Why Cycle Wednesday:A Bike for Racing

The Velosopher and Joel each recently asked me about my bike.  Few things sound sweeter to the ears of a roadie/racer than questions about his ride.  So, while this post is really not in the truest spirit of Why Cycle Wednesday, and will admittedly include a little shameless bragging (it's MY blog after all), I hope also that some of the choices I made - from what type of bike to get to begin with, all the way to what type of wheels to get - may help a beginning racer to wend his way through the endless number of choices.

Here's my bike as it came stock (click for a larger image):

And to see what all it originally came with, click here.

Basically, I got a 2005 Cannondale R900 with Campy Veloce and sexy Gipiemme Grecal Parade wheels stock for about $1600.  It was a Bicycling Magazine pick in July 2005.  Actually, Mrs. Suitcase got it for me for our 10th Anniversary.  She's really cool that way (and it was MUCH better than a watch).

Here's my bike now:

Click for a larger image.  You know you want to.

It's still the same Cannondale CAAD8 frame, but I made a number of changes - some readily apparent, some not.

Wheels

The Gipiemme wheels were real head turners and I always got a LOT of compliments on them - more than on any other part/aspect of the bike.  But they had to go.  In order to hit a certain price point, most bike companies save money on the wheels and the R900 was no exception.  These wheels looked great, but they needed truing ALL the time and after only one season of racing, the spoke nipples started fracturing.  Not good.  Fortunately, Cannondale - when they couldn't find replacement parts - took the Gips in and traded them out for Mavic Aksiums.  Not the best wheel, but comparable in price - and MUCH better build quality.

As you can see though, I eventually upgraded to Mavic Ksyrium SL2s.  IMO, the best overall racing wheels for the money.  Of course, I recently got even better wheels, but you can't go wrong with Ksyriums.

Fit

While changing the wheels was the best component upgrade I could make, the best overall bang-for-the-buck improvement was getting a good bike fit.  While I did the FitKit early on, it wasn't until this past season that I got a fit fit (as it were) for racing.  Changing how the bike fit me required changing out the stem, but other than that, it was all about adjusting what I already had.  Dropped the stem about 25mm, extended it another  20mm, raised seat 17mm and moved it forward 10mm.  As you can see by comparing the two photos, the fit made the most dramatic visible difference.  Even more important, it dramatically improved my racing.

Brakes

Another price compromise, apparently, was Cannondale using its own brakes - Omegas.  They worked fine and since I do mostly crits, braking isn't a HUGE concern (as it would be if I were doing road races with 50mph descents...).  But I wanted my components to match and the brakes were the only components that weren't part of the Campy gruppo.  So I switched them out for Veloces.

This might be a good time to mention one regret I have with upgrading some of my components.  I got this bike primarily because the frame is race-proven and and very upgradeable.  But "upgradeability" really works best when you really UPgrade.  If I had it to do over again, I would have tried to get better brakes - at least Centaur if not Chorus.  Better to pay more once than ever have to pay twice.

Saddle

A Fizik Poggio saddle came stock and was fine.  I rode my first century on it with no problems.  But in the totally-vain department, I wanted something that looked cooler and racier.  As it was, my bike was used by the old SAECO team of Mario Cippolini and I wanted eventually to make my bike look as close to a team bike as possible.

Enter the Fizik Arione.  Actually, my choice wasn't ALL about looks - though I think it's a pretty hot saddle.  I read a bunch of reviews and liked the fact that the Arione had a LOT of fore/aft real estate that could be employed on climbs (every little bit helps) and it would also break in to fit me.  I picked up a New/Old stock one on eBay.

Proof is in the (re)getting: After putting in almost 10k miles on the Arione - and a few more crashes than I'd care to recollect - I just got another one.  Same color scheme and still NOS, luckily.  But I doubt I'll be able to do that again.  Fortunately, it'll be a while before I have to try.

Crank

Speaking of crashes, the crank was the only component that I had to upgrade due to a crash.  That's a story of luck.  The bike came with a TruVaTiv crank and I wanted to upgrade (again, because I wanted a full Campy gruppo), so I ordered a new Centaur crank - the new "UltraTorque" one.  I was hoping it would arrive in time for a particular race.  When it didn't, I was disappointed, but raced anyway.  As you may have guessed, I crashed in that race and trashed the crank.  Thankfully, I HADN'T gotten the Centaur crank yet!

Seatpost

The only other component I can remember switching out is the seatpost.  The stock seatpost was carbon - presumably, along with the fork, to dampen the aluminum ride.  Unfortunately, when I had my first fit and had to raise the saddle, we discovered that the seatpost was fractured.  Didn't even notice and was VERY fortunate to discover it in the shop, rather than on a ride (or race!).  Switched it out for another carbon post.

When I decided I wanted to use my race bike for commuting, I discovered that it ain't such a good idea to mount a seatpost rack on a carbon seatpost.  Fortunately, Adam recommended the Tompson Masterpiece seatpost you see here.  It's just about as light as carbon, and strong enough to carry a seatpost rack.

So there you have it - more than you probably ever wanted to know about my bike, but hopefully you were able to get a few ideas for your next bike purchase or component upgrade.  If you did or do, let us know!

Comments

[Harry Remer]

Too much information?!? Au contraire, mon frere. Is there ever such a thing about bikes? As you know ALLLL too well, I'm shopping for a CAAD right now, so it's sobering (um, I mean GREAT) to know that I'll eventually find a use for the money I saved by not going for a bling-ier bike: Upgrades. That's a lot of dough in upgrades, but I have to say, your bike is currently suh-WEET. 'Specially once those even hotter new wheels go on.

Honored to be part of the inspiration for a post! Long live bike porn!

[suitcaseofcourage]

When I get those new wheels built up and put on the bike - watch out for some SERIOUS bike bling (on my budget anyway!

[Joel Price]

Thanks for doing this. The Bike looks awesome, I really appreciate you going through what you changed and why. Much appreciated!

I'm in the middle of a "should I upgrade my bike or just be content with what I have and improve the components"

You give me lot's to think about. :)

oh' yeah, thanks for the link!

[Velosopher]

BTW, if you're looking to unload those Ksyriums, I might be able to take them off your hands, if the C'dale I buy doesn't come with good enough wheels!

[ChrisB.]

My wife knows all too well the terms "bike porn" and "guitar porn." She only asks (semi-seriously) that I not look at the stuff when she is in the room.

She also understand that Rapha is the Victoria's Secret of Bike Porn. And that the Elderly Instruments catalog is the Victoria's Secret of Guitar Porn.

[Christov10.wordpress.com]

Thanks for all the information. I am thinking now about getting one of these bikes, used. Very helpful. Again, thanks.