[935] Second Hand Car

If you've read this blog you probably know that I've been mulling over getting a second-hand, smaller, more practical car because of the current fuel prices. I've done my research and have my choices that fit this budget that I've set for myself.

Right now, aside from a budget, I'd really prefer a relatively newer car, maybe five years old at worst. It should be small and have a fuel efficient engine. Fuel efficient meaning it should get at worst maybe 8km/L in city use. Right now the Rav4 we're using gets 6km/L, which basically means it's time for me to go on a road trip and take it to SLEX and Star Toll and drive back, because when I last drove the Rav4 to and from Quezon Province I was getting over 7km/L consumption here for a few weeks.

I now have a new wrench in my plan: Should I get a newer practical car or get one of my "attainable dream cars," the Honda Jazz. I've seen some models being sold that fit my budget, but the problem is the age and mileage. Some of them are almost as old as the Rav4, while the newer ones are still over ten years old. Not only that, most of them are also over 100,000 kilometers.

Basically is it worth it to get the Honda Jazz because I really like, and want, it? How are parts availability, prices, and maintenance costs on those models? Will I have the same headaches and concerns we're experiencing with our old cars, specially since the ones I'm looking at are used cars and I have no idea how the current owners have treated them.

Or should I stick to my original plan and just get a relatively newer, smaller, car? This is the current answer I'm leaning on for the sake of practicality. Plus it's not like the car models I've picked are compromises. Those are cars I wouldn't owning either. They just don't have the Honda Jazz's "Magic Seats" that have been around since their gen 1 (GD) model.

Anyway as always I just have lots of plans but I really don't take action with them. The reason for that is something I'd rather not tell you.

Out.

[934] Beetle Post Number Whatever

I guess I need somewhere to leave my thoughts on my dream Beetle build. Just general stuff that I prefer at this moment.

External stuff.

• Car color. Bumblebee yellow or Netherlands orange color with carbon fiber hood and rear decklid. Or black hood and rear decklid. I've read online that white, yellow, and orange are the best colors for cars to be visible. Why no white? Dirt and scratches would be more visible.
• Fix all rust on the body and floor pan. Plastic coat the underside of the car. Stuff to make the car last more years.
• No chrome trim. Door handles, hood and decklid handles, bumper, and headlight trim will either be stock chrome if the roof rack is the old school or Vintage Speed Taiwan ones, or matte black if it's the Thule roof rack. No running boards as well.
• Rims and tires. Stock color Fuchs rims or bronze RS Watanabe rims. It doesn't have to be original, I wouldn't mind decent replicas or look-a-likes. Keep it at either 15 inches or +1 to 16 inches, I'm not a fan of the low side profile 17-inch wheels. For the tires any decent all-weather tires that provide great grip, braking power, and not so loud during both wet and dry weather.
• Lights. Front fog lamps and rear third brake light. Bumper mounted, LEDs and circular housing for the fog lamps and roof mounted or at the top of the rear windshield for the third brake light. Headlights if possible replace with the new LED headlights similar to the ones used on Jeep Wranglers and Suzuki Samurais. The ones that have angel eye DRLs, low and high beams. I'm still keeping the (at least for me) iconic top of the fender mounted turn signal lights.
• Roof rack. Ideally the old school looking roof rack, or the Vintage Speed Taiwan sleek looking roof rack. The Thule roof rack is also okay but something about the former two roof racks matches with the old school look of the Beetle.
• Windows and rain gutters. Pop out windows for the rear passengers. Either chrome or matte black trim depending on the roof rack. Just make sure they seal properly so water won't go in when it rains. For the front windows the traditional Beetle rain gutters, either in chrome or matte black again depending on the roof rack.
• Apologies in advance but those JDM/Formula 1 style carbon fiber side mirrors. It will look weird but I'm hoping it offers good visibility. Second choice would be long stem bullet side mirrors usually seen on the Nissan 240Z, but this time door mounted instead of hood mounted. Again I'm going with the long stem so I can tilt it up and improve visibility when I look at the mirrors.
• Finally, a Kamei front splitter and a roof spoiler. Either the one Gerrelt's garage makes or something similar. These supposedly help stability in higher speeds. I'm guessing in the event I drive on highways here at around 80kmh or so these will help.

Engine, mechanicals, electricals, stuff we don't think about.

• Twin carb 1600cc engine with an alternator. Improved exhaust headers and muffler. Hopefully these improve power and fuel consumption.
• A/C system provided it doesn't get too much power from the engine and as long as the engine can stay cool when the A/C is being used.
• All new suspension components, specially the bushings. I've read about the death wobble and would like to avoid it as much as possible. Nothing too special for the suspension, maybe a 2 to 3 cm lift and sway bars for the front and rear to help improve handling. I want the ride to be stable and comfortable.
• All new wiring harness so it will be easier to buy replacement fuses. 12V system already instead of the older 6V system just so modern components will work.
• Front disk wheel upgrades at the last, at best all four wheels will get the disk brake upgrades. Not just any disk brake set but the legit VW Beetle brake disk upgrades.
• External oil cooler to help keep the engine cool, additional oil as well as a better oil filter would help.

