XC Racer - BB30 Bolt Replacement

During the Whyte 20-CS xc racer build I mentioned that the self extracting bolt looked like it might be damaged and this did indeed turn out to be the case.  When I started to tighten the cranks up to the specified torque the effort dropped off suddenly and it was clear the bolt had pulled through the crank arm. 

The bolt in question can be seen in the diagram below, which is taken from the FSA BB30 Installation manual and can be found at the link below:

https://www.bike-components.de/bedienungsanleitungen/2011/fsa/atb/mtb_bb30_detailed_instructions.pdf

Exploded diagram of the cranks from the FSA Installation Instructions

The self extracting bolt, or BB30 Crank Bolt as FSA refer to it in the figure above, is top hat in section, and the brim of the top hat was the area that had failed.  Usually this type of bolt is steel but this FSA version is a very lightweight alloy, something like ZAMAK, which is light and dimensionally accurate as a material but has a high air content and prone to crumbling, which had happened in this instance.  The Bolt has a 10mm Allen head and the top hat section contacts the crank arm and drives it along the splines of the spindle as the bolt is rotated.  This part was most likely over-torqued causing the in-expensive bolt to fail rather than the much more expensive crank arm.

The old bolt can be seen below on the left next to the new replacement bolt.

The replacement bolt was bought from Triton Cycles, link below.

http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/components-c9/crank-spares-c186/fsa-bb30-crank-bolt-p5253

XC Racer - the Reveal

The bike is finished, well a bike is rarely ever finished so more accurately, the build is finished.

Jobs left to do are tune the gears, setting the air in the forks and re-mounting the tyres tubeless.  Once those tasks are done I will get out and report back on the ride, but for now here are some pictures and the final spec.

I've always preferred a smaller bike so plenty of seatpin is great for me

Whyte did a brilliant job with the colour scheme - love red white and black on a bike

This shot just makes me want to jump on and hit the dirt

The bars, grips, stem and XX levers go well with the frame and forks

The fork decals are definitely more orange but it works

They were totally budget driven - but the cranks suit the bike well

I would have preferred SRAM but as ever the Shimano kit fits well and works perfectly

Rocket Ron - the "do it all" UK tyre choice

Big beefy bottom bracket area and BB30 crank bearings

From a different era - but the Bontrager Race Lite wheels look great

Love the XX brakes - look the business and super light

Not usually a fan of factory finishing kit but Whyte have done a great job on the stem

So far it looks super fast, I'm really pleased with it and it definitely looks the business - which passes my first test criteria.  From a few pedals around the car park the brakes feel super grabby and the ride is really nimble - I can't wait to show it some trails and see how she performs on some proper single track.  

Build Spec

Frame: 2012 Whyte 20-CS Full Carbon Uni-directional Multi Monoque, full carbon dropouts

Forks: RockShox SID RLT, 100mm Travel, Remote Poploc

Bars: Race Face XC Low Rise

Stem: Whyte Custom70mm

Headset: FSA Integrated, Orbit ZS Plus, 1 1/8" - 1 1/2" Sealed Cartridge Bearing

Grips: Prologo Feather Lock-on White

Front Brake Lever: SRAM XX

Front Caliper: SRAM XX

Front Disc: Avid HSX 180mm

Rear Brake Lever: SRAM XX

Rear Caliper: SRAM XX

Rear Disc: Avid HSX 160mm

Shifters: Shimano SLX 3 x 9

Cables: Clarks Sealed

Front Mech: Shimano XT

Rear Mech: Shimano XT

Saddle: Selle Italia X1

Seat Post: Whyte Custom 2014 Alloy, 27.2mm x 400mm, 2 bolt clamp

Seat Post Clamp: Whyte

Cranks: FSA Afterburner BB30 175

Chainring(s): FSA Afterburner BB30

Chain: KMC X10SL-Gold

Cassette: Shimano SLX

Pedals: Shimano M-520 SPD

Bottom Bracket: FSA Afterburner BB30

Wheelset: Bontrager Race Lite DT Swiss Onyx Hubs

Tubes: Continental

Tyres: Schwalbe Rocket Ron Evo 

Accessories: 

None (yet)

Weight: sub 11kg (est)

Project XC Racer - Cable Routing

Building the Whyte 20-CS went pretty easily, but the one thing I tangled myself up a bit with was the gear cable routing.  The first thing to stump me was the cable brackets themselves.  As fitted to the frame when I received it (admittedly second hand) they have a wider diameter on the RHS (Right Hand Side) of the bike (LHS as viewed from the front of the bike).  The second was which side the cables should run, the convention would be the rear deraillieur cable down the left to allow a nice smooth curve to the cable from the right hand shifter, and vice versa for the front dérailleur - but at first look this wouldn't work.  As I bought the frame used, I decided to crack on and try to figure these things out for myself.

My first thought was that the wider diameter clamp was for the rear brake as the hydraulic line has a wider diameter, however I quickly ruled this out as the rear brake has it's own dedicated run underneath the down tube, and with the rear calliper mount between the chainstay it couldn't run any other way.  My final thought on the bracket was that it had been designed this way to allow a 1 x 10 set up with the vacated clamp for the front dérailleur used to run the hydraulic line for a dropper post. 

For the gear cable routing, the conventional routing made the curve around the seat tube for the front dérailleur very tight.  I had researched lots of images, as well as the Whyte 2012 catalogue to see what other bikes were built with.  Though there aren't too many Whyte 20-C's out there, I found several examples but even across the range in the catalogue from Whyte, there wasn't a consistent majority for any one set up.

What I found to suit the frame best was running the front deraillieur cable down the RHS of the bike and the rear deraillier down the LHS with a crossover between the second and third clamps and both cables running round the RHS of the seatpost.  This can be seen in the image from the Whyte 2012 20-C page on the Whyte website.

http://whyte.bike/2012/bike_page.php?ModNo=W-1-008-12

Whyte 20-CS Cable Routing

Whyte 20-C Cable Routing

Conventional Routing but with both cables on the RHS of the seat tube

Whyte 20-CS Cable Routing

Whyte 20-C Routing and Preferred Option

For now I am going to go with the routing from the 20-C on the Whyte website, but will see if I can contact Whyte or one of their distributors to see if they can help.