Bianchi Oltre XR4 Disc build

[jowwy]

I ran some Di2 wires this evening

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I also cleaned up the two mech's and refitted them, a job I always find strangely soothing

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Theres a trapdoor under the BB for running the brake hose so with the Di2 wires in place I could fit the Wheels Mfg. ceramic bottom bracket, after giving it a nice clean and checking the bearings of course 😊

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I'm rather hoping the new rear brake hose arrives tomorrow so I can crack on and get the rear brake fitted then move on to the front end

I also need to box up the old frame and pop it back to the dealer 😊

I really need to tidy the garage too

That was supposed to be your winter project John.....god your slacking these days lol

 

[JhnBssll]

That was supposed to be your winter project John.....god your slacking these days lol

The depressing truth is I've tidied it 3 or 4 times recently, but there's so little space in there at the moment with all the timber and plasterboard that it gets messy super quick. Half the cupboards are blocked off so I can't put things away again without moving 12 sheets of plasterboard twice... Hopefully once the electrician has been in a few weeks I can get the plasterboard up and regain some garage space

Anyway, bicycles! I received a brake hose in the post so could continue this evening 😊 I was witness to a minor miracle - I poked the new brake hose through the hole in the chainstay then kept feeding with no resistance until it popped out of the top of the headset where it was supposed to I think I've only managed that once before Anyway,next job was to mark and cut the steerer, expensive if you make a mistake here! I was going to cut it the same length as the original forks but decided to dry fit everything and mark it up in case anything was slightly different, I'm pretty sure it isn't but wasnt going to risk it

With the steerer cut to length I thought I'd take some photos of the order the integrated headset goes together in case its useful to anyone in future as it's a fiddly job In the first picture you can see the top bearing sitting inside the frame and the preload ring above it. Normally both bearing and preload ring would be smaller in diameter but with these ACR headsets both upper and lower bearings are inch and a half to allow space for the cables. You can see the preload ring also has a section missing to allow the rear brake hose and Di2 cable to pass through; with a mechanical groupset you'd have the two gear cables instead of the single Di2 wire.

Here the spacers have been assembled on to the now neatly cut steerer 😊 You can also see I've now run the front brake hose up the middle of the steerer tube.

Next the steerer expanding wedge goes in. As with the preload ring there is a section missing to allow the front brake hose to pass through. I tend to position it such that the brake hose is in the 9 o'clock position when viewed from the saddle as it seems to give the best hose curvature on a right hand front brake setup. I'd reverse it and put it in the 3 o'clock position if I was laying it out for a left hand front brake.

Next you have to cable up the bars. I do the Di2 cables first then run the rear brake hose up and through to the lever. I cant remember when I realised that inner gear cables fit inside hydraulic hoses but it was a good day; I tend to now run a gear inner through the route the hose needs to take, then poke the inner in to the hose and use it as a guide. It works pretty nicely and helps to quickly get round tight internal bends that would otherwise be a pig to cable up. Here's the trick about to be put into action for the front brake hose...

And here's the hose in position...

With the hoses run it was time to trim them to length then add the end fittings.

With the hoses and wires all connected I connected the battery up and popped it on charge ready to play again another day.

The last thing I did before closing up the garage was to check the Di2 was working by connecting the phone app. All was fine and there was new firmware available for a couple of the modules so I updated that and left it charging

First job when I next get a moment will be to bleed the brakes, then I'll get the chainset, chain and rear wheel on to check the indexing.

The matte clear protection tape I ordered arrived today, except it was gloss So that'll be going back and more matte tape sourced I had wanted to get it protected before I built it up but that has clearly not happened So long as I get it protected in the critical areas before I take it for a spin I'll be happy 😊

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

The depressing truth is I've tidied it 3 or 4 times recently, but there's so little space in there at the moment with all the timber and plasterboard that it gets messy super quick. Half the cupboards are blocked off so I can't put things away again without moving 12 sheets of plasterboard twice... Hopefully once the electrician has been in a few weeks I can get the plasterboard up and regain some garage space

Anyway, bicycles! I received a brake hose in the post so could continue this evening 😊 I was witness to a minor miracle - I poked the new brake hose through the hole in the chainstay then kept feeding with no resistance until it popped out of the top of the headset where it was supposed to I think I've only managed that once before Anyway,next job was to mark and cut the steerer, expensive if you make a mistake here! I was going to cut it the same length as the original forks but decided to dry fit everything and mark it up in case anything was slightly different, I'm pretty sure it isn't but wasnt going to risk it

View attachment 632583
With the steerer cut to length I thought I'd take some photos of the order the integrated headset goes together in case its useful to anyone in future as it's a fiddly job In the first picture you can see the top bearing sitting inside the frame and the preload ring above it. Normally both bearing and preload ring would be smaller in diameter but with these ACR headsets both upper and lower bearings are inch and a half to allow space for the cables. You can see the preload ring also has a section missing to allow the rear brake hose and Di2 cable to pass through; with a mechanical groupset you'd have the two gear cables instead of the single Di2 wire.

