S-Works SL8 - Build (Never!) Finished - 5.94Kg

[justinfoxphotos]

Hey Steve, just went through your entire thread from start to end as I sit here waiting for my SL8 to get built up and delivered (thanks for sharing!).

I'm trying not to buy anything until the bike gets to me, but I did find some custom ordered white Overfast Thru-Axles here:
https://www.bespokecycling.com/shop/pro ... thru-axles

The only thing stopping me from considering these were the yellow text, and these being white would REALLY suit my frame.

I added them to the cart, but then thought I'd check out your thread as I remembered that you got them, and man... for the minimal weight savings I just couldn't check out.

I think, for now I'll just wait till I get the bike, and just ride it. I had so much fun getting my inner weight weenie on with my SL6. I'm just not sure I want to do the same with my SL8 (yet!).

But again, just here to say thanks for taking the time to document your build. It's given me food for thought.

[CustomMetal]

Great build but please don't encourage counterfeit stuff. Just don't post about it if you think it has benefits. Works for everyone.

I much prefer giving opinions based on experience, just don’t read about it if you think it has no benefits

Interesting. By that logic, the title of your thread would have to read "counterfeit content" for me to pass over it. My suggestion seems much easier. Post your build but just omit discussing the single counterfeit component. You know.....works for everyone.

This please! We don't want to give counterfeit products any airtime on the forum please

[stevec1975]

Hey Steve, just went through your entire thread from start to end as I sit here waiting for my SL8 to get built up and delivered (thanks for sharing!).

I'm trying not to buy anything until the bike gets to me, but I did find some custom ordered white Overfast Thru-Axles here:
https://www.bespokecycling.com/shop/pro ... thru-axles

The only thing stopping me from considering these were the yellow text, and these being white would REALLY suit my frame.

I added them to the cart, but then thought I'd check out your thread as I remembered that you got them, and man... for the minimal weight savings I just couldn't check out.

I think, for now I'll just wait till I get the bike, and just ride it. I had so much fun getting my inner weight weenie on with my SL6. I'm just not sure I want to do the same with my SL8 (yet!).

But again, just here to say thanks for taking the time to document your build. It's given me food for thought.

Hey Justin, glad the thread is of some use, looking forward to what you do with yours. Love the colourway.

Re: Overfast, they do the Axles in 7 colours, they are expensive bling, and nothing wrong with that, many other places to save weight before this obviously.

Screenshot 2024-11-26 102937.png (77.45 KiB) Viewed 1304 times

[justinfoxphotos]

Oh that's awesome! I had no idea they came in so many colours.

[stevec1975]

Update on the Ryet Saddle, been using it on the Turbo quite a lot, and when sitting down for extended periods, it gives me a numb bum!.. back to the trusty Berk Lupina for now.

Still, good to try these things out, saved a fortune on the experiment, as a bonus, I managed to sell it for more that I paid, so an arbitrage opportunity is out there..

[stevec1975]

So, thought I would try out the Alptitude Gardena saddle I picked up in the BF sale, looks extremely well made! (And yes, it’s an original!)

[MrCurrieinahurry]

Ah nice work man! I was interested in these when looking at full carbon saddles as the bulld quality looked better than some other offerings.. let us know how you find it compared especially to the berk as I'm sure quite a few people on here (relatively speaking) have ridden a berk at some point.

[stevec1975]

Will do MrCurry, it might be a while, with the crap weather until March..

In other news, finally got round to sanding/polishing my Sram Red E1 165mm Cranks, also a mini tutorial for those who want to try the same.

• Grab 320, 600, 800 and 1200 grades of wet and dry sandpaper and a bowl of water
• Grab a Newspaper to do it on (it will get messy)
• Remove the Dub Cap/Bolt with a Park Tool SPA-2 Pin spanner (remember it's a LH Thread)
• Grap some Sonax Profiline perfectfinish (or you can use T-Cut to be fair)
• Cut Gaffer tape to size to cover the Pedal Threads both sides, the hole for the Dub Bolt, the thread for the adjusting ring etc.
i.e.


