Kinesis Aithein build
Discussion
So I had my first attempt past couple of days at building my own bike up from frame and fork. I wanted an aluminium frame and narrowed it down in the end to 2 bikes , bowman palace 3 or the kinesis aithein and went for the latter as the bowman is not available in rim brake till June . I had a 105 7000 groupset from another bike I had stripped so decided to use this even though I really wanted ultegra , saved a small fortune! Wheels are bontrager from my emonda so pretty light at 1500g ,shimano screw in BB which is much easier than the press fit on my emonda . Deda bars , stem and seat post , ultegra 11-30 cassette, 50-34 chainset. pretty pleased how it went ,cutting the carbon forks was probably the most worrying bit measure twice cut once ! . will be testing properly tomorrow. First ride impressions were excellent. Whole bike has come in at 8.2kg which is not bad for aluminium,but I was hoping for under 8kg . Maybe shave a few kg here and there in the future , I recommend the build , I already want to build another! 
Edited by Neil1323bolts on Friday 12th March 19:15
Edited by Neil1323bolts on Friday 12th March 19:19
benny.c said:
Looks great. I love building bikes, it’s very satisfying. I particularly enjoy the planning phase and unboxing all the new parts. The good thing is, anyone can do it with a few specific tools - there really is nothing particularly complicated about the whole process.
Yes I never realised how therapeutic it is , that and the fact your in the garage or man cave , beer on the go away from the wife ! Yes once you have the right tools the jobs become easy that and a bit of practice . Looks great!
Interested to hear your impressions on how it rides (particularly vs emonda and other bikes your own). Also any elements you'd change after having done a few rides?
I've got the disc frameset which is being built up by LBS in a couple weeks with spares I have. Similar weight rovals, Ultegra and some budget carbon bits. Also hoping for 8kg but doubt Ultegra Vs 105 will more than offset discs weight. It was actually a backup for me after failing to get the purple emonda frameset
Interested to hear your impressions on how it rides (particularly vs emonda and other bikes your own). Also any elements you'd change after having done a few rides?
I've got the disc frameset which is being built up by LBS in a couple weeks with spares I have. Similar weight rovals, Ultegra and some budget carbon bits. Also hoping for 8kg but doubt Ultegra Vs 105 will more than offset discs weight. It was actually a backup for me after failing to get the purple emonda frameset
Dnlm said:
Looks great!
Interested to hear your impressions on how it rides (particularly vs emonda and other bikes your own). Also any elements you'd change after having done a few rides?
I've got the disc frameset which is being built up by LBS in a couple weeks with spares I have. Similar weight rovals, Ultegra and some budget carbon bits. Also hoping for 8kg but doubt Ultegra Vs 105 will more than offset discs weight. It was actually a backup for me after failing to get the purple emonda frameset
Well I managed a ride yesterday in the wind , wow I was very impressed this bike is comfortable and fast I am running 25c tyres at the moment and may go to 28 so probably be even more comfortable. The frame is a 53 , and I had measured compared to my emonda and it fits perfectly which to be honest I was expecting a bit more faffing to get it bang on correct . So the ride quality is amazing it soaks up the road imperfections brilliantly probably better than my emonda , power transfer is good with the frame being stiff enough to give it the beans and get instant response even compared to my SLR emonda it feels great when going for it , I got up to 54kmh yesterday on a slight downhill section and it felt sure footed even in the high winds , I will I am sure go quicker on that section another day . I am really impressed with the aluminium fame on this bike they have certainly improved over the years . The bowman palace 3 must be amazing as it just pipped the kinesis in reviews , I may be tempted by the disk brake version of this . It does make me wonder the obsession with carbon. I think I need to try steel and titanium now just as a bench mark ! I can certainly recommend the Aithein , this is a seriously good bike and at £750 not to bad a price . Interested to hear your impressions on how it rides (particularly vs emonda and other bikes your own). Also any elements you'd change after having done a few rides?
