Built up my Steamroller from frame up. Bought the frameset for $320 at LBS, pieced all of the parts together and put together a decent bike. It's not blinged out with Campy/WI stuff, but just solid parts that will work for a while. Came in at ~$800 total. This was much better than buying complete with crap parts. Many miles and singletracks later, she still rides beautifully. I know the OP already ordered the WT, but if I were in his shoes, I would've just spent the $1000 and built up the bike from a frameset.

Thank you for contributing that brilliant bit of insight.

So many tough guys on the net these days. Glad you have this corner of a virtual world where you feel important.

OP wrote about Brooks: "heavy weight"

Relatively speaking, yes. However, if you weigh, say, 150 pounds, and you're new bike weighs 23 pounds with a Brooks saddle, that is less than a pound heavier than it would be with a Specialized Toupe. So 173 with a Brooks, 172.75 with a Toupe. That's slightly less than a 1% difference in weight. The human body overall most likely won't be able to tell a difference, but the rear part of the anatomy certainly might. ;-)

so so true. saddle weight should be the last thing ppl care about when it comes to comfort. I was a moron who went for a light "cool" Arione thinking it would make a difference on bike weight and it really didn't. I would have forgotten about it, but my arse reminded how much it sucked as a comfy saddle on long rides. Now my bum doesn't complain at all with a Brooks :D

Kilo WT is here - review and pics
 

Your wish is my command. I received it yesterday and today got in a 15 mile shakedown ride. Some observations:

1) Bike arrived set up as a fixed gear (16T) with a Dicta freewheel (16T) loose in a box with pedals and stem. Pedals are total crap, but I'm using my own SPD pedals, so it doesn't matter. There was also a cheap full chainguard in the box, but doesn't fit properly and might have been a mistake. I'm using my own 19T Soma fixed cog and Dura Ace lockring. I had to add a full link to the chain to provide room for wheel install/removal with the additional teeth in the cog.

2) The rear wheel hub nuts were factory installed very tight and the chain was tight as a guitar string. When I finally got the nuts loose, the rear track ends sprung apart to over 124mm spacing! I managed to cold set the track ends/stays back to slightly over 121mm, which is a lot more manageable. The existing lockring was on very tight but the cog was not. Easy to understand why so many people who don't bother to set these bikes up properly ruin the chains and hubs.

3) The paint job is very good and is more of a dark metallic orange than a true red imo. I find the sloping fork crown and seat post bolt lug quite elegant. There were, however some places where weld splatter had not been removed and simply painted over. The welding looks very good and brazing in the fork crown is clean. The paint is very fragile, however, and chips easily. While tightening the saddle bolt on the underside of the seatpost, I dropped the hex wrench about 6" onto the chainstay, and that's all it took to scratch the paint.

4) The build quality of the wheels is fair. The front wheel was out of true by 3mm and the spoke tension was uneven. I spent 15 minutes on it, tightening all spokes 1/4 turn and truing and centering to within 1mm. Despite attempts to stress the wheel manually, there was still a lot of pinging on the shakedown ride. the rear wheel was a lot better and only required minor truing. The hub bearings are very smooth and there is no discernible play. The Alex rims are rather crude and the black finish scratches very easily. There is an uneven seam joint on one side of the front rim, which carved bits of brake pad and deposited them on the rim surface. On the positive side, the tacky decals are removed very easily. The stock Kenda tires are ok, but they are such a loose fit that I easily removed and installed them by hand w/o tire irons. Still they seated well and evenly. They are rated for 75-100 psi, but ride like rocks at 100 psi and even at 80 psi they seemed rather hard albeit easy rolling. Next time I'm running them at 75psi, and plan on using them for a while until I determine what size any type tire I ultimately want.

5) The Sugino cranks are very true and round, and the finish on the visible front is very good, but rather crude on the back of the spider. The chainring bolts were very tight and have not loosened. The crank bolts were 90% tight, and only rotated about 1/8 turn when I tightened them to 33 ft-lbs (396 in-lbs). After my ride, they required about some amount of rotation to bring them back to that torque value.

6) The saddle is not as uncomfortable as it looks, and I had no problems during my short ride, however, I've already placed an order for a Brooks Pro standard model in honey color w/o the fancy rivets, which I should have in a few days. The seatpost is a very crude item and hard to adjust precisely that I hope to replace, however, being that it's an odd 26.8mm size I'm having problems finding a good selection, so if you're reading this an have some suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

7) I adjusted the handlebar such that the top is approximately 1/2" below the top of the seat, and cut 25mm off the fork steerer tube, leaving 15mm of spacer on top of the stem and 10mm below. The bar is a bit high still, and will probably lower it another 5-10mm, but at this point will not cut the steerer any further. I wish the bars were an ergo style with a flat section just below the brake bodies. Since the brake levers are spring loaded I was able to dispense with the rear brake caliper and cabling, and retain the hoods. I probably ride 90% of the time on the hoods. I also run my front brake lever on the right side, motorcycle style.

