hueyhoolihan

i ordered a hong kong special carbon frame on the 11th of this month and it was just delivered by my friendly mailman Terry (sorry, no pic of Terry).

here's the package. it should contain one "all new carbon fiber frame and fork" (as advertised on ebay), a "full carbon seatpost" (ibid), saddle (ibid), two (2) "full carbon waterbottles" (ibid), a "full carbon fork" (ibid), and a "gift" internal headset.

i'll be throwing some old parts from previous bikes on it that are just too good to throw away. it will be a singlespeed (for now).

pics of build to follow:

here's the box. it's wrapped up tighter than a brick of hash.



and here's a group portrait of some of the stuff that's going on it:



left to right: dia-comp (ca. '85) GS 400 single pivot caliper brake off of a '85 trek 310 elance. i've had it on a number of bikes. i've found it adequate for my purposes. not the best DC had to offer but it's light and still shines.

'83 Sakae CR road crank from "found" Miyata 310. again, i've had this on a number of bikes and it works well. 144 BCD and nice finish. the "galaxy" spider arms are a bit OTT.

those are 1st gen eggbeaters on the cranks, with stainless steel spindles

that's a shimano un-73 BB lurking behind the pedals (hollow square taper axle).

a scram pc-1 chain. the kind that lets you remove and replace links ad nauseam.

and finally, an Easton EA90 120mm stem w/10degree offset. they are cheap at 25 bucks at jensonusa.

here's a couple of snapshots of the kids.. er... wheels.

rear:



rear wheel with vittoria cx-something_or_other tire on kinlin xr-200 rim (28h) with ss wheelsmith DB 15/18 ga spokes, laced to a white industries ENO eccentric flip/flop hub (for flexibility in chain tensioning). i've used this hub/rim combo to good effect on another build and am confident that i will like it. the ss freewheel is nice too, in that ACS redesigned with the quality that adults demand in their bike components (recommended).

front:



same tire, same rim, same spokes and nipples. hub is vintage NOS shaimano 600 6400?. i like these...

sorry, got to make dinner. stay tuned. i expect to have this built completely in a couple of days, including purchase of grips, brake cable, seatpost collar, headset spacers and a trip to the "sports basement" bike dept for circumcision of the steerer tube.

ruindd

I love these threads.

Mansram01

Nice box. Congrats!

Steve90068

moar picz

LowCel 

Nothing like a shiny new box.

LOGICK ONE

To hell with that, we want pics of Terry!

hueyhoolihan

you ask, you receive...



terry said this was his "good side". i'm not sure what he was referring to.

LOGICK ONE

Doesn't look as friendly as you described. Not impressed.

wkg

somebody's unwrapped one of those before

hueyhoolihan

no, i suppose not. looks like he was a big disappointment to the state of florida too.

hueyhoolihan

ok, i'm back...

so let's open the box and see what's inside!

the knife i plan to use...



here's an overhead shot of the box with the top opened. i think i see the seatpost peeking out behind the well wrapped frame.



now, everybody OUT of the box!



BTW, that's the fork, frame and handlebars.

and another shot:



here's a postop shot or two after the componentectomy:



here's some of the stuff pre-assembled, as far as possible considering the steerer ain't cut yet (finger tight only).

BTW, i know i'll get flamed for this, but there is no way i'm buying a torque wrench just to tighten the carbon seatpost and stem to handlebar clamp. i fiddle with the seatpost/saddle position and handlebars often during rides, so if i can't develop sufficient feel for torquing them correctly without resorting to the use of a torque wrench, well, i will be satisfied with the inevitable alloy replacements.

anyway, i know this is what you really want, more pics!

so TAKE THAT!



and THAT!

James1:17

lol nice thread so far. keep 'em coming.

Ricanfred

More pics; dang it!!

St_Pete_Speed

It's getting late on the East Coast... post more pics!

hueyhoolihan

okay, you got 'em.

now for some frame shots.

stripped, from the rear w/dropout support tool!



next shot is of seatcluster area. i don't have a seatcollar yet, so i stopped by the Sports Basement, just 200 yds away, and asked to see what they had, and as you can see from the pic the collars needs to have a specific "stack height" so as to avoid unsightly gap between bottom of collar and recess in seattube. guy couldn't understand what i was talking about until i showed him that one of the collars he was showing me was a quarter inch taller than the other one. so i'll take the frame to the lbs and fit them in person. i think it needs to be 11mm or 7/16ths.

ls01

I think I have that same frame.

edit: nope mine has straight seat stays

ls01

come on huey! hurry it up!!!!!!

ls01

an hour and 45 minutes to unwrap it? shenanigans!

hueyhoolihan

i got sidetracked. sorry. and BTW i'm pretty sure the seatstays on this frame are straight... well on second thought they are straight as viewed from the side, but bowlegged when viewed from the back. anyway, i put on the BB. it's a regular english threaded BB, with reverse threads on the NDS. and stuck the cranks on w/out bolts for now. i'll take a pic tomorrow.

then i'll slap the seatpost in with sadde attached. then i'll take a pic with the fork on, but not cut. then take another pic.

BTW, the headtube has no alloy support tube inside the carbon headtube, nor did the headset (internal) come with any press-in inserts, which was what i expected to see. as far as i can tell the cartridge bearings, both top and bottom are just a tight fit with the carbon fiber headtube. am i wrong in assuming that the cartidge bearings sit inside some simple press in sleeves that themselves should have to be pressed into an alloy support tube inside the carbon headtube? this is, i am sure, what i saw on the cane creek website installation manual for an internal headset. i suppose it could work this way, but seems pretty delicate.

in eny event i'll ask tomorrow at the LBS when i'm there, picking up my grips, seatpost clamp, stem spacers
and having the steerer trimmed.

tomorrow.

ls01

mine was only carbon in the head tube, bearings just slide into a tapered socket.

hueyhoolihan

ya, well i guess that's all there is to it. seems kind of flimsy. i expected something like the BB where it is reinforced with an alloy tube/insert. this stuff doesn't exude the precision of machined metal. more like paper mache. but then again, what do i know of modern material applications?

i'll be able to tell more after a few hundred miles. which won't be long. oh, i expect it to top out, weight wise, between 12 and 13 lbs. we'll see. maybe i'll have the lbs weigh it for me.

ls01

I felt the same. whos frame is it dengfu? miracle?

ls01

heres mine

shenzen topride tp-r814

rear drop outs look similar
If you look at the top of the seat tube you can see that my cllar is only 1/4 inch thick or so, it holds just fine . but I understand about wanting the correct one.

hueyhoolihan

let me see. i bought it off e-bay and i still have it in my 'recently purchased items' bucket. it's only about five pages long so it shouldn't take me long to find it...

time passes...

back.

the ebay seller is e_baygoods out of hong kong. good communication. i don't think english is their first language, but easily intelligible. two of the days 9 days between the time i bought it and delivery was in U.S customs. they sent me a special e-bay msg with the tracking number when they sent it. nice touch. doesn't always happen on international shipping in my experience.

ls01

that was quick shipping, must have come ems out of china. customs charge you anything?