Post your road bicycle

What are the dimensions and specs?

 

It's a Master Xlite 50.

Built it up with a Super Record Ti 11, Zipp 202 tubulars, Enve cockpit, traded out the chrome fork for the Star carbon forks, comes in about 15.5 lbs.

 

That was the first thing I did when I got home. The picture was taken right after I got back to work to finish up the rest of my day. I told the boss that my bike was done and I had to go pick it up ASAP.

 

Gotta ask, what color bar tape did you go with?? Tell me you went with this:

http://www.skinnyerics.com/shop/com...-tricolore-red-white-and-green-cork-bar-tape/

 

What size frame? 15.5 lbs is pretty good for lugged steel.

 

I just grabbed a pack of the specialized roubaix in black to start with. If I could find something close to that "rocket red" I'd do a multi color type. Working as an auto tech limits my tape choices. Anything light colored is grey after a ride or two, no matter how clean my hands look to start out.

This winter when I'll be stuck riding my supersix I'm sure I'll wrap and rewrap the zipp aerobar drops more than a few times with different tapes. Isn't it an unwritten rule that your tape match your saddle?

If the 303 tubs didn't come with the brand new vittorias glued up, I doubt I'd be running any green although they are starting to grow on me. I always thought the gumwalls looked great on a deeper wheel.

 

It's a size 50. It's so small, that I can only really fit one bottle cage. I have weird dimensions, long torso, short legs.

 

Lol. Poor you, "stuck" riding a supersix.

 

Not sure if this has been shared yet, but part of Robin Williams's bicycle collection was up for auction. He had a pretty extensive collection:

https://m.paddle8.com/auction/robin-williams/

 

Lol! Well it is a used 2011 105 non hi mod. I considered selling it and getting a cross bike for winter fun.

 

May get a disc gravel bike for the winter. The Litespeed T5 gravel has me interested.

 

I just got back from a quick but leisurely 20 mile spin. I am officially spoiled from the E tap shifting! Its flawless and with the ultegra cassette its nearly noiseless too. It's going to be hard to go back to mechanical on my bad weather bike.

As far as the rest of it goes...
Have you ever hopped on a liter bike directly after riding the snot out of an SV650, then given it a handful of throttle up through the gears? It's kind of like that. I'm in way over my head! Of course my motor is still the limiting factor there. The difference between the tarmac and the supersix is ridiculous. Sitting down up hills that I would normally stand and struggle up, and it's been over a month since my last ride. It can only get better after a proper fit!

 

Has anyone had the chance to ride either the new CAAD 12 or a Giant TCR? I've been thinking about upgrading from my CAAD 9. I recently had to replace my crank to a Praxis with external BB since the BB shell was deformed and making all kinds of noise. Now it the rear derailleur is shifting like crap and that may need replacing. I hate to keep dumping money in it if there's way better options, although the CAAD9 is a bit of a classic as the last of the Made In the USA bikes. Also, I'm curious about any thoughts on the electronic shifting. With my hand and wrist injury, shifting is quite painful at times and gets worse if I'm having to really work the gears, which is the case for the majority of my rides.

 

The outer bone in my wrist is way longer than the inner bone and shifting shimano 105 bothers me a good bit on occasion. The etap doesn't introduce any pain. It really is great. I haven't played with the di2 stuff enough to tell whether or not I'd like it.

If I bowl on a league team my wrist will get so bad I can't pick up a box of cereal from an overhead cabinet. The dr. told me I'd need surgery to correct it but I don't want to risk anything that can't be put back because I'm a flat rate automotive technician.

Have you checked your rear derailleur cable? How about your chain?

 

I`ve been riding Di2 since it came out, never had a problem. Only takes a slight nudge to shift, does not have the throw of a traditional lever. Once a month charge is more than sufficient. You can adjust trim, if needed, while you`re riding Wetness has no effect on it. I`ll never own anything else....Waiting for the XT gruppo to come out for MTB & it`ll be on my MTB`s also.

 

Yeah, they went through everything when the crank was installed. I'm probably due a new cassette and chain. The cable is fairly new but the derailleur might just be getting worn out.

 

Agreed. To me, I likened it to clicking a mouse. I haven't tried the eTap or the EPS stuff, but the eTap is supposed to be really intuitive. I've tried the DA9000 and it's really, really close to the Di2 Ultegra.

As for the wrist injury, are you putting a lot of pressure on the wrist while riding? You may want to consider raising the stem or a + degree stem so you relieve the pressure.

 

If you think the derailleur is going ... replace it!
My story-
Derailleur broke.
Snapped around and Broke the frame on my Pinarello (Carbon Fiber).
Yea I'm not happy.


Ride safe,
AAron

 

Why don't you head over to a LBS that stocks both and ask for a test ride? What components are you using on the CAAD9? If you haven't upgraded the groupset in a while, the new mechanical stuff has made some pretty big strides and you may not have to go electronic. I have a '07 Litespeed Vortex with DA 7800 and I can tell you that my new 105 groupset on my training bike performs just as well as the older stuff.

 

I did check out the LBS. The guy is a Cannondale/Giant dealer and he really didn't push me towards a new bike. I've got SRAM force groupset. I should just try both bikes....just having a hard time deciding to upgrade an older bike or spend a little more and get something stiffer and lighter.

As far as the wrist...riding position is fine, the jarring over harsh bumps is sometimes painful(the wrist still hurts anytime it's loaded or being used a year and a half later. Just got to deal with it I guess). The biggest issue is just the lack of strength and pain involved in actually pushing the shifter. I was thinking just hitting a button might be easier...