12/23/13 10:56 PM

Very nice bike, but looking at this laptop screen I can't say that the pictures do the frame justice.
These Sachs frames really are extremely well crafted when you look up close, right down to the paint lines where the two colors collide.

12/24/13 5:19 AM

My bicycle name of the year has to go to one of Sachs "next wave" builders - Gaulzetti Cicli. They have an MTB model called the "Chunder".

In the Australian vernacular, a chunder is a vomit, usually in relation to overindulgence in alcohol, as in "I had a good chunder".

12/24/13 11:11 AM

Congrats Dan...everyone should get a new bike for Christmas.

So in keeping with that thought I just finished building up a Cervelo S5 for myself and after this evening will finish building a Cervelo R5 for Sally. This bike (48cm frame that weighed 795gr) should end up being around 13.5 lbs even with a SRM system on board and 12-34 cogs.

Believe it or not my S5 is ALSO a 48cm frame but it's a PIG at over 1300gr. What's amazing though is that I've nailed exactly the same position as I had on my custom built Ghisallo (now 9 years and 37,000km old). The complete bike with 808 Firecrest clinchers and SRM weighs in at 16.8 lbs, which while heavy is weight I'm more than happy to heave around given the aero dynamic and stiffness improvements. Time will tell if it actually amounts to anything measurable in the mountains, but I know for a fact that when I'm not going up the big stuff it will be faster.

Merry Christmas everyone.

12/24/13 11:32 AM

"everyone should get a new bike for Christmas"


You should have told us all with ample time to order/build etc. I didn't know... ~;)

12/24/13 12:00 PM

quote:

---

"everyone should get a new bike for Christmas"


You should have told us all with ample time to order/build etc. I didn't know... ~;)

---

12/24/13 1:28 PM

"Get your order in now for next year."


Or your Sachs order for x-mas 2020something... ;)

12/25/13 8:16 AM

"I've recently reacquainted myself with my Don Ferris bike, custom steel is sooo nice, even if dinged a bit."

12/25/13 10:00 AM

"recently reacquainted myself with my Don Ferris bike, custom steel is sooo nice"

Me too with my Strong. Re purposed with the ENO SS/Fixed wheel I built up. Been digging it again all over a decade+ later.

Actually 2013 was a good bike year here for sure.
1970 Chrome Paramount, the New/old Strong, the Scott LTD Addict, The Gary Paragon, the Giant TCX, and the IBIS Tandem. And the wife got the Madone.
And there is the old Stella too and the Roubaix in 2012 as well... And the unused LightSpeed Blade frameset I scarfed up in 2012 too..

For some here, it is a never ending process.... you know who you are. ;)

Once we got the house thing all behind us, I got to getting... ;)

Anyway, Merry X-Mas. I got a Park Truing Stand under the tree. :)

All the smileys show my happiness ;) ;) ;)

But in true junky fashion, the Sachs pics in this thread are of course massively GAS inducing...

12/26/13 10:52 AM

Hey Jaypee-sorta - big ding in downtube, but alignment is still spot on.

Bought myself Lake's (boot) and a DA 900 52-36 mid compact for Christmas. The mid compact is sweet.

You guys doing Wed's still? If it gets above 30 I'll drive over, perfect pace for this time o'year, better than my last February experience with the Freewheelers.

12/26/13 10:57 AM

"DA 900 52-36 mid compact"

I ran a 36-48 the Strong for 6-7 years. I would have liked a 50-2 instead but just lived with it with an 11 on bottom. But liked the 36 a lot. Kind of nice to see that as a choice...

12/26/13 11:21 AM

Never saw 52 as anything really different than a 53. Heck, a 50 is essentially like one whole gear step so I guess I don't really relate to whatever one tooth in the front accomplishes other than making the derailleur step from a 36 less wrong . . .

As for wed, yeah, it goes all year round but probably not worth the trip if its not gonna be at least 40 at ride time - 10 am at this point in time. Kind of a lot of driving for a 35 mi ride but we can add a to/from for some extra mileage.

And what was wrong last Feb? As I recall, you rode away from most of us.

12/26/13 12:24 PM

There isn't much difference on the big ring, t hat's the point, but you do get the 3 tooth difference in the little ring and still perfect shifting.

Feb? This year I was there in June...I'm going back several years when the A ride was going 28mph in February, remember?

