Are 17-year-olds too old?

[shider]

After riding the same road bike since 1991, I finally have a new (road) bike! Yes, I don't know if I'll be able to resist reaching for the downtube shifters. I don't know if I'll be able to deal with blending in with the crowd. (My old bike was somewhat visually loud.) The frame was finally delivered yesterday. It took me three and a half hours to assemble it to the point I could ride it around the block of my neighborhood, in the dark, without lights, or reflectors. I couldn't resist! I still have to wrap the handlebars and mount the computer.

Anyway, here are the details:
2008 Cervelo R3 58cm (white)
Wolf SL fork
SRAM Red drivetrain
Easton Ascent II wheels
FSA K-Force carbon handlebars with OS-99 stem

Pictures to follow tomorrow.

[Scummer]

Cervelo R3 with SRAM red? Nice! TTIWWP :)

Hey, what type of car is that in your avatar?

Thomas

[ColorChange]

Woaaa! Somebody won the lottery! Awesome!

[Psimet2001]

Holy crap shider....didn't know you were going all out.

Your trek will be missed, but at least this wasy I will learn what the back end of a Cervelo R3 looks like.

[CyLowe97]

Holy crap shider....didn't know you were going all out.

Your trek will be missed, but at least this wasy I will learn what the back end of a Cervelo R3 looks like as it gets smaller and smaller and eventually disappears over the horizon.
Fixed that for you.


White Cervelo? I think you'll still stand out, Shider. If not, a little neon yellow rattle can of this will do the trick...

http://media.mydoitbest.com/imagerequest.aspx?sku=789953&size=2&warehouse=C&newsize=200

[shider]

Scummer, the car is a 1993 Ford Probe, modifed with LEDA suspension, beefed up transmission, lower final drive, headers, 13" front 12" read disk brakes, 18x8" SSR rims, etc...

ColorChange, no lottery needed. I just had to convice my wife to sell her old house. :D

Yes this is the all out dream bike but kept to a budget. (The carbon rims will have to wait until next year.) I don't have an accurate way of measuring the whole bike. But I weighed all the individual components (including bar tape, cables, bolts, etc.) before assembly. (I had nothing better to do while I waited for the frame which was ordered in January. Besides it was interesting to compare MSRW (Mfg's Suggested Retail Weight) to reality.) With pedals, but without cages, it comes in under 7000 grams. Not too shabby. :D:D:D:D:D

[Scummer]

Scummer, the car is a 1993 Ford Probe, modifed with LEDA suspension, beefed up transmission, lower final drive, headers, 13" front 12" read disk brakes, 18x8" SSR rims, etc...

ColorChange, no lottery needed. I just had to convice my wife to sell her old house. :D

Yes this is the all out dream bike but kept to a budget. (The carbon rims will have to wait until next year.) I don't have an accurate way of measuring the whole bike. But I weighed all the individual components (including bar tape, cables, bolts, etc.) before assembly. (I had nothing better to do while I waited for the frame which was ordered in January. Besides it was interesting to compare MSRW (Mfg's Suggested Retail Weight) to reality.) With pedals, but without cages, it comes in under 7000 grams. Not too shabby. :D:D:D:D:D

Ford Probe, eh? I'll be damned, I have excellent eyesight. Are you by any chance on probetalk.com?

And beefed up tranny? Tranny saver or swapped the crappy gears out for the 323 gears?

13" front? K-sport 8 piston by any chance? IF yes, I've most likely seen pics of your car on PT. :D

[shider]

Scummer, yes I'm on Probetalk, (ZigZag) but I haven't been active the last year or two, too much effort/money spent on cycling. Looks like most of the pictures in my old threads are no longer valid. Oh well...

[Greenfast]

Hmm small world, I am on Probetalk too. I was the President of IPOC, but that fell apart last year, but I still have my PGT, don't drive it hardly ever though, cycling is far less expensive to maintain.

Congrats on the purchase of the Cervelo.

[Scummer]

Hmm small world, I am on Probetalk too. I was the President of IPOC, but that fell apart last year, but I still have my PGT, don't drive it hardly ever though, cycling is far less expensive to maintain.

Congrats on the purchase of the Cervelo.

