Rock Lobster Cross Euro in off-season mode
Ready for a trail ride
Love the headbadge
My first (and only) win!
I've now raced a full cyclocross season and I have better thoughts about the bike. I still love it especially the way it handles and fits me. The weight weenie in me sometimes has me thinking that it could be lighter if I went with a carbon fork. Each time I think that, I have a ride and realize how well the steel fork works. It feels just right, the handling is not too fast and not too slow. About the only thing is that I've hit my pedals on some off camber slopes. It seems the low bottom bracket leads to that but it's not an issue. I would rather have better handling for the turns than a very seldom pedal strike. I think it's happened less than 5 times. My goal for this bike was to be a race bike and fireroad bike in the off season and it has been great at both. Actually this bike is used a lot more on dirt since my other bike is a single speed 29er and I've been a bit lazy lately.
If I did it again, I would only change one (possibly two) things. It would be to allow for a larger inner chainring. When I was getting fitted, I told him I was going to use a compact crank and the chainstay fits it perfectly. When I got the Zank CX chainrings, the 36t didn't fit so I'm running the original Campy 34t with a Zank 44t. It works great when I'm in gear but upshifting is a little slower since the shifting ramps and pins aren't lined up. In the big picture, that is really nothing. The other thing I may look into is disc brakes but the technology needs to catch up for integrated shifters before I would do something like that. Now if I could get another cross bike, it would be a dedicated Rock Lobster race bike and as light as possible so that would be aluminum with carbon forks. But for that to happen I need to be at least in the top 10% of Bs before I can even start to think of that.
In terms of components, that's been pretty awesome. I use the Campy Ergo 10 speed shifters with Shimano rear derailleur and it makes a great 8 speed system. It is lighter, cheaper and more durable than if I went 10 speed. The shifting feels like it was designed to work together. The only thing is the Campy rear shifter. Sometimes it "locks" up and I can't downshift the thumb shifter until I move the upshift paddle a little. Not sure if that will loosen up after a while. I've read that it takes Campy shifters about 1000 miles and then shifts great. I'm halfway there. I love the TRP CX9 mini v. They are so powerful that after I got them, I had to relearn to stop with one finger only. The first time I grabbed a handful of brakes like my old cantilever, I almost went over the bars. The Thomson stem, seatpost, FSA handlebars, Fizik saddle, Time pedals and Campy cranks have been great. I don't ever think about them and they work great. The only thing I've changed were the wheels. I had DT 240 hubs on Velocity Escape rims and I rolled my a tubular during a race. It was my own glue job so I have no one to blame except myself but when the season was over, I bought HED C2 rims and had them rebuilt at Win's Wheels. I also got a matching clincher set (HED Ardennes CL) so that the rim width is the same when my clincher set becomes my pit wheels during races. I'm hoping the wider rims will give a larger gluing area for my tubulars. Speaking of tubulars, I'm going to sell my Challenge Grifo and Fangos. They work well but I found myself washing out on some turns. I'm used to aggressive tires from mountain biking so I'm looking to get the Clement PDX tubulars. I figure I lose more time slowing down on turns than the extra friction running aggressive tread on the straights. If these tires allow me to turn faster it will be worth it. I can't wait for next season to start...
My geometry here: http://mikeylovesbikes.blogspot.com/2012/09/rock-lobster-plans.html
Building it up: http://mikeylovesbikes.blogspot.com/2011/07/rock-lobster-cross-euro-mama-celeste.html
Fitting by Paul: http://mikeylovesbikes.blogspot.com/2011/04/rock-lobster-fitting.html
No comments:
Post a Comment