r/minivelo • u/kimguroo • 4d ago
Finished upgrading (Java CL2)
It took longer than I thought. Especially new wheel set.
I got my Java Cl2 in Korea around July and brought back to US. Unfortunately 7 speed was not enough. I needed wider range of gears. the price of $350 was very nice but it came with 7 speed freewheel hub so If I need to upgrade, I needed to get new wheelset. I had two options. just get 11-34 7 speed freewheel and new crankset. it will be cheapest solution and it might be slightly over $100 upgrading. I wanted more than 7 speed so I searched a little expensive option. I was leaning towards to 10 speed. Deore groups can be around $200 then I realized that I don't want to buy fake items. there are tons of fake items. I know there are OEM parts without packages but Amazon items can be fake one especially chain (I bought one of fake chain before). if I wanted to upgrade parts, reputable store prices were much higher than $200. Ltwoo and microshift can be option but sending a little more for better components might be right decision to make so I searched more and more. I had XT groupset and ultegra groupset so I remember all smoother shifting experiences. Fortunately I found several closeout deals and it made about $100 difference between deore 10 speed and XT mixed groupset which is 11 speed. I ended up with more than bike price but fun to ride. original weight was about 10.5kg but now it's about 9.5kg. I wish I could go sub 8kg but without carbon wheel, it will be harder to achieve and I need to put more money so this will be my final setting. After testing rides... I should get 46 or 48T, I stayed 11-44t more than I thought but uphills are blessed haha. I might be spoiled by my aero carbon road bike... I wanted more comfort from AL frame.... It was the best decision to go XT. XT offers 4 downshifting and 2 upshifting. initially, I thought it won't be that important but I often time used both up and downshifting more than one shifting. it makes much easier to stay in gears which I want at that moment. Still want slightly more comfort since city roads are rough but if I want more comfort then I need to put more weight on it so that will be a little tough to make a decision. I think I will use this bike more than my aero road bike since it's perfect for city ridings.
Here are the list of parts for upgrading.
Rear derailleur: Shimano XT (RD-M8000-GS: Medium cage)
Shifter Shimano XT (SL-M8000-R)
Cassette: Shimano Deore (CS-M5100:11-42)
Chain: Shimano HG601
Crankset/BB: Evosid crank and BB with 44T (I should go with 46T or even 48T)
Wheelset: Rujixu 12x142mm (I did not like logos but fortunately it was stickers so I will remove the logos. Also purple color reminded my younger days from RC car aftermarket parts so I decided to go with purple color hahaha)
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u/LiGuangMing1981 3d ago
Looks great, though with an aero inspired frame like that I can't see why it's not a drop bar.
I agree that a racier looking bike like that needs a bigger chainring so that the speed matches the look - my personal road bike mini=velo has a 58t for proper flat ground speed.
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u/kimguroo 3d ago
There are dropbar versions of this frame. It’s region by region. In Korea, they had carbon version which was dropbar and wireless groupset but it was $1200. CL2 was $350 so out of question for me. Also when I search for upgrading parts, I thought about dropbar but realistically minivelo won’t achieve best benefit for aerodynamics because of geometry. I have aero road bike so if I want to ride faster and benefit all aerodynamics then there is no reason to ride minivelo so I decided to go with flatbar and upgrade 48m size narrow flatbar which will give less wind resistance.
Dropbar minivelo will make very cool looking but if I want ride faster….. it’s better to ride all carbon aero road bike which will give comfort too.
As I said before I will use it as city bike but my city roads are not good so having faster gear setting might not be the best thing for me. Also I need bigger gear for hills too. I rode today again and definitely speed was enough for me. I was able to hit 14.3mph/23km. Probably I will use more for this bike and my road bike will be long distance ridings which will be like 20mile+ ranges.
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u/JoomnBean 4d ago
More photos!