I wanted to finally try out a carbon bike, but well I am frugal. New carbon bikes were just too expensive and used bikes were too expensive if they met what I wanted. My goal was to have the more modern options that I wanted which include disc brakes, internal cable routing, fit wider tires, and thru axles. I decided my only option was a build and thankfully the Clubman frameset showed up on the market for a good price. Here are some pictures of the bike:
Specs
Frame: direct connect high modulus carbon with tapered headtube, thru-axles, disc brakes, and internal cable routing.
Fork: Carbon with alloy steerer, 1 1/8” to 1.5” taper, thru-axle with post mount disc brake.
Wheelset: Elitewheels 50mm deep wheelset. 24F/24R Pillar spokes.
Tires: Panaracer Agilest Duro 700×30 with TPU tubes
Brakes: TRP Spyre mechanical disc
Drop Bars: Uno Advanced Project alloy 38cm
Stem: Origin8 alloy
Seatpost: RXL SL carbon seatpost 27.2
Saddle: Rockbros carbon saddle
Crankset: FSA SL-K carbon crankset 52/36
Shifters/brakes: Shimano 105 5800 2×11
Front derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 9000 2x
Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 9000 11-speed
Cassette: JFOYH Ultralight alloy 11-28 about 217 grams
Chain: KMC X11SL
Weight: 18.7 lbs
Build
Build went together without any real problems. I did take my time, and it took a long time, but there were never any problems. I dreaded the internal cable routing, but it actually went pretty well with the special tools I bought for it. This was the first time I set up new Spyre brakes and that went fine. Shifters and derailleurs were tuned easily enough. And I am happy with the cost of the build and the weight. Going carbon, I wanted it to be pretty light. All the above parts are meeting my expectations so far. I kept it on a tight budget so was worried about cheap carbon parts, but no issues so far.
Ride
Bike rides as well as I would have hoped. With the wider tires it goes over all the bumps pretty smoothly. 11-speed Shimano shifting is nice and smooth. The bike always feels fast, maybe because it’s so light. So far, the carbon wheels have been great, I’m a little nervous cause I’ve broken a lot of spokes on wheels with way more spokes than these. Overall I am very happy with the ride.
Look
Love how the bike looks, went with a black/white/silver color scheme. I think all the parts go together well on this bike. The deep wheels look modern and fast. Don’t like the long steerer tube right now, but I will fix that.
Future
I have a few things I’ll be doing with the bike this winter. First thing will be cutting down the steerer tube. I left it long to make sure the fit was good. Having ridden the bike all summer I’m confident in shortening now. I have a nice-looking stem I think I will add but am still debating going right to an integrated carbon bar/stem. I will also be changing the chainrings to a 50/34 gearing. I’m real used to the 48 big chainring on my Surly and just find myself cross changing a little too much with this bike. I think these changes will improve the bike just a little bit for next season.
