I built it up last night, and took it out for the maiden voyage today. I'm completely impressed with the ride and feel of this bike.

My previous everyday geared bike was a CAAD6, and this is definitely a step up in road feel. I never considered the CAAD6 to be uncomfortable, but the new one definitely has less of an edge. This is my first foray into SRAM components, too. My initial impression of them is really good. I like the solid feel of the levers, and the shifting is exponentially crisper than the DA9 I had previously. The hood design is much more comfortable under my hands, and ths shifting feels just right for my stubby fingers. I can't see peoples' gripes about the lack of trim on the FD. Mine set up nicely out of the box with no rubbing at the extremes. SRAM did well by having a 12-26 cassette, too. It's nice to have a bailout gear now.

Ideally I'm going to find bar tape that matches a little better. It was all I had laying around. Of course, in a few weeks, it will probably darken to a shade closer to the existing blue with dirt, etc, so maybe I'll just leave it alone.

Looks great other than snow underneath.

Looks great! I admit the SRAM stuff is intriguing to me. I wonder how long till they come out with a second gen road group? They seem to turn over their mountain groups pretty quickly compared to Shimano. Seems like they got most everything right on their first try, and I imagine the second gen will address the niggling little things like FD trim and whatnot that have concerned some users. I'll definately give it a go then.

Have you thought about the metallic blue Fizik tape? I think it might match your frame more closely, whenever you wind up replacing the tape. It's really thin though so you might not like it, or want to use a some kind of gel padding underneath.

Again, really sharp ride!:thumbsup:

Impressive. Looks very crisp in the snow.The frame reminds me of those wonderful American Airlines naked alu fuselages. Did you consider a black seatpost (Richey for example) to balance the stem?

Wow Wow Wow Wow.... I like. What wheels are you going to use to race this baby???? Did I mention I like your bike?


Joe

Impressive. Looks very crisp in the snow.The frame reminds me of those wonderful American Airlines naked alu fuselages. Did you consider a black seatpost (Richey for example) to balance the stem?

Believe it or not, that is an image I had in mind when thinking of the build, although I'm thinking more along the lines of one of the century series fighters (the Voodoo was my favorite).

I did think about the black post, but wanted to make it as alu as possible. All in all, I'm happy with how it turned out.

Great looking bike.

What are the wheels on there now?

What size is that frame?

You should get a silver thomson stem to match the silver post.

Great looking bike.

What are the wheels on there now?

What size is that frame?

Thanks.

It has the wonderful $89 Korsos on it. I've got almost a year on them with no truing or anything.

Frame size is a 52.