Archive for the 'ultegra' Category

New bikes pt. 2

Published on October 1, 2010 in caad4, Cannondale, dura ace, FRM, Mavic and ultegra. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

Judy’s bike is also coming together nicely.  I’m trying to install components which have a colour similar to those on the frame.  Stem, seat post, handle bars all in silver etc.  You get the picture.  Dr. Cannondale in Germany came up trumps with some minor frame spare parts such as the BB cable guide and I’ve raided my treasure trove of parts to add some serious bling/retro bling to the bike.  I’m using an old 7400 series 8 speed Dura-ace rear derailleur for the retro bling and a set of ultra light FRM brake calipers.  The wheels were a bitch to get simply because of the incompetence of the people I ordered them from, but they’re really nice Ultegra 6700 hubs laced to Mavic Open Pro’s with 32 spokes front and rear.  But I’m most proud about the tyres.  Getting a set of white 700C tyres isn’t a problem.  Try tracking down a set of 650C tyres in white.  I’m pretty sure that the only ones available are these Gran Compe Japanese market only tyres from Dia Compe.  Managed to track down one in the US of A, the supplier’s last, and then a second one subsequently, also from the same supplier, at a later date, once he got one more into stock.  Lastly there’s a women’s specific saddle, a Selle Italia Diva, because I care.

Anyway here’s some photos.

New bikes pt. 1

Published on October 1, 2010 in bicycle, caad, caad10, caad9, Cannondale, Mavic and ultegra. Closed

After months of waiting, carefully reviewing specs and geometry, and having developed an unhealthy interest in all things Cannondale, I finally got round to ordering my new road bike.  My LBS couldn’t get hold of anything I wanted, and of course had severely limited stock, so trying out a specific size was always going to be a problem (hence the studying of geometry of various contenders).  I also was driving myself insane over whether I should go for an all carbon frame, or specifically because I was considering a Canny, whether I should actually go for an aluminium frame.  I didn’t really fancy the idea of a carbon frame on the local roads with my weight – I was imagining stress fractures developing etc. etc.  Too much thinking going on.  Especially considering the fact that I’m too close for comfort to the maximum allowable rider weight quoted by Canny in their literature for their carbon frames.  However in the end, having read the Cycling Plus Bike of the Year awards, I decided to plump for a Cannondale Six Ultegra Compact.  But try and get one!  After several false starts and cancelled orders, I just couldn’t track down one in the right size.  Guess everyone else wanted one also following the Cycling Plus award.  So I tried to scare up a 2010 CAAD9 Ultegra Compact instead.  Again no joy.  At this point I was getting caught by the fact that it was coming up to the time for the 2011 models to be introduced so there was no stock of the 2010 models in my size in the network.  The situation which I had hoped to avoid (waiting for the 2011 models) was sadly unavoidable.  On previous occassions I have been able to make this work to my advantage as I’ve been able to get an outgoing model at a considerably reduced price.  As there were none in my size out there, that wasn’t going to happen this time.  At this point my search turned away from Cannondale and I looked at perhaps getting a custom Titanium or 853 or equivalent steel frame instead.  Specifically I looked at Enigma’s frames and even went as far as getting them to draw me up a frame based on my measurements.  In the end that, along with any ideas of waiting for the 2011 Canny Six to be released were wiped from my mind by the fact that I was offered a place in the University of Limerick studying a BSC in Energy, meant that spending €2500 on a bike was no longer an option.  So I waited for the 2011 CAAD10 to be released and duely placed my order for a 63cm CAAD10 Ultegra Compact in Magnesium White.  Joy of Joy, the bike finally arrived.  About 5 minutes before I was due to head out the door to a wedding in Cork.  So having waited so long, this was all I got to see of my new bike.

Weekend over and done with, I unpacked the bike when we got home and carried out whatever minor assembly was required.

Gorgeous bike!!!!  The following afternoon, I attached the pedals (Shimano Ultegra 6700 SPDs) and took it for a very brief ride.  The ride quality is amazing, even on 23c tyres and it really accelerates instantly.  I’ve got a bit of work to do yet on it to set it all up correctly – stem length and orientation, saddle position and some fine tuning of the end points on the front derailleur need to be looked at.  Happy days.

Bike Nerd? You better believe it!!

Published on March 7, 2009 in Basso, bicycle, bottecchia, campagnolo, centaur, deore, dura ace, fixie, mtb, nos, Raleigh, road bike, Trek and ultegra. Closed

So it’s time to out my other little fetish in life, apart from cars and dressing in neoprene rubber that is. Bicycles. I’ve gone through quite a few over the years, from my first, a metallic green Raleigh Chico, a Raleigh Bomber (realistically the first mountain bike style bicycle available in Ireland), through a Raleigh Equipe racer and then a Raleigh Mirage MTB. Since Raleigh Ireland went down the tubes I’ve moved to Trek for my follow-on bikes, with a Trek 6500 MTB and a Trek 1000 racer.

The current stable comprises the following:
  • What’s left of the Raleigh Mirage – not much really….The front wheel & hub, the handlebars & stem. Broke the original purple Mirage frame twice. The first time it was a simple crack around where the rear righthand side dropout is brazed into the chainstay. Simple re-braze and touchup paint. Second time was when the seat stay came away from the seatpost. This time Raleigh, after much cajolling replaced the frame & forks with what you see before you now. Over the time I’ve had this bike I’ve changed just about eveything on it bar the front wheel & hub, the handlebars & stem. And the stem is about to be changed to a nice shinny Marin cro-mo item. I even have some NOS Deore DX front and rear derailleurs to go on it to complete the DX themed geartrain along with NOS Deore DX front & rear hubs. Also love the Deore DX brake and shifter combos, so much better than anything at the time or than XT which replaced it (I have a spare set of NOS DX ones in the same cupboard as the other DX bits). I’ve upgraded the brakes to bling purple anodized Dia Compe 987 cantis. Funny thing is, I bought the Trek 6500 to replace this bike a few years ago, and it’s this bike that I still prefer to cycle around on. Go figure. Steel is real!

  • The 2006 Trek 6500

  • The 2007 Trek 1000 (modified but about to give up all of it’s goodies to my current project). I’ve changed the bars to FSA OS Aero Wing bars, ITM 100mm stem, Specialized Avatar BG saddle, Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheelset and it’s got a Polar CS200 HRM mounted.

I’ve also built a bike or two from parts – a Concorde steel frame & Paganini fork combo (sold immediately after build up) and my current project, which the Trek 1000 is donating it’s choicest upgraded parts to, a Basso Loto steel frame with a set of Dedacciai Black Force 2 carbon forks in place of the original steel forks. The next project after that will be building up my 2003 Cannondale Jekyll frame into a complete bike and I might change the Trek 1000 in to a Speed Bike/hybrid with flat bars :o)

Then there’s my collection of classic parts – 8 speed Dura Ace groupset parts, 8/7 speed Ultegra groupset parts, misc. Campagnolo parts, mostly NOS, a NOS Bottecchia Corsa frame made from Columbus SL tubing:

A badly rusted Concorde frame, also made with Columbus tubing. The top tube needs to be replaced, but I’m loath to do it as the Concorde name is pressed into the tubing just ahead of where it enters the lug on the seat tube. So I’d obviously loose that feature on this frame by replacing the top tube. Fork crown has been badly taken down with a file to allow crown races to fit, unforetunately it’s been taken down so much that the crown race just flops about in it’s seat. Now I could get new metal added back to the crown and then have it machined to the correct size when I’m having the top tube replaced, but I might as well be honest with myself – perhaps a hasty burial in the local recycling centre might be more appropriate….