Michael Hanslip Coaching

If you want to go faster, you have to pedal harder

Checkpoint, take 2

I have been riding the original Trek Checkpoint SL to work for around 3 years. There has been this weird, temperature sensitive creak in the bike for that entire period.
I replaced the bottom bracket bearings several times. When even the Trek oversized bearings didn't fix things, I turned to the dealer. After checking on a few things, they replaced the bearing seats in the frame. Trek uses direct pressfit bearings in the BB shell of the Checkpoint and most road frames of the past decade or so (which meant no 30 mm axles). If a rider neglected their bearings too long, the seat would be damaged and that was the end of that frame. Until they developed a fix. A cutting device carefully removes the carbon that the bearings sit on, and then new seats are glued in. A jig holds everything in alignment while the glue dries. Voila - good as new.
In my case the creaking was instantly back. Phil Gaimon (ex-pro cyclist and now YouTube cycling guy) did
a video on creaks where he said it is never the bottom bracket. I suspected it wasn't the bottom bracket. It wasn't.
On another occasion the bike shop owner spent way too long going over the bike and not only lubricated every interface on the bike (from brake levers-bar and bar-stem to dropouts-rear triangle and chainrings-spider) but checked the torque of every fastener. And it instantly creaked again.
That suggested to me what I'd long suspected (since I'd done the same thing as him twice over before) - that the noise might be inherent in the frame. Perhaps a joint was improperly glued together?
A claim went to Trek, and to their credit, they provided a new 2023 Checkpoint SL frame for me, with a new high-end seatpost and appropriate bottom bracket (because I'd upgraded my Checkpoint to the high-end carbon seatmast that Checkpoints no longer use, and many Trek bikes now use threaded T47 BBs). Thanks Trek.
The 61 cm frame they had for me turned out to be the best colour that Checkpoints have come in since their release. The main colour is dark aquatic, a sort of deep sea teal colour with a metallic flake. The second colour, used for the TREK writing and the contrast marks on the frame, is bare carbon. Superb.
My frame is in the bike shop and the bottom bracket has been installed, ready for me to pick it up and transfer all the Record pieces over. The old bike was two-tone red. I purchased the matching two-tone red Ortlieb bags, red bottle cages, red Speedplay pedals, red bar tape and even a red not-a-bottle to carry my spares in. The bar tape has to be replaced - I found some cool metallic oil slick effect tape from Supakaz that has lots of green tones in it. But the bottle cages, pedals and bags are going on as is. Supakaz also makes matching oil slick cages - I don't plan to buy those, but who knows...
I have a new chain and cassette to go on. The brake hoses have to be disconnected to go through the frame, so a full bleed will be required. New Campagnolo cable housing and Campagnolo-compatible cables (since the proper Campag ones are too short for the big frame) will go in at the same time. And finally, new Pirelli Cinturato 28 mm tubeless tyres with Orange Seal sealant will go on the Campag wheels. I have some spare brake pads that I bought with the chain and cassette, just in case their more worn that I expected.
I am swapping saddles with my trail bike too. I think that saddle is good with an aggressive forward leaning position (which you don't use all the time on the mountain bike) and might be great on the commuting bike (a Fabric Scoop Race Flat). I don't expect that the Fizik 3D printed saddle will be great on the trail bike, but it can't hurt to try it.
With a complete cleaning it should be just like a new bike.

I am not sure when to build it. A rebuild probably takes longer than the initial build, because disassembly and not everything is brand new. And I'd like to continue to ride to work every day. Look for a first-ride entry soon.

Post-writing note: I have discovered that new Checkpoints do not have a housing stop for the front derailleur. They rely on one of three things occurring in the build: many are 1x drivetrains lacking a front derailleur; many have AXS shifting with no cable at all; and one (the SL5) uses a Shimano front derailleur that has its own housing stop built in. I could go 1x, but I like the small chainring when I'm tired. I could use a Shimano derailleur, but I went to great lengths to avoid mixing Shimano and Campag on the one bike. Hopefully there is some kind of solution that works with my Record front derailleur.