New Bike Build: Part 2

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When looking at components, I compared cost, value, quality, weight, function, durability, ergonomics, and aesthetics. With the frameset chosen I had a starting point to use as a sort of gauge. An aero road bike designed to perform well on flats, but not so heavy that it would be a problem on the climbs. Not necessarily an inexpensive frame, but I think arguably one of the better values available. I decided to leave wheels out of this blog post as there are a lot of options available and I felt they were important enough to warrant their own post.

Shifters and Derailleurs

Instead of purchasing a complete groupset, I decided to break out the shifters and derailleurs. I wanted to go with the best value, not necessarily the highest quality. There are other options out there, but the main ones on my radar were:

Campagnolo Super Record* Record* Chorus

Shimano Dura Ace* Ultegra* 105

SRAM Red Force Rival

* Available as mechanical or electronic: EPS (Campagnolo), Di2 (Shimano)

In case you're interested, I left off Campagnolo's Athena, Centaur, and Veloce; Shimano's Tiagra and Sora; and SRAM's Apex; (as well as others). I need to keep this blog posts under 10 pages.

Campagnolo is more expensive than Shimano and SRAM, but if I'm not mistaken does provide the ability to take apart and repair the components. A lot of Campy fans have pointed this out but I personally don't see it as a major selling point. The risk that I'll need to disassemble and replace pieces of a component are pretty minor. It's more likely I'd be buying an entirely new component. Another benefit of Campagnolo is the quality of their components, but both Shimano and SRAM have stepped up to the level that Campy set and it appears to me that they compete well in terms of quality. Campy fans may argue but I feel confident stating that the quality and repairability of Campagnolo does not adequately justify the additional cost. Another benefit of Campagnolo is that, when comparing similar product lines, they tend to be slightly lighter. This is not a rule for all tiers and the weight savings is pretty minor so I am ignoring it.

SRAM is based in the United States (Chicago to be exact), which I like. Unfortunately, they don't have an electronic group available yet and I'm not a fan of their double-tap shifting style. I really like the aesthetics of SRAM's Red groupset but when visiting bike shops I've tried out the SRAM shifters and they felt strange to me -- not sure what it was, may be just that I'm used to Shimano, but they didn't quite fit my hand. Shift style and ergonomics are highly subjective and likely based on past usage bias. For me, I preferred the feel of the Shimano shifters as well as the method of shifting.

SRAM Double Tap Shifter

I know 11-speed setups are talked a lot about right now. I'm just not convinced that it will be a big deal to me, so I'm ignoring it for the most part. I had a 10-speed 53/39 crankset with an 11-25 cassette and it worked very well for me. I've done steep (in excess of 10%) climbs with an 11-28 and still didn't feel like I needed an extra gear. 11-speed will likely become the norm, but right now I don't see a reason to seek it out intentionally.

Another new trend is electronic shifting. Campagnolo has EPS (Electronic Power Shift) and Shimano has Di2 (Digital Integrated Intelligence). Everyone I've talked to who has it says that it is well worth it -- but of course there is some bias there. I've read some so-called unbiased reviews that also claim electronic is the way to go and there do seem to be some good arguments for it. Shifting is easy and precise, chain rub is reduced or eliminated, and cable maintenance is gone. The downsides seem to be price and weight, but could also include repair issues, and of course the dreaded mid-race (or mid-ride) dead battery.

Campagnolo and Shimano both have two options for Di2. The main difference is weight. Here are the weight differences between them (just shifters and derailleurs):

	Campagnolo	Shimano
Super Record / Dura Ace	589 g	604 g
Record / Ultegra	602 g	753 g
Difference	13 g	149 g

The weight difference between Super Record and Record is non-existent. For Shimano, the price difference to go up to Dura Ace is significant at around $1,100, which means you'd be spending $7.33 per gram saved. You'd be better to spend money on lighter handlebars (3T Ergonova Team vs. Pro is $3.28/g) and/or a lighter saddle (Selle Italia Tekno Flow vs. SLS Kit Carbonio Flow is $2.74/g). Those two upgrades together would save you 184 grams and only cost $540. There is a small difference in shifting noise from Dura Ace to Ultegra, and the rear derailleur shifting under heavy (sprinting out of the saddle) loads is described as "clunks" instead of "slides" -- but it's doubtful those differences are worth much. VeloNews has a very nice article comparing Dura Ace and Ultegra Di2 systems (click here to view).

For me, I ruled out Campagnolo completely because the value is relatively low. I'd be paying a lot of extra money for slightly lighter, slightly higher quality, and perhaps slightly more durable components. One could even argue the quality and durability are the same for all three manufacturers. If you're a Campy fan feel free to comment below.

I really wanted to try out electronic shifting, which ruled out SRAM. That, coupled with my dislike for the double-tap shifting and shifter feel has kept me in the Shimano family for this build.

