True Monstercross?

Singular · 07-08-2009

My bike with some very 'cross influenced new wheels. Damn they are fast and stiff.

Singular Gryphon frameset
Reynolds Carbon rims on Tune hubs, CX Ray spokes
Dugast 700x45 tubular tyres
Campagnolo Centaur Carbon cranks
WTB Dirt Drop (old style) bars
Campagnolo Carbon record levers
Avid BB7 Road
Thomson post, Control Tech stem
SSM Zoncolan saddle

CB2 · 07-08-2009

Damn Sam! Charlie Likey.

highroller · 07-08-2009

holysheeet, that looks fun to ride.
nice.

poppy · 07-08-2009

Great looking bike Sam,
This one got me thinking... but maybe first I should rescue my Peregrine from the sticky fingers of the local customs people

umarth · 07-08-2009

That is friggin' nice. Every Singular bike turns out sexy.

~martini~ · 07-08-2009

Cushy and fast. Saw the tires on flickr and knew you had something up your sleeve. Looks Great!

MMcG · 07-08-2009

Oh baby that's sweet!

byknuts · 07-08-2009

soooooooooooo purdy...
been eyeballing the gryphon recently.

it's what I've been turning my steamroller into slowly but surely...
might replace the steam'r and the k-monkey at once.

N10S · 07-08-2009

Good looking bike! Tall head tube makes the drops sit just right. I had a pair of those original WTB dirt drops and should have kept them. Sometimes the originals are hard to beat..

byknuts · 07-08-2009

any chance of convincing the singular clan to swap the colour scheme...
the bugatti blue is beautiful, would think that blue with the ivory logo panel instead of the ivory with blue panel would be a stunner!

just my 2 pence!

Ze_Zaskar · 07-09-2009

That's...sweet!
I noticed you'r not running dropbars on your swift anymore. Got tired of them?

bobbotron · 07-09-2009

Oh my, that bike is soo fantastic. That is ridiculous. The best part is the Dugast tires and the carbon rims. I have to close this page now, or my browser may catch fire.

artnshel · 07-09-2009

There is a lot to like about that bike.

miles e · 07-09-2009

Lovely.

Does anyone make a clincher tire similar to those Dugasts (i.e. CX racing tread, 40-45mm wide)?

justinb · 07-09-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by miles e

Lovely.

Does anyone make a clincher tire similar to those Dugasts (i.e. CX racing tread, 40-45mm wide)?

These have worked out pretty well for me in mixed pave/trail riding, and they absolutely own gravel roads. As an added plus, they are usually super cheap from Nashbar or Cambria or similar. EDIT: I should add though, that the one actual CX racing lap I did with them as on my pit wheels was so horribly slow and draggy through the grass that I almost gave up the sport. That probably isn't true of the Dugasts.

Also, Ritchey makes the Speedmax in a 40 now.

seat_boy · 07-09-2009

What's up with eyelets on the fork, but not the seatstays? I'd like to see 'em in both locations. You'd think you Brits would know all about fenders (translation: mudguards) by now...

Guitar Ted · 07-09-2009

Ahh............skinwall tires. I kind of miss that look.

I hear you'll be testing out a new drop bar.

KeylessChuck · 07-09-2009

So... How was it on the trials course?

Singular · 07-15-2009

Thanks for the flattering comments guys, it's certainly been a blast to ride.

So a bit of an update now I have some time on the wheels. I raced them last weekend during 10 at Kirroughtree in Scotland as part of the Singular trio - thanks to Fraser and the No Fuss team for a wonderful event. It's not an easy 'highway' course by any stretch. Probably over 90% singletrack, lots of rocks, some very fun snakey bits, and a few tough but short climbs. I rode the bike precisely set up as shown above.

The wheels really blew me away. I'd had a few short spins before then, and they felt very fast. I took the bike out for a lap Friday to determine whether I was confident enough in the wheels (or rather tyres) on the course. Normally Steve 'The Ringer' Webb pulls away from me rapidly up, down, or on the flat. He did not do it quite so quickly on this lap.

For such a skinny tyre the grip is really incredible. Looking down at something so anaemic doesn't exactly inspire confidence. However when you're riding you forget about looking at the tyre, focus on the trail, and just see how far they will go. They stick - hard. The combination of a supremely supple casing and very soft rubber compound gives surprisingly tenacious grip.

Climbing the wheels really just fly. Weight is not really so much less than my other race wheels (DT 240s, CX Ray, Stans 355, Maxxis Crossmark tubeless), the most noticeable thing is the stiffness. It's as though all your effort is immediately transferred into forward momentum. On both sustained climbs and short sharp rises the reaction is just immediate and the feeling is one of incredible efficiency.

One more surprising area where the improved stiffness is very noticeable is in steering response. Precise is the word. Reaction to steering input is just immediate, I found myself over steering on a number of occasions, but I could also correct it mid-turn and adjust my line as necessary.

