On Friday, March 26, 2021 at 10:50:27 AM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 4:17:33 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
I was having problems finding the sort of aluminum frame I was looking for, for a price I was willing to pay. Since I am impressed with Felt and they are selling off old stock, it appeared that I was going to have to buy one of those for about $500. Since this is where I stop buying and selling I don't mind paying that. But the catch is that it is a disk bike and I am most definitely not a fan of disks. Neither is a large portion of the pro peloton though they are being sponsored and can't contradict the sponsors. Only Chris Froome feels the freedom to say what he feels.

That would mean that I would have to buy hydraulic levers and disks and actuators. I prefer rim brakes on aluminum wheels.

So I ran across a Douglas in my NORMAL size for less than $200 for frame, California sales tax and shipping.

Douglas was the house brand of Colorado Cyclist when they were a booming business before the Democrats decided to punish business success.

It looks to be everything I am on the market for. A fork can be had for a wave of the hand and if a carbon fiber fork is good enough for Greg Lemond and Eddy Merckx it's good enough for me. An EC90 can be gotten for less than $70 new and you don't need to get a superlight and worry about its strength since the regular fork in only 20 grams heavier than the super-light. Although I have a new set of new set of Fulcrum disk wheels they can be used with rim brakes. They were cheaper than dirt since all carbon is everything today. I have all of the rest of the parts taken from the Look. So cables and handlebar tape is all that is needed. Depending on the position of the stops, maybe not even cables. The handlebar tape is still on the aluminum bar I removed. The cables are still run and from the pictures it appears that the Look stops were further away than that of the Douglas.

With the coming of warmer weather, the demand for bikes is shooting up. The dealers again can't keep up with the demand. There were 20 boxes in the Specialized dealer yesterday when I got there. 5 people were actually buying bikes not just looking. Though most of them were kids because that was the only display bikes they still had. Di2 is not only popular but since the change to wireless is only effecting the new levers and the main battery. people won't be too willing to have the newest Di2. Besides, the latest and greatest is 12 gears and EVERYONE is catching on that they're being played.

The weight of the Eddy Merckx Elite looks like it will come out very near the Trek Emonda without working hard at it. The 3T stem and handlebar is quite a bit lighter than the integrated Look bar that is on the Madone I just sold. Carefully looking over the Rock Bros Keo copies gives me the idea that they are made in the same factory that makes the Look Keo standard pedal. They even weight a bit less. The mechanism look like a slight improvement. If you're going to give the Asians your technology you should remember that their engineers are just as good as yours and can and will improve it and sell it cheaper.

I went through the entire gamut of bikes over the last ten years since I recovered. Older carbon fiber like I was originally injured on except for better forks. Steel because it rides SOOO much better, new and newer steel that is so stiff it might as well be new CF, then the absolute top of the line carbon fiber bikes and their strengths and weaknesses. You CANNOT tell quality control of the layup from the outside. You have to depend upon reputation and Hambini did a very good job of showing that there was poor quality in the industry. So back of "almost as light but a HELL of a lot more reliable" aluminum. They are usually too stiff, but now that we are riding 28 mm tires that problem is solved. The difference it made on my Time was breathtaking! With 23 mm you could NOT ride that bike. With 28's it was a dream come true. I should have kept that bike since unlike most carbon fiber bikes it had alternate layups of Kevlar which doesn't tear like carbon fiber may.

And wouldn't you rather pay $1100 for a top of the line Aluminum bike than $12,000 for a carbon bike with Di2? Electric shifting is nice and it is better than manual shifting but it is too little for the extra price and when was manual shifting bad?

I have these carbon fiber saddles that weigh next to nothing. They are maybe 10 grams heavier than some of the slotted and "bendy" saddles. They are just slightly less comfortable than the San Torino. When I was doing long climbs i used to have to stretch my back all the time. Surprisingly, when I started using the slotted saddles that disappeared and my back problems disappeared. Live and learn. And use the cheep Chinese carbon saddles rather than the expensive Italian ones. The saddles are surprisingly comfortable without any padding. I would not have thought that possible.
I am beginning to get inquiries for the two high end carbon bikes with Di2 I have left. Since spring is coming on people will be more and more interested in getting a new super-speed bike. So they ought to go out the door at asking prices.

For the Douglas I just bought a Look fork. They have by a country mile the highest quality control of all CF manufacturers and tis being a new fork I won't have anything at all to worry about for the rest of my life.
Colorado Cyclist didn't respond to the email I sent asking for a rather expensive Cane Creek headset. They it turned out that I sent it in the "feedback" box. So today I sent it to the regular sales email. This is sort of an odd completely flush lower headset so they might have to special order it. I'll see how that all works out. Cane Creek makes good parts and the bike appears to have been designed specifically for that sort of headset. I would prefer not to use Chinese or FSA copies.