posted by Allan Chong on november 29, 1997 at 02:47:33:
Just got done building my extralight road frame.
(well almost, i still need shifters) and took it for
a ride. Wow. I've been riding a Reynolds 753 frame
with 1985 DuraAce, and this completely blew it away.
I put a mix of Mavic parts that I've been saving and
collecting for a while on it. Nothing particularly
light except a Look HSC fork.
Honestly, it's not any faster, just a lot nicer ride.
Wow. Buzzin along, it just had a very smooth ride.
And this was with one of those funky lightweight
saddles. The best thing I can say about it is
that it was invisible. It completely takes your
mind off of the bike and road surface.
One real strange thing. After I had it assembled, I did
the "press hard on the pedal, BB frame flex" test.
This is a pretty flexy bike. The funny thing is, on
the road, it didn't feel flexy at the BB while pedaling
at all. I'm beginning to think that geometry might
have more to do with the crit vs road feel than BB
stiffness.
allan