View attachment 632584

Here the spacers have been assembled on to the now neatly cut steerer 😊 You can also see I've now run the front brake hose up the middle of the steerer tube.

View attachment 632585

Next the steerer expanding wedge goes in. As with the preload ring there is a section missing to allow the front brake hose to pass through. I tend to position it such that the brake hose is in the 9 o'clock position when viewed from the saddle as it seems to give the best hose curvature on a right hand front brake setup. I'd reverse it and put it in the 3 o'clock position if I was laying it out for a left hand front brake.

View attachment 632586

Next you have to cable up the bars. I do the Di2 cables first then run the rear brake hose up and through to the lever. I cant remember when I realised that inner gear cables fit inside hydraulic hoses but it was a good day; I tend to now run a gear inner through the route the hose needs to take, then poke the inner in to the hose and use it as a guide. It works pretty nicely and helps to quickly get round tight internal bends that would otherwise be a pig to cable up. Here's the trick about to be put into action for the front brake hose...

View attachment 632587

And here's the hose in position...

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With the hoses run it was time to trim them to length then add the end fittings.

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With the hoses and wires all connected I connected the battery up and popped it on charge ready to play again another day.

View attachment 632582

The last thing I did before closing up the garage was to check the Di2 was working by connecting the phone app. All was fine and there was new firmware available for a couple of the modules so I updated that and left it charging

View attachment 632581

First job when I next get a moment will be to bleed the brakes, then I'll get the chainset, chain and rear wheel on to check the indexing.

The matte clear protection tape I ordered arrived today, except it was gloss So that'll be going back and more matte tape sourced I had wanted to get it protected before I built it up but that has clearly not happened So long as I get it protected in the critical areas before I take it for a spin I'll be happy 😊

Wow! What a palarver.

Fair play to you for taking the trouble to document the process for others. 👍

 

[SpokeyDokey]

An opportunity might exist to sell anti-wonky printed spacers to existing owners. 🙂

 

[JhnBssll]

I finished her off today 😊

The brakes refilled quickly and were easy to bleed; I'd kept the calipers the right way up so minimal oil was lost and no air would get in. Seems Hope have admitted that the RX4's are a bit of a pig to bleed because they brought our the RX4+ with a different bleed layout

With the calipers cleaned of fluid drips and the pads reinstalled I popped the wheels in and took it out of the stand to finish the headset which had only been loosely assembled up to this point. I've run the Di2 cables back under the stem top cap and fitted the D-Fly wireless unit there as before. This position gives optimum signal to the gps computer which is only 100mm in front of it, keeps it hidden from the elements and yet easily accessible in case of issues.

Chainset, chain, seatpost and saddle all refitted so I could scoot about on it and check the brakes felt ok before taping the bars - its pretty upsetting having to go near fresh bartape with brake fluid so I try and avoid it if possible The new Deda bar tape looks fab, I'm pleased with the change from the previous Supacaz Galaxy 😊

So there we are, another job done and Olive the Oltre is back in one piece, not to mention super clean again 😄

 

[JhnBssll]

I hinted in an earlier post that I was working on a new GPS and front light mount for this build and I've now got something printing in the garage, should be ready by morning. When I looked back on the last screenshot I shared I realised it looked a lot like a pipe and that I needed to have a re-think This is what I've come up with now;

It's completely hollow with a central rib down the middle to stiffen it up and should only weigh ~30g. The resin I'm printing it with is pretty durable, it's a fairly expensive engineering resin called eSun Hard Tough, about £100/litre Fortunately this will only use about 40ml, so around a fiver's worth of resin assuming I get it right first time This reminds me, I've been using my personal stash to print things for work so they probably owe me a bottle by now, I best get some more ordered!

I'm looking forward to seeing how it's come out first thing tomorrow then getting it cleaned up and cured 😊

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I hinted in an earlier post that I was working on a new GPS and front light mount for this build and I've now got something printing in the garage, should be ready by morning. When I looked back on the last screenshot I shared I realised it looked a lot like a pipe and that I needed to have a re-think This is what I've come up with now;

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It's completely hollow with a central rib down the middle to stiffen it up and should only weigh ~30g. The resin I'm printing it with is pretty durable, it's a fairly expensive engineering resin called eSun Hard Tough, about £100/litre Fortunately this will only use about 40ml, so around a fiver's worth of resin assuming I get it right first time This reminds me, I've been using my personal stash to print things for work so they probably owe me a bottle by now, I best get some more ordered!

