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.




Wednesday 1 July 2015

ZIPP IT

Our decision to research wheel options then wait and see what else popped up paid off!

The right wheels just happened to pop up up on a local facebook bike market for the right price.

After some negotiations and a couple of nervous days waiting for the courier the Slice was rolling on 650C Zipp 404's.


These are 2010 model toroidal Zipps which come with a few compromises
  • Pre 2012 188 rear hub – No easy 11 speed free hub conversion
  • Tubular instead of clincher which is arguably a plus
  • Need a bit of a clean up and some new decals

Justifications
  • About as good as it gets on our budget with the 650c size limitation
  • More aero than the 50mm generic rims in the comparative price range
  • Conventional width  - Less messing around with brake adjustment
  • We already have spare 650c tubular tyres
  • Wind tunnel test show the toroidal 404’s are still a formidable upgrade

 So things seem to be going our way, we can tick of the race wheels from our upgrade list!

Thanks to a bit of perseverance and finding a bargain we've saved enough to add a power meter to our list.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)