[Closed] Custom Ti Frame Thoughts

Aren't most EBB's an hourglass shape rather than a cylinder? Would the wires not get round it?

Edit: They already are quite minimalist.

[url= https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3188/3047875385_7c731d09e8.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3188/3047875385_7c731d09e8.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/singularcycles/3047875385/ ]Singular Swift SS EBB[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/singularcycles/ ]Singular Cycles[/url], on Flickr

Have you looked at http://www.milkbikes.com

Not ti, but they'd fulfil most of your other requirements.

I presume you're getting someone like XCAD to make it? If you're willing to pay I think they'll do pretty much anything.

Having said that - I make my own steel frames and would probably want to kill you after trying to mitre those little stub tubes on multiple faces / compond angles 🙂 But then I guess they have to intersect everything - if they stood off from the bb shell then they would need tig welding around the full stub circumference (which would be equally impossible). It is the kind of joint that could be made in a variety of ways in steel where you just sweat silver solder around everything

http://www.spanner.org.uk/

Lots of info on people ordering ti frames direct..

Thanks for the feedback - TINAS, even if the EBB was hourglass shaped, how would you fit/remove the EBB after the cables were fitted, or how would you fit the cables after installing the EBB 😕

I think the extra gussets and access holes are required, but was concerned about stresses on these as the EBB clamp shell was closed. I suppose the method Singular uses of grub-screws to clamp the shell would eliminate this, and probably simpler too.

I have got a quote from XACD for the frame, but hadn't thought about these features, which would most likely be a real PITA to do, but as it's not me doing them, I don't really need to worry 😀

Another question - am I better going for Ti or carbon forks? XACD can sell me some for ~$250, but if carbon ones will be better and not cost a huge amount more, then I'd choose them. The only problem I'm having is finding some decent looking ones with a post mount and bosses for mudguards and a light. Any suggestions?

Cheers, Rich

Thanks for the feedback - TINAS, even if the EBB was hourglass shaped, how would you fit/remove the EBB after the cables were fitted, or how would you fit the cables after installing the EBB

Can Ti have stuff brazed to it? Could you braze a bit of something like copper brake pipe arround the BB shell and make it a bit of a feature?

Couldn't you run all the wires through the top tube? You'd need a hole in the seatpost extended seat stays?)or some other way of running the wire past that junction but easier than passing an EBB

Robin Mather builds in ti, I'm sure he could come up with a solution

A hole in the seatpost doesn't appeal, especially as I'd need to remove it to charge my Di2 battery, so would need to either slot it all the way up to where the cables ran, have it super short, or remove cables every time I wanted to remove the post. Of course I could have a charging port for the battery somewhere, but my point still stands!

Ah, I've just understood what you mean by extended seat stays, as in they wrap around the seat tube....that might be a goer, certainly. I'll have a think about that one.

Also, the brake caliper would be on the chainstay not the seatstay, so having a hydraulic hose coming via the BB would be the simplest route for that. Could look at having the caliper on the seatstay and brace it to the chainstay if I routed via the top tube.

That would get a hose to my rear brake, and a Di2 cable from cockpit to dropout, but be tricky for the battery and rear light...

Great input though, thanks!

Mark Lynskey always suggested that extra bits on Ti frames usually cause more harm than good, as extra heat going into joints isn't a good thing.

In that seat tube area where there's lots of torsional and loading going on, along with clamping forces and the cyclic compressive stresses of pedalling on the chainstays, I would predict cracks forming on the driveside of the seat tube at 3 o clock, then wrapping backwards round the seat tube.

To add those gussets just to hide cables is in mechanical sense, complete madness.

I'm sure it could look lovely.

The mitring will be a complete nightmare.

I don't know if anyone would actually take it on.

I'd armour the cable with something fun, or pink pipecleaners.

http://www.englishcycles.com/custombikes/rays-rohloff-tourer/

Steel, but ticks the other boxes I think.......

Talk to Enigma. Never met an unhappy owner. Smug ones, but not unhappy.

Brant, thanks for the input, someone who perhaps knows wha they're talking about 😆

Assuming I don't want wires on the outside of my frame, what about large breather holes for the hose and the cables to duck in and out through that area, instead of being boxed in - any thoughts on that?

A hydraulic hose on proper guides on the outside of the frame isn't the end of the world, but Di2 cables and wiring for lights is something I really want to avoid.

English does make some beautiful bikes, but I'm not planning to pay quite that sort of money, or wait several months either. I think the budget would rule our Enigma too!

