 |
| The Gryphon comes with this cool head badge. |
Well, the much anticipated arrival of the Singular Cycles Gryphon Mk3 has happened. It showed up at the Guitar Ted Productions Headquarters on Friday afternoon.
This post will be the introduction to the build. I don't have everything nailed down 100%, and I didn't before the bike arrived, because there were questions that I could only get the answers to when I had the frame in-hand. So, yes- some of those findings are sending this build in a certain direction. I'll get around to that in a bit. But first, let's just take a look at this frame set.
It is the third iteration of the Gryphon. Mks 1 and 2 were largely the same, with differing colors, and minor frame spec differences, as I recall. This, the Mk3, is a big departure from the original Gryphon in several ways.
The basic design intentions are still there: A drop bar specific frame with no suspension correction and the ability to be single speed. To that end we have a taller head tube than you'd see on a flat bar design like the Singular Swift, which is the bike in Singular's range most akin to the Gryphon. There is the eccentric bottom bracket, a set-bolt type with two 4mm grub screws coming in from underneath the bottom bracket which secures the eccentric and keeps it stationary. You've got your two water bottle mounts, rack and fender mounts, and an included seat collar.
 |
| The Mk3 Gryphon's fork |
When we get to the fork and rear drop outs we see the accommodation for through axles which previous Gryphons (steel ones, anyway) did not have. The fork also sports a water bottle boss set on each leg. Eyelets for a front rack and fenders are on the dropouts. You can see the hole in the fork crown which would also support a rack or a fender. You cannot see it in this view, but the Gryphon is now flat mount brake compatible, which previous Gryphons were not.
 |
| The Gryphon Mk3 frame |
The downtube sports a triple boss arrangement which you could put an Anything Cage type rack on, or one of those over-sized water bottle cages. There is a set of bosses under the down tube for storage, fuel, or another water bottle cage. You can kind of see the flat mount brake mounts and the rack mounts in this view as well. Of course, there is that eccentric bottom bracket, a hallmark of the Singular Swift and Gryphon models. The head tube, curiously, is not a 44mm one, so no tapered steer tubes here, and no carbon fiber nonsense either!
 |
| There is a nice gusset under the downtube at the head tube and you can see the bolt on cable guide here. |
Cable management is handled by a few under-the-down tube cable guides and welded on cable guides from the bottom bracket back on each chain stay for the rear derailleur cable and rear brake. Now, Singular doesn't say that you can run a front derailleur, but they don't say that you can't. I think they lean toward no front derailleur unless its one of those with a cable stop built in.I say this because there is no cable guide or stop built into the frame under the bottom bracket. This will come up as an important point in a bit.
 |
| The grub screws for the eccentric. |
 |
| The replaceable derailleur hangar is secured in place mostly by the through axle |
I guess there is one other thing that is different with the Mk3 and that is that it can handle up to 29" X 3" tires. That's a big difference from the old Gryphons which were limited to 2.4" tires, if I recall correctly. Also: The frame weighs 6.2lbs and the fork was a bit over 2lbs, if I recall correctly. I didn't buy this for lightweight though. So, there you go. That's the new Singular Gryphon Mk3. Now what the heck am I going to bolt on to this thing? Well...
Remember when I mentioned the front derailleur thing? A lot of what I wanted to do would be predicated on whether or not the bike would support a triple or double chain ring set up. The bike I was taking the parts off of to build this had a triple ring crankset with a Deore XT front derailleur. My hope was that this would all transfer over, and if it would go, then I would be building a 3 X 9 geared rig. If it wouldn't, then I'd be building a 1 X 11 drive train. And if that had any road blocks at all, I would then just build it as a single speed, but that would be a last resort.
So, the first order of business would be to mock up the bottom bracket, crank set, and front derailleur to see if it all would go.
 |
| I had to get an image of this. I doubt I'll see it again for a while! |
 |
| Clearance, Clarence. |
Well.....as you can see, and much to my surprise, the crankset clears with plenty of room. The front derailleur is the correct size as well and bottom pull is what I needed here. The bike seems to have been made for this, but......
However; as stated earlier, there is no cable stop here for the facilitation of the routing of a front derailleur. So I guess I have my work cut out for me. But besides that, it looks as though I have the entire cockpit which I can now just transfer over from the old bike. I think I have some flat mount brake calipers, but I haven't been able to locate those just yet. Then it'll be on to the wheels.
Stay tuned.....
10 comments:
Good Morning GT, Congratulations on the new project, it looks awesome! I like the color and can’t wait to see it rolling for you. I was curious about the holes at the bottom of the fork’s steerer tube- I see the “traditional” horizontal hole for running a rack or fender mount, but are the two holes in the small metal bar on the underside threaded? If so, that would be a super-clean fender mount. It was hard to tell from the photo. Congrats again and enjoy the build and the ride!
@tntmoriv - Indeed! Those are threaded holes in that plate that bridges the steer tube hole. However; they are not "water bottle sized". These threaded holes accept a bolt the size you would associate with brakes. Metric threaded, of course, but when I checked it out the bolt I used was a bolt from an IS caliper mount. So, bigger, beefier than a water bottle bolt.
Hope that's clear. Thanks for reading!
GT, maybe Paragon Machine Works has something that could help in the front deraileur cable routing? A friend of mine built me a custom one speed frame some years about and included some mounts like those used on the Singular.
The frame/fork look great! Looking forward to your build!
@S Sprague - Thanks for the kind words. I have the front derailleur situation figured out (for now) depending upon rear tire clearance. I won't know about that for a couple days because.... Well, you'll see!
with those bolts facing the ground (on the bottom bracket) - do you have to worry about them coming loose? i've lost bolts on forks, without realizing it until later. maybe it's standard and my inexperience is showing, but that seems (ahem) upsidedown, to me.
@R - It really isn't a problem because the bolts are under tension and the parts don't vibrate enough to cause loosening. And if they did loosen, I would hope that I notice that as the eccentric would start to move around causing weird sensations, poor front shifting, or both. I would think that would happen long before the grub screws feel out.
Many tandem bicycles have used a similar set up for decades and most with no issues at all.
Looking forward to maybe seeing this in April. :D
Looking sweet GT! Yes, for a front derailleur you either need to use one with an inbuilt stop or a bolt on stop. Depending what shifter you are using, Shimano MTB side swing triples work well - like FD-M8000-L.
I recommend using a light thread locker on the thread (and lots of grease on the insert/shell interface) torque the bolts correctly (only 4-5Nm is needed) and I've never had issues with bolts falling out or coming loose - weve now sold around 1500frames like this.
@sam@singularcycles.com - Thanks! I have been using what I have here, so you'll get to see my bodge in the next post! ;>) And as a FYI- The webpage for the Mk3 Gryphon states the fork as a 12mm through, but reality is that it is a 15mm through, as you may know. Just thought I'd pass that along as it tripped me up.
Post a Comment