Fabian Cancellara: Winner 2013 Paris-Roubaix. Photo courtesy Graham Watson
Spartacus wins, and
wins big! No electric motors, just big
legs and the lungs to match.
What can you say about Fabian Cancellara’s 2013 campaign so
far? First, big wins in the Tour of
Flanders, and now Paris-Roubaix. This
man, and the Trek Domane are on fire.
And, regarding the Trek Domane, here are my thoughts:
2013 Trek Domane. Photo courtesy Bike Rumor
Bike News - The
Trek Domane must be the real deal. From
Cancellara’s exclusive use of it over the magnificent Madone, to all those I
have asked their opinions about regarding its performance after a test ride. However, we can’t get took excited about it
can we, as Trek is the ride of that vicious, evil-do’er, Mr. Armstrong. Additionally, every test of the Domane has
returned very favorable results, however, there was always some nagging,
extremely subjective reasoning for not proclaiming it a winner in so-called
“Objective Testing.”
Take Velo News, for instance. Please!
A blind man could have seen right through their “Objective Testing” of endurance
racers in the May 2013 issue. Not only
was the Domane dinged for issues totally unrelated to its performance, but the
Volagi Liscio was scored dead-last (with the Look 675???) while,
surprise-surprise, the Specialized Roubaix magically managed to best all-comers. Me thinks the crew over at Velo must be kissing
that big “S” tattoo on Mike Sinyard’s butt quite often.
The World Sport. Schwinn catalog, 1979
I rode a 1979 Schwinn World Sport yesterday. Wow, what a beauty to ride, she was. It had sat in a garage for the better part of
twenty-five years before recently being rebuilt by Pasadena Cyclery. I had not ridden a steel frame since the late
1980’s, and I was reminded why people like the material so much. While the brakes and Non-STI shifters were
not up to modern standards, the ride was nothing but smooth and produced a
whole lot of smiles.
2013 Raleigh RX 2.0 Cyclocross bike
I also tested a 2013 Raleigh RX 2.0, courtesy of Pasadena
Cyclery during the week. What attracted
me to this certain bike was the overall package it presents for a whole lot of fun
riding, regardless of terrain, mood, or whether one was wearing a kit or
not. Basically, I was looking for
something that I could just jump on and not care about jersey’s, bibs, shoes,
or cleats. A Cyclocross’er seemed to fit
the bill.
The bike comes with an aluminum frame, carbon fork, Shimano
105 gruppo, FSA 46/36 crankset (gearing can be changed if needed), Avid BB5
mechanical disc brakes (with bar-top levers), and toe-clips. A smooth riding, fun, durable, twenty-pound, throw-around
bike, all for $1,100 on sale. This is
the kind of bike I would ride on the Pacific Electric Trail, as it would absorb
the bumps quite well with its size 32 tires.
It could indeed be ridden in the dirt along the trail to escape the pain
of the concrete expansion joints.
Zipp hub for road disc brakes. Hallelujah! Photo courtesy Zipp.
In the New Stuff
Department, Zipp announced new 303 wheels specifically designed for disc
brakes. Also, SRAM leaked news of an
impending 11-speed gruppo, as well as hydraulic brakes.
So, will bicycling embrace road disc brakes? Paraphrasing Samuel Jackson from the movie Jurassic Park, “Hold onto your butts,” you bet
they will!
Shimano also let loose strong rumors of their own updated
road and off-road gruppo’s, plus new wheelsets, and behold: Hydraulic
brakes.
Stay tuned for more from the
power-house of the East.
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