Grumpy McTrumpy

First things first... Have to measure the bottom bracket to saddle height on my current bike.



Now comes the scary part... I only get one shot at this. They have included a clamp-on cutting guide that works fairly well.



I found that the hacksaw tended to cut through the guide more easily than the carbon fiber, so after cutting the seatmast I flipped the guide over to get a fresh edge and used a rasp to make the cut square.

Grumpy McTrumpy

With that cut done, I am pretty much finished in the woodshop unfortunately. It is much nicer down there than in my grungy garage. Here's a pic of what I have been working on lately...



Perfect! (whew)



now to the grungearage... This Sturtevant torque wrench was a great find! Makes this kind of work safe and easy



Ridley must be designing these frames to be assembled by the end user since they ship with a fully faced bottom bracket shell and the fork crown race is already installed..

Scummer

Lots o pics? I only see 3. Where's the rest? Kick ass frame btw.

EDIT: Ah.. 4 more.. keep em coming.

Grumpy McTrumpy

With most of the parts installed I took a wild guess at the bar angle and torqued it to spec. Most likely it will have to be loosened and readjusted but I might have a shot at getting it right the first time.



That's it for tonight. There isn't much left to do besides installing the shifters. I am still waiting for a 7800 front derailleur to arrive and some of the stuff from the local shop may not get here until late next week. I can still probably setup the bike fit soon though.

dmb2786

ridleys are the coolest

damocles1

When I started the same process on my Helium, I was scared sh*tless. I must have put everything together and measured 6 times.
The feeling of drawing the blade across the frame was a bit sickening.

Bike looks good! You'll like riding a Ridley! It ruins you for anything else...

Ston_ar

I've been looking at that bike quite a bit. But, unfortunately the only ways I'm going to get a high-end bike in the near future is either if it's given to me (not likely) or I win the lottery (even less likely). Have fun with it

cedricbosch

I worked in a bike shop for several months and never saw a bike come in without the crown race installed or the BB faced. Trust me the last thing Ridley wants is end-users assembling their frames.

wanders

Great looking bike. You're a much braver man than I.

tubescreamerx

nice build and thanks for the walk through.

my excalibur's bottom bracket shell threads needed to be chased/retapped. besides that it was pretty much smooth sailing. a friend building up the same frameset as i had the same issue with the bb threads, not really a biggie since we both work in the same shop and had the right tools for the job (and someone more experienced to do it).

tubescreamerx

on another note, that's the 2008 noah... so is that a non-replaceable hanger or what?

CrimsonKarter21

Beautiful! I've found that you can make the cut a little cleaner by wrapping the good part in electrical tape very tightly, then sanding the cut with 180 grit paper.

Racer Ex 

Totally replaceable.

I've got an '08 & '09 Noah and a Dean.

They are the shiznitski.

tubescreamerx

what's your take on 08 vs 09 noah?

i can see myself choosing another ridley for my next build. helium...900g? yes, please.



my excalibur is so stiff yet forgiving.

now that sounds weird.

Racer Ex 

'08 is a crit rocket, but can be tough on longer rides. The 09 is about as good a bike as you can ask for, unless you're doing 6000 vert a day in training, then you go Helium.

tubescreamerx

that's what i was thinking. good enough excuse to get the helium since it's presumably better value. i wonder how the helium stacks up against the paris carbon or fp6.

Racer Ex 

No idea on the fp6 but I know two people that have had Pinny carbon break. one '08 Paris, the other I'm not sure of.

I'd test ride the '09 Noah and Helium. Life's too short

BTW a buddy who has both the Helium and Damocles likes the Damocles. $1299 for a frameset at Competitive right now and $2399 for a complete SRAM bike.

tubescreamerx

i've never ridden a damocles but i'm not so sure it would be a lot different from my 07 excalibur. i'm looking for something more exciting.

tubescreamerx

i don't know what i'm thinking. i have a 09 noah and damocles that i could test ride at the bike shop i work at... i've just been too busy.

phoshizzo

Ah yes, the Lie-Nielsen Bronze, scraper plane, the woodie, and the Stanleys are very nice. I'm also liking the cherry hutch I'm a Lie Nielsen fan and woodworker too

Oh, nice bike build as well.

bostongarden

Sweet!!

Grumpy McTrumpy

Heh... glad you noticed! They have quite a few siblings. The hutch is nearly done. I just have to do the shiplap back and the glass panes...

Replaceable. In fact, the entire dropout is replaceable.

Grumpy McTrumpy

Here it is with shifters, pedals, and some training wheels after a preliminary fitting. I was pretty comfortable on it as is. The saddle-bar-drop is 10cm, which is 2 more than my current road bike, but it feels more comfortable since the frame size is smaller. That is pretty much the reason why I built this bike. I am thinking I may have to replace the frame on my (too large) training bike now though. I'll have to put in some hours on this one before I know for sure. I think I will leave a few spacers above the stem initially just to have a bit of adjustability. The saddle angle is a bit extreme, but I am going to leave it like that until I get a real ride in on it.

substructure

Such a handy-man.

Nice builds.

damocles1

I've had an Excalibur, a Damocles and now a Helium. The Helium is easily the best of the three. It's lighter, stiffer and has a better ride than the Damocles.
I rode a Noah test bike and found it a bit harsh over rides of three hours. I like a stiff bike, but it's too stiff to live with everyday. As a crit bike, it's likely very good
The Helium does everything well. Mine built up to 16 pounds with no effort made to make it light.
As for the '6000 feet of vertical' comment, the weight difference of the two frames in a size medium is 1/2pound.