joevella

Updated my Leader:
Here it is with my home made disc wheel and the carbon seat post flipped around so my aero position is much more comfortable ( I have weeny little arms, so it was a long reach ). Note new horizontal dropout ( closed up the rear wheel gap ) in the right pic..

Matt888

Under 1grand ebay special.

Giovanni

what kind of disc is that?

joevella

That is a home made disc.
I did eventually get an Azotto seat - as you can see in the pics, from a nice guy on ebay.
The LBS shut down - and still has my money.
I tried the tufo tubular clinchers for a year and a bit @ 220 psi. but I'm going back to my vittorias ( as you can see installed on the disc ).

ieandro

New wheels !

Before:


During:


After:

Matt888

Tublar clinchers are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

joevella

The tubular clinchers are great on the Rev-X because I don't fear failing the rim with them.
They also make the rim extremely stiff when pumped up to 220PSI.
However, the 23C's I run are not very aero, as there is a pronounced difference between the tire and the rim - not a big deal if you're not running an aero rim. They felt noticably slower right away when I put them on.
Also - I have trouble inflating them to 220 psi, and have gone through a few compressors.
In rolling resistance tests they fare only fair when pumped up to 220 - which they hardly ever do when their doing tire tests - and of course much worse when left at low pressure.

joevella

You didn't like your Rev-X's? Why?

ieandro

Not that I didn't like them. I LOVED them. But there was a chip that developed on the spoke and me being a paranoid pansy, could not bring myself to ride them any longer on my P2C for fear of failure and destroying not only my wheels, but my frame as well. But the Rev X's were one sweet wheel for the 4 years that I had it. It made my P2C fly!

*sigh* ... wish spinergy or someone else would make a rev x evolutionary comeback (and not talking about corima or xentis wheels either.)

joevella

I agree 100% here. My rear rev-x had a disastrous incident when my deraileur hanger broke and fell into it. I repaired it, but have been suspicious of it since then - hence the disc. I hope to have my front rev-x on my P2C when I start working on that project - maybe next year.

Giovanni

sorry I guess I forgot to read your post
newb question here but how do you make a disk wheel?

joevella

Ahh - I'm going to have to do a write up on that - but it's a cover. I started from someone elses write up, but have refined it now. The wheel is covered with MonoKote - if you don't know what that is, it's a heat shrink mylar covering normally used on model aircraft.
It weighs 1/5 oz per sq. ft. You start with a conventional wheel, with a rim with an edge that you can adhere to ( I used an alex DA22 ) then you have to apply either double sided tape ( the original posters method ) or hot glue ( my new refined method ) which can be shaved with an exacto knife to make the edge parallel to the braking surface ( eliminates peeling of the skin when ironed on ). You need to make reinforcing rings at the hub and the inflation access. these rings should be no more than 1/2 in wide or they will look ugly ( BTDT ). then begin ironing the cover in place. It works quite slick. Use Trim MonoKote which you apply without ironing to produce any design you want over the shrunk cover. I do have the material to make a real disc wheel - but I want to make sure I like it ( with respect to wind handling ) before I make the extra effort.

Giovanni

Thanks! I really like the "reflective" look of them.

Rahzel

I have *never*, ever heard of a tire that performs well on the road at 220 PSI. I will *guarantee* you that if you run your tires at 120psi instead of 220psi you'll be much faster (plus you won't have to keep buying air compressors.

The whole point of putting air in the tires is so that the tire acts as the "suspension" on the bike, and if you have too much air in the tires the bike bounces harshly over the terrain, losing forward energy with each bounce. You want there to be some give in the tires so that they glide smoothly over the bumpy road surface, absorbing the bumps and not bouncing the bike at all.

Now, on the smooth track at the velodrome, high pressure is much more desirable as there aren't any bumps on the riding surface.

Also, why the brake levers on the aerobars? Usually, if you're braking in a triathlon (going into a tight corner), you're on the bullhorns anyway. Seems like a mistake to me. There's a reason the "aero or die" setups of the 80s and early 90s went out of style quickly.

joevella

Although I stay on the aero bars, I have an auxiliary brake lever on the base bar for when I'm on the drops.
I really prefer to have the brakes close by - particularly in traffic. So I can brake on the drops or in the aero bars.

The tufo's have a lot of drag when not pumped up - per the tire tests. there is a reason they are rated for 220 psi - that's when their rolling friction starts to be competitive with other tires. The roads around here are all freshly paved, within the last couple of years, and are very smooth - that's why a bunch of time trials are run around here.

In any case - even when pumped up high I found them draggy. If pumped up to only 120 psi - which is below the lowest recommended pressure ( 145 psi ) - by the tire test they have about twice the friction of the competition ( that's from memory - I haven't looked at it in a while ). However at high pressures they were well suited to the Spinergy's as they stiffend them up, while not putting undue outward pressure on the rim.

I enjoyed trying them out, but I've moved on.

audiojan

My new Tri bike... Love the stability and the pure efficiency of it. Super adjustable means that I can easily dial in the perfect position depending on the race (slightly lower and longer for shorter TT's and higher but comfortable for longer distances).

mburchard

Recently refinished Calfee ...

gervelo

Heres my Cannondale SLice 07 with Dura-ace and Corima Wheels...the best part, easy to locate due to color and very stable in flat conditions...

johnopower

is that the brew that was up a while ago with green and black paint?

Matt888

No, it was black and tatered when I got my hands on it, gave it a powder coat and it came up nicely.

KyleKranz

I'm not sure if I posted this yet. There's been some changes, this was right after it was built it up.

Rogue Leader

since I just updated mine extensively it deserves a repost:

bikinpolitico

Rode my soft ride to qualify for the National Age Group Triathlon here at the CapTexTri

Plainsman

I would never have considered myself a real fan of white frames...until now.

KyleKranz

White is the fastest color. It's science.