Road Cycling

[Roady]

The new chaingang ride.
Built up from bits off my other bike (planet X) and a frame I bought off a friend.

Specialised Allez sprint 56cm
S works seat post
Fact 10 carbon fork
Sram force 22 thorough out
Quarq Red cranks
Titanium Speedplay pedals
Absolute black 52/36
11/28 cassette
Chinese 80/50 wheelset on Novatec hubs
Pirelli PP Zero
Zipp bars 400mm
Zipp stem 100 -6º
8.1kg

Had a nightmare with the bottom bracket
BB30 to GXP :/
Got there in the end with a Wheels MFG adaptor.

Great build, looks superb! How are you finding the Allez? Good choice on the BB, I really love my Wheelmfg (PF30->Shimano) and really rate them. Why did you have so much of a 'mare? PWM/Red not being DUB?

Have seen a few builds of them recently, it's such a smart looking frame. Amazing to think Specialized only did them in alu. None of their other alu frames come close in terms of racing performance which is a shame - they're all much lower down their ranges, so more flexy, heavier and 'basic'. Unsure if more relaxed geometries too.

Garden looks nice too!

Looks nice!!, even if it is the 'imitation' torch edition frame

And the crank should be at the 3 o'clock position when taking photos

And valves at 6 o'clock... And in the 11/12t at the back

Ok that's damn cool.

Very! The paint was designed/adapted so it changed colour around the average daytime temperature of Rio where the Olympics where held. The paint gets less reactive with age so they generally 'settle' in a mixed fade very similar to how yours looks. As obviously UK temperatures don't really get to Rio temperatures that regularly it was fun for owners to leave them in the sun on sunny days to experience the change and just how light they would go (from Orange to Yellow imitating the Olympic flame!). Think it was around 26 degrees?

And @Shadowness has one!

 

[Shadowness]

Heat adjusting paint job specially introduced for the Olympics, although it stops working after a certain amount of time.

Sadly this is true

Every time I turn my bike over to wash it I see the original colour. It does look goo though, some parts are yellower that others, so it's like a fiery sort of effect in places.

 

[Saytan]

Every time I turn my bike over to wash it I see the original colour. It does look goo though, some parts are yellower that others, so it's like a fiery sort of effect in places.

You have a completely unique finish too, that's always rad.

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

Great build, looks superb! How are you finding the Allez? Good choice on the BB, I really love my Wheelmfg (PF30->Shimano) and really rate them. Why did you have so much of a 'mare? PWM/Red not being DUB?

Have seen a few builds of them recently, it's such a smart looking frame. Amazing to think Specialized only did them in alu. None of their other alu frames come close in terms of racing performance which is a shame - they're all much lower down their ranges, so more flexy, heavier and 'basic'. Unsure if more relaxed geometries too.

Garden looks nice too!

And valves at 6 o'clock... And in the 11/12t at the back

Very! The paint was designed/adapted so it changed colour around the average daytime temperature of Rio where the Olympics where held. The paint gets less reactive with age so they generally 'settle' in a mixed fade very similar to how yours looks. As obviously UK temperatures don't really get to Rio temperatures that regularly it was fun for owners to leave them in the sun on sunny days to experience the change and just how light they would go (from Orange to Yellow imitating the Olympic flame!). Think it was around 26 degrees?

And @Shadowness has one!

Thank you Roady
The aluminium of this standard really does make carbon kinda hard to justify. Granted, I haven't done any mega mileage on it yet but it feels fantastic.

I bought the frame off a friend in Manchester, I live near Nottingham (Newark) so on the way back I popped into TriUK and asked them to make the BB work with my GXP PM.
They (Evans in the corner of TriUK) fitted new BB30 bearings and a Wheels MFG adaptor for £88 and off I went.
Came to fit my crank and it turns out they fitted the Hollowtech adaptor. Straight 24mm where as GXP is 24mm on the drive side and 22mm on the non-drive side. Rang them up, he said just pop it back for a refund and they'll set it up for GXP-Nearly an hours drive each way only to find they didn't have the GXP adaptor in.
Turns out no one did. I said I wanted a refund of £35 for the adaptor and the £25 workshop charges, but they refunded the hole lot (so I'm up one new pair of 6806 bearings fitted )
Thought I was going to have to buy the C Bear BB to replace the hole setup with but then someone on FB came through with the unicorn poo BB30-GXP adaptors!

