Bike Building
Yes, yes, I know I have been taking my time while building my Factor O2 VAM… I’m sure you’re all running out of patience with me…
I have two reasons for the delay.
Waiting for a bottom bracket to arrive from the US (COVID-19 and customs delays).
Waiting for bearing seals (COVID-19 delays and ‘lost in transit’…)
Working from home has been full-on, and I have to prioritise training over bike-building with the precious time I have.
Thankfully, I have booked some time off work so I can get it finished. I thought I would share my progress so far. I’ll go into the details, I know you love this kind of stuff.
Step 1: Check the frame
Check frame, fork and dropout alignment ✅
Clean with Alcohol ✅
Install bottom bracket ✅
First things first, get the frame and forks out of the box and make sure nothing has been damaged in transit (I was so excited, I think I reached max heart rate). After a thorough inspection, there were no damage or manufacturing defaults. The frameset was immaculate. Factor Bikes wrapped it up so well, I think It would have taken all the weights on Sir Chris Hoy’s squat-rack to crack anything.
I locked a wheel in the dropouts and gave it a spin. The frame was truer than the heart and loyalty of super-domestique, Matt Hayman.
I gave the whole frame a good clean with alcohol, not just due to COVID-19 precautions, but to make sure it was free of contaminants, grease and oil before I installed the headset and glued-in the bottom bracket.
Ah, yes… the bottom bracket.
A friend and fellow Campagnolo user recommended that I use a BBInfinate bottom bracket, as my VAM was designed to take the BBRight press-fit system, as does his Cervelo. He had a hard time with the Campy cups, due to the dreaded press-fit ‘creaking’, after some research, he came across BBInfinate; who use a single sheath, rather than two cups - eliminating the ‘creak’ caused by micro-misalignment.
Factor bottom bracket shells are engineered to precision, so if anything is creaking, it’s due to the installation or the cups themselves. I think a one-piece bottom bracket is a far better design than two cups, so I ordered one from America. A frame of this calibre deserves the best, so I’m not cutting any corners.
The BBInfinate BB also removes the need for the Campagnolo Ultra-Torque ‘wavy washer’, which absorbs intolerances and misalignments, as well as the drive-side bearing clip. Instead of clipping the bearing in place - you glue it. It may sound scary mixing glue and CeramicSpeed bearings, but it makes perfect sense (if performed correctly).
“Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.”
BBInfinate understood the problem with press-fit cups and did something about it. Fingers crossed that It works (It fucking better, I had to wait weeks for it to arrive) and I don’t glue my CeramicSpeed bearings together, I’m not sure that would save any watts…
Step 2: Rotational parts
Install cranks and CeramicSpeed 6805N bearings
Install pedals
Install headset ✅
Size and install the fork into the head tube ✅
I am waiting for some bearing seals to arrive before I can install the cranks. I ordered some, they sent me the wrong ones, I sent them back, they lost the new ones in the post, blah, blah, blah. They aren’t completely necessary, it’s just another layer of protection between road grit/spray and my beautiful CeramicSpeed bearings, so I will feel al lot better with them on.
The VAM’s integrated headset is just about the easiest headset I have ever installed. I still use threaded headsets on my steel bikes and threadless systems on the others - this is by far the simplest. I like ‘simple’, it works far better than ‘complicated’. True design is about what you can remove, not what you can add.
I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t looking forward to cutting the fork steerer. While holding a hacksaw in one hand and my fork in the other (the most advanced piece of carbon fibre engineering the cycling world has ever seen), I felt like the 2008 Festina team waiting for WADA to arrive with their results.
I had a quick word with myself:
“Gareth, you are cutting a straight line through a cylinder. Measure twice, cut once.”
Step 3: Gears and cockpit
Install bars into the stem and ‘snug’ bar bolts ✅
Install rear derailleur ✅
Install front derailleur ✅
Install levers ✅
Adjust stem and bars
Install brake cables ✅
Install gear cables
I popped some JRC Ceramic jockey wheels into my rear derailleur. Yes, ceramic jockey wheels. No, not for the ‘watt saving’, but because these JRC Jockey Wheels are inexpensive, smooth and are far more durable than the standard-issue bushings on most derailleurs.
Bushings are useless. If you can, treat yourself to some jockey wheels with sealed bearings, they will last for years. Ceramic jockey wheels have to be the most expensive ‘performance upgrade’ with the smallest return. Don’t buy them for speed, buy them for durability. If you are time trialling at a national level, perhaps the oversized pulley systems with ceramic bearings are a worthwhile ‘speed upgrade’.
Bushings don’t live up to today’s standard.
Step 4: Wheels and adjustments
Check true of both wheels ✅
Install cassette ✅
Install tyres and tube ✅
Install and adjust front and rear brakes ✅
Install rear wheel
Install front wheel
Limit front and rear derailleur
Install and size chain
Adjust front and rear derailleur
The Black Inc 30s with CeramicSpeed bearing run true and are smooth as silk. I’m running a 29 x 11 cassette because It offers a versatile range of gears, 28mm tyres to help absorb the ‘heavy’ pot-hole infested roads of Britain and the Cane Creek ee direct mount brakes (which are stunning and weigh nothing).
Step 5: Finishing kit
Install saddle on the seat post
Install seat post into the frame and adjust the saddle position
Bartape
Until my bearing seals arrive, I can’t make much more progress.
The anticipation will make the first ride even better.
Gareth.
Pro-tip: Put an elastic band over your levers while threading cables.