My gravel bike is finally done. All I need to do is buy some miscellaneous stuff I will be needing, like chainstay guard, maybe reflective tape, and maybe a clear protective sticker to protect the bike's clear coat from dings, some of which I've already done.
I'm not going to pretend that I did it all myself. The major part of the build I had loads of help from Coven, my mom's long time chauffeur (or known colloquially as 'driver' here in the Philippines). Coven's been riding bikes for the longest time and he does have experience building them. Without tools, even.
Here's the thing though, I don't agree with some of his methods. He did tune the rear derailleur but I want to tune it again since I did see some very good Park Tool videos on youtube. In other words, I really want a "best of both worlds" scenario where I will be fine tuning stuff based on videos I've seen online but I will be doing some things based on what experience, and Coven, has taught me.
I probably would love to say I did 80% of the work, but without that crucial 20% the bike would still not be done. Coven saw that part of the frame where the rear wheel would sit needed filing. He was also crucial in installing the star fangled nut into the steerer tube. I did try to do the install myself but I honestly couldn't hammer the thing in and I did not want to risk breaking anything.
Coven also checked the brake cable installations I did, he tuned the RD, and he adjusted the rotors, that seem misaligned. Aside from that he also gave me some shifter cable end housings because all I bought were for brake cables, which were too big.
The fit is great. I am not experiencing any of the aches I felt riding Coven's (formerly my Dad's but he gave it to Coven) road bike. I do believe geometry wise my bike has a shorter effective top tube, which is probably why I don't feel the aches.
Youtube and the internet is a great source of information for bike fit, bike maintenance, and bike assembly. However experience is still one hell of a teacher.
Out.