I'm starting to sound very fussy I'm sure, but I've never been a fan of the big clunky Rohloff shifter, hence the Di2, and the Shimano hydraulic road levers are only Di2 compatible.

I still need to find a carbon fork which will take discs, guards and have a mount on the front for a light, without resorting to mounting one on the side of a rack as the English does. Actually, Spot seem to do a fork which fits the bill 🙂

Cheers, Rich

wait for wireless shifting?

Sliding dropouts would make the BB area much easier 🙂

And you do know you don't need to remove your battery to charge it don't you?

I've seen some very neat ones done with tubes through the DT and CS, with just a bit of cable or hose running over the BB shell - once the cranks are on it's pretty unnoticeable.

Brant, sliding dropouts would be easier, I appreciate that, but I'd prefer the messy bit to be out of sight, and the dropouts to be nice and simple, hence the EBB.

Ben, I think that's the way forward, certainly much simpler than trying to keep it all internal. Couple of models below - purple is electric wiring, black is hydraulic hose.
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]
2 questions:

1) any thoughts on the positioning of the access holes - should these be moved further away from the BB?
2) which is generally deemed better in terms of EBB clamps, the first or second option? The third is what I have on my Tinbred at the moment with internally expanding wedges, but I don't think those will be easy to adjust with external bearing cups.

Cheers, Rich

Hole positioning looks reasonable - for neatness you might want to have two holes on the underside of the DT.

I'm not a fan of the grub screw type of EBB fitting - the grub screws can create a burr on the EBB which makes adjustment harder, and threaded holes in titanium can be a problem sometimes.

I've not had a problem with expanding EBB and external cup BBs.

Hole positioning looks reasonable - for neatness you might want to have two holes on the underside of the DT.

I disagree, but you are an actual frame builder.
Holes on underside of CS just feel like being in the wrong place.
And holes in DT and ST there... hmm... Longevity isn't going to be helped.

As TINAS says, the hourglass shape of set-screw/clamp up EBB's mean that getting the wires through would be OK internally I'd have thought.

Don't forget..once the 'EBB' bit is in the frame, the BB fits INTO that.

I.e - once fitted and cables routed, you wouldn't really need to remove the 'rotating part' of the EBB. The standard BB simply fits into that bit.

ergo, it would be a fit once job, then you can switch teh standard BB as you like, without needing to alter cables.

DrP

All those holes facing downwards under the BB would worry me. Heres a pic of extended seatstays with an internally routed rear brake.

[url= http://julieracingdesig.canalblog.com/albums/____le_29__singlespeed_de_matthieu/photos/66262592-5661963357_a2a08b87ec_b.html ]JRD seatstays[/url]

I disagree, but you are an actual frame builder.
Holes on underside of CS just feel like being in the wrong place.

Though I work mostly in steel, and I'd do those with internal pipes - which I presume you wouldn't have with titanium. Internal pipes don't weaken the tube.

I've definitely seen much neater layouts where the cables go over the shell, it's a straighter line that way. Or another way would be to use sliding dropouts, with an oversized DT that extends below the BB shell - that way could have the cables exit under the shell in a straight line. Again, would look very cool in steel, not sure how it'd work in Ti.

Thanks for all the feedback again.

My experience with the EBB on my Tinbred is that the adjustment screw is very close to the BB shell (it's running an old-school ISIS BB) so I was wondering whether external cups would get in the way of adjustment. Maybe I need to have a closer look at the mechanism, the only minor issue being that the bike is in Sheffield and I'm in India 🙂

Although there would be clearance for cables to pass through the central section of an hourglass type EBB, if the cables protruded into the shell space when fitted, you wouldn't be able to insert the BB after the cables, even if there was space when it was in. Also, I doubt whether the void which the shape gives would allow access to the CS, so some of the cables would have to go outside the shell.

While the extended seat stays look like a very neat solution, it doesn't quite work for me as my caliper will be on the CS, and it doesn't solve the problem of getting cables out from the ST.

At the end of the day it'll be a relatively cheap Chinese frame, and hopefully with some little strengthening rings around cable holes there shouldn't be too many cracks propagating from them, but if they do appear, it won't be the end of the world.

Cheers, Rich

ctk plus 1.
You could run the power cable from the seatpost battery down and through the ebb up to the ht, then route brake and shift cables from ht along tt and down ss; your own take on GT triple triangle like an old Xiang.
Are you planning to run cables for lights too? The little 'Plug' device or similar mounted in place of hs top cap could be worth including also.

Just to illustrate my point about expanding EBBs, the original expanding mechanism on my Tibred was this:
[img] [/img]
and I changed it to one of these to save some weight:[img] [/img]
Neither of these have any space for cable routing, hence my thoughts for the external cables.

Will give more thought to ctk's idea, how I could get a brake hose to the CS from the SS without looking really ugly and contrived. Alternatively I mount the caliper on the SS and brace it down to the CS.

Ah, I've just realised that as I have a break in my SS to fit the belt, that somewhat rules out cables in there....

Bike will have a dynamo, one of the cables I'm planning is power to a seat-post mounted rear lights. Milk Bikes actually have a nice post with integrated LEDs.

Cheers, Rich

I think that with sufficient internal chamfering, I can route the ST-DT cables internally through a port in the EBB shell, thus:
[img] [/img]
A slight improvement from the original mess 🙂

Thanks for all the imput guys, much appreciated.

Cheers, Rich

That's still going to be a total PITA to route, best find a child with small fingers 😉

Another factor - with unguided internal cables you're going to get some rattling.

Ben - the word you're looking for is challenge 😀

I have internal cabling on my road and tri frames without guides and I haven't noticed any rattling, but I agree the hydraulic hose might be noisier. If I have an access hole into the DT from inside the HT then perhaps I can stick some foam in to dampen things down. Of course this would inevitably get stuck and be a major ball-ache in the future when I needed to run cables in future 😆

Cheers, Rich

What about using a Niner BioCentric EBB? Can be fitted with cables in place, looks like there is loads of room round it for them...

The Biocentric looks like a nice elegant solution, will definitely investigate one of those.

Cheers, Rich

I know you will all be keen for an update 🙂

Ordered my frame from Titan Products who have been very happy to comply with all of my bizarre requests. As the Di2 Alfine has a rather narrow chain line, which is made even narrower when you add the belt drive. When you want clearance for decent sized tyres and guards it necessitated a scalloped drive-side chainstay for clearance up front.

The Biocentric is a very elegant EBB solution, but it changes a 68mm shell to a 73mm after fitting. This is a bit of a no-go with the chainline issue, however with some subtle machining on the internals of the EBB, and a 63mm shell, I'll be back to 68mm.

[IMG] [/IMG]

I'm hoping that the purple wire shown there will be able to be routed inside the shell, but in case I can't manage it, I've made sure there is a cable orifice on the chainstay to accommodate it.

I ordered forks, bars and post a couple of weeks ago which are now sat in customs in Mumbai and I've just ordered all of the rest of the components from Germany. I got the rims a little while ago along with another set of wheels for my tri bike, so hopefully the whole thing isn't too far away 🙂

Dynamo hub up-front to power a Supernova E3 Triple and a Tailight 2 which I'll mount inside my post similar to this:
[img] [/img]

Build pics to follow soon!

Cheers, Rich

Dynamo hub up-front to power a

what no on-the-fly Di2 charging? 🙂

and £? ❓

Di2 charging might be something I'll look into - certainly no reason why it shouldn't be possible, however I don't want to fry too many batteries in the attempts 🙂

I've ordered a pukka seatpost-mounting Shimano battery for my TT bike, so I'll cannibalize the old battery from that bike to shove inside this bike.

Cost breakdown:

Frame (Chinese titanium) £580
Forks/post/bars/rims (Chinese carbon) £378
Hubs/Cranks/Di2 bits (Alfine) £441
Belt drive kit (Gates) £263
Brakes/Shifters (R785) £420
Lights (Supernova) £165
Misc (spokes/headset/tyres/EBB etc) £188

Grand total roughly £2435 plus a few bits I already have spare (saddle, pedals, tubes) Certainly not the cheapest commuting machine ever, but hopefully it'll be nice to ride, virtually maintenance-free and pretty versatile.

I can also offset about £150 from selling my Langster which it will replace 🙂

Cheers, Rich

You might save on the belt system going to http://www.bikeparts.com/
Depending on delivery charge and import duty.

I had originally looked at the bikeparts website, but they don't stock any of the Di2 components. Unfortunately the Alfine Di2 has a different belt-line to normal Alfine to clear the motorised shifter unit, so the parts aren't cross-compatible. This leaves me ordering from Europe at a higher cost.

Cheers, Rich

Interested to see pics when you get it.

BTW how far is your commute?

Titan Products quoted 35 days to manufacture, then it'll be a few days to get to India, then probably several weeks to get it released from customs, so I'm expecting I'll get my grubby mitts on it mid-September ish.

Won't be built up until I return to the UK, which I hope will be in October, but all of the components have arrived from Germany so it'll be built up pronto after I arrive back in civilisation!

Commute is only 14 miles direct, but I can extend it to include some loops around Box Hill etc when I want some more distance. Clearly it's not exactly necessary for a half-hour commute, but I'm reckoning that this bike will be useful for a bit more than just to and from work 🙂

Cheers, Rich

14 miles in half an hour is good going on the commute. I'm guessing you don't have many traffic lights round your way?

I think there's some rounding in there!

Bike looks really interesting - be good to see the finished article.

Ah, my mistake; I was mixing kilometres and miles, using my general 30kph as a typical average with occasional lights, so yes, it'll be more like 40 minutes. Not tooooo many lights in my journey, but to be fair I haven't really ridden it yet as we've just bought a flat so haven't moved in yet.

It'll be ~90 minutes to run which I'm planning to do fairly regularly too.

I'll be picking up my Alfine hubs from home this weekend, and I have the rims in India, so building some wheels will keep me busy for a few hours in anticipation of the rest of the build.

Cheers, Rich

Just received from photos from the factory - welding is complete, just pending surface treatment

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

Virtually all the parts are sat at home waiting for assembly, apart from the belt-drive kit as the 50t Di2 offset sprocket isn't quite under manufacture yet.

Getting quite exited now 🙂

Cheers, Rich

Ohh, that looks nice. I presume you're keeping it raw?

It's not going to be painted but will be sand-blasted/brushed, I can't remember which.

Is that what you mean by raw?

Cheers, Rich

I would strongly recommend brushed over blasted if you have the choice. Blasted shoes scratches and shiny spots very quickly which are virtually impossible to get rid of, where as brushed can be kept looking like new forever with the occasional application of a scotchbrite pad.

It's going to be like an extremely upgraded version of my commuter,

853 steel frame and carbon fork,
Alfine 11 DI2, internally routed,
Exposure Revo Dynamo hub, light and red eye rear,
Dura Ace cranks, (did have belt drive, but kept breaking belts)
Drops, but with BB7s

Would genuinely love to know the weight when completed! Mine's not exactly light (26lbs).

Oh, I'm late.... Never mind.

[i]The bike is going to be my ultimate commuting machine, consisting of the following:[/i]
- Ti frame - [b]Yes[/b]
- eccentric bottom bracket [b]Nooooooo[/b]
- Di2 Afine [b]Hhmm, ok[/b]
- belt drive [b]No, no and NO[/b]
- dynamo hub lights [b]ok[/b]
- 700cc 28mm tyres [b]ok[/b]
- full mudguards [b]ok[/b]
- hydraulic disc brakes [b]Yes[/b]
- drop bars [b]Yes[/b]

[i]It's not going to be painted but will be sand-blasted/brushed[/i]
I saved myself £450 and polished it.

Oh well, I hope you like it and welcome to club Ti
🙂

Some interesting opinions there Solo!

I've had no issues with the EBB on my Tinbred so don't see why that should be an issue. I'd much rather have the rear fixed and adjust belt tension with the BB than sliding dropouts. Add the fact that the disc mounts would also have to move and that the frame is being fabricated in China I wanted to keep it relatively simple.

I've never had a belt drive bike, but I like the lack of maintenance and the fact that they're silent. If I don't get on with it then it'll be a very simple matter to revert to a normal drive-train at minimal additional cost.

The complete frame is about £600 delivered, so I'm not sure I'd be able to save £450 on not having it finished!

Cheers, Rich

Just checked with the manufacturer - they're currently brushing my frame, so Scotchbrite touch-up will be the way forward :)7

Cheers, Rich

Looks neat! I'd love to have something like this.
Don't think i'd change anything if it was my build.

Can I ask who's making the frame?

Frame is being made by [url= http://www.titanproduct.com/index.php ]Titan Products[/url]. The build was inspired by [url= http://www.spanner.org.uk/2013/08/russells-di2-custom-titanium-road-bike-from-titan/ ]Russell’s Di2 Custom Titanium Road Bike from Titan[/url]
[img] [/img]
and [url= http://www.spanner.org.uk/2013/03/shanes-belt-drive-titanium-commuter-by-xacd/ ]Shane’s Belt Drive Titanium Commuter by XACD[/url]
[img] [/img]
and is a bit of a hybrid of the 2 plus some of my own features.

