I prefer to cut the steer tube a couple of mm above the top of the stem, and top the stem w/ a 5mm spacer. That way, the whole stem is clamped to the fork.

From what I've read, this seems to be recommended for carbon fiber steer tubes but not for metal. The Nashbar fork is all steel so strength should not be an issue. With that being said, this is still a good idea since it gives you wriggle room to adjust the stem height up if necessary.

That's exactly what I have on order. Should be in next week.

I had considered this method but my other bikes have the tube cut below the stem so I just went with it.

Well thanks to Amazon Prime, the shifters arrived way before the brakes. Amazing that I ordered them on Saturday and they showed up on my doorstep Monday. Crazy.

As mentioned earlier, I ordered the Shimano Dura Ace bar end shifters. Although the most expensive component on the build, they seem to be the best bang for the buck. In waiting for parts to arrive, I had some time to think through the shifter installation and decided I would start with the rear derailleur first as I am most comfortable with the adjustment.

For those not familiar with setting a rear derailleur up, there are two screws that control how far the thing travels across the rear cassette. The "H" screw limits travel on the smaller cog side, and the "L" screw limits travel on the larger cog side, or the ones closest to the spokes. When I installed the RD it was limiting travel only to the second to last large cog, so I made a small adjustment to allow further travel. It's important to make this adjustment correctly, otherwise there's a chance the RD could throw the chain into the spokes.

Anyway, enough explanation, so on to the pictures...

The new Dura Ace bar-end shifters:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3869.jpg

I wasn't sure what would be included in the package and was expecting the need for cutting cable housing. Fortunately, the kit arrived with cable housing pre-cut!

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3875.jpg

Also included were the down-tube bosses (I think that's the right word) that I installed first:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3873.jpg

Next I moved on to the RD shifter installation.
This was pretty straight forward and the instruction manual explained it perfectly:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3871.jpg


The kit came with two lengths of cable, so obviously the longer one was for the RD. I just threaded it through the shifter, on through the housing, down the tube, you get the picture.

The last step was to tightly pull the cable through the securing screw on the RD and see how it shifted. There are two operation modes for this RD shifter - friction and indexed. I started with friction just to get a feel for the correct travel and to let the cable initially stretch a little. After a few small adjustments and getting the cable a little tighter it seemed to be shifting almost perfectly.

Anyway, I still don't have brakes but felt a need to get it out on the street for testing :o. Fortunately I live on a cul de sac so I had some open street to deal with. Shifting felt great so I switched over to indexing towards the end of the test.

Here's the finished product (I still need to cut & cap the remaining amount of cable):

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3879.jpg

So far this thing is going together better than expected and I hope my explanations and pictures will help others that are on the fence about doing something like this. When I researched building up one of these frames, there wasn't a lot of explanation as to how everything went together - if anything there were a few threads that showed a frame, list of parts and the finished product. What I have learned so far it that there's not a lot of mystery to it, you just need some correct tools and order components that work together.

Next up: front derailleur shifter installation...

Great thread! I always like an adventure. I should bookmark it too. Lots of good info. Thanks megalowmatt.

Interesting, did you get a set of bar-end *and* downtube shifters?

No - the bar ends came disassembled (in two pieces). The lever has to be removed to install the plug into the end of the handlebars.

Is that what you're referring to?

I'll bet your CAAD8 was even easier - no press-in external headset cups - probably integrated cups with drop in bearings.

The fixtures welded/brazed to your frame are the bosses; you installed housing stops with adjusting barrels.

Looking forward to future updates & pics, and some road reviews (loaded and empty!)...

Now that I think about it you're right - the whole thing is inside the head tube.

Aha...thanks for those links!

The brakes came in last night so it looks like I have everything I need to finish it up.

I have Fridays off so barring any rain I may be able to ride it into the coffee place in the morning as long as everything goes together smoothly tonight :)

I've really enjoyed this thread. Great example of how a careful, sensible approach can yield good results. I bet this bike will end up better assembled than many LBS bikes. :thumb:

Thanks! I have had a great time putting it all together and sharing my experience along the way.

for the most part it's done so I will be posting some more pictures tonight :)

Moving right along...
 

As enthusiastic as I may have been for wanting to finish up last night, a couple mechanical challenges and life took precedent. Life is more important than the bike, so I took a needed break.

Last time I left off after installing the RD bar end & cabling. Last night I continued on to the left bar end installation and cable routing. One thing I didn't do was take a picture of the disassembled bar end before it's attached to the handlebars.

Here is the shifter before it's attached:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3881.jpg

The end just goes into the tube and you insert a hex wrench into the end. As it's turned, the end expands into the handlebars. After that, the shifter is attached.



As I mentioned earlier, the shifter housing came pre-cut. So like the RD, the front was easy enough to thread the cable through the shifter, housing, down the tube, etc.

Before I attach the cable, I wanted to show the FD alignment. in the picture below, the FD comes with a sticker that helps in setting what I think is a basic starting point on where to align it with the front chain rings.

FD with the sticker:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3882.jpg


Once the cable was attached it was a matter of letting the FD rest closest to the seat tube, tightly pull the cable and secure it in place:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3884.jpg

Like the RD, there are two screws - "H" & "L" that function pretty much the same as the others in that they limit the amount of travel into the seat tube or out past the large chain ring. I first made the "H" adjustment and just kind of guessed where it should be.

Next was kind of the cool part because I finally got to see all the gearing working together. This is where I went through the range of the rear cassette while alternating through the front chain rings. Since I had already set the range of travel for the RD I could now work on the front.