12/30/13 12:00 PM

So Sally's new R5 is built, even with a couple bottle cages it's only 13.63 lbs...3.3 lbs lighter than my S5 so if she kicks my ass next summer in the mountains I'll have an excuse :-)

Hey JayPee, long time no see...you gunna come around in 2014? We'll be in the Catskills from June 20th to August 4th next summer, not to mention a couple weeks in April and another couple again in September. It's kinda nice joining you in the ranks of NOT being gainfully employed.

Sally has decided she's gunna start to get paid for all the stuff she's done for free over the years at the karate club... http://fitforeverottawa.com/

12/31/13 10:07 AM

. . It was a few more than a few years ago that I even thought about going 28, let alone getting dropped doing it. Which, BTW, happened on a derby ride in YOUR neck of the woods . . .

12/31/13 10:12 AM

Well, Paul, while trips to the New Paltz area with friends like you and your lovely better half rank among some of my fondest memories - and the opportunities like that are a major reason why I continue to visit a place like this one - my current post heart attack ability to climb 8 % grades put me in the same kind of difficulty that 18%'ers used to. I can't even imagine trying an 18 % - let alone the bigger ones you guys do up there.

But I do appreciate the offer, and wish you guys well in retirement - even if you are still making your wife earn her keep . . :-]

PS - mine didn't last long at work after my retirement when she saw me enjoy NOT working.

1/1/14 1:33 PM

JayPee, Sally and I wish you all the best in 2014.

Yeah I retired on April 2nd, foolishly thinking she might put in another 4 years since that's how much younger she is than I...come September 22nd she was 'done like dinner' and the wisdom of that move has been obvious ever since.

Last summer I managed to turn back the clock about 6 years with regard to my climbing speed...still not as good as I once was, but as good once as I ever was :-0

Kinda hoping I can still manage a little more improvement in the coming season but realise my window of opportunity is quickly closing which is part of the reason for a new bike, leave myself with absolutely no excuses.

I've been doing some Wednesday night 'shop rides' out of New Paltz, the A group are a bunch (usually around 14) of really fast guys so I need every advantage I can get. You know down there any ride that finishes with a 30kph average is a pretty damn hard one, well for perspective, the 2.5 hour shop rides usually finish with an average near 38kph, so wanting to be aero regardless of the mountains actually makes sense.

1/1/14 2:18 PM

I wonder when we will get a ride report on the Sachs. ;)

I won't take my 72 Paramount out unless it is perfect outside, the Sachs... who knows what the ride rule may be weather wise.. ;)

It must be a killing feeling looking at it wanting to do a century aboard. But then again, after the wait to get, the wait to roll should be fine even if months..

1/1/14 2:59 PM

I'm itching to get the bike on the road, and I'm not going to baby it, but the roads are such a mess that I wouldn't ride any bike with road tires right now - a combo of ice, slush, sand and salt, and more snow tonight.

I expect it will become my primary road bike, and I'll use it like any other - centuries in the rain, etc., are fine. But I draw the line at sliding on ice with road tires. If the roads dry out over the winter I'll take it out, but that doesn't appear to be on the horizon. This am it was -6F, and supposed to get colder later in the week. Had a good time tramping through the woods on snowshoes.

1/1/14 3:07 PM

Is it wet paint or powder?

If not powder, letting it sit in a warm place for a while is not a bad idea paint cure wise...

If it is Powder, All I can say is I am still amazed at the durability of the finish on my Strong. If I was to give it a finish condition grade, it would be a solid 9+.

Which is saying a lot considering it has never been babied, far from it. It has been off road more times than I can count, and has more rain riding than I could account for in the decade plus I have had it.

One chip on a dropout, and some heal kick scratches and that is about it other than the fine scratches in the top clear I could compound out if I felt like bothering...

1/3/14 3:17 PM

This one, from 40 years ago. It's just enough of a jump down from the big ring to allow me to hit the steeps with a tight 5-speeder in back.

Each "trip" up or down to/from the big ring has me doing a simultaneous shift in back going to/from the 20/24t cog, thus netting a full seven even, sequential ratios across the entire range.

Like I said, "just enough", as there are serious steeps up here and I still need my 52/13t for regular forays into the downhill 40+mph range.
Using a Shimano 9sp chain here, on Uniglide cogs, and the shifting is quite crisp and reliable.

So far, I've heard marketing language such as "racing compact" and pro-compact", but back in 1970 it was just called 52-36 and they let the customer decide if that was what they needed.
Anyway, it gets this old 29-pounder up hills and down dales you could say, and with nary a creak or rub in any conditions and in any gear whatsoever.