The last choice was easy for me. There is no value in going with Dura Ace Di2 over Ultegra -- not unless you are willing to squeeze every gram out of the build (which I am not). So I chose Ultegra Di2. I searched online for the best deal and ended up finding a very gently used "upgrade kit" (shifters, derailleurs, wiring, and battery) on Ebay at an incredible price. It will be interesting learning how to install an electronic system (coming soon).

Ultegra 6700 Di2

Crankset, Cassette and Chain

Since the crankset, cassette and chain wear much faster than the other components, I like to separate them to determine value. The chain wears the fastest, while the crankset and cassette (in theory) wear at the same rate. With the chain wearing fast, something inexpensive and durable (not lightweight) is desired. I'm willing to deal with some extra weight here and justify it by taking the cost savings and applying it to weight saved on components that last much longer. I've been a fan of the KMC X10.93 chain because it's inexpensive, durable, and has the quick-link. The KMC chain weighs 290 grams vs. Ultegra weighing 272 grams (when comparing 116 links). The cost difference between the two is only about $20, but since I replace my chain every 2,000-2,500 miles (about 4 chains per year) it quickly becomes unworthy of the added cost.

By replacing the chain often, the life of the cassette and chainrings can extend beyond 5,000 miles so weight becomes a little more of an issue. I've been able to go a full year before needing to replace the cassette and chainrings. Since I'm going with Ultegra shifters and derailleurs, and I think the dark gray color that Ultegra offers looks better than the silver when installed on a black bike, I decided to just go with Ultegra for the crankset. For the cassette, I already had an 11-25 model 105 that was going to go on the Allez so I will go ahead and use it on the Noah until it wears out. When it comes time to replace it I will likely switch to Ultegra for the weight savings. Ultegra weighs 35 grams less at a cost of around $0.50/g.

Ultegra 6700 Crankset (dark gray)

Bottom bracket. The Noah frameset has a pressfit 30 (PF30) bottom bracket (46mm diameter and width of 68mm). Using the Ultegra Hollowtech crankset, I will need to install an adapter and there are a couple different options. Wheels makes the least expensive option with two separate cups that fit into the frame. I utilized these on the Allez and I didn't care for them at all. About once a month I would remove the crankset, take out the cups, clean everything, re-grease it, and put it all back together in order to get rid of clicking that would develop when the cups became slightly out of alignment. Shimano has a one-piece adapter but it doesn't look like very good quality and for a few dollars more, Praxis Works has a new option that appears to be very promising.

Praxis Works Conversion Bottom Bracket

Other Components

The other main components are the three areas of contact, the handlebars (and stem), pedals, and saddle. The style of handlebars tends to be subjective and I've been wanting to try out the 3T Ergosum with the flat-ish tops to see how they feel so when Chris at ProBike offered me some for a smoking deal I went for it. I like having the manufacturer's of the handlebars and stem match and I liked the 3T ARX stem I used on the Allez so I'll go with it again, this time using the Team version with the red stripe (matching the black/red color scheme of the bike). The handlebars are the Stealth version (all black) and I thought about going with the black/red there too but thought it might be too much color coordination so I'm going to stick with just black for now. One thing I learned about the Ergosum handlebars is that because of the way they are shaped, you should buy one size larger than you normally would -- so, if like me you use a size 44cm, you would buy a 46cm.

3T Ergonova Team Stealth

3T ARX Team

For pedals, I wanted to stay in the Shimano family. I looked at a couple options here: Dura Ace, Ultegra Carbon, Ultegra, and 105. The weight differences for these models are:

	Weight	Price
Dura Ace	248 g	$400
Ultegra Carbon	260 g	$200
Ultegra	317 g	$200
105	325 g	$110

To go from 105 to Ultegra is $11.25/g but from 105 to Ultegra Carbon is $1.40. To go from Ultegra Carbon to Dura Ace is $16.67/g so this decision was very easy for me, I went with Ultegra Carbon.

Ultegra Carbon Pedals

For the saddle I'm going with the Selle Italia SLR Kit Carbonio Flow. I've tried a Selle San Marco Zoncolan which was alright, a Fizik Arione which was uncomfortable, a Specialized Romin which was alright, and a Selle Italia SLS Flow which I liked most. The SLS is the less expensive option to the SLR, with the SLR weighing 90g less at about $2/g.

A quick side note. I found a great deal at ProBikeKit for this saddle which, coupled with a $15 off coupon code came to around $150. I noticed they were selling like mad on Ebay for over $200 so I ended up buying four saddles and selling three of them on Ebay, effectively making my saddle free. Well, it did take around a 30 minutes of my time to unpack and repack the saddles, print the shipping labels, and put the box in the outgoing mail area of my office.

Selle Italia SLR Kit Carbonio Flow

In Part 3, I will discuss wheels. With an aero road bike, I think deep carbon wheels will look and perform best. I will be looking at aerodynamics, weight, aesthetics, braking performance, cross-wind performance, maintenance, technology, and price.

Bike Build Part 1	Bike Build Part 2	Bike Build Part 3	Bike Build Part 4