Shiny, Pretty Things!

In my last blog I alluded to the new stuff Shimano hooked me up with last week. Previously my bike had a mix of 105, Ultegra, and Ultegra SL and some Chris King wheels--It was basically a bombproof bike. The durability of everything on it was wicked, but not necessarily the lightest.

Just before leaving for SSCXWC08 I got a box with new M300 Mountain bike shoes which are custom fit so no break-in time! I was able to wrangle Gerry into fitting them for me before the weekend and wore them for the first time at the SSCXWC qualifying event--no blisters!

The most exciting part of the box, however, almost made me skip SSCXWC--a full Dura Ace 7800 group with WH-7850-C24-TU wheels--In English: a 2008 Dura Ace group with low-profile tubular carbon rims!

I had to wait until after SSCXWC to build up my bike with gears, but as soon as we got home (and after our Remembrance Day mountain bike ride up to the Cairn on Mount Prevost) I tore the World Champion away from rebuilding his bike and setting up mine. My bike dropped close to 1.5 pounds with the switch, and gained a huge amount in performance!

105 Shifters are great because they are double and triple compatible, so it makes them very adaptive--key when you maybe don't know exactly how you'll be using the bike in the future. So if you want to go from a double chainring to a triple all you have to change are the crank and the front derailleur--which is way more affordable than having to change the shifters as well. For a race machine though, the Dura Ace shifters are ultra-smooth, light, and take away a few extra clicks. The group is designed (like all Shimano products) to work the best when used together, so having the complete drivetrain makes the bike shift and ride like a dream.

Onto my favourite part...the wheels. Drew taught me early on in our relationship that wheels are close to the most important part of the bike--they determine how much/how little/what type of feedback comes off of the road (or cross course!) and are one of the easiest ways to save noticeable (rotational) weight. These wheels are a cross-rider's dream come true! Out of the saddle sprinting they are stiff and responsive, they weigh in (with Tufo Cubus 32 tires and D/A skewers) at 2290 grams (1250g w/o tires and skewers), and they are built to be durable and strong.

Getting more techy with them, they employ proprietary Shimano carbon construction--Shimano does a brilliant job with their XTR rear derailleur in making super light, super tough carbon cages and for the new Dura Ace 7900 group they take their carbon skills honed from years of application in fishing technology and apply it throughout the group for one of the most aesthetically pleasing, lightweight, durable, and functionally gorgeous groups ever. Period. Back to the wheels though, the rims are 28 and 24mm sections to cut through air, and mud, like a dream, and the hubs sport wider flanges for stiffness and strenth. The rear hub has a titanium freehub body that engages faster than the older hub models for better power transfer (it is also lightweight, but more durable than aluminum bodies against cogs digging into the body). Beyond that, the hubs use Shimano's bearing technology which have been proven throughout their component lineup and make their hubs and bottom brackets some of the most reliable in the industry.

Basically, what this all boils down to is an amazing 17.5lb race machine! (Thanks to the team at Shimano Canada) I am looking forward to racing it this weekend in the BC Cup finals back at the South Surrey Bike Park, and BC Provincial Championships on Sunday in Coquitlam.