I'll stop myself there. In car stuff and other details can be another post.

Out.

[933] Gravel Bike Build

Here's a gravel bike build with links from Shopee. All I can do now is theorycraft since I have no budget and I'm quite happy with my bike. Prices as of today, 12 August 2020 but not including shipping fees. I will try to get as much of the components from as few sellers as possible.

• Frame: Tsunami GR02 Gravel. PhP16,810.00, Bianchi Green, size 50. I'm guessing the geometry of this bike is similar to my current size 50 Tsunami Seaboard CX01 frame. This new frame uses aluminom alloy with a CF fork, internal routing, and through axle.
• Groupset: Sensah SRX Pro 1x11. PhP5,799.00. Supposedly an improved version of my current groupset. I was considering getting the cheaper priced LTWOO GR9 1x11 (PhP4,799.00) just because it has similar shifters to Campagnolo. Honestly I've had experience with Sensah and they have gained my trust.
• Brakes: ZTTO Cable actuated hydraulic disk brakes. PhP4,929.00, black, disk brakes with 160mm rotors. More expensive than the brakes I've got on right now but hopefully these are better. Biased with cable actuated hydraulic calipers.
• Saddle: ZTTO Ultralight road bike saddle. PhP669.00, all black. I know for a fact I was getting hand pain with my original saddle because it was only around 25cm long. This saddle is 28cm long, but it does seem narrower than my current saddle.
• Cassette: ZTTO MTB 11-speed 11-42 cassette. PhP1,399.00. I honestly don't know if I will ever need a rear cog bigger than 42T because honestly with my current bike I rarely use my 50T cog. When I do use it in the slight climbs here I get a maximum speed of around 12kmh.
• Stem: ZTTO MTB +/-7 degree 100mm. PhP379.00. I currently have a 90mm stem, I'm thinking worst case I can slide my saddle around to compensate if the stem is too long.
• Misc items batch 1. ZTTO QR seatpost clamp JX068 28.6 black. PhP149.00. ZTTO Bar end plug, black. PhP79.00. ZTTO Teal road handlebar tape. PhP369.00. I just ordered three similar products (with the bar tape being the only different one) for my current bike.
• Crankset: ZTTO MTB BCD104 170mm crank length. PhP1,489.00. There's a bottom bracket included with the Tsunami GR02 and it looks like this crankset will fit it.
• Pedals: ZTTO Aluminum pedals. PhP499.00, black. Yes I'm getting a lot of parts from ZTTO. They've got everything so why bother looking elsewhere?
• Chain: ZTTO 11-speed. PhP899.00. More expensive than the chain I have, but I'm not really sure the chain I'm using is a genuine branded product.
• Chainring: Deckas 104BCD narrow wide, oval, black, 46T. PhP569.00. Again, I'm not expecting on going on any extreme climbs so a 46T with 11-42T drivetrain would probably be good enough for whatever I have planned.
• Wheelset. I'm seriously considering 650/27.5 wheelsets because they're smaller. Rims: Weinmann U28 32-hole rims, 29 inches. PhP2,200.00. These are supposedly tubeless ready and wide enough for gravel or mountain bike tires. Spokes: Weapon spokes, 29 inches, 72 pieces. PhP600.00. Bike hub: MEROCA 6 pawl 32 holes. PhP2,450.00, black, through axle. Tires: Continental Terra Trail ShieldWall tires, 700x35C. PhP1,400.00 each. Going away from my Panaracer Gravel Kings and trying something different and more knobbly. Inner tubes: Tubolito X-Tubo City/Tour Bike. PhP1,090.00 each. 700c 30-50mm thickness. Yes, I'm going with an inner tube, hopefully something pretty durable like these Tubolitos. Rim tape: ZTTO PVC rim tape. PhP49.00 29 inch 20mm thickness. Goodbye, tubeless setup. Though the rims are tubeless ready.
• Drop bar: Sagmit CX-Pro Drop Bar. PhP699.00. It says it's 400mm x 580mm so I'm hoping this is the right size for me, and it does look like it's flared already.

Total cost so far is: PhP46,705.00 (before the edit it was at PhP45,065).

If I missed some crucial component then I will update this post.

Out.

Edit:

I forgot to add brake cables and shifter housing. As far as I know the Sensah groupset comes with a shift cable already. For brake cables I'll go with Jagwire brake cables and lining. PhP1560 for a set ideally black or green, these are supposedly very good brake cables. For the shifter housing I'm going with whatever these are. TRLREQ shifter cables and housing set. PhP80.00 and I'll be getting two cables since it looks like the set is for 2x.

[932] Of Groupsets and Dream Bikes

Looks like I was wrong about the Microshift Advent X brifters.

Apparently the two shifters are along the brake lever. What I thought was a thumb button was I think where the gear shift cable goes out. This was confirmed with this youtube video I saw from Path Less Pedaled where he did say that the gear shift cable is externally routed. The video is over two years old as of this writing but I don't think Microshift would do a radical change of how their brifters are set up in two years time.