8) The bike rides very well with a good compromise between nimble and stable handling, stiff yet compliant. When stomping up a hill standing up it did not flex a lot, yet on some rough pavement it seemed to do a nice job smoothing the ride. As shown in the pics, minus the tool bag under the seat and empty water bottle, it weighs about 22 lbs. The brooks saddle will add about 1/2 lb, the tools about a pound, and full bottle about 1-1/2 lbs for a total "wet weight" of around 25 lbs. I'm not trying to be a weight weenie, just making some observations.

9) I don't think that a totally inexperienced person with average mechanical skills or tools should expect to assemble one of these bikes all by themselves. It took me about 4 hours to completely assemble and properly adjust my bike, and I have both extensive experience and professional quality tools. Futhermore, BD's statement that a bike shop might charge between $25 to $50 to do this is preposterous if you expect the job to be done correctly. Had I bought the Steamroller from my LBS, they would have factored this into the total price of the bike, and my decision to buy the Kilo WT was more based of the better fit of the Kilo WT to my needs (drops with hoods not cross levers, 32mm tires instead of 25mm, and waterbottle bosses on DT not ST, simple sealed hubs not touchy adjustable hubs) rather than the added cost of dealing with an LBS.

In summary, I am very pleased overall with this bike and think it does represent very solid value. In all important areas, quality is very good, and where it is deficient such as the rear track end spacing, it is easily corrected. I think BD's attempt to equate this bike with the Steamroller is somewhat of an exageration, however, in absolute terms it's a very good bike that works very well and is very reasonably priced and I give it a :thumb:

Good 26.8 posts are getting rare. The RaceFace Deus xc 26.8 is an excellent choice. Get one while they are still available. Race facet stopped making 26.8 seatposts in 2010.
http://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...9.aspx?sc=FRGL

You could also get a Thomson, but a bit pricier.

Thank you man for the very honest and thorough review; it delivers. Looks good ; enjoy your new ride.

In before: "is that frame too big for you?"

are you asking that just because he doesn't have a foot of seat post showing?

the question was a bit of a gag: I see that asked around here all the time, except it's usually in the form of a statement

You should measure the seatpost that came with the bike. Mine was a 27.2 and my 27.2 Thomson fit perfectly.

Roland

bens has thomsons in 26.8 for 90.
miche supertype - I HAVE TO HAVE ONE SOMEDAY.
nitto - they have all kinda wacky sizes

all pricey though

You are correct! I measured it and it's a little under 27.2 but over 27.1 and a loose fit. I removed it and it's stamped 27.2. I tried another seatpost that I know is 27.2 and is also thus stamped, and it fit perfectly as well. So here I was all along thinking that one of the pluses of the Steamroller was its more standard 27.2, whereas the Kilo WT per BD was the less common 26.8, and all along it too has been 27.2. Wow, my decision keeps looking better all the time thanks to everyone's help. Thanks!

Update - Got the Brooks Pro
 

Today I received the Brooks Team Pro saddle in honey, which is a natural tan leather color. It's a very nice color by itself, but does not match the black and red of the rest of the bike. I plan on keeping it anyway, since I really don't care for the black version, although I should have ordered a silver seatpost instead of the black one I have on order. Anyways, I've mounted it and ridden is a few miles and although it is not broken in it is quite comfortable right out of the box. The original saddle was OK riding in padded lycra but awful in shorts and regular boxers, but the Brooks was very comfy in shorts/boxers. I've lowered the bars somewhat by flipping the stem and think I've pretty much dialed my riding position.

I also figured out that my chainline was off, since the chain was somewhat noisy as it picked up on the cog and the teeth would hang on the inside links. Occasionally, I could feel the chain catch on a cog tooth and a little popping sound as it settled into place. I installed/moved some axle washers around to move the cog outward about 2mm, and recentered the rim, which solved the problem. The drivetrain is now whisper quiet and the chain no longer hangs up on the cog teeth.

The front brake was deposting all kinds of nasty black crud on the rim braking surface and making sounds like there was sand in the brake pads. Turns out the seam on the Alex rim is very uneven and the brake pad was being sliced up every time it passed the seam and went from a low spot to a higher spot. I solved this by reversing the wheel so that the brake pad now goes from a high to low spot at the seam, which still makes a sound but no longer cuts the brake pad. My impression of these wheels is that hubs are decent but the rims and build quality are poor. Since I'm very happy with the frame and cranks, I expect that at some point I will either rebuild the wheels with better rims or buy a new set of wheels.

