Frankies bike project - Finished sanding an R4!!!!

[Frankie - B]

So, in July an Addict R4 frame and fork arrived at my doorstep. It is the white version of the frame. It was bought with the idea in mind of sanding it down like Coloclimber did with his Time VXR. When it arrived I sanded the frame a bit in some spots, just to be sure that I was actually going to sand it.

The weights of the bike as it arrived:
Fork and frame:


But, first I built it with most of the parts of the old bike. Sram Force cranks, tuned force rear der, force shifters, Ceramic BB, Look KeO CF Ti pedals, 0G brakes, tuned campa Record front der, Record chain, DA cassette, New Ultimate wheels, 3T pro stem with Ti bolts, Bontrager Alloy bars, Ritchey WCS CF post, AX lightness Endurance saddle, Ritchey headset, Tune bottle cages, Ilinks, mini Ilinks and Lizzard skins bar tape.
I hope I listed it all...

Then I started riding it and fell in love with the handling, performance and comfort of the frame. The package just works. Fall has entered the northern hemisphere and time has come to start the big sanding and tuning project. The fork has already lost most of its white coat and the weight has dropped to somewhere close to 340 grams. Nothing super light.
The frame still has most of its paint, but it will start to loose it in the next couple of weeks.
Just when I was in my last weeks of commutes I changed to different pedals. The KeO's were old and the bearings of the left pedal were playing up and I got really annoyed with that. That was the moment that I bit the bullet and changed from KeO's to Speedplays. The CroMo's were bought as I wanted to upgrade them with Ward spindles. some two weeks ago the spindles were bought and they arrived after 5! days. (excellent service by Ward.) I did order two sets of spindles and they came in at: 27.0 / 27.1 / 27.1 / 27.2
Changing the spindles was a completely different story...
Speedplay advises you to heat the torx bolt that attaches the body to the spindle to 300 deg F, or ~150 deg C for us metric guys, before you even try to get them loose. After heating one came loose with a lot of force and the second just plain stripped. It had to be drilled out. The spindles Ward made slid in easily and I ordered some Ti bolts to replace the original one. The pedals weight 160 grams atm and that is with Ti spindles, standard bodies and steel bolts.
Something I also really want to have is Alloy butterflies and Ti bolts. Torontocycles is selling the bolts in Ti and used to have the Al butterflies, but seems to only stock Ti ones now. I would really like to have black anodized butterflies though. Does anybody know where I can get those?

[BmanX]

Sounds like a great project for over the winter months. If you do not have any luck with Toronto Cycles, I can buy them for you and ship as I am in Canada.

So are you going to strip the frame and then spray it with clear coat or use was to keep it looking good?

Good move on the pedals as well.

[Frankie - B]

Wow, Bman. Thanks a lot for that offer!

My plan is waxing the frame after I sanded it to full nudity I intend to spray paint some Scott logo's back on in black and then leave it at that. The fork has a base coat plus three layers of white paint on it. sanding is a tough job

[dmp]

Frankie- just out of curiosity- how old were your Keo's? I use the same pedals and have not had any problems with wear after many thousands of miles. I also thought that the bearings are replaceable- is that not true, or did you just want a change?

[jmilliron]

Very cool project. Can't wait to hear and see how this goes.

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Is this the butterfly you're looking for?

http://www.xx-light-bikes.de/shop/pd-1172424226.htm?categoryId=201

Good luck with the project,

[Tinea Pedis]

Nice, nice, nice Frankie!

Can't wait to see the whole set up.....

[coloclimber]

Looking forward to this project progressing

[Frankie - B]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

@fdegrove, Those are indeed the butterflies I was looking for, but I rather have them in black. Do you also know a source that has them anodised? I also see that XX light uses Al. bolts to keep the plates in place as opposed to the Ti. bolts of Toronto. Ti would feel more secure, but if Al. is strong enough... Why not?
Do you guys think that Al. bolts will be strong enough in that spot?

I hope to hit the fork with some sandpaper later today. Hopefully I can get all the paint off. After the fork is done I need to strip the frame and start on that. Can't wait!

[fdegrove]

Hi,

I don't but why not ask the shopowner (Lothar Kaiser) if he can have them anodised for you?
If not, companies that work with aluminium profiles for instance could do that for you as well.

