29er

Put together my new Motobecane Fantom Elite. At last, a do-all bike that I've wanted for a long time. I sold my Rockhopper and a frankenbike to fund this project, and I'm more than pleased. The new 30 speed Shimano Dyna-Syst system shifts like a dream right out of the box. The Avid Elixir brakes were easy to set up, stop well, and are pretty quiet, though I haven't gotten them mucked up yet. The stock stem was a big, heavy clunk, but I had a nice FSA mtb stem in my stocks, so that went on instead. The seat post is also a stone, so I'll swap that out next.

The 29er wheels really do roll as well as I'd heard, ride very nice in comparison to my old 26 inch wheels. I rode down our crater strewn street and I could tell the difference immediately. With the fork locked, it still rolled through the rough crap nicely. climbing was much better due to the close ratio gear set. Shifting is light and positive, almost better than my Ultegra 6700 road bike. Very Impressive. The XT rear derailleur is a thing of beauty, too. I almost hate to get it dirty! Upfront is the SLX shifting up and down an FSA crank set. I'll hit some trails after work tomorrow to see how it handle the rough stuff. Probably better than me.

New Bike On The Way

After careful deliberation, I've finally decided on a new ride. Already having a good road bike and not really able to afford more variety  of bikes in the stable at this time, I picked a 29er as the most versatile option. The larger, easier rolling wheel size makes for lots of options. A spare wheel set with a tire like the Kenda Karma or Small Block 8, makes for a great gravel rig, an aggressive tread,  like the Schwalbe Rocket Ron turns it into a great trail bike, while the Ritchie Speedmax would work for 'cross riding. A set of studded winter tires would add even more versatility. I can wait to Tuesday when it gets here on the UPS truck.

What I'm really fired-up about is the spec: Shimano's new 30 speed Dyna-Sys group. Mine will have the XT rear derailleur, SLX front and shifters. From all the reviews, this is a great set up. The fork is a Rock Shok w/ a remote lock out, Avid Elixir brakes, WTB wheels and tires (Nano 2.1), all on a very light aluminum frame. I comes with a WTB Rocket V saddle, which I've never ridden on. If it doesn't work for me, I will go with a Fizik Gobi. Fizik saddles seem to fit me right.

Like I said, I can't wait for Tuesday!

Test Ride

Today, I thought I would take the new bike out for a longer test ride than the 15 minutes I squeezed in yesterday. About an hour would be a good measure of how comfortable a rig this would be. The geometry is a whole lot different than my old bike, much more aggressive than I thought it would be. I road up the Munger Trail for comparison, since I ride that a lot. There are bone rattling bumpy stretches and long grades, with speeds varying for 13 to 30 mph.

The first thing I noticed is how quiet it rides. The Immortal Force frame seems to soak up the bumps in a way my old ride couldn't. No rattling over bumps, the chain doesn't make that metallic noise when hitting bumps like it did on the old bike. None of the road vibration makes it up to your hands and it's not skittish when hitting bumps you didn't see. It tracks much straighter when you take your hands off the bars, not that I do that much, but I thought I would try.

As far as the components go, the new Ultegra 6700 is fantastic. The cable routing is very clean, and shifting is flawless. The FSA carbon seat post is my favorite, very simple to adjust and doesn't slip once set like the Ritchie post on the old bike would. I've got a FSA post on my MTB and for the money, I can't find anything better. Speaking of Ritchie, the bar and stem are Ritchie PRO aluminum series. The bar is the Biomax model and has very nice hand positions. It helps that the new Ultegra hoods are longer and flatter than the older series, making riding the hoods more pleasurable than ever for me. The FSA SL-K compact crank has a different finish and graffics that last years, and is a little lighter. It spins very smoothly.

Now for the brakes. I had Cane Creek SCR-3 braes on my old bike, and was going to replace them with Ultegras. This one came with SCR-6 brakes and work light years better. I may change to Kool-Stop pads, but for now, these are fine. These are a very new model brake and aren't even shown on Cane Creek's web site, so maybe they listened to all the complaints about their older models and did a little more development on the SCR-6 models.

The Vittoria Rubino Pro tires gave me some grief when mounting. The rear didn't seat right and blew out as I was lubing the chain. I put in another tube and carefully pumped it up first to 20 lbs, then 60, then 110 when it let go. The 3rd tube was fine. A couple of miles into my ride today, the front tried to do the same thing, but I saw it start to bulge, stopped and let the air out. after reseating it and reinflating, it was fine. I rode 30 more miles without incident. More care is required with these tires, I guess. As far as performance, they roll smoother and far faster than the Kendas that I had on the American Classic rims before.

