Racer Ex 

Your teeth would be black and greasy a lot.

Allegheny Jet

Despite all the chain envy, some of us can rock it in red.

nacler22

I gotta say that I'm digging the chain, but green would suit me better. You know, so that everyone would be green with envy.


Don't worry, I'm not quitting my day job.

IBOHUNT

Well done.

Dalai

Thought it about time I start racing again since my crash earlier in the year; so have renewed my race licence for 2015 and finally built up the BT Stealth frameset I bought to replace the written off Fuji.

Only change may be a slightly longer stem due to the shorter and shallower Scatto's...

revchuck 

Not a beauty shot, but a snapshot I took on today's ride - my new Allez Comp Race:



Specs are here. I swapped out the stock 11-28 cassette for an 11-25, the original Turbo Pro tires for Michelin Pro4 Endurance, and the original Toupé saddle for a wider Romin, which in turn will be swapped for an S-Works Chicane when the S-Works Pavé seatpost comes in. Pedals are Look Kéo Classic 2, bottle cages are the King stainless that were on my deceased 2012 Allez. The Turbo Pro tires will go back on towards the end of February, in time for my first race.

I've done several rides on it, and I like it. It seems, if anything, more stable than my Look 585, though that could be placebo. I haven't yet pushed it in corners. The ride is fine, better than I remember the older Allez. The 5800 shifting is snot-on-a-doorknob slick. Weak point at this time is the braking, and I'm not sure if that's due to the pads, the wheels, or the house-brand brakes. I may replace the brakes with matching 5800 ones. I'm pretty happy with it.

For about the same price, I could've gotten a Tarmac Elite with the lower-end frame, Ultegra and aluminum wheels. We have one in 56 in the shop, and it weighs a pound and a half more than my bike in 58. A bunch of that is probably due to the wheels, but it also looks like the 9r carbon frame is considerably heavier than the Allez Smartweld frame.

Hermes

@Dalai Nice Stealth. When I started track racing, I looked at a BT Stealth and the guy who owned it allowed me to test ride it on the track. It was an amazing bike but too small for me so I had to pass.

Racer Ex 

I remember the first time I saw a BT track bike in some mag. Years ago. Took me a month to stop drooling.

Dalai

I've heard first hand from a couple of carbon experts who also do repairs that the carbon layup isn't the best... But the shape is so nice; I can't stop walking into the bike room to look at it!

Was planning to go out on our maiden voyage (excluding rolling up and down the street in front of our house) and my first race on the track since April at our regular Saturday club meet, but it was cancelled as today is the first 40+ Celcius day of summer!

Cleave

@Dalai, your BT is very nice! Used to see a few of them in SoCal but not so many these days. 40c is frigging hot.
@revchuck, good looking bike and nice aggressive setup.

sarals 

+1 to both of you!!

LAJ

This!

Gorgeous bikes.

IBOHUNT

Yep. Serious drool on the keyboard now.

LAJ

I'm starting to get comfortable on this thing. This is right after the build, and the set up is definitely different than this picture.

IBOHUNT

Fast just sittin there. Very nice.

valygrl

LAJ are you going to mass start race this year?

LAJ

Thank you IBOHUNT. I think it's going to be fun.

valygrl, I may do some road stuff. I am likely going to concentrate on TT, and look at long stuff again. If I can keep my feet happy, LoToJa sounds like something I might plan for.

shovelhd

Sweet. Looks like pain.

LAJ

Thank you, shovelhd. I've been doing my trainer work on that thing this week, and the pain is present.

Hermes

Nice @LAJ The pic below is where the action is... being able to ride with power in the aero position on the nose of the saddle. This guy did it for 110 miles. At a club meeting a couple of years ago, we had a pro tri athlete speaker. He was able to hold 305 watts for the entire 110 miles in the TT position.

AzTallRider

We have some fast "tri-guys" that ride for the same shop (we have damned wind tunnel in the shop, after all). Not truly "teammates" since we only see them occasionally on group rides, and never at races. In any event, having ridden with them, I have a lot of respect for what they do. One of the guys can ride almost all of us off his wheel, and averaged around 25mph for the ironman distance last time I saw his times. That's a one hour 40K TT, repeated 4 times without slowing down. Anyone who can do that, well.... he deserves props.

Racer Ex 

Disc rear.

Needs.

Just sayin.

Racer Ex 

A lot of nice on bike. Good job on the cable routing. How's it fit?

LAJ

Thank you Hermes. That's part I'm getting used to. This weeks training has been strictly on the TT bike, and it is starting to be easier to hold that spot. It's just foreign to me.

LAJ

Thank you, Racer Ex. It was actually a bike in a box, so I can't take much credit on the routing.

I have lowered and leveled the saddle and moved it back. I moved the bars back, and tilted both down, and it feels good. Doing the work on it this week helped me dial it in a lot better, as opposed to doing whatever workouts I thought I was doing on it.