Progress through the grades of Sandpaper, ensuring you keep them wet to avoid clogging
320 - Use until it removes majority of Logo's, you should only see clear or white liquid coming off (i.e. the clearcoat or logo)
600 - Use until remainder of logo has gone and is an even surface all round, majority of sanding marks should also go
800 - Use until all sanding marks are gone and it's a nice flat surface.
1200 - Use as a polishing level, very little sanding is going on with this grade

This is at 600


Once finished with the sanding, it's polishing time.
Grab a rag and add your polish of choice, buff away, I tend to go with the 'grain' up and down the arm until it starts to look like a mirror
You may find a spot where the clearcoat hasn't been removed, repeat the 800/1200 sandpaper steps and re-polish.

It should end up like this.



As for weights:
133.2 for Drive Side:


172.6 for Non-Drive Side:


For a total of 305.8g - Sanding saves 3g, not the main reason for doing it, I just prefer no Sram Logo's on my Shimano equipped bike. Obviously, this voids your warranty also!


Just waiting on the Black Ti Bolts for the Powermeter to attach to the arms + the Cybrei Carbon rings (which I will remove the logo's from also)

[lock40Nm]

2K lacquer protects against scratches and sun, pure carbon is very soft.

[stevec1975]

Not worried about scratches, I have done this on multiple cranks over the years and they stay mirror finish for years in my experience, carbon is fine and most modern resins I understand to be UV stable these days, certainly will be fine for the expected lifetime of this product for me, otherwise Darimo et al, who leave their products in an 'unfinished' state, would have a problem. I do have 303 if needed.

[stevec1975]

More bike bling of dubious value!

AbsoluteBlack 'Ultimate' Center Lock Ring, beautifully machined.

5.2g


10.5g the pair


Saves a massive?! 5.4g over standard Shimano ones.

[Aryeh]

More bike bling of dubious value!

AbsoluteBlack 'Ultimate' Center Lock Ring, beautifully machined.

5.2g


10.5g the pair


Saves a massive?! 5.4g over standard Shimano ones.

I'm using Ashima ones that came with a centerlock adapter. They are 5.8g

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

[stevec1975]

The upgrades continue..

Changed out the Bolt for the EXS Stem Cap to an Extralite Hyperbolt, 1 for looks, 2 for weight saving




Saved a massive! 0.8g


I bagged some bargain Cybrei Carbon Chainrings in the BF sale, absolutely love the look of these and they should tie in nicely with the Alptitude Saddle



50 Tooth - 106.6g


34 Tooth - 27.5g


Cybrei Bolts - 7.4g

Very small weight penalty over DA Rings of 5.5g (50t) and 1.3g (34t), + the required bolts 2.3g (7.5g vs 5.2g for DA)


553.2g for everything except the 8 x Ti Sram Interface Bolts, when they turn up from Ti-Parts, should be approx 4g

Overall the change to E1 Arms, Xcadey PM and Cybrei Rings has saved 76.4g over D1 Arms, Quarq PM and DA rings.

I still need to remove the Logo's from the Outer ring, tried the usual suspects (Nail Polish with and without Acetone, White Spirit, Meths) with no luck, any suggestions?

[justinfoxphotos]

Really nice updates.

Awesome job on sanding off the logos on the crankset. Big balls! Looks awesome (100% less is more).

I got the AB lockrings too. Love the packaging, and finish on them is amazing (great weight savings too). I did notice they suggested to use loctite on their web site, but don't have any handy so have installed them without until I get some.

Saddle looks awesome, is it comfortable enough? I've been considering a full carbon saddle for the SL6 build (since that's my only real weenie build).

Love the Extralite stuff, and the temptation (in general) to move some of that stuff over to my new SL8 is strong, but I must not (lol!).

When the Cybrei crank set first appeared on the scene I loved everything about them except the name and logo (which have grown on me since), but removing that logo from the rings would (IMHO) really make the carbon be the true hero. SRAM Red is light enough, but I'd be lying if I say that I'm not at all considering a Cybrei crankset and chainrings!

[stevec1975]

And they were gone:



All it took was some elbow polish!