Singular Peregrine Mk4 Build: Part Three

 The next and final steps of this build were taken on Sunday. I had to cut the steer tube down first which is something I don't get too freaked out about anymore. 

I knew I wanted 50mm of spacers under the stem and maybe 20mm above it, just to be able to go higher at some point if needed. 

That part went well and I was able to get the cables sorted around the fork in a manner which made the most sense. Then I locked the cables down under the metal cable guides and moved on to the front brake. 

Now, since I had to disconnect the hose at the lever to thread the cable through the Twin Six's ported fork, I was worried about having to bleed the brake. However, if you are careful, one can move the hose out of the lever and reconnect it again, (with a new barb and compression fitting), and get away with not bleeding the brake.

While I was building up the rest of the bike I had the hose vertical with the caliper at the bottom hanging by a clip out of the way. This kept mineral oil from coming out, but I also pushed a toothpick in the end of the hose just to make sure. 

 I have a Shimano bleed kit, just in case, but I did not know if I had the barb and compression fitting. Turns out I did have a brand new set of those components, so this was good and I did not have to order those. 

So, I pushed in the barb, put the compression nut and the brass compression fitting  on the hose. Then I inserted the hose into the lever, threaded in the compression nut, and tightened it down. Now......would it work?

 Well, it felt pretty good, so I went with it. But a test ride would have to determine if I was good to go with that. If so, it would be the third time I've gotten away with not bleeding a front Shimano brake after removing the hose and either shortening or rerouting the hose. 

 

Next up was to tune the derailleurs. The front cable routing through these newer Shimano front derailleurs is wonky. Once I had twiddled the cable through the plastic cap thingie I was going forward. Now I had to reset the stops since I cheated the eccentric out on the right just a hair to gain a little clearance for the fatter tires I want to use. GRX is already 2.5mm outboard from a road chain line. I think I'm at about 3mm now. 

One odd thing about the GRX front derailleur is that if you turn the grub screw for the high limit clockwise it pushes the cage outward. Those crazy Shimano guys! 

 The rear derailleur needed a tweak as well on the limit screw on the high side and low side. Weird, but every bike is slightly different. I also had to adjust cable tension a bit as well. Then the gears clicked off just as one would expect. 

I re-wrapped the left side of the lever since I had to unwrap it to get at the brake hose fitting. I may have to put on new tape, but this will do for now. Then after this I was on the home run stretch. I just had a few details to cover and the bike would be finished. And now........

 There ya go! The finished bicycle. I did a short neighborhood test ride and I did not die and things did not fail, so now I think the next step will be a gravel ride out in the country. Stay tuned for a ride report. Thanks for following along with this build. 

Singular Peregrine Mk4 Build: Part Two

As the build progressed beyond the eccentric bottom bracket issue, I was able to get the crank set installed and the bicycle started to look more finished. 

The Shimano bottom bracket felt smooth and spun nicely with the crank installed. Then I was able to set up the front derailleur at the proper height on the seat tube. Fortunately the Standard Rando and the Peregrine use the same seat tube outside diameter, so the shims which were already in place worked perfectly with the Peregrine. 

I started locking down the cables into their appropriate places. A couple of things of note here. First, I always work rear to front when re-cabling a mechanical drive train which uses full run housings. This allows you to have to use less guesswork on what to leave for length at the back, and when you get up to the shifters you can more easily figure out exact length for your housings with no fear of having to pull some rearward because you did not estimate your rear lengths correctly.

Secondly, the use of removable cable stops allows for the least amount of zip ties possible. I think I used four on the Peregrine's frame and two on the fork. The fewer zip ties the better, in my opinion. It would be neat if someone could make an easy to use metal cable retention system for the stays of a frame, on the order of removable stops like the Peregrine uses on the down tube. 

Arguably the centerpiece of the GRX Limited drive train. Just beautiful!

Did you note the release of the SRAM silver 1987 group? Well, Shimano beat them to the punch using silver anodization by a few years when they introduced GRX Limited. 

Silver ano was the only  choice for drive train bits for decades until the MTB bike revolutionized things with black anodization bits for drive trains. Black then took over everything, which I was dismayed by, if I am honest. So, this silver stuff is welcomed here, and you can see how it contrasts with the British Racing Green frame nicely.  

 The rear derailleur then went on and then the chain. I reused the chain as it was still in good shape and it is mated to the cassette to some degree as well.  Notable was the fact that I had to use a new quick link for the Shimano chain. As a mechanic, I like to test recommendations knowing full well what the outcome may be. I am willing to risk the consequences for my decisions. I thought I'd try to reuse the old quick link, but I never even had the chance to install it because the pin came out on one half of the link and fell to the ground just as I was about to reinstall it.

Maybe that's why you shouldn't reuse those, eh? 

I put both wheels in the frame, mocked up a stack-o-spacers on the steer tube, and fixed the handle bar in place to get a bead on fit. A few measurements, and then I sat on the Peregrine for the first time.

Nailed the saddle height, but this is to be expected. The reach? Hmm..... Different, but still well within my comfort zone. Interestingly the front wheel looks "way out there" compared to my other bicycles. This is probably due to the stubby stem and set back seat post I am using. (A Ritchey Classic, by the way) 

Comparing handle bar height, the Peregrine seems to be well within the range of some other of my bicycles. It is pretty much identical in this manner to my Noble GX5. 

