steer tube. Press it down on to the spacer. Orientate the screws to the back of the bike.



To hold everything together, we will use a compression fitting, bolt, and top cap dust cover.
Notice that there are wire holes on both the compression fitting and the top cap. Feed the
compression fitting. Over the wire.



The compression will need to be lowered into the steer tube at a distance equal to 1.25 times the height of the top cap. Make sure you don't get grease inside the steer tube, and the compression fitting. With Fitting in the steer tube, tighten it just enough that it doesn't just fall in but has to be "pushed" in. Notice the brake wire coming through the fitting; it should be oriented to the left side. (If you are running a wire for a wired derailleur it would be coming up the right side and through the other hole.)

Lower the fitting into the frame. Use the hex/allen wrench to push it in, but also use a slight side pressure to keep hold of it. (I recommend marking the wrench with electrical tape to tell you how low to lower it. I did that on bike #2 and it worked better)




Carefully use a torque wrench to tighten the fitting to 9nm




Next, slide the top cap over the wire(s) and lower the connecting bolt down into the center hole. Be careful not to push the compression fitting with the bolt; tighten the bolt to 4nm. Be careful to not over-tighten the bolt or the compression fitting will come loose.




At this point, you can check the fork for any slack. If it is loose, you will need to stop right here back up lower the compression fitting a bit more into the steer tube and then retighten. A sloppy loose fork; is bad for your bike and bad for your health. So take your time with this step.

 

[ratz]

Day 4 Continued - Boom Boom, isn't it great to be cra....... errr Biking?

The next step is to build and install the boom; this part is much simpler than fishing brake wires..

Since the boom is apart at this point, this is a great time to install the bottom bracket (BB)

So grab the boom and grease up the BB threads inside the shell.



Next, you will need your BB. In this case, we are using an Enduro T42-30 BB. For a 30mm Crank Set. To install this we'll need the BB wrench "blue" and a torque wrench. See the design thread for a list of possible BB's you could consider for your project. https://forum.cruzbike.com/threads/...cts-from-the-now-a-v20c-design-journal.15224/



After you grease the BB shell, also grease the threads on the cups. Clip clip the dust cover (Plastic tube with the name on it) to the left side cup and in gently thread it into the Shell with your figures. Go slow and make sure you don't cross-thread it.



Once the left side is in; then repeat that with the right side; and you turn it in slowly it will engage with the Dust cover.
After everything is square and finger time; clean off excess grease and grab your torque wrench.

Set the wrench to 40 nm (or whatever you BB instructions say), place the wrench on the BB and tighten. Start with the right side; then repeat on the left.



With that, our lower boom is ready, Now for the upper boom aka the slider.

Grab the part with the pretty Vendetta logo on it. And grab the pivot clamp. Carefully Spread the pivot clamp and slide it onto the slider from the end with the "A" Vendetta. Go slow and take your time so you don't scratch the slider. The clamp has to be tight to work well, so this is just one of those slow-down moments. If your hands are weak you can spread it open using a screwdriver as you slide it on; which of course means going slower. (Or be that person and scratch it all up and not care.... no really please don't)


Now we will install the pressure/pinch plate. This is the part that keeps the boom length fixed but adjustable. This is a major improvement over previous designs and one of my favorite changes to the bike.




The plate installs curved-side up into the end of the slider. There is a recessed area inside the boom that it will click down into. Slide it in until that happens. Once the plate is in place slide the boom (the part with the BB) into the slider. You can use Carbon Super Grip paste at this point if you like (Parktool SAC-2) this is the paste used on carbon seat posts that prevents them from slipping. If you are a particularly strong rider or plan to do a lot of steep climbing; add the paste for insurance is probably worth the $10 a tube costs. You don't need it but you can use it.

Once the two pieces are together install the two holding screws. Make them finger-tight for now. Note there are qty 6 screws that look alike.
Qty 4 are for the handlebars and Qty 2 are for the boom. The two for the boom are a different length than the 4 for the handlebars; make sure you sort them by length and grab the short two for the boom.

 

[ratz]

Day 4 - continued (feeling the pressure yet?)

Now we need to add the chain stay. So find your stay, your BB clamp and the four bolts, the through axle thread plate and the deraillear hanger. Nah it's not as bad as that sounds.

First install the through-axles screw plate; this one is easy and only goes in 1 way.


Then on the other arm install the derailleur hanger which is in two pieces (outside and inside) if you do the previous step first this one will be easy and you'll know the orientation to do them in. If you do the hanger first like I did you might find yourself staring at it for 20 minutes confused.




This new hanger is the second of my favorite upgrades of this new design. Gone are the days for the press fit hanger that will fall off the bike every time you change the wheel. That had some advantages, but the occasional mistake it would cause when it slipped out of place when installing the wheel was not worth it. This fixed and screwed-in design is just better.

With that done grab the BB bracket, and the bolts.


Same as always grease up your bolts then insert/set the BB shell into the half-moon opening in the chain stay and finger-tighten the screws. Use the derailleur hanger to help you orientate the two parts. The hanger goes down and the boom goes up. The larger opening on the bracket also faces up as in this photo.



Tighten all the bolts evenly and leave them loose enough that it's easy to change the angle of the boom/chainstay;



And now we can add the boom to the main frame. Find the Pivot bolt; it's the only one like it in the parts. It's a long bolt with a smooth out side and a small screw cap on the end. Put a little grease on the bolt to make it slide in nicely and prevent squeaks in the future.



Hold the boom BB side down and bolt it to the frame. The cylinder should enter from the side of the clamp that has the notch in it (the left), and the cap should go on the right. My bolt does not have a prong to go into the notch in the clamp. I'm assuming that's a supply chain issue. Over the years I've seen this bolt with and without the notch.



Leave this part finger tight again, and with that, we are ready to put some wheels on the frame to give it some rigidity for the rest of the build.