This week's build is an exercise in minimalism. Stripping away the superfluous, proving that a straight forward build can be sexy as hell. No flashy colors, no unnecessary cables, no un-needed derailleurs or chainrings. Just a stealthy, stripped down weapon of a Baum Orbis R.
The frame arrived from Baum during the thick of our heavy rain season. Despite it's colorless nature, it provided a nice pop of excitement to our deep winter gloom.
As the parts trickled in it was finally time to get it built up, resulting in this:
Starting with the cockpit, the perch is a Fizik Alliante Evo 00. We're riding the new Evo shapes to be quite comfortable. The saddle is supported by an Enve setback seatpost. The 00 version especially nails the stealthy aesthetic. Out at the front end is a 3T stem, Baum's preferred choice to build with, which is holding a Fizik 00 snake handlebar. The bar, stem, and post are all custom painted for a unified look with the frameset.
Keeping things fast are a set of Zipp rims, custom built to Chris King hubs. Specifically 404s to R45s, all black of course, and laced up with our favorite Sapim CX ray spokes. Stiff, fast, and aero, built up to meet our rider's specific needs. Wrapping it all up are a set of Continental GP 5000 tires in 25c.
The beauty in this bike is really in its minimalism. Only what you need, nothing you don't. So with that in mind, we spec'd this one out with a Sram Red AXS 1x drive train, taking the minimalism of eTap one step further. With a 50t chainring and a 10-26 cassette, this bike is meant for going full gas, all the time. Since the terrain is relatively flat where our rider lives, it was an easy choice to again keep things minimal, and build with 140mm rotors front and rear.
Finally we'll leave you with some details of the frame. Beautifully machined dropouts, super clean cable routing, gobs of tire clearance, T47 bottom bracket shell... all things that come together to make an exceptional hand built bike.
A simplistic, stealthy workhorse, ready to rip up the Mississippi racing circuit. It's not too often we build up 1x road bikes, but after seeing how this one turned out, we're jonesing to spec out some more! As always, give us a shout if you've got the itch for getting a new bike of your own built up.
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