BTW, on the seatpost issue, I own and race a 2014 variant of the Specialized Venge. It has an "aero" seatpost, with an odd clamp, and the saddle perch is secured to the seatpost with one bolt. Even though I am small, I had a few fights with that seatpost/saddle mount the first few months I had that bike. The bike shop finally got Specialized involved, and they replaced the clamp and replaced the cones that hold the saddle perch in place. That and carbon paste (each time the post or saddle is fiddled with) equaled "problem solved".

I wonder why Felt never opted for using the clamping and seatpost design as used on the AR and the IA models. I have read a couple of reviews basically touting the clamping mechanism to be the most secure and clyde friendly on the market, the clamp is the splined 3T fitting that although being a PITA to set up doesn't budge, and the AR version post can be faced forward or rear which one would assume a big bonus for the track community for the differing offsets.

Actually that's what's in the 3rd gen seatpost for the TK1!

1st gen:
- 2-bolt design like Thomson (and others) to avoid saddle tilt.
- alternate seatposts
- straight shaft that went into the frame...even when you didn't want it to :lol:
http://tsutaoka.com/wp-content/uploa...4/Felt-TK1.jpg

2nd gen:
- Dead-stop seatpost system.
- Need to cut seat mast precisely to measure.
- Ritchey topper with fore/aft sliding rail and single friction bolt for up/down tilt.
- This stopped the sliding into the frame, but the tilting was a big issue...even with carbon grit paste.
- This is why I sold my new TK1. I was like "f that. I'll be damned if I pay $4000 for a bike that has a tilting saddle."

(my old TK1)
https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5181/5...5383c450_b.jpg

3rd gen:
- 3T Difflock system.
- Same as 2nd gen but,
- Uses a different topper that has indexed tilt.
http://2012.feltracing.com/Resources...per_SM_jk1.jpg


I believe that all 3 are interchangeable with the frames. Don't quote me on that, though.

I have no doubt that the current TK1 has a bullet proof seatpost now with the dead stop bottom and indexed top...without a sliding rail :D

I'm not a fan of that indexed tilt system from 3T. I bought a round seat-tube for my BTB with that system, and found I couldn't get the saddle angle right because the tilt increments are just too coarse.

Was the one you had a 3T Difflock? The Difflock has a major and a minor index system with angle increments of 0.2 or 0.5 degrees each. I'm finding 2 different numbers in my google searches. Maybe 3T has different versions.

See this video:

You possibly have a post similar to me. I have one on my road bike. The adjustments can be quite small. I remember it as if you were in between increments then you had to take out the outer and rotate it so far and then play around with the inner. Rinse and repeat. It was a true PITA TBH, but I got it set where I wanted it and it won't budge a mm now. It's a great solid design, just takes some patience to get right.

My girlfriend has been riding her Lehigh for about a year, and has only complained that the wheels are too deep. Since BVV gets windy from time to time, and she's a little gal, the 80mm rims can be hard to handle.

@carleton The BB is a standard threaded on these, not a BB30/PF30/BB86/T47/OSBB/Nightmarish-other-BB-"standard". Rotor just uses low-engagement, tiny splineson their bearing cups so you can't get good leverage on them. (I don't like Rotor, if you couldn't guess.)

I've never seen this mentioned elsewhere on the internet, but I figured you folks would find this interesting.

I've handled and measured both 35cm and 37cm Scattos and found something interresting. They are V-shaped. The 35s and 37s both measure 35cm and 37cm center-to-center at the end of the bars (where the bar plugs go) as one might expect. But, they measure 34cm and 35cm, respectively, where they hands go deep into the drops, like this:

https://www.pedalroom.com/f/aef89686ed_1.jpg

So they are actually more narrow than people think :D

35cm:
- C-C at the back: 35cm
- Deep in drops at the front: 34cm

37cm:
- C-C at the back: 37cm
- Deep in drops at the front: 35cm

I use the 37s, and was going to change to the 35s last year. I did not because like you, I measured like you did and found that I was spending about $400 to get 1 cm. I start holding the bar ends and then slide my hands up to the top of the grip area when I sit down. I really love these bars.

