This is my setup for the Iowa Spring Classics, may carry over into some longer endurance races this year. The Cole carbon tubulars were cheaper than my "training" wheelset so this is now my "worst" road wheelset. I'm pretty comfortable being on Tubulars for almost everything going forward. Along the same lines, I don't have a "back-up" road bike exactly anymore (the Giant sold!) and I'm planning to ride this for everything where one is needed, I can clean it, replace parts, or even repair the frame if need be.
I know I should cut the steerer! Will soon, damn ENVE/EDGE stuff is so expensive I'm scared!
This did involve an angle grinder
Clearance elsewhere is quite good- remember I did run 30c Marathon racers on this same frame in last years Royal 162 and at dirty kanza.
The Flash! Got to ride it tonight. Still needs a larger front chainring, to be converted to tubeless and a slightly longer and much lighter stem/steer combo. My digital bathroom scale tells me it will be comfortably under 20 lbs after those changes with bottle cages and pedals. The weight isn't really the point though- from what I've seen of it thus far riding wise this thing is just insanely good... sort of "just right" feeling. Sometimes you switch to new equipment and you realize what you've been missing kind of thing (same feeling I had when I switched from a SS Jake the Snake to a Look 585 and went on a group ride with the same people 18 months ago!).
I'm running X9 rear derailleur, XTR brakes and an XT cassette... definitely not 'weight weenie' parts and will still be under 20 lb mark!
Awesome and cheap rotors- Kudos to Milltown Cycles for stocking them and at the right price.
A ton of post showing! I straddle sizes- went small for the "race" bike. I'm right at the minimum insertion point.
I also had my new fork show up... reminds me of something, seems to ride well. <500g with steerer cut- funny to have such a light fork on a bike with cheapo rotors and a $25 crankset. If you look carefully at the headtube/fork junction see how it looks funny? The headset adaptor is funky and makes it look like there is a gap, nothing easy I can do about it. The adaptor works well otherwise, once you figure out how to install it on a carbon fork without breaking it (it requires some patience, lots of headset spacers and a large rubber mallet). I only rode this around the neighborhood after the fork swap but I'm very very happy so far. It seems stiff even under heavy braking and rides smoothly. More importantly it is a couple cm shorter than the Reba I had on it for my first couple rides and suits my taste geometry wise a lot better. I was worried that even this fork would be too long or that the bike just had a geometry that I wouldn't enjoy, but totally over that after riding it.
More to come when I get things put together... waiting on derailleur hangers for my other "nice" bikes.
Your obsession with carbon is troubling...
ReplyDeleteMallory