116.547

It has been a while since my last post here, lots of stuff happened in the last year or so. Too much to post about perhaps but mostly good so don't worry, I mostly don't. One of "good" things was a project I had been contemplating for while.

After about 13 years, ~116.547 kilometres , 3 groupsets, 4 wheelsets, numerous chains, cassettes, chainrings, brakepads, brake and gear cables, tires, cleats, shoes, cycling clothes, helmets, my first real mountain climbs, bottles, headunits, bartape, a fork, barstems, seatposts, cyclo's, bearings, not to forget to mention saddles, plenty of crashes, some of my first bikepacking trips, etcetera it was time for a new roadbike. Felicia was a tired old thing. And the only original part is the frame now.

This bike was my first roadbike and has taking me to so many trips around The UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain (including Ibiza & Mallorca) and of course The Netherlands. Almost three times around the world.

One could say it was about time for new roadbike to be sure. A new one that I wanted build from the frame up by myself. Learning as I go, from manuals and videos. Certainly made some mistakes but I learned a lot from that. So besides the cost of a the frame, wheelset, groupset and other items, I also purchases some new tools to be able to put it all together.

In May of this year I got lucky with the last frame in the colour (pink+white) and size (54) I wanted, going back in stock. Meet the bones of my new bike, Standert Kreissäge RS, made of scandium/aluminium.

Of course a bike is nothing without wheels, or pretty much all of the components to be fair. Most of the components:

• Frame: Standert Kreissäge RS (PINK+WHITE)
• Wheels: Hunt 34_34 Aerodynamicist Carbon Disc
• Groupset: SRAM Force AXS E1 / 48-35T x 10-30T / 172.5 with powermeter
• Stem: Deda Superbox V2 / Handlebars: Deda Superzero RS Alloy
• Tires: Corsa Pro 30mm
• Saddle: Specialized Power Arc Expert / Seatpost: Seatpost carbon fibre
  

Not that interesting to most of my readers but I like these kind of details.

One of things I also wanted to try was immersive waxing of the chain. So basically you get new chain, strip the factory grease coating with a ultrasonic cleaner and then you put the chain in a hot bath of special chain wax. Afterwards you let the chain drip dry and cool off before use. You can ride about 500-800 kilometres before you have to repeat the hot bath part. It's a bit more involved then drip wax or lubricating your bikechain but the upside is you drivetrain (all cogs and chain) last much longer, is more efficient and also no greasy black hands while you handle any of the drivetrain parts.

I want to say a special thanks to Eric and mom & dad for making this project possible. The bike has about 800 kilometres on it now. I dubbed her Krysta.