Cyclocross - Here's my brand new under-budget cyclocross bike

After a couple of years of riding fixed gear, I thought I would dive back in to cyclocross. I missed my beloved cross check (pea green version), i had to get back into the swing of things. I didn't want to spend a lot of money and I had quite a few cx parts laying around. So I checked out e-bay and found a really good deal on a NYCBikes uberurban frameset. the original color scheme was 80's style (black to blue fade) so I had an inlaw prep and paint the bike. Wheelset is Shimano R540 (respaced the rear to 135mm), truvativ elita crankset, 105 rear/front derailleurs, ultegra shifters (about to be thrown away by my LBS!) and various other little parts I had laying around.

Season starts in late september here in the San Francisco area!

http://http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/3595/completebike19qy.th.jpg (http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=completebike19qy.jpg)

Dang, that is nice Very clean, neat color. Almost a shame to try and dodge trees with it. ;)

boog

Cool bike.

YOUR LBS WAS THROWING AWAY ULTEGRA LEVERS? I hope you're hanging out behind their shop every night now like a stray dog at the butcher's. I would be.

Cool bike.

YOUR LBS WAS THROWING AWAY ULTEGRA LEVERS? I hope you're hanging out behind their shop every night now like a stray dog at the butcher's. I would be.

Yea, they were gonna toss them. Apparently the bike that they came in on was totaled (road bike tboned a truck). They didn't think they would work, but they do. They're pretty mangled, but they shift nicely.

I went back a few days ago but seems as though they're now more picky with what they're throwing away!

I just checked out the website for NYCbikes. Pretty cool stuff, especially in a city where messengers sprint through the midtown chaos on track bikes and seasoned racers speed through the most aweful road and traffic on super-cool road bikes. The NYCbikes look very functional for NYC roads and pockets. Enjoy the bike.

BTW, the wheels on your bike look pretty beefy. What kind are they and how well do they hold up?

I just checked out the website for NYCbikes. Pretty cool stuff, especially in a city where messengers sprint through the midtown chaos on track bikes and seasoned racers speed through the most aweful road and traffic on super-cool road bikes. The NYCbikes look very functional for NYC roads and pockets. Enjoy the bike.

BTW, the wheels on your bike look pretty beefy. What kind are they and how well do they hold up?

They're an older pair of shimano r540s that I had laying around. They're pretty stiff, but then again, I'm about 150. I've read that heavier riders feel flex on them, but I haven't noticed.

By the way, NYCBikes gets a lot of grief from the Single speed forum folks. I got the frame thru e-bay; NYCBikes does quite a bit of selling in there.

Looks real nice Suckafree.

nyc bike has nice stuff, but 2 out of 3 times i had a lot of problems getting stuff shipped from them, i would only buy in shop.

Check the singlespeed/fixed forum for more on NYC Bikes. Or...save yourself the trouble because there customer service department makes the DMV look like a SWAT team.

As for Ultegra Levers - I've had four or five sets of them fail now. I've only used Ultegras on one of my road bikes (two sets failed over time) and on other people's bikes that I put together for them. I'm told that the latest models don't fail but like I'm REALLY going to believe that. I haven't had any DuraAce levers fail but I've only used a couple of 9-speed sets.

When they fail the right shifter starts sticking and will only get two or three gears. But in one case the two gears were on the bottom and it takes a long time to go 10 miles at 6 mph.

Still another reason to use bar-end shifters on off-road stuff. If you're racing you're pretty much stuck using combination shifters because it does give you a fraction of a second faster shifting. If you're on a course that requires a lot of shifting it could make a difference. Of course most cross courses only need two or three shifts and bar-ends work just as well there as combination shifters.

But the REAL THING is riding on the road to a off-road area, riding off-road and then riding back. None of that racing stuff for me. I want REAL mud, REAL rain and REAL misery so that the Taco-and-Beer(tm) can be consumed guilt-free. You know Sheldon Brown isn't just any weirdo - he's OUR weirdo.

Super-sweet cross bike. You got me looking at the NYCBikes guys' page. Any word on what these folks are like? I'm just short of pulling the trigger on one of their frames.

Super-sweet cross bike. You got me looking at the NYCBikes guys' page. Any word on what these folks are like? I'm just short of pulling the trigger on one of their frames.

If you do a search on NYCBikes here in the forums, you'll see a lot of the single speed/fixed gear folks aren't fans of them at all, which tells you a bit about their customer service. I got the frameset from e-bay for super cheap so I didn't really care about their customer service. One caveat on the frame: no replaceable rear derailleur hanger. If it bends, I'm gonna have to swap components to put on another frame. Just something to keep in mind.

Overall, if you're on a super low-budget cyclocross project, I recommend it.

Cool bike, hope to see you out there this fall. I just built up a new Ridley Crosswind and am itching to get racing.

What is the process for respacing the rear hub? I have an Ultegra wheel set that I woudl like to use as my spare race set. Current spacing is 130mm.

Cool bike, hope to see you out there this fall. I just built up a new Ridley Crosswind and am itching to get racing.

What is the process for respacing the rear hub? I have an Ultegra wheel set that I woudl like to use as my spare race set. Current spacing is 130mm.

thanks for the props. I'll be out there and I just got my decals to put on the bike. If you see it, it'll have "Hugs Life" on the top tube!

So the rear spacing was rather easy. you put spacers on the axles (2.5 mm on each side) and voila, there you have it. a friend showed me how easy it was by just taking off the QR skewers; I had to re-space it cause the frame is aluminum (rear spaced at 135mm) and I imagine it would have stressed out the QR/skewers. Better safe than sorry.

thanks for the props. I'll be out there and I just got my decals to put on the bike. If you see it, it'll have "Hugs Life" on the top tube!

So the rear spacing was rather easy. you put spacers on the axles (2.5 mm on each side) and voila, there you have it. a friend showed me how easy it was by just taking off the QR skewers; I had to re-space it cause the frame is aluminum (rear spaced at 135mm) and I imagine it would have stressed out the QR/skewers. Better safe than sorry.


Cool. I thought you would have had to replace the axel and get a longer QR, but I guess 5mm is not that much. I'll give it a shot.
BTW I'll be doing the Pilarcitos series again this year but moving to B's 35-45. Time to start acting my age I guess.