Ever wondered what is involved in a bike build, Fergus from Ribble recharge found out firsthand when he came to The Bike Inn to build his own race bike. The team are riding Ribble ESLR Frames. The first step was to lay all items out, see if items were missing, grab a coffee and start!
Fergus had previously only done basic mechanics on his bike at home, so this was a real challenge. Starting with the Di2 cables “The internal handlebar routing was tough, guiding the cables through bends was “incredibly fiddly” Fergus admitted, it took 2 hours alone, you have to be gentle with the wires are they are small, fragile, and expensive. Once cabling was in place it was time to start with the bigger items such as cranks, derailers etc. Lucky Furgus’s non-standard power meter/crank matches up with the Di2 gearing.
After many coffees, some di2 cable nursing, and skills learned the bike was in one piece! So what was left to do? Of course, a Bike Inn Bike fit! The process was in-depth using a combination of experience and technology to allow for a racing position to be created which is aero and maintains Fergus’s power output. As always for performance cycling, you are balancing the ability to produce power and being aero.
So with a new bike and correct position, Fergus looks forward to building on his season to compete in the u23 national series this coming summer. And what is that saying? If the bike does not behave blame the mechanic!