Spa Audax build photos

[PH]

Maybe that will be more to your taste.

Ha! I was just chewing the fat rather than expecting you to take my taste into consideration, which would need more than a change of chainset. I just found it odd that you would choose such different components, though my experience of single pivots made me happy to replace them and likewise my experience of ST chainsets means I'm unlikely to ever try anything else. Whatever the choices I hope they all live up to expectation.

[Ljaydee]

Very nice build, looks almost like a horizontal top tube. Do agree with Brucey about the quill stem.

[slowster]

It is a modern tig welded frame with a sloping top tube (albeit not an extreme slope), 1 1/8" headset and carbon fork. To suggest that the bike would look better with a quill stem is absurd because it would need to be a completely different frame to have a 1" steerer with quill stem. You might just as well criticise a Pinarello for not having mudguards, a rack and dynamo lighting, or criticise a Pashley for not weighing less than 8kg.

I like quill stems for the feel of the added flex they provide with 26mm diameter bars. They also look better than threadless stems, but only on bikes with horizontal top tubes and curved (steel) forks.

Samuel's bike is an off the peg modern frame, and aesthetically I think he has got the build pretty much spot on for that frame. I don't normally like the modern style Shimano road chainsets, but on his bike the silver Shimano chainset looks good.

[Samuel D]

Maybe that will be more to your taste.

Ha! I was just chewing the fat rather than expecting you to take my taste into consideration, which would need more than a change of chainset.

Ouch! (Only playing again.)

I just found it odd that you would choose such different components […]

I think they go alright together, but the mix was arrived at over time by trial and error. The goal was a simple, durable, versatile, easy to maintain, inexpensive, efficient, and elegant machine. I didn’t much care who made the components or when as long as they were good.

Here’s the build list for the morbidly curious:

Frame: Spa Audax, black, 58 cm, welded Reynolds 725 steel
Fork: Spa (Aprebic) carbon fibre with aluminium steerer tube
Headset: Campagnolo Record HS00-RETHOS
Stem: Ritchey Classic C220, 90 mm, 6° in photos; changed the day after to Nitto UI-85 EX, 110 mm, 8°
Handlebar: Nitto Mod. 177 ‘Noodle’, 40 cm
Seatpost: Nitto S83, 250 mm
Seatpost clamp: Salsa Lip-Lock
Saddle: Selle San Marco Regal, honey brown
Brake levers: Dia-Compe Gran Compe GC202, brown hoods
Brake callipers: Campagnolo Record 2040 (I think) single-pivot side-pull. These were sold to me as Super Record but I’ve since read that Super Record groups came with Record callipers in those years. They were also sold to me as recessed-nut but only because someone had taken a hacksaw to the pivot bolts and swapped nuts
Brake pads: Kool-Stop KS-CRSA cartridge-type, salmon
Brake cables: Shimano SLR housing with polished stainless steel cables
Gear levers: Shimano SL-R400 down-tube shifters, friction front, 8-speed indexed rear
Gear cable housing: Shimano OT-SP41
Rear derailleur: Shimano Dura-Ace RD-7800
Front derailleur: Shimano Claris FD-2400 braze-on with Zenith adaptor
Pedals: Favero Assioma Uno
Bottom bracket: Shimano BB-RS500
Cranks: Shimano 105 FC-5600
Chainrings: Spécialités TA Alizé, 49T and 38T
Cassette: Shimano CS-HG50-8 with 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, and 26T sprockets
Chain: SRAM PC-850, 110 links
Rear hub: Shimano 105 FH-5700, 36-hole
Front hub: Shimano 105 HB-5700, 32-hole
Rear rim: Mavic Open Pro C, silver, 36-hole
Front rim: temporarily Exal XR2 32-hole; will be Mavic Open Elite if I rebuild with this hub and spokes, otherwise a 36-hole Open Pro C
Rim tape: Velox, 16 mm, cotton
Spokes: Alpina ACI, silver, double-butted stainless steel with 12 mm brass nipples
Tubes: Michelin AirComp Latex
Tyres: Schwalbe One HS 448, 23 mm
Handlebar tape: Velox Tressostar, cotton, white
Bottle cage: Elite Ciussi Inox, stainless steel

Samuel's bike is an off the peg modern frame, and aesthetically I think he has got the build pretty much spot on for that frame. I don't normally like the modern style Shimano road chainsets, but on his bike the silver Shimano chainset looks good.

