2023 Kuota rebuild project

I bought my first ‘proper’ road bike back in spring 2009, a full carbon Kuota Kharma with a 10 speed Shimano 105 (5600 series) groupset for £1,250. A few parts got replaced here and there but after 7 years of adventures it was starting to get a bit ropey. In January 2017, I spotted a 105 groupset at Chain Reaction Cycles going for £377, so I decided to upgrade to the 11 speed 5800 series.

2017 Rebuild (Click image for a closer look)

I had been tinkering with my TT bikes for some time, but this was my first rebuild project. I stripped the bike right down to the frame and rebuilt it, adding some new hand-built wheels from Paul Hewitt. What a revelation – it felt like a brand-new bike, which it basically was: while the frame is how you normally recognise your bike, all it does is stop all the components (and you) from collapsing onto the floor in a pile.

Anyway, in December I got a tip off that Wiggle had a good deal going on 105 groupset, so in January, I treated myself to a late Christmas present and bought an R7000 series. When it arrived all the components were just wrapped in bubble wrap rather than the original Shimano boxes. Also, it had a SRAM chain and a hotchpotch of cables.

New groupset - as advertised and in reality

I reckon Wiggle were having a clear-out, off-loading old stock as apparently Shimano have discontinued the mechanical rim brake version of 105. If I was buying a brand-new bike, sure I’d upgrade to disc brakes and maybe electronic shifting, but at today’s prices that would cost what, £3-3.5k? Whereas for £300 I reckoned I’d get another 4-5 years out of this set-up.

The groupset came with a braze-on front derailleur whereas I needed a band-on. Rather than fiddle about I bought a separate R7000 band-on for £29.99, so I have a braze-on going spare if anybody wants it.

Dismantled

I had already invested in the various tools so dismantling it was pretty straight forward. As always, getting the bottom bracket out required some brute force. The headset etc looked ‘okay’ but while I was at it, I thought I might as well replace the bearings, so got a couple of FSA bearings for £21 each.

New headset bearings

All the old bits went into a box which I will take to the Charity Bike shop in Chorlton, leaving behind the bits I needed, i.e. the frame; forks; stem, headset bolt and spacers; the handlebar; the seat post and clamp; the saddle; and hanger. These all got a thorough clear, degrease and I removed the rust from the stem bolts.

Meanwhile, I also treated myself to some new wheels, a pair of Prime Attaquers from Wiggle (£299.99), as the brake surfaces on the old ones were getting rather concave. I decided to switch from 23mm to 25mm tyres, but stuck with Schwalbe; their Pro Ones are a great all-round option which rarely puncture. I’ve still not been convinced to go tubeless, so I finished them off with some latex Vittoria inner tubes – sweet! Wheel set all together, £395.22

New wheels - Prime Attaquers

The bike has always had a compact chain set (50-34) with an 11-25 cassette, but to aid my aging legs up the steep climbs, this rebuild allowed me to ‘upgrade’ to a 11-30 cassette which easily slotted on to the rear wheel.

The rebuild was fairly straight forward. Greased up the headset bearings, fork in, spacers, stem and handlebar all reassembled. Shifters put in place and tightened up. Bottom bracket, crank set, front and rear brakes, rear and front derailleurs. Then all the new cables; outers cut to length, inners threaded through, tightened up and cut. Next the chain!

A few years ago I switched to waxing the chains on my TT bike. Another revelation: waxed chains run really smooth and keep your drive train so much cleaner, in turn prolonging the life of the components. But molten waxing does require a bit more work and I still wanted the convenience of a chain lube for my road bike. So I opted from Ceramic Speed’s UFO Drip ‘liquid wax’. (£30 – not cheap compared to regular lube but is well recommended). To ensure that it would bond with the rollers of the chain, I thoroughly got rid of all the production grease using my usual protocol, i.e. several washes in white spirits followed by rinses in methylated spirits.

Liquid Wax

The chain was then cut to length, using the LARGEST COG & LARGEST CHAINRING method as per the awesome Park Tool video, and mounted it with a SRAM quick link. Then, aided by more Park Tool videos, the front and rear mechs were aligned and adjusted. 

Final steps, handlebar tape from Prime with screw-in bar ends (£15). This is always a challenge, but I did ‘okay’! Bottle cages and Garmin mount, a final check of all the bolts, run through the gears, job done.

The final product

Overall I’m delighted with the final result and can’t wait to test it out in the hills, but I’ll have to wait for the weather to break. And what I hope will feel like a new bike for a total of £814, good value for money. There was also a total of maybe 4 days of labour, but it was a lot of fun.

The bottom line

The one thing I haven’t mentioned is the pedals, and this is where another late Christmas present comes in. I could have just recycled the Ultegras but … …

Since 2012, the bike has had a PowerTap hub built into the rear wheel. This meter was arguably the power meter that brought training with power to the masses. It was much cheaper compared to alternatives available back then (QUARQ, SRM), and a fantastic piece of kit, reliable and bomb proof. Since then the market has exploded with a wide array of power meters now available. But a few years ago SRAM – who own QUARQ – acquired PowerTap and shortly thereafter discontinued them! I could have recycled the PowerTap G3 hub by having it built into a new wheel, but … …

Assioma Power pedals!

The last time we went on a cycling camp, I hired a bike out there. Much as I love my Kuota, air travel is stressful enough these days without worrying about boxing up and taking a bike. It was a great experience so we will be hiring again this April. But hire bikes tend not to have power meters, and if your meter is in your wheel or crank set, it isn’t easily transportable/transferrable. However, if I had a pedal-based power meter … …

I was never tempted by the original Garmin power pedals. They had so many problems launching the product and early on there were lots of problems. But those days are behind them, so I decided to take another look. However, after reading DCRainmakers latest reviews, I opted for the Favero Assioma system, and I went all in, opting for the DUO rather than the left-side only. 

And they are very nice! Easily switched on, paired with the Assioma app to activate, connected straight with my Garmin computer, and a piece of cake to add to the bike. They require LOOK Keo cleats (included) which I will need to switch to, but I can’t wait to try them out.

And what about mudguards? As you may know, I’m a fan when it comes to group rides in winter. I’ve been using the ‘clip on’ CRUD Roadracers Mk2 for years but they have been discontinued and I’ve kind of had enough of them, I wanted something a bit more substantial.

So I took a gamble and ordered some SKS Raceblades. It took a bit of fiddling about, but I managed to add them without too many problems. However, the front one was catching the gear cables under the down tube, and both blades seemed quite far away from the wheels.

New mudguards - SKS Raceblades

Maybe I could cut the metal stays a bit shorter? My hacksaw wouldn’t touch them, so it was DREMMEL time! My favourite tool made easy work of it. I sawed ~1cm of each of the 4 stays, sanded off the burrs, remounted them and bingo, problems solved, and the mudguards now fit really nice.

I know I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again, I can’t wait to get out and give it a test ride.

UPDATE: Great ride in the hills today, everything worked really nicely. Enjoyed the 25mm tyres and the 30T cog on the steeper sections was nice. Really pleased with my 'new' bike and my rebuild job. However, as soon as I went on the drops I realised they were tilted up too much. Easy to rotate down but will need to move the shifters back up which means redoing the handle bar tape - doh!

Cracking ride!