:lol: the similarities are hilarious. Seems like we all stopped driving the Probe since we picked up cycling. I barely drive my Probe myself anymore. It's more or less a garage queen for the last 3 years since I've been trying to install a turbo charger for the last 2 summers.

Thomas

[shider]

The funny thing is that for ~$500 you can buy a really good wheel for a car (4 for $2000) but I keep looking at wheels for bikes (granted carbon ones) and they seem to be more in the $1000 per wheel, 2 for $2000. That being said, some of the Williams wheels look enticing.

Must resist urge.... :mad:

PS: I'm more likely to ride my bike (Trek Portland not the R3) in the rain than drive the Probe in the rain at the moment. :lol:

[Scummer]

Since you live right at Rockford, are you going to attend the bike race on Sunday at the Blackhawk Farms? I've raced that track in my Probe pretty often but never on my bicycle.

It's going to be a blast I hope.

[aham23]

Fixed that for you.


White Cervelo? I think you'll still stand out, Shider. If not, a little neon yellow rattle can of this will do the trick...

http://media.mydoitbest.com/imagerequest.aspx?sku=789953&size=2&warehouse=C&newsize=200


have you somehow missed his neon bright yellow jersey on previous rides. the one at the front of the pack. this will just add to his standing out :D.

congrats on the ride shider. will you be allowing test drives later this month?

later.

[John Wilke]

I still ride my Vicini ... I bought it used from a team mate around 1986. :)

[shider]

Some pictures: (Sorry for the lighting, it's raining outside.)
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn28/shider_album/r3-side.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn28/shider_album/r3-hub.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn28/shider_album/r3-drivetrain.jpg

And John, I still plan on riding my old Trek occasionally and I have a '84 Schwinn fixed gear that still sees service too.

[Scummer]

Purrrrdy!

Looks really nice. Planning any rides (HH,HHH,DD) on the new steed?

[Psimet2001]

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn28/shider_album/r3-hub.jpg

Holy crap you even splurged on the Red Cassette *drool*. Having had one in my hands it is a work of modern machining craftsmanship. I can stare at it for hours.

I figured you would go for at least a Force cassette if not a Shimano all together. :eek:

[nietsmas]

beautiful bike shider.

[CyLowe97]

That's a beautiful bike, indeed.



We're all doomed.

[ColorChange]

Damn you shider ....

Now I had to upgrade my crank to K-Force Light with ceramic bearings. Damn you, it's your fault.

Sweet, sweet ride.


Scummer ... be careful at Blackhawk. Watch turn 6A. If you come in there fast and hit dirt kicked up at the apex by a prior rider, you might slide off the track and skid for 9 seconds until you finally stop in the swamp past turn 7 and set the grass on fire with your turbos. No personal experience here ... you just might. :(

[shider]

Holy crap you even splurged on the Red Cassette *drool*. Having had one in my hands it is a work of modern machining craftsmanship. I can stare at it for hours.

I figured you would go for at least a Force cassette if not a Shimano all together. :eek:

It is nice, but I'll only be using it for hilly rides, like from what I here the BFNIC Spring Classic. Considering the total lack of any real hills on most of my rides around here I have an Ultegra 12-23 that'll see the most use. The crank is a 50-34 so I'll still have higher and (lots of) lower gears more than I'm used to, :D

[nietsmas]

It is nice, but I'll only be using it for hilly rides, like from what I here the BFNIC Spring Classic. Considering the total lack of any real hills on most of my rides around here I have an Ultegra 12-23 that'll see the most use. The crank is a 50-34 so I'll still have higher and (lots of) lower gears more than I'm used to, :D

and all this time i thought the "cherry valley, il" in your sig was cherry valley road in bull valley. oops :)

[shider]

and all this time i thought the "cherry valley, il" in your sig was cherry valley road in bull valley. oops :)

Even if it was, Bull Valley doesn't have any REAL hills. Anything less than 300 ft can be sprinted up. :rolleyes:

[Scummer]

Damn you shider ....

Now I had to upgrade my crank to K-Force Light with ceramic bearings. Damn you, it's your fault.

Sweet, sweet ride.