The garden is a long term project, spent over £1k in bareroot plants last year that are really starting to take well

So I read up on the paint, I guess Spesh think quite highly of the Sprint to give it such a paint job, I love the Red Hook Crit editions but they're almost all beautiful colour schemes.

Geez back off on the photo prep credentials!
Promise I'll try harder next time

Time to chase the Cat 1 guys in our local chaingang

 

[SoliD]

So I went a bit mad and hedged my bets buying some Di2 bits this morning, a pair of 6870 levers for 99.99 and a pair of R785 levers and calipers for £190 all new from CRC. As they do 365 day returns I will hold them to see what my new bike comes with and then return accordingly or potentially put the R785 on my CX bike and get that up to Di2 standard...

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

I can't help but feel it's time I looked into Di2.
Just find it all very confusing as I'd be looking at picking up used parts as and when but it's just be my luck that none of it is compatible.

Also secretly I'd rather SRAM (despite being regarded as an inferior system) just because I have the Red/Quarq cranks

 

[Shadowness]

Go SRAM.

None of this messing about with cables. Ugh! So last century

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

Go SRAM.

None of this messing about with cables. Ugh! So last century

Very true

 

[SoliD]

Go SRAM.

None of this messing about with cables. Ugh! So last century

Just a shame the shifters are hideously unergonomic and huge in Hydro form, or were on the ones I tried.

 

[labbby]

didn't realise there was a road bike section on the forums.. Hello all.

this is my baby, getting on a bit now.



built myself, must admit the di2 cabling is a bit fiddly especially once you've fully built it and forgot to put in the anti rattle stuff

ps excuse the saddle bag and tape on the top bar. the picture taken half way through cleaning her up after a 4 day epic cycle to Switzerland a few years ago.

I looked at SRAM years back, have they improved a fair bit ?

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

Go SRAM.

None of this messing about with cables. Ugh! So last century

With eTap I'd literally need any 11 speed front mech, rear mech and shifters yes?
With Di2 I'd need as above but also, battery, junction box and cables yes? Are any Ultegra Di2 parts compatible with each other or have they got to be of a matching model number?

 

[Saytan]

Are any Ultegra Di2 parts compatible with each other or have they got to be of a matching model number?

di2 is pretty much all compatible as long as the numbers of speeds are the same. even some of the 10 speed ultegra bits are cross-compatible with 11 (basically the mechs set whether it's 10 or 11), and MTB parts too, which is great for fitting enormous cassettes if that's your jam.

only the first 10s dura ace one is awkward, it only works with itself and is basically dead.

https://e-tubeproject.shimano.com/pdf/en/HM-CC.3.3.0-00-EN.pdf

 

[Roady]

I've just spent the last 1.5 years riding with only a single puncture which wouldn't seal. I then switched back to tubes and have had 3 in the last couple of months. I'm back riding tubeless tyres actually with tubes but that's another story...

I can now update this to 4 punctures in 3 months since switching to Tubes. It might actually be close to 4 months. That sounds better, so 4 punctures in 4 months. Admittedly this one was a pinch flat on a hole I didn't see as nobody called it.

But it did show me that given enough anger and a flat blade screwdriver I could get the bead unseated at the roadside to change the tube. Still took me and a clubmate to get it back on the rim. Switched them back to tubeless yesterday, only took me 2.5 hours and around 2 of that was getting tyres off rims and back on... Rear needed co2 to seat it, but front went back on with track pump. Just waiting on sealant to do it's work a bit as both where low this morning so I drove to work (and avoided the rain!).

Just noticed they have 24g Barbieri cartridges for £1.40 which is a decent price too.

Also, Planet X delivery isn't cheap, but it seems like recent changes in postage laws mean Royal Mail won't deliver co2 - so every online shop charges a lot for delivery.

