The SL8 Build Diaries / 6.42kg

[wheelbuilder]

Truly gifted with the written word. The build is well thought out, individual, and we'll done. It really pains me to be the first "that guy" but have your mechanic close that b gap several millimeters. Your shifting will become even more enjoyable.

[Tpduke112]

That thing is beautiful and the story is even better! What was your exact speedy decals order? The site is driving me insane lol

[r3m]

What story and what a nice bike !!!!

No issues with the thm / dura ace FD settings? How many spacers did you use drivetrain and non drivetrain?

[mmaslen]

That thing is beautiful and the story is even better! What was your exact speedy decals order? The site is driving me insane lol

I'm glad you like the bike, the gold decals are a love or hate thing. But each to their own. That's what it's all about.

Really glad you liked the story too. I was a little bored of the same stayed stories each and every build has, so I thought I would add a bit of humour! Not as factual as others, im sure. But hopefully it brings a smile to a few people!

The site is a challenge. Please see the picture below with what I ordered exactly. I attached a picture of what I found online and sent this to them as well.

My actual description of the colour was "chrome gold, with a thin black outer edge".

Best thing to do if you want identical ones is just attach a picture of mine on the order sheet as well!

[mmaslen]

Truly gifted with the written word. The build is well thought out, individual, and we'll done. It really pains me to be the first "that guy" but have your mechanic close that b gap several millimeters. Your shifting will become even more enjoyable.

Thanks for the tip. I haven't had any issues with the crispness of the shift, but I will keep it in mind if I do make a few adjustments. Thanks

[mmaslen]

What story and what a nice bike !!!!

No issues with the thm / dura ace FD settings? How many spacers did you use drivetrain and non drivetrain?

Thanks for the compliments, much appreciated.

No issues at all with the FD and dura ace settings. Works flawlessly. I'm afraid I'm going to have to say, I just don't know. The bike was in the "shop" for so long, awaiting parts, and the build process, I was so eager to get it back and ride it, I didn't ask the question. Sorry.

[mmaslen]

In my opinion you "killed" it with gold decals. I wanted this colourway badly especially because of its subtle letters (can/t remember better expression). Waiting for picture of a complete bike

It can't be for everyone I suppose. You never know, I may remove the gold decals in the future and go a different way. The beauty of stick on decals rather than an expensive paint job I suppose.

[mmaslen]

Truly amazing build and even better description of it.

Your too kind. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

[GaBa]

In my opinion you "killed" it with gold decals. I wanted this colourway badly especially because of its subtle letters (can/t remember better expression). Waiting for picture of a complete bike

It can't be for everyone I suppose. You never know, I may remove the gold decals in the future and go a different way. The beauty of stick on decals rather than an expensive paint job I suppose.

I hope I did not come out as rude. Like I said, this paintjob was my first choice (did not come true though and had to settle for another paintjob) and your build is truly amazing, the only thing not to my liking are decals. I hope you are/will enjoy the ride, I find it amazing.

[mmaslen]

Of course it didn't come across rude. It's ok, I'm not a quivering mess just yet!

That's the beauty of other people's builds. It's very subjective. And creates a great debate.

Glad you like the rest of the build.

[Tpduke112]

That thing is beautiful and the story is even better! What was your exact speedy decals order? The site is driving me insane lol

I'm glad you like the bike, the gold decals are a love or hate thing. But each to their own. That's what it's all about.

Really glad you liked the story too. I was a little bored of the same stayed stories each and every build has, so I thought I would add a bit of humour! Not as factual as others, im sure. But hopefully it brings a smile to a few people!

The site is a challenge. Please see the picture below with what I ordered exactly. I attached a picture of what I found online and sent this to them as well.

IMG_1122.jpeg

My actual description of the colour was "chrome gold, with a thin black outer edge".

Best thing to do if you want identical ones is just attach a picture of mine on the order sheet as well!

I ended up ordering and just asking if they have a Satin finish in the comments. We will see what I end up with lol. Here's hoping they look nice. Thanks for the details!

[mmaslen]

SL8 Build Diaries: The Seatpost Saga

When Darimo themselves told me my dream SL8 seatpost in the exact specs I wanted would be a 30-week wait, I did what any bike-obsessed individual would do: I panicked. Thirty weeks? That’s practically a pregnancy! My SL8 build wasn’t going to wait that long. I briefly toyed with the idea of the Alpitude post—gorgeous, sure, but still not in full production and a wait until February for the first orders to arrive. No, this build needed Darimo perfection, and it needed it now.