Scummer ... be careful at Blackhawk. Watch turn 6A. If you come in there fast and hit dirt kicked up at the apex by a prior rider, you might slide off the track and skid for 9 seconds until you finally stop in the swamp past turn 7 and set the grass on fire with your turbos. No personal experience here ... you just might. :(

Heh... you're not telling me anything new. In 2001 or 2002 I can't remember which year, I completely overcooked turn 7 and went flying into the grassland, almost into the bushes. Thank god nothing got busted on my car.
Turn 7 is one of the trickiest turns on this whole race track. You come flying at close to 80mph and a 90 degree sharp turn awaits. Very technical.

Thomas

[ColorChange]

Scummer, I was driving parralel to the track (in the grass) toward turn 7. Sadly, I never had the chance to miss it (on this lap).

I drifted off the track on the exit of 6a. Most cars don't recognize this as even a turn, but in a 650 hp Porsche Turbo, it's a kink. When I slid about 5 or 6 feet near the apex (lateral g's dropped by about 0.5g for a tenth second or so with no steering input), I simply couldn't hold it on the track and gently drifted into the grass on exit (at around 90 mph, I can check the data).

Everytime I tried to turn back on the track my back end would start to come around. So, rather than spin the car at rather high speed, I kept just trying to slow it in the grass. As I said, it took 9 seconds to finally get the car stopped. I ended up well into the swamp. I had to back my car out in a hurry otherwise it would have burned to the ground as the red hot turbos lit the grass on fire behind me and under the car.

About $5k in mostly front end cosmetic "snow plow" damage (with my cf front splitter I'm about 2" off the track so I made a real nice road grader). :(

Here's a shot of her if you're curious.

http://www.pbase.com/colorchange/image/76661193/original.jpg

[nietsmas]

colorchange, i copied your posts about blackhawk to my brother and he said the same exact thing happened to him in his instructor's EVO, so you're obviously not the only one...

[Scummer]

Colorchange, holy ****! This is one hell of a ride you got on your hands. 650hp? Bigger turbos, intercooler and some ECU tweaking I can imagine?

I love 911s. How can I not being German and all.

Where's the drool smiley when you need one.

Thomas

[ColorChange]

Thanks, Turbo's, ECU, Intake, Exhaust, GT-2 suspension, Stop Tech brakes, data acquisition, Tech Art Aero kit, Fikses, ..., ..., ...

Now, back to Shiders even faster ride. ;)

[shider]

Thanks, Turbo's, ECU, Intake, Exhaust, GT-2 suspension, Stop Tech brakes, data acquisition, Tech Art Aero kit, Fikses, ..., ..., ...

Now, back to Shiders even faster ride. ;)

Serves me right for putting a picture of a car in my avatar on a bike site. :LOL: Never been a fan of Porsches but there is no denying their effectiveness! How do you get a bike rack to fit over that rear wing?

It looks like the weather will cooperate tonight and I'll finally get to take it out on a shake down ride. :D

[Scummer]

The weekend is going to be great for riding. Should be a great opportunity to take that beauty out for a long spin.

[voldemort]

Are 17-year-olds too old?

That's what my 15-year old son wants to know. He has a 17-year old sister with cute friends.

[otismedina]

^^^
Where can I meet said friends?

[SmokinMiles]

Awesome bike, shider. Love the pics! Congrats! Anxious to see it in person....up close and personal while it's sitting still because once we start riding none of us will see you for long !!!!:p

[Kimbercop]

Awesome bike Shider. Looking forward to seeing it in person, even if only for a minute or two.

[Psimet2001]

Awesome bike Shider. Looking forward to seeing it in person, even if only for a minute or two.

Ahh...training paying off eh? A whole minute or two? I'll be lucky to see it only while it's still on the rack.

[Kimbercop]

I was feeling optimistic but your right. All I'll see will be a white blur now instead of the neon blur which of course was easier to track.

[shider]

Ride Report:

The bike is awsome! That is all.

