Wednesday, April 18, 2007

2006 trek 1000


Voted "best bike under $1000" in Bicycling Magazine. It's a great entry level road bike.


The mix of Shimano Sora and Tiagra parts is what keeps the price down...but the drivetrain performance matches the price point.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

team performance

I buy lots of bike stuff: parts and gear, etc. I shop at the local bike shops but mostly I get stuff online. Performance Bike is has a good deal where you get 10% back on your purchases. Since my sales tax in Seattle is 9.6% this basically covers what I have to pay the state.


Note to self: 997868806

Friday, April 13, 2007

single speed


My winter commuter is a 58cm Bianchi San Jose single speed. It's categorized as a cyclocross bike but mine is set up with full fenders and some lights.



The stock gearing is 42 x 16 which makes it a little challenging at times around Seattle. For my (very short) commute I want to try a larger gear so that I don't sweat while climbing the hill back home. So I put a 17 tooth freewheel on it to see if climbing is noticeably easier.



I've searched all over the web for a stock photo that shows the 2007 in the "Washed-up Blue" color that I have but no luck. So here's a stock photo of it in green.







Here's a stock photo of the 2006 in Washed-up blue. I think the major difference between 06 and 07 was a change to the wheelset. The 07 comes with a flip flop rear hub. If you look close at the photos you can kinda see the difference.


Wednesday, April 11, 2007

track bike


Here's a stock photo of my track bike. It's a 59cm Cannondale Team Major Taylor. She's very light. I still need to post photos of mine as I've upgraded my saddle to a nice red Selle Italia and I've upgraded the bars, too.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

shimano flightdeck


I've used the Shimano Flight Deck computer for a few years now. I like it because it has a clean installation (no wires), the controls are integrated into the STI shifters and it gives me (an estimate of) cadence without a second sensor on the chainstay.

The head unit can be used on multiple bikes but--of course--they all have to be Shimano-equipped. The only non-Shimano bike I have is my Bianchi San Jose singlespeed so I'm OK with this limitation.

Programming the thing is a pain. First, to hit the reset you need something REALLY LONG... I used the end of my Take A Look mirror to reset it.

You'll need to know the wheel size, the number of chainrings, the number of sprockets and the number of teeth for each. Get this data and write it down BEFORE you start because figuring it out while you're programming the head unit is not fun...

For posterity, my new Jamis Eclipse has a FSA 50/34 compact crank and a Shimano FH-6600 freehub. The sprockets are: 12T, 13T, 14T, 15T, 16T, 17T, 19T, 21T, 23T, 25T.

The first thing to program is the wheel size. The instructions say to inflate the tire, mark and measure a single rotation of the front wheel and track the measurement within 5mm. Right. Well, I'm an engineer and I wanted to be exact so I did as instructed so I fanagled a really long tape measeure and found the circumference was about 82.75 inches. Converting to metric that's 210.5 cm. Now I was ready to enter the data!!

Little did I know that the sub-display shows standard wheel sizes as you scroll through the settings. So save yourself some time and just scroll through until you find the settings that match the size printed on your tire's sidewall. Sheesh.

Entering the sprockets was also a bit confusing because the head unitl supports triple or double chainrings and from 7 to 10 sprockets. The trick is to enter "--" whenever you don't have a corresponding value.

The magnet that comes with the sensor kit is bulky and I want to replace it with something more compatible with a bladed spoke. Also, the transmitter unit is held on with a strap-thingy that kinda sucks. I'll probably replace it once I win the Megamillions Lotto and have copious free time on my hands.

Monday, April 9, 2007

new editions


I've upgraded the fleet for 2007! The new editions are from Jamis.






This is a stock picture of the Jamis Eclipse. The frame is part steel and part carbon. The components are full Ultegra. Sweet!






This is a stock picture of the other Jamis: a Dakaar XAM 1.0. Full suspension with front & rear disks. Also sweet.





The Eclipse was built yesterday but it started to rain. (In Seattle? Go figure...) So I'm still waiting to go on the maiden voyage. I'll post some photos of the real bikes later...