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I think this aero handlebar and stem project is becoming a boondoggle. It'll work, but I didn't read the spec sheet on the stem before buying it.
It's from a very very legit company that sells aero stems and other things. It probably weighs equal on its own to an entire normal alloy bar and stem combo. I'm debating finishing with sanding the paint off the side of the stem to fit the stem into the aerobar and selling the combo unused at a loss. It'd look amazing for someone. I'm no weight weenie, but the penalty here is almost just silly IMHO. I know live in a flat area with just some 2min and 3min hills and such, but we're talking an entire 2/3 pound increase in the combo of bar/stem! I'm guessing the aero would be much better than a huge wide round bar/stem. But still. I feel so stupid. |
Originally Posted by burnthesheep
(Post 21021627)
I think this aero handlebar and stem project is becoming a boondoggle. It'll work, but I didn't read the spec sheet on the stem before buying it.
It's from a very very legit company that sells aero stems and other things. It probably weighs equal on its own to an entire normal alloy bar and stem combo. I'm debating finishing with sanding the paint off the side of the stem to fit the stem into the aerobar and selling the combo unused at a loss. It'd look amazing for someone. .... I don't get the part about sanding paint off the side to fit into the aerobar. Are they different brands that don't fit together? |
Originally Posted by cmh
(Post 21028401)
I don't get the part about sanding paint off the side to fit into the aerobar. Are they different brands that don't fit together?
The bars are cheap because without the matching stem, most aero stems out there won't perfectly match the clamping space on the bars. It'll make more sense when I post pics of the finished work. I decided to carry on and finish it, I'm running new cable housings and cables now. I did the brakes last night, shift cables and housing comes in the mail today. The Aeria Ultimate has a tiny bit of bulge on the left/right sides of the stem where it meets the handlebars (on any bike). No idea why they did that versus flat. It almost seems like a minor manufacturing defect if you ask me. Anywho, this minor bulge was keeping it from fitting into the gap at the clamping area. I probably could have been ham fisted and forced it in there and scratched the daylights out of the the bar, but decided to take a more finessed approach. I just sanded that little bulge down just enough to more easily slide in and out. That's all. No cutting, no structural, only cosmetics. I went with the Aeria so I could do a bit of cable tuck on a bike that isn't a super modern full hidden cable setup. I really really like the look so far. The weight gain on the stem/bar overall was offset by previous upgrades to saddle/shoes. About a year ago I changed those. Shoes alone was a mammoth drop in weight. Saddle was pretty shocking too since it was a generic really padded Giant road saddle before, versus a carbon Fizik. Also, the SLR aero wheels I got used a year or two ago are also a lot lighter than the OEM alloy aero wheels. It's taken a mountain of patience in running the cable, trying out the steering and pulling the levers to get it "just so". It's not so bad if you bother to leave the old bare cables in the bike and then use "cable liner" to feed your new cable housing and cable through. While the bike is down, should probably re-grease the rear DT hub and check spoke tensions. |
Originally Posted by furiousferret
(Post 21013503)
Assioma's are great, never had a drop out, or any issues with power. The 'only' issue I've had is twice one side died overnight; my only guess is the pedal was leaning against something which caused it to be activated and run down.
A 4% difference is nbd; most have a dominant leg. |
Had an incident detection go off on my Edge 530 leaving my driveway this morning. I think some brake shudder on the wet rims set it off. Never gave me the option to cancel it either, just started blaring after a few seconds, sent it to my wife, freaked her out, I had to send her the "I'm okay" and then text her a few minutes later.
You would think the fact that I'm still moving and riding would be a sign I hadn't crashed, but maybe I paused for traffic at the bottom of the driveway long enough, I dunno. There's apparently a public beta for 3.55 that's out right now, so I'm going to install that tonight and try it this weekend. Supposedly has fixes for incident detection and live track, two issues I've been having. And overall stability, which I've been getting phone disconnects a lot too. |
is there really a performance advantage to carbon-soled shoes? I've only used nylon soles.
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Originally Posted by Radish_legs
(Post 21036810)
is there really a performance advantage to carbon-soled shoes? I've only used nylon soles.
