Post images of beauty (quote pics sparingly) - see Mod warnings in OP

BRENT_EAGLE

This is my sisters bianchi but its more or less mine now after cycling it so much very nice bike

[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/ROISIN%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG]

BRENT_EAGLE

But this is my baby right here

Hermy

I regularly see this or one just like it around Dublin City - very nice bike.:cool:

BRENT_EAGLE

Thanks hermy its a lovely bike but my one has sraight cut down handle bars with big purple grips and red vitoria tires and a leopard print sadle so it looks pretty crazy

Vélo

BRENT_EAGLE wrote: »

Thanks hermy its a lovely bike but my one has sraight cut down handle bars with big purple grips and red vitoria tires and a leopard print sadle so it looks pretty crazy

Are you Del-boy Trotter?

Funkyzeit

Fabulous looking bike - I'm also a proud owner of a bianchi:

Smithzer

No more months of searching the web for a new bike

BRENT_EAGLE

Aquinas73 wrote: »

Are you Del-boy Trotter?

I really hope not????????

gman2k

Has taken over a year to complete as project, but I reckon it was worth the wait;). All xtr groupset except the xt chainset. Full carbon frame and Spinner Aeris fork.

CheGuedara

gman, tasty rig - really nice, must be a fast fast machine.

How do you find the aeris fork? Had one myself, liked the platform valving feature and the light weight but found it quite flexy and had small issues with it losing pressure from time to time. You?

FrankGrimes

Not the best of photos as the dusk lighting was odd and my camera was about to die, but I kinda like the sparkly bits How do you embed images instead of having it just link to the file?

Raam

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Not the best of photos as the dusk lighting was odd and my camera was about to die, but I kinda like the sparkly bits How do you embed images instead of having it just link to the file?

By magic, or if that doesn't work, attach image, preview the post, copy image location, use that

FrankGrimes

Raam wrote: »

By magic, or if that doesn't work, attach image, preview the post, copy image location, use that

Cheers, fixed it there.

jebidiah

nice bike frank. a friend of mine got one of those fsa planet x's im very tempted my self

ajk24

Giant SCR 4 '08 and the fresh out of the box, yet to be ridden SL PRO Carbon FSA Edition

Images from phone - will post some better ones if I ever find my camera

TinyExplosions

ajk24 wrote: »

and the fresh out of the box, yet to be ridden SL PRO Carbon FSA Edition

Shoulda gotten pink

rottenhat

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Shoulda gotten pink

Talking to yourself there?

blorg

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Nice bike Frank (I had a Swallow on a carbon bike myself) but your angles are all over the place, need to straighten both saddle and bars. The bottom of the bars should be parallel with the ground. Also need to reconsider your pedal choice, you have unnecessary weight in those ones

rottenhat

blorg wrote: »

The bottom of the bars should be parallel with the ground.

Are you sure? I thought in line with the back brakes was the traditional recommendation...certainly works well for me.

niceonetom

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Not the best of photos as the dusk lighting was odd and my camera was about to die, but I kinda like the sparkly bits How do you embed images instead of having it just link to the file?

fyp

better now blorg?

Frank, are those white tyres?

blorg

rottenhat wrote: »

Are you sure? I thought in line with the back brakes was the traditional recommendation...certainly works well for me.

I take it back, it seems there are different schools of thought on it. I go with the flat or very slightly angled up myself. Aiming the ends to point at the back brake sounds reasonable, maybe depends on whether you have traditional or "ergo" bars with a flat bit too- my bars are all ergo.

To me Frank's current angle looks a bit extreme, to the extent that the drops would be difficult to use. Regarding saddle angle, the risk of pointing down is just that you will tend to slip forward and tend to put more weight on the bars than you otherwise would- I think Frank maybe mentioned slipping forward before (someone did regarding Brooks) so that might be an issue.

Same saddle on my old bike:



Haha, nice one Tom, I think you flipped the stem while you were at it? Good job on the internal cable routing too For me, it does _look_ more right to my eye at least (I will acknowledge that "my eye" is not riding the bike.)

rottenhat

blorg wrote: »

To me Frank's current angle looks a bit extreme, to the extent that the drops would be difficult to use.

Agreed, but it depends to some extent on what kind of riding you do - I'd spend lot more time with my hands on the sides of the bars than in the drops so I like to have them close to level which lining up with the brakes does nicely with traditional bars. It can be hard to get a good position both on top and in the drops with ergo bars, it seems.

blorg wrote: »

Regarding saddle angle, the risk of pointing down is just that you will tend to slip forward and tend to put more weight on the bars than you otherwise would- I think Frank maybe mentioned slipping forward before (someone did regarding Brooks) so that might be an issue.

Yeah, that's indisputably wrong, but he was experiencing some pressure on certain sensitive areas with the saddle level, I think.

FrankGrimes

niceonetom wrote: »

fyp

better now blorg?

Frank, are those white tyres?

What the??? But the??? How the hell did you do that? Had to look at it twice before I noticed the changes they were so smoothly done!

I've always had the bars at the front tilted up due to a back problem causing limited flexibility. I've made good ground with that though so I'll try it out with them aligned more to what's in the updated photo, thanks.

Yeh, saddle has been tilted down out of necessity - I'd prefer to just deal with the awkwardness instead of the numbness in the nether regions that I was getting before.

Either way, it's clear I'm poorly setup on the bike and I can't figure out if the saddle is too far forward or too far back but it doesn't feel right at all. I'll read the fitting section in the Zinn book but I might ask for some advice from boardsies when I finally make it out to a boards spin in the next week or two.

