[paddlerx]

06 Giant TCX Build.

This is my new cross ride. Its replaced an aging and heavy Soul Monk.
Its sold as Frame/Fork only, so the build took a little while to assemble.

Frame - TCX (Medium)
Fork - Carbon
Wheelset - Bontrager Race Lite (stolen from my Lemond Victoire)
Cassette- 12-25 Ultegra
Seat - WTB Titanium (comfy and reasonably lite, will likely be upgraded)
Post- Bontrager Race X Lite (again off of Lemond)
Stem - Bontrager Race xxx lite (from Klein Palomino XXX) 105mm
Bar - Bontrager Race Lite 46cm (had a Salsa Bell Lap 46 flaring to 52...the pure 46 seems narrow by comparison)
Headset - Giant Integrated
Spacers - Bontrager Carbon
Shifter/brakes - 105 black
front D - 105 braze on bottom pull (upgrading to a clamp top pull ultegra or da soon)..the pulley system looks like a nightmare.
Rear - Ultegra long cage (i occassionally run a 12-34 MTB cassette for really hilly races/rides)
Cranks - Profile Design Carbon 175mm 135bcd
Chainrings - Stronglight 39/ Stronglight 51 (will be running single chainring config for races)
Chain - Sram (to be able to take it apart easily...and frequently
Brakes - Shimano BR 550's. Seem fine so far.
Cables- Bontrager cable set, nice stuff. first time i've used it.
Tape - Silva Carbon.
Pedals - Eggbeater Stainless steel

currently it's doing road duty but i'll put michelin Jets on it for cross.

thanks for looking.
Here's a photo,

more over at my smugmug gallery
https://paddlerx.smugmug.com/gallery/1351760

Cheers.

 

[single1x1]

looks good maybe try a slight rise stem

This is my new cross ride. Its replaced an aging and heavy Soul Monk.
Its sold as Frame/Fork only, so the build took a little while to assemble.

Frame - TCX (Medium)
Fork - Carbon
Wheelset - Bontrager Race Lite (stolen from my Lemond Victoire)
Cassette- 12-25 Ultegra
Seat - WTB Titanium (comfy and reasonably lite, will likely be upgraded)
Post- Bontrager Race X Lite (again off of Lemond)
Stem - Bontrager Race xxx lite (from Klein Palomino XXX) 105mm
Bar - Bontrager Race Lite 46cm (had a Salsa Bell Lap 46 flaring to 52...the pure 46 seems narrow by comparison)
Headset - Giant Integrated
Spacers - Bontrager Carbon
Shifter/brakes - 105 black
front D - 105 braze on bottom pull (upgrading to a clamp top pull ultegra or da soon)..the pulley system looks like a nightmare.
Rear - Ultegra long cage (i occassionally run a 12-34 MTB cassette for really hilly races/rides)
Cranks - Profile Design Carbon 175mm 135bcd
Chainrings - Stronglight 39/ Stronglight 51 (will be running single chainring config for races)
Chain - Sram (to be able to take it apart easily...and frequently
Brakes - Shimano BR 550's. Seem fine so far.
Cables- Bontrager cable set, nice stuff. first time i've used it.
Tape - Silva Carbon.
Pedals - Eggbeater Stainless steel

currently it's doing road duty but i'll put michelin Jets on it for cross.

thanks for looking.
Here's a photo,

more over at my smugmug gallery
https://paddlerx.smugmug.com/gallery/1351760

Cheers.

I would say maybe try a switch to a ritchey pro/wcs type stem with a + - 6deg rise, then you could also cut the steerer tube some. I'm running one of the wtb 195g ti stealth race seats and I am liking it, fairly compfortable and pretty light

 

[paddlerx]

stem flip

i could flip the bonty stem, that's + - 6degrees. the spacers are for ensuring i didn't cut down too much. it'll be rechopped as i tune things in. thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[jroden]

i had good luck with my seatpost by facing the shim with the slot pointing toward the front of the bike, greasing the treads of the clamp and tightening it up a lot. Otherwise, I found the post tended to slip down during races due to jumping on the bike, suggest you mark the position with tape so you can at least tell if it is slipping. Makes your knees a little sore... Otherwise, it's a nice bike.

 

[paddlerx]

Post.

well that's a good thought. in fact i think it may have slipped a bit. tight fit to get it in...but it may have slipped.

did an MAP test on it last night. got some good flex out of the bb while on the trainer...almost an unfair loading

 

[jroden]

Well, I might add that the only thing that finally fixed my slipping problem was using a Giant cabon seat post. I tried two other posts, a new shim and a new collar, the other trick was to put the shim a little less than all the way into the tube and clean / grease it up. A torque wrech helps too. Good luck.

 

[paddlerx]

shim?

mine didn't come with a shim of any kind. i slammed a 27.2 aluminum post into it as a test, then slipped the bontrager in. as i said, its tight...

how do you like the bike overall? any photos/comments?

cheers.

 

[jroden]

mine used a black steel insert that was about 4 inches long that you could slide out of the hole where the seat post goes--shine a light in there and see if you have one too.

My bike was a couple models ago when they were designed for disk brakes. I thought it was a nice bike, I never really felt like I got the balance quite right on it, I felt like the front end seemed to come out too easy, but maybe I'm just imagining it. At first I hit my funny bone on the cranks when I shouldered the compact frame, but you can practice for 10 minutes and figure out a procedure and not have problems. I think the internal headsets are crap, but they are hard to avoid now. I have nothing but trouble with the derailer cable routing in the rear, you always get mud and junk running into the housing, seems like I replace about 4 per season, and it's not a long season. I like the eggbeater pedals, they do seem to be happier when they are greased often. I did not like those brakes, I found them hard to get adjusted so they would be far enough away from the rims so they did not get fouled with mud, I opted for the froglegs, but cheap Avids are fine too, maybe you'll have better luck with them than me.

I think you will like the bike a lot, it is a great race bike and builds up nice and light. I have an Eddy Merckx now which I also have to say I like very much, maybe we always like what we are riding now.

 

[cantdog]

Shimano makes a da/ultegra top pull front derr?

 

[paddlerx]

XTR Top Pull

Some are saying to just run an xtr top pull instead of a DA/Ultegra. makes sense to me, just lock out the third click.

 

[jroden]

I never had good luck running a top pull mtb front derailer, I could never get it set up quite right and the chain fell off a lot. I'm happy with the pully thing, though I think the whole top routing of cables on cross bikes is a stupid fad that is a solution looking for a problem.