Archiv der Kategorie: Cervelo Soloist

When I met David Marx at the Tour de Noto last year, he used this nice gravity-zero wheels on his bike which were really sharp looking. Later I visited his booth at the cycling fair in Makuhari and I could make a test ride with these wheels. They come from Australia and you can read all about them on the official web site, but there are two main points :

• First, the rear wheel hub, called X-hub, as it comes directly from the x files, has a special kind of clutch, which eliminates any form of backlash/lag at the hub or pedal. The pedal power is transmitted directly to the rear wheel as if pedal and rearwheel are connected by a fixed gear – but with a free wheel.
• Second, the levers on the tensioners can be removed so it is harder to steal the wheels and you can shave off another 10 grams of weight (provided you leave them at home and do not carry them in your repair kit as I do.
• Third, they look sharp and the have a nice logo, although not in orange but in red.

So I wanted to have them for my new Cervelo bike, but David didn’t had clinchers on stock and it was doubtful when they would arrive so I opted for something else in the first place. But just like a miracle I had the sudden chance to purchase one pair of 50 mm carbon wheels with aluminium rims through an obscure channel and I couldn’t resist.

After fixing the wheels yesterday, I took them on a test ride to work (30 km) this morning. They feel very good. Once you ride them you notice just how often you stop pedaling and re-start again. Every time you restart pedaling you have the full power at your command, this is particular nice if you shift gears (and you apply less torque during the shifting) and even more when you accelerate exiting a curve. This wheel should give an old man like myself an unfair competitive advantage against all the thirteen and fourteen years old riders kicking my ass at Shuzenji.

Of course, to be fair, there are also two disadvantages : There is no clicking of the clutch of the back wheel hub audible any longer, I am missing this clickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklickclickclickclickclickcklick sound when riding in a group. When I hear it I know I have to be careful and prepare to brake.
And these wheels need a high degree of maintenance The rear hub needs to be de-assembled at greased after every ride in the rain.

Really I would like to spend as much time on the bike as possible and not spend too much time cleaning it and so on. even to update this blog cost a lot of time, but luckily I can do it at work.

In any case, they really look sharp.

Yesterday night I went to Nagai-San to collect my new Cervelo bike. The bike looked just great and Nagai-San really did an awesome job. I was close to tears.I went there with my both kids to show them what really matters in life.

Just like you do not introduce your new girlfriend to your family on the first date, I decided to go solo with my new bike today on Sunday. After all, her name is „Soloist“. I also wanted to do some quite of special ride, so I was pondering whether to go over Yabitsu, Tomin no Mori, Matsuhime or some other place. In the end I decided on Tomin no Mori which used to be a ride I did maybe two times during one season, this year I have been up there already three times, today included. I was also in need of some elevation as I am going to start in Shunzenji next week, D-class = 3 laps, never ever I attempted to do three laps in a row in Shuzenji.

The weather was good and the bike felt just great. I do not want to become this a bike to look at, or to treat it special. This is my new bike and I will ride it just as I rode my Cannondale, it is not an addition, it is the long awaited replacement.

Nagai-San adjusted the bike so that the position is more or less exactly as my Cannondale was, so I felt immediately good on the bike. However the clamp which keeps the saddle post in place does not. So while I was riding I constantly lost height. I put really some torque on the clamp to fix the position of the saddle post and it worked out – then the upper fixation started to get loosen and the saddle started rotating. Small things, Nagai-san will sort them out for me.

If anything, the bike feels very precise. I realize now that it was a mistake to use my Ultegra shifters for seven years and more – the new shifters shift effortless and precise. The frame feels not very much different compared to the Cannondale.

I rode a slow pace to the 7-eleven at Itsukaichi, had a break (lots of riders there) and then continued to Honjuku. I was eager to go up fast, but on the other hand I also wanted to try to stay at a high cadence and keep my heartbeat under control. That went very well. Just after Honjuku there eas the first speed trap by the police – no problem for me as I was going up. I continued to climb steady and with not so much effort until elevation 700 or so. One rider passed me (one of the riders I saw at the 7-eleven), but he wasn’t that much faster than I was and the more we climbed the slower he got. I was able to stay on his wheel.

Together we passed another guy who was only a little bit slower than we were. But this guy was not on a bike – this guy was running up the road towards Tomin no Mori. Very impressive, I guess he was running around 10 km/hr.

Basically I felt ok and much better than two week before. I continued without a break and made it up to Tomin no Mori. At the deserted gatehouse at elv. 800 m my companion made a break and I continued to climb in a little bit less than 1:12 hours. I guess I wasn’t riding that much faster than last week, but I managed to go up without breaks.

I had some family obligations, so I started the descent early and rode home in one long stretch from Tomin no Mori. It took me close to four hours to go up and a little bit less than three hours to return to base.

A nice spring day in love.

Hey, who would say here „Hana yori dango“ ?