Steve had a Trek Émonda rim brake frame sitting around, a box of old rim brake parts that needed a home, and a set of American Classic wheels that a customer didn’t want anymore. The result is a personal parts-bin build that comes in just under 16 lbs on an aluminum frame — and still gets pulled out for quick hill repeats when the mood strikes.
The Build Story
Parts With a Past
When rim brake bikes were fading out, Steve had a handful of quality rim brake parts sitting in boxes — no good home for them on any of the shop’s newer builds. The Trek Émonda aluminum rim brake frame came up in inventory, a few were left, and it made sense. Build something fun out of the parts rather than let them collect dust.
The Easton EC90 SLS bars were slow-moving shop inventory — nice lightweight bars that Steve liked personally and decided to keep for himself rather than wait for them to sell. At the time most people were moving to gravel bars or full aero setups, so these traditional round road bars weren’t exactly flying off the shelf. They work well here — light, comfortable for shorter efforts, and no reason to overthink it on a bike like this.
The Easton EC90 SL carbon crank came out of a swap at some point — likely stripped off a Niner RLT build when a customer wanted a power meter or different chainring setup. Steve ended up with an extra crank, bought chainrings for it, and it found a home here. Too nice to put on a trainer bike, and it contributes to the surprisingly low weight.
The Drivetrain — A Mixed Generation Story
This is genuinely a mixed-generation Shimano build and it works. The rear derailleur is Ultegra 6700 10-speed. The shifters are Ultegra 6600 10-speed — the old-school ones with cables routing out the side of the hood, a look that dates the bike immediately but still functions perfectly. The front derailleur is actually an Ultegra 6800 11-speed — which isn’t supposed to work with a 10-speed drivetrain, but does.
If you’re still running old 10-speed Shimano rim brake stuff, take care of it. Parts are getting hard to find and the new GRX 10-speed doesn’t have the same cable pull ratio — it’s not a drop-in replacement.
On mixing Shimano generations: The 11-speed Ultegra 6800 front derailleur runs fine with 10-speed shifters on this build. Not officially supported, but it works. Sometimes the parts bin throws you a pleasant surprise.
The Wheels
The American Classic wheels came from a customer who was done dealing with them — and Steve understands why. They’re light, they look great, and they roll well. They’re also tubeless compatible, which sounds useful until you try to seat a modern tubeless tire on them. Getting today’s tires to bead up on these rims is a genuine exercise in frustration. Steve runs latex tubes instead and doesn’t look back.
Wrapped in Vittoria Corsa Next 26mm tires — lightweight climbing tires that fit the purpose of this bike perfectly.
The Saddle Situation
The Selle Italia SLR Boost on here is a shop test saddle. The bike tends to be a revolving door for saddle testing — if someone can’t fit the bike but wants to try a saddle, it gets swapped onto something they can ride. Steve cycles through different saddles on it himself too. The SLR Boost isn’t his favorite but it works, and the white colorway looks good on this build alongside the white bar tape and white bottle cages.
Build Weight
Just under 16 pounds on an aluminum frame with no pedals. For what this bike is — a parts-bin build on a discontinued rim brake platform — that’s a genuinely impressive number. The EC90 bars and crank, the American Classic wheels, and the lightweight tires all contribute.
What It Gets Used For
This isn’t a primary ride. It comes out when Steve is between demo bikes, wants to do quick hill repeats, or just wants to ride something different. It’s stiff — noticeably more rigid than the carbon bikes in the stable — and that’s part of the appeal for short hard efforts. There’s nothing forgiving about it and that’s fine for what it is.
It was originally earmarked as a potential permanent trainer bike, but the EC90 crank and bars were too nice to waste on a trainer. So it stays as a shop bike that gets ridden occasionally, doubles as a saddle test platform, and reminds everyone that you can build something genuinely fast out of parts that have been sitting in boxes.
A parts-bin build that punches above its weight
There’s no real reason this bike should exist — it’s a collection of leftover rim brake parts on a discontinued aluminum frame. But it comes in under 16 lbs, climbs well, and is exactly what it needs to be for quick efforts when nothing else is available. Sometimes the most interesting bikes in the stable are the ones built out of necessity rather than spec sheets.
Questions About Custom Builds or Parts?
Have old parts sitting around and wondering what to do with them? We think about this stuff all the time at the shop.