How's the new shop coming along?

bianchi10; Not a fan of the thomson seatpost or cages, but other than that, i really really like it!

Same here.

I've officially joined the cult. Well almost. I ordered my CAAD10 4 Rival and should arrive to my LBS in a week or so. Pretty excited and good timing as the weather should start to creep into the mid 40s by next week. Perfect bike weather.

First, welcome. Second, copy and paste the last "key" with photo bucket to display image.

esurek, nice bike, congrats. don't worry about upgrades just ride it for now. after a while you will know exactly what you want. as for cages you can get cheap black cages that are light honestly. I got some off ebay that are 20g each and they got to me in three days.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Carbon-F...item48465f76e7

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I just took my caad out for the first time in a couple months. Been riding my carbon synapse most of the winter. As I'm riding over chip-seal on one of my regular routes I found myself wondering why the caad was so much smoother than the synapse. Both have nice wheels with 25mm GP 4000s tires, alloy bars and stem, caad has alloy seatpost and synapse carbon. All things considered the synapse should be the better ride but it's not.

Can't speak to a SS but I'd get the caad, upgrade the wheels and bars, stem, seatpost, etc. depending on what you feel is important.

Finally got around to taking some pictures.

http://www.pedalroom.com/p/notbaad10-9849_1.jpg

http://www.pedalroom.com/p/notbaad10-9849_2.jpg

More: http://www.pedalroom.com/bike/notbaad10-9849

I have the identical bike - only mine's a 54cm frame.

There's one relatively cheap upgrade you can do immediately which will make a big difference to the way the bike feels: Get Continental GP 4000 S tires on there. I believe they can be found for around $120 a pair if you scratch around, and they will give you the biggest bang for the buck by far.

THEN ...

Cranks (SRAM Force)
Wheels (Soul, Williams, Boyd, etc. - take yer pick - they're all quite inexpensive and very good)

THEN ...

Bars, stem, seatpost.



That said - I haven't made all of those upgrades yet, But I'm spending $150 on a professional fitting tomorrow afternoon, almost 2 years after getting the bike. That will probably give me a better return than any bike parts. I'll be fitted using Cannondale's (er - Dorel's) Guru fitting system. Details here:
http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/09/19/...il-experience/

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$120 is way too much. I always buy tires online - if you check one of these 4 UK retailers you should be able to get high end tires between $30-40 each www.probikekit.com or www.ribblecycles.co.uk or www.wiggle.co.uk or www.chainreactioncycles.com

I'd also think about wheels as a bigger upgrade before cranks.

I wouldn't get too hung up on that. Latex tubes are nice and plush, but I think you should be fine with a regular butyl tube, whatever your LBS carries.

Out of curiosity, would anyone sell off a caad9 to get a caad10? I like my 9 a lot and have been thinking of upgrading the group but the 10-2 would get me more or less what I'm looking for and I like the black/silver scheme (although the red on the wheels is annoying).

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-Esurek-my recommendation would be to swap out tires first as DG said, but after that I would do a fitting. Doesn't have to be some $500 fitting with lasers and levels, but a general fitting. For you, the only difference between a $10 fitting and a $500 fitting is $490 out of your pocket AND a better GUESS of where you need to be. All said and done a fitting is a rule of thumb and gets your body where scientifically you should be. Nobody can tell you what your body can though. That being said, you probably wont know what feels right or feels wrong for a while. That comes with experience. So, get a general fitting done which will get your body in the general correct position and then you can make minor adjustments after that if needed.

After you have some riding experience, I would invest in wheels if you want to make some upgrades. A wheelset is your contact point to the road, so stiffer, lighter or aero will effect your climbing, descending and flat road riding more than cranks will.

Then:
Brake calipers-stiffer and brake calipers with minimal flex will make a huge difference when combined with good brake pads.

Cranks-you have several choices, but a good start would be FSA slk light cranks or the Sram Force. FSA gossamer cranks are bottom of the line and HEAVY

Seatpost, stem, bars-those are all personal preference i.e shape, weight and material.

THEN after that, you can start to upgrade other parts.....

-cages, seatpost clamp, Tubes, expander plugs, Top caps,rear derailleur, Front derailleur, Cables, Ti bolt kits, ti spindle pedals, gearing (chainrings and cassettes), chain, skewers, bartapes....etc

Should I replace my Sram Rival crankset with an FSA SL-K Light crankset? I can get one from a buddy for super cheap.

What color is the "K"?

The red "K" might look good with combination to your soul wheels. I like the white "K" SLK's best though

yeah the red "K" would go with the wheels and saddle but I personally like the black crank with your bike.

Red K.

I really like how it would look. A few pages ago somebody said throwing an FSA crank on here would be sacrilege.

Very nice!

I like the fact that it isn't an SL-K, makes the bike.

Thanks, I actually did go with the CAAD10 Rival. I rode both (CAAD and SS) and the SS did absorb the NYC bumps a bit better but not $700 better. The CAAD10 felt great and I can put that $700 to good use on tires. Going to start building a wish list of upgrades to work on over time after I break in this bike and see what I think I need first (tires, seat, etc.).

My current research is on pedals. What do you use?

Here ya go jaytron...I can do a red SLK if you want also. took me like 2 min so its no trouble.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...d10-9849_1.jpg

they were not talking about the SL-K though, that comment was in reference to the FSA gossamer crank.....huge difference

Could you please?

Oh well ****, HAHA. I feel like an idiot.