Lynskey Cooper - Stars and Stripes Edition

This is a special build that we partook in, though we can't lay claim to the entire bike.  You may recognize the wheels from a few weeks ago, which we were thrilled to be a part of building.  Rims are Velocity A23, hubs are White Industries H2/H3.

Let's backtrack a little.  This bike belongs to a friend of the shop who has served out country in the Army.  From the get-go this bike was to be loud and scream patriotism.  But at the same time, we didn't want to go down a route that lead to a bike that crossed a line TOO far into being gaudy.

The fork was painted locally by a great friend of ours, Duane over at Chester Cycles.  If you need something painted, this is your dude.  Turnaround has always been totally acceptable, his pricing is great, and his work is top-notch.

It's clear that in as many areas as possible, choices were made to stick with US companies, and preferably US-made products.  Of course, it's pretty much impossible to completely pull that off, but Ryan got damn close.

The frame is one that hits close to home for us, a Lynskey Cooper.  I've spent a ton of time on an identical frame, Chase still sports his, and we have a few more team people riding theirs, check them out here, here, here, and here.

The drivetrain is a mix of SRAM Force and Red.  The headset is a Chris King, the stem and post are both Thomson, tires are the wonderfully plush and grippy Vittoria EVO CS.

While the Cooper is considered by some as the "budget" Lynskey, it's far from it.  The tubing is still shaped, the frame is light, and it has one very nice feature some of the other Lynskey frames don't: a replaceable derailleur hanger.  Don't take that the wrong way, a Ti derailleur hanger makes for excellent shifting, but in the case of a serious crash isn't it nice to know that hanger is replaceable?

Nothing "budget" about this bike.  Built with care, each part chosen for a very specific purpose.  I can't help but to assume this bike rides as well as it looks.  Enjoy it, sir.

New Build: Stan's NoTubes Flow to Chris King Mountain Wheels

These are a truly special build.  Working in a shop, especially a shop that's lucky enough to build some really great stuff, opens your eyes to some great possibilities.  When the chance came up for Ben to pick up a new Yeti ASR7 he wasn't about to clad it with shoddy parts.

Many of the shop employee builds are dreamed up but toned down once it comes time to buy parts.  This time though, Ben took his time to build the perfect bike.  The perfect bike needs the perfect pair of shoes, and Ben outdid himself here.

Starting with Chris King hubs is always a good idea, especially when they are gold.  The front is the oversize 20mm thru-axle version of their 6-bolt disc hub.  King makes two versions of their front disc hub for thru-axles.  The oversize version is ready for 20mm or 15mm thru-axles, but is slightly heavier than the standard hub shell.  Though, the standard hub shell won't accept 20mm axles, which Ben needed in this instance.

The rear hub is set up for a 12mm thru-axle, though it still includes the Chris King "buzz" these hubs are so well known for.  I was recently anointed into the world of thru-axles on the front of my Niner, I can only imagine the stiffness the rear of this bike will have with a thru-axle in the rear hub as well.

Ben went with NoTubes Flow rims, an excellent choice.  The Flow is a relatively light rim, but extremely burly.  It also offers plenty of stiffness, but more importantly is extremely wide and should offer up top-notch tubeless compatibility.

Set up with yellow rim tape, these should work well tubeless and set up easily.  The NoTubes system is the best I've worked with so far, but with a number of other systems popping up we can hope they'll get even better with time.

Gold alloy nipples finish off this build.  It's more likely that if we were building for a customer we would have used brass nipples for their strength, but with a full-service bike shop at his disposal every day and the ability to fix just about anything, alloy nipples will most likely work just fine and will of course look the part.

New Build: Stan's NoTubes Crest 29 to DT Swiss 240s Mountain Wheels

When an email came in for a new Niner Air9 Carbon, I knew special wheels were needed.  This bike is going to a great home that already has a beautiful Independent Fabrication SSR that we built a while back.  That SSR is sporting some DT Swiss wheels we built (not pictured), and since the rider was so happy with them the natural choice was 240s hubs for this new build.

Actually, lets check out this IF SSR.  Custom paint all over, tons of little custom touches, Super Record:

Now you see where we were starting and why these wheels needed to be something nice.  The choice of a rear 240s hub is simple.  DT Swiss engagement and quality are well known, there's no debate there.  The front 240s hub is also a perfect match for the SID XX fork since it has a 15mm Maxle thru axle.

The wheels were built with DT Swiss Competition spokes laced 3x all the way around.  Competition spokes offer light weight and excellent durability and stiffness.  DT Swiss ProLoc black brass nipples were used to match the black theme and to provide a solid base to work from.

Rotors are Shimano IceTech XT, which in my opinion are setting a new standard.  I've never used a brake set that was so powerful and so functionally flawless.  They are a little heavier than some of their counterparts, but will more than make up for their weight with their unbelievable performance.

Cassette is also Shimano XT, an 11-36.  Wide range cassettes have opened the door to 2x10 drivetrains and Shimano has provided on that front.  With excellent shifting and a light action, XT shifting provides great feedback without too much effort placed on your thumbs.

The bare wheelset came in at 1,580g, about 30g lighter than I expected.  Always a welcome surprise!

New Build: ENVE 1.65 to PowerTap SL+ Track Wheel

Here's an "unusual" build for us, we don't build a ton of legit track racing wheels.  Lots of road wheels, lots of fixed-gear wheels, plenty of mountain wheels.  But, when asked to lace a PowerTap SL+ to an ENVE rim I wasn't about to pass on it.  We were asked to make this wheel really stiff, and stiff it is.

