Quote:
Originally Posted by greglepore
You can break an sworks sl8 or atheos by dropping it against a doorframe. The 700g frame weight comes at the expense of hyper thin toptubes and center downtubes.
I have a non sworks sl8. Its appliance common, but it is as vibrant a ride as a bunch of halo bikes that I've had. Mine has cheap chinese wireless (wheeltop) set to 12spd and uber light chinese wheels with carbon spokes, so less than 1/4 of the sworks DA number.
The current trend towards top end rides that approach 18k or so is just silly. Colnago just released a steel 18 lb bike (steenlnovo) that is 18k. Oddly, the frame itself is cheaper than an sworks sl8, but the SR13wrl and the Bora wheels etc drive the price to nosebleed.
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I had an S work SL5. it was really light and a very nice riding bike.
Like many of you, I chased that light weight bolt, frame, and spend tons of money going after the latest and the greatest over the years. Yet, I am still not winning races. Most of these guys with high $$$ bikes do not race, ones I know ride really hard like if they are training for racing if they were to race, they be spit out the back from the lack of real training hours. Its nice to have the lightest and fastest but at 18k is a bit much. I can see spending 12k on something that's 1/4 lbs lighter (if that much?). I ride a Giant TCR and love the ride quality. It isn't a Colnago, and not as pretty that is for sure but I bet its just as fast.
Tell me about the Chinese group, especially the wheels. I am thinking about buying a set after talking to couple guys that beat on a pair the entire season and it held up really well. Its just the matter of time, they will make just as good or superior set of wheels compared to the big names. I noticed they use those frames, wheels and even clothing while racing in Asia. There was a 2nd division European pro team that rode on a Chinese frame. Heck they make 90% of the carbon out there with plenty of state of the art equip. to make it