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Well, I finally was able to meet up with the main interested buyer for my bike and now I am down by one bike…   I know it was the right thing to do …to let it go, but it was time to move on.   Who needs 5 bikes anyway… ;-P

This is what I moved from my for sale page… and the nice photos Andrea took of it when I decided to list it.

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Trek 5200 bicycle

• 2001 Trek 5200 (size: 62 cm)
• Crank: SRAM Rival (like new, <1000 miles)
• Drivetrain: Shimano Ultegra 10 speed (53-39 x 11-23). About 1.5 seasons of use.
• Brakeset: Shimano Ult 9 (not really different than the 10 speed)
• Wheels: Shimano Ult hubs, 32 spoke, Mavic Open Pro CD rims

Geometry

• Head angle: 74 degrees
• Seat angle: 72.5 degrees
• Top tube length: 23.3″ (592 mm)
• Chain stay: 16.2″ (412 mm)
• Bottom bracket height off ground: 10.6″ (269 mm)
• Offset: 1.8″ (45mm)
• Wheel base: 39.7″ (1008 mm)
• Trail: 2″ (50 mm)
• Standover height: 33.2″ (844 mm)

Photos:

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Here is my bike only a few month old….30 minutes after taking the 2001 Cat 4 Maryland state road race.

To the last race, the 2007 Racoon Mtn RR in Chattanooga last April.

Well, I am less than 24 hours away from my first serious run at a 40 km time trial. Although I don’t expect to win (cat 3), I hope that I can post a respectable time much less than an hour (which I have never done). Most of the reasons why I never have had to do with fitness/conditioning, lack of interest (in TT), and lack of equipment.

2001 Maryland / D20 Sr. TT

• Bike: Trek 1200 with old Scott clip-ons. Regular wheels. Skinsuit, regular helmet.
• 40 km. I think I ran about 60-61 minutes for 9th place.

2004 Tennessee State TT

• Bike: Trek 5200 with old Scott clip-ons. Regular wheels. Regular team kit, reg. helmet.
• 40 km (short), 63:55 (missed start by about 3 minutes!) ~61 actual, <24 mph average.

2007 Tennessee state time trial

• Bike: Kuota Kebel / Force (road setup) with clip-on bars.
• Wheels: Zero 038 carbon wheels
• Helmet: standard road (Bell Sweep)
• Kit: road (bibs and jersey)
• Result: 24.1 mph over 17.3 miles (30 km). (43:02) 5th/5 in 30-39, would have been 8th/9 in Cat 3 last year.
• Condition: felt I never could turn over pedals, legs were stiff.

Tomorrow (2008 Tennessee State TT)

• Bike: Kuota Kebel / Force (TT setup)
• Wheels: Zero 038 carbon front, Zipp 900 disc
• Helmet: Rudy Project TT helmet/visor
• Kit: skinsuit
• Goal: 26 mph over 24.86 miles. (57:36) [have averaged 25mph this year on a 21 mile TT several hours after mountain climb road stage at Tour of Arkansas]
• Condition: we’ll see, but legs are feeling stiff this week (after a tough weekend). Rode TT bike moderate/easy on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Which looks faster?

versus

I am also expecting Andrea to run a hot time trial.  She has a legitimate shot at winning the Tennessee State time trial for Cat 1-3 women.  She has a new bike (maybe too new-she rode it for the first time yesterday) and, like me,  is much faster at all her time trials this year.   The defending champ (K. Sass) beat her by 3:35 on a 30 km course.   I would expect a similar performance out of Kirsten, we’ll see how much improved Andrea is this year (both equipment and power).  Also of note, is the return of Lori Jug to Tennessee (also on Team Kenda Tire), who ran similar times to Kirsten in the past (2005).  I predict it will be close.

I finished up my TT build last week and took it out for its first ride on Monday. The bar extensions proved to be too long, so I cut off another 15 mm off each and redid the cable housing (since I had now shorted the cables by about 4cm).

Yesterday night, I did the RB’s ride and finished up the cabling when I got home. After work today, I brought my bike down to ride on CD Smith Road (good low traffic road that is also the TT course for the Memphis Velo race in June) to check out my new extension length/shifter position and my Zipp 900 disc together… It was a good ride but definitely showed some issues…

The biggest issue is that my Fizik Arrione saddle is a terrible saddle to nose ride especially pushed all the way forward. It is not really an issue with the saddle shape, but the flexibility at the front end of the saddle. Since the Kuota Kebel seatpost is a setback seatpost, the saddle is pushed almost all the way forward on the rails. When I am pushing hard (28+ mph) the end of the saddle starts to flex and it is very unsettling. I will have to see about getting a different saddle. I am told that I can get a Kuota seatpost that is non-setback that will fit my Kuota Kebel (from the new K-factor?). I will have to order that as well.

