new bike day

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how the bike currently looks, straight out of the shop.  nothing is dialed yet in terms of fit, but it’s good to finally have the bike built, and back in the house.  definitely looking forward to riding next week.  hopefully, I don’t need to special order longer pedal spindles or anything like that.

and expect a much nicer bike check in the near future.  one step at a time!

how I always envisioned this build turning out.  very black and white…

big thanks to dustin at freewheel hayes for bulding it up.  now hopefully, someone can buy my cannondale supersix…

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the new whip.  will probably be taking it out for a spin in the near future to dial in all the angles, but it’s looking very good so far.  very excited!

check out the full build on velospace, if you’re curious.  some detailed bits, anodized red parts to break up the usual bland, monotone feeling my bikes have.  spy the brake cable ends and nipples around the valves.  I was pretty surprised that the phil wood hubs matched the chris king bottom bracket so well, it looks quite subtle in person.  I can’t wait to ride it.

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specialized-langster

yes, it will be the new commuter and off-season trainer.  I just bought a lightly used one off ebay (exactly like the photo above).  most likely, I’ll be selling off my cannondale track along with the silver velocity wheelset, and custom relaced reynolds.  it’s been extremely fun riding around the cannondale track, but my knees haven’t liked it as much.  and I don’t really see myself riding on the velodrome, so I figured it could go to a nice home.  or I may keep all of it…but I really doubt it.  the langster will be set up like how my dawes sst was going to be built.  I know I never got around to it, but this time it’s different (scout’s honor)!  it’ll be parted out completely, and rebuilt with nicer/durable components.  front and rear brake are definitely going to be in the mix as well, so I’ll have less problems with back-pressure and excessive rear tire wear.

the langster’s geometry is a bit more relaxed compared to the supersix and caad10, but hopefully with a different stem, the fit will be closer, if not exactly the same as my road bike.

I was contemplating putting up a build list, but I think it’ll be more of a surprise if I don’t.  now that I think about it, I’m fairly certain I’ll be selling off the cannondale track.  sad day, I know, but once the langster drops, I don’t think I’ll ever go back.

stay tuned.  it’ll be a couple months, at least!

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t minus 4 months.

c_2011_1rax3c_wht_18

over the past couple months, I’ve been contemplating my decision to sell the caad9 and ride/race the supersix.  I don’t regret it.  the dampening, stiffness, handling, and weight are all on point with other top level frames – it rides very, very well.  but at the same time, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t deserve the supersix.  it’s like owning a ferrari.  it’s nice, but too nice for me.  it’s kind of the same reason I’m selling off my reynolds strike wheelset.  66mm of unidirectional carbon is a bit much.

I’ve placed my order for a caad10 frameset – white with black lettering, just like the photo above.  tapered headset is also included, but I’ll need to invest in a 27.2mm seatpost once again.  the rest of the components will be swapped over from the supersix.  after that, I’ll decide if I want to hold onto the supersix, or sell it.  I guess I have some time to think about it since the caad10 won’t be showing up until july.  it’s a long wait, but I think it’ll be worth it.  I’ll be much happier on aluminum.

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doms-cannondale-track-2.1-1

longer cranks, new pedals, more setback, new saddle, chain tensioner, and trued rims.

my track riding is a bit rusty still, but I’m fairly certain that by the end of the week, I’ll be back in rhythm.  damn, it feels good to be back.

big thanks to freewheel hayes!

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7-22_cannondale-supersix

thursday afternoon, I got a call from my mom: “did you order something?” -yea, but I’m not expecting it for another week.  it’s the bike.  “oh, well I think it came to the old house.  there’s a big box here but your name isn’t on it.  some desiree salvat or something.” -uh…hmm. well open it, it’s probably the frame.  she proceeded to open the box, and there it was.  a matte black and white cannondale supersix hi-mod.  the seller wrote my name out in cursive, and fedex retyped a printed label that had the wrong address as well as the wrong name on it.  I’m just glad it found the right person, eventually.  so there it is, in all of it’s beauty.  I’d say the frame itself is roughly 900 grams, it’s VERY light.  the tubing is massive, I compared the downtube on the supersix to the one on the caad track.  the supersix one is quite a bit larger.  there are no flaws on the frame, and all the components were removed carefully.  I found small blemishes here and there from rocks and bottle cages, but nothing major.  very stoked.  most of the components off of my caad9 will be swapped over, but I’m getting a couple new things:

- edge composites tapered road fork: I e-mailed the edge composites rep and he told me that they only make a 43mm rake in the 1.5″ lower bearing tapered fork they provide.  stock is 45mm, the same as the caad9.  but since the frame didn’t come with a fork, I saw this as an opportunity to test out the edge one.  43mm will give the same feel as the caad9.  I could probably order a stock cannondale supersix fork to match the bike but I feel like it’d probably cost around the same.

- deda zero100 stem: 130mm and 82*.  maybe I’ll opt for the ti bolts of the servizio corse, but is it really worth it? probably not.  and I’d think the regular one would be stiffer than ti.  I currently run a 120mm, 73* stem.  the deda one would give me a bit more upright reach.

- deda zero100 rhm bars: 42cm o-o, compact drop.  I’ve been wanting to try out some compact shallow drops.  attack mode!

