I was watching the Stage 13 of the Giro, and Cavendish had pull over near the 30 Km mark (to the end) for a change of helmet. The commentator mentioned the “closed-vent” helmet that is having on can save upto 20 watts at the speed of 70km/hr.
20 watts is a lot, but is it illegal to wear them? Read the article here from cyclingnews.com for more details.
I was cutting my 3T Dorico Ltd seat-post to a required length earlier. Its not really my personal preference to an over-length and uncut seat-post sitting inside the seat tube. One of the main reason is that it may caused funny noises when the frame is under heavy load during the ride. Others maybe say you can save a few grams there.
The initial wall of the Dorico is really thin, it is around 1.5mm in thickness.
Once it is cut, you will notice the wall thickness had been greatly increased for a greater strength. The thickest part of the post is at its rear end. Its measured at 5mm. It is a general design concept that the front and rear end of the post to be thicken to maximize its strength.
check out the thickness on the wall half way into the seat-post, the thickest part is also 5mm.
While I was mounting my FiberFlare for the night ride. I managed to break one of the clipping handle on one side. Now the FF is crippled.
A fellow cyclist called in for a problem that he is having while he is on his bike. The concerns that he is encountering are having groin and finger numbness during his ride, even it is just 10Km into the ride.
He is currently riding on a Colnago CX-1 (size 52s) with Campy Shamal Wheels. Fizik Aliante Saddle is being used.
He had been on this bike for 9 months and bagged around 1,000Km during this time. He is 170cm in height. He had been cycling for 6 years. He started off with “an oversized 54 Cervelo soloist frame”. He currently weights 95Kg. There is a 7 cm saddle-bar drop.
5 images were popping up at hundreds of cycling forums all around the world were the “believed to be” Shimano upcoming 11 speed Dura-Ace drive chain system. It is believed that the root source was from a Japanese site.
Let’s see what Google Translate had to say:
Target is 11 new battle injection continuously variable transmission is Shimano domination Tools & Olympics
During the season of road racing bike is in full swing, the world’s leading manufacturing parts, Shimano, was introduced to combat the new transmission for the race of development. In the race “J Pro Tour” was held at the business group (Minakami, Gunma Prefecture), Gunma Cycle Sports Center, secretly assembled to machine Shimano Racing 21 players, played a finisher. This new model boasts a variable speed rear part 11, the final stage of development towards “world domination” are likely to be used by leading players and the Tour de France kicks off in June, in the London Olympics in August greeted.
Transmission stage 11 of the rumor, that finally emerged. This new part of the component name “Dura” the finest Shimano has been engraved, the main part has been changed to finish two-tone black and silver design, the two-tone hood of the shifting lever also. There was no official comment Shimano obtained because of unannounced products, according to industry officials, seen as this is the world’s first battle injection.
Dura-Ace has won many times, but the race of the world’s finest, such as the Tour de France in the past, the current model 10-speed rear. Italy’s Campagnolo rival has been commercially available 11-stage shift was already lagging behind. For this reason, the observation of stage 11 and over with full Dura-Ace model change this year is flowing.
In “CSC load Gunma day1″ race of the day, people use the new Dura-Ace Shimano Racing 2 of 6 players. Result, there has been won by athletes Yusuke Hatanaka Ace using the conventional products, have contributed to the victory of two parts as assist new players. Seems to be paying off the collection of valuable combat data.
This time was a quiet debut in Japan, the future is likely to be seen is also active in the professional appearance to the European Road Race home.
Okay, if the article and images were to be trusted. They are having the system tested within the Japanese cycling cycle instead of the great European road race. Their aim is to have the product ready for the Tour de France in June as well as the London Olympics in August.
There are more than enough review articles in each editions of the cycling related magazines as well as many resourceful website. But, what does it really take to write a review?
To me, I like really reviews which had a go at the downside of the product instead of cheering every bit of it. After all, none of the products around us would be perfect right. I guess it’s much depended on whether if the upsides suit your needs and the downsides are so happen to be something you don’t really care about.
Earlier in the afternoon, I was having a bit of luck in running into an image of the Blue AC1 SL LE aero road bike. The AC1 really caught my eyes. But don’t get me wrong, I am no big fan of nice paint job and or nicely looking design bicycle weapon. I am more into a better functional design which leads to better overall experience.
Having said that, I google a little bit more about the bike, and I must admitted that one of the results was one of the BEST review that I ever read in my cycling life. If you so happen to have the spare time, you will be able to find the review from here at triradar.
There are a total of 4 parts at the review, here are some of the quotes from it:
On two fast one-hour rides the Blue didn’t feel extra fast and when we repeated the rides on a non-aero bike of the same weight with similar wheels we went quicker by 1mph.
The cable routing into the top tube behind the stem is neat but the rear brake cable sticks out where it exits and it touches your leg with every pedal stroke.
The AC1 SL weighs 6.76kg but feels heavier as there’s a lot of flex around the bottom bracket. Hard efforts seem to be absorbed by the frame and the rear triangle flexes so the Zipps rub the brakes when you’re out of the saddle.
Fast descents, even in a straight line, can feel scary as the wheels don’t agree on a direction of travel. Cornering is inaccurate and we encountered some shimmy while tucked in and freewheeling once above about 40mph.
Seriously, triradar is a mega commercial site which had a lot of commercial relationships. You will expect them to be enlarging the good aspect by about 5 to 6 times and having limited words with the “not-so-good” area. I had been taking some time off in reading the other bikes’ reviews at the site. None of them are like this truth telling. So, it is either they don’t like the Blue or its nothing but the whole truth.
P.S. If you are going to read the article in detail, the comments are the must read. Someone is actually rejecting the details of the review and the reviewer is having his explanations on what he wrote as well. Anyway, here is the full link again. http://www.triradar.com/2012/02/02/blue-ac1-sl-bike-review/
This is the 2011 version of the Focus Izalco Team with a lot of customization. The same frame with a different color scheme had been rode by Team Katusha at the Grand Tours.
Along with the all internal cabled frame, the matched frame color 3T Funda Team fork were used. This bike was stocked with the Sram Red shifting & braking system to provide the impulsive shifting experience. Rotor 3D+ running on BB30 along with the 53/39 Rotor Q-rings were there to provide a better pedaling efficiency.
The aero Zipp 101 aluminum clincher wheels were mounted on the bike. 3T products including a full carbon ARX Ltd stem, Dorico setback seatpost and Ergosum Ltd dropbar were used on the bike. The Look Keo Blade were also used.
The bike was not measure digitally, but it should be around 7.2Kg.
Having had almost 200Km on the bike, the initial feeling are very solid. The frame was stiff enough to give my heavy body (80Kg) support when climbing up around Selarang. Climbing out of the saddle to dance around with the pedals were particular fun with the Rotor Q-rings. Not sure if it is my circular pedaling motion not being fine enough or else, but the Rotor Q-rings are a real deal here to improve the efficiency.
As a side note, I had to change the stem into the Ritchey’s and pedals into the speedplay to provide a better fit for the riding experience.
Its a natural development in cycling to learn how to tune your own wheels or even start to build one of your owns. Well, at least if you are into bike mechanics like me anyway. There are a few equipments that you might need to handle such task:
