Ppppssssssssssssssssssss...........................

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This evening, I am annoyed. Really annoyed. Saying lots of bad words annoyed. Grrrr.....

Why?

If you recall my review of the Kona Jake the Snake I mentioned the fact that I am now riding on Schwalbe Marathon Plus clinchers. I chose these heavy beasts after a string of flats at rather inopportune times (which raises the question whether there really are opportune times to deal with a flat?). These flats stemmed not from the quality of the clinchers (usually Vittoria) I was riding, but rather terrible Rome roads as well as the heavy load the bike was carrying... especially with the two panniers filled with work related material and clothes.

Why the Marathon Plus model? Well, everything I read indicated that these babies had the ride qualities of a tank tread, and weighed slightly more than that. BUT, every review I saw indicated that this was the closest one could come to puncture-free nirvana. You see, as is obvious in the diagram below (straight from the Schwalbe US site), not only are these heavy clinchers with a LOT of material, but they also incorporate a special protective layer (Smartguard in Schwalbe marketing speak) which is meant to offer '...particular resistance to shards of glass and flints'.

The Marathon Plus clincher diagram. Notice the blue Smartguard protective layer.

As the Marathons are well nigh impossible to find in Italy, I ended up ordering a set (at significant expense I might add) from good 'ole Germany. To my wife's question regarding their price (well in excess of the higher performance clinchers I mount on my road bike) I responded informing her that flat would now become a thing of the past for me. Never again. Mai più. Plus jamais. Nunca más. Well... you get it.

When they arrived, I was amazed by how rigid and heavy the dang things were. I felt slower just looking at them. The Schwalbe marketing blurb assured me that they would roll as smoothly as any other clincher. They lied. They are heavy with awesome rolling resistance. No chance of dropping anyone when riding with these!

But that's not why I had purchased them! I began to commute on them every day. I declared that I was flat-free. And so it was. And it was good. Jokes aside, I was actually impressed. Nice investment, Pete. Puncture free Pete. From June till... this evening. Pete is not so happy anymore.

This evening, as I was riding home at lightening speed (as always, of course), less than 1 km from my front door, I hear the dreaded 'ppppppssssssssssssss' at each wheel rotation. I make it home with some pressure left in the front tire. Dejected and depressed. To discover this....

Can you see the shard of green glass in the tire?

Yup. A shard of glass in the tire. Looks like it sliced straight through the Smartguard. Hhhmmm. Let's pull this sucker out and see what has defeated our mighty Schwalbe-ness.

Yup, needed the pliers. Gratuitous sexy hairy leg shot. No racing this year, no shaving. Deal with it.

After a couple of minutes I am able to pry the shard out. It is quite large and very sharp - probably it has been stuck in the tire since the start of my ride, slowly working its way through the Smartguard...

There it is. Dog gone it, that is a big shard of glass...

Later this evening I will see if I can still ride this tire (I suspect so) - if the gash is not too wide.

Of course, on a 'normal' clincher this would have blown and the tire would have been a throw-away. Hopefully our Schwalbe investment has not gone down the drain. Any comments on the size of the hole? Is the tire still good? Experienced Marathon riders, what do you have to say?

Can you see the hint of blue? That is the puncture-proof Smartguard layer! ;-)

Disclaimer: I am really rather annoyed at having had a puncture. So when I wrote this post (I meant to take the night off, need to ensure that all you pastatrail readers don't get too used to regular posts!) I slagged Schwalbe, which is not fair. No clincher is 100% puncture proof. The Marathons are a great set of commuting clinchers, and the puncture protection is well worth the significant weight and comfort penalty that is part of the trade-off. I also love the reflective band on each side of the tire - I commute year-round, so I love all the reflective bits that I can get. Better dorky than dead!

So, if you commute/ride on rough glass and debris strewn roads, get 'em. They work... almost always!

Cervelo R3... the first ride

Just back from her first ride...

Yup, there she is. Just back from the inaugural ride. So, what's my first impression?

Wow. It's that simple.

I am coming from a seven year old De Rosa Planet, a nice frame in its day, full alu with a carbon fork and upper chainstays. While pretty light when it was produced, the tradeoff was rigidity, or lack thereof. This was noticeable when riding out of the saddle uphill or in a sprint, and unfortunately also made itself felt downhill, where it was quite skittish at speed.

'Squoval' downtube. It's huge.

Not the R3. The massive bottom bracket area does not flex. Not even with all of my (not inconsiderable) weight and (rather minimal) power. It. Does. Not. Budge. Which means that I was able to climb the small hills on my inaugural ride one to two gears higher than normal.

The bottom bracket area. And first grease stain... ugh.

