# Hot Tubes in the house!



## Corndog (Jan 18, 2006)

Well, after a bit of a wait my new Hot Tubes CX frame and fork arrived last night at my house! 

Toby was really nice to work with on the build and offered endless options and tweaks. I ordered it back in Feburary and was expecting it to show up a bit sooner, but it was well worth the wait. I was starting to wonder if my wife's Speedvagen would shop up before my frame!  

We went with a Life tubeset, 56cm c-c (59cm c-t) seat tube, 57.5cm TT, and a nice short 135mm head tube. I'm about 6' 1.5" and all torso. So it's always been a challange getting a bike that fits right, especially a CX bike. I've never had a low bottom bracket CX bike, so that will be a change too. I am hoping the loer COG will help in some in the corners, etc. I think this one is going to be spot on (it better be! hehe). This is my first custom frame and I'm excited to get it together. 

Toby also painted an Alpha Q CX20 fork to match the frame.... pretty slick. Frame is a baby blue with cream panels and black logos. The frame did have a couple of paint dings on the BB area when it arrived, but nothing that wouldn't happen after the first ride anyhow. Sadly, I don't have any pictures at the moment as it is at the shop letting the frame saver cure. But I should get it built up this afternoon and snap some pics. 

Weight came in at 1900 grams for the frame, which is reasonable given the really nice (ie thick) paint. 

I've decided to move to Record 11 on my road bike, so this frame is going to get some Record 10 hand me downs from the road machine. Build is as follows:


Campy Record Rear Der
Campy Chorus UT Crankset 39T single ring
Campy Centaur (new ultra shift style) shifters
Eggbeater 4Ti pedals
TRP Euro X Carbon brakes
Syntace F99 120mm stem
Easton Equipe Pro traditional bars
Thomson Masterpiece no setback post
Selle Italia SLR saddle (white)
Fizik bar tape (white)

We have lots of wheels, from CF tubulars to regular alloy tubs. Of course i'll weigh it with the Reynolds or Zipps on it though 

Sorry for the lack of pics, they will be up soon.


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## Guest (Aug 28, 2009)

Yeah, pictures!

The paint scheme sounds really nice.


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## Corndog (Jan 18, 2006)

Got it together tonight. It was too dark to snap any pics outside (even though i rode it around in the dark outside for a while..... with a HUGE grin on my face of course!). 

I'll get a final weight on it tomorrow. But, it in the condition I had it in at the shop (just missing a chain and bar tape) it was under 16lbs. So, it should build up under 17 lbs. That's pretty good for a steel frame. 

Anyhow, here are some crappy pics I took inside a few minutes ago. They really don't do it justice in the least. The paint looks great in person. I'll get some good ones tomorrow outside in the daylight.


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

Sweet bike.


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## kmac76 (Jan 22, 2004)

stunning - enjoy


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## JFRCross (May 25, 2007)

Beautiful. Enjoy. Either getting or building a Toby bike is on my to do list.


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## Guest (Aug 29, 2009)

Thanks for putting the pictures up, that's a great ride.


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## TNeedham (Oct 10, 2008)

Looks great! Enjoy it this season.


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## Corndog (Jan 18, 2006)

Thanks for all of the comments! Got it into the shop this morning to put it on the scale.... 16.73 lbs! That's well less than a pound heavier than my carbon Lapierre I raced last year. I think I can live with that  

Getting ready to change the wheels out to some clinchers and go for a long gravel/ B road ride for a shake down run. 

Took some outside pics, light was pretty harsh... but I'll post them anyhow 

I'm a little worried about tire clearance though.... seems a bit tight with these 34mm Rhinos. 

Cheers!


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## Corndog (Jan 18, 2006)

I think it really need some white Euro X Mag brakes. These carbon ones just aren't cutting it


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## limba (Mar 10, 2004)

Cool bike. Enjoy it.


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## jmoote (Nov 29, 2007)

That paint scheme is hot. Gives me some ideas for the inevitable repaint on my road bike...

Great frame and great build.


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## Britishbane (Mar 4, 2009)

NIce looking bike. I'm having a custom CX bike built right now that has a similar paint scheme.


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## cbuchanan (Mar 6, 2006)

That looks sweet, can't wait to see it in person. :thumbsup:


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## one_speed (Jun 30, 2003)

Very, very sharp. Great ride. Thanks for sharing.


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## zank (Aug 4, 2005)

that bike's hot. I was admiring it while it was at the shop. :thumbsup:


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## cyklopath (Feb 24, 2007)

Absolutely gorgeous. I'm green with envy......


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*as I have been saying for 2 years*

Baby Blue is the new Black
sweet ride


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## c-lo (Sep 30, 2008)

^^^sweet bike! i love the colors!!


