Lipka's All-City Nature Boy A.C.E. SS Cross Destroyer.
Sadly, three days before the premier cyclocross race in town, Mike managed to destroy ss frame.
This past week we just wrapped up building one of the all-new All-City Nature Boy ACE frames for Mike. Over the past year, he had slowly been making a series of really smart upgrades to his previous single speed cross bike. Sadly, three days before the premier cyclocross race in town, he managed to destroy his frame. Lucky for Mike we were able to get one of the Nature Boy frames in time to build up.
All of his upgrades were able to move from the broken frame without a single hiccup. Here’s his build and why it’s so rad.
The brakes are the Hylex full hydraulics from TRP. Designed specifically for single speed cross bikes these are easily the best out there. Mike can charge into the corners full blast knowing he has the power and modulation to scrub speed as needed.
His cranks are from Rotor. The REX is one of the lightest options out there that is compatible with the eccentric bottom bracket on his frame that allows for tensioning the chain. Rotor is a shop favorite and you’ll probably see some on employee bikes if you look.
What makes this bike really killer though is the wheels. For all cyclocross bikes, especially single-speed ones, a thing called hub engagement is super important. Engagement is the term that describes how quickly the freewheel mechanism of the hub engages when the rider goes from coasting to pedaling. The more twisty and technical the course, the more important this is. To get the best wheels for the price we started with hubs from DT Swiss. We used the tried and true 350 level hubs to start out. Known for extremely durable bearings and seals, we knew this was the only call for a bike that was going to see plenty of mud. From there we swapped out the stock 18 tooth ratchets inside the hub to the 54 tooth ones.
The stock ones give the rider a relatively average 18 degrees of crank movement before engaging. Upgrading to the 54 drops the engagement all the way down to 6.6 degrees.
That’s on par with all of the top-performing hubs from more expensive brands like Industry Nine and Chris King. Lastly, while we had the hubs apart we swapped out the stock aluminum cog carrier for the more robust steel one. While this does add a small weight penalty, it makes the interface between the hub and cog far more resistant to wear. Another great feature for a bike that sees some serious abuse.
We laced this special rear hub along with the matching front to a pair of carbon fiber tubeless rims to make a top performance set of wheels for a price that is way more reasonable than many of the options out that are often functionally inferior.
Now Mike has no excuses. He just has to make this thing fly.
