Originally Posted by
Salamandrine
Sounds like you are very happy with the Roadini so far. That's great. It doesn't really surprise me that it climbs well. This modern notion that super short chainstays are required is just not true IME. My 70s Masi always climbed great too, and it's fairly similar in geometry to Roadini, minus the sloping top tube of course...
Thanks for mentioning Green Grips tape. Never heard of it till now. I've been pretty happy with Newbaums recently. I wonder what qualities make you prefer in the GG tape?
I was thinking of going back to cotton on my Mercian Auda, but I find I prefer padded tape these days. I guess I'm getting old. Plus I don't really like feeling the cables under the tape. And I dislike padded gloves. For non aero set ups, cotton is fine.
It just feels much smoother vs Newbaum from the get go. And taping is very easy. I do a lot of tape jobs (just my habit of frequent rebuilds) and Newbaum is often a pain when it sticks to itself, creates the crease and now you have to fight to unglue it, stretch to smooth out the kink, etc
You nailed it - my firm belief was short chainstays=better climbing/faster feeling. Miyata 1000 started to change my mind and Roadini finished the job, sort of speak :-)