I had the old Zero Gravity brakes for several years. I never had an issue with their stopping power. But I always had issues keeping them centered. I finally tired of that and sold them.

Isn't keeping brakes centered just a single bolt in the middle?

Yea, I know. He only commits 9-14 years of of his life and maybe his life...
But also saved us several hundred thousand. On the cycling part - he's getting faster. So I like to buy him stuff. It is for me.

Attachment 545449

huuh?

College tuition. USAF Academy as compared to private college. He had some choices that were nowhere near as economical.
Kid #1 - 5 years Notre Dame takes some before tax work that makes bike expenditures, refreshing.

I guess the bike parts are just normal. I had 16 bikes at age 20 inc that Team Raleigh 753. Its a priority. I also had no car (then).

college education worth hundreds of thousand? don't get me started...

Well pretty off topic.

That could also be written as "college education that costs hundreds of thousand...". The associated "worth" varies significantly.

They were a single pivot design, and if the housing length was not perfect, they didn't sit centered.

We were not paying just for the education. We were paying mostly for the brand and the network.


Its actually the same argument used here many times comparing cheap Chinese parts to name brand parts - also made in China.

Exactly ... the product of most undergraduate education is very similar, but the worth of some can be far greater than that of others.

Is it just me, or do SRAM ten-speed chains not get along well with Shimano ten-speed cassettes? I just replaced the Ultegra chain with a SRAM 1031, and it doesn't want to shift well in both directions. The Ultegra chain was flawless. The cassette is a 6700 11-25 with <1k miles.

My biggest qualm with EEBrakes was that their rim width adjustment required the re-installation of pad holders with different spacers. My CLX64 rims were huge and if I wasn't swapping back to another set of REALLY wide training training rims it was a ton of work. I also will admit that I felt regular Shimano brakes still held more 'punch' at the end of their travel.

I will say though that for lightweight brakes they were pretty damn good. I don't have any other lightweight brakes to compare with though.

I never had a problem with the shifting, but I found SRAM chains to be very noisy. I've bought them maybe 2 times because I absolutely needed a chain and that's all the LBS had.

I've found they're OK but not great, and are much louder than their Shimano and KMC equivalents.

What's the current group opinion on shallow-ish 30-40mm carbon rims?

Birthday is coming up in January and I asked for another Powertap GS hub. Looking for some decent 30-40mm rims to build up.
Don't need to be super light, just want quality. Will probably go 20H/24H. Radial/2X lacing.

These will be for windier days and/or hilly rides where my 58mm wheels won't be of much assistance.

the issue you touch on is one that is setup-, brake-, and rim-specific.

it depends on how one sets up the brakes (i like to set them up to just barely handle the max rim width i'll use).

sometimes the perfect setup is not enough to accommodate the range of rim widths one will see, and i guess it is possible, too, that a given brake simply can't handle that range.

IME, i've had no problem using eebrakes with firecrest rims and more traditional narrow rims -- the adjustment they provide works for me. i haven't used CLX64s on that bike, but i think it would work (for *my* setup, at least).

there's a gen 1 & gen 2. i *think* the gen 2 might have improved clearance a bit further.

what brake are you using now? can a standard shimano brake accommodate the range of widths you see?

there is ALWAYS some trade-off with light brakes. i find the eebrakes to be the *least* trade-off of any lightweight brake. most of them have significant trade-offs in terms of either braking power or modulation -- or both. i'd say the eebrake is ~90% of a dura ace brake, which is way better than all the other lightweight options. some are downright scary!

on the plus side, you have tool-free pad replacement. someone running super wide wheels (probably carbon) and super narrow wheels (probably aluminum) will switch pads often. that moment of loosening 4 screws every time could offset any time it takes to re-clamp the brake cable.

not saying i'd want to do that every time, but with the eebrake there's actually a feature that the big guys don't have.

nothing is free, and there is often a trade-off for a brake that is ~1/2 the weight of DA... in weenie terms that's quite a bit of weight to save on any part.

Are you looking for suggestions of rims to consider, or whether it's worth going for rims that depth?

Sorry. Looking for which rims to consider.

Reynolds Attack maybe? Not the lightest but my experience with Reynolds is that they're pretty dang bombproof.

So... My new Zipp 70 SL Aero handle bars showed up. Due to snafu they are 38cm vs 40cm. It's a special order, so I can't return them.
So dilemma, just say screw it and race with them, or try to craigslist to recoup some of the cost, and go buy 40cm ones. On one hand it's only 2 cm, but on the other they do feel smaller. So what say you wise BF members.

Whose snafu was it? If it was the store's, it's their responsibility to eat the cost of their screw-up, even if it's a special order. OTOH, if it's yours, I'd try them for a while. A couple of years ago I tried going with 40cm bars from 44cm. The difference was noticeable but not earth-shaking, and I did a 100 mile ride with no issues before I switched back so it felt like my other bikes.

i like the 38s. i've trained myself over time to use them.

i could trade you a set of 40cm Specialized Aerofly bars for them, if that is of interest.

It doesn't interfere with breathing?
The carbon S-Works? How many miles on them?

I run 38's, but then again I'm short (5'8"). The biggest noticeable effect is the wider bars make it easier to leverage your arms for torque while sprinting, but the biggest unnoticeable affect is with the frontal area being 2-3% smaller, you're saving 5-10 watts (can't find the article, but the savings is around there).