Specialized Aethos: Outdoor Pictures

With all the planned modifications completed on the Specialized Aethos, this post will show the new bike at various outdoor locations. The special paint job on the frame and fork looks outstanding in the sun!

Metallic flakes in this champagne coloured paint is awesome. Looks just as good as the paint job on the Cervelo Aspero.

Shimmers beautifully under sunlight.

With the Dura-Ace C36 wheelset, at the top of Lorong Sesuai. Climbs really well!

Specialized Aethos: Weight of Accessories and Tool Kit

Although the Specialized Aethos is a very lightweight road bike, the reality is that some accessories need to be added to the bike in order to make it more practical. 

Bottle cages and lights are necessary, as well as some simple tools to fix a puncture. You can always leave out some of these items, but there is a risk that you might get stranded if you can't fix a puncture yourself.

In this post, the weight of the bike accessories will be measured, to see how much weight is added onto a bare bicycle.

Specialized Zee Cage II side load bottle cage. A bit heavier as it is made of plastic instead of carbon fibre.

Generic carbon fibre bottle cage. Reason I got this is due to the gap between the two screw holes that allows an Airtag holder to be slotted in between.

Topeak Saw Guide and Park Tool Hack Saw

Here is a tool that I don't use often, but good to have when I actually need it. It is a saw guide and a hack saw for cutting handlebars, seat posts or steerer tubes. In fact, it can be used to cut any cylindrical material as well.

Previously I have always borrowed these tools when I needed them, but I decided to get one set for myself, when I started to build the Specialized S-Works Aethos.

The saw guide requires a bench vise to hold it in place, and I did not have one previously. Now, with my own workbench and bench vise, I can use a saw guide at home.

There are different brands of saw guides, but I eventually decided to get this Topeak Saw Guide, as it has a feature that other models do not have.

It has an interchangeable saw guide spacer, which is used to control the gap of the saw guide. This is necessary because of different materials to be cut. For aluminium or steel, a normal flat saw blade is used. However, for cutting carbon, a special wider saw blade is needed. This means a wider gap is required to guide the blade properly.

Topeak Threadless Saw Guide. The threadless probably refers to threadless steerer tubes, instead of the old threaded type.

Specialized Aethos: XTR M9100 SPD Pedals

I have been using SPD pedals with cage for a long time, ever since my first SPD pedal PD-A530. Based on what I understand, the pedal cage around the outer perimeter of the pedal helps to keep the foot on the pedal, when you are not clipped in securely yet. If there is no pedal cage, there is only a small contact area on the pedal, which may allow your foot to slip if you missed clipping in.

Another reason for having a pedal cage is to allow pedaling when not using SPD shoes, as the wider platform allows sufficient grip even when not clipped in.

Then, I had the chance to test the Garmin Rally XC200 power meter SPD pedals. These pedals do not have a pedal cage.

During that time, I realized that despite the absence of the pedal cage, my foot did not slip off the pedal. Also, from my observation, the front and rear of the pedal cage actually does not touch the shoe at all. 

My conclusion was that if I only plan to ride the bike using SPD cycling shoes, the pedal cage is unnecessary as it does not provide any additional support or grip. I have used so many different XTR and Deore XT trail pedals prior to this.

The Specialized Aethos is such a bike, where I will likely ride the bike only with SPD shoes and with full cycling attire. Therefore, I decided to get a MTB SPD pedal without the pedal cage in order to minimize the weight of the bike. One of the lightest one that I can find is the XTR PD-M9100, while the Trail version is PD-M9120.

PD-M9120 Trail pedals on the left, M9100 Race spec on the right.

XTR PD-M9100 pedals with no pedal cage!

Specialized Aethos: Dura-Ace C50 vs C36 Wheelset

Although the Specialized Aethos build has been completed as shown in the previous post, I am still looking for areas where it can be optimized. One of that was the wheelset that is on this bike.

For this Aethos, the priority was on building a lightweight bike, which is why I chose the Dura-Ace C36 wheelset. Using a lower profile carbon wheelset will save some weight over a higher profile wheelset.

I also have the Dura-Ace C50 wheelset which is used on the Focus Paralane all-weather commuting road bike.

Specialized Aethos with C36 wheelset on top, Focus Paralane with the C50 wheelset below.

