Saturday, October 20, 2018

Fabike C3: Brake Calipers and SKS Mudguards

On this new Fabike C3 frameset, the brake caliper mounting is the Flat Mount type, which is neater than the older Post Mount or IS Mount types. I first used this Flat Mount type on the Canyon Endurace, which is well suited for road bikes due to the cleaner appearance.

Instead of getting new brake calipers, I decided to reuse the stock brake calipers that came on the Canyon Endurace. These are the non series Flat Mount brake calipers, the BR-RS805.

Flat Mount front brake calipers are easy to install, as the adapter is the same for both 140mm or 160mm rotors. Also, only one bolt length is needed. More details in this post.

As for rear Flat Mount caliper brakes, the bolt length is important, as it needs to pass through two holes on the frame. The depth of the holes can vary greatly between different frame makers, which is why different length of bolts may be needed for different frames, even though the brake caliper is the same.

The default bolt length that is included with the brake caliper is 38mm, which is designed for frames that have a hole depth of 25mm. On the Canyon Endurace, I think it uses the standard bolt length, so I had no problem using the default bolt that was included with the brake calipers.

However, the Fabike C3 brake mounting is much thinner, at only about 7mm. This is even thinner than the 10mm frame thickness which uses the shortest 23mm bolt. Therefore, I needed to get the shortest bolt and still add spacers.

Thickness of  brake mount for rear Flat Mount brake calipers is only about 7mm.

According to this table, there are recommended bolt lengths for different frame thicknesses. Also, the protrusion should be about 13mm.

The only way to get these kind of small parts easily is online. It comes in a single pack, so I needed to get two of these.

The new 2 x 23mm bolts, for 10mm frame thickness.

As you can see, these are not just normal bolts, or I can just use any other standard bolt. That will work, but standard bolts don't have the cutout at the end of the bolt as shown above. This cutout is for the spring pin to lock to, as a secondary safety catch, in case the bolts loosen from the mount.

These two 23mm bolts are to fix the brake adapter to the frame, while another set of bolts is needed to fix the adapter to the brake caliper. Note that this brake adapter is only required if you are using a 160mm brake rotor on the rear. If you are mounting a smaller 140mm brake rotor on the rear, the bolts above will just thread directly into the rear brake caliper.

Since I am using 160mm rotors on both front and rear, I will need to get an adapter, which is not included with the frame or the brake caliper.

Rear Flat Mount brake adapter for 160mm rotors, with the associated hardware. This adapter will be attached directly to the brake caliper.

Testing the fitting of the bolts, adapter, and brake caliper on the frame. The part of the bolt that sticks out will have a spring clip on it. Also note that I added 2mm of washers on the bolt, as even this short bolt is too long.

Weight of rear brake caliper, including the adapter and the new bolts is 162 grams.

Weight of front brake caliper, with the 140/160mm adapter and the bolts is 156 grams.

In order to get a rough estimate of the bike weight, I decided to measure the weight of the other brake parts, such as the brake hose, the hydraulic fluid, and the small parts such as the connecting bolt, the inserts, the olives.

Weight of other brake components is 120 grams, but final weight after cutting the hose, eliminating the bottle and excess fluid weight, it should be around 100 grams.

This Fabike C3 is meant to be an all-weather commuting bike, which means that full length mudguards are needed for riding in the rain. Instead of reusing the old set of mudguards from the Avanti Inc 3, I decided to get a new set. Besides, the length of the old mudguard stays are probably too short for the new frame since they have already been cut before.

Based on the tire width, there are different mudguard widths to match. The tires are Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tires, which are labeled as 700x28C tires. However, the actual width is about 31-32mm when mounted on the rims, which means that I needed to select the correct mudguard based on the actual tire width.

Based on the table shown below, I will need to get the mudguard that is 45mm wide, to match these tires. More pictures of the new mudguards shown below!

New SKS Bluemels mudguards for the Fabike C3!

Table showing recommended mudguard size for different tire widths.

The mudguards come with a lot of assorted hardware, but I estimate that these are the ones that I will need to use.

Weight of these hardware plus the mudguards is 549 grams. This is before cutting of the metal stays to the actual length.

New mudguards has a different mounting method, which makes it much easier to install and adjust than the previous version. New version on the left.

New version allows the nut to be adjusted from the outside, as compared to the previous design where the nut is inside, and makes it very difficult to adjust.

My worry was that these mudguards, being 45mm wide, may not fit into the Fabike C3 frame. Although the frame and fork is designed for mudguards, I am not sure how much the allowable clearance is. With this new set of mudguards, I can test it out, and hope that it fits!

Mudguards between the rear seat stays. Should be able to fit...

Mudguards between the rear chain stays. As there is no mounting point on the frame at this area, the mudguard will just hang free, wedged between the chain stays.

The only way to see if these mudguards will fit is to try it with the wheels. Hopefully there is sufficient clearance between the frame and the tires to fit these mudguards!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Every comment is moderated before publishing due to spam bots. If you don't see your comment yet, it is likely that it is currently being reviewed. Thank you for your patience!