Beachgrad05

I got myself a spare bike to give me alternatives plus a dedicated trainer bike.

Here she is after Lisa put the speedplays on it for me:


Here she is after getting her home:


I had Conti Gp4000s 25 tires installed rather than 23. I have a wheel for trainer at home with matching cassette (this bike has same drivetrain as my Trek Madone). I brought the stock tires home to wear out on trainer. But since I put good tires on...I feel comfortable taking out on road.

TrojanHorse

Gott in himmel! Celeste speedplays? I was not aware of such a thing!

I need to finish (ahem, start) rehabbing my bianchi for river trail use. I don't think with a standard crank and an 11-23 cassette that I'll be able to "enjoy" any hills on it.

Nice bike!

Beachgrad05

Lisa got the Celeste Speedplays to try them out. But she didn't care for the Speedplay feel...she is a Shimano SPD-SL girl...so lucky ME! I got them at a discount!

Beachgrad05

Stock saddle on there now...but Fizik Vesta on order.

TrojanHorse

Tell her she's wrong, but only after you can't return the pedals.

vesteroid

If your new to speed plays....check that float...mine came so wide it hurt my knees..once I dialed that range down, it's the best pedal I could imagine....the wife is a time junkie and I just got her a new set of the espresso 8s. Can't talk that woman I to a speed play.

eja_ bottecchia

Steel is real...I love riding my Columbus SLX Bottecchia. You will find that a steel frame "hummms" at a certain frequency that almost sings to you. Celeste is a wonderful color! Enjoy your new ride.

Pakiwi

Very nice. No doubt that would be nice on the road.
I have my steel bike that I am handing down to my daughter to get out this year with me. Its 30 years old but rides so well and I would still be riding it if Liz hadn't want to get get out on the road with me.
Enjoy the new ride.
Allan

bbeasley

Nice, and color coordinated speed plays !

bbeasley

BeachGrad, Once you get the Bianchi dialed in it will be interesting to see how it compares to your carbon Madone?

Beachgrad05

I have speedplays on my Madone. I love them. Even same type as those (zeros)

Beachgrad05

I gave Lisa my fit measurements and she set it up using that. So we'll see how it feels. I haven truly ridden it yet. Other than test ride several weeks back when I was mulling it over and still unemployed.

jsigone

white saddle and white tape would look pretty awesome on that. Congrats on the new rig and new found road dampness over socal's awesome un-maintained roads

tunavic

Congrats on the new ride!! Steel celeste is the best!!

longbeachgary

Too nice a bike for the trainer - let's see it out on the sgrt.

TrojanHorse

You know, since tires are such a PITA to change out you should just find an old wheel and swap that out when you want to use the trainer. I think I'm up to 4 10 spd cassettes, one of which I probably won't use again so holler if you need one.

Beachgrad05

Already ahead of you! I had my old wheels from my replaced 3.1 Madone. So I got a cassette to match my cassette on my 4.5 Madone to create a dedicated trainer wheel using my stock Bontrager tires that came on the 3.1 as I'm not burning up my Conti's on the trainer.

So the trainer is all set with a trainer wheel....now I can put either bike on the wheel and it will work because both bikes have the same drivetrain (105 with 12-30 cassette). I can use either bike as the trainer bike but once it is set up for the week...it will stay in trainer til weekend when I decide if I want to go Carbon or Steel.

Believe me this bike is too pretty not to get outside and show it off. Until I have the new seat tho...I won't be doing long rides.

Lisa was going to LOAN me her only Fizik Vesta test saddle but I said I could wait til the one we are ordering comes in. She needs that test saddle for customers to try and that saddle is popular...hence some dishonest folks have not returned test saddles. I think she needs to charge more of a fee for the test saddle program and if they decide not to buy, upon return of saddle, they can get all but her current program fee ($20) so that there is MORE incentive to return the saddle. As it is, they don't return the saddle and get it for $20.

I can't wait to take her out for a spin. Thinking of doing the next Gran Fondo for Strava on her.

TrojanHorse

What? Take a credit card imprint & run it... they don't return the saddle, they pay for it. She's not just handing them out on SART is she? Crazy talk.

I think you need to ride your new baby up GMR too... maybe that would be a nice gran fondo for you - up SGRT to Azusa, over to Glendora, up to the shack. That's about 78 miles round trip from my house though. Your trip would be.... longer.

Beachgrad05

Think she is mulling over options as to how to prevent in future. Sucks you can't trust folks a bit more.

TrojanHorse

Indeed.

Beachgrad05

Just saw that this month Strava decided to make the Gran Fondo 160KM which pretty much makes it a century. So...maybe I won't be doing March's on the new bike.

jsigone

whats another hr or two longer then the old grand fondo?

Beachgrad05

Need the new seat...stock seat is an A** hatchet...from what I have been told. NO way I want to test that out.

jsigone

Madone saddle is sitting there waiting to be used its only a week or so...I know you want to ride the new bike in the 80* we're getting on sunday

Beachgrad05

Funny you mention that! I actually have my old bontrager saddle that was livable before I got the Fizik. I think I might put THAT on until the new saddle comes in. Thanks for the reminder.

I rode the PS Century last year on the stock bontrager so I know I can handle a long day on it.