Fair points 
Actually, you’re quite right - I did change my priorities, not least when I started doing the sums. I realised it had to be something I could sell on at little to no loss if it didn’t work out.
But I’ve already learned a lot, not least at reading specs very carefully 
That’s right. If the manufacturer’s claimed weights are to be believed, my spreadsheet suggests it will be a fraction over 7kg without pedals. Yes, I know the ‘without pedals’ weight is a bit of a con (who rides a bike without pedals?) but it does give a useful yardstick for comparison. Given a 2021 Trek Emonda SL7 (with the same groupset) weighs a claimed 7.9kg without pedals, and will set you back £5200, I’ll be happy to put together something almost a kg lighter for about 3k less. Ok, mine will have rim brakes, but I’m not that heavy, so that should be ok.
Now all there apart from bar tape and a front mech that won’t quite play ball (either slight chain rub or occasional chain drop from outer to inner - can’t get both perfect). Very slight play in the headset I can’t get rid of, too.
I think I’m going to have to get a pro to sort the latter two things.
7.2kg with pedals and bottle cages (but no bar tape).
Great work - looks lovely 
wow congrats, very quick!
Thanks for sharing this. Been wanting to do this for a long time as well. Don’t really “need” a new bike but bike projects are fun so why not.
Looks great! Was never a massive fan of Trek’s, but have found myself getting closer to pulling the trigger on an ALR frameset recently. And that colour is 
Please don’t take this as criticism - but having searched for frames and parts recently, and seeing the cost of this build it only reminds me of what an amazing deal one of the in-law’s got recently - Argon 18 Galium, Force AXS with Zipp 302’s for not a lot more than you’ve paid from LBS.
No criticism taken. The only parts bought from the LBS though were the stem and tyres; everything else was bought either second-hand or heavily discounted online. The LBS fitted the bb for me (as I don’t have a press and can’t justify buying one) and gave me a hand getting the front mech just right.
In hindsight, I probably could have saved £3-400 by having a clearer vision of exactly what I wanted at the start, and I also think that my first few rides have clarified nicely what I like about the bike and what I don’t.
Sorry, I meant he (in-law) bought his Argon from LBS.
Prices are just rocketing up at the minute. Would love to make a change myself, hence looking at the Emonda’s, but can’t justify the price hike’s at the minute especially with bambino number 2 on the way.
2nd hand market is equally as crazy, seeing Tiagra alu bikes selling for more than I paid for my 105 hydro disc bike new.
I think demand is still exceeding supply in many areas, which is driving prices up. I also think that the bike industry has been tremendously successful in repositioning the middle market; a ‘very good but nothing special’ bike (i.e. 2nd tier carbon frame, mechanical Ultegra) is now typically a 3.5k purchase not a 2.5k one. That in turn makes 'solid Alu + 105) a 1.5k purchase not a 1k one, and so on, and so on…
I do think, though, that sometime early next year will see a lot of bikes and smart trainers hit the 2nd hand market and there will be some deals to be had. Similarly, the (many) people who upgraded during lockdown (suddenly having the time to ride for several hours every day) will not, probably, be upgrading again next year. So at a guess there may well be unsold new stock hanging around later next year that will end up being discounted.
Put it this way, if I were in the market for a new bike, I’d be hanging on until early next year at least unless I genuinely needed one. Conversely, if I had a bike I wasn’t using or wasn’t sure about, I’d be looking to sell it before Xmas.
I see some good second-hand deals these days, as the season is coming to an end and the “I can’t be seen with a rim brake high-end road bike” trend seems to be catching with the dentist crowd.
Hardest thing I’m finding is locating a full groupset (looking at Ultegra Di2)
where are you based? In the UK, Wiggle and Merlin usually have some deals on, and I’ve seen a fair few on Ebay lately.
USA - I’ve got the Merlin tab perma-refreshed but they’re missing a couple parts. Think I’d be ok picking up bar-end junctions elsewhere but at a minimum want reasonable cranksets / cassettes off the bat.
Well this has all gone a bit wrong.
Had the bike in the LBS today to identify an intermittent clicking from the front derailleur/bb area.
After some investigation, they have established it is the SRAM chainset bolts brushing the base of the downtube. There is not enough clearance to run the chainset on the Emonda. 
They also identifed – via an uneven wear pattern on the inside of the bolts from this brushing - that there is very subtle play in the bb (despite it being brand new - thanks bb90).
They speculate that with a perfect bb and a little bit of ‘fettling’ they might be able to get the SRAM crankset to work but (and I quote) ‘it’s a long shot’.
In all probability, I now have either to replace the chainset (for something that will still work with Etap AXS) and the bb (probably for a specialist unit), or - more likely - change the frame.
They are looking into options for me and will get back to me.
Not a good outcome!
That sucks. Sorry to hear that.
I don’t 100% understand the problem, but I guess this is a evidence of why people were quite cheerful that BB90 was replaced by T47… I know a lot of people jump on the Threaded BB train. Shimano’s standards (BB86 / 386evo) worked quite well for me in the past. But the BB is a reason why I for example didn’t go for the Cervelo Aspero - otherwise really nice bike.
Long story short: I hope it gets sorted out soon and you are back on the road with the bike in no time!
Do you think some of the 2nd hand purchases are to blame for it (someone sold something because it hadn’t good tolerances?)?
I think that’s definitely possible but I’ve no way of proving it, and I suspect I’d have got away with a Shimano groupset (at least for a while).
But yeah there always a risk buying 2nd hand I suppose.
Yeah, but I think a manufacturing error (out of tolerances) of this magnitude is very hard to catch even if the seller was completely honest and knowledgeable.
But really, what a bummer for you. 