Thanks! The FC-5600 isn’t as fat and distorted as current Shimano cranks. Those might push the aesthetics over the edge … or still not? It’s hard to say without building a bicycle.

[Samuel D]

By the way, the Nitto stem has a 2 mm lower stack height than the Ritchey. Therefore I had to add a 2 mm spacer to the 10 mm one under the stem. Not the neatest looking result. Anyone know of a 12 mm spacer (silver, 1-1/8") or failing that a pair of 6 mm ones?

I could probably file 2 mm off the steerer tube without noticing the height difference but I’d rather not.

[Brucey]

By the way, the Nitto stem has a 2 mm lower stack height than the Ritchey. Therefore I had to add a 2 mm spacer to the 10 mm one under the stem. Not the neatest looking result. Anyone know of a 12 mm spacer (silver, 1-1/8") or failing that a pair of 6 mm ones?

I could probably file 2 mm off the steerer tube without noticing the height difference but I’d rather not.

you need a friend with a lathe...?

cheers

[geocycle]

By the way, the Nitto stem has a 2 mm lower stack height than the Ritchey. Therefore I had to add a 2 mm spacer to the 10 mm one under the stem. Not the neatest looking result. Anyone know of a 12 mm spacer (silver, 1-1/8") or failing that a pair of 6 mm ones?

I could probably file 2 mm off the steerer tube without noticing the height difference but I’d rather not.

I've done that! I messed up my steerer cut so straightened it up with a file by about 2 mm. The steerer tube is aluminium so didn't take too long.

My next project is lowering my gearing with one of Spa's super compact chainsets (modified triple), you seem to have gone for quite high gears but probably fine in Paris. I found I was not enjoying the really big hills in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District on my audax that I would breeze up on my tourer.

Lovely bike and pictures.

[Samuel D]

If I lived in a hilly place I might want lower gears. It’s fun to see the various builds that people have done with the Spa Audax frame. Feel free to add to this thread with your own!

A friend with a lathe would be a good friend to have.

Thorn does a black 12 mm spacer that I could perhaps render silver … somehow … while keeping the top and bottom faces parallel.

[Brucey]

you can wrap things with aluminium tape to turn them a silver colour if you want.

cheers

[horizon]

The goal was a simple, durable, versatile, easy to maintain, inexpensive, efficient, and elegant machine.

Whoever says that philosophy doesn't underlie bicycle design is wrong. Wonderful.

[PH]

By the way, the Nitto stem has a 2 mm lower stack height than the Ritchey. Therefore I had to add a 2 mm spacer to the 10 mm one under the stem. Not the neatest looking result. Anyone know of a 12 mm spacer (silver, 1-1/8") or failing that a pair of 6 mm ones?

I could probably file 2 mm off the steerer tube without noticing the height difference but I’d rather not.

you need a friend with a lathe...?

cheers

Or just cut down a 20mm one, shouldn't need any special tools, though I like to use pipe cutters on such things.

[geocycle]

I’m beginning to get my spa audax as I want it. The Hope headset was a big step forward but changing the gearing to a spa sub compact 44/28 to match an 11-32 cassette has been a revelation. There are few flat roads round here and constantly changing from large to small chain rings was very irritating, probably as I am so used to a rohloff. With the 44 ring I can stay on that and then only use the small ring when I get to a proper hill. I also now have gearing to get me up the steep hills of the Dales and Lakes.

[pwa]

I love it when people tailor their bikes to their intended use, rather than accepting the compromises of an off-the-peg bike. That bike looks like it has been put together with a clear brief. Very nice.

[geocycle]

I love it when people tailor their bikes to their intended use, rather than accepting the compromises of an off-the-peg bike. That bike looks like it has been put together with a clear brief. Very nice.

Thanks. Yes we all have different uses for our bikes as well as differences caused by where we live and our abilities. I guess that’s why there are always so many varied opinions on the forum.

[PH]

Very nice, both the bike and the scenery. I'd noted your previous mentions of a Spa Audax but hadn't realised you'd gone posh with the ti version. Hope the gearing works out for you, though wouldn't for me, triple and a closer cassette are still me preference.
Only thing I might change on that is the rear light cable, seems to go a long way round, maybe you had your reasons, but other than wanting to use up a whole bag of zip ties I can't think what they'd be