Black and White...

Made it happen...very light and trick looking...

Just Thinking.....

I've been waiting for this price drop to finally happen.....and when I checked today, IT DID!!!

Been looking at the Cannondale HM, Scott CR1, Look 585, Kuota KOM and others, but I think the Cervelos below would be the lightest, stiff enough, best riding, and best fitting and looking for me:

R3SL???????? -

OR...

R3??????? -

I like both color schemes....just not sure if 100grams is worth the extra dough...

I Like White Seats and I Cannot Lie...

Granted...even in pimp looking white, it ain't sexiest looking seat out there. But, this 255g Viagra sounding V-Flow Max seat has a HUGE cutout for guys who need it (I'm not bragging).

$170, straight and direct from John Cobb (www.cobbcycling.com ) with free shipping and a 180 day satisfaction gaurantee, I don't see how I can go wrong to just see if this seat works for me or not...

New Wheels...

After hearing so much about how good my 30mm deep Kinlin with aero spokes are, my brother is thinking of going one "deeper" with a set of these 41mm S 4.0 Soul Wheels. Total weight about 70 or 80 grams or so heavier than my Kinlins, but, the weight is all in the rims.

The Soul hubs weigh in at 72g (Front) and 202g (Rear), 274g pair (weight without skewers). My two DA hubs weighed about 430 grams or so. That means the rims will probably weigh about 105 grams more per rim - say about 565 grams per rim with the wheel set weighing 1,680 grams. This is for the black set, cause the white rims weigh 30 grams more each - probably for the paint.

Soul also makes a set pretty close to my Kinlins, their S 3.0 with a 30mm deep rim and total weight of only 1,480 due to the lighter hubs. Hummmm....what do you choose.....increased weight or better aerodynamics???

In any event, the S 4.0 is pretty reasonable at only $420 shipped!

http://bikesoul.com/2009/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25&Itemid=36

Tested & Certififed...F-A-S-T!!!

Pimp My Ride...
I'm usually NOT a pimper...usually always preferring FUNCTION over fashion...but these things just look so good...

So after retruing my new wheels using the D-man's truing stand, I headed out for a short ride this afternoon in probably the windiest conditions I have EVER ridden in. Not wanting to get blown around too much with the cars, I just rode around the neighborhood and did about 4 laps on a super windy lagoon. Downwind, I was easily spinning the 53x12, and into the wind, it was usually a 53x17 or 19.


FIRST RIDE VERDICT - My new wheels LOOK SWEET...did I already say that???? They're also super fast as the "dead spot" feels a LOT LESS than before. Could it be all psych? (tests show 30mm rims to be of no help)...who cares???? since it felt way faster riding around today in all conditions (down wind, side wind, raging head winds) - no matter what "they" say, I say that churning 24 aero spokes per wheel versus 32 round ones, and having a deeper and narrower profile HAS to help...

I was wondering about how the rear wheel, at only 24 spokes, would perform. It feels much more direct, compared to my Revolution spoked OpenPro, like the bike is hard wired to the pedals and jumps with no delay at any little effort. The front at a heads in radial 24 also turns and hold a tight line like it's on rails. Side winds are also not that bad, although on Lagoon it was mainly head and tail winds...but when a strong side gust does catch the front wheel, you gotta make sure you're holding on and countersteering into the wind - worse than my OpenPro, but in today's strong gusts, ANY wheel with some profile would be harder to handle.

Btw...did I mention that my new wheel's color scheme...black w/ red nips looks sooooo pimp on my white w/black and red Look KX Light...???...

Cont. My Rear Wheel...

I was all set to go to work last night...when I heard that today was the Kuhio Day State HOLIDAY!!! What a surprise! I was this // close to going to work this morning...

Anyways, put the day off to good use and spent about 3 hour building my first rear wheel...and although if took a LONG time, it was satisfyingly fun!