The final build (so far) is this:

• Frame/fork:  2007 Kuota Kebel (XL: 58 cm)
• Seatpost: stock Kuota aero
• Handlebar: Visiontech Trimax integrated bar (aluminum)
• Shifters: SRAM bar end
• Brake levers: Visiontech
• Groupo:  SRAM Force
• Crankset:  Stronglight Pulsion
• Rear wheel:  Zipp 900 disc (Tufo S3 lite tubular)
• Front wheel (not pictured):  Zero 038 (Tufo S3 lite tubular)

The other issues that I have to take care of are a stiff rear brake cable (lever does not snap back) and a loose headset (need to get rid of the aero spacer since it is preventing a good tightening of the headset).  I will probably lower the bar to expose a bit of steerer tube (it is close).  The steerer tube is about 1 mm below the top of the integrated bar clamp which does not allow a good tightening of the headset.  I could always use a bit of the of 1-1/8 steerer tube from my Felt as an alignment guide for the pretension stack.  I have never been a big fan on the pre-tension setup on this bike.  I understand the want to get away from a star nut (and the stress that places on the steerer tube), but this setup does not seem to pull things together in in the correct way.  I will have to photograph it and add it to the post….

For now, I have two short TT’s lined up, so I will I fix the headset and the rear brake issue.   The saddle I might replace soon, but the seatpost will have to be ordered.  This Saturday (Chattanooga GC) is an 8-mile one with a hill and couple of corners. The following weekend is the 4 mile MSGP which typically is a flat straight course (as it probably will be this year as far as I know).

I don’t know how I evolved to this, but it looks like I have been riding with a low seat height for a quite a while. I know that when I got my Kuota last April, I adjusted it to match my Trek (at least I believe…). Anyway, my new Felt FC and my Kuota before that were setup with a seat height of approximately 31.5 inches (80.0 cm). My inseam to the floor is 35.5″ (90.2 cm).

Since I was setting up a TT bike for the first time (see post #114), I decided to stop by RB’s and get a bike fit… After setting up the trainer…he looked at my knee angle and adjusted my saddle to 34″ (86.4 cm). That number is exactly the classic 96% number (90.2 cm * 0.96 = 86.6 cm) that is used for a starting point.

So, I left my TT bike as adjusted and when i got home I took a look at my Felt. As mentioned before, I had a seat height of 80 cm… I was able to adjust it up 20mm. Andrea helped me adjust the seat fore-aft using a plumb. I was also significantly behind the pedal spindle (pedal at 3 o’clock, plumb bob from my knee). I ended up moving from about 4 cm behind the axle to about 1 cm.  It was a drastic change, but I decided to go with it since it was so far off the mark. (And it is as far as I can extend my seat post safely.. if I want to go further I will need a 40 cm post.. which might be a good idea anyway since the Felt carbon seatpost is a hassle to adjust…

I rode RB’s ride into spring (75 miles) in the early spring chill.. It was high 40’s and generally miserable this morning. Andrea and I started out in the lead group, but stopped in Arlington for the rest room. The group didn’t stop, so we rode trading pulls out to the 35 mile sag stop outside Brighton. Just after we got there the 2nd group showed up.. we ended up riding back with them. About half way back, Andrea wanted to a do a long interval and I rode off with her just ahead of me. I felt pretty good following (a testament to the saddle height fix…maybe). A bit later, I also put in a good effort up the rollers on Memphis-Arlington… all-in-all I like the new position… higher and more forward, but definitely better.

Tomorrow is another long ride with about 75 miles on offer riding from Germantown to mid-town to Shelby Forest and back.

Coming back from Tuscaloosa, I had to make some decisions about my Kuota and its future as a TT bike. Before I left I ran into two problems: incompatible brake levers and a fused BB/spindle. On the levers, I decided to set my SRAM levers aside and picked up some Vision Tech levers (that have outside cable housing routing). On the BB, I decided that it more likely will not get any worse and trying to pull it apart might end up damaging a perfectly good BB/crank.

So, I had a plan (and a mostly torn down frame). Last night, I applied and buffed out coat one of cleaner wax… I put another one on after the Tuesday RB’s ride (which was good despite my stuffed legs… I really notice a difference on Tuesday, if I don’t get out and ride easy on Mondays after a race weekend…). After that, I put the SRAM Force groupo back on (brakes and derailleurs). After that I finished the assembly of the integrated bar with the shifters and brake levers. At this points, I am closed to a ridable bike (missing a chain, pedals, and adjustment).

[nearly ready to ride]

I was really surprised to see the overwhelming surge of traffic (usual 30 / day jumped to over 380 on the 31st) to my blog after posting up the Tour de Tuscaloosa photos. A lot of it was driven by a link put on the VeloCity website… I think the photos turned out well and the event was a good one to photograph (hill on criterium and short laps on the road race).

Since things are going so well with my new Felt, I haven’t ridden my Kuota Kebel at all since I have built up my new bike… so it was time to start the TT bike project. (First race will be mid-April in Chattanooga, so I need to get this done soon.)

I started out by removing all the cables, housing, and handlebar/stem/brake-shift levers, etc. So far so good. I slid my Vision Tech TriMax integrated bar (aluminum) onto the steerer and figured out where I wanted it.

