Hey all,
I've decided to build up a new crit bike to replace my CAAD10 and bought a Allez Sprint frameset. As an engineer, I love working on my current fleet of bikes. Over the years i've accumulated a lot of tools (including torque wrenches for the sensitive carbon parts) and have gained experience installing/replacing a lot of different components. From your experiences, what exactly am I getting myself into that maybe I haven't considered, as working on an already built-up bike is probably different than building up a frameset?
I have race wheels, a stem, crankset and saddle ready to go, and just bought shifters, derailleurs and handlebars (building up a full R8000 groupset). I'm having the bike shop install a Shimano hollowtech-compatible bottom bracket to replace the 30mm BB it comes with. The only thing I haven't bought yet are brakes, I think the brakes on the Allez Sprint are direct mount but was waiting to get the frameset in my hands first to confirm. I can also see myself getting frustrated getting the shifter cables through the frame, so i'm debating paying a bike mechanic to do that as well to limit my frustrations. A few of my questions/concerns:
1) I'm assuming a non-built up frameset fork comes very oversized and needs to be cut, is this correct? I will have a bike shop cut it to the right size (with room for some spacers so I can adjust my fit as necessary)
2) I know the frameset comes with a headset but does anyone know if I need to supply my own top cap and spacers? I can always take the top cap and spacers from my CAAD10--I can't imagine they aren't the same size?
Any tips or lessons-learned from more experienced bike builders would be greatly appreciated!
I've decided to build up a new crit bike to replace my CAAD10 and bought a Allez Sprint frameset. As an engineer, I love working on my current fleet of bikes. Over the years i've accumulated a lot of tools (including torque wrenches for the sensitive carbon parts) and have gained experience installing/replacing a lot of different components. From your experiences, what exactly am I getting myself into that maybe I haven't considered, as working on an already built-up bike is probably different than building up a frameset?
I have race wheels, a stem, crankset and saddle ready to go, and just bought shifters, derailleurs and handlebars (building up a full R8000 groupset). I'm having the bike shop install a Shimano hollowtech-compatible bottom bracket to replace the 30mm BB it comes with. The only thing I haven't bought yet are brakes, I think the brakes on the Allez Sprint are direct mount but was waiting to get the frameset in my hands first to confirm. I can also see myself getting frustrated getting the shifter cables through the frame, so i'm debating paying a bike mechanic to do that as well to limit my frustrations. A few of my questions/concerns:
1) I'm assuming a non-built up frameset fork comes very oversized and needs to be cut, is this correct? I will have a bike shop cut it to the right size (with room for some spacers so I can adjust my fit as necessary)
2) I know the frameset comes with a headset but does anyone know if I need to supply my own top cap and spacers? I can always take the top cap and spacers from my CAAD10--I can't imagine they aren't the same size?
Any tips or lessons-learned from more experienced bike builders would be greatly appreciated!