Here it is with the 6 pull drive side spokes laced. I took a long time deciding whether to lace the pull spokes heads out or heads in. But, after reading the Sapim site and seeing they recommended the pull heads in, that's the way I built it. From what I've read it's supposedly a better bracing angle and I knew I wouldn't have any clearance issues with my rear derailure since my current Open Pros were built pull spokes head in. My only issue was that the Dura Ace hub I was reusing was laced the other way originally...oh well...

Not knowing exactly how to do a 2x rear lacing, it was a good thing I took some pictures of the original 650c build so I had something to follow. Not as difficult as it may look or sound...

All built and trued up!

Took a really long time to true it up as I didn't have all the "proper" tools (only a Park spoke wrench) and was doing it all by feel. But, after slowly tightening left and right, things really started to fall into place and I think its really a tight build...a LOT tighter than my front wheel. I will be tightening up my front wheel again for sure...

For this wheel, I used one of my old frames as a truing stand. For my front wheel, I used an old steel fork I had laying around. Also used plain old Phil Wood grease on the threads and the nipple seats. I read that if you lace it up really tight, you shouldn't need any Spoke Prep...we'll see...

One thing I remembered today (and should have know yesterday) was that to prevent twisting the spokes 360 degrees while tightening, I needed to push on the rim to detension the spokes, made truing much easier - versus almost damaging the spokes trying to hold it with a cresent wrench...duhhh...

Also, on this rear build, I decided to "debur" the nipple seats using the ball-end of an allen wrench...not sure if it was really needed, though, I read it was good to do...

Took some weights:

Rear DA 7700 24h Hub: 310g (no skewer)
Kinlin 24h 30mm Rim: 460g
24 Sapim CX Ray Spokes: 115g (278, 280)
24 DT Alloy Nips: 10g (yeah...chancing the alloy on the DS)
24VeloPlugs: 5g???
TOTAL REAR WHEEL: 900g

Front DA 7700 24h Hub: 120g (no skewer)
Kinlin 24h 30mm Rim: 460g
24 Sapim CX Ray Spokes: 110g (272)
24 DT Alloy Nips: 10g
24VeloPlugs: 5g???
TOTAL FRONT WHEEL: 705g

TOTAL SET: 1605g

Wow...pretty light and looks super trick...not bad for a set of 30mm deep aluminum rims w/ Dura Ace hubs...can't wait to ride it!!!

My Custom Front Wheel...

Spent yesterday building my first bicycle wheel, an easy front wheel radial build. Felt pretty tight and reasonably straight so I decided to ride it today. And NOW I know why people build their own wheels...there's nothing more sweet than riding one you've built yourself.

Every time I looked at the blurred spinning wheel while riding today...it was very very very sweet looking with the red nipples adding just the right amount of bling with the black rims, silver brake tracks, and glistening spokes, even in today's fading cloud infested afternoon gloom. And although it was really windy, the cross winds hardly affected the front wheel and it felt pretty fast and aero to me...

Build Parts:
Kinlin 300 Rims (24 hole, ~465g ea)
Dura Ace 7700 Front and Rear Hubs
Sapim CX-Ray Spokes 272f, 278ds and 280nds
DT Red Aluminum and Black Brass Nips
Veloplugs



Finished front wheel:


Sweet looking red nipples w/ black rims look great when spinning and, they match my bike...


After debating for days...and lacing it heads-out at first, I decided to go heads-in for the better bracing angle and increased front end stiffness. If I laced it heads-out, the distance between the spokes at the hub would have been way less than the D-mans front Mavic hubbed Kinlin. Now, my wheel has about a 1 mm wider bracing angle than his build, which should help the front end feel more solid...


Now all I need to do is start building the rear, 2x both sides...

New Bars...

And I'm not talking about the drinking kine!

Deda 215 DEEP drop bar - 240ish grams.....not exactly 215...


For a while now, I've been riding around with my Deda 215 SHALLOW drop bar...the same one LA used in several TDF wins! But that bar's reach was just a little too short with the 11 stem I was running AND, when really hammering the drop was just a tad SHALLOW duh...

