8/27/15 4:01 PM

Google Giant Anyroad COMAX. $1895. carbon, Spyre discs, 5800 Shimano.

I think the AL frame lower model may fit bigger tires. No idea as to BB height.

Wet your whistle: http://rideoregonride.com/rides/gravel-rides/

Last edited by Sparky on 8/27/15 4:03 PM; edited 1 time in total

8/27/15 4:02 PM

Wow Walter, that bike is absolutely gorgeous. Eye candy.

I'll keep an eye out for a 50cm with discs on Ebay.
If I end up getting something, I will HAVE to ride D2R2 2016.

8/27/15 4:26 PM

Here is a few hundred dollar cobbled beater... If I do any CX race this year, It will be on this. Not taking the Strong for that, too much money out and too new.

Hybrid like old steel 730 treks make great off road beaters, if anyone remembers the Steel trek 730 I had for years that fit 45C Fire CX 29er tires. ;)





And the free Sirrus Frame I did up early on in my gravel interest. that is still hanging in the garage [with a few part picked off it. ;) either of these are fun for about any thing except downhill or technical single track.

8/27/15 8:14 PM

Sandiway,

You have more than a few options:

1) Ride it on a tandem, either with your wife, or with another stoker. (I've ridden a tandem with my then very green cyclist partner on a rather hilly 3/4 century. This was in California, over 2 mountain passes. I was surprised at how well we did. With low enough gear, a tandem team can climb up a wall without raising the heart rate, albeit very SLOWLY)

2) Ride it on a dedicated, new cross bike! You'll fall in love with the type of riding and put cross tires on your tandem.

3) Ride it on some cobble together beater, and wish you had bought a better bike. And you vow you'll come back another year with a "proper" bike!

8/28/15 11:37 AM

My tandem has mtb wheels (559).
Shod with Forté fast city st/k 26 x 1.25 courtesy of Pete Hausner.

But not only would my wife be unwilling, I'd prefer to climb solo because the tandem sucks at climbing.

A single makes short work of short double digit climbs.

8/28/15 11:47 AM

Would not be my first choice either, we tend to ride the tandem on flats, actually remove the word tend... ;)

Although there is a nice 3-4% 7 mile climb we do in one place. The biggest problem is not stopping pedaling for the duration for Elaine. Well, that is kind of a problem riding the tandem. I pretty much never stop pedaling. So I gotta go different pedaling mode when we ride it and old habits do die hard.

8/28/15 12:30 PM

This is why I'm happy to have the extra complexity and weight of the da Vinci drivetrain. Either of us can independently stop pedaling. That makes tandem riding more relaxing and much less intense.

8/28/15 12:48 PM

Any comments on pedal phasing and strikes etc?

8/28/15 2:09 PM

In phase pedaling is easy to achieve. And mostly we magically end up in phase. Out of phase, you can definitely feel it in the drivetrain. Maybe it's good for very steep hills when it'll help you get you over that dead spot in each stroke.

As for cornering, we not had any pedal strikes. It helps that she has 5mm shorter cranks. When I start to lean, she automatically leans too. In fact, I only call out the 90 degree or greater turns now.

8/28/15 9:27 PM

quote:

---

A single makes short work of short double digit climbs.

---

8/28/15 9:33 PM

What gears did you folks from here use when riding it?

8/29/15 12:51 AM

quote:

---

What gears did you folks from here use when riding it?

---

8/29/15 1:28 AM

Was Breakneck the one in Franklin Lakes that came out by that old mall on 202?

8/29/15 4:21 AM

I have a Velo Orange 46/30 crank with 12-32 10 speed cluster. It seems like I'm in the lowest gear about half the day, but this year I didn't really feel like I wanted a lower gear. So I guess that's right for me. Mike had a 34x32, said he'd like a 36 cog.

I don't have a cadence monitor, but that might show some amusing numbers. I did see 1.8 on the speedo (not sure it was accurate, but it was there).

It would be a long day if you were overgeared....The recommendation from the web site is "bring the gear you need to climb 20 degrees with 100 miles in your legs" (that would be Patten Hill Rd.).

Another aspect is that you shift the front der a million times.

April mentioned long climbs. I think the single hardest climb I've done there is E. Hawley Rd. on the 160 I rode last year, about 4 miles of straight up dirt described as "big gnarly dirt up." Then there is the shorter Pennel Hill Rd. on the 115, described as "a sandbox tilted up 15 degrees."

As to tandems, there was a couple riding the 160 last year on a beautiful Seven ti tandem with a huge boob tube, and riding vey well. They said they had done the 180. I wouldn't want any part of the rocky descents on a tandem, but I'm not skilled and I believe they were.

8/29/15 10:05 AM

Seeing it, I know you typed that already, thanks for the repeat/reply of that.

8/29/15 10:32 AM

quote:

---

Was Breakneck the one in Franklin Lakes that came out by that old mall on 202?

---

8/29/15 10:40 AM

quote:

---

Nah, not in D2R2, you got LONG double digit climbs aplenty instead!

---

8/29/15 10:50 AM

quote:

---

As to tandems, there was a couple riding the 160 last year on a beautiful Seven ti tandem with a huge boob tube, and riding vey well. They said they had done the 180. I wouldn't want any part of the rocky descents on a tandem, but I'm not skilled and I believe they were.

---

8/29/15 11:01 AM

"By the time we hit the front door, we're both breathing very hard and the sweat is pouring off our faces"

Nothing like a good cool down at the end of your ride, eh? I always like to come off the bike with my HR at least below 115bpm. And I am sure you agree. Do you have two stationary trainers set up in the garage? Sounds like you need them due to the ridge top finishes. ;)

8/29/15 11:58 AM

We get into the house. It could be 100F outside. Difficult to cool down in that. (And the garage is probably 120F.)

But it's a very nice 79F inside with the airconditioning on. That's the COOL DOWN!

8/29/15 12:09 PM

I forgot about the equator like environment in which you reside. ;)

8/29/15 12:27 PM

It's dry. So 100F is ok.

I equate equator-like with high humidity, like some of those hazy, poor air quality days in a Jersey summer when it feels sticky and yucky.

8/29/15 12:58 PM

I hear you, the middle TN valley was no bargain in a tropical rain forest kind of way. In summer you had to be done by 9:30-10:00 at the latest.

When I was in Denver in 2006, it hit 106^ and had single digit humidity. Plenty hot, but the suffrage is lower. ;) And a few years back in CA [LA county] I tried to get some rides in and it was more like TN there.

8/29/15 1:04 PM

quote:

---

the middle TN valley was no bargain in a tropical rain forest kind of way. In summer you had to be done by 9:30-10:00 at the latest.

---

8/29/15 5:34 PM

quote:

---

I wouldn't want any part of the rocky descents on a tandem,

---