Vittoria Open Pavè EVO CG Clincher

• 250 grams
• 290 tpi casing
• CG file tread pattern
• 100 - 130 psi inflation range
• Corespun Kevlar cotton casing for performance and durability
• 700×24

For anybody that watches the Spring Classics, the Vittoria Open Pavè should look fairly familiar. The green treaded Pavè’s are very popular during the spring classics, and until recently were only offered as tubulars. Vittoria is changing that, and is now offering the Open Pavè in the form of a clincher. Not only that, but they are available in the traditional green tread, or an all new all black tread. The open tubular version of the Pavè is made of the same “hand made” casing and comes in 700×24. These tires add a little bit of girth and a little weight, but in return, they offer the rider a plush, fast, ride. This is key when a rider is riding over anything from rough back country roads to the cobbles of Europe.

We’ve been riding two sets of the Open Pavè since winter and both sets have held up very well. The tires are very supple with their 290tpi casing and are even grippy feeling to the touch. This extra grip helped out greatly during our wet weather riding. Even with spring upon us, I’m still riding the Open Pavès because they ride very well both in bad weather and wet roads or sunny dry roads. The tires feel great rolling over rough roads, and don’t seem to give up much for being a wider tire on smooth flat surfaces. On mountain descents the Open Pavè’s grip impressed us and gave a very confidence inspiring feeling of grip in corners and didn’t slow us down one bit. They have quickly become our choice of winter riding tire.

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The Elite Fluid Primo is a US only trainer that utilizes a fluid resistance unit with the company’s Elastogel 45mm diameter roller in their CRONO frame. They tout it as the smoothest, quietest and easiest to use trainer ever built. So I put it to the test.

The preliminary impression of the unit is that it is light weight and well constructed. It is also easy to carry and the unit folds fairly flat for easy stowage under a bed or in a closet. This, combined with the advertised quietness of the Elastogel resistance roller and progressive fluid resistance, could make this trainer a good choice for someone that lives in an upper level apartment that doesn’t want to bother the lower level neighbors.

The setup was also fairly straight forward. You lift the arms in place and you place the bike between the arms and tighten the adjusting knob. But be sure to read the instructions, conveniently located on the arm adjacent to the adjusting knob, on how to properly secure the bike to the trainer. The adjusting knob is nice and large making it simple to hold the bike with one hand while tightening or loosening the bike on the trainer with the other hand.

My only issue, and a very minor one, is that the width between the two arms could be a bit wider for easier install and uninstall of the bike in the trainer. The rear derailleur cable would sometimes get caught on the adjacent adjusting arm making the positioning of the bike into the trainer tricky. But again, this was a very minor bother.

Once properly adjusted onto the trainer the weight of the rider automatically adjusts the resistance of the flywheel and the flexible support legs helped lend to the realistic road feel. As advertised, the Elastomer roller was very smooth and quiet. The smoothness translated into a higher cadence which provided an excellent Vo2 max workout. The subtle clamor of the trainer was also very prevalent, as advertised. Maybe not the quietest roller ever built but certainly in the top 2 or 3. But be sure that your tire is properly inflated. An under-inflated tire can wear on the Elastomer roller and your rear tire tread.

However, the smoothness lent itself to a faster spin of the flywheel than you would on the road due to the low resistance. So my cadence was much higher than normal compared to other trainers. I averaged about 2 mph faster over a one hour training period than I usually do.

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Become one of the privileged few to own a piece of history. Only fifty, built to order LOOK 586 Mondrian Limited Edition frames will be produced. In commemoration of the 1986 Tour de France, this frame represents the soul of LOOK Cycles, harking back to the heritage that brought our brand to fame. This “nouveau retro” frame will become an instant collector’s item.

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Alex from Silicon Valley Cycling Center continues our series of intros to power meters by giving a brief introduction, the Polar CS600 with Power and heart rate.

The CS600 measure power by using the Power Output Sensor W.I.N.D. direct from the chain, unlike other models that use the crank or hub. This precision system combines measures from two key factors: chain tension, (using a sensor on the chain stay) and chain speed (using a sensor on the rear pulley.) The polar is not only the lightest power meter in the series on your wallet, but it’s also the lightest system on your bike, at a measly 275 grams for the whole system installed. The system retails for $710.

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This is one of the most anticipated products this year, not only for mountain bike riders, but cyclocross as well.. I’ve got my hands on a production model so it should be hitting the store shelves pretty soon. Why the fuss?

• it is a pedal from Look, which has a good track record of making excellent pedals
• it is a very simple, open design.
• the base model, the Look Quartz is very light and priced aggressively at $99/pair
• each pedal has 2 sets of sealed bearings and a needle bearing.

