The silver lining of my Wildflower bike experience keeps looking better. I recently learned (thanks again to Rand Libberton and PK Racing) that for nearly two years, since the start of my auspicious road-biking career, I have been riding with a crazy gear ratio setup; or at least one that is highly inadvisable for anyone biking in the hilly Bay Area or attempting Wildflower's Nasty Grade.
My Felt 65 had a 53/39 chainring and an 11-23 cassette (standard setup details). I should be riding with a 12-27 cassette to allow me to keep a reasonable cadence while climbing.
Rand & PK Racing ordered and installed a new Shimano Ultegra cassette, chain and derailleur and fixed the derailleur hanger; the latter two were necessary as my bike is still banged up after a crash coming down Conzelman Road in the Marin headlands at the end of 2005 (in spite of post crash repair work and several tune-ups at other locations since...)
The result? My bike rides even more smoothly and shifting is much better. The headlands repeats on Saturday May 19th were almost fun... :P
Showing posts with label PK Racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PK Racing. Show all posts
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
New wheels: Fulcrum Racing 1
An upside of breaking a spoke at Wildflower; it provided the perfect excuse to buy new wheels. Thanks to all who gave me advice especially Mike Spence, Craig Dalton, James Gracey and Rand Libberton.
Brand/class recommendations included: Mavic Ksyrium ES, Bontrager Race X Lite, Easton and Fulcrum. In the end I chose Fulcrum Racing 1.
So how are they? I must admit, I wasn't convinced that I would be able to tell the difference (especially given my relatively limited road biking experience). My first test ride was the Escape from Alcatraz bike loop on a sunny, dry, almost windless Sunday May 13th. Climbing was easier, descending was faster (I could pick up speed incredibly quickly, even when freewheeling) and the part I'm most impressed with: every street felt like it was newly paved; the ride was incredibly smooth. [They also sound pretty cool and come with their own carry cases :-) ]
Huge thanks (again) to Rand Libberton and the folks at PK Racing, who did all the hard work installing them and servicing my bike post Wildflower.
I also learned about some useful online resources including
PS I was riding ALX 220 and Wildflower was the third spoke to break in 2007 (one front, two back). I guess I should have seen it coming...The weight difference between the ALX 220 and Fulcrum Racing 1 is about 129g front, 227g rear, 356g total.
Brand/class recommendations included: Mavic Ksyrium ES, Bontrager Race X Lite, Easton and Fulcrum. In the end I chose Fulcrum Racing 1.
So how are they? I must admit, I wasn't convinced that I would be able to tell the difference (especially given my relatively limited road biking experience). My first test ride was the Escape from Alcatraz bike loop on a sunny, dry, almost windless Sunday May 13th. Climbing was easier, descending was faster (I could pick up speed incredibly quickly, even when freewheeling) and the part I'm most impressed with: every street felt like it was newly paved; the ride was incredibly smooth. [They also sound pretty cool and come with their own carry cases :-) ]
Huge thanks (again) to Rand Libberton and the folks at PK Racing, who did all the hard work installing them and servicing my bike post Wildflower.
I also learned about some useful online resources including
PS I was riding ALX 220 and Wildflower was the third spoke to break in 2007 (one front, two back). I guess I should have seen it coming...The weight difference between the ALX 220 and Fulcrum Racing 1 is about 129g front, 227g rear, 356g total.
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