Ciao,

[jvanv8]

Cool project! Hope you are taking lots of good before/during/after photos and weights. I always wondered how much paint they put on the R4. What grit sandpaper are you using?

As for the bowties, would black anodized start to rub off after a while? I have the silver ALU bowties with ALU bolts (would have gotten black if it was a choice) and they had more friction at first but now are nicely broken in. The finish of the softer aluminum, however, gets pretty ugly - which is why I would wonder about the colored versions. I remember seeing a black version on eBay France a while back but right now I only see Red and Blue bowties
Sounds like a lot of work swapping out the spindles. Was it cheaper to purchase chromo Speedplays and upgrade the spindles vs buying the Speedplay Ti version? Here are my X1 pedals with BTP bowties (note the bowties are a little more banged up looking than compared to steel). I also had to file down the bolts because they were a little too long. There is about 8000km of riding on the bowties at this point and still work great:


Good luck!

[eigner]

I won the auction for these: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0652409644
As you can see, pretty good deal

Maybe they have more ?

EDIT: here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-Black-Anodized- ... 3a5d8e9cef

[micky]

Another good topic!

[BmanX]

It is cheaper to buy the X2's and then the Ward Ti spindles. With the black aluminum butterflies and ti bolts they came in at 126g for the pair and it was significantly cheaper. Toronto Cycles and NJ Cycles are connected somehow but just not sure how. They might buy inventory together.

I mentioned this before by my Torx bolts came right off with no heating on both pairs of pedals that I did. I just clamped the spindle and carefully forced [ ] the bolts to move. It worked great and I did not have any issues like the other are having. Mind you my pedals was a few years old so maybe the locktite had loosened. Just trying to make the other guys feel good about them braking the bolts.

As for the paint, this is going to be very cool and I like the idea if the Scott being painted on and then doing the wax.

[Frankie - B]

Thanks for the input guys!

I'm looking into the XX light butterflies, as they come with bolts. And into the NJ cycles option. At this moment I'm still undecided, but I need to pull the trigger on them rather sooner then later. I'd rather have black butterflies as my pedal bodies are already white. Damage will occur to them and I can always replace them when they get to ugly to watch. As for bolts. do you remember what size you ordered (Al or Ti) for the bolts that attach the cleat to the pedal?
The changing of the axles was quite easy. The only hard part was getting the shallow head torx bolts out of the spindle. The Cromos were bought for €99,- and the spindles for €42.5 (that is the price for one pair of my order of two pairs.) Cleats and bolts will cost ~€40. The grand total is: €181.5 Speedplay Ti's sell for €295 over here. That saves me €113.5 and I will add that to the savings for a new lighter crank set.
@Eigner and FdeGrove, thanks for the link.
And because we like pictures, a piccie of the Zero's with Ward Ti axles. They are still waiting for the Ti bolts that keeps the body and the spindle together and Alloy butterflies and Alloy/ Ti bolts:


Enough Speedplay, let's talk about some sanding.
I just returned from a trip to the DIY store and got home with a small item to put onto my dremel so I can get the white paint from very nook and cranny. It seems to be some sort of scotchbrite brush:

It has already been put through it's paces and it works perfectly well. The dremel needs to be run at a low speed and the paint gives up slowly. The other pic shows what a fork tip looks like after ~5 minutes with the scotch brush.
For the big parts 400 grit wet sandpaper is used. I'm still on the hunt for finer grits, but the DIY store didn't have any in stock. 800 or 1200 grit would be very nice to create a satin finish. Here is a shot of what the best part of the fork looks like right now:


BmanX, you must be brutally stong!!! (and have some real good torx bits)

After I have finished the fork I need to strip the frame and see what other parts I need to order. I think a new headset might be a good idea. My first thoughts are with the Tune Bubu, are there any other light alternatives? Maybe I need to change the BB as well, but that might also wait as I try to save up for a light crankset. I'm still pondering over the options in 175 mm. I'd like a compact crank as they can be used with lighter rings. (and my 25 instantly becomes a super light gear, woohoo!) AX Lightness will certainly be good and light, but also quite expensive. A list:
AX Morpheus: 380 grams @ €990
THM Clavicula: 410 grams @ €998
Zipp Vuma Quad: 582 grams (with rings, but without bb) @ €718
Lighting: 420 grams @ €550.
I guess I need to make my mind up over these cranks...