Cue a frantic Google search that spanned the globe. Somewhere, anywhere, there had to be stock. And then, like a carbon fiber oasis in the desert of despair: Dulight in France. I’d used them before, so I knew they were reliable. Spec found, money spent, and the waiting game began again. But this time, it was only a week—and voila! A sleek parcel arrived at my door.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Darimo SL8 seatpost. 300mm length, 15mm offset, in a beautiful UD carbon finish that matches my Farsports wheels and bars perfectly. And the weight? A featherlight 104 grams. The craftsmanship is stunning, and while Darimo QC can sometimes be hit or miss, this piece looks flawless. I’ll count my lucky stars (and save my complaints for the weather).

This post shaves 65 grams from the build and looks every bit as premium as I hoped. Now if only the rain would stop, I could take this beauty out for a spin. But at this rate, I might have to wait until 2025 for another dry ride. Time to get on the turbo trainer?

Stay tuned for the next (hopefully less rainy) chapter of the SL8 Diaries!

New weight 6.42kg

[fastforageezer]

Very entertaining and well-written build diary! I had a great time with my SL8 build and did all the wrenching myself, made a couple of mistakes along the way, nothing irrevocable, just a few delays and in the end it came out perfectly. Final weight is pretty close to yours. As for the gold decals, I'm all on board with the bling! Not sure I can quite go for those Overfast axles, just a bridge too far for me I think, though I love this sort of exotic stuff.

How are the Topeak Feza cages working out? Have you had a chance to test them on rough roads? I'm using Supacaz carbon cages and they've thrown bottles two or three times so looking for something else for next year.

Enjoy!

[mmaslen]

Thanks for the kind words.

The build was not all about weight. I really wanted comfort and aero too. Thus the deep section, wide wheels and accompanying wide tyres. Also the weight include a tracker too. If I went low profile rim, and 28c tyres, I could lose about 400g. But it's not what I wanted at this point. Maybe a second set of lightweight climbing wheels in the future as an addition.

The topeak cages are superb. I've ridden them a lot on my previous bike that ran 18mm internal rims on 25c tyres. This rattled the bike around on the poor road surfaces and the cages never lost a bottle. I actually think they are a perfect blend of lightweight, great aesthetics and also perform superbly. 10/10, I would highly recommend.

[OtterSpace]

Great build thread and love the personalization. Its way nicer to have a bike customized with the parts you love instead of just sticking with a built spec out of a cataloge.

If any bike was asking for a gold YBN chain this is the bike. It always is nice to have more chains in rotation, especially if you are waxing, and its fun to try out different options to see which you prefer.

Some thoughts on color tuning: At a high level it seems like you are going for sections of blackout and are keeping the white marble to the main frame and then using gold as an accent color and marbeling as an accent texture. I like this approach and personally prefer it to splashing gold bolts haphazardly all over the bike.

I highlighted some areas that I think you can work with to personal preference

The blue circled areas are small pops of black color directly transitioning from the white marble. You can remove the bottom cage bolt and white vinyl wrap over all three places to hide them if you desire to better keep the white marble standing out as a solid visual block.

All of the transitions to from marble to black are sudden and smooth except for the FD bolt highlighted in yellow which stands out with high contrast between black and the white marble. I'd try and minimize this bolt visually like I documented here.

The carbon-ti chainring cutouts, highlighted in orange are something else you can play with that I haven't seen anyone do yet. Given they are cutouts they natively just show whatever color is behind them. This might be a bit hard to convey in text but using two cutouts of vinyl wrap you can have an outward facing wrap under the carbon-ti cutout and attach it to the inner face of the chainring using a larger section of wrap facing inward. I'd use black for the portion that sticks onto the inner face of the chainring and for the section under the cutout you can use black or gold.

I also like that the F1x has light marbling (kind of in between marbling and crystal effect) which carries through the accent texture from the frame. If you are in the market for wheels again in the future your color and texture choices leave you tons of room to pick between matt, UD, crystal effect, or marble which is great.

The Grandprix(black) 5000(white) german flag always kills me on those tires. They really need to come out with a TT30 & 32. Also could consider going Aero 111 29mm on the front.