canklecat

You're way ahead of me. I might put out 300 watts climbing the stairs, but rarely on a bike. When I asked the LBS about whether I should get a power meter the guy who'd seen me ride said "Nah, they don't register that low."

canklecat

Yeah, when I first received the Dura Ace 7410 cranks to rebuild my '93 Trek 5900 OCLV, my first thought was "Am I gonna break this damn thing?" They're much lighter than my other Shimano and Suntour cranks... which I've also never borken.
Because I named my Trek 5900 the Noisy Cricket.
Because of Men In Black.
Because it klunked so loudly with the original downtube index shifters, resonating like bongos in those carbon fiber tubes.
Because it was my first carbon fiber bike and I felt like I was gonna break something so lightweight.
Hey, it was funny when I came up with that a couple of years ago. To me.

Then I remembered I'm not Andre Greipel, who puts out more power going to the bathroom than I do on my bike.

Whew, what a relief.

Anyway, cranks asploding was never my primary concern. Apparently on my cheapskate budget I will never be in the market for those newer hollow bonded Ultegra and Dura Ace cranks. So, problem solved once again by poverty.

Russ Roth

I would suggest for something new the 4700 series of Tiagra cranks as well if you want 10sp specific. Good sturdy parts. Will come in a 50/34 and 170.

canklecat

Thanks, I'll check the video. I wish that info was more readily available on Shimano's website, archives and tech documents. I spent hours checking the Shimao site for this info. Once an item is discontinued their consumer catalogs, brochures and easily accessible spec sheets seem to vanish or get buried in the internet basement.

I'm impressed with how much Shimano 105 and "lower" spec stuff has improved -- trickle down from early gen Dura Ace and Ultegra. I have boxes of mostly older Shimano stuff and while some of the older 105 stuff was good, others were distinctly inferior to Shimano 600/Ultegra. The 600/Ultegra stuff was so good I still use those derailleurs on a couple of bikes, and the FDs in particular offer more adjustability than the 105.

Nah, I'm not picky about brands or getting matchy-matchy with groups. My first carbon fiber bike was a 1993 Trek 5900 OCLV, which may have been the closest thing to a custom bike Trek ever put out. Rather than matching the group to be all Dura Ace, they spec'd the lightest available components. So it's a mish-mash of Dura Ace, Dia Compe brakes, Ibis titanium stem, Chris King titanium headset (before King decided titanium didn't accomplish anything for headsets and switched to more sensible materials), White Industries titanium BB, American Classic Equipment titanium seat post, etc. It's kinda like what British hill climb specialists do now with their custom bikes for those autumn competitions. Awful brownish-goldish logos on purple paint. Funky ugly cool bike.

Thanks! I use FSA stems and Omega compact drops and they're outstanding values. I'd heard varying opinions about FSA cranks but I'll definitely consider those since you've ridden them a lot.

Thanks!

big john

A friend puts out 1600 watts during a crit. He breaks a lot more stuff than I do but he races @265 pounds.

canklecat

Yikes. That's why I say goodbye to Frank and the beans and thank them for a lifetime of service before every interval session with standing sprints and short, steep hill climbs.

But I worry a bit less now that my weight is down around 150. I can't figure out how I managed to walk at all when I weighed 205. I get tired now just carrying 20 lbs of groceries or cat food home from the store in a backpack.

big john

The guy I was referring to played offensive guard in college so, a big dude. I climbed a local mountain with him when he was 285.

I know another guy who played in college as a lineman and he raced at the velodrome and did pretty well.

terrymorse 

Jobst Brandt was a very tall guy who pushed big gears, and he used to break his aluminum Campagnolo crank arms fairly often.

He would come into my dad's shop in Palo Alto to get them replaced. At one point, my dad ordered him a steel Campagnolo crankset, which seemed to hold up much better.



Jobst Brandt (right), Kings Ridge Rd, Sonoma County, 2003

GnipGnop

Shimano brifters have a history of messing up the ends of cables. I don't think Campy/SRAM/Rotor have that issue.

Kimmo

I think it's because they kept the same RD actuation ratio from 6s all the way to 10s, which meant they were stuck with pretty much the same cable spool diameter as the old downtube levers. This was getting a bit sketchy at 9s, and totally went to crap with the second 10s generation when the cables went under the tape, since the extra friction combined with the short cable pull produced a really marginal signal to noise ratio in the system.

IIRC they changed the actuation ratio for 11s, but oddly they didn't increase the cable pull by very much, which still meant the cable was being wrapped around a pretty small diameter spool in the shifter, which causes fatigue. Shimano may be the best, but they sure aren't perfect.

canklecat

Ah, I didn't know that. I have a couple of sets of Dura Ace 74xx series 8-speed brifters but I haven't installed them yet. My only brifters are MicroShift 7-speed, which aren't as polished feeling as Dura Ace, of course, but work well and don't chew up cables. I'm going on two years with the same cables. They're good enough I'll probably buy MicroShift 10 speed brifters when they're available again, assuming they're compatible with my Dura Ace 7800 RD. For now I only have DA 10-speed bar-end shifters for that RD, leftover from a TT/tri-bike that I stripped after the frame cracked.

GnipGnop

Interesting! Thanks for sharing that info