Road Cycling

Gotta say I don’t buy into the ceramic bearings.

Just buy good brand Japanese steel from a proper bearing place, NTN, SKF never done me wrong.

Headset. Cane creek or Chris King.

I don’t think there is much arguement about ceramic bearings, they are smoother and freer running. How much extra power it gives you for the price could be argued as to whether it is worth it. Reading the Hambini article he seems to confuse the results. The bearings aren’t the problem but the housing they spin in, he even refers to it saying the extra hard ceramic bearings eventually wears a track in the housing, this of course would cause the bearings to run less smooth over distance but that isn’t the bearings but housing wear and the material that has been worn away. If the housing was ceramic as well then bearing life and performance would be better and wouldn’t suffer from the problems he speaks of.
 
I don’t think there is much arguement about ceramic bearings, they are smoother and freer running. How much extra power it gives you for the price could be argued as to whether it is worth it. Reading the Hambini article he seems to confuse the results. The bearings aren’t the problem but the housing they spin in, he even refers to it saying the extra hard ceramic bearings eventually wears a track in the housing, this of course would cause the bearings to run less smooth over distance but that isn’t the bearings but housing wear and the material that has been worn away. If the housing was ceramic as well then bearing life and performance would be better and wouldn’t suffer from the problems he speaks of.

The ball and its housing are inextricably linked though, so from the rider's point of view the distinction is irrelevant

essentially they're an exercise in buying speed for "race" events and you should probably be training on steel
 
The ball and its housing are inextricably linked though, so from the rider's point of view the distinction is irrelevant

essentially they're an exercise in buying speed for "race" events and you should probably be training on steel

I’m not challenging that at all, I’m challenging his engineering opinion. For a price to performance benefit, it probably wouldn’t be worth it for the vast majority of people race or not as there’s probably more general performance variance day to day than the couple of watts the bearings may save.
 
The thread together ones are pretty good but the WheelsMfg one I initially tried to fit on my Canyon didn't work with a Rotor crankset so might be worth "bearing" that in mind.

Yeah, they do make a million different variations. Some use angular contact bearings not the normal cartridge type which are easy to replace.

Previously I’ve found the BB gets water ingress and then fails rather than creaking.
 

Pretty much all the loss is an accounting loss and will go away in a couple of years. Seen a few people say it’s due to the buyers loading them up with debt which just isn’t true looking at the accounts.

I’m no Rapha fanboi but does feel like they’re an easy target and these articles aren’t particularly balanced, just an opportunity for people to go “lol Rapha”.
 
Pretty much all the loss is an accounting loss and will go away in a couple of years. Seen a few people say it’s due to the buyers loading them up with debt which just isn’t true looking at the accounts.

I’m no Rapha fanboi but does feel like they’re an easy target and these articles aren’t particularly balanced, just an opportunity for people to go “lol Rapha”.

I think Rapha have umped the shark now tbh with saddles and that ridiculous sleeping bag with no feet. It seems like they're taking any old ***** and sticking a raphia badge on it.
 
C-bear ceramic. The last rotor one I had only lasted a few months, seem to be made of cheese.

I’ve been looking at this design and I’m still not that convinced. Not that many good reviews of them.

My understanding is you press the NDS bearing in normally, and then the DS half threads into this.

My concern is, to achieve the desired torque figure (I have seen 30-50nm which is quite high) you risk the NDS cup rotating in the frame, and obviously the DS is also rotating in the frame.

The only thing which then stops the BB from moving is the torque of the two halves bolted together, transferred through the O shape of the bottom bracket and the friction of the frame O on the outside of the bearing cup which you have just rotated it through.

I guess you are gaining some strength (and alignment) by the two pieces clamping together, but is the frame actually rated with a torque value for the hollow section of the BB to be loaded in such a way.
 
Fitted plenty of the wheelsmfg threaded together ones. They do use a tool so you can hold the cups in place

I'd not worry too much about the forces on the frame as it is probably the beefiest part of the frame.