On my road bike I've always preferred microtex type fake leather bartape. When I started riding at the track I found I wanted something with a bit more grip but similarly thin and not cushy so I tried lizard skins 1.8mm bar tape. I really liked it but with recent switch to the Look sprint bars on my bike I found the diameter of the bar a bit big. I was looking into even thinner tape options when I discovered that lizard skins does a 0.5mm version of their tape... but not for bicycles, for baseball bats!

I figured I'd try it out and ordered 4 rolls online. Turns out each roll covers about as much handlebar as a track grip would. First impressions are good, feels just as good as the 1.8mm tape but with even less give. Only downside is that they come with angled cuts on the end of the rolls that require to wrap both sides the same way unless you want to sacrifice a few inches of tape.

Figured I'd mention it for anyone else looking for something like that.

Thanks! I'll definitely try some. I don't need vibration absorption either.

I once found some similarly thin tape made by Bontrager. I think it was intended for use on aerobar extensions where cusion isn't needed but grip is. I loved it.

I'm a fan of Lizard Skins and have been using it almost exclusively for years. It's expensive, but worth it. To make it cost effective, I cut each strip in half so that I double the usage by only wrapping the bottom half of my bars. It's obvious on Scattos where you only have the bottom half to wrap, but I do the same on Nitto bars as well.


https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4309/3...b957aea3_h.jpg
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7618/1...9191d580_h.jpg

Nice tip: Instead of wrapping from the plug up and finishing with tape. Wrap from the top down and finish with the plug. That way you don't have to use tape for a nice clean look. Yes, the overlaying layers could roll and become unsightly, but they don't with Lizard Skins.

It winds up being a really clean look like this:

https://i.imgur.com/zG9Set5.png

Instead of having tape finish it like this:

http://img.photo138.com/OE2/ZH73701-C-3-20.jpg

What five-spoke is that on the orange bike?

Navigator 5 Spoke Clincher.

It was offered along with these: https://www.dolan-bikes.com/navigator-track-wheels.html

They have since discontinued the no-sticker clincher variant.

Well-built and looks cool, but it is heavy. Not sure if it's "fast" or not.

But it looks fast, which is half the battle.

It's funny but true.

When done properly, wrapping from the bottom up actually looks pretty clean and not like it was done by a monkey. Going top down is probably a lot easier when you're only wrapping the drop section though.

https://i.imgur.com/csypmfR.png

(sigh) whenever I wrap bars, it always looks like it was done by a monkey :D

Some great in-depth writing here: https://www.momnium.com/

This is a super cool concept.

I agree.

I think the data is crowd-sourced. I'll see if I can contribute when I get time. It needs more data for track model frames.

If only it included a visualizer, too - kind of like the stem comparison chart, or this bonkers excel spreadsheet i recently came across...

European track champs live timing Veloresults Live Timing

14 guys under 10 seconds in the sprint quali

i prefer bikegeo.net.

Yeah, bikegeo is very nice. The site I linked-to above is more of a reference for geometry specs of current and past bikes, which can be a pain to find as many manufacturers don't maintain specs of old models on their sites. So, if someone offers for sale a Serenity, Dolan DF3, Teschner Track Pro, or 2008 Fuji Track Pro, where you gonna get the geometry chart to see if it will fit?

Apparently there is a stayer race at the euros tonight. Should be interesting, never seen one before

Sounds exciting - eight men racing for one-hour. Provide more details if you watch it (pacer bike type and distance covered).
Thanks
http://eliteeuropean2017.veloresults.com/pdf/mst1.pdf

True stayer race with what looked like BMW motorbikes. (Photo off internet which looked right)

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos...sch-racing.jpg

200 lap race, but wasn't that exciting. There was one point where there was three abreast for a pass, but otherwise not much action. Dominated by the Germans (3 riders) and the Dutch (2 riders) who do this regularly.

wow.