I think the base price of a fairly normal frame is less from XACD however with every variation from 'normal' there was a corresponding increase in price until I was looking at something like double their typical cost. Titan products were happy to incorporate all of my requests for a flat fee and have been very easy to deal with.

Cheers, Rich

This was the final iteration of the frame design. I wanted it to have the same riding position as my Chinarello and factored in the longer CX fork to give the same geometry with extra clearance for tyres and guards.
[IMG] [/IMG]
Also holes for internal Di2 and dynamo cable plus rear hydraulic hose routing.
Cheers, Rich

I've just picked up a bunch of Chinese carbon bits - bar, post and forks. Unfortunately I have unwittingly bought forks with a tapered steerer when I need a straight, and they haven't included the hole below the steerer to mount guards 😕
[IMG] [/IMG]
Oh well, the forks were only $89 so I think I'll order some [url= https://spotbrand.com/bikes/product-page/cx-fork/ ]Spot[/url] ones instead which match my requirements exactly, albeit at about 6 times the price 😛

I also only managed to only buy half the number of spokes I needed - not quite sure what I was thinking when ordering them 😳

Cheers, Rich

Frame is now brushed and ready for despatch 🙂

[IMG] [/IMG]
[IMG] [/IMG]
[IMG] [/IMG]
[IMG] [/IMG]
[IMG] [/IMG]
[IMG] [/IMG]
[IMG] [/IMG]
[IMG] [/IMG]

I'm not 100% convinced about the look of the disc mount on the seat-stay, but I'm sure it'll do the job.

Cheers, Rich

Any updates on this?

Frame has landed in the UK, although I'm still in India, so I won't see it until the weekend.

I have my wheels half built (managed to have a brain fart while ordering and only bought half the number of spokes I needed 🙄 ) all of my Di2 stuff is ready along with lights etc.

Still outstanding are ordering some replacement forks - Sideways Cycles are expecting a delivery of the Spot ones this week to replace the Chinese ones which aren't right. Also waiting for Gates to bring out the 55t Alfine Di2 front sprocket, which will give me pretty much the same overall range as my road bike. Will be picking up my Biocentric BB next week too.

It'll be a fun build, never had a bespoke frame built or used a dynamo hub or belt drive, so lots of new stuff to play around with. Also it'll be a mix of mechanical and electrical build, so the soldering iron will come out along with the spanners 🙂

Never fear, further updates will come 😀

Cheers, Rich

55t Alfine Di2 front sprocket

With what rear sprocket? I've ended up at 42/20 on my alfine 11 having started out at 44/18 which turned out to be way too big for normal riding - top and bottom gear seem to be a big step from the rest of the range so you should always have ratios-of-last-resort at both ends.

Stunning bike - can't wait to see it finished!

looks great, I love projects like this 🙂

Due to the Di2 shifting unit, the rear sprocket can only be 28t with the Gates drive, hence the rather large front sprocket.

Interesting to hear your thoughts about ratios though, I wanted to be close to my road bike so that I could keep a nice high top speed when required. I'll actually have slightly lower ratios than you currently have. I did spend some time deciding 🙂

[IMG] [/IMG]

Despite what you say, there seems to be a pretty constant gap between each gear, with the exception of bottom, which appears to the equivalent of Megadrive!

[img] [/img]

I'm pretty keen to have it finished too. Not only will it hopefully be a nice bike to ride, it should also signify the end of about 10 years of working abroad 😀

Cheers, Rich

Spot forks have arrived at Sideways, so a set is winging their way to London and should be waiting for me when I arrive home 🙂

Cheers, Rich

Yeah, bottom gear is so off the chart, that has skewed the drive ratio to make the most of the rest - if I'm honest I could still prob loose a few teeth from the front ring as I don't get near the top few gears often as a) the hub is pretty draggy and b) the rest of the bike is quite a lump in full winter mode making it an exponentially increasing effort to wind it up to any speed beyond ~18 mph.

I'll be interested to hear how you go with Di2 Alfine - have contemplated changing to this some time next year as I've clocked up ~10,000k on mine and the Versa shifters are worn out, so rather than replace them with more Versas (or Shimano's version), Di2 makes a lot of sense for rear wheel changes. The flip-side is I have such a love/hate relationship with the bike (esp the hub) that I'm not massively keen on the expense of Di2 unless it is a step change up from the mechanical version (on that note, I've also contemplated a custom Ti frame for the mechanical hub, but can't get past the feeling that this is just polishing a poo).

EDIT: that all sounds depressingly negative - sorry 🙂

Hmmm - is the 11 speed hub a vast improvement over the 8 speed? I've ridden the 8 speed and was less than impressed.

Have a look here....

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/talk-to-me-about-hub-gears

Just reading your thoughts about the Alfine, Bristolbiker, let's hope that I don't feel quite the same anymosity towards it!

I'm not sure if you can just retro-fit the Di2 shifter unit to a standard 11-speed Alfine, but I may be wrong. I think I'm actually doing something which no-one as far as I'm aware has done yet - combining the R785 Di2 Hydraulic shifters with the Alfine hub. One guy ar Madison assured me that it'll work, but until I plug it all in and try, I won't know for certain.

We'll see how the bike works all together, fingers crossed it's everything I want. I'm not under any illusion that it'll feel as sprightly as my nice carbon road bike, but it's not trying to be.

Cheers, Rich

Been following your progress on this thread, Turboferret, and we love the frame and design decisions you've made (and are still making). So much so that it's finally spurred a buddy and I to act on our discussions of the ultimate urban commuter / touring bike: we're ordering a very similar set of frames from Titan. Will be good to compare notes through this forum: I'm building one single speed, another 1x10, and the buddy is getting his all Alfine 11spd d12.

Any advice you or others have to give before we send our 30% deposit is much appreciated. Until then, can you lead us in the direction / supplier you went for those carbon parts?

Finally unwrapped my frame on Saturday soon after getting home from the airport, and it looks great in the flesh 🙂

I have discovered now that I need 160mm discs for the R785 brakes, so hopefully I can exchange the 140mm ones I have received.

I exchanged a lof ot drawings with Eric from Titan before everything was totally sorted, but the number of drawings was mainly down to me gathering more information about my components and checking chainline etc.

I bought my bars, post and first forks from [url= http://www.hongfu-bikes.com/e_products/?big_id=31 ]HongFu[/url] which apart from the forks were fine.

The only thing which I'm slightly dubious about at the moment is whether I'll manage to thread my hydraulic hoses through the internal routing I've planned, at best it'll be very difficult, worst it'll be either impossible or damage the hoses during the process.

If you have any specific queries or want to see my final drawings, feel free to email me direct - on profile.

Cheers, Rich

I am delighted to report that my potential concerns about difficulty in threading my hydraulic hoses through my frame were unfounded 🙂

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

No major faux pas as yet!

Cheers, Rich

I have fitted my [url= http://www.ninerbikes.com/biocentric ]Biocentric EBB[/url] after a small amount of modification.

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

The EBB is designed to fit to a 68mm shell and as it clamps on the outer faces it increases the overall width, and turns a 68mm shell into a 73mm. As I wanted to end up with a 68mm shell I had my frame built with a 63mm shell, so it is now the correct width. I needed to cut the internals of the EBB slightly, but it should do the job nicely.

Thanks to triple_s for the suggestion, and also bencooper will note that I have managed to route my hydraulic hose without the use of any child labour 🙂

Cheers, Rich

[i]No major faux pas as yet![/i]

[img] [/img]

You might want to get that front wheel sorted.

Also while not wanting to piss on your parade, you've got a lot of holes in some funny places on that Ti frame.

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

Front wheel is just loosely laced at the moment, far from being true yet. I just popped some tyres on for the pics.

I don't see any parade pissing going on - I have holes in my frame exactly where I want them for routing hydraulic hoses and electric cables, as can be seen from the assembled photos.

Cheers, Rich

[i]Front wheel is [b]just loosely laced[/b] at the moment, far from being true yet. I just popped some tyres on for the pics.[/i]

[s]I was refering to the dishing. You seem to be using a disc hub, which appears to have moved the rim off centre. If that turns out to be true when you finally assemble the wheel, securely, in the fork. Then I'd suggest having the wheel re-dished. Shouldn't be an issue, but if it were me, I'd ensure the rim was centrally aligned in the fork.[/s]
Edit:
Ah, just spotted the "laced" comment. So you're saying the wheel hasn't been finished. Ok, sorry.

