To re-cap, the changes made were the wheels, brakes, handlebar, seatpost, bottle cages and skewers. The saddle hasn't happened yet, and I'll get to that.
Wheels: By far the most noticeable change in terms of both ride and weight, the new wheels are fantastic. They're laterally stiff but more vertically compliant than I was expecting, so they don't ride much harsher over rough terrain than the alloy wheels I've used in the past. Usually, when I switch to lighter weight wheels, my top speed for the ride drops. When I test rode the Mad Fibers a couple of years ago, they dropped a lot of weight, but they were almost 5mph slower than my average top speed on the shop loop. I've done the shop loop 3 times on the Enves and the top speed has been over 1mph quicker than I was averaging, and each ride the max speed has been higher than my previous max speed high. So good news there.
Here are the downsides. The hubs are really loud. Loud enough that every ride someone comments on it.
Unless you're going 25mph or faster, you're hard pressed to notice a difference. Think about how often you're going that fast. For most people, it isn't that often. That said, they are faster in every condition, you don't notice unless you're moving quickly.
The brake pads feel wooden. When you have to use a mostly rubber brake pad, you're going to get squishy feel. That's just how it is, but it's only an initial bite sensation it's lacking, once the squish is... squished, the braking is nice and firm.
They suck to true. Internal nipples mean I have to take the tire, tube and rim strip off. The Enve rim strip is multi use, so it's not wrapped on like traditional rim tape. It has to be snug when it is sitting on the rim, which means you have to pull it over the brake track, and that's not fun. The rim is also very stiff, and that's good for a lot of reasons, but it makes it really difficult to get all the hops out and the wheels perfectly true side to side. I've seen the best mechanics I know loose their cool building carbon wheels. It's not fun.
All in all, the good from the new wheels is better than the not good. I know I only listed 1 good thing and had 4 negative things to say, but all of those negatives combined account for maybe 10% of the overall experience. The wheels are stiffer (though, in retrospect, I wish I would have gone 2x non drive on the rear), lighter and save me enough energy over the course of a ride that I'm averaging a full mile per hour faster than I was without them. They're good, and I'm really happy I have them.
Brakes: Absolutely amazing. I squeeze brake lever, pads engage, everything after that is modulation. While the pads suck for initial feel, the brakes make the rest of it feel like normal brakes, only better. Of all of the changes I made, this one has impressed me the most, because I didn't think it would be this much better. They are borderline absurd in price, but I understand why people pay what they do for them. the ee brakes are the best rim brake I have ever used and I want them on every road bike I build from here on out. They're so good that I let a customer who noticed them try them and he plunked down the coin to get a set of his own. I can't say enough good things about them, so I'm just going to move on now.
Handlebar: Nice shape, love the way it looks, doesn't ride as harshly as my FSA bar did and is a touch lighter than said FSA bar. Only downside is that the internal cable routing will only allow one cable through it (I chose the brake cables) and it's a pain in the ass getting housing through them.
Seatpost: the 3T Ionic seatpost is the worst seatpost I've ever used. It uses pre determined notches in a complex clamp so that you can make angles adjustments in .5 degree increments, only I apparently need a quarter degree of adjustment to get my saddle flat because it's either too far up, or way to far down. I have it set up with a little too much tilt up because tilted down is so bad that I slid off the nose of the saddle. If that weren't bad enough, the reason I'm not running my new saddle is because 3T claims that the carbon rail clamp ,that I spent extra money on, will work with saddles "up to 10mmx7mm." "Up to" apparently means "only" in Italian, because my 9mmx7mm rails most certainly do not work with it. To make it work, I have to have the 7x7 round rail clamps cleared to fit with my new saddle. Ultimately, I should have gone with the Stylus if I wanted my matchy-matchy all black 3T cockpit, but that saddle is so ugly its mother would have left it on a hillside. I may just ride the lot for a year and then sell it off and buy a new cockpit from a different brand because this whole experience has made me a little more than unhappy with 3T.
Bottle cages: The Specialized Rib Cages I was using weren't terrible in any way, and did their job, but the Arundel cages just go about the whole thing in a much nicer way. They're easier to get a bottle in and out of and they haven't dropped a bottle yet. I'm beginning to understand why some people use them exclusively.
Skewers: This was by far the most weight weenie part that I bought. I spent 3 hours reading peoples reviews before I decided to pull the trigger. Even after I got them, I seriously thought about not using them. My fears were unwarranted. The Tune skewers have plenty of hold, and I'm pretty sure I would crush my carbon dropouts before that tiny lever would snap. They're not as user friendly as every other quick release skewer I've used, ever. I have to pull the lever both ways to figure out which way is open and which way is closed. Not the fastest for wheel changes, but when I just use them to remove my front wheel to put on my rack, it's not a deal breaker. These are similar to the brakes in that they are a tremendous amount of money for what they are, but they work well and are really, really light.
All in all, good experiences from everything but the seatpost. Individually, the weight savings isn't massive (except for the wheels), but all together the bike feels comical when you pick it up, but stiff and efficient when you're out of the saddle and hammering on it. It doesn't make any noises I was expecting other than the rear hub. To look at the bike, and feel how light it is, I want to call it lithe, but it's stiff and direct when you go for it. It seems like it's almost at odds with itself. It's a stiff, lightweight, comfortable bike. Too bad you can't add "inexpensive" to the mix. However, no one dreams of a Toyota Camry, they dream of exotic cars, and exotic cars cost money. They're meant to exclude and only allow those truly committed, or more often, rich, into the rarified air of owning one. These parts are no different. They're very expensive, but deliver the performance they promise. Whether that's worth it or not is up to you.
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