As you can see, there is tons of tire clearance using the WTB Raddler 700 x 44mm tires which were on the T-6 as well before this. You may remember my image of the bare minimum clearance on the Standard Rando using this wheel/tire combination. 

Okay, with the fit looking good, and the mechanical bits coming into place, it is time to finish this build off. I needed to get to the cutting of the steer tube, running the cables to their final destinations, and installing and bleeding the front brake. 

Stay tuned....

Singular Peregrine Mk4 Build: Part One

Most of the parts from this bike are being used for the Peregrine build.

The first step in building up the Peregrine Mk4 was to get the Twin Six Standard Rando torn down. This was necessary because most of the parts from this bike were going to be used on the Peregrine.

Even the wheels are going over, and for now, the WTB tires are staying on there as well. The reason for this is to help me contrast and compare the ride of the Peregrine to the Standard Rando v2, which had these wheels on it. 

Again, I'll say the internally routed front brake cable is just dumb. You may say it is more "aero". I say, put a channel on the backside of the left fork leg, integrate clips to hold the hose in, and make everyone's lives a lot easier and aero. Internal routing for the average cyclist is just not necessary.  It is a step backward for most cyclists and mechanics as well.

Okay......rant over, now on with the build!

There were a couple of things I could not switch over. The head set, for one, was not compatible with the Peregrine, so I got the Chris King 1 1/8th silver head set as seen previously to accommodate this build. The other bit was the bottom bracket. 

The Twin Six uses a PF-30 shell, and I have a screw-together Enduro bottom bracket in there now. The Peregrine Mk4 uses a traditional English threaded 68mm bottom bracket. So I was going to need to find if I had one around to use, or if I needed to purchase one. 

I had thought I had a Chris King bottom bracket somewhere, but I could not find it. So, while searching for the Chris King I came across a brand new Shimano bottom bracket. These are okay, but their durability and longevity is not so great. I decided to use it up on the Peregrine and when it goes bad, I'll put something nicer in there. 

While I could have used the seat post and saddle, along with the stem, I decided against those parts due to their being black in color. I wanted bright, polished parts if I could find them. So, I ended up using the seat post and saddle from the Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross frame, (which is being retired as well), along with a stubby, 60mm Whisky Parts stem which I had on the Singular Gryphon Mk3, ironically, before this.  

Even the through-axles are emblazoned with the brand name!

Since both the Twin Six Standard Rando v2 and the Singular Peregrine Mk4 use full-run cable housings, I was able to just drop the rear brake caliper, hose, rear derailleur, housing, and cable, and the housing and cable for the front derailleur as a unit with the handlebar. 

The plan being to just swap all these bits wholesale onto the new bike. The front derailleur could not be brought along with this assembly since there was no way the derailleur could pass through the tiny window between the stay bridge and the bottom bracket shell. It simply had to come off as its own bit. 

My only concerns were if everything was going to be long enough. The Singular Peregrine runs longer chain stays than does the Standard Rando v2, and the stack heights might have figured into cable length as well. I did a dry run with the wheels on and handle bar in place using a 90mm long Ritchey Classic stem. This looked close, so I was pretty sure the 60mm Whisky stem would give me just enough slack to fit everything and still be able to turn the bike. 

Worse case scenario I would have to re-cable and bleed the rear caliper. I still may have to do this, but I cannot determine this just quite yet. I am trying to avoid this, if possible. Again, if I had cable actuated brakes I'd be a lot less reticent to swap every cable housing and cable. 

Dremel to the rescue!

The frame has an eccentric insert at the bottom bracket. Now these should always be greased, or at least some sort of anti-seize paste should be used here. Since almost every eccentric bottom bracket (EBB), I've ever worked on straight from the box has never been greased, I decided to take a wee peek inside to find if there were a need for some slippery-stuff.

Well, first I had to be able to remove the insert! It was stuck in there as if it were a press fit unit. I tapped on it with the wooden handle of my dead blow hammer and noticed a little movement. I continued with this until I had it removed. Oh!...... Yes, I removed the grub screws. So, don't wonder about that part!

Once I had the insert removed, a very nicely made, Singular branded, black anodized aluminum insert, I tried to see what could be the problem. I noted a varying amount of paint and corrosion treatment. Perhaps this, or a warped eccentric shell from welding were the cause of my issues. Hopefully it was just the paint and coating.

Dremel to the rescue! I used 220 grit sandpaper on a barrel attachment to remove most of the paint and coating. It worked! The EBB went in very nicely with just a bit of effort. I cleaned up everything and layered in a coating of Finish Line Premium Grease. The insert glided right in this time, and I then put on some blue thread locking compound on the grub screws and tightened up those to 6nm.   

With the problem solved the insert went in like a champ. Next - Installation of the crank set. 

With this big hurdle cleared, I had a bit of an easier time installing the crank set and a few more odds and ends. The next bit would include getting cables sorted and managed, installing the chain, and then determining fit from where I had things at this time with my other bicycles. 

In the next installment for this build I will get into those things and more. Stay tuned....