Savington

iTrader: (31)

Castelli Endurance bibs? I had two pairs do the same thing. The third replacement pair showed up in the mail, and the webbing was separated from the bottom in the bag. Competitive Cyclist took both pairs back and sent me a pair of BP2.0 bibs in return.

I've had issues with the logo peeling on the 2.0s as well, but that doesn't bug me as much.

kotomile

iTrader: (24)

Yep, found 'em. Castelli Men's Endurance X2 Bib Short

Glad I'm not the only one. Italian quality, who knew?

EErockMiata

My mtb has been an ongoing project (what isn't). But it's getting pretty close to being done. Weighs in at exactly 30lbs as it stands. It's in a good enough spot to keep riding but a shimano x9000 xtr 1x11 setup is on the horizon in order to make the jump to 28lbs.

Definitely loving this bike.

dcamp2

iTrader: (4)

^ Nice

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

^ nice looking trance!

Has anyone seen the "new" 650b+ and 29+ sized wheels? My buddy has a brand new 29+ with 3.0 tires, and holy **** does he rip on it. I rode it around, and it has nearly none of the stigma i found associated with the more gimmicky "fat" bikes. For instance, i could wheelie on it right away, short rear end, quick turning, and with the wide tires tons of traction on flat surfaces.

Anyways, this thing gives me a hard-on for some reason.

Chooofoojoo

iTrader: (7)

We have a bunch of the stumpy 6-fattie bikes at my shop. They rip, and have traction for days. Not sure if this will pan out as a fad like fatbikes or stick around.

Chooofoojoo

iTrader: (7)

Hella necro-quote.

Santa Cruz Stigmata.

A) Because orange
B) Because I sell them
C) Hydro CX1.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Want orange, want hydro CX1, do not want that price tag. :'(

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Guess I get to post in the bike thread.

I'm in New Zealand for the next year. Taupo, to be precise. 1 hour from Rotorua. The surrounding area is a mountain biking paradise. The winter rainy season biking is good, because Taupo (and the area surrounding it for ~100k) has this pumice soil that drains like nobodies business, which is all debris left over from the enormous AD186 eruption of Taupo. More than 100 times the size of the St Helens eruption, to give a sense of scale. But I digress.



So we went to a bike shop, Top Gear Cycles. The owner, Mark, has a biology background, and is all about the fit. He's been a huge help getting the bikes fitted to us and is the reason we bought from his store instead of looking for bikes on the local Craigslist equivalent.

Mine: 2015 Specialized Epic Carbon Comp. 2x10 Shimano XT and XT brakes. Edit: built-in multitool slots in front of the rear shock.

Hers: 2014 Specialized Camber Evo Expert Carbon, slightly pre-owned by the shop's mechanic. 1x11 SRAM XO, Formula Brakes, Specialized internally routed dropper post.

I've been busy taking the bike places it deserves to be taken:





Notice the snow, proof it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere:



Emily's "Sweet as!" bike.




That pretty much brings us to today. The local mountain got over a meter of fresh snow over the weekend, so we took the kids out of school and hit the snow.



I do have one upgrade for the bike. It does not currently have a dropper post, so a Thomson is on order. Specialized has one that fits it but the travel is 125mm on the Thomson, more than double.

Edit: the red seats are test seats and have since been replaced by the real ones. My bike will be getting its SWAT box when they arrive; the store was out of them.

Landrew

iTrader: (2)

Beautiful!

I've heard from family that it is a paradise there for the outdoors.

What line of work are you in?

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

My wife is an ER doc, she has a year contract with the Taupo Hospital. Me, I was in IT until 2010. I got laid off and we punted. Her irregular work hours + my being on call + kids just wasn't working.

So my current line of work, the past two weeks, has been:

get the kids to school (they're 9 & 11 now, not that hard)
swim 1-2k
eat
do a 15k trail ride.
Then take care of whatever before they get home from school.

It's a rough life.

There are all of these fabulous 20,30,50,80k trail rides that I want to do. We'll see how many we can squeeze in. One cool bonus we have is that our neighbors two houses down are from Nashville, with similar aged kids. We will probably work out something with them to give each other complete days to do longer rides.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

<br />
<br /><br />
<br />Sounds just like your life here but without the coffee mandates.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Mobius. You guys sure have some nice bikes. I'm jelly. Also, that snow, goddamn, even more jelly.

i know this is the bike thread, but i cannot wait for winter.

kotomile

iTrader: (24)

I may be finally able to justify a set of wheels later this year, to replace the original Mavics that came with my Six13 back in 2006.

