Road Cycling - It's Love

After posting on here for about 2 years I've finally gotten the bike bug again. Went out yesterday and did 35 miles - a decent distance considering the terrain - and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was the furthest I've been on my current bike and I've owned it for nearly 18 months. It rides like a dream, is easier to handle on fast twisty descents than any other bike I've owned.

The only problem I found was that on one long descent the brakes seemed to suffer from fade. Almost as if I'd overheated them (well it is a 1 in 6 descent for nearly 3 miles) since then they've refuse to work. They are Campag Daytona 2001 brakes - has anybody ever had this sort of problem?

To top it all I got home, had a bath and shaved my legs :)

Alternate braking on the front and rear so the brakes get a chance to cool

Ride Fast
Pat

hmm takes so much longer to brake with the back one... i hardly ever use my rear break unless i'm wanting to break slowly in hopes the light will turn green before i come to a complete stop.

I had a similar experience this weekend on a 65 km/h descent. I found that feathering the brakes helped a lot. I don't like the idea of alternating front and back, though. At speed, that could be a recipe for disaster.

Hey Velocipedio, was that 40 MPH decent on the road bike or the cyclocross?

Originally posted by GIANTBIKES
Hey Velocipedio, was that 40 MPH decent on the road bike or the cyclocross?
What, you think I'm nuts? :D

'Twas the road bike. My fastest on the road bike is just shy od 100 km/h. That scared the fecal matter out of me. I'll tell you the story sometime.

velocipedio

I was trying to find out just how crazy you are... Now 40 MPH is fast but 62 is insane. I am looking for a good stable road bike. May I ask what you ride?

Like I said... I'll tell you the story sometime... I'll say this, 62 mph, insane or not, is pretty damned scarey. You really notice things coming up at you when you don't have a windshield between you an imminent doom. [The interesting thing is that I was feeling perfectly calm until I looked down at my speedo...] My fastest level sprint was 58 km/h, and that's just as scarey, because you're working at getting the speed, instead of putting all of your effort and attention into the three major goals of (i) not crashing (ii) not panicking (iii) braking. One of my riding buddies, named Eric the Human Scab was telling me this weekend that crashing on a 90 km/h descent hurts just as bad as crashing on a 50 km/h descent, or vice-versa, I'm not sure.

I ride a Marinoni Leggero -- Columbus Zona steel with Campagnolo Daytona and wheels built with Mavic Open Pros. Marinoni is a smallish Montreal-area frame builder who makes exceptional bikes. They have dealers in the US and I can highly recommend them. I know of a lot of people who ride Marinonis and they all love them. Take a look at the Marinoni Web Site. (http://www.marinoni.qc.ca/)

Thanks for the site. I saved it. As of this time most of it is under construction. The English side is almost all under construction. I have been really looking for a new road bike. I want to stay within the $1200 to $1400 range. I cant figure out between the Giant TCR2 or the OCR1, the Jamis Quest, LeMond Alpe DeHuez or LeMond Buenos Aires. I like a few of the Bianchi's but I dont have a dealer near me that stocks any of them so I wouldnt be able to test ride one. The search goes on.