My (very orange) Santa Cruz Stigmata - 'cross / gravel bike

[kfreytag]

Stiggy - The Santa Cruz Stigmata

Having spent a year building up the Ridley X-Fire in my .sig, I realized it wasn't the bike I was looking for. So, I sold it and recently got this Santa Cruz Stigmata CC from a teammate.

Much like me, he bought it, spent a bunch of time and money building it up, and decided it wasn't for him. Sucks for him, but great for me. It's only got parking lot miles on it.

Weight as shown* : 16.98 lbs. / 7.70 kg.

*Swapped XTR for Eggbeater pedals



The Core
2015 54cm Santa Cruz Stigmata CC

Drivetrain
Shimano ST-RS685 Hydro / Mechanical Shifters
Campagnolo CX11 36/46 172.5 Crankset (huh?)
Shimano Dura Ace 9000 Front Derailleur
Shimano Dura Ace 9000 Short-Cage Rear Derailleur
Ultegra 6800 11-32 Cassette

Wheels
ENVE M50 Clincher / Tubeless rims
DT Swiss 180 Ceramic Centerlock Hubs
Vittoria 27mm Open Pave clincher tire

The Stopping Dept.
Shimano BR-RS785 Hydro Brake Calipers
Shimano Ice-Tech Rotors (160mm F / 140mm R)

Touchpoints
ENVE 100mm Stem
ENVE 42cm Compact Road Bars
ENVE 27.2 Setback 2-Bolt Seatpost
Lizard Skin DSP 2.5 Bar Wrap
Fi:zik Tundra 00
Eggbeater 11 Ti

Miscellanea
ENVE Garmin Mount
Cane Creek 110 Headset

Weird but True
* Despite a complete Shimano build, my friend decided to put a Campy CX crank on it. Shimano *really* needs to release that 46T Dura Ace chainring
* One can successfully run a Dura Ace (short-cage) rear derailleur with an 11-32 cassette (so long as you limit the size of your front ring)

Plans:
* I'd like to put some wide tubeless gravel-friendly tires on there so I can play on-road and off.
* I'm going to change the rings on one of my compact Rotor SRMs to 36/46, change the BB, and install the Rotor
* Sometime... Di2 again (like on the X-Fire)

[Birdman]

The Campy crank looks great, keep it!

[AZR3]

One things for sure, no one will miss this thing flying down the trails! Just gonna be a blur of bright colors!

[kfreytag]

One things for sure, no one will miss this thing flying down the trails! Just gonna be a blur of bright colors!

Accompanied by my panicked screams of terror.

How does this "off-road" stuff work again?

[headwind816]

That bike is on my short list - color and all - love it! From everything that I have read, it comes really close to being "the only bike you need" although we know that is no fun.

Is an adapter installed for the Campy crank and which model?

[kfreytag]

I took it on its maiden voyage today (sans smashed bottle of bubbly). It truly is a great all-around bike. It's super stiff in the BB and chainstays. Getting out of the saddle and jumping on it is immediately rewarded. I felt like I was really getting power to the ground.

And, with the 27mm Paves, it's surprisingly comfortable. I'm not going to win a town line sprint (but, then again, that's not really the steed's fault).

The disks are great. Solid, responsive, and progressive without fade. Wheels felt great, too. Super light with those crazy hubs and spun up really fast.

Only thing I really disliked were the Eggbeaters. I'm used to a little float from the road (KeO Blades with grey cleats), and I felt too locked-in. I have a pair of XTR Race that I can try next, but I'll need to shave the bottom of my Lake CX shoes so they'll clear the lugs (WTF?). Being new to CX / MTB pedals, I need to find something that can give me the comfort I've found on the road.

I found myself thinking (despite not liking the pedals) "this is a fantastic bike that can replace everything" ('cept the Parlee - that's special). If I didn't have the Parlee, this really could be a do-all bike. Its geo is closer to road than 'cross, and it rides beautifully.

[justaute]

A terrific build.

FWIW...having tried the eggbeaters, I really like my Look S-track pedals. They are not popular, but I love them. They provide a ton of cleat/sole contact area and do not rely on shoe's lugs at all. My 2 pesos.

[boots2000]

What is plan for this bike? Gravel or cross racing?

Need to shave Lake shoes? My Lake shoes seem sloppy on the interface with XTR race pedals? And my shoes are almost new-
How is the interface with the Eggbeaters? Is it tight and click free? What model Eggbeaters were you using?