They were OK. They were velcro and some ratchet strap thing. The Fiziks carbon and boa. The Fiziks literally were like 1/3 to 1/2 pound total weight lighter than the bargain nylon soled Giant's the LBS fleeced me on. Stiffness? I'm not convinced either. But the weight difference I can tell. Maybe more expensive nylon soled shoes are lighter? Carbon is certainly lighter than nylon. Both in reality and to the wallet. I do enough gravel I've got some Giro VR90's in the mail right now. Carbon. I've been riding that old road Giant shoe I was talking crap about. I drilled a couple holes for an SPD cleat in them. The VR90's will be lightyears of improvement there. |
I think nylon can be as stiff, whether stiffness matters there isn't much good data on (likely because the gains are very, very small).
However, the carbon shoes, for the same stiffness and features, will be lighter, sometimes considerably so. I think that's the main benefit. I have some Shimano SPD-SL R315, which were top of the line way back in the old days of 2011 when I got them and are carbon. They're pretty light, at 530g for a pair of 40s, where even the newest Specialized S-Works stuff is 540g for a pair of 42s. Compared to the nylon Shimano shoes they replaced, they feel considerably lighter in your hand. |
I used the shoe and saddle weight loss justification for the increase in stem weight I incurred to run the aero bars I bought.
I did finish that work. Next outdoor ride with a decent backdrop I'll take pics. It brings a nice "semi integrated" look to the Propel in the cockpit. Internal cable aero bar with the cables mostly going through the stem. They don't enter the stem from inside the bars totally, but it did get rid of a bunch of extra. First ride was good. Just a minor RD adjustment after some miles. Shifting smooth. Loving all the hand positions. Going to 40cm from 44cm didn't feel too odd. The reach is a touch longer on same length stem. But feels good. Bought the little $20 out front mount for my Elemnt. I even got all "matchy" with the bar tape and frame colors. Even the wife, who pretty much hates bike stuff, noticed the bar tape job and how it looked and made a compliment! I was like, whoa, if she said something.......it must be pretty cool! Now, I just need a domestique so I don't have to keep that 2nd bottle cage on the seat tube. |
Originally Posted by revchuck
(Post 21014469)
This is just to present a couple of data points about these products, Specialized S-Works Turbo Tubeless-Ready 700x28c road tires and Specialized 29"x23mm 2Bliss rim tape.
My retirement job is working part-time in a Specialized bike shop. We got a pair of those tires as part of a larger order about a year ago, and they just sat on the shelf. Then this year during Classics season, I read about a racer on a Specialized-sponsored team (can't remember who, it was one of the German sprinter/one-day guys) who ran them successfully - he didn't flat - during one of the more gnarly races. My main wheels are a set of Hed Ardennes +, which are tubeless-ready and in fact, my first tires on those wheels were a pair of Specialized S-Works tubeless. They're a different design and proved more fragile than I wanted. I decided I'd give the Turbo tubeless-ready tires a try. I had used Stan's tape before, and it worked okay, but I wanted to try something easier to apply. Being lazy, and knowing that 29er and 700c wheel are the same diameter, I snuck a box of Specialized 29"x23mm 2Bliss rim strips onto an order. When the rim strips came in, I put them on the wheels and mounted the tires. The rear seated on the first try, the front took a couple or three tries. I added a couple of ounces of Orange Seal to each tire and put them on the bike. That was about a month and a thousand miles ago. There's been no drama...or flats. The ride is pretty nice. I'm running 80 psi in front and 90 psi in the rear, and they measure 32mm wide on the 25mm-wide Ardennes + rims. Grip is excellent and wear is better than expected for a race tire. There are some cuts in the tires, but that's inevitable on rural Louisiana roads. Air loss is about the same as with butyl tubes and less than with latex, so the rim strips are doing their job without the adhesive on tape like Stan's. Overall, I'm pretty happy with them. My one gripe is that they only come in 28s. I've used regular clincher S-Works Turbo 24s on these wheels and they measure 27mm wide when inflated, and that's about what I'd prefer. In two weeks I'm doing the Gran Fondo Asheville, and these are the tires I'll be running. |
Originally Posted by caloso
(Post 21041532)
This is my dream!
My wife wants to move to Maine, I told her I'll work in or open a bike shop in some tourist area and she can have her ceramic studio. I'm half kidding. |
Here's the bars.........violating the big-ring and other photo rules, but whatever.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...06eba20f_z.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fabec7e0_z.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b85eb2db_z.jpg |
Finally going to replace the pedals on my wife's bike. I've had the pedals a year and a half now, but had not put them on.
