My first new bike in 14 years

[fyrstormer]

The bike is done.

Well, let me qualify that: the bike is fully assembled -- all the parts are installed, and it's adjusted enough to be rideable. But I don't suppose it's done, and it may never be, since I never really stop fiddling with anything I own, especially if I had the opportunity to assemble it in the first place.

Enough said. On to the pics.

I mentioned in my previous post that I'd have to take the bike to a shop to have the crank bearings installed. Here's a closeup of the part in question -- the silver bit between the frame and the crank arm.


Hope disc brakes are some of the prettiest bike parts I've ever seen.


Busiest rear hub ever. The AWD drive gear adds a lot of extra complexity. Also, another opportunity to admire the Hope disc brakes, this one featuring a custom-ground adaptor that took me over an hour to grind down to the necessary size.


Cable routing: not just for IT geeks. If they look a little tangled, that's because they are; part of cable routing on bikes is looping the cables around each other to keep them from flapping around. It takes a bit of practice to get them so they get in each other's way just enough, without pulling on each other when the handlebars turn.


A view from "inside" the "cockpit".


I've mentioned I like the way Hope brakes look, right? Here's one of the brake levers close-up; it looks like it belongs on a motorcycle. Also featured is the AWD clutch control, which is technically mounted in an inverted position -- I tried to mount it the proper way, with the control pointing back toward the rider, but there was exactly ONE position it could be in without interfering with the brake or the shifter, and it was impossible to adjust too. So, I moved it. It still works quite well in this position. And lastly, the grips are really comfortable to hold, and they bolt onto the handlebar so they can be removed by loosening a screw instead of having to cut them off and replace them.


Here's a complete view of the RWD drivetrain, front-to-back. At the front you can see the front derailleur which I had to replace because the cable clamp bolt seized and broke off when I loosened and re-tightened it too many times while adjusting the shifter cable. Fortunately the bike shop accepted it as a defective return and exchanged it for a new one for the cost of shipping. I put anti-seize grease on the new one to avoid that problem happening again; so far, so good.


Here's a closeup of the crankset and associated parts. This is a perfect example of the sort of mixing-and-matching I love being able to do. I have a Shimano XT crankset with Blackspire gears, a Salsa bash-ring to protect the gears from impact (and my pants from chain oil), an SRAM derailleur, a Connex chain, and generic bolts holding the gears in place. The only reason the bike parts companies haven't made everything super-proprietary is because people like me insist on only buying inter-compatible parts. Viva la free market!


And lastly, the lovely red-and-black pedals I was hoping would still be in-stock when I got around to buying them...and they were! I have an older version of these pedals on my old bike, and they work great. I'm a little unsure about the plastic inner pieces, but...oh well, the pedals are completely disassemblable, so I should be able to replace the plastic parts if they ever break.


In all its glory.


What a project this turned out to be. I bought the frame last August and just finished assembling everything now. Man, oh man. But, it's done, and if it lasts as long as my old bike has, then it's money very well spent.

[Colin]

Excellent, well done on completing it!

all up weight?

I'll let you off the weight of the bottle cage! <GRIN>

I've still got two Oz's in pieces that are very slowly being built!

Col.

[02gf74]

is it just me or are those .jpg photos corrupted?  the top 13 or so is fine but then it goes all weird

[fyrstormer]

There's only 10 photos in my most recent post. 

[fyrstormer]

Excellent, well done on completing it!

all up weight?

I'll let you off the weight of the bottle cage! <GRIN>

I've still got two Oz's in pieces that are very slowly being built!

Col.

According to my bathroom scale (with me holding the bike minus me not holding the bike), it weighs 31.6lbs / 14.3kg. That's about 1.6lbs / 725g higher than my Pro-Flex, which is not bad at all considering all the extra parts in the AWD system. No doubt the air shocks help a lot with reducing weight.

Interestingly, despite being heavier and still single-pivot like my Pro-Flex, it's also about 0.5mph faster than my Pro-Flex over several miles of mixed terrain, given a similar level of exertion.

[02gf74]

how does the drive for the front wheel hook up to the bevel gear that sits in the head tube?

.... I was thinking about this and wonder why they did not use a hydrualic drive system?

[fyrstormer]

There are bevel gears bolted to both wheels. The rear bevel gear drives a shaft that runs through the interior of the frame. There is an extendable shaft where the rear suspension connects to the main triangle of the frame, a 90-degree transfer case inside the headtube, and a small chain-drive inside the crown of the fork.

They probably didn't use a hydraulic drive for three reasons:

1) Hydraulics always leak eventually, and they don't work properly if there's ANY air in the system at all;
2) The sudden engagement of the hydraulic drive when one wheel starts slipping would cause a massive pressure surge in the pressurized line that transfers power from the back wheel to the front wheel;
3) Most hydraulic fluid is denser than hollow aluminum.

[Thunderchild]

oh how I want one of these bikes for snow riding.  Nice build!


Thunderchild ]-

[w2zero]

very very cool

[fyrstormer]

In other news, I replaced the 170mm cranks on my 756 with 175mm cranks, and the ride is much improved. I bought the 170mm cranks when I upgraded from square-taper to ISIS, thinking the 5mm smaller radius wouldn't matter. I was wrong. 3% more torque helps a lot.

If anyone else wants to pick up an ISIS crank for their bike, there are some FSA Alpha-Drives for sale on eBay at $45 per set. Those are the ones I got; they look nice.

[fyrstormer]

So, there are NO forums online for Christini bikes. Not even subsections of general-bike-stuff forums. There's a forum for 14+ year old bikes made by a company that doesn't exist anymore, but not for my new bike. Disappointing.

[Colin]

So, there are NO forums online for Christini bikes. Not even subsections of general-bike-stuff forums. There's a forum for 14+ year old bikes made by a company that doesn't exist anymore, but not for my new bike. Disappointing.

So start one! <GRIN>

[fyrstormer]

I thought about it, but I don't have the hardware to host a forum, and Christini doesn't seem interested in doing it themselves.

[02gf74]

..... there was one of these on ebay a few months back and was umming and ahhing whether to bid - the top tube of 620 mm seems to be a bit too long - my bikes have 600 +/- 10 mm TT so didn't bid in the end.  it went for very little money - kinda regret it now ...... and then later turns out the seller of that bike bought my Whyte PRST 1 .... small ebay world