So I decided to try the Deda 215 DEEP drop and it seems like it's working out pretty good. I had to go to a shorter 10 stem, but the DEEP's reach is 15mm longer so that netted a 5mm longer reach, just what I was looking for. And, the drop is 10mm deeper so its a way better fit for me in the drops. Also, the hoods are also a tad higher since the DEEP bar does not drop angle down as sharply as the SHALLOW.

As with all bike fitting issues go...we'll just have to see how it goes.

Selle San Marco Zoncolan - REPORT

The saddle was super bad a$$ looking in person...unfortunatley, it was like sitting on a sack of jelly fish!!! If the saddle had some decent support, it might have been a keeper based on the looks alone! The shape was pretty good and flat all the way around too...too bad...it's back to Performance Bike...

I should have probably read better...it was called the Zoncolan Gel Around saddle!

Also, it weighed a ton at over 260 grams so, considering my bike is already pretty heavy, I can't see adding more lead to it, considering my Terry only weighs like 180 grams or so...with all missing leather and such...

Vittoria Open Corsa EVO CX - REPORT

What all the reviews say are true...this tire is AWESOME...

Same route, same turns every ride...and I've been noticing that my bike has been handling like cr@p over the last couple of weeks, front end drifting wide on every turn. So today I decided to do something about it and put a new front tire on - Vittoria's Open Corsa EVO CX tire, 700x23. I was going to go with a Pro Race 3...but, decided that I wanted Vittoria's tubular feeling 290 tpi instead of the 100 something with the PR3...I think I made the right choice!

I used to ride with good expensive tires (Conti's GP3000's) a long time ago...however, after getting so mad with too much flats I decided to just use cheap training tires. BAD MOVE! Even though this tire costed OVER $55 (w/ team discount at McCully), I now think it is totally worth it!!! (Caveat - front tire only, this will only see the back rim AFTER it's been well worn on the front...I still can't get myself to drop $50+ for a new back tire that will wear out super fast.)

With just the front, my bike now handles like my brother's Miata on R-comps! The turn in is sooooo good and fast now, especially this one off-camber turn that the foldable Seca handled decently well when new. But this CX is on a totally different level, the front end just turns right under you with tons of grip to spare...I even over turned on several of my usual turns, the performance is that good. I just really hope it wears well and the handling stays the same over the life of the tire - probably not though as I think most tires drop off once the middle starts getting sqared off...we'll see...

Also, like everyone says, it is really smooth riding. At the 100psi I usually use, I especially noticed that the supple front tire just eats up the sharper edged bumps, noticeably taking the edge off them compared to the Seca I had on there. I can only imagine how awesome one on the back would feel - must be super smooth...

About 225 grams...about average for racing tires, but not ultra light...


The only thing now is that I've been cleaning my front tire like every 10 minutes or so, when I even THINK I see glass...just making sure that it doesn't pick anything up...knock on wood!!!

San Marco Concor Light Saddle

San Marco Concor Light Saddle, originally uploaded by dancedream2002.

So I've decided to start posting all of these bike parts that I started weighing...

My favorite saddle...for now...

Selle San Marco Concor Light Saddle (2001?)
Titanium Rail
Say 220 grams. Not really that "light" but what do you expect for an "old school" saddle. But, you gotta use what feels "right!"

Cervelo Wolf TT Fork

Cervelo Wolf TT Fork, originally uploaded by dancedream2002.

650c Cervelo Wolf Carbon TT Fork (2007)
Cut Aluminum Steerer and Dropouts.
A TANK at say 600+ grams!

Cannondale Premium Fork

Cannondale Premium Fork, originally uploaded by dancedream2002.

650c Cannondale Premium Carbon Fork (2007)
Cut Carbon Steerer and Aluminum Dropouts.
Say 440grams and not really that light for a full carbon fork in the shorter 650c size!!!

Talk about lugging weight when you climb compared to all the 700c forks coming in at 300ish grams...