It's not that I hadn't tried, but I had to get her new crank arms first, since we could not get the pedals off. She crashed a few years ago, and when she went down, she ground off a large part of one of her crank arms and the pedal spindle. This pedal did not have an 8mm option, just the pedal wrench slot, and that was essentially gone. There was nothing left to grip on the spindle to get the pedal off. So, I just bought her new crank arms so that we could put new pedals on. |
Originally Posted by topflightpro
(Post 21062291)
Finally going to replace the pedals on my wife's bike. I've had the pedals a year and a half now, but had not put them on.
It's not that I hadn't tried, but I had to get her new crank arms first, since we could not get the pedals off. She crashed a few years ago, and when she went down, she ground off a large part of one of her crank arms and the pedal spindle. This pedal did not have an 8mm option, just the pedal wrench slot, and that was essentially gone. There was nothing left to grip on the spindle to get the pedal off. So, I just bought her new crank arms so that we could put new pedals on. |
Nah, they're carbon crank arms that were kind of beat to crap - and like I said, they have a nice gouge in them from the crash too. It would not have been worth the time and energy to really work the spindle like you suggested.
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Thinking about getting a set (or just the rear for now) of the trp cable actuated hydrolic brake calipers for my cross bike. Anyone have any experience with them? The brakes on my bike now suck (my road bike stops better) and it would be nice to have some confidence in the braking...not that im descending or anything like that around here
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
(Post 21062662)
Nah, they're carbon crank arms that were kind of beat to crap - and like I said, they have a nice gouge in them from the crash too. It would not have been worth the time and energy to really work the spindle like you suggested.
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Folks with Assioma pedals, which power do you look at on your head unit? The standard 3s average that I've used for 10 years including on powertap seems to be very slow to react now with Assioma Duo and my Edge 530.
Are the pedals doing some smoothing and averaging already? I end up chasing my numbers a bit sometimes because the feedback is late. |
Originally Posted by Wylde06
(Post 21063033)
Thinking about getting a set (or just the rear for now) of the trp cable actuated hydrolic brake calipers for my cross bike. Anyone have any experience with them? The brakes on my bike now suck (my road bike stops better) and it would be nice to have some confidence in the braking...not that im descending or anything like that around here
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Originally Posted by Flatballer
(Post 21065201)
Folks with Assioma pedals, which power do you look at on your head unit? The standard 3s average that I've used for 10 years including on powertap seems to be very slow to react now with Assioma Duo and my Edge 530.
Are the pedals doing some smoothing and averaging already? I end up chasing my numbers a bit sometimes because the feedback is late. |
Perhaps it's a lag that I'm not used to coming from my PT? Maybe that's faster, even at 3s smoothing.
I'm also just getting back into riding, so my legs aren't even close to calibrated yet. |
Originally Posted by Wylde06
(Post 21063033)
Thinking about getting a set (or just the rear for now) of the trp cable actuated hydrolic brake calipers for my cross bike. Anyone have any experience with them? The brakes on my bike now suck (my road bike stops better) and it would be nice to have some confidence in the braking...not that im descending or anything like that around here
You still get the steel cable feel, but they work very well. For a single with double discs I might try PowerCordz that are smooth as fluid. PowerCordz will break after a few years. For about a month I ran these without cable housing as you see here. I decided that was too much torque on the mounting and it would twist the brake causing the pads not to have parallel pressure. The housing is better even though it added 5-10g to the bike. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...981a787fec.jpg |
[MENTION=154097]Wylde06[/MENTION] - more pics
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f5fe64017a.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e72a9b61bb.jpg |
So I think Garmin uses average speed over some recent duration to give you your turn directions at the appropriate time. However, it's very easy to get situations that break this.
Last ride I came over the top of a long climb and hit a very fast descent, and was even with my turn before it gave me the notification. Had to turn around and climb back up to get back on route. Then the opposite, it consistently gives me the notification too early when I'm climbing. Like, 45 seconds before I need to turn. I do wish it would take into account road size. Sometimes it only tells me 200 feet at 20 mph before a turn, but I'm in the far right of two lanes with traffic, so it's really hard to get across to turn left in that space. I'm guessing this is just the way it is, but it's annoying. |
Originally Posted by Wylde06
(Post 21063033)
Thinking about getting a set (or just the rear for now) of the trp cable actuated hydrolic brake calipers for my cross bike. Anyone have any experience with them? The brakes on my bike now suck (my road bike stops better) and it would be nice to have some confidence in the braking...not that im descending or anything like that around here
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