I'm looking forward to seeing how it's come out first thing tomorrow then getting it cleaned up and cured 😊

Clever stuff JB.

For the life of me I just cannot get my head around printing 'stuff'. 😁

 

[JhnBssll]

Clever stuff JB.

For the life of me I just cannot get my head around printing 'stuff'. 😁

Thanks Spokey, it is a weird concept for most yeah 😄 I've been doing it for a while though so its pretty routine for me, I started using them when I started my current job 15 years ago but it has certainly become more mainstream in recent years - a decade ago you would have needed tens of thousands of pounds to buy what you can have now at home for a few hundred. Most home users seem to buy them and then buy 3d models to print; thats the bit I find confusing Why not just buy the finished part if you're not going to design it yourself, or even tweak it a little... But I digress 😄

The part came off the printer this morning, here it is all washed and cured

It fits nicely, pretty happy with it so I'll see how it performs on a ride. I've had a few 'prototypes' in the past where they've bounced around a lot but I think I've just been unlucky with natural frequencies, the last few have been ok so hopefully this will be too 😄 Here it is fitted...

And here with the Ion 200 attached to the front...

And with the Karoo 2...

Job's a goodun 😄 I'm quickly running out of projects before I have to get up on the roof and sort the lead flashing out

 

[AndyRM]

That's really, really neat. I'm impressed by your skills!

 

[T4tomo]

Yes very very neat and by combining the light mount it keeps the bars looking very uncluttered.

It may me answered in the previous pages, but what brand is the little under seat tool box?

 

[chriswoody]

That does look lovely, I must admit I'm a sucker for the lovely sheen that a matt paint job has. My Kona has a lovely matt blue paint, sadly it's a little rough around the edges these days because of all the mud it gets plastered in.

Can I ask though about those Hope calipers? I've been eyeing up a set for a while and now my rear brake caliper has decided to spring a leak, now might be the ideal time to upgrade.

I was primarily wondering about the initial set up, particularly the attachment of the Hope fittings to the hose and then the caliper. Is it all fairly straight forward and within the scope of a competent home mechanic? The bleed process doesn't seem to be much more onerous than the normal SRAM process, just a little curious about bolting them together. Thanks in advance.

 

[JhnBssll]

That does look lovely, I must admit I'm a sucker for the lovely sheen that a matt paint job has. My Kona has a lovely matt blue paint, sadly it's a little rough around the edges these days because of all the mud it gets plastered in.

Can I ask though about those Hope calipers? I've been eyeing up a set for a while and now my rear brake caliper has decided to spring a leak, now might be the ideal time to upgrade.

I was primarily wondering about the initial set up, particularly the attachment of the Hope fittings to the hose and then the caliper. Is it all fairly straight forward and within the scope of a competent home mechanic? The bleed process doesn't seem to be much more onerous than the normal SRAM process, just a little curious about bolting them together. Thanks in advance.

Hi Chris, theyre very simple to put together. You'll need to cut the end of the hose off then slide the Hope nut and olive on to the hose. There's then a new barb to insert in the end of the hose which can be the fiddliest bit of the job. Once that's in place you put it all together with a little copper washer between the barb and caliper and tighten.

Bleeding was hit and miss, I've got these calipers on 3 bikes and have fitted a 4th pair to another and of those 8 I think 2 have put up a fight I believe the new updated RX4+ calipers have been tweaked to make bleeding easier so I'd expect them to be fine for the average home mechanic. They're great calipers, I'd certainly recommend them

 

[Elybazza61]

Hi Chris, theyre very simple to put together. You'll need to cut the end of the hose off then slide the Hope nut and olive on to the hose. There's then a new barb to insert in the end of the hose which can be the fiddliest bit of the job. Once that's in place you put it all together with a little copper washer between the barb and caliper and tighten.

Bleeding was hit and miss, I've got these calipers on 3 bikes and have fitted a 4th pair to another and of those 8 I think 2 have put up a fight I believe the new updated RX4+ calipers have been tweaked to make bleeding easier so I'd expect them to be fine for the average home mechanic. They're great calipers, I'd certainly recommend them

Another RX4 fan here
Will have the fun of fitting them to the new Stayer (when it arrives).

Oh and top work sir on that Bianchi and the printing.

 

[chriswoody]

Thanks @JhnBssll that's reassuring, sounds like I will be getting my wallet out. I just need to decide which colour now.

 

[JhnBssll]

@chriswoody dont forget you can buy the piston caps separately in all colours too 😋