Originally Posted by
Campag4life
Esthetic,
Can you tell us a bit about the frameset? I am unfamiliar with that name.
What kind of bottom bracket?
A beauty. Any riding characteristics downside to the aero improvement? Is the bike notably faster at higher speed compared to your other more conventional tube bikes?
Thank you, i think so. I sure can, long in the tooth too, as i did a fair amount of digging up on it
Its a PF30, though i'm running GXP as the frameset as i purchased it was using Shimano and had a pretty nice Praxis bottom bracket in it already.
This was their flagship frame, the Podium Equipe . Unlike most manufacturers Diamondback doesn't offer 'tiers' of carbon, every group level gets same frame, same carbon layout. This particular frame is in the mid 900g range (i'd wager more due to its candy shell paint job), but a good blend of weight and strength.
DB has had pretty radical Aerodynamic developments (Serios TT, Andean Tri bikes) for a company out of the niche fray . That said this reincarnation of the Podium got trickle down Aerodynamic touches and wind tunnel development from its Serios Time Trial bike as a base point, several design cues are evident. Particularly the chunky downtube flow out to the rounded stays, i find that the most unique aspect of the overall look to the bike
This being a 2017, it was last the year they offered rim brakes. For 2018 it was disc-only, The Podium Vitesse. From the looks of it, that marks this mode's run. Nothing for 2019, unless another incarnation is in the works.
The Podium does have some race/sprinting pedigree coming off this 2015 redesign. 2017 was a break-out year for both the men’s and women’s Rally Cycling squads: Together they won nine national championships in the US and Canada and took the overall win at five top stage races in North America. The most notable was was the Tour of California, Evan Huffman and Rob Brittons 5 man breakaway sprints in Stage 4, taking first and second , with the Tour favorite Peter Sagan coming in 6th.
The bike certainly loves to sprint, and seems to holds its speed better on the flats than my TeamMachine, albeit not finding it as lively a climber.
But honestly i have not ridden that many miles using these wheels yet to get a great feel of the whole package in desirable conditions , as i had a tire clearance issue while they were setup tubeless , so the majority of the time in the saddle i was using box rims as winter salt had already hit the roads. At this point of the year in the east coast its the low point of my fitness, really looking forward to warmer days with less headwind to grow with it more and hammer some miles on it. Also may dial front end in more, may be sliding the bars down one spacer down the steerer.
Main warning i have on the frame is the rear clearance is spotty for 25c tires. Tires like Schwalbe Pro One 25c/ Specialized 26c rubbed, while i had better luck with Giant and Hutchinson tires which have a shorter sidewall and dont plump up as tall on a 17c-20c internal rim.