Ciamillo Components (Zero Gravity) cantilever brakes

Cyclingnews has mention of new 'ultralight' cantilever brakes (left) from Ciamillo Components (of Zero Gravity fame). You know they're going to be pricey ($318!!!), with titanium sleeves and all. But I boggled a bit at the claim of 'ultralight.' 198 grams per wheel, plus they're standard low profile, v-brake shoe cantis. So less mud clearance, less mechanical advantage and 54 grams HEAVIER than TRP EuroX aluminum brakes (below). EuroX are $110. WTF? Okay, Mafac-style brakes are a bit more work to dial in. My opinion? If you're $200 worth of lazy for poorer performance, then have at it...

Campy 11 speed? Gimme a break!

Sounds like the folks at Campy are scraping the bottom of the innovation barrel these days. I'm still running 8 speed Shimano and 9 speed Campy, and I've yet to break a chain (except due to pushing a pin through too far, my bad) or miss shifts due to muddy and/or finicky drivetrains. I still love my Campy, but I'm heading down the retro-grouch path here. Now if only I'd stop scraping my components on the asphalt.

Alex A Class ALX300 wheels review

When you think of bulletproof "training wheels" what do you think of (other than your first bicycle of course)? 32 spokes, box section rim, handbuilt, Campy hubs. That's exactly what I specified when I built up my first racing bike. They cost me over $300. Unfortunately, they ended up being not so bulletproof, in addition to being heavy. After multiple truings of the rear wheel, broken spokes, and warnings that the wheel probably won't stay true very long (indeed, it wasn't even true when they were done with it!), I decided it was time to get some new wheels. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on training wheels, and it would certainly be nice to have something lighter! Trouble is, it's hard to find Campy wheels on the low end. Fortunately, I found some cheap Campy compatible wheels from Alex's complete wheel division A Class. I got them from Greenfish Sports for the paltry sum of $125. This is amazingly cheap. Some online reviews were not particularly complimentary, but since I'm lighter than the posted weights of the riders posting these reviews, and given the price, I thought I'd take a chance.

So far these wheels have seen a lot of miles in nasty spring training conditions. They've been ridden for over a week straight on bone-rattling Texas chipseal for 70 miles a day, and on salt and chemical covered potholed Minnesota winter/spring roads. In other words, I've given them a good break-in period.

The wheels are paired-spoke, 24/28, 750g/1020g, sealed bearing 7075 aluminum hubs. This is pretty light, especially with that many spokes (which made me feel better about their durability). I think they're attractive wheels, with the paired spokes and the dark gray anodizing. Most importantly, though, they've stayed true this whole time, and I've had no issues so far. I've even crashed and bent the derailleur hanger a smidge, causing a bit of pinging in the lowest gear from the derailleur cage bumping the spokes a bit. Still no issues. These are not racing wheels of course - they flex a bit out of the saddle, and are pretty forgiving during long days in the saddle. Pretty much what you'd want in a training wheel anyway.

On the negative side, the wheels did not include the Campy lockring. Lockrings are supposed to come with the hubs in the Campy world, and these did not. Requests from the vendor and A Class have resulted in nothing but an unfulfilled promise to send one. The box section rims and round spokes are not very aero. Also, according to reviews I've read, if you're a heavier rider, you might not have the best luck with these wheels.

So far these have proven to be great training and general purpose wheels. They're available for Shimano and Campy. I would recommend them with the caveats above.


Update 8/8/08: I bought a Shimano freehub body, hoping to be able to use these wheels on a TT bike I'm building up. The entire Campy hub is different on the Campy version of these wheels; you can't just swap freehub bodies. After shopping around for a while, once again these wheels seems like the best value, especially since I'm building this bike up from parts I have laying around and don't want to spend a lot of money. I ordered the Shimano version, as the Campy wheels are still going strong.

Cateye V3 (TR300TW) review updated

After spending more time with it, I've updated the review here.

Cateye V3 review, Cold Sprints

My Cateye V3 came in at Freewheel this week. I won't repeat all of the specs, check them out here. I'm pretty sure I'm the first in the Twin Cities to get one, since I ordered it in January and there was already a waiting list for it. Pretty easy to install since it's all wireless. I'm not a fan of the "FlexTight™" bracket - it's bulky and fiddly and zip ties would work just fine in my opinion. Configuration is pretty easy too; just set up the time of day, accepted the default tire circumference (700x23), changed from kilometers to miles as the unit of measurement, flipped through the manual and I was ready to go.This isn't going to be a soft ball review though, since pretty much every wireless bike computer I've had has been problematic. Strange heart rate and speed readings by the airport, random intersections, the refinery south of St. Paul, etc. This computer promised to change all that with digital 2.4 GHz data transmission. I did a short ride, so I didn't go past the most problematic points, but my maximum speed registered correctly, but the max heart rate registered 202. This is not correct. It also registered a max cadence of 199. Clearly not correct. "Broadband for your bicycle" is batting 1/3 so far. The averages don't seem to be affected very much though, but nevertheless I'm disappointed.It's still better than my old computer, because it has both speed and heart rate in a much smaller, wireless package. I imagine there would be fewer issues if I didn't want wireless, but wires are messy and make it harder to keep the bike clean. I haven't played with the lap function yet, but I'm sure that works fine as it did on the old Cateye, and will be valuable for interval training and hill repeats. It's nice to have all of these features in one computer, and so far, no one else does at any where near the price. We'll see how it holds up over time. Sorry for the dirty bike pictures. Please don't throw my bike in the river!

Update 3/28/08: Well now I've had some more time with the computer. Now that I no longer have wild expectations, I'm happy with this computer. Some things that are standing out: simultaneous display of all the important data (speed, heart rate, cadence and your choice of distance, time or whatever; improved (but still not perfect) transmission (crazy HR and speed readings are still pretty rare); sleek size and smart mounting of both the computer and sensor (as noted before). Learning the interface can be a pain, but that's normal for these kinds of devices, and once learned, it's not a big deal. A nice feature over previous versions: ride data is saved in up to 14 "files", so if you forget to log your ride before the next one, it's still available. Neat. I'd still rather have the option of zip-tying the bracket, but I guess some people will like it. Some people may find the display hard to read, especially cadence and distance data, but I don't have a problem with it, and the important real time speed and heart rate numbers are larger. The buttons could be easier to press. Overall, I'm quite happy with it, and would recommend it. Looks like Blackburn now has similar models worth checking into.

Update 8/25/08: They have a zip tie bracket now. Highly recommended.

Cold Sprints was last night. Thanks to Tim and LGR for putting on this series. It's been a great way to bring the bike community together for good causes - from the lycra wearing roadies to the aromatic messengers and wannabes to the hard core winter bike commuters.Yesterday's proceeds went to the Mark Loesch fund. This cause is close to my heart, both because it happened a couple blocks from me and because the inhumanity boggles my mind. I was chatting with Verb(?) as I bought a poster and he was telling me the venue, the artists' work, the poster production and the roller/computer system were all donated, so that 100% of the proceeds could go to charity. What an awesome example of people getting together and pitching in for a good cause! I imagine it took a lot of work to put everything together too, so to everyone that contributed, this Summit EPA's for you!