BMC SLC01 ProMachine

[beepbeep]

I've recently made the switch from mountain biking to 'real cycling' (an age thing perhaps?) I started out with a couple of lower range bikes, until I convinced myself that I needed something a bit more inspiring

I like BMC's approach to road bikes, and in the autumn I found a secondhand ProMachine frame in great condition. I actually prefer this older generation of BMC with the OTT design tomfoolery, although not everyone's cup of tea I know. The contrast of the matt carbon with gloss white on the '09 model was the icing on the cake.
I've built it up with fairly standard, proven parts, nothing to get blood rushing I'm afraid, but it suits my level of riding and my wallet. At the moment I'm running 9-speed Ultegra (lifted from my previous bike) but I have an Ultegra 6700 mini-group warmed up and waiting to mount over the winter months. I'm also building a pair of wheels from a damaged pair of DT Swiss 1650s with new Kinlin rims. I'll update along the way.

Weight: Around 7.5 kg

[NoiseBoy]

Great colour scheme. Looking forward to seeing your upgrades as they happen.

[Nutellaurent]

nice bike, keep us updated with photos as you update the bike

[beepbeep]

Wheel update:
As mentioned the DT Swiss 1650 wheelset had damaged rims but the hubs were fine. So I sourced some Kinlin 300 rims and some aero spokes on ebay to build a new set of wheels with.
Pleased with my purchase I thought I'd do a quick mock-up and... nooooo!! Yep, the aero spokes didn't fit through the holes on the hub, should've thought about that beforehand maybe! After a quick google I found the solution - slot the hubs with a jigsaw blade (shown on the second pic). Thankfully the holes only needed a couple of extra millimeters, the slots can't even be seen behind the spoke head.
Then the plan was to paint the hubs matt black. But the water-based paint I bought failed to go off, even after a few weeks. Maybe it was the paint or maybe I sprayed the layers too thick? So that was removed, which led to another idea I'd had from the beginning, a polished finish...

[beepbeep]

Finished (for now )
Super happy with the result. Along with the rebuilt wheels and the 6700, I changed the cockpit to white and swapped out the ebay bottle cages to some better quality ones from Profile:

[istigatrice]

Looks good!

Are those Michelin pro 2 tyres?

[beepbeep]

Thank you! And yes they are.

[plpete]

Very nice build indeed. What handlebar are you using. I dont know if it's a camera angle or what but the drops seem to be sloping down at the end. Looks a bit odd and not sure how it feels. I'd get a nice 3T bar to match stem and post. The alloy ones are very affordable.

[GorrGrimWolf]

I like the way the current BMC frames look, but there is something really special about the "older" SLC frames. The lines are simply amazing, look still quite futuristic to me. The build is very nice too, Rotor rings are nice touch.

[beepbeep]

Very nice build indeed. What handlebar are you using. I dont know if it's a camera angle or what but the drops seem to be sloping down at the end. Looks a bit odd and not sure how it feels. I'd get a nice 3T bar to match stem and post. The alloy ones are very affordable.

Cheers!
It's actually an older model of 3T bar, the Bio Morphe. I tried one once and was hooked, they look a bit weird with the 'bump' on the drops, but they feel great. Cinelli have taken on the design, changed it slightly and called it the Neo Morphe.

@ GorrGrimWolf - I totally agree with you about this generation of BMC frames, the T-shaped top tube on the SLC01 is über-cool. However I love the current TimeMachine, atheistically perfect IMHO.