Self Bike Check : Omnium CXC
Having a gravel bike has been at the back of my mind for a while now. Why are they so expensive? Why does a nice gravel tire cost €80? Why am I constantly looking for other ways to ride and end up with yet another fixed gear? Everything started about four months ago when I saw that Omnium was releasing one last batch of the CXC with track ends and gigantic tire clearance. Many things went through my head really fast: Could this be my first gravel bike? How should I build it? Can I finally buy nice tires because I will not destroy them in a few months? It also has track ends so I could always ride it fixed. Anyways, let's just buy it and I’ll figure it out afterward…
As you can see from the first picture above, the plan slowly drifted away from “1x12 gravel/bike-packing bike” to “bruh, let’s just make a parts bin build out of this thing for now because groupset prices are out of this world at the moment”. So, yeah, believe it or not, it’s the nicest parts bin bike I’ve done in a while. The only components I bought (apart from the frame itself of course) for the entire build was: a rear hub, disc brakes, some adapters and some bolts. That’s it!
It’s safe to say that the entire wasn’t a walk in the park since I wanted something really specific but on a budget.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: the 135mm rear spacing. Even if squeezing the frame is always an option (not always the good one tho), I had a difficult time deciding between getting a Surly or Paul hub with a fixed thread on one side and a 6-bolt disc pattern on the other. There must be another way… First, Surly’s hub was out of stock everywhere. Second, as much as I love Paul products, their 135mm disc/fixed hub would have run me almost €400 with import taxes and shipping. That’s literally as much as I paid for the frameset, knowing that if I get a 135mm disc/fixed hub, I am guaranteed to only use it on this bike and this bike only since it’s such a niche product. Therefore, I started looking into every dark corner of the internet such as Chinese websites, items with no reviews, and forgotten eBay sellers. Ordering a bunch of weird parts and adapters for prices that’ll make you question if you’re actually doing the right thing.
This is the final resolution I came up with: I bought a rear fixed/fixed hub from my good friends at MentalBMX. I talked about them in a previous article (and also in this week’s podcast), but €60 for such a nice quality product is just a no-brainer for me. The shady part starts with me ordering a disc brake adapter from eBay. The adapter works by screwing it on a fixed gear hub and then bolting the disc rotor onto it. One can try to install a lock ring but personally, I couldn’t. Being located on the opposite side of the cog, one would be tightening the adapter more and more every time one uses the rear brake. Kinda wondering if the adapter and the hub aren’t gonna go full fusion mode at some and become inseparable. That’s why one doesn't need a lockring, but I would recommend using Loctite or any other available thread locker. It definitely sounds sketchy at first, but from my limited experience, it’s working just fine for now. I’ve been riding with it for a little bit more than two months now while checking it regularly and I have yet to see any threading problems or any kind of wear on the rotor, hub, and adapter. As for the 120 to 135mm spacing, well, I just added spacers on each side of the hub and got longer axle bolts for extra security. Ultimately, the disc is not rubbing and the chain line is perfectly straight as I used a 115mm bottom bracket. Regarding compatibility, this wheel can still fit on any normal track bike and I can enjoy the weird feeling of having a rear disc brake on a fixed-gear.
All of this sounds quite simple but complicated at the same time, so if you need more Info or explanations, you can contact me on our Discord server or on my personal Instagram account: @_paul_u.
For the front hub, I have a no-name hub from a pair of CX wheels I took down a while ago (gotta get those Zipp30s) and I also discovered that one can transform a thru-axle hub to a normal QR skewer with yet another adapter. This answers the front hub question as I already had a pair of Archetypes laying in my closet for almost two years. Lacing an asymmetric hub with the spokes I just had laying around was a tough task, but I managed just fine and I’m quite happy with the end result. As for the brakes, I used the Shimano MT200 disc kit which is probably the cheapest one out there since they can be found as a complete set with levers, hoses, calipers, and rotors for under sixty euros. Had to shorten them, do a partial bleed, and thanks to @diegomhx it was only a fifteen-minute job since he had the appropriate tools and more experience with hydraulic braking systems.
The rest of the build is pretty straightforward. I took all the titanium bling I had laying around at home and slapped it all onto the CXC. Talking about this frame, I was so pleased when it arrived as the bike was properly packed and the color was superb! Sparkling paint is always difficult to reproduce with pictures, but I think I did a pretty good job here and the bike has a completely different effect when the sun is hitting it. Not only the paint but all the braze-on parts, details, and threading are really well made for a sub-500 euro frame. The frame and fork have enough eyelets and bits to put any kind of rack, basket, carrier, and bottle mount one would like. It is clear that our Danish friends thought about everything and every situation one this bike could find itself in. It is a steel frameset that is not light by any means and the fork plays a big role in how heavy the bike feels. You can still buy a seven hundred dollars disc Wound Up, but for me, it wasn’t really fitting my budget.
Detailed Parts List
Frameset Omnium CXC Elrond Green, M size
Chainring and Cog AArn 49T, Parts bin 18T cog
Crank 165mm DuraAce FC-7600
Seatpost and Saddle USE Ti Seatpost, Aspide Saddle
Stem and Handlebar 110mm x 800mm Deluxe Integrated Combo
Wheels Archetype Gunmetal x random front hub - MentalBMX rear hub
Tires Hutchinson 38c Override
Pedals MKS Track, Yellow Mash Cages, MKS Fit-Alpha Double Straps
Accessories Custom Made Ti Rack, Shimano MT200 Brake Kit
Overall it’s an awesome bike and the Omnium CXC deserves 100% its title of “do everything bike”. It feels really comfortable for commuting and riding, but since I haven’t really put any extra money into it and that’s why at the moment I wouldn’t take it on a bike-packing trip. It is just too heavy, even with the Deluxe Ti integrated bars, the titanium seatpost, and my titanium rack. Let’s get something else out of the way real quick because I get DMs every week about this. This rack is a custom-made titanium piece. Yes, it’s a one-off, and no, unfortunately, it is not for sale. Note that I also use sixteen euro tires on it that are good but definitely not the lightest. Even though it’s an awesome ride at the moment, there is definitely room for improvement from my side. The frame itself is just an excellent option by offering every possible option to make the bike evolve alongside one’s riding style, budget, life, and all that for a reasonable price. One last question tho, should I just take the extra step and try a titanium CXC?