I don't rate rotor BBs too much but to be fair most are so so to me. You can replace the bearings on the wheelsmfg ones after the inital outlay.
 
Not sure what design you're looking at? It's just pressfit but in the older frames had an outboard bearing instead of using a spacer.
I was looking at the wheels manufacturing and rotor one and mistakenly thought the C bear was the same.

It’s just press fit but alloy cups to better tolerance and higher price. Nothing but good reviews.... purchase justification or maybe as good as it’s made out to be... it is twice the price of the wheelsmfg one but I would be more comfortable with a press fit rather than a press and then screw other half fit.

I emailed C bear and got a quick reply saying the BBR86 would work for me in a 2019 frame.

I did ask for the difference between cyclocross and racing, they recommended the cross one but didn’t explain. I’m willing to trade off a handful of watts for better water resistance and hopefully longevity.
 
Fork cut and insert glued!

Measured twice and cut once. Brand new 32tpi blade and the Park Tools guide. I used electrical tape over where I planned to cut. I also put a stem on either side of the guide to hold it in place rather than use a vice.

Cut like a dream with no splintering, Cervelo provided 100 grade paper to finish with which I thought was way too aggressive. Used 600 wet to cut down on the dust, had to chamfer the inside slightly to fit the insert which is flared at the top, I guess just to stop people pushing it in too far. Chamfered, dry check, bit more sanding and sorted, wipe with the IPA wipe and then epoxy her in.

Missing the spacers from the little bag of bits supplied and I only have one 10mm one I could find so I’ll have to order some. Cut it for the max spacers (35mm) as the headtube is shorter than my old frame, can always go lower later!
 
I had been in touch with one of the guys from Dissent133 (aka Hunt wheels) who said that as a Raynaud's sufferer he had similar cold hand troubles and that the system worked great for him. Part of me thought this might just be a sales tactic but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and pulled the trigger on the £80 'glove system'. I was still sceptical about them before ordering and even more sceptical once I opened them and had them in front of me. It did not look or feel like it was going to keep my hands warm. Today, I took them out for their first ride.

The system consists of a silk liner, a Defeet Dura thermal layer and a thin waterproof outer layer. The gloves are well presented and come neatly packaged but none of that really matters to me. What matters is how they perform on the bike. When putting the gloves on I noticed the thermal glove can stick to the velcro of the outer which is slightly annoying. Once on, the fit and feel of the gloves is very nice meaning I retained plenty of dexterity for shifting and braking. Being able to use your mobile phone without removing the outer is very convenient.

Dissent133 claims this combination is their warmest and that it's ideal for <4C temperatures. My experience today would suggest this isn't going to be the case for me. I rode for 2 hours and initially my fingers were chilly despite my pre-ride ritual of warming the gloves on the radiator and running warm water over my hands. Once my body had warmed up from effort, my hands eventually followed suit and were mostly comfortable for the rest of the ride but, today was not a cold day. The sun was out and the air temperature was reported to be 10C. The system was doing about as well as the £20 DHB "extreme" winter gloves I recently purchased but at quadruple the cost. I also noted after the ride that the silk liner did not look like it was going to be very durable.

The temperature drops from tomorrow so I think I will use them for another week and see how they perform but I don't have high hopes. I will probably do a comparison with my current "least worst" glove combo by wearing one on each hand. After that, I will most likely use Dissent133's 60 day ride & return policy to get a refund.
 
Front brake calliper mounting bolt that goes through the fork.

Do these come in different lengths as mine seems to be too long.... when I put the nut on the other side I am 3mm too short of the calliper going up against the fork. The rear calliper is fine.

Or do the nuts come with more/less threads.... I was just reusing the old ones but when I bought callipers in the past I only ever got one length nut.

I have disassembled the calliper but the instructions and exploded diagrams online tell you nothing. All I have managed to do is have the spring pop off and smack me in the leg resulting in swearing.
 
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