I've placed an order for a pair of Panaracer Pasela Tourguard folding 700 x 35c tires, the before mentioned seatpost, and some SKS 50mm black full fenders.

Anyway, I'll check back in a week or so when I get the other parts and have a chance to get more miles on this bike, which so far I'm really loving.

Edit: Silly me, I completely forgot that since the Kilo WT actually takes a 27.2mm seapost (not 26.8mm per the BD specs), I can use a Velo Orange Grand Cru with a bunch of setback for the Brooks saddle and also it has a nice two bolt adjustment, and it is silver to boot. So I just ordered one and will just throw the black one, which only cost $23 anyway, in my spare parts drawer.

That frame is too big for you.

Kilo WT - New Seatpost, Tires, Stem - Seat binder bolt stripped
 

Well, since my last update, I've installed a new Velo Orange Grand Cru seatpost that has a lot of setback to match the Brooks Team Pro saddle, Panaracer Pasela Tourguard folding 700 x 35c tires and replaced the stock 90mm stem with a 70mm stem. The bike now fits me nearly identically to my 5 year old road bike, which I had pro fit, and has seen over 10,000 comfortable miles. The Grand Cru seatpost is truly beautiful and adjusts perfectly with its 2 bolt design. The Pasela tires are much nicer than the stock Kendas, rolling easily and quietly yet absorbing road roughness at 70 psi. They fit much better and are noticeably rounder than the Kendas. The all up weight as shown in the pics is just under 22 lbs.

One problem I've had is that the seat binder bolt stripped out after about a dozen tightenings, although I suspect that it was pretty much stripped when I first got the bike, since it never screwed in smoothly from the beginning, When I removed it, I could see that it only has about 1/4 inch worth of threads, although the nut part has more than twice that amount. Fortunately, the nut threads were undamaged and I found a longer 6mm bolt in my parts bin (titanium, at that!) that fit perfectly.

What I am finding out is that the Kilo WT is not just a stretched Kilo TT, but a completely different bike, which IMO is much more suited to daily road use than the Kilo TT, but gets little love or attention due to its unsexy utilitarian appearance. It uses more standard sized parts such as a 27.2mm seatpost and a 1-1/8" steerer tube (Kilo TT is 26.8mm stem and 1" steerer). And, of course, it can accept really fat tires and fenders.

Anyway, I hope this post is informational for anyone out there contemplating buying a Kilo WT.

Thanks for sharing, your bike looks good..!!!

I'll just add that I just passed 1100 miles on my Kilo WT and it continues to be my favorite bike to pull out for a ride. I did some minor truing of the wheels at about 700 miles but other than that it's been maintenance free other than normal chain cleaning and adjustment. The original tires continue to hold up well and I'm probably about half way through their tread life but I'll be replacing them in the next couple months as soon as I decide what I want. I'm planning to head west in July to ride the STP with my brother and I'm almost positive this is the bike I'll be taking.

Roland

I gotta concur, my WT is possibly my favorite bike as well. It's just so cool and versatile

I just got my 59cm Kilo WT in white. I put it together myself, then took it to a bike shop for safety checks. He ended up trueing both wheels, and putting covers on the rear brake cable-- it shipped to me without any extra covering on the back part of the rear brake cable. It also came as a fixed gear, with a freewheel in the box. The chain was super tight and I am going to switch the cog out for a 17t. I'm debating buying a lockring tool, or just taking it to the LBS to install the cog. How often do you guys tighten your lockring once it's good and greased in there?

Overall, I'm LOVING the bike. Having road handlebars with brake hoods on a fixie means I get every position I like to ride in (flats for cruising around, hoods for climbing, drops for sprinting) and it's nice to have a rear break for speed checks on downhills. The bike has a long top tube and a long stem, so I'm reaching slightly, but the height is perfect for me (6-1, 34 inch inseam). I'll see if the reach bothers me after I put a few hundred miles on it and will pick up a shorter stem if necessary.

I also want to put some narrower tires on for the summer. I love the freedom I have in choosing tire size with this bike.

Prior to this bike, I rode a too-small-for-me Kilo TT and really enjoyed fixed, but hated how much weight I had on my hands due to the insane saddle-bar drop. Anyone put a rear rack on the WT? What worked well?

@rock2doc - Congrats on your new Kilo WT and welcome to the family. Some observations:

1) The brake cable ends, housing ferrules, and little rubber donuts to keep the rear brake cable from rattling on the toptube are packed separately in a plastic bag that is inside a bigger bag with all the reflectors. All this is inside the small box with the pedals, freewheel and stem. You put the cable ends on after cutting the cable to the correct length, and the ferrules on after cutting the housing to the correct length.

