Has anyone ever used both the powertap joule gps and edge 500? Just curious for a comparison from someone who has tried both. I'm currently borrowing a joule gps and deciding whether to buy it from its owner or go with garmin.

Pondering the psychological impact of component choices this morning. I just switched my CX bike over to 10-speed Rival from Ultegra 6600 - a long, frustrating story in and of itself, not worth getting into - and somehow it has made it feel as though the entire frame is smaller and zippier. It feels great. This makes no rational sense, and yet there it is. I assume it's because the lever bodies are smaller. Very odd.

quick question--have a situation where a pioneer or SRM (shimano) will come my way. in order to view the metrics from pioneer, one NEEDS the pioneer head unit, right?

decisions, decisions.

yes

what's the word on 1x drivetrains for cx? i'm crossbike shopping, god help me.

Let me know how you like it. Thinking of pulling the trigger in the next week or two once I get my Quarq back from service and sell it to pay for the new unit.

endorse.

absolutely.......go for it.

42x11-28 is a solid setup.

i personally run the 42t narrow-wide as an inner on a double (SRM spider) with an outer guide. i happen to have a clutch RD (M9050, shimano di2 mtb), but i would highly recommend you consider a guide if you might ever encounter mud.

ah, the old warranty-and-sell Quarq trick. :) smart--that is the best point to sell.

anyway, i'm unlikely to get one if i need the pioneer head unit. i'd like to experiment with one--i'm always curious, but i'd want to do it the right way.

Specialized Allez Sprint drops hammer on carbon | Cyclingnews.com

I kind of want to drop this into the cult of CAAD thread.

But seriously, kinda cool, especially when they release the one that allows for a front derailleur.

soo....was at a big race recently, and i was chilling with a friend outside of the whole foods post-race because (white, aging, bike race...take your pic). the sram neutral vehicle rolled up. we got into a long convo about supporting races and more, but i admired the fleet of specialized bikes on the roof. i thought they were tarmac pro's, but they were specialized smart welds.

before the guy came out of WF, my buddy and i were chatting about how some people were probably psyched for the upgrade when they got a neutral bike. the sram guy pointed out that they were actually the smart welds and, uh, no...the universal comment was how heavy/sluggish they felt (with zipps, mind you).

we figured it would be a neat/smart marketing move for the big S to kick a bunch of very nice frames for this use....sounds like the cheaper move on their part was not great, in practice.

I've never ridden one....but they look slick (incl the new one you linked).

FWIW, I like my Allez Comp Race, but then I'm old and feeble. The mid-grade Smartweld frames are about the same weight, maybe a hair less than the 9r Tarmac carbon frames in the same size.

The geometry of the new Allez Sprint frames is much more aggressive than that of the standard Allez or even the Tarmac. For example, the head tube of my 58cm Allez is 205mm; that of the Tarmac is 190mm and the Sprint's is 180mm. IIRC the top tube is the same for all three.

All the pros I know love it.

The top tube on the Allez Sprint is shorter, which renders it potentially interesting for me. I had an S-Works E5 years ago, and I loved it, but it was too long. The current models have the same geometry, to get the reach right requires a 90mm stem for me. That's not terrible, but I prefer more weight on the front wheel. The reach on the Allez Sprint is short enough that I could make it work with a 100mm stem on the 49cm, which I consider acceptable. I'm not in the market for a new bike at the moment, but it's nice to see options opening up.

1X on the road has got to be the most ridiculous thing the bike industry has thought of recently. and that's saying something.

Good catch. :o Specialized changed the geometry slightly for the Smartweld frame as well this year, at least in my size (58). The top tube and wheelbase are both longer, by 4mm and 5mm respectively. The standard weld version appears unchanged.

Cross bike shopping heads up, some of the specialized disc bikes may be locked into proprietary rear hubs for a while

I could get away with 1x here. No climbs to speak of and I rarely get in the little ring as it is.

Thanks, that's a good warning!!! How would I tell which?
I am looking at
Pro Race: Specialized Bicycle Components
Expert X1: Specialized Bicycle Components
Elite X1: Specialized Bicycle Components

I'm also maybe looking at Cannondale, and haven't found a lot of selection in other brands in my very small size.

There's a thread over on the Weight Weenies forum with a bunch of people complaining that their S-Works Allezs are not stiff enough.

I honestly don't know regarding axle/hub standards, I just saw something in passing psimet/rob mentioned on Facebook. I was throwing it out as a "talk to your lbs about wheel compatability" comment. I'm not real up on disc brakes for cross, but I think that's probably a good idea regardless of brand since it seems like standards are still a bit up in the air.

[MENTION=6684]valygrl[/MENTION], I can't tell from the web specs anything about proprietary hubs, I think you'll have to ask at the LBS. I can say that I have a crux pro built up 1x11 with a Race Face chainring and CX1 clutch RD and I absolutely love that bike. A really nice thing about the crux is the huge tire clearance. I run 42s for general trail riding, 34s for racing.

info on the specialized hub deal: Axles Standards and Specialized SCS ? NEXT Cycling

The money quote from that article:

... that seemed borderline sociopathic, so I just checked with my LBS bro whose immediate response was more or less "calm down."