General Bicycle News

My son just completed his scratch-n-dent S-Works Tarmac with SRAM Red eTap and (drum roll please) ordinary rim brakes because it was an older frame. The Red brakes were a gift from me and left-overs from the SuperSix that was in the roof-rack catastrophe (my wife, not me). He had some top-end aluminum Ksyrium wheels that he got from a friend who is a Mavic rep. Aluminum are better a braking than CF, which matters when every ride is up in SLC. Even with a modest, non-bleeding edge build, its a 16lb bike (61cm). The whole thing cost him a few hundred bucks, plus some pedals that he actually bought from his local bike shop, Contender -- a great shop. https://contenderbicycles.com/ (biased product placement). Early reports are that it is a very fast climbing bike, and he loves eTap. The bike has a SRAM power meter and would probably retail for $6K new. The Specialized sratch-and-dent give-away is way, way better than pro-deal, although the bikes are post-prime.

Meanwhile, it was spring sunshine in winter today in PDX, and notwithstanding my lack of miles and general post-injury decrepitude, I did a 100K RT out to Crown Point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOieB41-hfE I rode my Trek Emonda SLR with rim brakes and cable shifting. Great bike (biased product placement). The rim brakes grind because the aluminum brake tracks on my wheels are beat-up, and I do like the feel of discs, but stopping was fine. There were bazillions of cyclists, and a large group whooping on the descent to Vista House as I was climbing back out. Rain tomorrow and back to fender bike. EOM.

-- Jay Beattie.

On Sunday, February 23, 2020 at 2:55:12 AM UTC+1, jbeattie wrote:
My son just completed his scratch-n-dent S-Works Tarmac with SRAM Red eTap and (drum roll please) ordinary rim brakes because it was an older frame. The Red brakes were a gift from me and left-overs from the SuperSix that was in the roof-rack catastrophe (my wife, not me). He had some top-end aluminum Ksyrium wheels that he got from a friend who is a Mavic rep. Aluminum are better a braking than CF, which matters when every ride is up in SLC. Even with a modest, non-bleeding edge build, its a 16lb bike (61cm). The whole thing cost him a few hundred bucks, plus some pedals that he actually bought from his local bike shop, Contender -- a great shop. https://contenderbicycles.com/ (biased product placement). Early reports are that it is a very fast climbing bike, and he loves eTap. The bike has a SRAM power meter and would probably retail for $6K new. The Specialized sratch-and-dent give-away is way, way better than pro-deal, although the bikes are post-prime.

Meanwhile, it was spring sunshine in winter today in PDX, and notwithstanding my lack of miles and general post-injury decrepitude, I did a 100K RT out to Crown Point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOieB41-hfE I rode my Trek Emonda SLR with rim brakes and cable shifting. Great bike (biased product placement). The rim brakes grind because the aluminum brake tracks on my wheels are beat-up, and I do like the feel of discs, but stopping was fine. There were bazillions of cyclists, and a large group whooping on the descent to Vista House as I was climbing back out. Rain tomorrow and back to fender bike. EOM.

-- Jay Beattie.

NIce... eTap is picking up here also. Raining cats and dogs here and storm for the third Sunday on a row.. Group ride is cancelled. Still waiting for my frame of my gravel bike. Do you have long holidays in Colorado that we don't know about? Just finished painting the ceiling of the veranda, my favorite DIY job @#$$#@. Maybe it stop raining at the end of the day.

Lou

On Sunday, February 23, 2020 at 3:09:08 AM UTC-8, wrote:
On Sunday, February 23, 2020 at 2:55:12 AM UTC+1, jbeattie wrote:
My son just completed his scratch-n-dent S-Works Tarmac with SRAM Red eTap and (drum roll please) ordinary rim brakes because it was an older frame. The Red brakes were a gift from me and left-overs from the SuperSix that was in the roof-rack catastrophe (my wife, not me). He had some top-end aluminum Ksyrium wheels that he got from a friend who is a Mavic rep. Aluminum are better a braking than CF, which matters when every ride is up in SLC. Even with a modest, non-bleeding edge build, its a 16lb bike (61cm). The whole thing cost him a few hundred bucks, plus some pedals that he actually bought from his local bike shop, Contender -- a great shop. https://contenderbicycles.com/ (biased product placement). Early reports are that it is a very fast climbing bike, and he loves eTap. The bike has a SRAM power meter and would probably retail for $6K new. The Specialized sratch-and-dent give-away is way, way better than pro-deal, although the bikes are post-prime.

Meanwhile, it was spring sunshine in winter today in PDX, and notwithstanding my lack of miles and general post-injury decrepitude, I did a 100K RT out to Crown Point. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOieB41-hfE I rode my Trek Emonda SLR with rim brakes and cable shifting. Great bike (biased product placement). The rim brakes grind because the aluminum brake tracks on my wheels are beat-up, and I do like the feel of discs, but stopping was fine. There were bazillions of cyclists, and a large group whooping on the descent to Vista House as I was climbing back out. Rain tomorrow and back to fender bike. EOM.

-- Jay Beattie.

NIce... eTap is picking up here also. Raining cats and dogs here and storm for the third Sunday on a row.. Group ride is cancelled. Still waiting for my frame of my gravel bike. Do you have long holidays in Colorado that we don't know about? Just finished painting the ceiling of the veranda, my favorite DIY job @#$$#@. Maybe it stop raining at the end of the day.

Lou

I'm always leery of multiple battery devices like eTap. I designed many components that used their own power sources and in use they were generally difficult to troubleshoot problems for non-engineers.

I waxed the chain and installed it and I still haven't gotten the Di2 to shift into the 11.

Turned out to be a stop adjustment. The adjustments are so fine on these Di2 derailleurs that you have to wear your bifocals to make sure that the are properly adjusted.

Then I had another problem. Shimano chains aren't connected by a quick link but with a pressed in pin. There was a tight spot there and it was jumping and I thought it wasn't a micro adjustment in the derailleur. Finally I found the tight link and with a pair or pliers loosened it up a bit and Whohlah - My redline is ready for the road as soon as I can figure out what the hell I did with the new set of Look Tour de France pedals. You'd think that you couldn't lose a large yellow and black box but with a memory like mine I can lose anything. I just discovered a new set of Lake high end shoes that I bought from Nashbar before they shut up until recently bought by a new owner. I've been looking for those things for years. And they were sitting in plain sight.

I have a couple of spare 10 speed chains for he Campy bikes and I checked them for wear and as far as my gauge is concerned there is zero wear. So I waxed them as well and they can be slapped on the Colnago or the Lemond.

I want to sell the Basso Loto off but with the responses I've had in the last several years I don't know if it is even worth the bother. I don't think that you could find a better riding steel bike short of the top end Waterford and that would cost four times as much by the time you got it together. And I've never ridden a Waterford in a 62 cm version so it might not be as good - only slightly lighter.