Agree that the pedals have a bit of extra weight on them but I like the versatility of being able to use them in flat runners - sometimes I cycle to my football matches in my astro boots. The pedals are these ones and are listed as 567g wherease these Ultegra SL pedals come in at 310g. The 250g extra is probably unnecessary, but in the grander scheme of things I've spare weight elsewhere I'd focus on getting rid of first ....also gotta make sure I don't leave myself open to criticism from PaulHardwick 'lifestyle guru'.

Caroline_ie

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Yeh, saddle has been tilted down out of necessity - I'd prefer to just deal with the awkwardness instead of the numbness in the nether regions that I was getting before.

Maybe just lower the saddle a bit rather than tilt it downards, might also be good for your back.

Ghost Rider

Your saddle does look quite far forward on the rails. Are you by any chance finding it hard to reach the bars? If so, a shorter stem might be a better way to make this adjustment. (I had to do the same on my P-X. Found the standard 110mm stem a fair bit too long for me.)

FrankGrimes wrote: »

What the??? But the??? How the hell did you do that? Had to look at it twice before I noticed the changes they were so smoothly done!

I've always had the bars at the front tilted up due to a back problem causing limited flexibility. I've made good ground with that though so I'll try it out with them aligned more to what's in the updated photo, thanks.

Yeh, saddle has been tilted down out of necessity - I'd prefer to just deal with the awkwardness instead of the numbness in the nether regions that I was getting before.

Either way, it's clear I'm poorly setup on the bike and I can't figure out if the saddle is too far forward or too far back but it doesn't feel right at all. I'll read the fitting section in the Zinn book but I might ask for some advice from boardsies when I finally make it out to a boards spin in the next week or two.

Agree that the pedals have a bit of extra weight on them but I like the versatility of being able to use them in flat runners - sometimes I cycle to my football matches in my astro boots. The pedals are these ones and are listed as 567g wherease these Ultegra SL pedals come in at 310g. The 250g extra is probably unnecessary, but in the grander scheme of things I've spare weight elsewhere I'd focus on getting rid of first ....also gotta make sure I don't leave myself open to criticism from PaulHardwick 'lifestyle guru'.

FrankGrimes

Yeh it's probably a bit of both there, thanks for the pointers folks.

I'll lower the saddle a little bit and straighten it and see if that helps. The stem is probably too long - I had a shortened stem on my previous bike so will probably need to put a shortened stem on it - I guess I need to go with 80mm as 90mm doesn't sound like enough of a difference from 110m.

Ghost Rider - what stem did you go for and can you confirm 31.8mm is the right fit? Hoping not to spend much more than €50 on the stem on my quest to getting comfortable on the bike.

niceonetom - the tyres are white on the edges and black in the middle and I quites likes 'em!

Ghost Rider

I'm not too sure what size the bars are, or even how to measure them, but they were described as "oversized" in the bike spec. Does that help?

I went for a 75mm stem because that seemed to fit me nicely. I got it in Cycleways for about 32 quid. (It's a Specialized - probably not the lightest one around but I wasn't about to fork out 100 for a Thomson.) The people in Cycleways were, I must say, very helpful - especially the Canadian guy.
They let me try a couple of stems on my bike and go for a short spin to test them for size.

I highly recommend that wherever you get your stem, you try it out on the bike. Stem size is very important in getting your bike to fit you.

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Ghost Rider - what stem did you go for and can you confirm 31.8mm is the right fit? Hoping not to spend much more than €50 on the stem on my quest to getting comfortable on the bike.

niceonetom - the tyres are white on the edges and black in the middle and I quites likes 'em!

Lumen

FWIW, CSS told me that less than 90mm was not recommended due to effects on handling (making it twitchier/less stable). The shortest they had in stock was 90mm (coincidence?). I've seen shorter ones elsewhere though.

niceonetom

blorg wrote: »

...I think you flipped the stem while you were at it?

well spotted eagle eye.

FrankGrimes wrote: »

What the??? But the??? How the hell did you do that?

skillz. mad skillz.

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Yeh, saddle has been tilted down out of necessity - I'd prefer to just deal with the awkwardness instead of the numbness in the nether regions that I was getting before.

I hate to say it, but brooks ain't for everyone. I speak from experience here. I spent a very uncomfortable few weeks (about 8) on beautiful honey B17 narrow trying to break it in. It was trying to do the same thing to me, and it was winning. I rubbed olive oil on the inside in a last ditch attempt to soften it. No joy. So eventually, in a fit of taint pain I beat the hell out of it with a rolling pin. It was it or me. I still wince at the thought of a long ride on a brooks. Specialized BG please.

I suggest you put a time limit on the brooks - if it doesn't work for you after that point, get rid. I know you must have spent a fair bit o cash on it, but better to get some back second hand than to martyr your wee man.

That tilt looks like the work of a desperate man in denial about a bad purchase. Just saying.

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Either way, it's clear I'm poorly setup on the bike and I can't figure out if the saddle is too far forward or too far back but it doesn't feel right at all.

with fore/aft movement you won't be far wrong if you use the KOPS method as a starting point. With the cranks level drop a plumb line from the front of your knee cap - it should line up with the middle of the pedal spindle. Move the saddle to make this happen. It's unlikely that you'll need to move the saddle more than a few mm front or back from that setup. I happen to prefer a few mm forward to be over the crank, most do better with it very slightly behind KOPS, but it's a good starting point. There looks to be a lot of offset on those FSA seatposts and not a lot of travel on the brooks saddle so... might be tricky.

Get your saddle position in relation to the cranks sorted out before going stem shopping, otherwise you may need to do it again if you move your saddle. Again, I made this mistake.

I'm getting a planet-x frame sometime soon, that's why I'm paying such close attention here. :pac:


edit: "oversize" does mean 31.8 mm btw.

ba

ajk24, nice rear derrailler on your planet-x, would love to see some 7900 on my spesh.... someday!