[i]I don't see any parade pissing going on - I have holes in my frame exactly where I want them for routing hydraulic hoses and electric cables, as can be seen from the assembled photos.[/i]

Fair enough, like I posted, I don't want to be a stick in the mud. However, when I asked for two holes with ferrels to be inserted near the bottom of the seat tube of my custom Ti frame, to facilitate the attachment of a bracket for a braze-on front mech. The frame builder clearly explained why that wasn't going to happen.
It helped that we were both Engineers, discussing the issue. I could immediately see the problem and withdrew my request. I have a band-on front mech now.
Moving on, you appear to have a raw edge hole in the top of a chainstay tube. When considering the bending moment for that chainstay, you may find that hole has potential to behave as an "intiator". For your sake, I hope I'm wrong. Futhermore, you have two raw edge holes, close to each other, in the down tube just behind the head tube. Again, when considering the braking forces generated when using the hydraulic front brake. Those holes look as if they could again have potential to initiate a failure. Of course, I haven't noted the grade of Ti you've specc'd or the wall thickness of the tubing used.
I hope it all works out ok for you.

Hadn't thought of the BB width increasing because of the eccentric BB adding 2.5mm on each side. Are you using the Alfine crank, and is it the single or double chainring (or chainguard?) version? I can't get a sense from searching online if the Alfine S501 crankset I ordered (still in the mail) will work on a 73mm shell width. And if I can even find an Alfine double (which apparently has a 9.5mm longer crank spindle). Wondering if I should spec my Titan frame like yours: with a 63mm shell. Also curious if you'll have chainline and/or chainstay clearance issues.

I bought a single Alfine crank which came with a guard, but all I was really interested in was the correct PDC as I'm ditching the rings to go belt-drive. If you look at my frame drawing [url= ]here[/url] you'll see the belt sprocket is drawn in red, and there is very little clearance to the chainstay, hence why it is heavily scalloped.

Can't say for sure that it'll all work perfectly as I haven't fitted the crank and don't have the belt-drive bits yet, but I did check all the dimensions and clearances while designing the frame.

If you do use the Niner Biocentric to go from 63 to 68mm you'll need to trim the internals by ~5mm, which took me about 10 minutes with a dremmel.

I'm now back in India so no more progress until mid-December at the earliest.

Cheers, Rich

Belt drive kit ordered now that Gates have stock of 55t Di2 Alfine sprockets.

I will still have to wait until I escape from India before completing the build, but at least the last components should be on their way 🙂

Cheers, Rich

ETA ?! The winter muck is here so it's the perfect build once done.

ETA is dependant on returning to civilisation, which should be early December, but I'll be in Holland and the UAE for most of the remainder of the year, so realistically it's going to be January before I'll be riding it. However, yes, with mudguards and no external cabling it should be pretty much perfect, or so I hope.

Cheers, Rich

Just looked through this again, following your post on Ton's mile-muncher thread.
Frame looks superb. I'm on the verge of going down the custom chinese ti route, why did you choose Titan over Waltly (or even XACD?)

Tapered headtube would look nicer with the fatter fork...

Titan was looking like the best price. They were happy to accommodate all of my bizarre requests without any issue, while XACD had a basic price and any deviation added a considerable amount more. I also found the XACD person I was corresponding with to be rather belligerent and argumentative which I didn't really appreciate. Can't remember if I requested a quote from Waltly.

In hindsight I would agree about the tapered headtube, XACD had quoted a crazy amount extra for tapered so I think I had mentally crossed it off my list by the time I requested a quote from Titan. That would also have left the door open for more choice of forks too, as the Spot was virtually the only once I could find which met my requirements.

Can't wait to get home and finish it 🙂

Cheers, Rich

*cough* Any updates? *cough*

Lots of updates, just been very busy and doing lots of travelling, thus not so much time to take photos of things and fiddle about. I think I've only been at home for 2 separate weeks since my last update :O

A rather wordy update, which I'll endeavour to populate with pictures when I'm next at home.

[b]Wheels[/b]: I am going to re-lace the rear wheel with [url= http://www.sapim.be/nipples/brass/polyax ]Sapim Polyax[/url] nipples as I was noticing a bit of bending of the spoke just as it exited the nipple.

[img] [/img]

This wasn't particularly obvious until I tensioned the spokes, and obviously isn't good for wheel strength having a stress concentration. I'll take a judgement call whether I need to replace all the spokes too, hopefully not, but time may tell. The rear wheel was worse than the front, even though the difference in hub flange diameters wasn't that significant - I assume the additional width was a contributing factor.

