My New Carrera SL950

[JA-Q001]

So, after doing the DC this year I packed up my trusty steed and gave it to Mango Airlines while flying back to Lanseria Airport. Later that week I discover that Mango thought that it was time for me to upgrade my bike.

 

 

Knowing that the Airline would shrug it off as my own fault, I logged the claim with the insurance and started searching for something new. In comes Warren from Token SA saying that he is importing the Carrera brand again and that he would help me get onto one. So scratching around for some extra pennies, we decide that the Carrera SL950 would be my new ride for 2016.

 

 

I searched my behind off trying to get some info on the bike, but not a lot was to be found, so this is for everyone that have seen these frames, but that want more detail.

[JA-Q001]

First off I stripped my broken bike. I am planning to use most off my old parts, but would be needing some new ones too.

 

Weighing my old bike, I came to realize it was a bit porky.

 

 

I went to fetch the frame from Warren and we quickly sorted what else i would need, that I cannot carry over from my old bike. I now have a Token Arsenal Carbon seatpost, Token "Ceramic" headset and some other bits of bling as well.

 

The Carrera SL950 Weighed in at a bit more than stated on the website...

 

 

But this included the seatpost clamp, bottlecage screws and all fittings for the cable stops. So if that is exluded, it should be on the mark. The fork came in as advertised and it still has to be trimmed a bit.

 

[JA-Q001]

The frame is made for a clamp type FD. This makes it great if you want to run it 1x (seeing as that is also spilling over to road racing, but you would need to have a separate clamp if you are using a braze on FD. Thankfully Carrera already includes this with the frame, quite a nicely thought out part.

 

 

You also get replacement fittings for the cable stops in case you are using DI2 or EPS.

 

Overall the construction is great, what else do you expect from Italians. The cabling is integrated for the brakes and semi integrated for the gears. no piping in the frame, so you remove the bottom guide and struggle a bit until you have your cables through the bottom hole.

 

 

This still makes the front of the bike look really neat, with easy access to the cable at the back.

[JA-Q001]

My biggest problem was finding a frame that would accept BB30 cranks, I first used a Cannondale SRM, but moved that over to the TT bike and the baught a SRAM Quarq BB30 crankset. Nice thing is that the Sram Quarq has a long enough axle to fit BB386, this means that with the correct bearing, you can fit this into a PF86 BB. (Note the nice detail with the frame protectors) 

 

 

In comes Evobikes that sells Rotor parts. They have a special BB just for this, the Rotor BB4130.

 

 

This is a press fit bearing with an outer diameter of 41mm, meant for Shimano 24mm axle standards, and a 30mm inside diameter for BB30 axles. I have read some mixed reports on this BB and it was not an easy press into the frame, but I will see how it hold up. Definitely cheaper that replacing the crankset.

 

The SRAM axle has some good resistance going through the bearing when installing, so this makes spacing of the crank a bit more work. another thing to look out for is that the cavity in the crankset, that is meant to move over the BB shell, comes into contact with the frame, so the crankset is spaced 2mm more to the right, in order for it to clear the frame. Some people will notice that 2mm, but I'm going to give it a try at first and see if it bugs me.

 

 

The 4130 bearing are also a bit tight, hopefully they wear in a bit.

[JA-Q001]

So having completed my build, I am still having to take it for a test ride. Shifting and everything is as it should be and the geometry of the bike is spot on for what I wanted. this is a size small, but it equates to a 53 if you take the top tube measurement.

 

Some other extra info. It uses a size 31.6 seatpost. I would a thought that a 27.2 would have been a better designed size for the bike, giving a bit softer ride, but I'll see how this feels. I am using a chinese carbon bar that i made matte and a Giant carbon stem, also sanded and sprayed matte. The rear stays looks thin, but they are quite flattened out. 

 

One thing that did bug me a bit was that the supplied FD clamp has quite a large alu piece that gets in the way of the bottle cage. The cage I use currently is just some old ones I had laying around, so I cut the backing shorter a bit in order to get the cage lower, otherwise a larger bottle would not fit into the frame.

 

Overall I am really happy with the quality so far, I will give a ride report after putting in some decent miles over the holidays.

 

I would really like to thank Warren (TOKEN Cycling SA) for helping me with the frame.

 

http://www.tokencycling.co.za/

[Vanzyl]

Looks awesome, congrats!!!! Hope to see finished product soon:)

[gummibear]

Hope you have many happy miles  

[JA-Q001]

Thanks guys. 

 

Fork and seatpost cut to size. Still struggling a bit with the FD setup, but I think I found the culprit.

 

 

7.6 kg as pictured, thats with slime tubes, heavy duty tyres, an ultegra Cassette, my heavier pedals, Garmin and rear light included.

[travisza]

Very nice

[Mopkop]

Trap diep Jaques!!!

[Jaco-fiets]

Awsome bike! They have a phibra model as well. Also a awesome looking machine

[J∆kk∆ls]

Very nice...and great see some-one not buying to the same ol' same ol'!

[nonky]

Well, she sure is PRETTY !

[Zatek]

Let us know how she goes?

I am also interested in the brand

[Cav']

Nice Ride.

[Veebee]

very nice, like the colours on this frame. Many happy and safe miles on her