YOU GOT MAAAIL!

today i received 2 important components for the bike, the crankset and the brakeset

rotor agilis xc2

first impression with the crankset is very very good. it looks very carefully built with high attention to detail! the chainrings are absolutely impressive, everything is cnc machined.



i opted for the agilis xc2 mainly because of it's rigidity. they have a special cnc operation where they cut the crankarms outside aswell as inside! yep cnc inside the arms! they go through this very complicated cnc process because they say that the rigidity is 30% higher at the same weight!
forged aluminum loses some of the strength properties compared to the cold cnc machined one !

the chainrings are q-rings, which means they are oval and are adjustable. adjustable in the sense that you can set them to behave differently . i installed them on position 2 , later to have them moved to 3! there is an accommodation period with these chainrings and they suggest you start with position 2!
the xc2 is two chainrings only and because of they're shape they come in 40/27 t . i've noticed that as well with 29'er bikes, that the mtb direction is towards 2 chainrings and not 3. a little bit of inspiration from road bikes now with the release of sram's 10spd mtb casette?!

also a special part of the crankset are the bb's. because i wanted to have the bb's for 68mm without spacers, the guys from velotechservices sent me 2 bb's one sabb and the bb1, a nice gift from a bunch of nice chaps!
the bb1 is a 100gr light bb designed for mtb use with spacers for 68mm shell
the self alignment bottom bracket is what it's name says...the picture explains everything!


they claim a weight of 753 grams including bottom brackets, chainrings, spacer etc but my scale shows only 720...



hope mini x2 pro


well...evryone knows how hope brakes feel and how they brake but the x2 is a step higher than my m4 and m6! i have to honestly say it that i ahave always been a huge fan of this small company called hope and they have not let me down with the x2 pro!



620gr with 160mm rotors, i think it's pretty fair!

german-a kilo no 1

I WANT ONE!

it's going to take some time though, 1500 europeans isn't cheap at all!
this fork is absolutely amazing, i have tried one on a merida nintysix and it feels very plush and responsive. also, because of the design it comes with anti dive technology and hi lateral stiffness all because of the parallelogram.there are aother forks with anti dive but they don't come light this one has a carbon shaft and carbon legs delivering an impressive sub 1100g weight
high quality german technology...

brakes ordered !

hope mono x2 pro for me please!

after watching different other manufacturers models being serviced at my local bike shop i definitely went for hope! they are simple and easy to service!they are sub 600gr and as any hope product they work flawlessly.
i've seen formula r1 and magura sl's broken after verry little use so , althought it might only be a coincidence, i cannot trust anything other than hope! the frm and formula disc brakes are with around 10-20gr lighter per set, but i like the looks and the way they feel better with the x2 pro!

next week i'll have then, till then this is how they look !

the quick releases and tires are ordered!

i went for the procraft pro sl titanium qr, i just love them and they are 40g



tires are going to be furious freds 2.25 rear and 2.0 front with 100g schwalbe xxlight tubes
i had the opportunity of weighting several tires (17) and came across the 385g rear one and a 301g front one. in the weighting process i encountered 2.25 tires at 440 and 2.0 tires at 340...so huge differences in weight. if you have the chance go weight your tires before buying them you can save up to 70-100gr! enormous!

i did the same thing with the tubes but there were only small 2-3% differences , no need for stress

the rims have arrived! slowly the bike is starting to build up!

these are the specs of the wheels

dt swiss 240 s front and rear hub
dt swiss revolution spokes
dt swiss alloy red nipples
dt swiss xr 4.d rims


all weight together 1480gr on the scale!

enjoy the pics!

the frame is almost ready !!!

today Francesco sent me a picture of the frame while being set up for carbon "welding". the picture shows exactly my frame disassembled. enjoy!

titanium?

because the bruto comes both with titanium and carbon fiber tubes i will try to explain a little bit about these 2 materials and about the "boron" carbon.

so what's the big deal with titanium? why titanium and why so expensive?

first of all just a little bit of titanium history...
titanium also known as the "space age metal" is a light, noncorrosive and very strong metal. given these 3 qualities , this metal was mainly used for building space ships and space ship parts. because of the difficulties arousing when extracting this metal and because of the fact that it is rarer than aluminum or other metals, titanium has always been very expensive and only in the last 2-3 decades it has become available for bike frame builders. although it is hard to believe, titanium was discovered by William Gregor in 1791 and named by Martin Heinrich Klaproth for the Titans of Greek mythology .

there are various types of titanium , the one used in bike frame building is ti3al/2.5v or grade 9 which basically means that the titanium alloy consists of 3% aluminum, 2.5% vanadium and 94.5% titanium.
from what i understand this type of alloy is very good for welding having also a low corrosion level. for more types of titanium check out the link.

The two most useful properties of the metal form are corrosion resistance and the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal. In its unalloyed condition, titanium is as strong as some steels, but 45% lighter. There are two allotropic forms and five naturally occurring isotopes of this element; ⁴⁶Ti through ⁵⁰Ti, with ⁴⁸Ti being the most abundant (73.8%). Titanium's properties are chemically and physically similar to zirconium.

carbon fiber on the other hand is something a little bit different :)

Carbon fiber is a material consisting of extremely thin fibers about 0.005–0.010 mm in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are bonded together in microscopic crystals that are more or less aligned parallel to the long axis of the fiber. The crystal alignment makes the fiber very strong for its size. Several thousand carbon fibers are twisted together to form a yarn, which may be used by itself or woven into a fabric.
Carbon fiber has many different weave patterns and can be combined with a plastic resin and wound or molded to form composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic (also referenced as carbon fiber) to provide a high strength-to-weight ratio material. The density of carbon fiber is also considerably lower than the density of steel, making it ideal for applications requiring low weight. The properties of carbon fiber such as high tensile strength, low weight, and low thermal expansion make it very popular in aerospace, civil engineering, military, and motorsports, along with other competition sports like our most beloved cycling.



there are various types of carbon fiber the ones mainly used in bike frames being from 1k to 3k. the difference between these 2 is tensile strength vs weight, 1k being the lightest and also the one with a lower tensile strength(more fragile=dangerous)

weight per unit area (g/m2)	weave	fibre
80	plain	CF 67 (1K)
93	plain	CF 67 (1K)
120	5H satin	CF 67 (1K)
150	twill	CF 67 (1K)
160	plain	CF 200 (3K)
195	twill	CF 200 (3K)
200	plain	CF 200 (3K)
200	twill	CF 200 (3K)
245	twill	CF 200 (3K)
240	twill	CF 400 (6K)
400	twill	CF 800 (12K)
600	twill	CF 800 (12K)
650	twill	CF 800 (12K)

the bruto, comes with ti3al/2.5v titanium tubing plus carbon fiber 3k top and down tube.
the special part about the bruto is that it has a special type of carbon 3k, called "boron"(not moron)
this type of boron carbon comes with a perpendicular fiber, meant to increase the rigidity of the tube. this is an option with paduano and Francesco himself recommended this upgrade.

so , the bruto is made out of high quality and high tech materials explaining why it comes at a price.

in the future posts i will take a look into the integrated seatpost option and softail vs full susser debate