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## Corndog (Jan 18, 2006)

zank said:


> that bike's hot. I was admiring it while it was at the shop. :thumbsup:


 I think it turned out really nice. Toby did a great job on the paint and build. I can't believe how great it rides. Two rides on it and I've already managed to wear some paint off of the chainstays, from my clown feet.... guess I should have gotten some 3M tape on there sooner! Oh well... it's meant to be ridden not just admired 

I _really_ wish I could have gotten one of your frames, but needed something this year. My wife also had to get something for this fall, because one of her CX frames was all but destroyed in a crash. She ended up ordering a custom geometry Speedvagen, which hopefully will be in soon. The Vagen will be sweet for sure, but she says she'd still rather have a Zank if given the choice! Hopefully done the road....


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## joshuap (Jun 4, 2008)

I was on the fence about returning my cheap and embarrassing Scattante frame and picking up a small size Hot Tubes on eBay. I did some searching about stumbled on this thread, and after seeing the outdoor shots, decided to pull the trigger.


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## one_speed (Jun 30, 2003)

joshuap said:


> I was on the fence about returning my cheap and embarrassing Scattante frame and picking up a small size Hot Tubes on eBay. I did some searching about stumbled on this thread, and after seeing the outdoor shots, decided to pull the trigger.


I can see why! You'll have to post once you get it together.


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## Corndog (Jan 18, 2006)

Few more rides in on the new bike and it's amazing! Geometry we settled on is spot on and it rides like a dream on rough gravel and farm roads. 

Only thing I wish was different was more tire clearance in the back. There just isn't enough on the chain stays. I was running a Racing Ralph on the back and it rubbed some of the paint off on the first ride. I should have asked to have the chain stays dimpled a bit more. I've since put a small block 8 on the back and it helped out a lot. 

34mm Typhoons or FMB SSC seem to fit fine, but the Rhinos are pretty close. It's not going to be a huge problem, but the paint isn't gonna be happy back there I put some 3m clear protective tape back there on the inside of the stay to help out.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*I saw that one on ebay*

very good call
great frame by a company that knows cx
you'll enjoy it for years


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## nrspeed (Jan 28, 2005)

Nice ride!


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## jmoote (Nov 29, 2007)

Corndog said:


> 34mm Typhoons or FMB SSC seem to fit fine, but the Rhinos are pretty close. It's not going to be a huge problem, but the paint isn't gonna be happy back there I put some 3m clear protective tape back there on the inside of the stay to help out.


Interesting. So 32c Rhinos would probably be ok, right? I didn't realize the Rhino tread stuck out that much more than a Typhoon/SSC.


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## Corndog (Jan 18, 2006)

jmoote said:


> Interesting. So 32c Rhinos would probably be ok, right? I didn't realize the Rhino tread stuck out that much more than a Typhoon/SSC.


Rhino tread is much taller than a Typhoon. But it doesn't stick out on the sides too much. That's why the 34 Rhino is close, but will work fine. Something like a Racing Ralph has much more pronounced side knobs and is the real problem. 

I took some pics there of a 34 Rhino and there is enough clearance to work just fine. But if you get some wheel flex it could rub. 


FYI, the 32 and 34mm Rhinos use the same tread... just glued onto a wider casing.


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## jmoote (Nov 29, 2007)

Corndog said:


> Rhino tread is much taller than a Typhoon. But it doesn't stick out on the sides too much. That's why the 34 Rhino is close, but will work fine. Something like a Racing Ralph has much more pronounced side knobs and is the real problem.


That's what I thought. I have 34c SSCs and a set of 32c Rhinos on the way.. but my frame should not have any clearance issues anyhow. I was just curious.



> FYI, the 32 and 34mm Rhinos use the same tread... just glued onto a wider casing.


Yup, I knew this. Same for pretty much all tubulars (Dugast, FMB, Challenge).


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## Corndog (Jan 18, 2006)

Well, I can run 34mm FMB SSCs on this frame, but not Rhinos. Found out the hard way.... rear wheel completely packed up in the frame with rhinos on. 

Looks like I'm going to have to track down a 32mm Rhino to swap out on at least one of our wheel sets. Sucks since we have 3 sets of wheels with 34mm Rhinos already on them. It's a real drag to have choices limited. 

The frame has been riding really fantastic though. No complaints about fit or handling qualities. I just wish it had more mud clearance in the rear. I shouldn't have assumed it would clear an aggressive 34mm. 

On another note, I broke my right Centaur shifter. So, I swapped this bike over to Sram Force 2010 (except for the crankset). New stuff is pretty sweet... ergonomics of the levers aren't as good... but it shifts well and replacement parts are cheap. 

I took the broken Centaur shifter and gutted the internals from it.... put them on my single speed as brake levers


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