not sure how you post pics "inline" here or would add a few more (pm me if you know how).
btw, the seat is slightly lower than normal - this is how I had it for descent part of my ride which I find
is helped somewhat by lowering the seat.
Thanks for the feedback and compliments on it. The pics don't actually do the bike justice - plus it's dirty from it's inaugural ride, but it was a great learning experience. For those you who might want to undertake their own bike build from scratch I'm going to list components, costs, thoughts and also so I can get a final tally for my own check book (ouch!) Some of the prices will have shipping added to cost since shipping does add up when getting lots of seperate components.
I started off with
Nashbar cyclocross frame ($120) and their
carbon fork ($120, but I think discontinued?)
Also, I wanted to try out disc brakes on this bike so that became the important factor in many component decisions. I wanted road levers so in order to use discs, I ended up going with a used pair
of
Avid BB7 for road - ($75 on ebay). Of course some disc specific wheels would be needed as well. You have limited choices here, I ended up finding some on CL - a new pair of
Mavic A317 Discs w/Deore 525 hubs for $140. The cockpit consists of a Cane
Creek S2 headset ($20 - Nashbar), stem - Ritchey WCS for MTN bike ($25 - Ben's Cycles), On One Midge Bars ($55 - Ben's Cycles), used Ultegra STI's ($130 ebay) and some bar tape (BBB $11). The Drive train consists of
Sugino RD Compact Crank (48/36) w/Shimano un-73 bb, ($68 ebay),
Ultegra FD ($25 Pricepoint), used
XT SG (long cage/rapid rise)
RD ($40 ebay),
SRAM PG-950 11-34 Casette ($25 Ben's Cycles),
SRAM 991 Chain ($25 ebay). I bought some cheap 40mm
tires - IRC MythosCX ($10 ea -Nashbar), pair of N
ashbar tubes ($10),
$50 for cables, housing and the like (locally). The pedals were in a box full of spare bike parts - free! I have a seat on the way -
WTB Rocket ($30 from nashbar) and I still need to purchase a seat post.
boy...that's all
No wonder I feel like I spent that last two months of my life on this thing!
cheers,
Tony O