I have a couple of 25g Barbieri on my shelf and actually used one yesterday to mount a tyre, seems as good as the Zefal I used at the roadside on saturday and the Specialized I've used before.

At the moment these Hutchingson Fusion wouldn't mount with my track pump. I did try a co2 but made no difference. Tyre beads seemed to really compress together in the centre of the rim (where I need them when mounting anyway as my rims are tight). I've mounted them with tubes perfectly but now they're so well seated... At the last attempt I couldn't break the seal to get a lever in there to get the tube out (lol). Does bode well when I have another try after eating a bowl of wheetabix!

Just for completeness - 2 weeks on the rims with tubes and the fusion seem to have stretched well (although I couldn't get them unseated without jamming flat blade/cheese knife to get them to unseal). I could 'pop' part of the seats back into the rim bed by hand but only for about 60% of the wheel, the rear seated easily with co2, the front with a track pump. But both are leaking a little air, I think around the valve holes which is more of a wheel issue (Zipp 30 Course) than tyre as I had the same problem with Specialized 2bliss Roubaixs.

The garden is a long term project, spent over £1k in bareroot plants last year that are really starting to take well

I work in wholesale horticulture so tend to notice plants in gardens, even though I work in IT!

Sounds like a real fiasco with thankfully their mess-up and only hassle/fuel for you!

didn't realise there was a road bike section on the forums.. Hello all.

this is my baby, getting on a bit now.

Sweet build! Is that an earlier madone? Which year? I hadn't realised the brakes where quite like that on the rear stays, real speed weapon, but are you audaxing with a saddlebag like that?!

Welcome!

 

[labbby]

Blimey, I think it was 2016/2017 or 2017/2018

Yeah the bag and the tape let it down but it was a 4 day hardcore ride.. I’ll do a proper pic of it in a few days..

Yeah the brakes on the rear are frame fluid, same with the front brakes.. they’re built into the frame with funky flaps that open up when you turn..

most comfortable and seriously fast road bike I’ve had. I even use it for (up to) Olympic distance triathlons, which gets me funny looks

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

How do we feel about the knee over pedal theory of bike fitting?
I've come from the Tri world where I was always very far forward, I've set up the Sprint to where it feels good but just checked where my tibial tuberosity sits relative to the pedal spindle and I'm around 70mm further forward.
I'm out with the chaingang tomorrow night so I'll soon find out if I'm way off in terms of power but not sure if I should push the saddle back a little or not beforehand.

 

[Musty Pie]

Anyone give me a good reason to upgrade my old Garmin Edge 500 to a Wahoo Elemnt bolt?

Mainly want notifications and companion app stuff like mapping to a close coffee shop! Yes im that kind of rider! 20 miles and i want cake and home!

 

[Saytan]

How do we feel about the knee over pedal theory of bike fitting?
I've come from the Tri world where I was always very far forward, I've set up the Sprint to where it feels good but just checked where my tibial tuberosity sits relative to the pedal spindle and I'm around 70mm further forward.
I'm out with the chaingang tomorrow night so I'll soon find out if I'm way off in terms of power but not sure if I should push the saddle back a little or not beforehand.

You'll probably develop your best power in or close to a position you're used to. Whether a forward TT esque position is best for the cut and thrust of the bunch is another matter

 

[mrthingyx]

*Sigh* Saw the Planet X Trispoke for 30% off yesterday and figured I should ask my wife to be sure before ordering it...

Got home, my wife said "yes..." and they were out of stock.

 

[Musty Pie]

*Sigh* Saw the Planet X Trispoke for 30% off yesterday and figured I should ask my wife to be sure before ordering it...

Got home, my wife said "yes..." and they were out of stock.

easier to ask for forgiveness than permission!

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

You'll probably develop your best power in or close to a position you're used to. Whether a forward TT esque position is best for the cut and thrust of the bunch is another matter

Makes sense. Interesting point on the way power is used in a group.
On my own I can hold almost 50w average more than I can in a group, I can only put that down to the surges that happen. NP is higher but not appreciably.