Title says it all. I went out on a 2.5 hour CX ride with Jude and Jeremy (wrench and sales guys from the shop and all around awesome guys) and it was fantastic. Jude knows a lot of trails in the area and he showed us some that I had never been on around Betzwood. We skipped the more MTB type terrain and just stuck with some single track and rooty, rocky dirt trails. About half of the trails I had been on before with my cross bike, and I would get bounced around and have a hard time pedaling out of things. So I was blown away today when I just rolled over roots and barely felt it. The bike is so much more comfortable in every situation. They're noticeably stiffer as well. Because of the wider rim, the tire is pulled wider and the handling is much improved, both on road and off.
The bottom line is I'm stoked. I may end up running a tubeless set of the Captain CX tires I'm running now (which are just awesome, by the way), in the future, and word of mouth is that the feel of the Belgium rims with tubeless tires is pretty close to a tubular. Seeing as how I just rotated the tires for the first time a few weeks ago, I'm pretty sure I have a lot of time before that will happen. But it is on the list. If you're looking for a custom built wheel, road or cross, look into this combo.
05 January, 2012
23 December, 2011
Wheel Build
I built up my first set of wheels on Thursday. Both Jude and Ryan from the shop guided me through the process, and Jude actually finished off the build when I ran out of time. He was even nice enough to clean my cassette for me. He's kind of awesome.
20 November, 2011
Tough Breaks
I haven't been writing anything lately because I've been riding my bike like crazy. I've been taking Power Advantage classes at the shop (PowerTap training classes) and riding at the very least on Sundays. Usually more.
My Tarmac has been up for sale on Craigslist for the past two weeks. After over a month of front end shifting just getting worse and worse, it finally got to the point where I couldn't shift in the front at all. It was found to be a fatigued braze-on and after two calls to the inside rep at Specialized, we never heard anything from them. I'm not happy about it at all, and if I buy another road bike, it wont be a Specialized. I'm not saying I will never own another one of their bikes, and I'm not going to bad mouth them beyond "I'm seriously disappointed."
My Tarmac has been up for sale on Craigslist for the past two weeks. After over a month of front end shifting just getting worse and worse, it finally got to the point where I couldn't shift in the front at all. It was found to be a fatigued braze-on and after two calls to the inside rep at Specialized, we never heard anything from them. I'm not happy about it at all, and if I buy another road bike, it wont be a Specialized. I'm not saying I will never own another one of their bikes, and I'm not going to bad mouth them beyond "I'm seriously disappointed."
14 September, 2011
Volagi
If you ever go to www.bikerumor.com, you've probably noticed an ad for a disk brake equipped bike with a want-to-be Italian name. A couple of weeks back, they stopped in our store to see if we wanted to carry their bikes. From the information and reactions I got from my questions, the company is made up of freaky endurance riders (one of them has ridden for 38+ hours straight), the majority of whom have worked at Specialized. My impression is that they were not believers in a lot of what Specialized has been doing with fit accessories and frame making, and wanted to start a new company.
11 September, 2011
Aw! Come On!
I went on the Sunday Morning Mustache Ride with Isaac, Anna and one of our customers this morning, and it was very obvious that I hadn't been on a bike in two weeks. We dropped Anna and the customer because they(the customer, really) were going slow enough that they had to be dropped so Isaac could open the shop on time.
Through out the entire ride, my bike was shifting like shit. I knew it was off a little when I was in 34/28, but the chain was hopping around the cassette like crazy. When we got back to the shop we found that my hanger was bent. How, I'll never know, because the bike never does anything but lean up against my wall, go for rides and travel on my car. I haven't fallen in years and even then, it was on the other side of the bike. Regardless, it was off and we bent it back in place.
After bending it I had to dial everything back in, but not before I replaced the cable because I couldn't get it to go back through the derailleur. Now I have to wait for this cable to break in, but at least I know that once it does, it should shift consistently. If not, good thing the shop has plenty of them in stock.
Through out the entire ride, my bike was shifting like shit. I knew it was off a little when I was in 34/28, but the chain was hopping around the cassette like crazy. When we got back to the shop we found that my hanger was bent. How, I'll never know, because the bike never does anything but lean up against my wall, go for rides and travel on my car. I haven't fallen in years and even then, it was on the other side of the bike. Regardless, it was off and we bent it back in place.
After bending it I had to dial everything back in, but not before I replaced the cable because I couldn't get it to go back through the derailleur. Now I have to wait for this cable to break in, but at least I know that once it does, it should shift consistently. If not, good thing the shop has plenty of them in stock.
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