Llewellyn Discus Colossus build thread !

[MichaelB]

If I was to nitpick, I'd rotate the bars down and the shifters up, and remove the Columbus sticker, but that's personal preference as much as anything.

Otherwise, 10/10.

NP. With the bars, I like the top to be level and the transition to the shifters seamless, and that’s how the other bike is setup too.

I actually like the Columbus sticker, as it shows something, but wouldn’t mind if it was a tad smaller.

[MichaelB]

Looks amazing, but I'm just hanging out to hear how it rides!

Did 4km last night to bed in the brakes etc.

Need to tweak the saddle angle a smidge. Was planning a bigger ride tonight, but it’s windy as anything, so may have to wait another day.

Feels REALLY solid though and very sprightly.

[robbo mcs]

If I was to nitpick, I'd rotate the bars down and the shifters up, and remove the Columbus sticker, but that's personal preference as much as anything.

Otherwise, 10/10.

If we are allowed to nitpick, I’m not 100% sure about the orange stem. Everything else above the top tube level is black. Might look better with a black stem, or alternatively an orange seatpost to match the stem

And if we were allowed to nitpick, everybody would come up with something slightly different, because everyones taste is slightly different. Thats the beauty of a custom bike though, the owner gets exactly what they like

Seriously though, it looks amazing, very jealous

[Duck!]

If I was to nitpick, I'd rotate the bars down and the shifters up... [snip]... but that's personal preference as much as anything.

Otherwise, 10/10.

Yep, but only small tweaks on both counts; to my eyes the overall shifter angle is good, but the bar needs to come down just a tad to smooth out the bar-hood transition.

I'd also turf the skinwall tyres in favour of all black, and brighten the wheels with silver spokes & nipples.

But really, we're talking about opinions here, which mean eff-all at the end of the day.

[MichaelB]

All allowed nitpicks and suggestions, all welcome and gratefully read. Some will be ignored, but some may be adopted, who knows !!

At the end of the day, I'm more than happy with the way it's turned out, especially the colour and glad, that as Mr Purple noted, its turned out great compared to the lighter orange I was originally looking at. Anyway,

Got the 1st proper ride last night, 33.5km and 637m elevation over Belair Rd and Mt Osmond and damn this bike climbs and descends brilliantly** and can't wait for the weekend to take it down Montacute Rd (where Cadel won the TdU stage after gapping them on Corkscrew and the TV Moto struggled to keep up with him). Needs a tweak to the front caliper alignment 1st though and another go at the RD indexing to make it perfect.

Everything else works well, but will probably change the bartape to one that I originally wanted but was out of stock - the Deda Presa tape used is OK, but not quite right.

Here are some pics from last nights early evening ride

Top of Mt Osmond


Hairpin halfway down Mt Osmond in the sunset








** = yes, there is some label bias there ...

[MichaelB]

...

I'd also turf the skinwall tyres in favour of all black, and brighten the wheels with silver spokes & nipples.

....

I have some all black tyres on the Cinelli atm, and I do prefer the skinwall still, otherwise too much black for me.

re the spokes/nipple colour, the Token wheels are a review leftover so not changing them

[warthog1]

Glad it rides well Michael, you must be a happy man!

[fat and old]

All allowed nitpicks and suggestions, all welcome and gratefully read. Some will be ignored, but some may be adopted, who knows !!

Very drool worthy bicycle. Gotta love a simple twin triangle with a horizontal TT.

Out of interest...in the photo above with the sun it looks lighter than in most pics so far. Is that how it is in the flesh? I was thinking I'd have swapped the two colours around, lighter for main, darker for logo but if it's normally how it appears above then nothing to do there

I don't like deep dish wheels on a trad type frame tho. That's just me and my preference. I guess having disks it sorta works anyway.

Love the matching bar tape. Stem connects the frame and bars beautifully.

Oh, and the garden/grass looks excellent....but FCS get rid of the concrete pavers and get some 250x500 sawn bluestone in

[MichaelB]

...
Out of interest...in the photo above with the sun it looks lighter than in most pics so far. Is that how it is in the flesh? I was thinking I'd have swapped the two colours around, lighter for main, darker for logo but if it's normally how it appears above then nothing to do there
...

Cheers for the feedback.

Re the colour - it's a beautiful orange version of Candy Apple Red in that with different light, the colour changes considerably. The pic below, even with a tinge from the evening sun, really shows the various colours the Tangerine takes on with different light sources



It goes from anywhere close to a deep gold to a dark metallic mandarin colour.

REALLY happy with the final colours

[Tim]

Fantastic looking bike Michael. Congratulations on a great build.

Re the colour - it's a beautiful orange version of Candy Apple Red in that with different light, the colour changes considerably. The pic below, even with a tinge from the evening sun, really shows the various colours the Tangerine takes on with different light sources

You may recall my custom steel build from a couple of years ago was finished in Candy Apple Red. It also changes colour shades under different light.
The painting process is quite involved to get that depth of colour. A light, almost white metallic "twinkly" base coat goes down first then multiple coats of translucent coloured coatings on top followed by several clear coats over that. The finish has a brilliant depth and reflects light beautifully from different directions and intensities.
Well done!!!

