Equipment Evaluation, CX bike edition.

Now that winter is here and we are battening down the hatches for another Snowball Earth, Im going to review X (where X = how much snow we get divided by how much trainer time I cant blow off) products I have used, borrowed, broken or have otherwise had experience with this season.

CX Equipment review, bike:

Bike: CruX Comp, 54cm. Retail: 1750

I bought my new cross bike as a complete setup with the intention of replacing most of the parts, but I rode it for a bit as it came.

Frame: Awesome. Almost flawless - the one (very minor) issue is the weight. She isnt quite "fat girl at Tim Hortons" territory, but could probably lay off the ho-hos and go for a run. The handling, however, more than makes up for it. Combined with a decent, no-frills paint job, bulletproof construction and a solid effort at trying to make the carpet match the curtains - 9/10.

Part spec: A little underwhelming, actually. Other companies have bikes spec'd with Rival at this price point, though the Apex performed adequately. The Roval wheels, while heavy, are apparently indestructable. I regularly take this bike on mountain bike rides (with people on mountain bikes), bunnyhop barricades like I was J-Pows retarded younger brother and crash like its my job. I have yet to need to true either wheel. 7/10

Brakes: Front - passable, but not exceptional. Rear - Dreadful (indeed, it is the dreaded Tektro Oryx of Infinite Malajustment). However, that magic brake finger attached to the fork COMPLETELY eliminates chatter and is a definite improvement to any set of cantis. - 4/10 (2 of those points for the magic brake finger)

Drivetrain: Like I said, I was initially underwhelmed by the appearance of an Apex group on a bike approaching 2000 dollars, but i have to say the shifters performed well. I was puzzled by the long cage rear derailleur and seemingly endless gear selection through the cassette - this is a cross bike, a cross RACING bike - no one needs a 34/36 gear combination. Specialized has a bike line that would merit such a range, and its called the Tricross. Fixing the gear selection issue would add up to 150 dollars to the cost, when a simple 105 level 12-25 cassette and short cage rear mech should have been factored into the initial price of the bike. The FSA Gossamer crank is apparently THE entry level BB30 crank - its fine, just (like so much else on this bike) kind of heavy. Also, the rings were kind of cheap. - 6/10

Other bits: I like the handlebar. With a shallow drop and short throw, it is a marked improvement over my old Control Tech bars I tossed on my CAAD9 last season. The seatpost, saddle and stem were all decent. - 8/10

Overall value: This bike rides better than the sum of its parts, largely due to how well the frame is designed. Everything works together well - even that goofy dinner plate 34 tooth ride-the-run-up big cog. It tracks flawlessly, turns with confidence and suits my riding style (which I think is somewhere between "angry retard" and "excited monkey"). - 8/10

RACE SETUP: And now, the bike I spent almost all season on.

Frame: CruX (seriously guys, we GET that its a CX bike. Drop the capS) alloy. -(9/10)

Cranks: Last years FSA SLKs, 46/36. Light and stiff, my only gripe was the fact that the bearings kept failing after last years slopfest. This year: no issues. Other than that, Unnoticeable. Which is what I like. - 9/10

Slightly-used.

Shifters: SRAM Force from last year. Except for lever damage sustained through extensive Hopengartening, I have been happy with these. My only issue is a weird front ring mis-shift that is as intermittant as it is infuriating, though I cant say if that is a shifter issue or some kind of actual curse. - 8/10

Shopengarten'd

Brakes: Avid Shorty Ultimates. Best. Brakes. Ever. Those 2 hours I spent filing down the brake bosses were totally worth it. - 10/10

Shiny-ish

Wheels: Last years Mavic Ksyrium SL tubulars. Some people love 'em, some hate 'em. Two seasons of abuse and lack of maintenance in, and I think its the best wheelset I have ever owned. Not only do they work well in almost any conditions, the support you can get at races is second to none - my freehub was a little sticky at Gloucester and those guys completely took it apart, cleaned and rebuilt it for free. Honestly, if that is the kind of service you get when you buy one of their products, sign me up for a replacement pair next year. - 9/10

Satisfactory.

