:-|

I've got a spare powertap wheel you can use for the TT. It's not aero, you'd need a cassette for it, and it's rocking a gatorskin, but I can bring it and see if we can bump into each other at sign in tonight.

edit: I realize this makes it sound like the ****tiest wheel ever. It's in fine shape, it's just been setup for training and has been sitting dormant for a while.

Thanks bud, but I think I have some way to borrow a powermeter crankset for the TT.

You gotta be like Luke Skywalker in the first Star Wars (now known as episode 4) where he is battling Vader and the troopers near the end of the movie:

RacerEx: What's he doing?
GSteinb: OMG, he shut off his Quarq.
Shovel (voice over ala ObiWon): Trust your feelings DzNuzz. Feel the Force.
DzNuzz: (Does not take offer to borrow power unit from anyone) I know what I'm doing.

no matter how small the scrape, do not use this stuff. it's like spraying napalm on yourself

borrow joe's not like he needs it right now =)

I chuckled.

Upgrade question.

I have $500 that I am looking to put into the best place possible to upgrade for next race season... I will probably buy used parts through our local great page on Facebook for bike parts, but may go with LBS if nothing found there.

I have a 2012 Specialized Tarmac with Sram Red.
Powertap rear wheel (on the heavy side)
Front wheel is profile design armada 42
Sram Red Cassette
Sram Red Crank
Speedplay Pedals/Cleats
Bontrager Lower End Shoes (were $90 brand new)

Problem I have right now is that I want to maintain my ability to train with power, but I know the best upgrade would be the wheels. Do I try to sell my powertap rear wheel, buy a crank based PM, and then go for wheels after that?

Thoughts? Where will I see the biggest bang for my buck?

I am a Cat 4 and will be racing mostly crits (have 2 stage races next year).

Thanks in advance.

The powertap is your only rear wheel?

I have a different training type wheel, but no power.

If it were me, I'd spend the $500 on carbon race wheels. You can probably still train with power but just race on feel.

have been kind of interested in the new power tap chainring powermeter. then i realized that although it's 110 bcd there's no 50/34 option. dumb.

Aero is nice but it is very rarely make or break.

With $500 I'd probably stock up on wear items like tires, tubes, chains, and if anything left over also bike food. You'll always wind up using that stuff eventually.

edit: This is an obtuse way of saying buy supplies for training, because training properly makes you faster than anything else.

Apparently that's the smallest they can go. If it were me, I'd go with the 52/36.

See if you can find someone selling a set of carbon wheels an have someone relace your powertap in the new wheels.
Might be tricky to find something that matches drillings, but sounds like everything you're looking for.

yeah i figured it was some type of technological barrier. really a bummer. there are some races around here where i really need the 34/28. maybe if i upgrade to 11s and can get a 30t cassette it'd make more sense.

Shimano's 6700A RD will work with 30t cogs by design.

Yep, Shimano's road derailleurs deliberately are advertised at lower than their actual max cog capacity for some reason. I made the mistake of assuming this was true for SRAM as well. Heh - nope.

Hey if anybody wants a Stages SRAM GXP 172.5 power meter, new still in the box unused, for cheap ($200-300?) let me know. A teammate bought one on closeout, not realizing there was a difference between GXP and BB30.

I can use 30t with my 9070 rd.

Trying to compare the geometry to my Cannondale Six13 to the Giant Propel Advanced Pro and it appears that I would be between sizes (unless im looking at these charts wrong)..I may be getting the Giant through my team deal and don't have any Giant dealers nearby that I know of to test ride the bike (team and team shop are ~3 hours south of here).

So should I size up or down? Im assuming down but figured I would ask here

I attached the geo chart of my cannondale..I ride a 54

Propel Advanced Pro Frameset (2016) | Giant Bicycles | United States

I always go smaller, cuz you can always adjust the seatpost and stem....plus smaller is more pro.

Maybe look to get a Stages crank arm and a set of cheap tubular wheels? I've seen as lot of 10-speed only used Zipps or Reynolds in the $300 range. (I have a set of old Zipp 404s that I race on that I bought for $500 a few years ago.)

Anyone have any good guidance on determining what size TT frame I need?

I tried reading through all the Slowtwitch stuff on fitting and looking up Stack and Reach, but it kind of left my head spinning. I thought the rule was to go down one size, so if I normally ride a 56, get a 54. But some of the 54 TT bikes I find have almost 56 top tubes.

Since the Masters Nationals are just an hour up the road the next two years, I figure I'll get a TT bike and start training on that too to give it a go at Nationals next year.

For me the TT bike is so different than a road bike you can't compare the two so the best thing would be to go to a big shop and try a few out on the trainer (A test ride outside you'd be too focused on balance, etc.). I know you probably want a fast formula on the web but since the contact points (forearms) and positioning is different its just best to try them out.

Much like road bikes, one vendor's 54 is another vendor's 58. I ended up on an Argon and they just offer a S, M, or L. That made it easy, got the large and fit saddle and bars.