Sold off a couple of bikes I was no longer using and put the proceeds towards a new Soma Wolverine V4.0 Type-A (58cm). This is going to be my back up bike, commuter bike, cruising around town bike, spare bike, borrow to friends bike, etc. My other bike is a Why Cycles R+, I posted a build thread on that a couple of years ago. I can swap wheelsets between the two bikes as both are 12/142 and 15/100 spacing.
I built the Wolverine with a mix of some light stuff, some heavy stuff, new stuff and old stuff, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it weighed in at around 22-23 pounds. Here are the components I used:
- 11 speed XT rear derailleur (super cheap right now), combined with a Gevenalle shifter/levers (I've always wanted to try them). So far I really like the shifter, simple to operate, adjust, and after increasing the tension a bit it works great. You can't really shift from the drops though, except for maybe the top 3-4 gears, but that isn't a big deal for me. You can also quickly dump the entire cassette if you need to.
- Juin Tech cable actuated hydraulic brakes. I'm not sure if it is the Yokozuna cables/housing I used, or the brakes, but they work extremely well. Not quite as good as full hydraulic, but pretty close, and for 130 bucks on Amazon you really can't go wrong.
- Easton alloy crankset paired with a 42 tooth chainring. I really like the cinch system, I have the Easton carbon cranks on my R+.
- Easton alloy seatpost, their new seat clamp system is absolutely fantastic, I find 2-bolt seat clamps to be extremely aggravating.
- Wheels Manufacturing bottom bracket. Wheels Manufacturing uses larger bearings than the offerings from Easton/Race Face, and appear to have better seals, hopefully they last longer.
- Origin 8 Gary Ergo Sweep bars, I will probably be swapping these out soon, there is a reason these were hanging in my garage not being used, not a fan...
- Redshift shockstop stem, still playing around with elastomers, I think I have it where I like it.
- Rodeolabs Spork Fork (V1.0, upgraded my R+ to the new 2.0 so I had it lying around)
- Wolftooth headset/seat clamp/gold bling...
I put the 700c wheelset on it from my R+ for now with Maxxis Ramblers which measure out to 42mm and there is gobs of clearance. I also have a set of 650B wheels with 2.1" Thunderburts, and they also fit with plenty of clearance. In both instances the rear axle is in the furthest forward position in the sliders.
So far I only have a brief shakedown ride on it, but everything works great. Not quite a compliant as my titanium R+, but handling felt just as snappy (Geometry is very similar). If anyone has any questions let me know...
