It's the off season: the perfect time for bike upgrades!

This year Nat has signed up for her first 70.3 triathlon so her TT bike will become the weapon of choice for training and racing with a long course focus. She is currently getting around on this Cannondale Slice Women's specific. It is the XS size with the 650c wheels which suits as Nat stands 156cm (5'2")

It was bought second hand and has served her well for a couple of seasons but it has fairly entry level specs:

  • 105 mechanical shift
  • Semi internal cabling
  • Basic aluminium cockpit
  • Conventional stem
  • Standard Tekro brakes
  • Ok 30mm deep aero wheels

 


So starts the project we will Blog about over the next month or so.




Tuesday 23 June 2015

IDEAS AND RESEARCH PHASE

The process of deciding the best upgrades will be iterative so lets start with the vague plan:
  • Re-use the 2011 Slice Women’s 650C frameset
  • Aim for a result on par with  2015 model Ultegra Di2 at a fraction of the cost
  • Use savings for options such as carbon race wheels and power meter
  • End up with something unique and very specific to Nats needs
From here we'll see what parts are out there, evaluate a few options for cost versus technical benefit and see what we end up with.

The areas we saw as the easiest gains were:
  • Carbon Race Wheels
  • Carbon Aero cockpit with internal cable routing
  • Di2 Shift Gear for practicality and less cable clutter messing up the aerodynamics

    These parts will need to be selected for improved aerodynamics while improving the bike geometry & maintaining adjustability for a comfortable but aerodynamic body riding position.

    Ultimately a power meter is a seen as an ideal addition to the training toolkit so at this stage we have this idea in our minds as something we will consider when we have a better idea what the basic bike mods will cost.  A power meter is a fairly easy addition at any time.
    Posted by at

    No comments:

    Post a Comment

    Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)