Bowman Palace R

[fac83ajc]

Hi All

Thought as my first post I would also get up some pics of my first full bike build. It's a limited edition Bowman Palace R - Limited edition because they painted less than 50 of them wrong. So mines is Matte/Gloss black rather than the more common Black/Jade colour scheme.

It's not a super light build really, but not bad for an Alu bike with pretty standard bits.

Anyway, the frame/fork arrived in a box around 10 am on a Thursday morning. One of my cats was as interested as me:



Frame unboxed, headset, forks, stem and bars on there ready to measure for fork cutting:



Then cut the forks to this, played it a little safe:



Bolted the Ultegra groupset bits on, wheels, saddle, saddle-post, ran the cables and set up the brakes:



To this point took me a little over three hours. Another 45 mins and I had the chain on and the rear mech set up. Then the joy of setting up the front mech began. Took me two and a half hours to get perfect...

And she was complete, for now:



I then got a good deal on a Rotor 3d+ MAS crankset with Q-rings. I fitted this then dropped it into the LBS to sort the front mech as I didn't have a new cable or a cable tensioning tool. I also couldn't be bothered...

Crankset fitted and how she looks just now:



Parts and weights (g):

Frameset etc:

Frame (+hanger and cage bolts): 1142
Forks (cut): 315
Headset + bung: 98
Seat clamp: 20

Total: 1575g

Groupset (Ultegra unless stated otherwise):

Front brake + pads (swisstop): 169
Rear brake + pads: 165
Shifters: 411
Rear mech: 195
Front mech: 85
Chain: 235
Rotor BB: 77
Rotor crankset + rings: 680

Total: 2017g

Finishing Kit (g):

SLK Bars (40mm): 222
SLK stem (100mm): 129
K-Force seatpost: 195
Fizik Arione R5 saddle: 221
Cinelli bar tape: 61
Ultegra pedals: 251
Elite carbon cages: 52
Cables: 151
K-edge Garmin mount: 40

Total: 1322g

Wheels:

Dura Ace C24 front + GP4000s tyre + tube: 906
Dura Ace C24 rear + GP4000s tyre + tube + Ultegra cassette: 1408

Total: 2311g

Bike weight total: 7225 grams

Putting the C50 wheels on there adds around 400g

Easily be sub 7kg with a change of wheels or groupset. Might change them about in future.

Thanks

[Mr.Gib]

Bike looks good. Nice balances build.

Then the joy of setting up the front mech began. Took me two and a half hours to get perfect...

I thought it was just me but those long arm Shimano derailleurs are a major pain to set up. I will never install one without an in-line cable adjuster. The Shimano instructions are next to non-existent, that plastic piece that is supposed to help with the alignment is incomprehensible, and those little metal self adhesive bits that the support arm is supposed to butt up against to protect the frame are an insane idea and completely useless.

[SampsC50]

Nice clean ride! I see your cat likes cardboard boxes, just like ours =)

[fac83ajc]

I thought it was just me but those long arm Shimano derailleurs are a major pain to set up. I will never install one without an in-line cable adjuster. The Shimano instructions are next to non-existent, that plastic piece that is supposed to help with the alignment is incomprehensible, and those little metal self adhesive bits that the support arm is supposed to butt up against to protect the frame are an insane idea and completely useless.

Thanks

Yes that all sounds very familiar. Worse still I bought the groupset second hand (but un-used), so no instructions.

I used YouTube videos for the most part, but butchered the end of the cable trying to get tension. Then a mini genius moment, I cable tied the mech to the frame to keep it in the open position. Another 127 or so attempts at tightening the cable and I was all set!

Then I bought the new crankset, then realised cos it had Q-rings I would need to move the front mech up a bit. Then I cried a little. Then I phoned the bike shop. It now has an in-line adjuster in there! Yay.

Nice clean ride! I see your cat likes cardboard boxes, just like ours =)

Yeah I would like to say she was super excited about my new pretty frame, but really she just wanted in the nice big box

[Mr.Gib]

I thought it was just me but those long arm Shimano derailleurs are a major pain to set up. I will never install one without an in-line cable adjuster. The Shimano instructions are next to non-existent, that plastic piece that is supposed to help with the alignment is incomprehensible, and those little metal self adhesive bits that the support arm is supposed to butt up against to protect the frame are an insane idea and completely useless.

Thanks
Yes that all sounds very familiar. Worse still I bought the groupset second hand (but un-used), so no instructions.

No, no, you were way better off without the instructions. You would have wasted another 40 minutes trying to figure out what they meant. Seriously.

[veloci1]

Glad to see more Bowman fans.

here is mine. it is 15.8 lbs currently. nice riding manners and it goes when you step on it.

does anyone know if Wheel manufacturer makes a der hanger for it? if so, what is the item#? i usually replace it on all my bikes. mine came a little bent and i just want to replace with a quality hanger.

[cho00010]

Looks good! I'm looking into buying one of these for crit racing this year and wondered what width tyres you were running? I've heard people say 25mm tyres won't fit without rubbing the chainstays?

[patchsurfer]

I'm running 25mm contis on 15c zondas and they're fine, loads of room. The roads round here are volcanic chip and seal and I could wish that the brake bridge was a mil or two higher. It's taken a bit of a beating this summer - more a reflection on the size of the chips getting stuck to my tyres than a design flaw, but I won't be looking to run 28s on wide rims any time soon.