I've got the disc frameset which is being built up by LBS in a couple weeks with spares I have. Similar weight rovals, Ultegra and some budget carbon bits. Also hoping for 8kg but doubt Ultegra Vs 105 will more than offset discs weight. It was actually a backup for me after failing to get the purple emonda frameset
That looks cool. I'm about to build one of these and just received the frame this week. Will be full ultegra disc groupset taken off a previously crashed carbon frame that I had a full insurance payout on. Was only a couple of months old. I also looked at the emonda but the only colour that was available was the awful sunset yellow and red that I just could not have lived with! Would be interesting to hear your thoughts in the coming weeks
This was my first full bike build from last year. Totally agree on how therapeutic it is, almost as good as riding!
I’ve spent plenty of time fixing and repairing bikes over the years, but having the time and space to build a full bike up from scratch was great fun
Enjoy yours, looks awesome!
I’ve spent plenty of time fixing and repairing bikes over the years, but having the time and space to build a full bike up from scratch was great fun
Enjoy yours, looks awesome!
stepaway said:
This was my first full bike build from last year. Totally agree on how therapeutic it is, almost as good as riding!
I’ve spent plenty of time fixing and repairing bikes over the years, but having the time and space to build a full bike up from scratch was great fun
Enjoy yours, looks awesome!
Love that looking great , another grey with black fork combo, which I thought would be a bit boring looking but they are not and look much better in real life . Enjoy , and enjoy the tinkering. I’ve spent plenty of time fixing and repairing bikes over the years, but having the time and space to build a full bike up from scratch was great fun
Enjoy yours, looks awesome!
Neil1323bolts said:
I can certainly recommend the Aithein , this is a seriously good bike and at £750 not to bad a price .
Glad to hear the positive feedback 
. The bowman has great reviews but a few production issues according to my LBS who've failed their frames.r1chie said:
I also looked at the emonda but the only colour that was available was the awful sunset yellow and red that I just could not have lived with!
Yeah, Trek approach to colour schemes seems a bit mad. Was also surprised at the relatively easy availability of the Kinesis!smn159 said:
Nice looking bike!
Here's my Kinesis Racelight Aithein that I built up from a frame a couple of years ago with 105 hydraulics.
I won the frame on eBay, knowing nothing about them but just liking the colour, but the bike has turned out to be brilliant
Looks great in blue , seems you had a right result landing that frame , really pleased with mine I can’t stop riding it , my legs need a rest ! Here's my Kinesis Racelight Aithein that I built up from a frame a couple of years ago with 105 hydraulics.
I won the frame on eBay, knowing nothing about them but just liking the colour, but the bike has turned out to be brilliant
Neil1323bolts said:
smn159 said:
Looks great in blue , seems you had a right result landing that frame , really pleased with mine I can’t stop riding it , my legs need a rest ! stepaway said:
This was my first full bike build from last year. Totally agree on how therapeutic it is, almost as good as riding!
I’ve spent plenty of time fixing and repairing bikes over the years, but having the time and space to build a full bike up from scratch was great fun
Enjoy yours, looks awesome!
As a fellow RDX builder/owner, did you scratch your head and curse a bit when running the hose for the front brake? I was most puzzled why the hose on my fork comes out on the outside of the fork, so then needs to bend round to the inside to the calliper. No problems with it since the build but I couldn't understand why you'd put the exit hole on the outside of the fork...I’ve spent plenty of time fixing and repairing bikes over the years, but having the time and space to build a full bike up from scratch was great fun
Enjoy yours, looks awesome!
Here's mine now built up. Only been for a little spin but feels great.
Put Ultegra from main bike being upgraded to di2, with a mix of other bits. There was going to be a eBay carbon saddlepost - it cracked at 3nm so lesson learnt!
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/6Ym6fpNa[/url]
The back clearance is ok with 25s
Put Ultegra from main bike being upgraded to di2, with a mix of other bits. There was going to be a eBay carbon saddlepost - it cracked at 3nm so lesson learnt!
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/6Ym6fpNa[/url]The back clearance is ok with 25s
Edited by Dnlm on Tuesday 30th March 19:07
Looks great in the purple , makes my grey metallic look positively boring! I’ve been out on mine today , a short blast but my highest average speed of the year with the sun on your back just lovely. This is one fast bike , I just need some deeper section carbon wheels for it now , although that definitely was not in the original plans for this bike !
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