Here's where one issue surfaced...for the life of me I couldn't figure out where the FD was hanging up as it was traveling up into large chain ring. After some trial & error I finally realized it was the bottom inside part of the FD striking the very top teeth of the middle chain ring. As it turned out the FD was not set quite high enough, so I loosened everything and raised it a bit. That did the trick.


Next it was brake time...

Nashbar Cantilever Brakes:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3886.jpg

These are very simple and straightforward brakes. They just bolt onto the mounts and you make small adjustments with some set screws on each brake to create some tension & "spring back".

Back Brakes Installed:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3888.jpg

On this particular frame, there is no rear brake cable hanger welded on or attached, so it is necessary to order one separately. I just ordered a basic one from Nashbar that integrates with the seat clamp. The Nashbar hanger was a little too big to fit correctly in the clamp, so it was necessary to do some light sanding to get it to fit.

Rear brake cable hanger:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3890.jpg


Before stopping for the night, I decided to give the gears another run through the full range. To my surprise, I noticed that on the small-small combination the RD was completely slammed back on itself and the chain was nearly resting on the chain stay. :eek: While this isn't a combination of gearing I would normally run because of the chain line, it's not something I wanted to leave as-is...it ain't right!!!.

Here's a shot of what it looked like:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3893.jpg

After a 12-ounce time out, I assessed that the chain was just too long for the gearing I am running. I'm not sure of the reasoning behind it all, but the chain was clearly too long for that gearing combination and it required more overall tension. What I needed to make sure of was that if I removed a couple links, the big-big combination needed to be able to work right as well.

Figuring I had nothing to lose other than a $15 chain, I just went for it with my multi-tool chain breaking thingy:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3896.jpg

After that I reattached the master link, ran through all the gears and everything worked great :)

That's a problem I've run into taking links out. Then finally discovering that you can't shift into the biggest rings. Instead of buying another chain, I would probably just live with it in the knowledge that you shouldn't be cross-chaining anyway.

And let's not get into what can go front with FD adjustments. :eek: I have found that once you completely screw it up and spend about 4 hours trying to fix it, you learn to do it right. Doing it right usually means going right back to step 1. Get the height adjusted correctly. Then step 2. Make sure the the cage is aligned correctly (with the chainring..). Once the first two steps are correct, life gets easy. However, skipping the first two steps is a common practice.

You're absolutely right. Something I have learned is not to be shy about completely starting over. Prior to this build I didn't really understand the front derailleur and now I have a pretty good idea of installation and adjustments.

On with brake installation...
 

Along with the brakes I had ordered a Cane Creek cable & housing set. This is just a basic pair of cables that would work with the Cane Creek levers I had.

The housing came in two different lengths but it still needed to be cut. If you have never cut cable housing before, there are a handful of ways to do it, including a specific cable housing cutting tool. Whatever you do, don't attempt it with a hack saw or wire cutters...I tried this on a past project and it kind of didn't work at all. :o

I have always used a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3897.jpg

It's quick and makes a clean cut:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3899.jpg

...and also fun to watch the sparks fly!

Once the cable was cut to the correct lengths, I ran the rear brake:

Here it is taped and ready for bar tape:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3902.jpg

Cable is run to the rear brake:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3903.jpg

The brake set came with that additional upside down "V"-shaped cable you see in the above picture. The way it works is the cable is fed through the circle, creating tension and that's how the alignment is set. It can be a little fussy but I was familiar with these from another bike so setup was fairly easy.

One thing I realized I didn't get a very good picture of was the front brake cable hanger. This goes in place of one of the 10mm spacers on the steer tube, so I just removed the bars and replaced it with a spacer.

You can see the front cable hanger below, along with the completed front brake routing:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3904.jpg

Well the bars are begging for bar tape but I HATE WRAPPING BAR TAPE! I think I'm too much of a perfectionist and it bugs me when it doesn't look the same on both sides. This job presented an additional challenge in that the shifter cables need to protrude at some point.

Anyway, a long time later and it's (mostly) done:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3905.jpg

And what would it be without the garage door shot:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3906.jpg



I have probably under 2 miles of riding on this bike but it feels great - really stable, smooth and accelerates quickly.

After the above shot and a bit of riding I put the rack, panniers, correct saddle and pedals on it. I will take a good outside picture some time today.

This is a great bike and great thread.

My feedback? I would double cross your shift cable. Route the left shifter to the right stop and the right to the left. Then, cross them again under the down tube. It will be smoother routing that won't touch your head tube.

Here is my wifes bar end equipped bike:
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...2-01193850.jpg

"The" rack? No fenders? You're not done!

That gives me something to think about about. I had seen pictures of cables routed like that but couldn't figure out why.

I have to admit for a female's bike, the pink cable housing is cool!

Ha ha yeah, only one rack for now and the jury is still out on the fenders.

it doesnt work for every frame and every build but most of the time it will be much cleaner and smoother routing.

haha, thanks. the pink housing was her idea. ive got red housing and brake hoods on my otherwise black bike and she asked me if they made pink housing that would match the pink accents on the frame. the white tape and saddle were also at her request.

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...m/DSC01126.jpg

The end result (for now) :)
 

Here's some pictures of how I will ride it for the near future...

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3915.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3916.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3909.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3911.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3912.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3913.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3917.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...d/DSC_3919.jpg


Just for the heck of it, here's its "commuting cousin":
Bianchi San Jose with 8-speed IGH

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...4/DSC_3929.jpg

:)

both of those are great bikes. your cycling preferences differ than mine but you do have good taste. i love seeing pretty touring and commuter builds. one of these day i will make one. (probably a road frame w/ 650b wheels)