The handling is also excellent. It is much more stable than my old De Rosa on downhills (I have yet to reach massive speeds, only reached about 60 km/h today) and the best thing I can say is that by km 30 in the ride I was no longer conscious that this was on a new bike and my first ride. I was perfectly comfortable riding no-hands, drinking while at speed on downhills, etc.

Having said this, after years on a noodle frame, I did feel the rigidity when riding on Rome's miserable roads. The seat stays may be carefully studied by a super engineering team to be rigid yet vertically compliant (or so the Cervelo marketing spin tells us) but you do feel the road. This is a race bike, so that makes sense. Caveat emptor to potential buyers who want comfort. Look elsewhere for a plush ride.

The components are straight off my old bike. Modifications will be forthcoming (this bike is screaming for carbon Record 10 speed levers, black Record brakes and, if I can sneak them past the wife, a Neutron wheelset). So I have little to report beyond the fact that Campagnolo 10 speed continues to impress with its awesomeness. So let me wow you with a few pics of bike porn... (at least, for me).

Deda Newton stem and bars. Note the Cervelo cap on the stem. Nice touch.

San Marco Mantra saddle. Comfort for my bum and prostate, all in one! Happy Pete!

Tecno Tubo Torino (that's 3T to you) Funda fork. Delicious.

Ahh... Campagnolo Record Titanium. Bellissimo.

Front view. Very Euro Pro, in my humble opinion.

Just to prove that there is silliness in the best families... look at the service sticker on the top tube. Yes, white text on white paint. A wee bit difficult to read. LOL.

So, my overall first impression is that this is really, really great performance package. It is a fabulous race bike, well above my limits at the current time. On the basis of ogling and one flat ride in traffic choked Rome, I strongly recommend this to anyone looking for a high performance frame, one do-it-all bike.

I will do a full, bore you to death review in a few weeks when I have a few more kms under my belt...

A parting beauty shot. Simply gorgeous.

Kona Jake the Snake Review

2008 Kona Jake the Snake

Ok guys... now that I have owned and commuted on the Kona for the better part of a year, I feel that I am in a position to review the bike. And yes, before you ask, apparently August is review Pete's bikes month. So deal. :)

The pictures of my bike are here, on one of my first posts on this blog. No reason to clog up bandwith posting more pics of the same thing, so click the link (or scroll down the page) if you want to see what she looks like! The full specs (I have a 54cm) can be found on the Kona website here.

The Kona is, I am ashamed to admit, the bike that I ride the most. On average five days a week, to and from work, on either an 11 kilometer route or a shorter 7 kilometer one... occasionally, when I have the daylight hours and the weather is good (and I sneak out of work around 17:00), I will extend the home leg of my commute. So this bike does get its fair share of riding, around 80 kilometers a week if I stay on the conservative side. The bike, as any commuter I suppose, is ridden in any weather, and in the fall and winter, spends most of its time riding after dark with lights. Subject of a forthcoming equipment review, I suppose, but I digress...

My commute is not very challenging either in terms of road surface (all paved, Rome pavement, which is pretty bad, but paved) or in terms of hills - I have a couple of short grades in that can be used to add some pain to the ride, but nothing serious. Having said this, with two panniers full of clothing, a laptop computer and assorted odds and ends (sometimes 10 kgs of stuff), the cyclocross gearing (46/36 chainring up front) comes in handy. The frame is heavy (compared to a road bike), but very solid, and the ride predictable. This is no downhill carving uberbike, but you will have no nasty surprises in handling terms either. The frame comes across as a very sturdy, and with the included eyelets for a rack, is an ideal (IMHO) light commuting bike...

The bike comes with Shimano 105 components, FSA Gossamer crankset, Avid Juicy cantilevers (good braking, hard to avoid some brake squeal, but very low maintenance), Mavic Aksium wheels, and rather gnarly Maxxis tires.

The Mavic wheels, contrary to what I have read on the net, were very poor performers. I apparently got a bad set, they creaked to no end (seriously, people in Rome traffic could hear me from 500 meters away) and the only way I could fix'em was to get rid of them. Replaced with a set of cheap Shimanos, not much better in performance terms, but at least no noise!

After rather poor experiences with the stock clinchers in rainy conditions on asphalt (very exciting... in a bad way) I went through several different sets of clinchers. All poor performers for what I needed. I have now settled for a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus... they are expensive, weigh a ton and are not exactly speed racer tires, but punctures are now a thing of the past. And they appear to not be wearing at all, which is also a good thing!

The Gossamer crank is absolute crap. The allow appears to be soft butter. The shifting is only just acceptable, and the rings are not even very true out of the box. I am simply using it because the gearing's right for commuting, and because trashing it will not hurt my inner cycling self...

