Falling In Love...

...as a bike mechanic happens so rarely for me.  Im jaded, getting stubborn and extremely picky Ive found over the years.  Every once in a while though, something comes into my stand that makes me really really want one.  This past week, my benefactor brought in his new cyclocross build...a Stevens Cyclocross Team Frame.  The build was SRAM Red with ZIPP 303's(due to be glued up this week with Dugast), and let me tell you what...it was flawless.  

Most frames that come in, need prepping and chasing, facing, in general...some work that doesnt get done at the "factory".  This bad boy came in, and as I started to pull the little things off, like the barrel adjusters, rear derailleur hanger, to prep them, i noticed everything on there came out of the factory(whether its in east asia, or eastern europe) in great shape.  The bottom bracket was threaded and clean as a whistle and it just got better from there.  The ONLY thing Id like to see Stevens change, is the downtube cable routing.  In super muddy and frozen conditions, I could see this becoming a source of shifting problems.  Maybe they'll give it a whirl in the next gen of frames.  

Below are some pics I took with my CAMERA PHONE(HTC EVO), so bare with them as the quality isnt the best.

 

The baby before the work started.  Notice the indented right side chainstay...super tight chainline

 

The front brake mount is the best thing ive seen to date on cx bikes.  

The new owner stated there "absolutely no brake chatter, and i even laid on them hard a few times!"

 The rear brake housing/cable mount w/barrel adjuster is pretty stout and in just the right spot to not have to worry about an overly aggressive bend in the housing.

 

Here's the front brake hanger mounted, prior to cable installation.  The 2 holes at the bottom of the hanger, have a threaded spike, back-threaded into the hanger that act as "stabilizers" laterally for the hanger itself.  They are super sharp, so dont go puttin your eye out with them playin around.  You need a thin/narrow flat-head screw driver to back-thread the spikes in(they do not come installed).

 Since there's almost no excess amount of cable between the hanger and the yoke, the potential for front end brake vibration is virtually eliminated!

Couple the hanger mount set-up with the enormously large fork(which is still light), and you get a front end that has been quoted as, "it slowed down just like my road bike...", which in cross can be an issue for some frames.

 

The folks at Stevens definitely gave thought to the fact that there's lots of hopping off and on cross bikes.  The oversized seatpost junction, along with the massive bottom bracket, dont give any vertically, which means you keep that speed going when mounting your rig.

Here's the completed gem...

 Yes, the Zipp's arent on because they are still in the stretching/gluing phase.  Mr. Owner is going to swap a couple things out, like the seatpost(for a bombproof Thomson), and a stiffer stem.  Now, for those of you who know me, and know where I work, you might be wondering why I did this overtly slack "review" of this bike given that we arent dealers.  My answer is simple...its in the future...along with all of the other changes going on.