Overall, if you are after a money-no-object pair of pure race wheels I'd find these (or something similar) very hard to go past. For more regular use where punctures and tyre interchangeability is more of a consideration, a carbon rim like this which works flawlessly tubeless I think would be just about perfect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by byknuts

any chance of convincing the singular clan to swap the colour scheme...

Nope, will be keeping distinct paint schemes for each different model. For production these will be a slightly deeper shade of ivory than that seen here, british racing green panel with deep red logo. We can always supply decals and paint codes if you must have it re-painted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ze_Zaskar

I noticed you'r not running dropbars on your swift anymore. Got tired of them?

No, just that now I have the Gryphon as a drop barred bike I've been using my Swift with flat bars, bar ends and a suspension fork.

Quote:

Originally Posted by miles e

Does anyone make a clincher tire similar to those Dugasts (i.e. CX racing tread, 40-45mm wide)?

Quite a few things - the Mythos Slick shown above, Maxxis Hookworm, Panaracer Fire 700x45, Bonty XDX 1.8", and I'm sure there are others in the same sort of territory. They won't ride like a Dugast though ;-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by seat_boy

What's up with eyelets on the fork, but not the seatstays? I'd like to see 'em in both locations. You'd think you Brits would know all about fenders (translation: mudguards) by now...

It's a prototype, production frames won't have any mudguard or fender mounts, we have the Peregrine for touring. And I'm not British.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitar Ted

Ahh............skinwall tires. I kind of miss that look.

I hear you'll be testing out a new drop bar.

Yes, the skinwalls are a big part of the attraction ;-)
Just had the bars through - they look quite nice. Will post some pics once I get them mounted up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeylessChuck

So... How was it on the trials course?

Awesome - wheel stiffness helped my kick hops a lot!

byknuts · 07-15-2009

you running the roadie version of those bb7's with the v version of the dropbar levers?

Britney Spears · 07-15-2009

The cable pull of the Campagnolo levers is compatible with the road version of the avids, since they are originally designed to be used on road bikes.

byknuts · 07-15-2009

question should've been better phrased as "does campy have a v-compatible version of their brake levers and if so is that the version you're running with the avid road bb's?"
(as rumours circulate that v-compatible levers allied with road-compatible calipers gives a good dollop of extra power and modulation?)

quick look at their site reveals the answer is no, they don't!

alpka · 07-15-2009

How did the chainline work out with the centaur cranks? I am chainline ignorant and have a set of double centaur cranks on a roadbike I was thinking about using on a SS crosser.

Singular · 07-15-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by byknuts

question should've been better phrased as "does campy have a v-compatible version of their brake levers and if so is that the version you're running with the avid road bb's?"
(as rumours circulate that v-compatible levers allied with road-compatible calipers gives a good dollop of extra power and modulation?)

The rumours (if they have any sense) should run to the contrary. Road/traditional pull levers pull less cable and thus have greater mechanical advatage. MTN cable disc calipers have a longer actuation lever and also greater mechanical advantage. Pair the two together and you potentially have one very powerful brake. However there are two issues - 1. pad clearance, I've never been able to get this set up to work without dragging. 2. housing compression, with so much mechanical advantage at both ends of the system you generate a huge amount of strain on the cable and housing - so much so that you get a lot of compression and a very 'spongy' feel at the lever. Long pull ('v') levers and a road caliper is going to end up with very low mechanical advantage, a wooden feel, and limited power. So yes, I use BB7 road calipers with Campag road levers - they work very well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpka

How did the chainline work out with the centaur cranks?

Haven't measured it but it's pretty tight. Cross bike should be fine but for an mtb you may find chanstay learance for the end of the crankarms (aand potentially the chainrings) an issue.

Guitar Ted · 07-15-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Singular

The rumours (if they have any sense) should run to the contrary. Road/traditional pull levers pull less cable and thus have greater mechanical advatage. MTN cable disc calipers have a longer actuation lever and also greater mechanical advantage. Pair the two together and you potentially have one very powerful brake. However there are two issues - 1. pad clearance, I've never been able to get this set up to work without dragging. 2. housing compression, with so much mechanical advantage at both ends of the system you generate a huge amount of strain on the cable and housing - so much so that you get a lot of compression and a very 'spongy' feel at the lever. Long pull ('v') levers and a road caliper is going to end up with very low mechanical advantage, a wooden feel, and limited power. So yes, I use BB7 road calipers with Campag road levers - they work very well.

The answer to that conundrum is to use a compressionless housing like Nokon and be very precise in your set up. I have used old Shimano SLR aero levers and BB-7 mountain brakes with great success with Nokon housings.

I agree with your asessment of the carbon wheels. It matches up with my experiences on Edge carbon fiber clinchers rather well.

And for what it is worth, I love the colors of the Gryphon. Very tempting rig. I just may have to replace my aging Karate Monkey with one of those when they become available.