The 105 components are ok. Very clunky shifting, as I have mentioned in other posts, but maybe there is a bit of lack of love for maintenance on a commuter that affects their performance. They are light years behind my Campagnolo Chorus in feel as well as in ease and speed of shifting. Then again, that is the way it should be, as we are obviously comparing apples and oranges in the two component lines. In any event, the step down in performance from Ultegra (please see my review of the Specialized) is noticeable. If you can possibly spare the cash, go for the better group. And I will be substituting the 105 bits for a hodge podge of Campagnolo parts once I have the chance.

So, along with a set of Arkel T-28 panniers (they are great, by the way), that is the set-up. To sum things up, this is a very capable bike, which is a bit let down by some components (obviously
the spec is built to hit a price point). I recommend the Jake the Snake for light touring, commuting and I cyclocross (I guess, never used it for that, though). The frame is tough and made to last. The components, as you can surmise from my review, can all be changed out for something better.

Hope you found this review helpful!

Specialized Allez Review...

The Specialized...

I have a number of different road bikes, but the Specialized Allez here is probably the most unique bike in my stable. Why? Well, the frame material is similar to my other 'main' bike - a De Rosa Planet - Alu main triangle plus cf fork and rear stays, but the similarities end there. The Allez is very much a criterium machine, IMHO, being a very compact frameset (it is extremely compact in the 54 sloping size pictured here), and set-up with a full Shimano Ultegra Grey group, Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels, FSA bars, and Thomson seatpost and stem. Essentially a no nonsense racing frame (preferably for shorter, nervous races - I suspect that the previous owner used it as a criterium machine).

Yes, previous owner. This bike was purchased through ebay as an occasional use bike that I keep in the US (I regularly vacation in the US, but rarely more than 2-3 weeks a year in total). So I was not really looking for the latest and greatest, but rather a solid dependable bike that would give me little trouble. And indeed it satisfies my needs and more.

The business end...

I was a bit nervous when I unpacked the bike - I suspected that the position would be rather less forgiving than my De Rosa and the stout alu frame (especially the aero downtube) would give an effective but bone-jarring ride. Especially coming from the De Rosa, which is built with U2 tubing... about as noodly as it gets! Well, I was mistaken. This bike, with Elite wheels (as opposed to the 32 spoke handbuilts I usually ride at home), is quite comfortable. While I cannot say that I have ridden extreme distances, it is good for rides up to 80~100 kilometers (or at least, that is the most I have ridden it) without any serious aches and pains. I am not certain whether this has anything to do with the 'zertz' inserts that Specialized marketing types hype up, but I have no complaints comfort-wise.

Columbus Squadre Corse... a little bit of Italy!

This does not limit the power transfer of the frame - it is quite rigid and I have felt no power (not that I have much power!) loss while attempting to power-sprint up the short rolling hills that I ride in South Carolina. And the bike feels even more composed on the flat, where it is simply a joy to pedal hard, reach and maintain quite high 'cruising' speeds in the high 30s to low 40s (kph) with little effort (this is all relatively speaking, of course!).

Now about the groupset. As a proud Italian I am a Campagnolo man through and through. And must admit that I find the Shimano 105 group that came with my Kona to be inadequate the more I ride it... the shifts are clunky, the groupset is heavy and does not stay well regulated (maybe it's me, but this is not a problem with my Campagnolo groups) and... well, the aesthetics are nothing to write home about either.

The Ultegra drivetrain... where all the magical 'go fast' power transfer happens!

So... I was taken aback by how well the Ultegra group on this bike functions. It works the way a high quality group should - effortless shifting, no trouble making it work right, easy to maintain. Really nothing negative to say, beyond the fact that the STIs are huge, but then again, that is coming from a Campagnolo man, and it is the design characteristic of the entire Shimano line. And I do find them quite comfortable (apparently I am one of the few people who have no trouble riding either STIs or Ergopowers, both in terms of comfort and functionality). So, kudos, nothing negative to report on the group front.

The rest of the component set is also without fault. The FSA bars work fine, the massive Thomson stem and very elegant seatpost are excellent, and the Elite wheels have stayed true and spin well. The only complaint I have is the aftermarket Scott seat. I am sure it fits some people well, but any ride over one hour becomes torture. It will be replaced on my next visit with a Fizik Arione to protect my delicate posterior.

So, to sum it all up, if you have not already abandoned reading this post out of boredom: this is a great budget road bike, which will definitely not hold you back at all should you choose to race on it. A fantastic machine that you will enjoy riding many thousands of kilometers, should you so choose. Just remember to get a seat that you can live with!

She's actually quite striking, isn't she?

P.S. Apologies for the pictures - two days of training in the rain will do this... but I preferred to show you what it looks like 'in reality' as opposed to pictures taken following a 'showroom' cleaning session!