Worth a watch: Building Romain Bardet's Tour de France Bike

[m_sasso]

Originally Posted by thwart

I would as well if I rode Shimano hubs very often, with their shallow freehub splines. You may very well need all the help you can get when it’s time to remove that cassette.

Campy hubs, on the other hand… no. I’ve never had any difficulty removing or mounting a cassette, sans grease.

Less mess.

Always!

Little to do with ease of removing cassette and mostly to do with eliminating creaking between cassette spacers, cogs and freehub even with a correctly torqued lock ring.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Good grief that headset interface area is complicated!

The bit where he needs to take a smarty phone out to work on the bike is pretty funny too.

He's using the Shimano ETube app on his phone to configure shifting and update firmware of the components. That's more convenient than having to plug the bike into a computer.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Alistair

I thought he used one on all the critics fasteners? Definitely when connecting brake hose to levers, seat post binder, and a few others.

He didn't use one on the cassette and rotor lockings, but as long as those are tight enough, is there a downside?

Gotta say, I'm glad my latest plastic-fantastic is AXS, so a few fewer cables to run internally. Not looking forward to servicing the brakes with internal head tube routing.

Probably, didn't notice tho..Pretty sure, altho on a real bike, was produced to make the video..nicely done.

Yup, the 'advantage' of etap/wireless is in the build, no doubt..not the 'performance'..For these pros or anybody just riding around, wireless has no functional advantage over wried electronic or mechanical, IMHO...Great selling point on a new, complete bike tho..altho, when riding it, it really means nothing...the fact that it's 'wireless'...push shifters, bike shifts...

[Onno]

Originally Posted by m_sasso

Always!

Little to do with ease of removing cassette and mostly to do with eliminating creaking between cassette spacers, cogs and freehub even with a correctly torqued lock ring.

Totally agree. I've found cassette noises to be the weirdest and hardest to pin down, and then the easiest to fix, with some grease between spacers and cogs, and on the freehub. Doesn't take much.

[tellyho]

Originally Posted by Veloo

I don’t grease my freehub splines.
I grease the cap threads but that’s it.

Does anyone here put grease before installing a cassette?

Learned the hard way after working hard to remove the cassette on my commuter a couple years ago. Now I always grease the freehub before install, lightly. Can't hurt, might help.

[KonaSS]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Yup, the 'advantage' of etap/wireless is in the build, no doubt..not the 'performance'..For these pros or anybody just riding around, wireless has no functional advantage over wried electronic or mechanical, IMHO...Great selling point on a new, complete bike tho..altho, when riding it, it really means nothing...the fact that it's 'wireless'...push shifters, bike shifts...

No wires equals no wires to hit the wind. These may mean less when many frames these days hide all the wires, but for some bikes, this is a functional advantage.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by KonaSS

No wires equals no wires to hit the wind. These may mean less when many frames these days hide all the wires, but for some bikes, this is a functional advantage.

really? I'm not saying there isn't a small aero advantage, but I think most non-pros would be hard pressed to notice it on any given ride.. I dare say the major majority of us on this forum will never get paid to ride a bike.. not to say we don't enjoy marginal gains, but I think this is bit too marginal for most..

[callmeishmael]

Originally Posted by fourflys

I know the feeling.. I've been agonizing over buying a Cervelo Caledonia, but just can't close the deal in my brain.. I keep going back to a the idea of a "traditional" steel or Ti bike that will take a 28/30mm tire.. maybe discs, but not really sure at this point..

The Caledonia is a damn good bike and very much the 'goldilocks' IMO between racy and easy to ride all day. I test rode one very early in the year and really enjoyed it, so much so it temporarily made me reconsider my custom order. If there had been a new Di2 version available when I was looking, it would have been an even closer decision. I don't think that bike (Cal w/Di2) would have been anything like as special to look at, and it would have been more of a pragmatic decision, but in terms of sheer competence, for the riding I do, I'm guessing it would have been very hard to beat.

Edit: the other thing, obviously speaking purely personally, is how *incredibly* close the Caledonia comes to my ideal fit numbers. Somewhat ironically, I discovered this through the bike fit that preceded the custom fit

[flying]

Originally Posted by pritchet74

I am becoming a retro grouch.

I see this, and even though I admire (technically) where race bikes are - it makes me love (even more) my older Colnagos with their external cable routing. So easy to work on, and they ride like a dream.

+1
I personally think it is sad what they have done to what was a simple/reliable bicycle....
not to mention the whole green aspect of "previously" lacking batteries,switches,wires needing electricity etc

[cgates66]

Compelling. I grease all the spots he does (I use a little more on the axles). One thing that I didn't totally get, though, was his use of Red Devil grease on some components, and lithium white grease on others. Very curious.

I tend to use PPL-1 and I bought some Red Devil but I don't usually use the white stuff, except for what ships with Shimano components.

That tool he has to pull cable is awesome.

I also noticed that the brake hoses didn't seem to have the olives? Is that a new design, or did they just skip it?

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by cgates66

Compelling. I grease all the spots he does (I use a little more on the axles). One thing that I didn't totally get, though, was his use of Red Devil grease on some components, and lithium white grease on others. Very curious.

Red grease for where things should move, white grease for where things shouldn't move. So white grease for the press-fit bb cups, which shouldn't move once they're put in place, red grease on the bb bearing-spindle interface, because that should move freely.

I also noticed that the brake hoses didn't seem to have the olives? Is that a new design, or did they just skip it?

Shimano levers come with an olive already inside the nut, so the first time you install them, you can just slide the hose in and it's ready to go...

Ask me about my brake lever with two olives on it .

[cgates66]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Red grease for where things should move, white grease for where things shouldn't move. So white grease for the press-fit bb cups, which shouldn't move once they're put in place, red grease on the bb bearing-spindle interface, because that should move freely.



Shimano levers come with an olive already inside the nut, so the first time you install them, you can just slide the hose in and it's ready to go...

Ask me about my brake lever with two olives on it .

I don't build enough bikes with new stuff : )

The grease thing is very interesting. I've used PPL-1 on basically everything, but recently started using the red stuff - but, by accident, only on things that move.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Veloo View Post
I don’t grease my freehub splines.
I grease the cap threads but that’s it.

Does anyone here put grease before installing a cassette?

Originally Posted by witcombusa

Always!

When cogs on carriers became the norm, I started to do this...cured some creaks.

While I too can appreciate all of the technology that goes into that bike, and the skill of that mech, I think it is absolutely fugly (no offense to scott, they're all like that now) and I can say with some confidence that I'd never buy/ride something like that.

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday....

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by m_sasso

Always!

Little to do with ease of removing cassette and mostly to do with eliminating creaking between cassette spacers, cogs and freehub even with a correctly torqued lock ring.

Say again?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by KonaSS

No wires equals no wires to hit the wind. These may mean less when many frames these days hide all the wires, but for some bikes, this is a functional advantage.

YGBSM...a 1.1mm der wire or even a 4mm der housing or those 2mm electrical wires...that you only see about a few millimeters of...with that great big thing called a rider on the bike.

Lost in the noise...more drag from a guy that doesn't shave that day..his FACE.
All of this internal brake line stuff and etap functional 'advantages' are marketing 101....a disc brake lever and disc brake caliper and rotor WAY less 'aero' than a caliper brake 'system.