Yes, yes, and yes. I have a bike that rides very nicely and is a great commute bike, but I wish it didn't have those big letters on the down tube. A lot of current steel bikes with the thinner tubing and understated logos are more my speed. Or as @thesciguy put it, "pure sex".

One reason for a commuter I went with the Nashbar Steel CX bike..

Thanks. After switching over to midfoot cleat position (moved the cleats back 50 mm or so) and moving my body more forward as a result, I couldn't get my saddle forward enough. The reason it looks weird right now may have something to do with the fact that I pushed it as far forward as possible and then lowered the nose for a little extra forward feel. I'm thinking of getting a Thomson Elite seatpost with no setback for extra forward adjustability. Do you think that will also help with the looks as well?

Yeah, the bar tape did get very dirty after a while but I think I need to stick with white for the right color scheme. I'm thinking of a white Lizard Skin handlebar tape and hopefully, they don't get as dirty as quickly.

Cervelo S3

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1584/...35c2bae6_c.jpg
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1588/...2179d9a8_c.jpg

Gold chain.
Wheels mismatched?
Ugly water bottle.

Not.

South Mountain?

Very common on TT bike and since it's a "Aero" bike, it's not a surprise. I thought of going with a Zipp 404/303 but went with 303 on both.

Yep,:thumb:

what was your time on the TT course?

I normally add Dobbins and Buena Vista when I do South Mountain so it didn't record a time and I just finished building the bike and wasn't hiring it hard. My best on the "South Mountain TT" segment on Strava is 23.33, that was from a few weeks ago. What's yours?

Im assuming your in the Pheonix area?

my best time is 23:08 in competition, but my best Strava time is 25:11. I doubt I could repeat the competition time, but 25ish is usually a good time for me. It's nothing great, but nothing to be ashamed of either.

It's not easy to train for Hillclimb TTs when you ride NW Phoenix.

Yeah, lots of flat lands out there lol

I'm around camelback mountain, lots of short steep climbs around here

Lake Pleasant is the closest climbs to me, but I hate doing out&back routes. I prefer to do loops without crossing my path.

Lol me too, it's harder mentally for me to do an out and back than it is to do a ride that's 30 or 40 miles longer as long as I don't pass the same place twice.

I wish South Mountain had another side to either go up or come down.

Did you also lower the saddle, and how much if yes?

Regarding white tape, fake leather such as Fizik Superlight is the way (several options from other manufacturers exist as well). If you need more padding and absolutely don't want anything but a single layer of tape, Pro Microfiber Smart Silicone is an OK alternative, much better than foam/"cork", but not as good as Fizik et al. Lizard Skins has a grippy, rubber-like surface - sort of cleanable, but not really dirt-repelling.

+1

Bar tape is nasty, crank is grotesque, saddle is lower than the hoods, multiple-fused-vertebrae spacer stack. Not hot.

Remove the wheel stickers and get a black saddle, then it will be fire hot.

A+ ride, would look again.

The fork looks like it belongs on a different bike, saddle is dirty, orange bar tape is disgusting and should be black, stem is flipped (lol), and Garmin is pointed at the sky. Not hot.

Both are fantastic.

Anything made after 1998 should not have gumwalls on it...

Wheel decals have sense been switched to their blacked out version and actually I changed seats for a final time to a black fizik arione haha

What's wrong with the cranks? I actually have a 5800 drivetrain but when changing crank arm lengths, chose a 5700 crank both because that was what was compatible with my Powertap C1 and because I thought four arm spiders are ugly. I kinda don't like how the crank arm looks wider than the seat tube unlike my previous crank though.

What do you mean by multiple-fused-vertebrae spacer stack? That slamming the stem would look better?