ptle

Components...

Ebay carbon frame 52cm
SRAM Rival
- shifters
- rear derailleur
- front derailleur (still waiting on it)
Performance Bike Forte Titan wheelset (1755g)
Truvativ Elita 50/36 crank
Cane Creek SCR-3 brakes
SRAM PG 1070 11-28 cassette
SRAM PC 1070 chain
Tao Tacx bottle cages
Bontrager Race seatpost
Ritchey Pro stem
Cane Creek headset
Nashbar Ventour 2 pedals
Nashbar Race saddle

I'm still waiting on the front derailleur, but I have taken the bike out for a test ride. With pedals, cages, and computer the bike weighs 18 pounds (measured by electronic bathroom scale).

The frame is pretty stiff. The only other nice road bike I've ridden is a 2008 CAAD9 R6 (Tiagra). The frame feel stiffer then the CAAD9 frame. I can feel the difference on climbs... especially compared to my old '88 Bianchi. I feel like the difference comes more from stiffness of the cranks/frame and not weight.

The frame seems very race oriented. Cornering is fast and precise. Feels like a solid crit bike. I don't find the ride very comfortable, but that may be because I'm still sorting out my fit and my stem is probably 30-40mm too long (I bought a stem impulsively because it was such a good deal).

I consider this a pretty good bike for the $1200-1300 that I spent. It was a fun experience to build up a bike from frame and fork. However I'm not very impressed with SRAM Rival. The upshifts are smooth, but downshifts feel clunky and slow. The cable housing seems to be the correct length so I don't think it's because of cable friction. I did criss-cross the cable underneath the downtube. Do you guys think that may cause the clunky downshifts?

Jinker

Nice ride. Small quibble though, usually when people say 'eBay frame' they mean the unbranded or totally unknown branded framesets. A Kuota's definitely not an unknown brand.

halfspeed

"Branding" ebay frames is pretty easy. https://cgi.ebay.com/13-Set-KUOTA-KRE...item2eab9e5d5f

ScrubJ

Looks like carbon work typical of that frame. (Not saying it can't be copied)

RacerOne

That's a whole lot of bike for a little bit of money.. great job!

Spinz

Very nice ----- looks fast too. Lp

hipcheck5

Yeah, pretty cheesy trying to pass it off as a name brand frame. I have a different one and created my own brand name and model name.

halfspeed

The weave, downtube, seat cluster and even the decals don't look right.

ptle

It was just a blank frame. I put the decals on because I didn't like the bare look. I don't tell everyone it's a true Kuota though and inform them it's a fake.

bloomieracer

Looks good and fun to build a unique bike eh?

I've had the best luck getting SRAM to shift well by keeping minimum tension on the shifter cables when on the smallest sproket - just a little more than slack. If you can't get it right take it to a shop. Inline adjustor on the front shifter cable is a good idea.

Does Cane Creek make a compression plug? Hopefully I'm wrong and you didn't put a star nut in there!

Pilsley

Your all about false advertising.

rpeterson

How is it false advertising? If he's not trying to sell it as a genuine article he's just got a generic frame with the "wrong" decals.

Looks good though.

NathanC

If it isn't a Kuota, don't brand it as such.

This is like that fake Livestrong Madone.

NathanC

Put it this way; I see this bike and assume it is a Kuota, and because it isn't the best looking bike around, I dismiss ever buying a Kuota, when in fact, Kuota make a quality bike.

ptle

No, I replaced the starnut with a compression plug.

dstrong 

This reminds me of the guy that built the LiveStrong bike that wasn't a LiveStrong bike.

gumbii

that's pretty cool... i'm doing this next year... should be fun...

rpeterson

You can make this argument for every single bike that's been modified in any way though.

NathanC

Changing the stem doesn't take away from the fact that the frame is a certain brand.

midgetmaestro 

Alright alright alright, since you're so unhappy with Rival, you can offload it to me

Joking aside, very nice build! I don't mind the decals in the slightest.

Pilsley

It could still be a quality frame, just not one from Kuota.

Singh

The bike looks nice. Try to come up with your own name for the decals though .

Good one.

gumbii

i'm going to build me a shmeck... or a cannondave...

superdex

as to the crossing of cables under the downtube, I did it on one of my last builds and it doesn't affect shifting....

(and I agree: putting Kuota decals on there is kinda poor form. The bike looks nice though, great build--)

pigmode

Without pics only you can judge how fair the cables are running and if the cross pattern would be a factor. Even if the cables make light contact at the cross, it shouldn't matter. I had zero problems even in this unrefined state in a fresh build. FWIW, it took me a couple hundred miles to appreciate and not think Rival's front shifting wasn't very good. Had to get used to pushing the lever the SRAM way, so to speak. Still, I'm hoping for a slight improvement when the new RED equipped bike comes in (eventually).