EF Education (and probably some other teams too) is having their annual team bike sale! Not many left. Every year I'm tempted to pull the trigger :rolleyes: Screaming good deals.

EF Bike Sale

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Yeah, I was working on my 2019 Trek Emonda last week and realized how worn much of the components are. Rear hub, derailleurs, brake calipers all show corrosion from sweat. 6 years old, time to get a new bike. Now how to justify $14K to the wife? I'm sure it will cost me some jewelry :rolleyes:

That's great!! Best of all worlds that right there.

I really don't understand that.

Saw that some time ago and someone decided that they dislike or anti STi levers and came up with this ugly, contraption that makes no sense. I know, I know, some people will go to the end of earth just to proof a point or just leave the shifter on the down tube. Done.

I think with inflation or tariffs, its up to about 18k. My buddy just bought an S work with full Dur Ace and a set of zipp wheels. Neighbor pulled out without looking up the street as he's was coming home (down hill). Broke his S work in half as he went over the hood of the car. Nice bike

^I saw that and was thinking it could have been some 1970-80's forerunner to the brifter. (But I really have no idea).

I agree with you though. Go down tube, or go brifter, or maybe even bar end shifter on a classic touring bike, but not frankenstein stuff :)

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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.

That another from that era of anti lever shifters. A bunch of angry old dude that can't get away from the glory days. I have to give them this much, the willingness to engineer and ugly, useless, heavy thing like it. But then again, that's how ideas come to life.

They just keep adding or modifying existing levers jsut to avoid buying Shimano or campy shifters.

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

^Yeah, evidently Greg's been holding out on us! Several different major Chinese brands, it's hard to know which is which, especially with all the YT videos. What'd you get? and was it in pre-stocked in the US, or did you wait for it to come across from China?

The wheels are from Xiamen Carbon Speed https://www.xmcarbonspeed.com/. They make a bunch of different profiles, internal and external widths. I went with 50mm front and 65mm rear depth, and they're very wide, 26mm internal, 34 external. They also do a 24mm internal. I know these are pretty deep, but the deeper rear moves the aero center of pressure away from the steering axis, so that combined with the oval profile and 30mm tires make them fine in crosswind. They use their in house hubs, which are dt240 clones, will take actual dt parts (dt's patent expired, and many chinese hubs are now dt clones). Carbon spokes (you can get steel or ti). Best part is weight and price. Mine are mostly t800 (cheaper, somewhat heavier, more durable) and were $800 delivered and 1300g. For 150 more you can get t1000 which are 100g lighter. Comparable wheels from Roval or Enve etc are closer to $3000-3500 and often weigh more. There are a couple other Chinese brands doing similar stuff (Zen and DFS for example). If you're under 180kg you can even buy 1100g 40mm wheels for under 1k delivered. Chinese wheels are killing it, honestly. The best part about Carbon Speed is the owner is a workaholic and you can communicate directly with him. They do oem stuff as well but its somewhat secretive for who.

The groupset is Wheeltop Tx. Completely wireless, magnetic charging. The batteries for the derailluers are external like Sram's but larger and are bolted on. Replaceable, but charge in place.
It is user setable for anything from 3-14 speeds. I'm running it as a 12 spd setup. Unlike any of the major players, each gear is individually adjustable for tuning. Its even available for rim brakes to retrofit older bikes. Cons? Its a little heavy. The factory app isn't intuitive and requires an internet connection to work (there's a better free aftermarket app by a guy on FB that solves those issues and adds features). There may be some durability issues, we'll see. But overall, I'm very happy with it after a full season. Pricing is $700 if you buy from official US sources, cheaper on Ali. Just beware that warranty support is iffy unless you buy direct.
I sourced all of this from China pre tarriffs. Most sellers now are shipping duty paid-they pay the tarriff up front so it arrives direct with no later bill for tarriff plus "processing' but be certain of this in advance.
LTwoo is another Chinese wireless group, seems ok but not as advanced as Wheeltop and their hyd. calipers use non standard mounting so you have to use their adapters. Quirks prevent use with sl8 or Aethos.
Saddles are another area - Ryet's 3d printed saddles are $75 or so and as nice as some of the megadollar euro brands.
Astana rode XLab, a chinese frame, in the World Tour last season and next.

This is what I get for trying to do the right thing. Decided to wipe down my bike this morning in anticipation of a ride a little later. I like riding a clean bike. Then this :rolleyes: At least 7 spoke holes are like this. 2007ish Roval Classique Pave SL E5 rims. 32H / 2-cross. Rear wheel only. Oh, and my rear tire is not holding air just as an added kick in the teeth (unrelated I'm sure). I'm not cleaning my bikes anymore. Just ride them to failure like everyone else :cool:



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^^^ That looks like a dodged bullet. Well done!

A mouth full of broken teeth waiting to happen.

Good that you caught it.

Bummer that you need new hoops. This is why we have 'bikes' not 'bike'.

^^^ Exactly. The trusty LeMond has been put back into service and was a joy to ride this morning actually. :cool:

Gratuitous pictures of my Crux

My buddy Steve quietly complained that he was getting filthy riding around me because of the pudding-like mud up in the hills. (No Dust sign was ironic. It never rained on us but the mist never burned off, either.)

New Fender Day (NFD) to keep everyone happy; my bike reminds me of PeeWee Herman's bike with all the gee-gaws, but I gotta tell you, things are sure easier to clean at the end of the day!

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^ i was just looking at crux'es.
And considering these rims for my early 2000's rim brake road bike-

https://us.huntbikewheels.com/products/hunt-50-carbon-wide-aero-road-wheelset

anyone with experience with these?

No experience with carbon rim brake wheels; don't forget you can't use normal brake pads.

I'm actually looking at these for my winter road bike; the sale is tempting. (bonus extra 10% off at checkout and free shipping, plus they use normal brake pads, and are lighter than the carbon wheels)

http://us.huntbikewheels.com/products/hunt-race-aero-wide-road-wheelset