My first plan was leave everything alone (drivetrain, etc) and just recable the bike for the new handlebars. Messing with it I ran into a few problems…first of which is that it is really hard to setup the housing while on the bike… I was trying to route the brake housing through the front of the wings and out of the bar at the end… I was having a difficult time getting the housing to come out to the brake area at the end…. it turns out that VisionTech has sealed off the ends of this bar…presumably to force the use of a external brake housing model (like their own…).  [on a completely random side note, I found this... it is an older version but... Rouge Mechanic article / CPSC recall note]

[brake housing going into wing portion and coming out just before the ends of the bar]

[brake housing routing!! :-@]

The SRAM brake levers require the brake housing to approach the brake lever inside the bar! I have two choices at this point… void the warrenty and drill a strategic hole in the end of the aerobar to get the cable housing back inside the bar to the SRAM brake levers. Or go out and buy an external routing style brake lever (of course, they offer one)! I really hate that most of the advertising for this bar talks about “fully-internal” routing. This is total bullshit. The housing for both the brakes and the TT part go inside for about 4 inches. Both end up outside (although you could stay inside going to the shift levers…which, of course is not needed for the SRAM shifters.)

Since I am facing a $85 purchase of a VisionTech or a warrenty voiding modification… I decided to tear down my bike to the frame and clean it up for the rebuild (which should have been my original plan anyway).

Taking off the parts was pretty routine until I got down to the crankset-bb. My Kuota is equipped with a StrongLight Pulsion crank which features a lot of carbon and titanium. The design is the now common two piece design with an ISIS 10-spline connection… The non-drive crank self-extracted easily (and the self-extracting cap even uses a “normal” hex key of 10mm which I have….nice).

Okay, so now we have this….

[non-drive side. note: I reinstalled the screw to prevent losing it.]

At this point, having worked with a lot of Truvative and SRAM cranks, the next step is obvious. I usually try to pull the crank out from the drive side by hand. That failing, I apply a tap or two to the axle with a rubber mallet….that has always worked. … I even pulled out the non-drive cup to see if that would help, nope…

So this is what I have. I looks like the Ti spindle has fused to the Ti-lined bearings… Since I did not assemble this bike…I can’t know for sure, but there is no evidence of any grease or anti-seize on the spindle. This is exactly why I hate to have bikes built by other people. I will admit to making mistakes (I messed up my first octa-link Ultegra crank back in 2000) , but I always put things together with the plan that eventually after 10,000 revolutions and 30 rides in the rain….I will have to pull it apart. It is an annual thing for me to tear down a bike fully and rebuild it. Anyway, here I am at another crossroads… leave well enough alone and go with it knowing that I have a this going on… or figure out a way to un-seize the spindle from the BB bearings with force and/or some sort of penetrating oil/grease.

Well, all of this interesting stuff will have to wait… In a few minutes I plan to head out for a short ride and then finishing packing up for the weekend. I took the day off since I have 20 days of vacation and wanted to hit the road this afternoon with Andrea (she is done with work mid-day) and head down to Tuscaloosa. Another race weekend… The projects will be there when I get home.

Well I wasn’t going to do it…  but I got it all setup and rode it today and it felt great.  Andrea and I rode out to RB’s and put our bikes on the scale… both of our bikes with our heavy clincher wheels weighed in at 16-1/2 pounds.  Mine was 16.5 lbs., hers was 16.4 lbs.   I figure that would put my bike at less than 16# with my Zero’s on it….

So… I am planning to race my new Felt FC down at Barber Motorsports Park (Ride to Live race) .

Picked up my Felt FC frame from RB’s on the way home and brought it home to start the build….

The build kit I had from last week….

The first hour was spend trying to match up my new bike to my old and cutting the fork, etc…

On the frame was about ten stickers such as these….

Here is the bike at about 1 hour after unboxing…

Andrea came over to work on her bike (we cut her cable housing a bit short on her bike…so she was a redoing her cables and housing).  Since her Red-Blue build was the first SRAM build I have done/helped with (my Kuota was shop built) there are definitely some things that more tricky for doing the cables and housing (getting length correct for the under the tape routing).  And as she found out replacing the derailleur cables on the SRAM shifters is pretty tricky…  The cable must be threaded through a pretty small hole in the side of the shifter (maybe that is why SRAM ships the shifters already cabled…?)

After a dinner break, I finished the build. I will do the final adjustments and tape up the bar tomorrow….

First ride will be tomorrow…. first race will not be Saturday!

Well my Felt FC frame is finally coming in. This evening I will start putting my Red components on my Felt frame. I expect to get most of it done tonight and then finish it in the morning (I have Good Friday off) and then take it for a ride.

On Saturday, I am going to race the P123 Ride to Live race at the Barber Motorsports park down in Alabama. Andrea and I will head down there as a day trip (it will be a long day). Even though my Felt will be done (most likely), I am not planning to take it down there since I want to ride a couple of times before racing it.

I just completed the rebuild of my old Trek. I used the stem that I had and it is too short… I will have to replace it (7cm) with a 10cm to get the position correct. Here is the finished product..

I also put together my new handlebar, stem, and SRAM Red shifters….

Can’t wait to build up my Felt this week!