just curious, do you know if the spokes are lighter gauge than before? lighter gauge spokes deflect less at the same wheel tension.

 

oh yeah, nicer tires are well worth the $. they roll faster (generally) and are more plush (generally). there are always exceptions and it does create other issues (light, fast tires wear out faster and are more susceptible to tear/puncture)

 

The spokes seem narrower, and thinner as well. I will grab a micrometer and do some measurements. These are CX Ray spokes 2mm I think, vs the old ones being whatever Fuji put on which were a 2.5mm wide. I wouldn't be surprised if the total spoke weight on these was lower than with the house wheel spokes, even though there are more of them.

 

Has anyone ever successfully sold a non-drive, Shimano crank arm on eBay? lol What is the scrap value for these?

 

Maybe use keywords for all of the left side power meters in your listing

 

I meant that somewhat genuinely, not searching for power meters, saving for a house. There are hundreds of shimano ND arms on eBay, wondering what I can offer and still make a profit at the scrap yard.

 

I must say I am disappoint for the lack of photos of Hustler in his Man Bib. MAN BIB! What we all should aspire to. Where is it, oh mighty one?

 

 

Looks like the pros no longer use wicking 1st layers under jerseys. A few years ago, they were common. Has there been a change in jersey material technology, or have 1st layers proven inefficient?

 

Local bro:

Teg > DA

 

I think it's just materials and particularly fit, getting better. One thing to note is how rare it is to see loose fitting jerseys in the pro ranks. I never realized how much more cool you get if the jerseys fits snug with no air gaps. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense. Air is a great insulator.
When I first started wearing my Castelli Aero 5.0 jersey I noticed how my whole torso was being cooled as I sweated, not just one or two areas. There are still some pros that unzip completely every time it gets hot. I've tried that and it's damned annoying, jersey flapping around and my back seems hotter unzipped.

I still have two undershirts I love for cooler weather, both Craft. One is minimal, super sheer and loose (50~65°), the other is tight fitting, tightly knit and holds heat amazing well while still wicking

Heavy guy or crashes? Never heard of D/A just cracking from normal use. I have maybe 150k miles on various D/A cranks and never had an issue. Although I'm skinny and not a gear masher.

 

Cat-2 crit bro, not sure I've ever seen or heard of him crashing., I've seen one other local one break the same way.

 

I just provided this to a fried on FB who's never done CX before, feel this is a pretty good list to warm him up to the sport:
If you've never done CX before here are my training suggestions:
1. Have a friend provide mid training ride beer so it's cold when you're practicing hand-ups.
2. Have a beer before you train, to help loosen yourself up to really suffer and push it over the edge 3-minutes into a 60-minute race
3. If you're a Cat-1,2,3 and racing in 4/5, bring a spare RD hanger because that **** is coming off if you come near me
4. Special respect to bros on cantis, there are a class above us disc-bros
5. Rubber boots
6. Vuvuzela
7. Look out for fire-works

 

So the wheelset I got has a SRAM 1070 cassette. I noticed that going from my Tiagra one, the shifting is slower and not as smooth, it used to be nearly instant, but now it's sloppy and considerably slower. In car tems, it went from being like a DSG to a regular automatic in terms of shift speed. I did adjust the barrel adjuster, but not the high low screws..do I need to do that, or should I swap my old Tiagra cassette back on? I was also thniking of upping it to a 105 or Ultegra instead, not sure if worthwhile though considering the fantastic performance i had with the Tiagra, maybe just wait for that one to "wear out". At that point, maybe I can change out my Oval 520 crank and Praxis rings for a 105 crank as well, or is there no benefit there? I think I might like a non-compact crank once I build my muscles up more but hard to say.

On another note, there is a ride local to me in NJ at the end of september. It is 106 miles and 13,000 feet climbing. Not sure if I'll be ready for it this year considering the longest and steepest ride I've done was 45 miles and 2100 feet. Friend of mine has a route that's 75 miles and 5300 feet I want to try.

 

I laughed so hard at this. golden.

 

I have seen a handful of broken Shimano cranks. It's usually the same few guys. Something about their pedaling style, and not about weight or power. Broken at the pedal threads, broken half way down, or broken at the spider. Come to think of it, always drive side.

 

SRAM is ******* awful, lol. I have it on my CX bike but it's definitely way different from the excellence of 6800 on my road bike.

 

Really happy with these wheels I just built for my hardtail.
29'er 28H 395g ACE carbon offset drilled
DT 240S straight pull rear
Extralite alloy Lefty 2 front
CX-Ray
Alloy nipples
1390g built

They're a 5.5mm wider internally than the OEM Crossmax SL's and 190g lighter. Front wheel laced with offset towards drive side. Was able to get around 120kg/f drive and 110kg/f non drive with nice bracing angles. Rear was laced offset to the non drive side, 125kg/f drive, 95kg/f non drive. These hoops, surprisingly have tighter beads than the Crossmax. Was able to easily inflate and seat with a floor pump. No chance of burping these I think.

 

Got a little lucky. Ordered a carbon saddle on eBay to try a new shape. In the mail they accidentally sent me a saddle (albeit the wrong one), 740mm carbon bars, a 90mm 6* stem, and a non offset seat post. The seat post is what I was most excited about as getting a bonus but unfortunately it's too small for my road bike. So I installed the seat and stem on the roadie and then took my 90mm Bontrager Rhythm stem off the road bike and installed it on my trek MTB to replace the 80mm that it had. I've wanted to get a little lower on the trek as well to improve front end grip so it worked out. Now just hope this carbon **** doesn't break. I did a test ride last night and put all my weight on that stem and nothing went wrong....yet

Also weighed my road bike, with the saddle bag containing my co2, levers, allen keys, and a tube, it came in at 17.8lbs. Perhaps the factory weight of 19.07lbs was wrong, or perhaps I saved a bit more than 500g on the wheelset (maybe the new tires are lighter too). Not sure how much the stock Oval 500 saddle weighs, I'll check it at my friend's house, but the new one was 105.5 grams.

 

Which ride is this? I'm only seeing two in august.

That's awesome. My Tarmac is the same weight stripped down (well, 17.7), not sure what I can change to lighten it up. Seeing 14-15lb tarmacs and I'm like whaaaaaat? My budget model frame is heavier than the s-works, but really? maybe tubulars and DA, I dunno.

Those are quite pretty, nice job.

Did you all see that Powertap is selling the GS (straight pull DTSwiss hub) for $300?
PowerTap GS Hub | PowerTap

I got my 'new' old hardtail MTB built this weekend. Just waiting on the decals and I'll take some pics.

Finally, got my second strava KOM. Almost got a third, lost by a second. Next time!