- deda superzero seatpost: 31.6mm to accommodate the larger diameter seatpost slot on the frame.  more setback than the thomson I currently run, which is 16mm.  the deda seatpost is 21mm I believe.

and I think that’s it.

anyway, today I left for another alpine dam ride.  I’ve been avoiding any longer rides because of my custom insoles.  my pedaling is sloppy and my right knee taps my water bottle because of the collapsed arch.  hopefully ari from bespoke calls soon with good news.  I’d love to pedal with equal power but as it stands, my left leg is in much better shape than my right.  anyway, I left this morning feeling the same as I always feel.  a bit sleepy, but excited to ride.  not sure what I did differently last night/this morning, but I felt like absolute gold the whole ride.  once I passed fairfax, I had the whole road to myself.  the weather was warm and sunny, picture perfect.  I took a picture at the dam, but somehow my phone flipped out (SURPRISE, NOT) and it didn’t save.  what the HELL.

there wasn’t anyone on ridgecrest, 7 sisters, or even down panoramic highway.  some cars on 1 that I got stuck behind but that’s expected…I guess.  oh, I used my new tiger tail muscle roller a little while ago, after stretching.  I have to say, it’s absolutely great.  much more linear pressure on my legs, verses using my hands.  I can push the roller deeper and rock it back and forth to get the lactic acid out.  I knew they made those tools for a reason.

as a side note, my boy zain (therealzigzags.com – a pc gaming blog) got into a little accident today when an asian woman hit him front behind and wrecked his front wheel.  he is okay, and he got her information.  she blamed him for slipping in front of her car, but I highly doubt that happened.  zain didn’t just “slip”, he was hit from behind.  and when they go to court, I’m sure the jury/judge will be in favor of him.  glad he’s okay.  my vote has been cast, his new bike will be a pinarello, or something else high end in the road bike category.  maybe a look 586, or a wilier.  hmmm.

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4-12_new-bike-day

congrats to rai for getting his 90′s caad track up and running!  hopefully your lungs will get better so you can start hitting it hard again.

I’ve been off the bike for almost a week now, since the accident.  turns out I bruised my knee cap…nothing too serious, but I’ve been taking time off to let it heal up.  soon to be back, hopefully wednesday!

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new bike day.

doms_kink-curb

my new, stock kink curb, straight off of ebay.  full build on velospace (but I’m telling you, it’s stock, haha!).  it came in the mail on monday.

I’ve wanted a bmx for a while now, decided to get one finally.  all I want to do with it is work on my hops (think, plyometrics), balance, and have a good time on a cheap, beatable bike.  it’s definitely the complete opposite of the cannondales, but has it’s own place in the grand scheme of things.  my shoulders and back have been burning for the last 2 days.  I’m hoping it’ll also improve my endurance on the other bikes, since you’re standing most of the time.  the short wheelbase makes the bike squirrelly at speed, but the ride is hilariously fun.  definitely keeping the back brake on there, it makes descending hills much easier.  so far, my ability to hop is none-existent.  however, I’ve only had the bike for not even a week, so I’m still optimistic, ha!  I’m going to keep riding the bike in hopes that it’ll make me stronger in ways that a track and road bike could not.  lung capacity seems to be at the forefront of these things…might seem like it’d be the issue with the other bikes, however I find myself resting more on the bmx than my other bikes – I think this is because the effort exerted to pedal a bike without sitting down is more intensive for numerous reasons: you’re standing and moving your legs in a circular motion, your arms are torquing the bike side to side, and the gear inches available are limited considering the bike only has 1 gear.  the drivetrain on the kink is currently 36×16, roughly 42 gear inches.  it’s not bad, but don’t expect anything above 14mph flatland speed.  it seems counter-intuitive to ride this bike in the street, you’d think.  it is quite the workout though, and just plain fun.

and in the end, that’s all that matters.

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caaderday. again.

Untitled-6

a very, very horrible picture of rai’s new ride.  cannondale track.

that makes for 2 cannondales for each of us (road and track).  ha!

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I only say that because it’s not “new bike day”.

technically.

1-24_new_bikecannondale track build

everything has come down to this bike.  a lot of people have been asking, why a cannondale track over the samson?  well, it’s more opportunity than anything – a 54cm cannondale track popped up on ebay.  the geometry is pretty much what you’d expect the caad road bikes to have, just with an extended seat tube and tighter angles.  however, I will say it is, HANDS DOWN, the best handling track bike I’ve ridden yet.

why a woundup fork?  I can tell it’s a pretty sacrilegious to swap out the original steel fork and superbe pro headset…but srsly, I bought the woundup the first time around for the samson, and it was a 1″ threadless with a carbon fiber steerer.  long story short, it cracked through and through where the stem clamped the fork.  there is NO aluminum sleeve inside the steerer like there is for the 1 1/8″ steerers.  anyway, freewheel hayes sent the fork back requesting a steel steerer.  but while the samson did have the threadless setup, it was by far the lightest and stiffest I’ve ever felt the bike.  the carbon dampened the perfect amount, especially on a city-ridden track bike.

this bike is ridiculously stiff in all the right places, cannondale knew what they were doing.  the last time I rode aluminum was on my pista concept…agh, those were the days.

doms_pista_concept_new

haven’t been able to squeeze in any big rides with the cdale track yet, but I do want to hit up marin when the rain goes away.  on presidio loops and stretches the bike just spins up like you wouldn’t believe.  I moved back to 48×17, the tried and true setup I had on the pista concept.  also brought back the sugino zen racing chainring, my F*CKING FAV.  rigid, smooth, shiny….nasty.

weight is unknown.  I’m not overly concerned with bike weight, considering it’s going to be ridden daily, rain or shine through the city.  the wheels are pretty solid…hold on, I’ll rephrase – velocity knew what they were doing when they came out with the b43.  just a bomb proof wheel that can take anything.  it’s definitely the heaviest part of the bike.  you KNOW when you’re going because that wheel carries so much momentum which makes me think of rear aerospoke track wheels.  1500g of plasti-MOMENTUM, haha.  I’d say around 15lbs.  I wish dustin never mentioned the titanium axle kit phil wood has for the rear hub.

at least the cartridge bearings will keep the muck out.

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