So... This happened!
Utterly utterly gorgeous bike & buttery smooth to ride (but only had time for
a quick 10 mile last night)!
First impressions of hydro's (785) is good, the initial 'bite' not quite what I was expecting - it feels very measured and similar to how rims feel (think killing some speed with a slight rub/dab). But as you apply more pressure the feedback is really progressive and measured, they feel like you can 'ride' the brakes to measure speed rather than the rim speed-up-slow-down you get. Gears (105 - 5800) feel almost exactly the same as the 105 on my Defy (hardly surprising) but the levers have a little more throw in them making them feel a little 'flappy' (and making me think I need to grease/oil my Defy's!). The hoods are larger than my others, but not overly, length feels the same. Tops of the bars are more aero/flat than I'm used to but I found them very comfortable. Great thick bartape too!
Zertz/carbon frame/dampening/28mm tyres etc - very very good, I've only ridden a few rough bits of road that I remember being harsh on the Defy. The difference is night and day on the really rough stuff, the dampening is superb and the harsh 'clatter' off the edge of a pothole (that makes you wince) is gone. I think the bigger tyre volume comes into it's own with these! The lesser 'rumble' kinda stuff you can still feel but it's so dampened that it doesn't progress up your arms/back in the slightest - it's not unpleasant as it is on the alu Defy. I did a bit of a U-turn on some gravel/dirt at the side of the road which I would've been very careful/worried about on the Defy and didn't notice any slip/wobble from the Diverge. Need to build some confidence with it to do some more!
Saddle is good, feels similar firmness to my Fizik Arione but is quite a bit wider. Time will tell if I continue with it or swap it out. I really want to do some longer rides on it to determine is the 'cutout' on the saddle improves my comfort, even if it means getting some rub from the wider nose.
SCS fitting system made the front wheel very quick and easy to remove. It's nothing more than a fancy name for a long hollow bolt with a screw end and an arm you can adjust the angle of.
The 'gloss hyper' colour of the frame is very marmite, it's not quite as bright as high viz, has more of a green/lime tinge to it than yellow but any photographs make it look yellow. My high viz yellow Sidi's are yellower and brighter, but enough of a different colour that I don't think they look odd next to the frame.
EDIT:
Mate came 2nd @ Maindy (Rowe & King series) last night, think that's enough points for him to progress to CAT3.
Got to see the Tour on Saturday still so it was all good!
Awesome, where did you catch it?
anyone know if france and belgium are still banning disc brakes for large sportives?
I'm sure I read somewhere they had released the 'ban' but were 'monitoring their usage' (which I took to mean no WorldTour use).
Couldn't bring myself to like the yellow spoke on the Mavic rims, just looked wrong on my bike. So they are now demoted to my commuter.
Those black rims and decals work very well with the red CAAD10 and black decals! Which Mavic's do you have?
will I be okay ordering some Shimano 4700 Tiagra brakes to replace them?
You can mix&match Shimano brake calipers, the throw of the lever (amount of cable pulled) is very similar between all of them, 'increasing' the groupset of brake used (like up to 105 or Ultegra) will give you a 'firmer feel' of braking from the more expensive components and pivots used. I noticed a difference between the cheap-ish tektro calipers my Giant came with when I swapped them to 105 (5800) and at £20 each it was one of my better investments!
Finished the cycle and the official temperatures hit 100*F, about 38*C. It was as humid as a swamp putting the heat index at over 44*C. Still, I got into some running shoes and did 2 miles BRICK before heat strike looked inevitable so I called quits on my HIM.
Well done, especially in those conditions! A lesson learnt about your bottles/liquids I hope! I'd rather forget my food than any liquids!