[b]Mudguards[/b]: I have realised that I've ballsed up a bit on clearance with the frame design. The 2 bridges which run between the chainstays and the seat stays are a bit closer to the tyre than I'd like. These are also my mounting points for mudguards. Without guards the clearance is fine for the 28mm tyres I have fitted, but far from generous with guards. I'm also trying to make sure the guards are as slim and discrete as possible, thus clearance between the guards and the tyres purely from a width perspective is tight. I did a little grinding on the threaded inserts on the frame bridges and with the lowest-profile screw heads I can find I just about have enough clearance twixt tyre and guard, but a little bit of road grit and water may change this very quickly. The last thing I want is a constant grinding noise in my mudguard, so I may take more drastic action in due course. I should probably start with cutting relieving notches in the guards as a first step before going crazy with the angle grinder on my frame again! Wider guards may be a necessity too.

Anyway, lesson learned, the next frame I have made will have more clearance!

[b]Wiring[/b]: This falls into 3 sub-categories:

[b]Di2[/b]: This has gone relatively smoothly. With an internal battery I need to charge it through the accessory port, which initially I couldn't find on the display. After asking a friend with a similar build he confirmed it was indeed there, and after opening my eyes properly I confirmed it myself! I had only the word of Madison that the R785 hydraulic Di2 levers would work properly with my Alfine Di2, so I was very pleased to discover that they worked straight away. I didn't need to update any firmwear in any units, and running the Shimano Eport software showed everything present and correct, and I could charge the battery without issues too. One thing I discovered is that the display unit doesn't sit very well on the integrated one-piece bar/stem as they aren't round and straight where you would want to locate the display. Talking to my friend he asked if it mattered where in the system the display was located, and after some unplugging and plugging I verified that it didn't matter where in the chain it sat. I have now zip-tied my display unit to my battery and it's located in my seat tube. Clearly not particularly convenient for knowing what gear you're in, and I'll need to pull my post to charge, but well worth it in my mind to hide the display. It also hopefully removes something which looked like a bit of a theft risk.

[img] [/img]

As with my tri bike Di2 install I've saved a load of money on proprietary cables by splicing the Shimano Di2 cables with radio-control servo extensions. This means that I only need to buy half the number of cables I should technically need, and have a lot more flexibility when it comes to lengths. This is the junction box on my old tri bike, made from a bunch of servo cable female ends:

[img] [/img]

As this bike doesn't have a front mech, there are only 3 sets of wires joining instead of 4.

[b]Lights[/b]: I have a similar wiring philosophy for the dynamo lighting, so I'll have to make sure I don't accidentally mix up the wiring looms which look very similar 🙂 The output from the Supernova front light enters the frame and I have another junction to split it for the 2 rear lights. The first is a Busch & Muller one mounted on the mudguard.

[img] [/img]

I read somewhere that the Secula Plus uses 12V instead of 6V, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer on this, so it might be a bit dim, and require swapping with something else shortly.

The other is a Supernova E3 which I have dremmeled down to expose the LEDs further and drilled 3 holes in my seatpost for them to be inserted through from within.

[img] [/img]
Before (library pic)

[img] [/img]
After (including smothering with silicon)

I haven't put it all together yet, but I'm condifent that it'll work pretty well. I am also assuming that with the drilling I haven't weakened my carbon post to the extent that it'll snap on first ride 😀

[b]Power[/b]: I'm planning on running a pair of little [url= https://www.mobius-actioncam.com/ ]Mobius action cams[/url], one under my stem, the other under my saddle. They are very discrete and virtually invisible, and easy to fix with some 3M industrial velcro. Perhaps it's a little unnecessary, but it'd be nice to have some footage in the event of something unfortunate occurring. A nice feature of the Mobius is that it can be wired to run as a dashcam, and automatically start recording when plugged into external power. It'll overwrite files on the SD card as it runs out of space too. As I have a dynamo it seemed perfect to wire the cams up to the dynamo, thus they'll automatically record whenever I'm moving. I have ordered all of the components to build one of [url= https://howdy.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/diy-hub-dynamo-usb-charger-inside-handlebar/ ]these[/url], which will sit inside my steerer tube and hopefully give me a reliable 5V when moving above a threshold speed. The cable for the rear camera will run inside the frame and seatpost, and I have another cable near the top for the cable to exit just below the saddle. My earlier comment about weakening the post still stands!

I was pleased that there is plenty of space in the bottom bracket shell to accommodate all the wiring and the Niner Biocentric BB.

Right, more photos when I'm next at home and made some more progress 🙂

Cheers, Rich