markjenn

After a couple hundred miles, some further impressions which might be of interest to folks thinking of building up a new CX bike....

The Good:

1. The Everti butted/shaped 3-2.5 Ti really does a very nice job in the ride/stiffness compromise. The ride at the rear is especially forgiving. No feeling of whippiness or BB flex either. This would make a superb touring bike. Handling is neutral and nice. Everti advertises the Odyssey as their do-everything frame and this is an accurate representation.

2. The SRAM brifters, RD, and cluster work great. I really like the shape and action of the SRAM brifters and the shfiting is strictly snick-snick. Double-tap (misnamed IMHO) is a neat system and you adapt to it almost instantly.

3. Love the 34-50/11-28 gearing. I just leave it on the big chainring 95% of the time and treat is as a single-lever 10-speed. (I can use the entire rear cluster w/o having to trim the FD which is a good thing as SRAM provdies no trim on the big chain ring.)

4. The Ultegra SL compact crank is very rigid and looks great in the gray finish.

5. Didn't think I'd like Fizik Arione saddle, but it's a winner.

6. The SRAM 10-speed chain Powerloc connector gizmo really is pretty neat in how it works.

7. The Bontrager carbon fork is not terribly rigid, but is rides nice and I'm not getting any brake shudder.

The Bad (not much):

1. I really had to fine-tune the Rival FD to get it to work well. There is a +/- 1/8 turn fine adjustment of high gear screw that allows you to reliably shift to the big chain-ring without rub or overshifting. It's fine now, but I spent an easy two-hours messing with it. I was originally going to try a Ultegra FD, but got worried that it might not like the cable pull spec and lack of big chainring trim of the Rival brifters. If I did it again, I'd try the Ultegra FD.

2. The Shimano R505 disc brakes are noisy and have a metallic grinding feel to them. Don't work that great either. I think Shimano specs metallic pads for the front - I may look into different pads. Still feel like BB7's are a better disc brake.

3. SRAM says their Rival RD has the capacity to handle the 11-28/34-50, but its marginal at best. Using the standard big-big+2 chain sizing protocol, I can't use the smallest two gears in the rear cluster on the small front ring without the RD cage going limp. I may try removing a couple links, but the chain may be too tight in the big-big combo. I just don't think the Rival RD has the required 33T capacity.

4. Cost: Don't build a custom bike thinking you're going to save any money, at least not unless you have a bunch of free parts lying around. A Poprad (or any consumer bike) basically sells for the money you'd spend buying all the components - the frame goes for free.

I'm going to be putting a ton of miles on this bike.

- Mark