Claimed weight is 125 grams per pedal. Our test set (production model) came in at 130 and 129.5 grams each. In comparison, the Crank comparable Crank Brothers pedals are:

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By Russ Bartholet

For the past month that I have been “riding with power” my CycleOps PowerTap 2.4 SL is has been a great tool. After the first few weeks of getting familiar with the functions of the PowerTap system and learning what it takes to produce and sustain the different levels of power it was time to setup my training plan and establish a few goals.

Setting up a training plan
My current goals are to gain more fitness and not get dropped on the local Wednesday night group rides. Weight loss is always a motivating factor as well and usually means that I can climb better when the road goes up. I figure that I will loose the weight as I follow the plan to improve my fitness. In the past I have been able to ride for a few weeks consistently until I get burned out and end up taking a day or two off the bike that turns into a week or more. So nothing has been too regular or consistent. The training plan that I have been following has rest days and recovery days. I have been able to better monitor these recovery days with the PowerTap power meter. I can now see that my recovery days in the past were not at the recovery pace and it is understandable why I would burn out after a few weeks.

Regardless of what my goals are I needed to determine my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) and set up my power zones. This is no different from the zones that riders will set when training with a heart rate monitor. The rider’s FTP is the power output that the rider could sustain over the course of an hour. Both the FTP and the power zones are critical in setting up and following a training plan.

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Karl and Alex from Silicon Valley Cycling Center give a brief introduction to the three most popular power meters on the market. In Part 1, Karl goes over the pro peleton favorite SRM PowerMeter.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where Karl will be going over the features and benefits of the CycleOps PowerTap 2.4SL!

American Classic 420 Wheelset
Description:

Model: 420 Black Bladed with ceramic bearings.
Weight: 1530 grams
MSRP: 420 with bladed spokes is $949 wheels + $199 ceramic bearings
Total: $1148

The 420 is the best selling product of the American Classic line up. They have lighter wheel sets and stronger wheel sets but none achieve the balance that the 420 has. It has a medium depth rim at 34 mm. And it has decent weight at 1530 grams. The lateral stiffness is excellent and the ride is pretty comfortable.

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By Russ Bartholet

The Introduction.
I have never raced my road bike and do not have any plans to do so. I ride for exercise and as a means to control my diabetes. Any “training” that I have done to get ready for the few charity-type rides that I have participated in has just been to ride more. It has been the quantity of miles and the consistency of the rides leading up to the events that have helped. Other than that I just ride my bike. An hour one day and maybe two hours the next, whatever I can squeeze in between family and work commitments.

A few months ago I was talking with my doctor about using a power meter to track how my body responds to the exercise and in turn how if affects my diabetes. It helps that he is a USA Cycling coach and races himself. He understands what it takes to gain fitness and improve as a cyclist.

Adrenaline and other hormones affect heart rate whereas the power that a rider can produce and the watts that are generated reflect the overall performance of the cyclist. I am hoping to better understand how my diabetes responds to exercise and to track the changes in my fitness as I record my rides and download the data that is collected through the power meter.

The Cyclops PowerTap SL 2.4 from Saris was easy to set up. After putting on a new tire and swapping my cassette from my old wheel I was pretty much ready to ride. With no wires to run from bow to stern or magnets to adjust against a sensor, it was a fast and easy install. The computer set up took all of ten minutes to decide what language I wanted to use and if I wanted to go truly Euro and use the metric system. In the end I opted for the standard unit of measure in the United States and left the display in the default setting. This just means that I did not move the displays around and left them in the order that comes stock from Saris.

Everything needed to get started using the system is provided. The computer head and handle bar mount, heart rate strap, download cradle, setup booklet, a booklet on training with power written by Allen Lim, Ph.D., and a training CD that is very informative. I downloaded the training software directly from the Saris website and had everything ready to go in about 45 minutes. All that I needed to do now was ride.

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I’ve been on the Reynolds MV32C’s for a about a month now and thought I would share a few impressions. Before I go any further I’ll engage in some journalistic housekeeping - the bike studio I own is a Reynolds dealer. But since I get to make the call on what brands we carry, you can probably guess that we carry products I believe in, not the other way around. In any case, I’ll clearly separate out fact from opinion in this review.

Just the facts: Reynolds does not make any rims with carbon fairings over an aluminum rim. The MV32C’s are a full carbon clincher, no aluminum in the rim at all. Reynolds has a long history with carbon design and manufacturing so they like to put it to full effect. Advertised weight for the pair is 1400g although wheel manufacturers usually quote with no skewers or rim strips. My measurements include skewers (the ones that Reynolds provides with the wheels, of course), Velox rim tape, and the rear wheel magnet for my SRM. Take out the skewers and the wheels + rim tape are right in at 1465 grams. I measured the skewers separately at 115 grams. Factor in the tape and the magnet and the advertised/actual are probably right on.

Here they are on the scale: Read the rest of this entry »