fried bake

that looks great--i'm partial to details like that, shows true affection for one's bike.

robbyville

ARPRINCE

So I'm out of state for a vacation and decided it's time to install the stuff below so I brought along my Synapse.



Well what do you know, I freakin forgot to bring my tools to remove the cassette and the LBS was charging me $15.

Long story short, I decided to do it another day and just clean my bike which came to me, using the parktool dummy hub for the very FIRST TIME. I must say, this tool is great!

noglider 

@robbyville, I've found leather handlebar tape to be a good investment. I have one set that's over five years old, and another younger set. I can move it from bike to bike, reusing it. It has come loose a couple of times, and it's quick to undo and redo it.

Sy Reene

I'm curious about leather tape.. it sounds good. How does it last so long though -- given the combo of sweat, salt, sun and water, plus regular wear, how does leather not crack and split after a relatively shorter period of time than synthetic? Does it require ongoing moisturing or treatment with mink oil or something?

noglider 

I don't leave my bikes out in the rain often. I have not done anything to care for the leather. As I said, five years so far, and there are no signs of wear. Whatever color you get, it will turn black, which isn't a terrible thing. One set I have is light brown so far. The $20 price for regular handlebar tape annoys me. You can get leather tape for $50 or $60, and you get more years per dollar, by a lot.

Jadesfire 

1 set of black bibs (https://www.theblackbibs.com/).

puma1552

This little Colnago set is finally showing up today so I no longer have to ride in fear of a flat or a heat stroke.

So I also was able to successfully track down a small tube of purple 222 Loctite after checking 15 stores which I can pick up today after work (using it on the bottle cage threads, I have blue Loctite on my hybrid bottle threads since that is aluminum but figured purple Loctite is probably safer for a carbon bike):



Also my 5800 pedals showed up:



And today I also have a new stem being delivered:




And lastly, Shimano 11 spd quick links also being delivered today:

robbyville

Ditto, for me, I live in the desert so rain is not a problem. My sweat dripping I'm sure will be but I wipe down my bike after each ride. The person who makes the tape told me to just wash the bike as normal and every now and again I can use a leather conditioner on it if I like, which is what I did with my motorcycle saddle bags. We shall see!

Bob Ross

Been on a bit of a binge: In the past week I bought:
- (4) KMC 11-sp chains (two of which are already deployed, two for spares)
- a Campagnolo Chorus 11-25 cassette
- a pair of SIDI Dragon Mega shoes (actually, two pair, because I wanted to be certain of the sizing. One pair will be returned.)
- a Cannondale CAADX 105 SE cyclocross bike

Ogsarg

Picked up a jersey and bibs from Pactimo while they're on sale.

ARPRINCE

Nice color + design and thinking of getting one myself. What's your experience with this brand and quality fit /comparison with other brands (i.e. Pearl Izumi, Capo, Giordana,etc.)?

Ogsarg

I can't say I have a lot of experience with cycling kit. I've had Castelli, Sugoi, and a couple of low cost bibs before getting the Pactimo ones about a year ago. They are by far my favorite being more comfortable and better fitting than any of the others.

When I got the first bibs I also ordered an Aero Jersey, which turned out to be a bit too snug for me so I returned it. By that time, they were sold out of anything that would fit so this will be my first experience with the jersey.

TimothyH

Light & Motion Urban 900

puma1552

evan326

Rollfast

1955 Columbia cruiser.

Mista Sparkle

Just picked up an ELEMNT BOLT. So far so good!

Esthetic

Bought this fixer-upper in my size for $300 as is. Can recover easily 1/3-1/2 some cost selling the spare parts on ebay (Fizik stem, GP4000 SII's 23c's, Truvativ crank with Red chainrings, and 2 bars)

Appears cosmetic, but plan to repair TT anyways and either color match or have frame done fully custom color....not sure yet.

Jakedatc

spare Di2 battery... missing one group ride due to a dead battery from leaving the shiftter leaning against something was one too many.

noodle soup

once you remove some more paint, you'll have better idea of what needs to be done. Do you know how it got damaged?

Esthetic

STory I got was that it happened in a race, left pedal hit the ground on a lean, Rider separated from bike and the right cleat struck the top tube. Happened in the second race of the season, he finished the season on the bike and trained on at the year after.

The rest of the bike doesn't show any signs of rash, just a few typical wear and tear Rock chips. I honestly expected worse overall condition, there is no play to the tube in the area of the fracture, no crunching or flex with a tight squeeze. On the side of the top tube there slight paint spidering but very faint and hard to get a image of it. Aside the impact area, I would rate the rest of the bike cosmetically an 8 .5 out of 10. If there were a way to 100% color match it I would just repaint the top tube and touch up the rest.


So I bought it and mediately knowing that best case scenario I still would have it repaired professionally. Considering it was a 2015, and my neighbor is an auto body guy that would paint it for me at a decent price, I felt it was worth it. I already have a cockpit, group O, and wheels from my other bikes. The frame is already set up with the bottom bracket i need so I can DIY the rest. Losing some of the original graphics is making me want to go with a solid one color repaint, , with minimal logos. I can Source decal kits for the SL version of the bike on eBay but the problem with that is that the giant branding on the seat tube extends into the ISP area on the SL bikes and this is not an SL. That's kind of the best logo part of the bike.

noodle soup

If you are definitely having at least the TT painted, I'd remove the paint in that area. If it's damaged, you are still in luck. That is probably the easiest place to repair

Esthetic

Agreed! I will get a knife under it later and see whats going on under there.

DEK

+1. Got an Element Bolt last week. Only have 2 rides with it but it's so easy to set up and use that I'm really enjoying it and can't wait to use more of the advanced features.