2) Mine also came fixed with the freewheel loose in the box. I put on a 19T fixed and my own Dura Ace lockring. Mine also had the chain way too tight, the lockring tight, but the cog loose. The cog must be fully tightened before tightening the lockring. If the LBS did it correctly, then the lockring should not get loose, and you won't need a lockring tool unless you wish to remove the cog, in which case you'll also need a chainwhip.

3) My wheels also needed extensive spoke tensioning, centering and truing. My frame also needed to be cold set due to the dropout spacing being off by +4mm.

4) As to changing the stem, be forwarned that many BD specs are wrong, and the stem/handlebar are *not* 26.0mm as stated, but in fact 25.4mm. It's pretty hard to find threadless stems for 1-1/8 fork steerers and 25.4mm handlebars, so you will probably also need to buy or fashion some shims to adapt a 25.4mm handlebar to a 26.0mm stem. I've decided to buy another handlebar sized for a 26.0 stem, since I didn't like the non-ergo bar that came with the WT. Also, if you change the seatpost, it's actually 27.2mm, not 26.8mm per the BD specs, so you won't be able to use your Kilo TT seatpost in your Kilo WT frame.

5) I'm not sure why you want to go narrower on your tires, but those rims are pretty wide even for the stock 700x32c Kendas, so I doubt you'd want to go to anything less than 700x28c. The Kendas are really not very good tires, and I think you can get much improved performance out of better quality tires the same size. I went to 700x35c Panaracer Pasela Tourguard folding tires, and they roll much better than the Kendas, even though they are a larger size.

I'm really enjoying my Kilo WT, and hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of yours.

Thanks for the notes. I found that bag, but it didn't have the cable housing, i'm almost 99% sure. It only cost 7 bucks at the bike shop, so I'm not worried about it.

I had my wheels trued, but not tensioned, as he seemed to do it pretty quickly. I'll ask the guys at a different LBS to take a look when I have a cog installed with a new lockring. They can be finicky about what they'll work on (they wouldn't work on my mountain bike, because they only sell used/rebuilt road bikes) so hopefully they'll be down to look at their internet competition's "inferior" product.

Did you cold set your frame yourself? I haven't measured the dropout spacing, but that seems like a task that I'd rather leave to a bike shop-- even though it says on Sheldon Brown's site that many shops are reluctant to perform a cold set. What are the dangers of riding with a frame with the wrong dropout spacings? I haven't noticed any issues with chain alignment, but I probably don't have a good eye for it.

Good to know about the stem-- that's frustrating. I'm not sure if it's slightly too long yet, because I've been riding around on a bike that was too short for me, so I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. It might make sense just to upgrade the handlebars as well.

I wanted narrower tires just to give it a bit more of a road bike/agile feeling, but thanks for your observations about the rim size-- I assumed that I could throw 25c tires on there. I have Panacela tires myself on my mountain bike and they have been great for the past 2 years. Very fast and very durable.

I probably bit off a bit more than I can chew with a bikes direct bike, given my limited experience with bicycle maintenance and repair, but I wanted to learn through experience, and the comparable bikes that I found were significantly more expensive and lacked some of the crucial features of the WT, so hopefully I made the right decision.

@rock2doc - Wow, they charged you $7 for a short section of brake cable housing, what a ripoff. Anyways, it was in the small box that came with mine. Yes, I cold set my own frame, have done it before, not very hard for a steel frame with only about 2mm per side at the dropouts (track ends). I use a different technique, bike in stand, rear wheel removed, alterate sharp impacts on outsides of left and right dropouts with plastic mallet while restraining opposite side dropout with other hand. Once I got within 1mm I stopped, as you don't want to reverse the stresses in the metal. Unless your dropouts are more than 2mm out (spacing should be 120mm), don't bother to cold set as it's very easy to install and adjust the rear wheel chain tension with that little amount of spring force. If your wheels were not tensioned then they'll probably repeatedly go out of true. Properly tensioned wheels should hold their true indefinitely. One thing you'll want to have checked is the tightness of the crank arm bolts. When you go to the "good" LBS, ask them to tighten the cranks to 400 in-lbs (33 ft-lbs) with a torque wrench. If they don't know what you're talking about or say something like "yo dude we tighten then suckas really hard", then just go elsewhere or buy yourself a torque wrench.

Thanks, John, good advice.I appreciate the responses. I don't know many people who ride their bikes as much as I do, so wisdom is hard to come by in these parts. Also-- the guy gave me the housing, he just charged me to adjust both brakes-- the front one was having spring issues as well, and I didn't trust myself to try to fix brakes just yet.