1.65 ENVE rim is light and stiff.  The internal nipples sway some people, but they build very nicely.  And a well-built wheel will last a long time on the track (or road).

PowerTap SL+ makes power relatively affordable for track racers.  Without this option, you'd need an SRM to get power on the track.

Made here in the good ole US of A.  I really appreciate this fact, much like Zipp, that I am supporting a US company when I can.

Brake track is very nice, though on a track bike that won't matter.

Complete rear wheel with bolts came in at 1,020g, very respectable for a 28h rear wheel with a PowerTap.  2x lacing and high spoke tension will make for a killer track wheel.

Long Term Review: Giro Aeon Helmet

Helmets are extremely personal on their fit, much like shoes.  Giro has been in the helmet game for quite some time and have really nailed it with the Aeon.

About a year ago I went away from Giro and picked up a Lazer Helium.  It fit well, I really liked the adjustment, but it was heavy.  Before the Helium I spent some time with the Giro Prolight helmet.  The Prolight was extremely light, but didn't fit well and the adjustment was lack-luster having just an elastic band.

Enter the Giro Aeon.  The lightweight that I (and my neck) want, the fit Giro is known for, and extremely well ventilated.

I chose white/silver because it matched my kit.  Truth be told, I think the black helmet is actually a little better looking.  The Aeon sits low, it's not like a number of other helmets that I think make people look like mushrooms.

Ventilation is generous, maybe the best I've ever used.  The Ionos was the gold standard by which I compared ventilation in helmets, and the Aeon is right there.

At a claimed 222g (mine came in at 226g), this helmet is seriously light.  The Prolight, at 190g, was lighter but sacrificed too much in my opinion to get there.  Roc Loc 5, the newest version of Giro's adjustable strap, is the best in the game.  With enormous vertical adjustment as well, it's easy to position the Roc Loc 5 to be perfectly comfortable.

Whether wearing a cycling cap under this helmet or not, I have found it fits me perfectly.  No pressure points, light weight, excellent ventilation, and top-of-the-heap adjustment make this helmet the one to own.  $250 isn't cheap, but you only have one head, you may as well protect it in style and comfort.

First Rides: Mavic R-SYS SLR Wheelset

I have to admit to these wheels sitting around for the first couple of weeks I had them to test.  It's not my fault, Lumberjack 100 is right around the corner so I've been on my mountain bike.  But, it's about time to log some faster miles to feel better about myself.

 A few rides and I'm starting to form an opinion on these wheels:

First, they are a time-trialists worst nightmare.  They spin up fast and gain speed like crazy, but the boxy rim and fat carbon spokes are about as aerodynamic as a CTA bus.

Second, the Exalith braking surface is incredible.  Out of the box with Exalith-specific pads they whistle like crazy.  Super loud.  I've swapped to stock Shimano alloy-specific pads and the whistling was greatly reduced.  The pads do wear faster on the machined braking surface, but the performance is unreal.

As you can see from these shots, I've taken the wheels out in some wet and on less-than-ideal roads.  Braking performance is perfect, even in the wet.  The brakes aren't grabby and have a really steady power curve.

Third, the tires are holding up well for me.  Chase on the other hand destroyed one on is second ride to a big cut, I'm hoping that's just bad luck.  The tires aren't my favorite, though.  The rear PowerLink tire is made to roll faster, the front GripLink made to, surprise here, grip.  I haven't pushed them too hard into corners, but so far the front seems ok.  The rear on the other hand offers very little grip in the wet.  So little grip in fact that it actually makes me a little nervous to ride in the wet.

Fourth, the rear hub, or more specifically it's engagement.  It works fine, it's been flawless, but the engagement is slower than the Chris King R45 rear hub I'm used to.  It's fast enough, but when you get used to King it's hard to settle for less.  I also like the "buzz" of the King, Mavic freehubs are pretty quiet.  Personal preference here, not a big deal.

Fifth, they are beautiful.  That's a fact.  Not really a fact, my opinion, but they really do look great.

Finally, let's cover stiffness.  Laterally, they are stiff.  Really stiff.  I did a couple of low-speed, big-gear sprints really wrenching on the bike and the wheels just don't flex side to side.  Vertically they ride nicely, but I won't say they are better than a pair of hand-built wheels.

So far, so good.  I like this pair of R-SYS wheels, but I'm not sure I like them $2000 worth.  When in a group ride, I won't ever win a sprint.  The only way I can get some "fame" is to get into a breakaway and try to ride away with a group.  This is not the wheelset for that.  If you like to sprint or treat your wheels like crap, this wheelset may work for you.

More to come....

Giro Factor LTD, Rapha Edition Road Shoes

We scored just a few pairs of these Limited Edition, Rapha-inspired, Giro Factor road shoes.  Made for the Rapha-Condor-Sharp Road Team, Giro saw the demand and created only 600 pairs of these shoes total.

This pair is #245 of 600, is new in the box, and has the Rapha key chain also labelled as #245.

Size 44, $350.

Beautiful and comfortable, the Factor is in my opinion the best Giro road shoe.  While the Prolight SLX may be lighter, the Factor gets you the EC90 sole and a buckle instead of a strap.

EC90 sole provides unparalleled stiffness, extremely low stack height, and unmatched durability.  The EC90 sole on the Factor LTD has pink accents to match the upper and Rapha-Condor-Sharp team kits.  This is a limited edition colorway that you won't see again.

These shoes come delivered with a Giro/Rapha leather keychain with matching serial number and a Rapha-Condor-Sharp booklet.