Cameron's Tripster AT - gravel / audax / light tourer build

General Post your ride
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This one has been a while in the making but now all the parts have been ordered and some have arrived, it’s time to start a thread!

I’m building up a Kinesis Tripster AT with the intention of having something comfortable for long rides (including 300+km Audax events), efficient on the road, lighter than a full-on touring bike. The frame can take much fatter tyres than a road bike so there’s room for knobbies on more gravelly days, though I suspect it will spend most of its life running slicks.

First stage is wheel building, which will begin when the spokes arrive. There will be dynamo hub goodness. Of course.


artist’s impression… move over #baaw, we’ve got #baas!


some sweeeeet rims!

Full component list coming later. Anything I need to know when dealing with hydraulic disc brakes? That’s new territory for me. I’ve ordered a bleed kit…

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Nice!

They’re awesome. What brakes though? Where’s that component list already?

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this is a great start! Classy colour on that frame. Looking forward to seeing the build!

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@JP, it’s a really nice paint job. Photos don’t do it justice. Apparently easily scratched, though, so knowing me it won’t stay pretty for long.

Here we go!

Frame: Kinesis Tripster AT, 54cm, blue
Fork: Kinesis Tripster carbon thru-axle fork
Headset: FSA integrated. came with the frameset, have no particular love for FSA but I’m sure it’ll do the job.
Stem: Deda Zero100
Bars: Deda Zero100 compact
Bar tape: Fizik Microtex. comfy, cheap (compared to Lizard Skins), colourful, lasts for ages.
Seatpost: Deda Superzero carbon
Saddle: WTB Volt. no cool points but I find it comfy, plus it’s cheap.
Pedals: Shimano M520 double-sided SPD. again, no cool points here but cheap and they Just Work.

Bottom bracket: Shimano Ultegra, BSA threaded
Chainset: Shimano Ultegra R8000, with 46/34 rings. that’s a CX chainset with the inner ring replaced with a 34T.
Front mech: Shimano Ultegra R8000
Rear mech: Shimano XT M8000 long cage, plus a Wolf Tooth Tanpan 11 to make it work with road levers
Shifters: Shimano RS685 hydraulic. the new R8000 hydraulic isn’t available yet. bike24 and others were expecting stock by end of last week, but now claiming supply delays with no ETA available. the older model is something you can actually buy right now.
Brakes: Shimano RS805 flat-mount hydraulic
Rotors: Shimano XT RT81, 160mm front / 140mm rear. half the price of the “Ultegra” branded ones, presumably more than half as good.
Cassette: Shimano XT 11-42

Rims: H PLUS SON “The Hydra” - 700c, disc-specific, tubeless compatible
Spokes: DT Swiss Competition, standard brass nipples
Front hub: Schmidt SONdelux 12. that’s the centrelock disc, 12mm thru axle version. going all out here due to bad reports about the Shutter Precision thru axle models.
Rear hub: DT Swiss 350 centrelock disc, thru axle, 11 speed road freehub. won’t need a road-compatible hub for my planned usage but nice to have the option.
Front light: Schmidt Edelux II. it’d be rude not to, having got the SON hub. ordered a handlebar mount too, in case a handlebar bag interferes with it when mounted at the fork crown.
Rear light: B&M Secula Plus, mudguard mount. may need help bodging up a bracket for non-mudguard mounting, if I end up not fitting guards.
Dynamo charging device: an Igaro D1 is on my wish list if I decide to go down that path

Tyres: TBC. Probably get a set of Compass Snoqualmie Pass for mostly-road use, if I can squeeze them in under mudguards. Plus something knobby-ish for mostly-dirt rides - Clement X’Plor? Soma Cazadero? Suggestions welcome. Not going tubeless (yet).
Mudguards: TBC. Possibly Velo Orange Zeppelins, possibly none at all
Bottle cages: TBC - may end up with side loading ones for bikepacking luggage
Luggage: TBC. Already have a big bikepacking seat bag and I might accidentally buy some shiny Apidura to finish off the kit when I next visit Commuter Cycles. Otherwise I could fit a rack and Ortliebs (which I also already have) for touring purposes, which is probably more practical for the kind of touring I’m likely to do

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Pretty much any reflector mount will work for this, for mounting to your seat post (or seatstay if you can find a relevant one).

