Orbea Aqua > Wilier Mortirolo upgrade - DIY Carbon

[briantumma]

Hi everyone,
Been a low key lurker for a while but keen to upgrade (lighten) the bike for next year so keen to see what you think and hear some opinions
I've been a longtime BMX rider and got into road bikes a couple of years ago and this is my first roadbike. I was well unfit and would like to think this bike has saved my life.
This year is the first I've really felt like I'm getting stronger so I want to make a step up next year and lighten this up as much as possible within my smallish budget.

Enough talking - here's the bike -



Orbea Aqua 2013
Updated stem, wheels, bars, derailleurs and saddle
Currently 9.02kg

Immediate Plans
Ritchey WCS bars, stem and seatpost -250g
Ti skewers - simple easy fix -80g
HED Ardennes / DT swiss wheel build (I have the rear built but not the front yet) -330g at a rough estimation.

Frame wise, I was heading towards an Ultimate CF SLX but I don't think budget will stretch to that so starting to look more at Alloy.
Caad 10/12's hadn't crossed my mind at all but some lovely examples of those here. Plus I can hopefully get a good price through a hookup.
I like the Canyons though so also tempted by the Ultimate AL SLX. It's a little different but then not keen on the oversized forks so that's something to bear in mind.

Aim is towards 7kg - a Caad10 will push it towards 7.5kg so a massive improvement without breaking the bank (or annoying the wife too much!)

Feel free to let me know what you think
Thanks

[briantumma]

Thanks!
Well I upgraded from the standard wheels to these Fulcrums and the difference was immense. So I'm hoping these new wheels will make an even bigger difference.

I also forgot to put that I'll be updating cranks. I was tempted on some Rotor cranks but if I go the Caad route, I should have Si / SL really. Not sure if I go the cheaper option of the two though

[Fixie82]

Sounds like a nice little project you've got going here. There have been some very nice Kinesis Athein (spelling?) being posted on here recently and owners all report very favourably. Could be a good option depending on your weight?

Have you had a bike fit done recently? If you've picked up the amount of time spent on the bike it might be a good idea to see if you need to make some changes and that in turn will influence which frame you purchase based on geo and prospective fit. Bette to buy the frame that fits best.

If you do end up with a Caad, native BB30 will be lighter than other spindle options.

[briantumma]

I've seen the Kinesis builds and some of them look nice but I don't know, there's just something about them that doesn't get me excited in the slightest. If you get what I mean?
I do need to get a bike fit though, that's a definite. Most frames are very similar geometry to what I've got but the Caad is slightly more aggressive so I wouldn't want to make life uncomfortable. I've slammed my stem on my Orbea now to get a feel for a lower front end, that's at least a start!

[Fixie82]

If it doesn't ring your bell it's not going to be the bike for you. Gotta love what you buy.

Good plan testing positions out now and of course planning on getting a fit done. Looking forward to seeing what you end up with.

[Bianchi10]

Nice looking rig!

(Your RD is screaming at you in a whisper to not cross chain him anymore lol)

[briantumma]

Thanks Bianchi10, it looks good, just want it to be lighter.
Pretty sure this was gearing after a clean and sort but then I'd say I can be pretty guilty of cross chaining sometimes

[briantumma]

Hi all,
Well it's been a while and here's what I've been up to. I'd love to be able to emulate some of you on here and build the gorgeous bikes that you've got but unfortunately budget's don't allow. Fingers crossed one day!

Started off buying bars, stem and I managed to pick up a matching seatpost.

Ritchy WCS Evo curve 40cm - 257g. 62g saving from my FSA bars.



Ritchey WCS c260 stem - 110g (standard bolts) - 10g saving from Deda but should be loads stiffer (and nicer looking!)



Ritchey WCS Carbon One bolt - 209g - 81g saving from std Orbea - should be able to chop this down too as it's huge



Next up, I've been having a tinker with carbon fibre after feeling massively inspired by people such as Berk, Fast Dad, Kevosinn / Cryptic and Werking.
Here's a saddle pan I've made from my Romin Evo Pro saddle. This is a tester with no rails.



I'll be doing another and bonding some existing rails to it. I'll keep you all posted when that's complete.

And finally, no closer to picking a new frame within my budget. I'm luckily able to get some trade deals but people either didn't have the stock or it wasn't quite what I wanted.
I did however pick up this Wilier Mortirolo frameset off a colleague for a great price. He thought it was cracked but you'll see below that I've found out it wasn't.



This mortirolo is a 2010 model and has had a very easy life bar my colleague being pretty damn fast. It came as a complete but had very good reviews to it's handling and responsiveness. Despite it's age it will be an upgrade from my current frame.
Down to weight
Frame - 1210g - not bad for it's age and the fact it has alloy dropouts, alloy riveted hangers, alloy threaded BB and alloy headtube inserts



Forks - 595g - pretty weighty compared to more modern offerings. Might be able to cut them down and also swop out the expander as this one is an alloy type which seems to weigh a bit.



As I thought it was cracked and with not being mad keen on the graphics, I decided to sand it back. This is around 11hrs in so plenty more to go. Good news is I've saved about 60g so far!



Next up,
- Actually get a bike fit!
- Thinking of cutting off the alloy hangers and bonding some carbon versions on.
- Second version of the saddle
- Get a rear derailleur and go to town with a dremel - maybe a carbon cage?
- Buy full Ultegra groupset
- Finish building my HED Ardennes/DT 240/CX-ray wheelset

Cheers for looking!

[briantumma]

Some new bits arrived yesterday



Here they are on my finished Ardennes+ wheelset - love that gumwall!


Also picked up a full ultegra groupset (170mm 52-36 11-28)
I have weights for this if anyone is interested.
Still sanding the frame, more soon!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kevosinn]

Looking good! Great to see you making carbon bits and stripping weight.

[briantumma]

There's been lots of sanding and not a lot of time for much else but I managed to make this carbon chain catcher last night. It's 6mm thick and weighs 6grams.
Here it is bolted to my very dirty (oh the shame) Orbea.

[Marin]

Cool stuff!

That chain catcher needs more dremeling, surely you can get it down to 5g and make the eyelet a bit slimmer

[briantumma]

Cheers Marin.
Yeah I thought I'd give it a little beef when drawing the shape but looking at it on the bike I can shave quite a bit off. I've got enough carbon prepared for two more so will go to town on those.

[garethgareth]

Good work on the sanding-down. Keep at it! It's a tough job but will be good once it's done.

Nice to see some hand-made parts as well. Good stuff

[BmanX]

I like this project.