The kit is actually my favorite cycling clothes. The shorts are awesome and comfortable and who can argue with the socks?
The bike looks pretty good with the Zipp 404 wheels on them. The Zipps are awesome. They take the bike to a new level. It felt like I could sustain a higher top speed than normal.
I was a little pissed before the ride though. I was having issues with my brakes. I had to switch out the brake pads for carbon specific ones, which wasn't bad, but ever since I had the bike built a couple of months ago the brake levers seem to be slightly off.
I'm not sure what the lever is called, but before you take your wheel off, you have to turn a black lever up which opens up the brake arms wider so the tire can fit through. When I did that for the front ones it just wasn't doing it, the cable just turned. The frustrating part is that I should know how to fix this stuff and I don't.
I had a similar situation with the rear brake. The lever worked fine it's just that I couldn't put the lever back down. If I did then both pads would be engaged on the braking surface and I wouldn't go anywhere. I just wanted to go ride, so I just went with the lever up. It wasn't unsafe since the pads were a good distance from the surface when the lever was up.
The braking was actually better than I thought. Maybe it was the Swisstop pads.
The other issue was the cassette. Ugh. It was loud. I couldn't get the chain noise down. I tried adjusting the barrel adjuster, but it seemed different on every cassette ring. I stopped by B&L on my way home in Solana Beach. The first guy had to call over the "seasoned" mechanic and about 20 minutes later my bike was shifting better than ever, but the cassette was still noisy.
He tried a Dura-Ace cassette and the noise was magically reduced to practically nothing (probably the normal amount). So, even though SRAM is compatible with Shimano, I think there are just probably slight differences. So, I think I'm going to return the SRAM Red Cassette and get a Dura-Ace or Ultegra Cassette.
BESIDES those issues, the ride was awesome.
5 comments:
Hey guy, the bike looks sick! The only thing you need to do now is get rid of that nasty anchor seat post and you'll be done. A bike lighter than the UCI legal limit. Nice.
As far as the red cassette, I've had the same prob. super loud and really doesnt shift well with the shimano chain. It also might be time for you to buy a new chain.
Brake maint is easy. Just think about what that cam lever does. It opens the brakes so that you can get your tire in and out. If you close it, and there isnt enough room, who cares, just open it a little more. YOu can use the barrel adjuster to rid/give cable tension and make your brakes feel exactly the same between the front and rear.
Circuit race tomorrow. I am stoked. Took a couple shots today but needed a bigger cassette. Lessons learned.
excited to roll down to SD and ride/race with you pal.
you've taken the arms race to a whole new level...
my madone looks tired compared to that.
Need to learn more about my bike and how to take care of it.
Toon, you will easily win the arms race when you return with your tax free...
But until then, I will enjoy my lead. Looking forward to you getting back and doing some riding. I'll be up in your neck of the woods (San Jose) next weekend doing the charity ride.
i hope the smoke clears out by then! i made a little donation but there was some error - tell me if it didn't go through. i will be on the ship for awhile, i will holler when i get back!
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