I want a good aluminum climbing wheel but with decent aero characteristics, and so far as I know that means Zipp 30 (formerly 101) and FLO 30 rims. I need/want a loud hub too, since much of my usual commute route is a multi-use trail. When I ride with my cousin the Zipp hub on his 404s drowns out my hub several times over and the pedestrians can hear him coming sooner.

Andrew says the FLO is a better *rim* than the Zipp, and IIRC Trey had issues with both FLO and ZIPP hubs.

Is my best bet to get the LBS to build me a wheelset with FLO 30 rims and maybe a DT 240? Is there something else or something new I should be aware of?

dubya

iTrader: (1)

IMO, of the options you listed, having your LBS build you a set of wheels with parts that you can pick is the way to go. A set of DT hubs will be better than the Zipps, and far better than the FLO hubs. If you want a louder hub, Chris King hubs are usually pretty loud.

For aero clincher rim options, it doesn't get much better than the HED Belgium C2 rims in my experience. Very versatile, reasonably light but stiff, and very well built (machining tolerances and roundness are excellent). H Plus Son also have a similar rim in the Archetype, as do Pacenti in their SL23 rim - very similar to HED's C2, but a little lighter.

Remember, having a super light rim (sub 400g) won't necessarily make you a faster climber and can also wear out quicker. A nice, stiff rim (440-480g) can be built with fewer spokes if you're worried about weight and still end up under 1500g.

And, if you decide to go the pre-built route, the Zipps would be a good choice, as would Shimano, Mavic, or HED.

kotomile

iTrader: (24)

Great input, thanks!

FTR, I'm not so much a weight weenie, I'm going for aluminum because it's cheap, durable, better with wet braking, and I'm super-paranoid about doing 50mph descents on a plastic rim, lol.

The HED rim looks like a good choice. I'm thinking maybe the Belgium C2, 24 spoke (which is 4 more than my current rear rim even though it's the lowest spoke count offered) with a 36t-modded DT-240 (straight pull).

About spokes and nipples, I'm thinking DT aerolite spokes. Don't know about nipples. Is there a reason to avoid aluminum, should I stick with brass?

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Build with J-bend spokes if you can, they are supposed to be easier to work with. CX-Rays are spendy but they make spoke wind-up a non-issue, and IMO that's worth it for someone who doesn't build wheels for a living. Brass nipples won't seize to the spokes like aluminum.

If I were building wheels today, I'd do FLO30 hoops, CX-Rays, and White T11, DT350, or DT240 hubs (depending on your budget). TI would bet that the FLO30 hoops have better aero than the SL23 or the Belgium Plus, and while the weight penalty is a bummer, they are also quite a bit cheaper. 20 Radial front, 24 2-cross rear.

dubya

iTrader: (1)

Glad to help!

I wish more people would give aluminum rims a chance instead of going straight to cheap carbon clinchers . Unfortunately, HED has made it tougher and tougher to find the C2 in anything less than a 24H. If you're light enough, you could go with a 24H front and rear setup, or even 24H front and 28H rear for a little added toughness without gaining too much weight. You should be able to find the SL23 in a 20H, or even 18H, pretty easily for about the same price. It's a great rim with the same basic shape, while also being a bit lighter.

DT Aerolites are great spokes, as are Sapims (can't go wrong with either). I have always used aluminum nipples without any issues. As long as you don't let anything corrosive set on them (i.e. salty road grime), you should be good. You could always use brass nips on the drive side for a little extra durability.

Totally agree on the J-bends, especially since any LBS should be able to replace one on the spot if one were to break. Windup shouldn't be too bad as long as the threads are lubed properly before assembly, but it's definitely something to watch out for.

I love my T11's, but I would seriously consider something other than the FLO 30 if I were looking to lace something to a set of hubs as nice as the T11's or DT's. I can't help but want to steer clear of the FLO rim and go with something more proven by wheelbuilders. Why not spend $20 to $30 more and get a proven and more durable rim? Straightness and roundness trumps any small aero gains the FLO's might have, IMHO.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

I might agree, except I've got two sets of FLO30s and they've both held up extremely well. The only issue I've had is that it looks like they use linseed oil to build them, so on the set that I bought prebuilt, the spokes and nipples were all seized together after 2500 miles. They replaced that front wheel free of charge after I crashed the bike and needed to true it. It hasn't been a problem on the rear since the wheel is still true. I rebuilt the seized wheel myself, and I built my PT wheel myself as well, and both of those have been solid.

IMO the only downside to the FLO hoop is the weight. 560g is excessively heavy, but if they are as good aerodynamically as they claim to be, and if they're as robust as my experience with them leads me to believe they are, they are a steal for $80.

kotomile

iTrader: (24)

I'm peaking in two months.