Cross Bike Build Part 2: There's no minute like the last minute.

After a week of dealing with financial turmoil and running back and forth to the shop to pick up various odds and ends I forgot I didn't have, it was time to finish my cross bike. With a vodka tonic in hand, I went down to the basement to assess the situation. Earlier in the week, I made use of the shop's tools to press in the BB30 bearings (incorrectly at first - thanks for the help, Ant) and cut down the fork. So here is what I was starting with:


My first problem came with the fork. Apparently, Easton feels that a front brake is an optional feature for cross bikes and thus did not install the brake posts.


They were included with the frameset of course, but since I was given the opportunity to lose them, I lost them - probably when I carelessly threw the parts bag into the back of my car a few months ago. After tearing my trunk apart, I found them underneath my spare tire.

Time to move on and make some important component decisions. I had decided on the TRP Eurox brakeset. They are light, relatively cheap and use a proven design. They also use a standard road cartridge pad. For the brake yolk, they have a very well designed piece of aluminum with some nice centering adjustments.


These were quickly set aside in favor of some gimicky hard to use skull and cross bones brake yolks circa 1994 - back when mountain biking was cool and V-brakes weren't yet invented.



Lot's of nice Bontrager bits on the front end:


Velocity Veloplugs make for a light and rot free alternative to Velox tape:


I went with Rival for the rear derailleur. Although a few grams heavier, it's way cheaper than Force or Red and works just as well.

This thing will hopefully keep my chain from coming off:
Now for the brake set up. Geometry is important with these kind of cantilevers. A long straddle cable will give you a snappy feel at the lever and lots of mud clearance. A short straddle cable won't feel as good when you pull the lever but will stop you more effectively. Go with a happy medium. I usually go longer in the front since it is more powerful anyway and this lets me change out the front wheel without releasing the straddle cable.

I'm going to reserve judgement on the brakes until I actually ride them. The rear one has big time reverse toe-in. Since it uses a smooth canti post and cartridge pad, there is nothing I can do about this. There's a chance that it'll work just fine but you'll probably hear me as I squeal loudly around the Charm City course tomorrow.

Check out the cool barrel adjuster for the rear brake:


Nothing left but cosmetics at this point:

And there you have it. All with 12 hours to spare. There's nothing like showing up to the start line on a bike you've never ridden.