Gorgeous day on October 12, 2019.
Gorgeous day on October 12, 2019.

Nordest Albarda

Although the Nordest Albarda sort of was the 50th birthday present to myself, it was built on a tight budget using the wheels I had on my red Volagi Viaje and robbing my Ritte Snob Disc of most of its parts. Building the Albarda was a slow process. An hour one evening, two hours another evening and sometimes more when I lost track of time. Everything got built in stages. One night the BB and crankset. The next night the drivetrain. One night headset and fork. Another for the brakes and one last evening to bleed them. No hiccups nor problems, except that the Chris King headset Nordest sold with the frameset isn't suitable for the fork; at least not in my opinion. So a Cane Creek 110 was installed instead. Fork and DT Swiss Centerlock lock ring didn't have enough clearance for me. Then I remembered that my wife's Alfine hub had an older DT Swiss lock ring with an inner spline. This one would leave a wider gap to the fork leg, so I swapped lock rings since it really doesn't matter what type of lock ring is on my wife's bike.

I also needed a new stem. Doing the rough math in my head I figured the stem needed to be slightly shorter with more drop. One weekend morning, I fired up QCAD on my MacBook Pro and drew my Volagi Viaje and my custom-geo Nordest Albarda. A very simplified drawing, because all I needed is a stem length and drop. Whereas my Volagi runs a 110mm stem with -6º, a shorter 100mm stem with -17º put me into a very similar riding position as the Volagi. So, one was ordered. Zipp, of course, to keep components across my bikes the same. The purpose of the bike is to put me back on 700C wheels so that I can compare them to 650B RoadPlus. With a total weight of 8.6 kg, the Albarda is noticeably lighter than the Volagi. Time will tell if I'll prefer one over the other, and maybe I'll discover that both wheel sizes have their place.

Info
First RideOctober 11, 2019
Bike Weight8.6 kg
Mileage8,643 km
Components
TypeBrandModel
FrameNordestAlbarda
ForkNordestAlbarda Carbon
HandlebarThomsonKFC-One, 44cm
BrakesHopeRX4
SeatpostZippSL Speed
StemZippService Course SL
HeadsetCane Creek110
Wheels47° NordLB WR35 Rims, Chris King Hubs
PedalsCrank BrothersEggbeater 3
TiresPanaracerGravelking Slick, 650Bx48
SaddlePrologoDimension Nack
Brake RotorsJagwirePro LR2, 160/160mm
Bottom BracketWheels ManufacturingBSA-68/73-30
CranksetRotorAldhu, 175mm
ChainringRotorR-Rings, 48/35
GroupsetSRAMRED eTap AXS

This article was updated on July 23, 2023

Patrick

Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion; always on two wheels, no suspension, and certainly no flipping motor.

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