I took it on its maiden voyage today (sans smashed bottle of bubbly). It truly is a great all-around bike. It's super stiff in the BB and chainstays. Getting out of the saddle and jumping on it is immediately rewarded. I felt like I was really getting power to the ground.

And, with the 27mm Paves, it's surprisingly comfortable. I'm not going to win a town line sprint (but, then again, that's not really the steed's fault).

The disks are great. Solid, responsive, and progressive without fade. Wheels felt great, too. Super light with those crazy hubs and spun up really fast.

Only thing I really disliked were the Eggbeaters. I'm used to a little float from the road (KeO Blades with grey cleats), and I felt too locked-in. I have a pair of XTR Race that I can try next, but I'll need to shave the bottom of my Lake CX shoes so they'll clear the lugs (WTF?). Being new to CX / MTB pedals, I need to find something that can give me the comfort I've found on the road.

I found myself thinking (despite not liking the pedals) "this is a fantastic bike that can replace everything" ('cept the Parlee - that's special). If I didn't have the Parlee, this really could be a do-all bike. Its geo is closer to road than 'cross, and it rides beautifully.

[Tamu8104]

I also went from Eggbeaters to XTR pedals recently. Couldn't be happier with the switch.

Great looking bike!

[kfreytag]

@justaute - I'll have to check out the Look pedals. I'm certainly fond of their road pedals.

@boots2000 - With 'cross season at a (near) end, the plan for now is wet-weather training, fire roads, and gravel "grinding" (I feel dirty just typing that). When the season comes around again, I think I'll try my hand at 'cross. Used to race road and was more proficient in crits than road races (time-crunched for training leaves me lagging on endurance but decent on power and strategy).

The interface on the Eggbeaters is good, but the engagement never feels very "positive". Once in, it's tight and totally click-free. The problem is the lack of float. I've mucked with cleat rotation (to the degree I can) and can't get comfortable. I'll have to take and post a picture of the XTR / Lake problem. It's awfully strange to me.

@Tamu8104 - I tried to use the XTRs first and was really surprised to find that the pedals could not clear the side-rails on the bottom of my shoes. I'm going to have to get out the dremel and cut the lugs down to allow the XTR pedals to actually sit flat against the sole / cleat. I looked at some S-Works MTB shoes at my LBS the other day, and they don't fit the XTRs without cutting, either. What the hell? That strikes me as really strange.

[kfreytag]

@boots2000 - forgot to mention. They're Eggbeater 11 Ti.

[commendatore]

Could you space the clear away from the shoe instead of grinding? Like with crankbrothers metal or plastic shims?

[boots2000]

Re: Cleats. Are you speaking of the side to side adjustment of the cleats running up against the small edge of rubber on the inside of the cleat bed? I did cut part of that off to allow my cleat to have maximum room and also sit flat.

@justaute - I'll have to check out the Look pedals. I'm certainly fond of their road pedals.

@boots2000 - With 'cross season at a (near) end, the plan for now is wet-weather training, fire roads, and gravel "grinding" (I feel dirty just typing that). When the season comes around again, I think I'll try my hand at 'cross. Used to race road and was more proficient in crits than road races (time-crunched for training leaves me lagging on endurance but decent on power and strategy).

The interface on the Eggbeaters is good, but the engagement never feels very "positive". Once in, it's tight and totally click-free. The problem is the lack of float. I've mucked with cleat rotation (to the degree I can) and can't get comfortable. I'll have to take and post a picture of the XTR / Lake problem. It's awfully strange to me.

@Tamu8104 - I tried to use the XTRs first and was really surprised to find that the pedals could not clear the side-rails on the bottom of my shoes. I'm going to have to get out the dremel and cut the lugs down to allow the XTR pedals to actually sit flat against the sole / cleat. I looked at some S-Works MTB shoes at my LBS the other day, and they don't fit the XTRs without cutting, either. What the hell? That strikes me as really strange.

[kfreytag]

Re: Cleats. Are you speaking of the side to side adjustment of the cleats running up against the small edge of rubber on the inside of the cleat bed? I did cut part of that off to allow my cleat to have maximum room and also sit flat.

Yup. Here's a pic to attempt to show what I'm talking about. You can see that I can get the front of the cleat in but the shoe interferes with getting the rear seated because the lugs on the sole are too tall for the platform of the XTR pedal. Looks like the only option is to shave them down.

[jbaillie]

Wow, seems like kinda an egregious design error on Lake's part, no?

Bike looks beautiful, btw. Sort of a swiss army knife, as it were (suitable for most any terrain). Love the color too.