Specialized Aethos: Assembly Part 3

Finally, the Specialized Aethos has been completed! I started from the bare frame and fork, and assembled every component myself. The assembly was started with Part 1 and Part 2, and Part 3 will show the completed bike.

This bike is equipped with the full Dura-Ace Di2 12 speed groupset, except for the crankset which is the older R9100 11 speed version.

Final part of the assembly is to install the bar tape. Shown here is the PRO Sport Control bar tape, which weighs about 70 grams per pair.

Exposed hydraulic hose routing, but no Di2 wires. I prefer this to routing the hoses internally through the headset.

Specialized Aethos: Assembly Part 2 with Dura-Ace Di2 12 Speed Components

With the bottom bracket issue settled, now I can continue to assemble the Specialized Aethos. For the components, I am mostly using the Dura-Ace R9270 components which were previously installed on the Focus Paralane. I decided to use the Dura-Ace components on this Aethos, while I will install a new set of Ultegra 12 speed components on the Focus Paralane instead.

Dura-Ace Di2 RD-R9250 12 speed rear derailleur.

Specialized Aethos: Tripeak Ceramic Bottom Bracket and Dura-Ace Crankset

In the previous post, I had already started the assembly of the Specialized Aethos. After assembling the fork and headset area, I continued by testing the bottom bracket.

Normally I would not install the bottom bracket first, as the internal cabling needs to be done before that. However, since this Aethos frame uses a threaded bottom bracket instead of a press fit type, it is easy to install and test to see if it fits well. It can be removed easily just by unscrewing the bottom bracket from the frame.

During this test installation, I found that the Dura-Ace R9100 bottom bracket does not spin well at all. There was a lot of resistance, which prevented the crankset from even spinning one round when I spun it by hand.

In the end I decided to give up on using the Dura-Ace bottom bracket, as the rotation feeling is just too poor. Instead, I decided to go for a smoother spinning bottom bracket, of which there are many other options.

I considered the Hambini bottom bracket, but the price of SGD 450 for a single bottom bracket is too much for me to accept. I looked for alternatives, such as the Ascent Revolution BB, but that was a bit heavy.

In the end I decided to try this Tripeak BB with ceramic bearings, which is not too expensive at around SGD 100, while being lighter than the Ascent Revolution BB. The reason I chose the ceramic version is not for smoother operation, as at such low rotation speeds, using steel or ceramic bearings make no difference. Rather, the reason is that ceramic balls are a little bit lighter than steel balls.

Tripeak bottom bracket for 68 mm English threaded frames, and for 24 or 22 mm spindles.

Specialized Aethos: Assembly Part 1 with Dura-Ace R9100 Bottom Bracket

With all the various parts of the Specialized Aethos collected, it is now ready to be assembled. Normally I would start with the assembly of the fork to the frame, and this will involve cutting the steerer tube to the required length.

Installing the super lightweight expander plug inside the Aethos fork.

Specialized Aethos: PRO Stealth Team Saddle + Camera Mount

A new saddle is needed for the Specialized Aethos, as it is an additional bike to my bike stable. Normally if I am replacing a bike, I will just transfer the saddle from the existing bike over to the new bike.

As you may already know, I am very comfortable with the PRO Stealth series of saddles, ever since I did a proper bike fitting at LOUE Bicycles. In fact, I bought many PRO Stealth saddles to replace most of my existing saddles.

The first Stealth saddle that I got was the PRO Stealth Superlight, which is found on the Focus Paralane all-weather commuting bike. Subsequently I also changed to the PRO Stealth Off-Road saddle on the Cervelo Aspero gravel bike and also the Fnhon DB11/12 folding bike.

Although there are many other saddles that are lighter than the PRO Stealth series, comfort and compatibility is more important. I would not want a superlight saddle that looks good but is not as comfortable. Therefore there was no doubt that I would get another PRO Stealth saddle for the Specialized Aethos.

Some additions to the PRO Stealth saddle lineup included the Stealth Team saddle, which is also a lightweight saddle that is different from the original Superlight model. This new model looks more appealing to me as it costs less, although it does weigh a little bit more. Check out the differences below and also at this link.

New PRO Stealth Team saddle, with an edgier appearance. This is the version with 142 mm width.