santacruising22

Hello,
First time posting - hope i'm not too far off with the section, helpful advice is always appreciated. After reading a bunch of stuff on the forums, I bought a cross-check frame and am trying to build it up, mostly for commuting as a roadbike, though i'd like to be able to take it off road sometimes. I'm very much a newbie at building up a bike and on a budget. I already have a bunch of parts that I took off an aluminum frame that i'd like to use - I have a set of wheels, a specialized crank, Ultegra caliper brakes, ultegra front and rear derailleurs. Here's what I wanted help with and some advice on - names and specific models would be really helpful:

1. A reasonably priced headset. What price range do I want to be in for something quality that's going to last me, but not kill me. Can I get something quality for 40 bucks? If so, what is it.
2. I realize i'm going to look like an idiot with caliper brakes on a bike with braze ons- and I don't really want to be that idiot so...what are a good pair of cantilevers?
3. Probably a very newbie question - the front derailleur that I took off the aluminum frame is too big to tighten onto the steel frame - do I just get some piece of rubber or something to stick in there? Is there some special adjuster I can get. What am I looking for here?
4. Is there anything else off the top of your head that I should know here - seems like i'm running into some compatability problems I wasn't expecting right off the bat. Is running a road bicycle set up not a good idea here, or is it just the fact that the parts were from an aluminum frame or what? The holes were too small to mount the caliper brakes too. Exciting anyways.

Loving looking at the frame, would really love to get it set up quickly to actually ride! Thanks for your help!

OnTheRivet

Best headset for the money by far. Cane Creek S3

Brakes, Tektro Oryx cantilevers are excellent for the money

Yes you can get shims for front Derailluers

meanwhile

Bikes vary a quite a bit in tube sizes for clamping on derailers, etc. Except for the brakes you shouldn't expect any problems based on bike type and none because of frame material.

bluenote157

I know you didnt ask, but i'll provide the breakdown since i did the exact same thing:
sell the calipers..i'm sure you can get at least $80 for them
$25 tektro cr720 in the front
$15 tektro oryx in the back
$15 koolstop salmons pads
$5 rear brake cable hanger
$5 front brake cable hanger

Verify that your front derailleur isn't a braze on that is attached to a 31.8 clamp. Actaully if it is, you can just get a $10 problem solvers 28.6 clamp and attach the braze-on to it.

santacruising22

Thanks very helpful actually. I have shimano "super slr" road levers - are these OK to use with the tektro brakes? I think that the front derailleur is actually a braze on attached to a clamp like you said - do you think it'd be better to get another clamp rather than just use a shim? Thanks for the help.

santacruising22

On second thought, i'm confused about whether this is brazed on- it's a shimano ultegra FD-6503 and the clamp unscrews from the derailleur.

ridethecliche

picture would help.

desertdork

Here's an example of a front derailleur that is really a braze-on type which is secured to a clamp. This is a Shimano FD-R773. As bluenote157 is suggesting, you could substitute a 28.6mm clamp for the oversized clamp if your derailleur has this setup. This would be an alternative to going with a shim, though I can't say whether one is functionally superior to the other.

desertdork

By "slr" I assume these are BL-R600 or BL-R400 levers. These are traditional short-pull road levers that are compatible with both centerpull cantilevers and sidepull caliper brakes.

So others here have a better idea what you're working with, can you you give more info on:
1. your rear derailleur
2. your crankset (chainring sizes)
3. what you plan to use for shifters

bluenote157

If your fd looks like the picture above that desertdork attached, you might as well buy the problem solvers 28.6 sized clamp. I got my clamp for $10... i'm sure a proper shim will end up costing you about as much. Might as well do it right the first time??

I'm not sure what super slr is.. super shimano linear response?? If they were designed for road calipers, they will definitely work with the tektros..or any cantis (NOT V-BRAKES) for that matter. It looks like you will either be going barend route, downtube shifter, or thumb shifter route??

If you go the friction route, i highly recommend Suntour Retrofriction shifters or the Diacompe copies. These are awesome shifters. I actually took some old shimano barends and kept the pods to mount my suntours. How many gears are you running in the back? I have some 8 speed barends w/o the pods and some 105 9speed STIs. PM me if interested.

santacruising22

Judging by the picture I would say that they're not braze on (pics at the bottom)- however the derailleur is easily unscrewed from the clamp with an allen wrench...couldn't find anything online that seems to match what i'm looking for. So a shim it is I guess?

I just ordered a cane creek s3 headset and tektro cr720 for front and back since I couldn't find a site that had oryx and read better stuff about them anyways.

1. Rear derailleur is a shimano ultegra 6500
2. I was thinking of going with shimano "s6" bar end shifters with nine-speed on the back - the shifters say they're compatible with 8 or 9speed and you can shift one of them from indexed to friction which seems pretty cool.
3. The crank is a specialized 42-32-22.

Thanks for all your help guys - this forum is totally great. Also wondering what handlebars and stem I should go with - pretty ignorant about both.

desertdork

Did you previously run this crank with your ultegra 6503 front derailleur?

The reason I ask is that the FD-6503 was designed to be used with much larger chainrings; the ultegra FC-6503 crankset had 52/42/30 rings. Your 42t large ring is much smaller. Ideally, you'd like the radius of the derailleur cage to be a bit closer. The derailleur will need to be mounted much lower to reach the chainrings; add this to the fact that the cage is rather long. This is where I think you could have an issue: the tail end of the cage is too low to clear the chainstay when attempting to shift onto the small (or even middle) chainring. Maybe some others can add their thoughts to this.

One advantage of using front friction shifting is that you have a lot of freedom with derailleur choice. Your crankset has more in common with a mtb drivetrain than it does a road drivetrain. A mtb front derailleur might be a better choice with your chainrings. NOS Deore/LX/XT derailleurs can be found reasonably priced, plus they were offered with 28.6 clamps.

santacruising22

This was the setup that the person I got it from had - same crank and front derailleur - seemed to shift into everything fine - I did have a feeling that the crank was too small, but I don't really have the bucks to overhaul everything right now. Trying to really get the essentials here - if others think its a big issue I would consider a different front derailleur...but wondering if I could still use my shimano Bar-end shifters...they're just really cool looking

desertdork

Your bar-end shifters will work with any front derailleur; friction shifting allows this to be.

I understand your desire to get your bike together with minimal expense. Hopefully your derailleur will work out just fine. I do need to state that I don't have any experience with building up a Cross Check. The higher bottom bracket (in comparison with road geometry) might mean that the chainstay angles will be large enough that derailleur cage clearance wouldn't be the issue I'm trying to make of it. I hope that's the case.

Since your build isn't cyclocross specific, you might get more help with these compatibility issues over in the bicycle mechanics subforum.