Random thoughts on bikes

I took my bike into Barney's this week for a tune up and general preventative maintenance. In the time that I've had it, I've logged over 2K miles. Looking back at my experience with my Dolce and Avail, the difference is significant. Honestly I wouldn't have believed it myself back in June 2010 or June 2011.

During Charles River Wheelmen Fall Century I sprinted 2-3 miles before the rest stops. Based on the zone stats in cyclemeter:
range: 10-20 mph
ride time: 3:42:11
distance: 56.111 miles
average: 15.10

range: 20-30 mph
ride time: 1:30:52
distance: 34.73
average: 22.94

range: 30-40 mph
ride time: 4:53
distance: 2.57
average: 32.5

The average for the miles before the rest stop:
mile 26: 20.73
mile 27: 23.44
mile 28: 19.9
mile 42: 23.77
mile 43: 21.6
mile 44: 26.73
mile 45: 25.26
mile 46: 21.76
mile 47: 22.57
mile 65: 23.62
mile 66: 21.92
mile 67: 17.68
mile 68: 23.83

To sum up the difference between Dolce and Avail in one sentence is this. "on the avail I can go faster longer and hold a high speed for a longer time."

When I showed up to 7HW rides, lots of people said "that bike looks fast". The thing is, it really does feel fast. All those little aero features of the avail does make a difference. I'm really glad I got the Avail instead of the madone or roubaix. It's not that either is bad. Both are great bikes, but they don't have the aero shaping of my Avail advanced. Those features make a big difference at the end of a long ride like a century. On both CRW Fall Century and Major Taylor century, I felt fresh at the end. The combination of carbon fiber and aero shaping makes it easy to do a century.

On a different note, Specialized Venge looks like an awesome bike.

The aero shaping is pretty sweet, but I'll never be able to afford it though. 5-10K is just too much to spend on a bike.

Giant has also come out with a new line of road bikes. What used to be Avail advanced is now the avail composite line. The new Avail advanced has a new frame layout using the same exact ride geometry.

One trend in frame is using carbon nanotubes in the resin, which makes the bonds stronger. Many top end bikes have that now, but it's way too expensive. From the look of it, it's atleast 10K to get a frame that uses carbon nanotube infused resin.