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Bottom bracket: Shimano Ultegra, BSA threaded
Consider BB9000. minimal extra cost, better bearing lifeSpokes: DT Swiss Competition, standard brass nipples
DT Pro Head will sit nicer in the rim, or Sapim Polyax, both have a better profile. Also consider Sapim Race instead of comps if availability is an issue.[b]

Front hub:[/b] Schmidt SONdelux 12. [i]that’s the centrelock disc, 12mm thru axle version. going all out here due to bad reports about the Shutter Precision thru axle models.

[/i]The first SP thru axle hubs were failure prone, current generation seems to have solved that.

Rear hub: DT Swiss 350 centrelock disc, thru axle, 11 speed road freehub. won’t need a road-compatible hub for my planned usage but nice to have the option.
Check flange spacing, if you only ever plan to run “MTB” 11sp cassettes (road 10sp), you might be able to find a hub with wider flanges, stronger wheel. But a 350 is a good hub option.[b]

Front light:[/b] Schmidt Edelux II. it’d be rude not to, having got the SON hub. ordered a handlebar mount too, in case a handlebar bag interferes with it when mounted at the fork crown.
ehhh, don’t discount the IQ- Cyo Premium, or the IQ-X (it’s beam is so good). Try to mount hanging under the bag rack and far forward. Better height than on the bars, and much less wheel shadow than crown. ISO to PM disc adaptors are great for light brackets.[b]

Rear light:[/b] B&M Secula Plus, mudguard mount. may need help bodging up a bracket for non-mudguard mounting, if I end up not fitting guards.
What Jono said[b]

Dynamo charging device:[/b] an Igaro D1 is on my wish list if I decide to go down that path

What about that weird DIY ish thing… forumslader. could fit it in the steerer!
http://www.forumslader.de/automatiklader/

Tyres: TBC. Probably get a set of Compass Snoqualmie Pass for mostly-road use, if I can squeeze them in under mudguards. Plus something knobby-ish for mostly-dirt rides - Clement X’Plor? Soma Cazadero? Suggestions welcome. Not going tubeless (yet).

y u no tubeless? you have the rims, you’ll build them with tubeless tape surely. Heaps of good rubber options these days.

Mudguards: TBC. Possibly Velo Orange Zeppelins, possibly none at all
[b]
!?

Bottle cages:[/b] TBC - may end up with side loading ones for bikepacking luggage

Hack your ST cage mount lower for bag clearance.

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Thanks Blakey. Pretty much all of the components are already in the mail so a bit late for last minute changes. Some of this is still good to know for future though.

Yeah, there’s a tradeoff there. I’d rather have the versatility over the marginal increase in wheel strength. The 11 speed road version of the hub was actually harder to find!

I’m running Cyo Premiums (Cyo Premia? Cyos Premium?) on my other two bikes and very happy with them, and I’m not expecting the Edelux to be noticeably better; it’s possible I did just spend an extra $100 purely for the bling factor. The IQ-X has had a lot of complaints about infant mortality over on YACF so avoiding that until reliability is sorted. Possibly similar to first gen Luxos problems.

No hanging mount because no front rack because no front rack mounts. This is a UK frame so comes from the Carradice tradition of light touring rather than Gilles Berthoud tradition. Any front bag will have to be either bikepacking style or Klickfix style.

Wow, that is impressive. noted

Conservatism and wanting to get the bike rolling first. I know how to tyre with clinchers and there’s enough new-to-me stuff on this build already with the discs and mongrel drivetrain. Also I’d like to try Compass tyres and don’t trust them tubeless. (I’m Heine-curious, not full-Heine-fanboy. Decided no 650b for me either, at least to start with.)

Okay okay I’ll put guards on. I just had a traumatic mudguard experience recently on the Hells500 Ol’ Dirty where my guards were filling up completely with mud. Many lessons learned that day.

The Tripster frame may well be “pre hacked” - it has three bosses on the seat tube giving either a middle or a lower position. Will see how it all fits together with standard cages first.

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Cool, I thought that might be the case.

I wouldn’t tubeless compass tyres either. Not until they publicly state they’ve made a running change to a proper tubeless bead etc. No reason not to use tubeless tape tho, makes seating tyres much easier, tubed or not.

guards comment was a joke :wink: you do you!

I can’t see the 3rd boss on the ST, just a di2 port? (use for a dropper :wink: ) Do you mean the down tube with 3 bosses on the topside? I reckon you could use the lower position on the down tube AND drop the ST bottle mount (top hole in cage bolted to lower hole on frame, lower hole in cage ziptied to frame)

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Ah you got me, it is the down tube not the seat tube with the three bosses. Was about to go and measure clearance with bottles in normal cages and discovered that I have no M5(?) bottle cage bolts lying around. D’oh!

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I know my Barlow Pass weren’t tubeless compatibile, but my Snoqualmie Pass were, and they’re still advertised that way on their website.

No issue with my IQ-X.

Mudguards, I’m using 60mm wide SKS Blumels in shiny black. After multiple sets of mudguards on my Wolverine I’ve settled on these for the best coverage and fitting the frameset.

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Yeah, but what Compass claim and what has been reliable for everyone are not the same thing. Too many horror stories from Compass tubeless for my liking.

Did you notice much difference between the Barlow Pass and Snoqualmie Pass? I may end up getting the former to give me mudguard clearance. (Kinesis claim 40mm max tyres with guards. That looks quite conservative from my rough guesstimation with a measuring tape, but can’t really tell until I get it built up and try.)

60mm guards may also be pushing my luck with this frame. :confused: Only one way to find out for sure.

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Haven’t heard any tubeless horror stories so no biggie for me.

Found there to be more cush in the Snoqualmie, which makes sense due to the size difference. Only issue I’ve had with both tires has been Brisbane roads in the wet on corners. They just slide, which makes for some “oh shit” moments.

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But Jarny goes mtb’ing on them so the must be the best…

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Mtb’ing on wide, dry hardpack gravel roads! When he’s not leaning over on a 45 degree angle cornering on some mountain pass.

I actually have a blue merino jersey. When I bought it, I had no idea that it was basically a Heine trademark. :o

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After some messing around, bike24 have managed to find some RS685 levers and associated brakes for me and have posted them out tonight. With usual Deutsche Post efficiency they should arrive shortly before Christmas (or early October maybe if I’m lucky?). I got parcels from CRC and starbike today, which makes the bike24 order the only thing I’m waiting on.

I’m no master wheel builder, but after a couple of attempts managed to put all the spokes in the right places. Still needs final tensioning and truing.

Mmmm German dynohub. It will be put to good use powering my LED-Scheinwerfer.

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whose are those siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik bikes in the background?! whoaaaaaaaaa. they are so good. omg.

oh, nice wheel.

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I know right. I even heard a rumour there might be a siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik tourer for sale soon :wink:

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i can neither confirm, nor deny this.

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Rear wheel all laced up.

Another question: this bike has internal cable routing which is also a first for me. From what I can see, if I route the brake hoses through the frame completely (which is the only option for hydros - right?!) then I’ll have to internally route the gear inners only, and just run outers from the shifters to where the cables enter the frame, and again for the final segment from frame to rear mech.

Any tips for running the cables through the frame? It looks like it’ll be a right pain, and continue to be a pain every time I replace the gear cable inners.

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Others may have better solutions. Depends if there are internal tubes linking the entry and exit holes. If not, a vacuum cleaner can help get some light string through from one hole to the other. Then use the string to guide the cable housing through. YouTube if my description is shit.