Godzuki26's Wife goes aero - Felt AR FRD 48cm

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mannequinforce
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by mannequinforce

What's your process for stripping off the clear coat and logos? Thanks!

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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

Wet sanding is the process I use. Others prefer razor blading it off but I am not very good at that. For wet sanding, fill up an empty spray bottle with water. Start with 220 grit and sand. Spray off the sand paper and the surface and keep repeating the process. You know you are past the clear coat when you go from white milky drip to grayish drip. Repeat same process with 400 grit, then 800, then 1500 to smooth things out.
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ms6073
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by ms6073

Back in the day, I used that same wet-sanding process to polish the aluminum frame of my Kawasaki ZX-7R motorcycle. From tear down to rebuild took several weeks and friends said it looked great, but I swore I would never do that again - at least not without some kind of variable speed polishing tool. :wink:
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Squashednuts
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by Squashednuts

Once you've sanded the bars do you leave them or spray on a clear coat?

If you leave it without a clear coat have you noticed any degradation of the carbon or had any problems?

I'm asking for purely selfish reasons...am planning on sanding my handlebars, haven't done this before and am after some advice
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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

I have done both clear coating as well as leaving it bare. If you want to leave it bare and protect it from UV rays you can spray with 303 Aerospace protectant. For this build I plan on bonding the bars to the stem so it will have a clear coat. If you look at my Wife's Cannondale, those bars are not clear coated.

I have a friend who leaves his bike in his guest bedroom with no blinds. His Unmodified Ax Lightness saddle was getting direct sunlight for months before he finally noticed that it turned to a yellowish color. This happened after months of direct sunlight. He had the bike leaned against his window and left it there for months. Just something to consider as this saddle had a clear coat.
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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

If I go with an aero drop bar I believe the lightest is a 3T Aeronova LTD that I have seen weighed at 203 grams. Stripped down, probably at around 190 grams. I can't think of a lighter aero road bar. Any suggestions?
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RyanH
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by RyanH

The other issue with the aeronova is that the reach is pretty long so you'll need a shorter stem and min width they come in is 40cm. I'd go Schmolke Evo but it's still too wide for her. I'd think their egg shape would be slightly better than a round bar in terms of aero. An older 3T Ergonova (grooved cable routing) would be similar shape and comes in 38, which is 36 at the hoods and is less than 180g.

Or, just take the weight penalty and get the Enve SES. They'll make up for the weight in aero benefits of both shape and narrow width for your wife at 34.5cm ctc at the hoods.

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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

Thanks Ryan! Yes I need to consider width for a smaller person. I appreciate the input.
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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

At least the frame is under 1000 grams but fully stripped at 983 grams for a size 48cm FRD is :cry:


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Fully sanded Fork

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Fully sanded seatpost

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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

The FRD came with an FSA SL headset. The total weight was 48 grams. The bearing dust cap was rather heavy and needs to be replaced.

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This can be completely removed and the fork steerer cut lower.
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The upper bearing is pretty light. But I can replace this with an Extralite IS42 bearing and save a few grams.

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The lower bearing. I will not be swapping this. This is a good weight.

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Last edited by godzuki26 on Fri Aug 11, 2017 6:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

Looking at crankset options for this frame, I decided to go with a SRAM RED BB30 crankset. Since this is a true BB30 frame I wanted to take advantage of being able to use a crankset with a shorter spindle. The THM Clavicula was initially my first choice but RyanH posted a pic of his SRAM RED BB30 crank that weighed 341 grams which was lighter than my 346 gram Clavicula. Also, if I had to use the Clavicula, the bottom bracket required for this frame weighs significantly more than the simple bearings needed for the SRAM RED crankset. So as a system (crank arms + BB) I would save the most weight with SRAM RED. Here are some examples of verified weights on my builds:

THM Classic 130BCD 170mm: 346 grams
THM SE 110BCD 170mm: 295 grams
Zipp Vumaquad 110BCD 172.5mm: 363 grams
Ax Lightness Morpheus 110BCD 170mm: 346 grams
Lightning SL 110BCD 160mm: 363 grams
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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

Here is a 165mm SRAM RED BB30 crankset with 130mm BCD. Why 130BCD?? Because I want to throw a 55 tooth chainring on this. So 358 grams untouched is lighter than my modified Zipp Vumaquad and my wife's Lightning SL crankset. I am off to a good start.

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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

Stripped down this thing is lighter than all my cranksets except for the THM Clavicula SE.

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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

If I want to go absolute lightest and use the Clavicula SE, the crankset requires a heavier THM bottom bracket. The THM BB30 bottom bracket weighs 85 grams. The FSA BB30 bottom bracket that works with the SRAM RED crankset weighs only 42 grams.

Clavicula SE: 295grams + 85 grams = 380 grams
SRAM RED: 349grams + 42 grams = 391 grams

On the way to me is a full ceramic bottom bracket that weighs 34 grams claimed.

SRAM RED: 349grams + 34 grams = 383 grams

So from a dollar per gram perspective, there is much more value with the $150 (Ebay) I paid for the SRAM RED vs the $1500 I paid for the Clavicula SE.

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53x12
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by 53x12

godzuki26 wrote:Thanks Ryan! Yes I need to consider width for a smaller person. I appreciate the input.


Consider the Zipp SL-70 aero handlebars. I have them in the size 38cm and they are great. Narrow is aero.
"Marginal gains are the only gains when all that's left to gain is in the margins."

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