All in all, I very happy with the bike. It exceeds my expectations in every way. The finish is gorgeous, a beautiful pearl white. I've always liked the color, especially on a Cadillac DeVille. It seems so many carbon frames are that black weave, so it's a nice contrast. I know 32 miles isn't that much of a test, but it performed far beyond my hopes.

What I Did

This is my solution to my climbing/gearing problem. Carbon fiber with a compact crank and a 11/28 cassette. Shimano's latest Ultegra 6700 group with it's Dura Ace performance at an affordable price. And new cable routing. The crank is FSA's updated mega-exo carbon 50/34 compact. I swapped my the Fizik seat from my old bike, along with the wheel set. The new one came with Mavic Askium Race wheels which are much heavier than my American Classics. Plus, the American Classics are pretty much bomb proof, still being true after a ton of hammering on our rough, Roubaix style roads. Not even a loose spoke. The Vittoria Rubino Pros seem to be a well liked tire on the various chat sites, so I put them on and put my old Kendas on the Mavics.

These changes got the weight under 16 pounds, not the lightest carbon rig around, but I can't complain. The ride is smooth and responsive, it soaks up bumps corners like it's on rails. Plus, it's very sturdy feeling, not fragile at all. I've got a new Cat-eye wireless computer on the way, and a carbon bottle cage. I am one happy guy !!

What To Do ?

I have a dilemma. This bike serves me well, it's got a nice ride, component group, reliability, and all, so what's the problem ? Hills, that's what. I would like to upgrade to a compact crank and a 11-27 cassette. The FSA SL-K compact runs around $400.00 dollars. An Ultegra 6600 cassette, another $100.00 That would make a more climber friendly machine for sure. So what did I do ? Check in tomorrow for the answer.

BTW, the garage is a work in progress. And no, that Harley is not ours. It's hopefully leaving soon so I can arrange everything and still park a car in side.

I had never ordered anything from Pro Bike Kit before. They always have some sort of special in there e-mail flyer. So, this last week, I bit. I wanted a cheaper pair of sun glasses for spares, and PBK featured there house brand for $19.99 plus shipping. I ordered them a week ago Wednesday, expecting a 2-3 week arrival time. After all, they ship from England. An e-mail the next day announced they had been shipped. The following Tuesday, an air pack arrived for me, and it felt awfully heavy for sun glasses. It turns out they had thrown in a package of High5 energy products at no charge. 7 different gels and drinks for different application, plus an interesting guide for usage. I've never heard of this company before, but I will give them a try since they were free. Most of the time, free is fine with me. Also, the glasses came with 5 differnet lens' for varied lighting conditions. This wasn't mentioned in the ad, either. Plus, PBK didn't charge shipping costs. So for 20 bones, I came away with more than I expected. With that kind of service, I watch their ads more closely. They have a cool jersey, I wonder what else they would throw in if I ordered it ? Nod, Nod, Wink, Wink.......

New Stuff

My road bike rides kind of harsh. To be expected, seeing that it's an aluminum frame. The carbon fork and stays do help, but it's still aluminum. The original seat was a was a butt abusing hunk of plastic, so I tried a Specialized touring seat, which was too soft. Next up, a Specialized BG Rival MTB seat. Better,but it didn't translate to the road well. Don't ask me why, because it's great on the MTB. After installing it on the MTB, I put the old BG Sport seat from the MTB on the road bike. No cigar. This game of musical seats had to stop. A little research on the various chats and review sites brought my choices down to a few. Luck would have it one of the finalists came up as a special on Blue Sky's e-mail flier. I've bought a few things from them and have always come through right on time. This seat, the Fi'zi:k Rondine Wing Flex Magnesium (that's quite a mouthful), is regularly $85.00. With a sale price of $29.98 + shipping, it looked like a steal.

It is a steal. I got home today and installed it post-haste. Now, the Ritchey Comp seat post has been nothing but a headache, always letting the seat tilt back at the first sight of a climb and some aft pressure. Not so with this saddle. Not a creak or any sign of the tilt-itis it had with the other ones. And that harshness I attributed to the aluminum frame? Much reduced. The flex wings seem to help eat up a lot of vibration. The padding seems just right for my bony butt. It came with a small clip in seat bag, but it's too little for my needs. This seat is a bit wider, so it fits me perfectly. I use a BG 143 width, and this is pretty close.

*This is not a paid endorsement for Fi'zi:k, but it could be if they would send me a check.