Mega for a Mega (LAST UPDATE BEFORE BUILD)

Well, I had a visit from the postman




Not overly impressed with CRC's packaging to be fair.. It all looked like it had just been chucked in a big box and thrown on the back of a delivery van. I thought a bit of care would have been nice.. Anyway, the stuff inside the box is all spot-on.

SRAM X1 11 speed chain with black and silver links looks really nice (might actually look after this one and treat it to oil now n then)





The cassette is another X1 component! I bought the X1 over the XX1 simply because I wanted the black colour. The XX1 cassette is a work of art though, cut from a single lump of metal. No joins or rivets, it's just 1 piece. Back to my X1 cassette, phwoooaaaaaarr






The cranks are carbon fibre, you can see the weave in the picture. I went for GXP over BB30 due to there being almost no good BB30 bottom brackets. Most are unreliable (bearings wise) and almost all suffer from creaking.. My 456 has a 30mm spindle cranks and suffers from creaking even though I fitted what is considered one of the better BB's.




The chainring is a SRAM XX1 component and has 36 teeth. Very strange profile to the teeth but it seems to work a treat. 




SRAM XX1 trigger shifter. By far the best part of the lot for me. Superb feel to it quality wise. Even the inner cable is black, happy accident. Carbon fibre here and there and the lower lever is reach adjustable. I've never used SRAM before so not sure if that's the norm but, it was a surprise to me. It came with inner cable, outer cable (take note Shimano) bar clamp and other bits and bobs.. 








The SRAM XX1 rear mech looks stunning. Fairly big and with a strange shape/form to it. The jockey wheels are both profiled and a lot bigger than I'm used to with Shimano XT etc. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it performs.




Sorry if I've bored you too much.. This will be the last update for a while as I won't be buying any more parts until after Christmas..

£722.44 in total for what you see in the pictures.

It brings the total cost so far upto £2112.94

Got £15 off from CRC for Black Friday.

Was hoping for more of a discount but still happy with the price.

Keep an eye on the pedal inserts on the crank arms a lot of people have complained about them coming loose... And the pedals falling off.. But you only weigh 11kgs..

That's with your camelpak full of pasties!

Very purrdy gear that - loving the black cassette - that'd look good on my bike 
It's gonna be a stunner when it's built.

The size of the thing is ridiculous haha. The big sprocket is like a footing dinner plate!

Well, you've denied me a pussy cog related piss taking session by running a 36t chainring - that certainly offsets the dinner plate pussy cog!

Fair play young 'un.

Gotta be a stealth . I can't believe how one cable can totally ruin the bike for me. I'm not usually ocd but I really dislike the dropper cable sticking out

I'll be going for a Reverb stealth, mate.. Really like the look of the NP post but I've got routing for a stealth so may aswell use it.

The chainring is mainly black but it does have bits of silver on it around the mounting points. I think when fitted to the crank, it'll look ok. The cranks have bits of silver on also and the spider is silver.

I've never built a bike for weight reason and this one is no different lol. I've no idea how much any of this stuff weighs but, out of interest, I may take it to work when it's finished and chuck it on the scales.. Then again, I've been saying that about my 456 since I finished building it and still haven't been arsed haha

There is no way I could ride a 1 x 11 bike with a 32t ring. 34, maybe! I had a 36 on my 2012 Mega with an 11-36 cassette and had no problems with anything but the biggest of hills!
I'll see what the gearing feels like but haven't ruled out swapping for a 38t chainring. I know it may go against the 1 x 11 philosophy but I don't want climbs to be really easy. I don't want to be pedalling up a climb and it feeling like I'm pedalling on the flat... If that makes sense!?  

I can't keep buying stuff mate.. As much as I'd like too!
I'm pretty sure the boy wouldn't appreciate BOS suspension as much as he would the stoopid electric stunt scooter he wants!

That, my boy, is my idea of biking heaven