Tires: Challenge Grifo 32mm. Awful in almost every way. Ok, that was a bit harsh - they ride fine, handle well in most conditions - but holy crap are they shoddily made. Both of my tires arrived unable to hold air (flat in hours from full inflation). 3 weeks and 2 cans of pit stop later, I notice that the tread is pulling free from the tire. Awesome. Glue it back on. A week and a half later, 2 laps in at DECX and my front tire goes flat. Thinking it was a pinch, I filled it with pit stop after the race. Nothing. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the valve stem just spun freely in the tire. Fail. - 3/10.

Peely.

Pedals: Shimano XT. I have been riding Time ATACs for years, and they are expensive. The XTs work about as well and are half the cost. Plus, you can more easily dial in your cleat postion (and those cleats are a little cheaper). Done. - 9/10

You dont really need a picture of SPD pedals, do you...


All in all, a great bike. The one great failure were the tires - a mistake I will not make again next year. The lesson: buy cheap shit and you will end up spending more that you would have if you just paid a bit more for higher quality. Lesson learned.

Dunkelheit

This was stuck in my head all morning. Appropriate according to the following considerations:

1. It is snowy, and the frozen north demands grimness.
2. Varg (among other things) believes Hitler lives in a spaceship under Antarctica. Which is about the average intellectual level of the people I've had to deal with today.





My grimmest, tiniest hound agrees

So grim, so tiny.

Practicing.

Anyone in New England knows that these last few weeks have been rough on anyone interested in riding outside. So when I'm not at work, I'm on my trainer catching up on episodes of Dr. Who and the occasional sci fi original movie.

Ive learned to do a number of time wasting things on the trainer. Initially, I tried for a kind of media overload - my living room was a sanity-destroying pachinko parlor of television, black metal and Final Fantasy XIII (the latter being most responsible for sanity loss). Sadly, I noticed that this nerd-NORAD wasnt quite cutting it: omnipresent and unavoidable stimulus eventually becomes background noise (and boring).

So I break down my chamois time into segments: maybe 45 minutes of video games, 20 or 30 minutes on the internet, a few minutes of the news (generally only to get angry about the ten-day forecast), some light reading, a song or two off A Sun That Never Sets, then maybe more internet.

Just wait till I get on that rollercam business. Ive got some really good looking outfits to show you guys. RTK5000 may have a legitimate gay chicken challenge on his hands.

And for a truly up-to-the-minute update: my dog has a mean case of the farts.

Guilty

Looky looky...

Hi!

I'm starting a personal one of these things. Because not all of what I do is bike racing (though recently you would be right in calling me a liar for that) and not all of my opinions are representative of my team. And because all the other cool kids are doing it. You will be able to read about all sorts of random crap on here, from my questionable forays into (still) making music and my (eventual) career as a scientist.

Speaking of questionable forays into music, my friend and ex-bandmate Andy came up with the name "anathemathmatica" for one of his fantastic releases on the million math rock band march that was Losing Blueprint records. I always loved that name, and wanted to use it for something (in retrospect, I kind of wish it was for something more awesome than this blog). We played in a band called Score One For The Fat Kid together, and since then he has been involved in a number of amazing bands you can't tap your foot to (most recently Hangmans Alphabet.

me and andy were 1/2 of the fat kid.

Right now, I'm spending 10+ hours a week on my trainer and another half dozen or so outside. I also eat a great deal of fruit.

Today I found out that I'm Abe's favorite. Or at least an 8 out of 10. Whatever - he takes amazing pictures, and will hopefully be taking lots of not-running-in-the-bike-race photos of me this May at Transylvania. Which, by the way, you should sign up for - it's awesome AND I hear Weir will be back. Your chances of finding out just what a "cows tongue" is just got 70% better.

it hurts to look this good.