Building a bike

Table of contents

Status

I’ve finished building my bike. This page is kept for posterity.

Research

Frame

Surly Cross-Check 52cm

Brakes

Mini V-Brakes vs. Cantilever Brakes – Advantages and Disadvantages Compared
Probably will get mini-v or v brakes. Stronger and easier to set up and maintain.
Leaning towards mini-v, but need to do more research.
Mini-v will require a short-pull brake lever.
2022-08-29 update: Will be going with Shimano Deore T610 due to unavailability of the Tektro 726AL and other mini-v options.

Brakes:

(Canti) Avid Shorty Ultimate. Expensive, but possibly worth it? Since I’m not intending to go for disc brakes, might be worth spending more on quality rim brakes.
(V) Shimano Deore BR-T610 V-Brake. bike-components, universalcycles.
(Mini-V) Tektro RX6 https://www.tektro.com/products.php?p=49
(Mini-V) TRP CX8.4 https://global.bluelug.com/trp-cx8-4-mini-v-brake-black.html

Brake pads:

Kool stop salmon supra 2 – general purpose
Kool stop salmon type 2 – for shimano brakes

Brake levers:

Shimano Deore T610/T611
Dia Compe mx-2 polished silver – I think it’ll go well with the silver handlebar, seen here.
Velo Orange cru brake lever silver

Cranks

Blue Lug RMC Multi Speed; Black; 165mm; 130 BCD (Crank-BB interface: square taper)
SRAM Rival 1 (1x11) (Crank-BB interface: GXP, 24/22mm axle)

I really like the aesthetics of White Industries, but they’re too expensive to be part of my initial build. Maybe as a future upgrade. Inspiration.

Square taper cranks tend to be thinner, because the crank-BB interface is thinner. A hollowtech II interface is wider, and therefore the crank has to have more material surrounding the interface. I’m leanings towards a square taper BB, since I prefer the aesthetics of thinner cranks.

Bottom brackets

Sugino Cartridge bottom bracket
Shimano BB-UN300 (Square taper)
SRAM GXP A1 https://www.sram.com/en/sram/models/bb-gxp-a1

Freehub

Shimano hubs are generally regarded as somewhat silent hubs compared to other brands. For a truely silent hub, consider Onyx hubs.

Shimano Deore T610 (8/9/10/11 speed)
Shimano 105 FH-R7000 store, sound – Seems reasonably, not too obnoxiously loud
Onyx hubs are silent. Do they still make rim brake compatible hubs with 10x130mm/135mm spacing? Might need to email them to find out. Looks like the only product that matches those specs has been discontinued.

Groupsets

Shimano Deore M8000 (11 speed)
Shimano SLX M7000 (11 speed)
Shimano Deore XT (11 speed)
Shimano Deore M5100 (11 speed)
Microshift Advent (9 speed)

Cassette

I don’t think I need a 11 speed for riding in mostly flat Singapore terrain. I usually ride with 63 gear inches. A 10 speed 11-36 with a 42T chainring provides provides similar gearing around that range. A 11 speed 11-42 is the same as a 10-speed 11-36, but with one additional low gear.

11 speed 11-42: Shimano XT Cassette CS-M8000 11-speed
10 speed 11-36

Wheelsets

General consensus is that running a 35mm or higher tire on a rim with 17mm inside width is fine. In that case I’m leaning towards the Shimano 105 WH-RS300-CL. It’s relatively cheap, and with a fairly quiet hub. I’d like to upgrade to an Onyx hub in the future, but I’ll defer that upgrade for now.

Shimano|Mavic A319 w/ Deore T610 hubs
Shimano 105 WH-RS300-CL
Hunt 4season aero road (freehub sounds quite loud though)
Fulcrum Racing 3
bike24 filter
bike24: Fulcrum wheels
Fulcrum Racing 5

Chainring

The chainring’s BCD should match that of your cranks.

Handlebars + stem

Consider getting a cheap adjustable stem to start with, to dial in the angle that feels most comfortable. As for length I’m leaning towards a shorter 60mm stem, considering that the CrossCheck frame has a relatively long reach by itself.
Colors: Polished silver stem. Polished silver handlebars. Black grips (or brown?).
If getting a steel stem, aluminum spacers will tend to be thicker and thus bulge out. Get steel spacers instead, such as these from simworks

Handlebars:

Velo Orange postino bar – 570mm wide
Ritchey classic flat 10 bar – Simple and cheap
Velo Orange curvy bar – 680mm wide. Wider version of the Postino bar.
Jones H-Bar
Surly Moloko handlebar – a bit of a weird design, probably overkill in terms of hand positions
Fairweather b903 bullmoose bar – 710mm. Too wide, needs to be cut down significantly, but then it’ll lose its charm. Not a good option for me, though I like the look.

Grips:

Bar tape. I’ll probably eventually go with this, out of desire to avoid logos or branding. Consider this combination of cloth tape, twine, and shellac.

Spacers:

Simworks cromoly steel spacers

Stem cap:

https://www.cycleprojectstore.com/pages/search-results-page?collection=headset-top-cap

Tires

Rene Herse: https://www.renehersecycles.com/product-category/components/tires/700c/
Schwalbe
Panaracer
Gatorskins

Headset

Fairweather matte silver – Very clean design, minimal branding.
Ritchey classic gloss silver
Ritchey WCS logic black
Cane Creek 40
Velo Orange glossy silver – Only silver works; the branding on the black is too visible.

Pedals

MKS Allways

Front rack

Surly 8 pack
Velo Orange Randonneur (cantilever mount)
Nitto m-18

Tools to buy

Torque wrench: https://dcbikes.com.sg/products/bike-hand-1-4-mtb-road-2nm-24nm-pro-torque-wrench-set-tools
Bottom bracket tool
Grease
Pipe cutter
Star nut setting tool
See this post for more

Random questions

What’s the difference between short/medium/long cage derailleurs? When would you use each?
What gear ratios do I want or need? Need to decide this before we choose the cassette and front chainring size. Use sheldon brown’s calculator.

Random notes

Consider Shimano Deore for the cassette and possibly other components as well. Seems to be generally regarded and having good quality for the price.
For cranksets, aesthetics is one of my main factor. I’m not a fan of how Shimano cranksets look. I might use a SRAM crankset instead while using Shimano for the cassette.
TODO: look into price difference between 10 speed and 11 speed groupsets. 11 speed is definitely overkill for SG, but if it’s not too much more expensive I might go for that. Otherwise I’ll stick to 10 speed.
Not sure if I should be concerned about toe overlap. Seems to be a common complaint about the Surly CC/Straggler.

Unorganized info dump

Inspirations

Loads of cross-check configurations with pictures
Black with silver accents
Black frame, silver crankset/seatpost/headset. Brown leather accents. https://www.reddit.com/r/Surlybikefans/comments/mcictw/crosscheck/
Black frame, silver crankset/seatpost/headset. Tan rims. https://www.reddit.com/r/Surlybikefans/comments/o3b282/my_crosscheck_with_some_freshly_built_wheels/
Black on black. I like the tan rims on a black bike. https://www.reddit.com/r/Surlybikefans/comments/mcictw/crosscheck/gs60f6f/

Gear ratio comparison

Birdy vs ??

Torque reference

For my specific bike, so I don’t have to keep looking it up for my specific parts

Saddle clamp: 11 nm
Seatpost: 8 nm
Brake levers: 9nm
Stem to steerer clamp: 6 nm