XRL Cross build complete!
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Slowpoke
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XRL Cross build complete!
So.... I just finished my cross build, whew! Well, it's built more like a road bike than anything so thought I'd post it here for you lovely people to ogle.
I wanted a foul weather commuter / training bike and thought a cross bike would be nice, since I was selling my 27lb MTB. I do almost exclusively road riding these days, but being able to hit the trails is still useful, plus I thought it might be fun to enter some cross races soon, whereupon I'll probably dorkify it by flipping the stem up. I went for this frame because it was cheap and almost all the geometry is uncannily similar to my road bike (Blue RC4), except for long chainstays (+3cm).
It came in way lighter than I'd expected, at just over 19lb. Ultegra/105 mix, Oryx cantis, and AC hurricanes. SKS fenders are coming, and as it gets colder, I'll put cross slicks on it. A weirdness with the fork is that it has really fat arms, so when unsprung the brakes barely clear the road tire. I think I'd have trouble getting a 35c tire out of the dropouts for a quick change. Rear dropouts are way easier to use than the Blue, which has a screwed up derailleur hanger. Total cost was about $1K with pedals and including what I got for the MTB. Building up from parts is not cheap!
I took it for a 15mi spin. The ride is a little dead, but I hope it'll grow on me. I don't seem to go much slower on it, but climbs feel more painful probably because the bike is less nimble. The extra 3cm in the tail feels a little like I'm dragging a lead weight around on the back on accelerations. The bars I had in my bin might have a little to do with it since they're 1cm too wide (43cm) and stem 1cm too short, so I'm thinking I might change them out. Anyway, maybe feeling like I'm going slow will make me work harder...
I wanted a foul weather commuter / training bike and thought a cross bike would be nice, since I was selling my 27lb MTB. I do almost exclusively road riding these days, but being able to hit the trails is still useful, plus I thought it might be fun to enter some cross races soon, whereupon I'll probably dorkify it by flipping the stem up. I went for this frame because it was cheap and almost all the geometry is uncannily similar to my road bike (Blue RC4), except for long chainstays (+3cm).
It came in way lighter than I'd expected, at just over 19lb. Ultegra/105 mix, Oryx cantis, and AC hurricanes. SKS fenders are coming, and as it gets colder, I'll put cross slicks on it. A weirdness with the fork is that it has really fat arms, so when unsprung the brakes barely clear the road tire. I think I'd have trouble getting a 35c tire out of the dropouts for a quick change. Rear dropouts are way easier to use than the Blue, which has a screwed up derailleur hanger. Total cost was about $1K with pedals and including what I got for the MTB. Building up from parts is not cheap!
I took it for a 15mi spin. The ride is a little dead, but I hope it'll grow on me. I don't seem to go much slower on it, but climbs feel more painful probably because the bike is less nimble. The extra 3cm in the tail feels a little like I'm dragging a lead weight around on the back on accelerations. The bars I had in my bin might have a little to do with it since they're 1cm too wide (43cm) and stem 1cm too short, so I'm thinking I might change them out. Anyway, maybe feeling like I'm going slow will make me work harder...
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Slowpoke
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-Chris
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I've been looking at doing the exact same build as you did there - even the same color frame. I want a "budget" (yeah, right!) commuter and/or cross bike, but would probably even settle for just a 105 mix and even more budget-minded wheels. Looks good!
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And of course the build could have certainly been cheaper with different wheels. The Hurricanes came off my road bike which now has 420's. The former are a really strong light wheel, great for a beating, though I'm still thinking I might swap them for my wife's Open Pros to add weight. That'd drop more than 350g off her bike and make her 0.6% happier on climbs.
-Chris
Can't help it, I'm so OCP my garage door matches my bike.
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Thanks! that's a very pretty bike, and a great picture of it, too.
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Man I came so close to doing that over and over... I have a full bike in need of a frame, and I want to build it up for my girl, so I'm thinking I'll do the build you just did. Well, the frame, that is. Let me ask this... I can use 105 brakes, correct? I am pretty sure all the other road bike parts will work fine, but I want to be sure it has the holes to mount those brakes.
Thanks! that's a very pretty bike, and a great picture of it, too.
Thanks! that's a very pretty bike, and a great picture of it, too.
-Chris
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If your build is going to use road tires exclusively, maybe take a look at the XRL Comp? A little cheaper, same weight, different fork, tighter wheelbase, otherwise very similar frame.