[MichaelB]

Fantastic looking bike Michael. Congratulations on a great build.

Re the colour - it's a beautiful orange version of Candy Apple Red in that with different light, the colour changes considerably. The pic below, even with a tinge from the evening sun, really shows the various colours the Tangerine takes on with different light sources

You may recall my custom steel build from a couple of years ago was finished in Candy Apple Red. It also changes colour shades under different light.
The painting process is quite involved to get that depth of colour. A light, almost white metallic "twinkly" base coat goes down first then multiple coats of translucent coloured coatings on top followed by several clear coats over that. The finish has a brilliant depth and reflects light beautifully from different directions and intensities.
Well done!!!

Cheers

If you look at the colours here, the colour used on mine is 'Tangerine (KBC8_FBC08)' which is the Tangerine over a Nova Orange Base (the lighter orange in the DT and ST panels).

The Dark Tangerine (KBC8_B) is the same top coat, but over a dark base.

[Tim]

An exceptionally well finished bike there Michael. The craftsmanship, engineering, fit-out and paintwork, everything is superb.
I'm Tropicana Green with envy.

[MichaelB]

An exceptionally well finished bike there Michael. The craftsmanship, engineering, fit-out and paintwork, everything is superb.
I'm Tropicana Green with envy.

Agree 125%.

But if you want a glimpse of his real craftsmanship, look at his facebook feed and what he's doing with the lugs on his last Lucentezza frame that he is building - it's just crazy !!!

[MichaelB]

Oh, and on a side note - after much time wondering if the Rotor 2INPower crank will actually work as advertised (bought it almost 12 months ago), thankfully it works a treat.

The true dual L/R power doesn't make me any faster, but it was at a great price and looks sweet.

It does reveal though, as expected, that the result from my MVA in 1985 where I fractured my L Femur a la Froomey, is that I have a pretty solid L/R imbalance.

On the ride the other night, up the two climbs that I did, it was typically 45.5%L & 54.5%R. Meh, time to do some more specific exercises to try and help that, but it's been like that for about 35 years ....

[MichaelB]

......
One change on the Hope RX4+ calipers that they did (apart from allowing different rotor size without adaptors) was to change the angle of the hyd hose port - they changed the angle from 20 degrees to 10, making the transition to the fork leg much better. I'll through in a comparison pic from the Cinelli that has the older RX4 calipers, and you'll see the big improvement
.....

As promised a bit earlier, you can see here the difference between the angle of the hydraulic hose between the RX4 caliper on the Left (dirty blue fork .. ) and the RX4+ on the right (the Discus Colossus), both bikes have the same fork, Columbus Futura Disc.

There is no issue with either fitment, it's just that the RX4+ has a neater routing with less hose stress

[fat and old]

Yeah, that's nice

[foo on patrol]

Looks amazing, but I'm just hanging out to hear how it rides!

Did 4km last night to bed in the brakes etc.

Need to tweak the saddle angle a smidge. Was planning a bigger ride tonight, but it’s windy as anything, so may have to wait another day.

Feels REALLY solid though and very sprightly.

As you would expect.

Foo

[foo on patrol]

......
One change on the Hope RX4+ calipers that they did (apart from allowing different rotor size without adaptors) was to change the angle of the hyd hose port - they changed the angle from 20 degrees to 10, making the transition to the fork leg much better. I'll through in a comparison pic from the Cinelli that has the older RX4 calipers, and you'll see the big improvement
.....

As promised a bit earlier, you can see here the difference between the angle of the hydraulic hose between the RX4 caliper on the Left (dirty blue fork .. ) and the RX4+ on the right (the Discus Colossus), both bikes have the same fork, Columbus Futura Disc.

There is no issue with either fitment, it's just that the RX4+ has a neater routing with less hose stress

Yes, much betterer.

Foo

[rkelsen]

All allowed nitpicks and suggestions, all welcome and gratefully read. Some will be ignored, but some may be adopted, who knows !!

Top of Mt Osmond

Wow. Well worth the wait. Well done mate!

Good to see you finally enjoying it!

[MichaelB]

Had a nice ride yesterday but was shortened due to a minor home emergency, but weather again beautiful today, so a mix of hills and coast on the menu.

Loving the Di2

[MichaelB]

Some great weather over the weekend here - sunny and calm, and a late bout of summer with low 30's. Got 3 nice rides in as we had a long weekend here, and here are some pics - 1st is at the top of Humpty Doo (Main Rd to Clarendon) and by the coast just off Glenelg.

[baabaa]

Nice last pic MB - not often that the water-bombers are caught in action after someone reported that a very hot bike needed to cooled down....

[AUbicycles]

Sweet. Actually like the tanwalls.

[AUbicycles]

(To match this super sweet build)

[MichaelB]

Nice last pic MB - not often that the water-bombers are caught in action after someone reported that a very hot bike needed to cooled down....

More like the rider !!!