Hiro11

My priorities: bulletproof reliability, durability, low maintenance needs, silent operation.
I don't care about: bling/brand name, weight under 18 pounds
I ride: ~150-200 miles / week, mostly group rides, flat midwestern roads, lots of wind, 19-21 MPH avg.

Given these priorities
Good:
- Threaded BB. I hand tightened it years ago and haven't thought about it since.
- Inexpensive, low profile alloy rimmed wheels (WH-6800) work great in crosswinds and have never gone out of true.
- External cabling, easier to deal with, lower friction, better in every way.
- Performance Forte Team seatpost- cheap, great clamping mechanism, lighter than the Ritchey equivalent. I've never thought about it after installing it, the sign of a great bike part.
- Generic stainless steel cables. The Teflon coated ones are an inferior waste of money
- Specialized Romin Evo saddle. Love this thing.
- Nashbar Duro Pro tires. Rebranded Maxxis Detonators with a higher TPI, as far as I can tell. $25, extremely puncture resistant, very durable, good cornering grip, 250g weight.

What I'd likely change:
- 53-39 crank. I spend a lot of time in the 53-19 or 53-17. A compact would open up more spinning gear options. Actually, a 50t 1x might work for me on the road around here.
- Carbon stem. Alloy's just easier to deal with.
- Traditional (non-compact) drop bars. Compact drops are more comfortable to me, I'll swap these out.
- CX-Ray spokes on my spare set of 60mm carbon wheels. I've broken three of them despite a quality wheel build. I only weigh 155. I'll stick with non-bladed spokes in the future, I think they're stronger.

I'll set aside the full Ultegra and SPD-SL pedals, which I really like but are kind of a given.

rmfnla

I think so, especially for Campy NR...

Fox Farm

It was more common a combo back in the day but after building a bike with a 53/39 and 11/23 in the rear, I found that I was either spinning out in the 39 or cross chaining a lot. The 42 solved that.

oldbobcat

Necessitated by 144 mm BCD cranks.

But for flat terrain, 42t makes sense. Chainring shifts are less disruptive of cadence.

For Paris-Roubaix, the pros use 44 or 46t.

pdedes

for flat to rolling races, i'd put a 46 small chain ring.

bmthom.gis

Since you live on a pancake, you should get some maple syrup. Just make sure that the bottom bracket and crankset will play nicely with your frame. I don't see any problem with the rest of it.

gstep51

I just completed a build based on a 2007 Iron Horse Victory 3.0 frame and fork. The frame was in like new condition with Shimano 105 5700 derailleurs and a 3T stem which I will be changing due to its length. I used a mix of 105 5700 and 5800 parts. The brake calipers and wheel hubs are 5800 while the shifters, crank and cassette are 5700. The crank is a 52-39t with 170 mm arms and the cassette is 11-28. I used a Ritchey Comp seatpost and Forte Corsa compact handlebars. The saddle is a Brooks Swift and I wanted to stay with my Look Delta style pedals so I went with Wellgo WAM R-3s. The wheelset I built consists of Mavic CXP33 rims, Sapim double butted stainless spokes and Sapim Polyax nipples with the 5800 hubs. I used a BB4600 bottom bracket but will probably change that over to an Ultegra when it is time. The chain is a Shimano 6710. All in all this combination seems to be working well together and weighs in just a tad over 21 lbs. I was impressed the finishing of the welds on the frame as well as its composition. It is made of double butted 6061 aluminum with carbon fiber seat stays as well as a carbon fiber fork. The tires I chose are Vittoria Rubino Pro Tech III with continental tubes. I realize it is not a high end frame but it will serve my purposes and provides a very nice ride.

momo15

I built up most of my Nashbar Frame Cross bike. I had the shop install the fork and BB, but I did the rest. The bike started its life as my wife's bike, but she lost interest, so I rebuilt it for cross (which was my plan all along). I have a tiagra crankset on it, which I don't love, but it was hard to find cranks that cleared the chainstays of that bike. That is the biggest downside, as I would love to get a powermeter that I could just swap crankarms to use, but this bike is a 170 and my road is a 172.5. I used sram 10sp parts because they are cheap to replace if I destroy them on a cross course and the Apex RD will fit a big cassette at the rear, which I like on this bike. Smooth cadence isn't all that critical to me in cx, so it'll be a while before I go 11sp. I use tektro cantis and they have worked great. I can't remember the model, 420? 720? Something. Cheap. Effective with Kool Stop pads.

For wheels, I am using an old set of Neuvation ML30 SLX wheels, which should have died a long time ago, but seem to keep working. I have Ritchy Speedmax tires and conti tubes filled with about a gallon of Stans each. I need to replace the tubes soon, but I can't even imagine what they will look like. I can see about a million goathead thorns sticking out of the tires, but they never flat. It is a setup which should not work as well as it does, but it does.

The bars, stem, and seatpost are all leftovers that I had around. This bike will probably get the hand-me-downs from my roadbike upgrades for as long as it lives. The saddle is a Fizik Aeres from the TT bike I sold. It is nice for cross since it is small and easy to jump on and off of.
If I had to do it again, I might have just gotten a proper cross bike, but this has been a great experience. I like most of the bike, but it is hard to shoulder.

joejack951

Well, then your comment that a compact crank would have you spinning too much is incorrect. Unless you use all of your current top end, you could afford to use a smaller big and small chainring and a tighter spaced cassette.