The youtube video also mentions that one of the shift levers was a bit of a challenge to push when you're in the drops. Compatibility with other derailleurs is also an issue, meaning that Advent X brifters only work with Advent X rear derailleurs.

So what does this mean?

Since this is a dream bike build then I'm probably dreaming that I'll be replacing the groupset with that Frankenstein Shimano build I wrote about a few months ago. Or even crazier the Campagnolo Ekar gravel groupset, except as far as I know that uses hydraulic brakes.

Basically the Frankenstein groupset requires you to get a Shimano GRX rear derailleur, compatible mechanical front brifters, an 11-40 cassette and at the biggest maybe a 44T oval narrow-wide chainring.

It was even more extreme before because at the time I wanted to go 2x with an 11-34 cassette and a front derailleur with a 44/30 chainring. Now that I've realized less moving parts means less things that can break, I've decided I'll be happy with a 1x.

So why do I want mechanical brifters? Because I really am a big fan of the cable actuated hydraulic disk brake calipers. As far as I know you don't need to bleed or refill them with brake fluid. Then again, I've been wrong before.

Out.

[931] The 2022 Suzuki Celerio

I recently watched Autodeal's review of the new Suzuki Celerio over on YouTube. I don't know if I'm easily impressed or what, but I was really impressed.

It had split folding rear seats, ample space for the size, an interesting automatic gear shift system, and supposedly great fuel economy. These are very good features considering rising fuel costs and the return of the dreaded Metro Manila traffic.

My biggest gripe would be the price. Yeah, I can't afford it.

So now ranking my choice of small hatchbacks locally I guess it would be

1. Kia Picanto 1.2L AT
2. Suzuki Celerio 1.0L AT
3. Mitsubishi Mirage 1.2L AT (if they even sell Mirage hatchbacks up to now)
   
4. Toyota Wigo 1.0L AT
5. Suzuki S-Presso 1.0L MT (just because it has no automatic variant available... yet?)

Out.

[930] Cannondale Topstone 4

I'm currently liking the Cannondale Topstone 4 aluminum alloy gravel bike. Specifically the Mango colored frame. I would probably get the SM sized frame even if I'm anywhere between 175 - 177 cm in height (depending on who you ask). I'd rather get a smaller frame because it's cheaper to buy a longer stem and seatpost to upsize your bike fit than it is to try to shrink a bike frame anyway.

I'm not even thinking of replacing the group set and handlebars, to be honest. I'm curious how the Microshift brifters feel, plus because I'm a fan of Yowamushi Pedals I've always wanted brifters similar to the ones used in that anime. And no, I cannot afford Campagnolo components, and I'm not that curious to try L-TWOO components either.

Of course I do plan on customizing the bike once I've ridden it for a while to know what I need to replace.

• Redshift Sports Shockstop stem and seatpost. Stem more importantly if I realize that the bike is too small for me. I've always been curious how much more comfortable a ride will be if you have these two specific mods.
• Juin Tech R1 hybrid brake calipers. The Topstone 4 I linked above uses mechanical disk brakes, and honestly I'd rather have hybrid calipers on my bike. Basically cable-actuated hydraulic brake calipers. I'm using a relatively cheap set on my current bike right now. I don't have a point of comparison but I am happy with the stopping power and feel of the bike. All you need to do is replace the brake calipers with these hybrids and you're done. Hopefully it's that easy.
• Velo Orange Zeppelin Fenders. Black to match the fork, 52 mm to allow up to 42 mm wide tires.
• Tubolito Tubo-CX/Gravel-All inner tubes. These Tubolitos are pretty durable inner tubes. Honestly I'm seriously considering going inner tubes on my bike, because I have one bottle of sealant left and I may just finish that off. Right now it seems too expensive to keep buying "cheap" sealant that lasts for a month or two before needing to top up the tire again. I'd rather get an inner tube and some patch kits because that looks like it will be cheaper in the long run. I just don't know how durable my current back-up inner tubes are.
• Microshift H-Series 11-42 cassette. I think the stock 11-48 range for a 10-speed cassette is too wide for me. I don't mind downsizing to an 11-42 because the stock chainring is 40T so I'll still have a 1:1 gear ratio for the really heavy climbs.
• Brooks B17 leather saddle. These are supposedly the best saddles you can get for "casual" cycling. The bike I have in mind is more for casual cycling and hopefully long distance riding so I wouldn't mind having a comfortable saddle on top of a suspension seat post.
• OneUp Composite flat pedals. As tempted as I am to use mountain bike clipless pedals and cleats and maybe with the built in power meter, I still consider myself a casual cyclist. So I'll definitely be happy using flat pedals.

And these are some of the modifications I would do to the bike. I didn't bother writing down my usual go-to mods that include bike computer, speed and cadence sensors, dynamo hubs and lights.

Besides, I can't afford to buy a Cannondale Topstone 4.

Out.