JasonD67

I bet one of the biggest reasons you saw a ride improvement on the rental bike is 28mm tires v. the 23mm you're accustomed to. In my experience, wider tires has the most noticeable improvement to ride quality and handling.

zacster

I suspect that is one reason it felt so good. I can't put wider tires on my Kuota though, the one time I put a 25 in the rear it rubbed slightly under riding conditions even if it looked good on the stand. I'll try again next time I need tires, buying a wider tire that would fit in front that I'll try in the rear first.

noodle soup

No need to ask who.

There's only one Specialized dealer in LV, unless you include Boulder City.

BillyD

Who goes to LV to ride a bike?





Oh wait, I forgot where I was.

WhyFi

Bigger, lower pressure tires are probably the biggest factor with conventional road frames, but the compliance built in to frames like the Domane and (I assume) the Roubaix do way more than the move from 23mm to 28mm tires. There's no comparison between the same wheels and 30mm tires on my Haanjo (typical Al frame) and Domane. Frankly, even with 38mm tires on the Haanjo and 28s on the Domane (more than a 30psi difference), the Domane still deals with everything better, from road buzz to pothole jolts.

MinnMan

I've always rented from the other outfit - McGhies - they supply Treks and Cannondales- and always been satisfied with their bikes. I guess I got lucky when I blindly chose them the first time.

znomit

Someone who didn’t want to go to LV. I spent the week fruitlessly trying to find out why they built a training facility there.

Anyhoo, apart from the bike itself the shop was great.

MinnMan

I do. It's an excellent winter riding escape. There are always plenty of cheap flights and there's great riding. I stay in the SW corner of town, usually around Summerlin, rent a bike, and ride right out of town to Red Rock Canyon and some other great desert climbs. Last year I also took an excursion up to Valley of Fire state park, which looks like this



I don't set foot in a casino or go near the strip. It's not my speed.

WhyFi

Just out of curiosity, do people buzz you on those zero-shoulder roads?

CarloM

Holy crap, given how fast I know people drive to Vegas, I would be scared @$!less to ride on that road.

MinnMan

No. those roads are inside a state park. People are driving slow. It wasn't an issue.

MinnMan

It's a pretty well-known cycling route. Being in a state park, nobody is driving fast.

Here's an excerpt from a motorcycling site, talking about how great a ride that road is except that you have to go slow.

"As you make the turn off I-15 onto State Route 169, the view is of a generic landscape backed by some gray and brown mountains. Big deal, you think to yourself. Be patient; 15 miles after the modest sign that marks the boundary of the 40,000-acre area, the color spectrum goes haywire, with displays of cliff tops bathed in oranges, reds, purples, and browns. Down on the desert floor, outcroppings of rock poke up from splotches of green creosote. But here's the best part—the short road through this whole riot is unusually clean, smooth and perfectly curvy (without getting too kinky), and sports pullouts galore. Of course the limit is an annoyingly low 25-to-35 mph, but pay attention to the sign that says, "Speed limit is 35, this is your last and only warning." We spotted three people pulled over during our visit." https://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/va...nevada-sr-169/

(Short by motorcyclists standards. My route, out and back with some added miles from the interstate to Overton and back was 65 miles)

MinnMan

(Sorry about hijacking this thread). The text above is not kidding about the colors. Por ejemplo (this is not photoshopped - they are the real colors):

ThermionicScott 

If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure that scene from "Blazing Saddles" was cut from the theatrical release.

Sy Reene

Looking forward to my first crabon bike ride.. Been on titanium forever, but doing an away ride in AZ in a week and am renting a 2020 Emonda as that's what the shop has. Fingers crossed. Other milestones.. first disc braked bike. Oh the anticipation.

noodle soup

Will you be in Phoenix for Thanksgiving? There's a big group ride downtown.

Thursday - 6:30am - Camelback & Central - the AJ's Parking Lot
Down to South Mountain, up to the Towers and back.

Sy Reene

Sounds good, but no. Doing the tour de Tucson next weekend then heading back home. Combining this with a visit with my son who's at UofA.

David in Maine

The bike will stop!

zacster

I've been out a few times on my road bike again and I really do think that the Roubaix was a much more comfortable ride than my Kuota. And I have my 65th birthday coming up, so I've got a reason to think big. N+1!!!. But no, I really don't need another bike. While I still ride pretty hard and don't think I'm slowing down there will come a time in the not so distant future. I won't be getting 15 years use out of it. I could try to sell the Kuota but I doubt I'd get enough for it at this point to make it worthwhile to me, and it's an old friend.

One thing I still can't compare is climbing. With my 34/26 on the Kuota I climb anything in the NYC area without too much difficulty, but there isn't anything long or steep. And in my last few rides I never even went down to the 34 front, so really no comparison. In SF you are constantly shifting the front, especially in the city itself.

So, I'll try a bigger tire on it, try a 25 in the rear, and if it works without rubbing, I'll put a 28 in the front too. I have a new 23 GP5000 in the front now and a 23 GP4000 in the rear that'll need replacing in the spring, so maybe just start with a single 25 and try it in the rear and if it doesn't fit rotate it to the front and put the 23 in the rear. Maybe by the time I turn 70 I'll have 28fr/25rear. Other than that though I don't see anything else I can do. And really, it isn't as if my Kuota has a horrible ride. It just wasn't as smooth as the Roubaix. And maybe the Future Shock headset tech will trickle down and become a third party upgrade. That'll probably depend on whether Specialize owns it or not, as they'll use it to sell bikes if they do and not release it.