It's not an uncomfortable bike but it is stiff- which is what you want when you're racing. I've found that comfort can be adjusted through tire pressure, saddle choice (Fizik Arionne) and rider position. It was a relief to take this bike out on early rides and realize: I don't have to take time to get used to this bike. It fits me, and it handles beautifully. Especially when I get it going really fast.
I'm a bit of a crumudgeon regarding carbon fiber bikes. I've owned some carbon bikes that I really liked. But the fact is, if you crash a superlight carbon bike it's often really hard to tell if it's been structurally compromised. For that reason, as a guy that gets 1 bike a year, I'll take a plain old aluminum frame over a carbon one every time. I can hit the deck a few times and this thing is going to either survive the crash or not; it won't be a guessing game. The fork is carbon and I'm just hoping for the best in that category... Not a lot of other options on modern bikes I guess.
We're real lucky to have Thomson on board to supply stems and seatposts. These parts also appeal to my conservative approach to outfitting a workingman's racing rig. Strong, light, reliable. And cool looking, particularly the stem. No complaints here!
Vetta is another great sponsor of ours, and I got to choose my computer from their line of products. This one has a heart rate monitor built in and has a managable amount of other useful features. I pretty much just want to know how long I've been racing and how far to the feed zone- I don't need to know the pitch of the road or the barometric pressure, although Vetta does make computers that do all that goofy stuff. I opted for the wired version over wireless- one less battery and no chance of picking up the signal from another rider. The reinforced wire is really nice and they sent a couple extra mounting kits so I can just switch the computer head to my fixed gear if I'm riding that one.
I have been traditional shallow bend handlebars for quite a while and this one is made by Pedalsoft. This is an innovative little company that makes some pretty amazing aerobar/stem combinations which are pretty popular in the triathalon world I think. They also make a bunch of really nice shaped handlebars that are specific to campy or shimano. I talked the owner into producing this plain ol' shallow drop shape which he named the "5th Round". It's all I've ever wanted in a handlebar- light, stiff, aluminum. 'Nuf said.
Mavic supplied a couple sets of these Ksyrium SSC tubular wheelsets to me for cross and they're going strong after a couple years. Not ultra light, but light enough for me. I like using tubulars for racing- I'm terrified of having a flat at speed with clinchers and I don't mind dealing with glue. I also have a set of Mavic Cosmic Carbon tubulars that are probably at least 6 years old that I use for crits. These things are soooo heavy, they're definitely pretty awful if you have to accelerate from low speeds but in a fast flat race they're perfect. They have a curious flywheel effect at speed and they just want to keep rolling. They also seem really stable in corners and the aluminum braking surface is easy to appreciate if you've ever had to deal with carbon rims and special brake pads, particularaly once it starts raining. I prefer Veloflex tires with the tan sidewall, I use those on the Cosmics. I have some really "well aged" Vittorias on the Ksyriums.
I'm using Crank Brothers 4-ti pedals with the short spindles, these are also old cx sponsor parts. I'd actually like to try and get some short steel spindles for these- the weight penalty is pretty slight and because these pedals rely on a bushing that spins directly on the spindle, steel is a much more durable choice. I've never heard of these ti spindles breaking, but I have heard of SOME ti spindles breaking... I'm pretty small so I think I'll be ok.
Otherwise, I'm running Shimano DA throughout, except for the rear derailleur (Ultegra) and chain (105). I can't notice a functional difference between the 105, Ultegra and DA chains so I go for the cheapest one and change it often. They all work great as long as they're new. I always run a chainwatcher to keep my chain from bouncing off- even if everything's set up perfectly it can still happen on a bumpy road. I have usually run an 11-23 cassette or if it's a course with some kind of really steep hill I'll mix and match cassettes to get an 11-25.
As for shift and brake housing- I use whatever's around and replace it often. I do use alloy ferrules on the housing though, they don't flex the way plastic ones do and they wont "blow out" unexpectedly. The wire in the housing can sometimes break through the plastic ferrules and cause shifitng to become wildly innaccurate, usually at the worst possible time. I don't have barrel adjusters because the cannondale frames don't have them and I hate those "inline" mid-housing barrel adjusters. They can go in and out of adjustment on their own because of the bike vibrating and being jolted around as it's ridden. I prefer adjusters on the frame at the shifter mount braze-ons on the down tube. Since this frame doesn't have them, I just forego on-the-fly cable tension adjusters and just set everything carefully by hand after pre-stressing the cables/housing. Once everythings settled in and the cable tension is set by hand (with the r-der. barrel adjuster wound all the way IN), things don't really change much. I wouldn't really want to set a customers bike up this way, but I like it on mine.
Oh yeah, and King Ti water bottle cages. About as heavy as a peice of paper. Holds water bottles in. Lifetime warrenty. Done.
The bike:
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