Almost exactly one year later, the Cervelo is now a whopping 587 grams (1lb 1.6 ounces) lighter…and about $3700 heavier on the wallet. Each gram of weight savings cost $6.30. Is it worth that additional money? Of course, that is subjective. It is less than buying a brand new bike and offers the satisfaction of being completely customized. On the other hand, it is still a lot of money

More importantly, the bike now climbs better due to lighter weight, better low gear range, and stiffer cranks. And it descends with greater confidence and ability due to the phenomenal fork and handlebars. In a word, the bike has gone from competent to fantastic.

Read the rest of this entry »

Part 4 – Ritchey Carbon Magic

I am extremely lucky to have Steve Parke as my neighbor. He’s the General Manager at Ritchey and he was very enthused about helping out with this project. Ritchey parts embody the spirit of this project: light but strong and extremely well engineered. So we took the lightest and newest carbon offerings to see what more could be done to lighten the bike further-while continuing to improve it’s overall performance. We upgraded the seatpost, handlebar, and fork.

Seatpost: Ritchey Superlogic Carbon One-bolt

• MSRP: $350
• Actual weight: 140 grams
• Sizes: 300/27.2 (tested), 300mm/31.6, 350/27.2, 400/30.9, 400/31.6
• Beautiful workmanship, intelligent single-bolt design
• Monocoque (one piece) construction with forged carbon head

It’s hard to find a seatpost that comes in at less than 150 grams. The Ritchey Superlogic Carbon is one of the few. It is also very strong. Ritchey has designed a post that is “3-D forged” from the shaft to the head mount. That means it’s heated and super-pressurized carbon to mold it into it’s shape.

Another nice feature is the simple one-bolt clamping mechanism that holds the cradle and end pieces together. Ritchey even makes clamps that come in different sizes to, for example, work with the carbon railed fizik Aliante which has a taller rail profile.

Installing the saddle takes a bit of time but once on, it’s easy to adjust fore/aft and the angle. The seatpost didn’t have any noticeable flex and complemented the already plush ride of the Cervelo.

Part 3: Accessorize – Fizik Antares saddle and KCNC quick releases
The next two were easy upgrades that actually saved a lot of weight.

Fizik Antares Saddle

• Cost: $199 MSRP
• Comfortable yet very light weight
• Natural Leather Seat Cover
• Made in Italy
• ICS bag compatible
• Weight: Claimed 175 grams. Actual: 177.

The Antares is the newest saddle from Fizik. It is positioned between the ultra-comfortable Aliante and the ultra-popular Airione. I love the Aliante but the Airione never quite fit me. The Antares’ real competitor is a minimalist saddle like the Selle Italia Flite which weighs an astounding 135 grams. However, I find the Flite extremely uncomfortable. The Antares weighs a little more but I found it to be surprisingly comfortable–even on 50 mile rides. Plus, at 177 grams, it saves 38 grams over the Aliante. You can read my in-depth review here.

Easton hits a home run, first time at bat!

• EC90 Cranks: MSRP $699.00
• Ceramic Bearing Bottom Bracket: MSRP $199.00
• Crank: 170, 172.5, 175 arm length, 53×39 chainrings (compact coming soon)
• Crank weight: 574 grams including end cap
• Ceramic Bottom Bracket Weight: 102 grams. Total 676 grams
• 5 year warranty

Of all the upgrades, I was most excited about Easton’s new carbon cranks. I’ve been using 9-speed Dura Ace with FSA Superlight Cranks (543 grams with bolts) and the reliable and light Dura Ace Octalink bottom bracket (175 grams). The combined weight of 718 grams seemed hard to beat; most of the newer 10-speed crank/bb’s actually weigh more. But since I switched to 10-speed recently, I wanted a crankset that was optimized for the 10 cogs. Easton’s crank was the one that was lighter without being quite as cost-prohibitive as some of the competition. Better still, the EC90 crank and bottom bracket weigh a total of 676 grams, a savings of 32 grams.

How does it compare?
So how can you objectively measure the relative worth of these cranks without riding them? To try and quantify this, I looked at the weights and MSRPs of the latest high end standard sized cranks (the FSA K-force Light TI was not compared because it is only available in compact). I then gave 100 points to the lightest and 100 points to the least expensive with proportionate weighting to each. Each crank is then graded relative to the best in class.

In the end, it’s very clear that there is a huge price premium for ceramic bearings; the jury is still out if the maintenance is worth the claimed reduction in friction. However, and more importantly, along these two judging criteria, the EC90 with standard BB has the best overall score. With the ceramic BB, it comes in at 3rd.

Looking purely at $/gram, the EC90 with standard BB slips to 2nd with the Ceramic BB version still at 3rd.

Not a bad empirical showing for the EC90.

Cervelo Diet – Ultimate Mods for the Ultimate Bike, the Cervelo R3 – By Twain Mein

I purchased a used Cervelo R3 frame from a poster in RoadBikeReview classifieds in March of 2008. Luckily, it was in mint condition and I got a great deal on a phenomenal frame & fork. The R3, though now 3 years old, is still one of the lightest available frames. The performance is amazing; the frame somehow combines incredible stiffness yet still has a buttery smooth ride. It does this by having massive down tube, chain stays, and bottom bracket. But it has very thin and compliant seat stays which help it to absorb shock. It is no exaggeration that this bike climbs like nothing else! It also descends incredibly well with a feeling of confidence I haven’t had in years. It feels as comfortable as an old steel frame yet climbs and accelerates like a super stiff aluminum one. It’s no wonder it’s won so many awards, including RoadBikeReview’s “Best of 2008” with an astounding 4.93 average rating. I freely admit that it doesn’t look drop dead “beautiful” but it is engineered for performance, sort of like a Porsche 911.

Read the rest of this entry »