SRAM Red lever tune...

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odin99
Posts: 157
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:46 pm

by odin99

wow. impressive. i think we need more details on those speedplay pedals though! they ridable?

weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

@odin99, of course they are ride able, what would be the point in them if they weren't? im still testing them (they arent mine, i built them for a fellow user) but they engage and dis engage perfectly normally... they are just a little different than normal :wink: what other details do you want?
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

by Weenie


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bura
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by bura

Your Aerolite pedals seem to be a little different from these,too :wink:
Aerolite2.JPG
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weeracerweenie
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by weeracerweenie

Correct me if im wrong bura, but they are alloy spindles? there is no way ill ride an aluminium spindle, ever... The spindles in my set are stainless steel, so if i went to a Ti spindle it would drop down a wee lump... But yes, they are nice...
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

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bura
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by bura

From the explanation on the rennrad-news.de link I do understand that these spindles were made for a showbike .Must has something to do with a bike presented on Eurobike where all propably were keen to notice the total weight of the bike. :unbelievable:
Does not tell for whom they were made.
Seem to me like polished aluminium.
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weeracerweenie
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by weeracerweenie

agreed, hell if i was building bits for a show bike, those appear to be overbuilt. You could drill into the plastic bushing, you could mill the flanges to a 15mm spanner head... 25gm? why not?
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

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bura
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by bura

I can imagine that bike companies who have a bike on scale in their show-stand want that parts look similar or very equal to stock ones.
These super light tuned ones may have the visible parts of the spindles brushed in the end so that it looks similar to Ti?
I do strongly believe that the reason plastic parts are not drilled is that it would be propably visible how the weight is saved on the spindle part.
They spindle looks somewhat short and the metal cap of the original pedal on the outer end seems to be a plastic one here. :noidea:
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weeracerweenie
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by weeracerweenie

Also agreed, it would be very easy to see that a bike could be made significantly lighter just for show... After a quick ride around the velodrome today i like the shifting, my fingers slot into the little holes and make for a non slip shift interface. The braking is similar!

Image

and a picture of the whole bike so you all see how it looks!

Image
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

artray
Posts: 1347
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 2:08 pm

by artray

Hoods look great with the bike . Match the breaks, looks like a nice touch.
:thumbup:

weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

Cheers. Just off to do a 3 hour ride now. I'll report back when I'm done.
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

Alright, for anyone that may be interested in the future here is the weight process on the brake levers.... From standard, to stripped paint, to drilled, to fully dremelled. here we go...

Step 1)

Remove all the internals from the lever (see this link (http://www.the-climb.net/2012/03/sram-f ... rdown.html)

Step 2)

I weighed the lever as it was completely standard off the lever, this weight is un-touched / un-tuned.

Image

Step 3)

Using a sand paper bit in my dremel i sanded off all the paint (there is alot of it) right through till the carbon was blacky grey as it looks now. I made sure to also smooth out the lumps in my lever at it was a little bumpy from standard. Sanding alone removed nearly 2 grams off the lever.

Image

Step 4)

I removed the rubber bit that pushes the shift lever when your braking so it doesn't scrape the brake lever / shift lever interface. This is surprisingly hard as SRAM must have used on hell of a glue to keep it in there! I later super glued a tiny bridge of delrin in there to keep the contact between the two levers minimal and as effortless as possible. it only weighed 0.11 grams so who cares.

Step 5)

Trace, or draw the out line of your cut outs where the material is going to be removed onto the lever, i found a pencil worked fine on the surface, i tried to maintain a constant distance between the edge of the lever and my cut out edge, purely aesthetical in my case though.

Step 6)

Using a drill bit i drilled as much of the material out of the body, i think i started with a 6mm drill bit, and moved up to an 8mm when i knew my holes were in the right spot. This removed jack all weight, the real weight comes from the dremmeling.

Image

Step 7)

Using another dremel attachment (it was a bit probably 3mm round with a sandy type of surface) this bit i used to make the cut out edges straight and smooth the lumps in-between the drill bit holes. Get the rough shapes near perfect to the outline with this tool. I also used this tool to do the cut outs in the side, if they break i would expect it to be at these points, so be absolutely sure you want to cut out material here before you do it.

Step 8)

Using mini files and a 7mm round file, i at first used the 7mm round file to get the corners of the cut out all the same roundness, then i used the flat mini files to make the cut out edges flat and straight, i also used a half round mini file to tangent the two, (rounded corners to flat straight edges) This gave the entire cut out a smooth inner edge and then with the sandpaper dremel attachment i went over the whole lever again briefly, this smoothed the cut out edges and made them comfortable to the hand. This is time expensive but worth it. Note, you get covered in carbon dust so wear glasses (im not kidding, it gets in your eyes especially with the dremel).

Step 9)

Using 1500grit sandpaper i ran over the whole lever for about 15 minutes. this made a noticable smoothing difference and made the lever significantly better looking...

Step 10)

Clear coat or paint that bad boy, sit back and admire your handy work. I spent 2 hours on my second lever, because i knew what i was doing for a start, so expect to take double that on a first attempt.

Image

Final Weight = 13.26 grams

Final Brake lever savings = 7.79 grams (per lever)
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

adidavas
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:34 pm

by adidavas

How much time you use it? You think is strong enough?

weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

done 400km so far on them, did some bombing descents too (i go fast downhill, not so much uphill... :( ) and i have 300km of elites racing on the weekend to do, i have (all be it vaguely) tested them and they seem perfectly fine... my testing is primitive yet proves my point, to test it, i put it in the vice, and leant on it, gave it a tap with a hammer, leant on it called it a success. rebuilt the lever, pulled as hard as i could, deemed it brilliant, went inside and had some ice cream to celebrate :D

Privimtive... riding them is the real test. they stood up to a half wit in a car that pulled out on me at 40kmh... braked perfectly fine. after 5000km ill call it a true success...
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

dereksmalls
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Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: New Zealand

by dereksmalls

weeracerweenie wrote:to test it, i put it in the vice, and leant on it, gave it a tap with a hammer, leant on it called it a success. rebuilt the lever, pulled as hard as i could, deemed it brilliant, went inside and had some ice cream to celebrate :D


What sort of e ice cream is the real question :lol:

weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

orange choc chip or gold rush.... they are my prefered... :D
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

by Weenie


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