Hello,
I'm a complete noob to bike building and am working on my first self-built bike. It will be used for a 5 mile commute 5 days a week, and I will also ride it on gravel on the weekends as well as take it grocery shopping, etc... So the primary use is for commuting but I would like the option to take it a bit off-road and tour for the weekend if I feel called to do so.
I've specced almost everything out and would be super appreciative of anyone who has time to double-check my selected parts just to make sure nothing stands out as incompatible or out-of character. For example when picking my stem length I had no idea really what I was doing. In general I would like to not completely break the bank, but I still want to have hydraulic disc brakes and integrated brake/shifter levers which motivated my choice of groupset. Here are the parts:
Frame: Surly Straggler 58cm
Groupset: Shimano GRX 400
Front Derailleur: FD-RX400
Rear Derailleur: RD-RX400
Crank: FC-RX600-10
Casette: CS-HG50-10
Brake Levers: ST-RX400-R/ST-RX400-L
Brakes: BR-RS785 (Note that this is not the recommended brake caliper -- I need one that is post mount so I can adapt it to the straggler frame which is IS mount)
Rotors: SLX SM-RT70 160mm
Brake Hose: SM-BH90-JK-SSR
Bottom Bracket: BB-RS500
Chain: CN-HG54
Wheelset:
WH-RS370-TL or WH-RX570-TL
Tires: Hutchinson Override Gravel 700c Tire 35mm or 38mm
Cockpit/etc...
Handlebars: Salsa cowbell 44cm
Seatpost: Salsa Guide Seatpost, 27.2 x 350mm, 18mm Offset, Black
Seat Collar: Salsa Lip-Lock Seat Collar 30.0 Black
Headset: Cane Creek 40 EC34/28.6 Headset
Stem: Salsa Guide Stem, 90mm, 31.8, +/-6 degree
Saddle: Brooks b17
Rear Rack: surly rear disc rack
Some specific questions I have:
- I'm not really sure about the wheel and tire choice. I want to be realistic about the primary use of this bike as a commuter, but I don't want to go so far it's hard to have fun on the weekends. Any thoughts those options I listed or others?
- Are there other groupsets that would allow me to have hydraulic discs but might be a bit cheaper? Like SRAM or something? Is there a significant performance difference?
- I'm not sure on the offset of the seatpost. Should I just go to my LBS and have them size me up? They don't have any stragglers in stock so it seems hard to really figure out proper sizing... Maybe I can return the seatpost if it's not exactly what I want.
Thanks!!