Ok. So here are a few details. :D

Friday evening a took her out on a 12 mile shakedown ride. The first thing I noticed was that the bike was really comfortable. The guys at Cronometro did a great job fitting me and so I had assembled the bike to the dimensions we had come up with then and I haven't needed to adjust a single thing yet. I averaged 19.6 mph without really pushing. To be honest I am really amazed because although I expected the bike to be more comfortable (which it is) and nicer looking (which it is) and climb hills better (which it does,) I really didn't expect it to make too much difference to my overall speed on flat ground.

Saturday I rode out to our morning club ride to impress all my friends. I think I suffered from a serious case of "new bike syndrome" because I felt really strong. Actually it was all my friends who suffered. :lol: The bike accelerates so fast I can't believe it!

Sunday, the club had two rides scheduled. Their Sunday rides are usually a lot more relaxed and more of a day touring ride. They were both short (advertised as 30 miles) so I figured I'd ride them both and it would be a good recovery ride. I rode from home the 14 miles to the first ride. Acutally it was 16 miles because I took a wrong turn. (Something the new bike didn't fix!) I had a great time on the 38 mile ride except that it felt like we were going really slow into the (increasing) wind on the southern leg. The ride leader was trying to keep the pack together, so the few of us that were stronger were really soft footing it. Because of the additional length and wind, I was alittle behind schedule and so I had to time trial it to the next ride (14 miles). I didn't quite make it so I met up with them a few miles into their ride. There were two tandems in the ride so we played some games on the downwind leg and I maxed out just shy of 40 mph in my 50-12. (150 RPM:eek:) I rode with them for 29 miles and then 3 more miles back to my house. Grand total: 100 miles. I can't say I felt fresh at the end of it, but I felt better than I have after any other century! :D :D :D :D

I still have a few issues with the front derailure. It works ok as long as I'm not doing too high a cadence. Everything else seems to work really well. The brakes are strong. The frame is forgiving over bumps but bottom bracket flex is not even there. The bike sounds like a single piece of carbon as it went over bumps/expansion joints with none of the rattles/squeaks/mechanical complaints that I hear from all the other bikes. Overall I am very impressed and the only thing I might change is the crank. Depending on how the BFNIC Spring Classic ride goes, I may swap the compact for a standard 53/39.

So if anyone is thinking of getting one of these, I highly recommend it. On second thought DON'T. I'd like to keep it all to myself! ;)

[CyLowe97]

Wow. So jealous. Of the bike. Of the fitness. Of the confidence.

Very cool report, shider.

You're going to have fun on the Spring Classic ride. It's full of what I'd call hills, but I think you'd call rollers. Knowing how strong you are and seeing you glide up Bull Valley last spring with that high gearing, I would suspect you could handle the route with the 53/39 without much problem. What's the cassette range on the SRAM red?

[ColorChange]

Shider, you didn't have a feeling of "Will this thing really hold me?" It just seems too light.

Also, "Man is this thing touchy." Handling is way fast and the bike is super responsive.

Everytime I switch from my 30 lb commuter package to my SLC it's like climbing out of our minivan and into my Porsche or Lambo.

[shider]

When I was handling an Cervelo RS frame (frame with fork, headset, and seatpost) at Cronometro it felt crazy light. Then they handed me an R3-SL and that really gave me the feeling that it was made from paper mache and then painted to make it look like a real frame! When I got my frame, I picked it up and was sort of expecting that lighter than should be feeling, so I didn't think too much of it. Besides, its not like I could bend it with my hands in any way. (Funny story, the UPS lady told my wife that she backed her truck up into our driveway because she expected it to be a heavy box based on its size. I can only imagine it bouncing off the ceiling of the truck as she lifted 9 lbs of packing material and 3 lbs of carbon fiber.)

The handling of the bike is very stable. I don't get any sense of twitchyness from it, although I haven't tried riding no handed yet. :o

I bought the SRAM Red 11-26 cassette to go with the 34-50 for the BFNIC SPring Classic ride. This weekend, I was riding around with an Ultegra 12-23. For my rides around here I far prefer to have the 18 tooth cog than the 11. (Maybe I should look into an 11-21.) SRAM Red only comes in 11-26 and 11-23. I spent a lot of time building spreadsheets of gears/cadences/speeds before I selected my gearing, but I think where I went wrong was that I didn't expect the bike to make me faster and that has thrown my calculations off.