S40 Build Notes

[telephd]

My only negative on this was that the higher seat angle put more weight on my tush, right where the Thor Easy GS seat turns up. Made me a bit sore, nothing like on a DF, but sore. I've done many centuries on my V20 with a Thor GS seat without feeling any pain.

I would like to give a S40 a spin. My only concern would be the upright seat angle. I sometimes struggle with a little recumbutt on my new version S30 with a seat angle of 33 degrees and my S1.0 was downright painful until I installed a 100mm extension and got my feet higher. Ill be interested to see if other seating issues pop up with the S40.

 

[snilard]

I have question to new chainstay part. I estimate from pictures that new BB clapms goes only above boom and not over external BB bearing. So external bearing is no longer necessary and square-taper BB may be used. Also there is no longer limitation on BCD of crankset what means that smaller than 34 tooth chainring may be used.
@ratz @Robert Holler Is this all true?
What is length of S40 chainstays compared to medium V20?

 

[ratz]

I have question to new chainstay part. I estimate from pictures that new BB clapms goes only above boom and not over external BB bearing. So external bearing is no longer necessary and square-taper BB may be used. Also there is no longer limitation on BCD of crankset what means that smaller than 34 tooth chainring may be used.

Correct

What is length of S40 chainstays compared to medium V20?

It's shorter.

In the future, their will be multiple lengths beyond medium and long, but the details are pending, and there is the speed of ocean freighters involved in the additional so keep in mind that might be a hefty wait.

 

[snilard]

Correct
View attachment 5102 View attachment 5103 View attachment 5104 View attachment 5105



It's shorter.

In the future, their will be multiple lengths beyond medium and long, but the details are pending, and there is the speed of ocean freighters involved in the additional so keep in mind that might be a hefty wait.

Thank you for answer. I am not going to rebuild my Vendetta but it is good to know that there is possibility.
I was in Alps this weekend and after climbing some 1400 meters of altitude I would like to have lower gears than my 36/40. My pedal stroke was so bad that I was getting slip even on paved surface.

 

[Doug Kline]

Well, I ran into a problem with my S40 today, my drive wheel stopped spinning well. I took the hub apart to try replacing the bearings, but there are two types of bearings and I only had stock of one type. That's the only disc brake wheel I have and I don't have enough time to fix it, so....I pitched the disc brakes and put on rim brakes. I had previously bought some TRP RG957 long reach brakes and they were sitting on the shelf. I haven't had time to try them on big descents, but they feel plenty powerful and can lock up the wheels without any problem. They just don't modulate as nice as those Motokos. But the switch does lighten up my S40 by about 1.5 lbs (600g). I'll comment again after I have more miles on them.

They went on easy and the 57mm reach is long enough. One issue is they came with a 20mm mounting nut which seemed too short so I swapped it out for a longer 27mm nut on the front.

Sorry about that bad photo.

 

[super slim]

How old was the hub to have failed bearings?

I would have kept the rear as a disk brake for those big descents in wet weather!

 

[Doug Kline]

How old was the hub to have failed bearings?

I would have kept the rear as a disk brake for those big descents in wet weather!

The wheelset is less than a year old and hasn't seen much rain, but still has developed a lot of friction.

I could have left the disc brakes on the non-drive wheel, but the wheels look completely different. And that brake doesn't add all that much braking power in the mountains. I don't head back to the mountains until the end of the month, so should have time to sort this out. So for now I'll experiment with the rim brakes.

 

[DavidJL]

Hoping you allowed a little bit of play in the bearings if the hub was a cup and cone type, to allow for QR skewer compression.

 

[Doug Kline]

Well, I ran into a problem with my S40 today, my drive wheel stopped spinning well

Sorry, I left this thread hanging last year. It turned out that there is a gasket between the hub and wheel that needs to get greased. Once we sorted that out, the wheel was spinning free again. However, I left the disc brakes off and continued riding with the TRP RG957 rim brakes. They work great, are easy to adjust, and are lighter weight than discs. But all my mountain rides this year were also dry. A wet mountain ride would probably send me back playing with discs again.

 

[paco1961]

I think I have this S40 just about all dialed in, ready for the 100 miler in the North Carolina mountains on Saturday (Hot Doggett 100). I have to say I love this bike right out of the gate. It's stable, I can start easily from a stop, and it is easy to look around. I think my eyes are placed about 6 inches higher than on my V20 setup. I'll give a better assessment after I get more miles on it, but right now I'm very happy.

View attachment 5031

I switched the seat over to a Thor Easy GS size large. In the end I didn't spend much time on the stock seat, but you can't judge yourself based on me. I have some lingering shoulder issues and had surgery on both of them this past winter. The Thor seat has a nice surface area and supports my shoulders quite nicely which also holds my head up. Right now I'm thinking that I'm not going to need a headrest any more than in a car. I guess I won't fully know until after my first long ride. As a bonus, the Thor Easy GS size large with #1069 Ventisit Comfort Pad is 100 grams lighter than the stock seat, extension, headrest, clamp, and cushions. But if I have to add a ADEM 2C headrest, that would be 250 grams and tip the scales back to Cruzbike. The bike without water, bags, lights, and computer, but with the Garmin mount, front light mount, and mirror weighed in just under 25 lbs (11.3kg) for my configuration with mountain gearing. Long reach TRP RG957 rim brakes would have been 1.5 pounds (700g) lighter than the TRP Hy/Rd set up, but I didn't wait for them to arrive and went ahead and put on the disc brakes. Had I used rim brakes, this bike would be about 6.5 lbs (3kg) heavier than my high end Ridley Helium SL bike. So that's the cost of a comfortable ride, 6.5 pounds. While I might not like the extra 1.5 pounds on the big climbs, I'm sure I'll like them on the backside of the mountain.

And I Velcro'd on a 3 liter Camelbak Stowaway for convenient water access.

I will say that to do a seat mod, you have to trim the four mounting wings. Taking a hack saw to a new frame is not for the faint of heart. But once they are trimmed back, the Thor Easy GS size large fit the contour very nicely and I could still use the mounting wings to securely anchor the seat.

Surface area comparison:

View attachment 5032

Just ordered a Thor Easy Seat for my S40. How much did you have to trim off each frame wing?

 

[Doug Kline]

Just ordered a Thor Easy Seat for my S40. How much did you have to trim off each frame wing?

Sorry I missed this. I had to trim a fair amount off, but still had enough left to bolt the seat to.

 

[Lifecyclez]

Thats good to know about the Thor seat. I just built my S40 and have the stock seat and I'm happy with it but I am still trying to get my headrest adjusted to a slightly more upright position. I stuffed a foam insert into the headrest pad and that's better but I like the way that Thor seat looks on yours with that upward turn at the top.

 

[SonomaCountyDad]

Not sure how active this thread is, but this dad needs help with the rear deraileur cable and housing route around the pulley. I have already swapped the postion with the pulley now more inboard, but with the wider flange section of the pulley still facing out toward the chain. Could you share a couple of detailed pictures around the rear deraileur/pulley area??

 

[Doug Kline]

Could you share a couple of detailed pictures around the rear deraileur/pulley area??

The pulley is used by the front derailleur. I'm guessing that's the photos you need. But just in case I included the rear derailleur cable routing too.

Let's see if this helps

Side view showing cable housing and mounted derailleur






Top view showing sort of showing the cable coming out of the housing and going around the pulley





View under the derailleur showing cable coming from the bottom of the pulley to the derailleur





Rear derailleur cable housing

 

[SonomaCountyDad]

Ha! Great minds think alike. So I’ll add a metal housing stop, make the curve around the pulley and back up to the front derailuer. I got a good start today!