My Stevens Carbon Cyclocross Bike

I had this post written about 6 months ago and just never got around to putting it up on the ol' blog. This post is dedicated to my cyclocross bike. I've referenced it before, but I wanted to document the effort I put into actually building up the the frame I originally purchased into the awesome race machine that it is today. The details contained herein are probably not of any interest to anyone other than me so don't feel bad if you're bored to tears.

I have 6 months of riding the Stevens under my belt and I'm as happy now as the day I first rode it. I know bike geometry is a personal thing, but for me Stevens really nailed it. My Stevens Carbon Cross bike is hands down the best handling bike I've ever ridden.

Firstly the Stevens frame and fork are fantastic. I've never had a hint of fork shudder even under heavy breaking. It rails through corners with the perfect mix of road and 'cross geometry. This frame has been ridden to a number of national and world championship victories.

I added a 46 cm Salsa Bell Lap handle bar, very wide and has slightly flared drops to add to the bike handling when in the drops.

SRAM Rival shifters with Force derailleurs.

TRP Magnesium EuroX brakes; very light and get the job done.

Thompson Elite seatpost that I picked up with the WTB saddle from Kyle at SBR; thanks Kyle.

FSA Gossamer crankset, re-purposed from my motobecane.

Gore Ride-On sealed cables to gunk doesn't clog things up partway through the season.

Vuelta Tubular wheels

Vittoria Cr

oss XG(all around tread) and XN(file tread) tubular tires.

There are minor stories for some of the acquired parts. I had originally planned on using all of

the parts from my old Motobecane, with a few upgrades. I needed a wider handlebar

but after buying it I realized that my old stem was a different size so I had to buy a stem as well. Then I realized that the seatpost was too small and I needed a wider seatpost to fit my frame. I stopped by SBR to see what it would cost to order a new one and Kyle just happened to have the exact seat post that I wanted to order. He no longer needed it as it came from his recently replaced mountain bike and didn't fit his new one. It was topped with a nice WTB saddle that just happened to match my bike well. He cut me a sweet deal for the pair.

I bought some nice brakes, mostly because I had a little extra in my bike building budget and they were nice, light and worked well. So I ordered the TRP EuroX brakes. I was execting the white and red versions but white and gold showed up. I'm not a big GOLD kind of guy, but I went with it, especially after I got the chain I ordered and it was gold too.

I bought a set of GORE Ride-On sealed shifter cables in the spring. When I was at the Dealer Camp event taking photos for Cyclocross Magazine

I spoke with the guys running the GORE booth. I told them how much I liked the shifter cables and the set me up with a set of their new sealed brake cables for free. Along with being sealed to keep the grit and grime out the housing

has been made stiff so there is less give when the brakes are pulled and it gives a better feel for the brakes. I haven't tried them yet, just got them on so we'll see.

Also at the Dealer Camp event I stopped by the Sinclair booth to talk to the Stevens guys. I told them that I liked their bikes so much I bought one. I commented on the fact that they now stock the bikes with a fork mounted cable hanger for the front brake. I told them I'd been looking for one, but they're really hard to find. The guy I was talking with gave me his card and told me to email him. After doing so I had the free new cable hanger in my hand within a week. Those guys rock.

I wanted to go with white bar tape and hood covers to go with my mostly white bike. My Clammy Chamois teammate Josh hooked me up with some awesome Lizard Skins bar tape real cheap. I bought some Hudz aftermarket hood covers to complete the setup.

After using SRAM shifters at Interbike I was ruined on my Shimano Ultegra 6600. I bought the SRAM Rival shifters. Scott from SBR was upgrading to SRAM Red so I picked up his lightly used Force derailleurs heavily discounted.

I've written at length about my Vuelta tubular wheels and Vittoria tubular tires. Needless to say they are light and strong and aside from the Stevens frame, they're my favorite part of the bike.

So there it is, my Stevens Carbon Cyclocross bike.