Crust Lightning Bolt Canti - It's Alive!

If you have been following the Crust Canti Lightning Bolt build bouncing ball, you will no doubt have been on tenterhooks waiting for the latest installment. Well, here it is. 

2022 Crust Lightning Bolt Cantilever - complete

The build took a bit longer than I planned, which of course I knew it would. But it's finally done and roadworthy. 

As can be seen in the photos, I tended toward a modern build with a mulletish drivetrain, employing the Avid Shorty Ultimate cantilever brakes and re-using a pair of Bontrager carbon fiber bottle cages. The front derailleur and headset are both by Campagnolo, the rear derailleur and shift levers are by MicroShift, the cassette is a Shimano Deore 11-42, and the crank is VeloOrange's 46t/30t. That's right, it has a low gear of 30/42. That's not a bicycle drivetrain - that's a stevedore's winch! I used an existing Selle Italia "Man" saddle and a set of Origin8 Classique brake levers I bought some years ago in anticipation of the end of sensible componentry.

Here's a list of the components for reference:

Weights and Measures

The weights above are pretty close. Without water bottles, but WITH a saddle bag containing everything I need for roadside repairs plus a small cable lock, it comes in right at 10.9 kg or exactly 24 lbs in old money. It's got to be the lightest production steel frame in existence, combined with some pretty darned light components. No doubt it could be shaved down some more, but to what end? Even in my hard bike case, the package should come in just under 50 pounds, so I should be good to go for Europe when the time comes! 

The Lightning Bolt, ready to ride, weighs just over 24 lbs!

Brakes

Okay, I don't know shit about cantilever brakes. Makes you wonder why I would buy a bike made specifically for this type of brake. Save the rim brake, I guess. I'm hoping to live my entire bike life without evolving to disk brakes, hydraulic components, or an electronically controlled drivetrain. Not so much retro grouch as technophobe. I was sorely tempted to try Rene Herse cantis, but man, the price. After much time scouring the web for reviews, I settled, as noted earlier, on the Avid Shorty Ultimates. They seem to be kind of the most "modern" interpretation of the cantilever, are super lightweight, look appropriate with the black frame and derailleurs, and judging from about 360 miles of riding with them, work great. 

 

Avid Shorty Ultimate cantilever brakes

Cockpit

Handlebars

I kind of backed myself into a corner by deciding I needed to try one of Nitto's B132 Grand Randonneur handlebars, reputed to be one of the most comfortable long distance bars ever made. The GR has long 120mm reach compared to more "modern" bars, so I decided I needed a shorter stem. On my current bike I have a 70mm Nitto stem and the Olympiade B114 handlebar which has 100mm reach. That 170mm combination feels about right. So, I decided I needed a 50/60mm Technomic stem which, with the 120mm handlebar reach and the Lightning Bolt's slightly shorter reach, would give me a position similar to what I'm used to. Simple, right? 60mm normal stem and a Nitto B132 handlebar. How hard could it be? Well... 

Nitto Grand "Raund one ur" B132 handlebar

I only just noticed they misspelled Randonneur! Not on the Nitto web page, not on the package, but on the engraving on the handlebar itself. The misspelling is literally etched in aluminum! Glad I'm not the only one who can't spell French words. Nevertheless, it's this one:

Nitto B132 handlebar specification

I went narrow, because according to GCN I'll shave valuable aero watts! https://youtu.be/muMYrFJkmWM

Stem
I didn't want the 225mm "tall" stem (I haven't entered my Rivendell "tallux" years quite yet). The handlebar's clamp area is 25.4mm and I didn't want to have to use shims on a stem with a 26mm clamp diameter. No kludges. I want exactly what I want and don't want to compromise, dammit! So it took a while to get the necessary parts together. I ordered the "standard" Nitto Technomic from Rene Herse. Took a while, but it was worth the wait!

So there it is in a nutshell. There were a lot of little decisions and details along the way, some of which I may write about later, but this lays out all the essential parts. So far I am super happy with it. It feels both "faster" and more stable than my Velo Routier, which I'm sorry to report I haven't touched since I got the Crust finished. I'll provide my impressions of the differences and ride quality after I've had a chance to spend more time on the bike.