Dear Tarck, I’m building a road bike. can I get some of your wisdom please?
I recently ordered a nashbar alu frame and nashbar carpet fiber fork.
The plan thus far is:
SRAM Apex or Rival group. (is Rival worth the extra hundred or so?)
Some cheap Mavix cxp22 x shimano 2200 wheels I have laying around (until I can get some hard ano tb14’s)
Maybe use the ayn rand silver setback seatpost I bought for a previous project that never got built.
I also have a black ayn rand stem (I know that would be jackass, get me into balleur stems?)
Nitto 115 classic road bars (Might change for ritchey wcs classic bars if I get a 31.8 stem)
Black batrape (most likely cloth)
This no name velo seat I got off an old road bike (I love this seat, its comfy)
For the most part, I want to keep it pretty low key and not hipster ano the shit out of it. But, would a little color be acceptable?
How about a color headset? I’m think forest green or purple.
would a ck headset be massive overkill? are ird headsets total shit? Any other colored headsets out there that are somewhere in between?
If I did get a colored headset, whats the max amount of matchy matchy thats acceptable? Is matching seat clamp/cage/skewers/maybe even alu valve caps going too far?
Also, I know better than to cover it with stickers (been there, done that) But I am sorely tempted to put a nice nsfw pinup sticker as the headbadge. Bad idea? www.stickerchick.com
apex vs rival, i don’t think there’s much of a functional difference.
regarding your aesthetic questions and having a headset that costs more than your frame, i think you need to make these decisions for yourself and then submit the result for praise/mockery.
So many memes in here I don’t know where to start. What the fuck is an Ayn Rand seatpost?
Road bikes aren’t sweet fixies. You don’t build them like you’re 15 and are trying to impress girls. Geared bikes are lame to most people. Trying to make them cool makes them even more lame. So, with that knowledge, I encourage you to heed the following advice:
The only colors to matchy-match are black and silver. Headsets, seat clamps, bottle cages and QR’s can be crazy colors but should not match unless they are all black or all silver. If you go with a colored headset, cages, clamp,etc should be silver or black to avoid clashing.
CK is always overkill and most of the time comes off as pretentious. Especially when it costs close to half of what the frame cost. IRD makes good shit. So does cane creek.
Cloth tape is for historical reenactment bikes. Cork/synthetic is for people who ride their bikes more than 10mph.
And don’t fuck up a good bike with a stupid pinup sticker.
The Nitto B115 is my favorite cheap handlebar. They will give you about 95% of it
Cane Creek headsets come pretty highly recommended and come in a few colors. Or get one of those closeout PRO headsets from Department of Goods. I haven’t heard anything really bad about IRD headsets though. They’re made by Tange.
I’m super impressed with the PRO stem I got (ebay), but if you’ve already got something that will work with your bars I don’t see any rush to go 31.8. Ritchey Classics are very similar in shape and dimensions to the Nittos, so once you get your position dialed in you could always switch them out down the road.
As far as your drivetrain goes you can probably/craigslist/tarck/bike swap something together. Lots of people have to have the latest and greatest shit and dump their old components when the new stuff comes out. If you don’t need wide range gearing I would skip Apex.
If you’re piecing together, Shimano cranks and dual pivot brakes, and whatever for the rest.
also, rival resells better than apex, as DA v Ult v 105 etc. i think they all work pretty much the same. when you go pro you get to upgrade.
cane creek 100 is an awesome headset. not flashy, comes in silver and black.
ano and colors attract attention, so do big brand names, not something you want if this is a daily driver/lock up bike.
The OP’s questions are some brianforums shit, but since we’re all so nice I guess it can slide.
No stupid colors. Don’t be stupid.
No valve caps, stupid.
Get cheaper headset in black.
Build with whatever you’ve got laying around x cheap collabo and change/upgrade as time goes on and you realize what you really want. Setback, bar shape, etc.
If you had silly ano’d shit laying around that’d be fine. Otherwise PITD.
Why would black stem be JA? Black stems are always ok.
with this bike just use what you have then figure out the basics of what you need and post a thread in the marketplace, cheapest way to build it. its a far way off from being BLINGY. just build up it sensibly and maybe get nice tires and rims.
