Review: ZIPP 303 Firecrest Wheelset

If you are looking for a wheelset that helps you in sprinting on a flat road and stiff enough that doesn’t flex when going uphill. Look no more. Zipp 303 Firecrest are the wheels that you want as it is pretty much all rounded. Zipp wheels are made in Indianapolis, USA and they are part of SRAM group now. This same wheelset that won two most famous Cobbled Classics – Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders. It was the 1^st carbon wheels that won in cobblestone race too.

It has a 45mm deep profile that cut thru air easily and 28.5mm wide. I believe you can fit in any tires with that kind of width but the main purpose is for improving aerodynamics. It is a carbon wheels but not the lightest within its range. Mine is clincher wheelset and the weight as below with rim tape included.

Front wheel          : 720g (published weight 725g)

Rear wheel           : 920g (published weight 900g)

Combine weight : 1640g (published weight 1625g)

Front wheel

Rear wheel

Ride experience

I had these wheels for a year now and my 1^st high profile wheels, as my previous 2 were 30 and 34mm deep. With a deeper profile, everything is so much different when your speed is increasing. Once I hit 35km/h my legs were like asking me for more and more speed. With my old wheelset I couldn’t even hold on to 35km/h for a long time but with Zipp wheels I am maintaining 40km/h with no issue.

I think a lot of us will have one common question. Automatically we all will think high profile wheels will suffer when during climb. So, how about the stiffness? These are a pair of very stiff wheels. The wheels didn’t flex at all when I was standing pedaling even with an 8-12 degree gradient climb. Based on my Strava record for a Full 800 Climb (6.5km) in Teluk Bahang, I have improved 2 mins or an average speed of 1.5km/h. I believe I have not extend to my full potential yet. A lot of people may wonder if the wheels are too stiff, will I get fatigue in long ride. Well, I don’t. Probably my frame has absorb most the vibration but I didn’t hear any complaints from my friends who uses the Zipp wheels too.

Since this is the carbon wheel, does it affect the braking when wet or a long descent braking? I didn’t ride during heavy rain but I had no issue with drizzled. It might degraded slightly but I never go fast when the road is wet. How about long descent? On my most recent ride to Genting Sempah, I had descended 528m in 15km and it worked perfectly fine. Of course, I didn’t press on the brake all the time but I had a few hard braked when the oncoming traffic headed towards me.

The rolling of these wheels are superb. The 188/V9 hubs that paired with these wheels have made my cycling like effortless. Again, I am comparing with other high profile wheelsets that cruised down a slope. I noticed my bike can glided down and gained more momentum than other riders. I would said we are about the same body weight or I may be slightly heavier body compared with others. So, weight can be ignore.

They designed the tip of the wheel to be rounded to minimize the crosswinds. Crosswinds not only a drag when cycling and can be dangerous too when going downhill at high speed. I have seen my teammate bike swung left and right when he went thru an area with strong crosswinds. I can’t say I wasn’t affected by it but not as bad as his and I can easily steer back in line.

You may wonder why there are so many dimples on the wheelset. It is their patented technology that smoothen the airflow. It is called Aerodynamic Boundary Layer Control or ABLC in short.

The only thing I haven’t try is to put a 25mm on the wheels as the Continental GP4000SII tire will rub my frame even with my old wheelset. So, I didn’t bother to try with the Zipp since these wheels has wider width.

Pricing

How much does it cost? Well, a new set is MYR7.8-8k and used is around MYR4-5k. Clincher cost slightly higher. But, it is definitely looks good with the aero frame.

Summary

Ride quality is definitely there but need to pay a hefty price for it. So, if money is not a problem for you then this wheelset can put in your bucket list or get a used one like me.

Note

Please take note that  Zipp has made a recalled on its front hub. I have copied the link here but it may be subjected to change. Please do check at their website for more details or contact your local dealer. https://www.sram.com/sites/all/themes/sram_2011/_pdf/recalls/sram-zipp-88-consumer-notice-final.pdf

Review: Shimano IceTech Disc Rotor

The reason I got this because I suspected the Brakco disc rotor I had was replica version. The Brakco rotor was also a floating rotor and I wasn’t sure how secure were the rivets. I had no choice but to quickly replace it before anything bad happened to me. Since I am using Shimano XT brake set that comes with IceTech technology, I thought of giving the IceTech Disc Rotor a try then. It is also a floating disc with 180mm.

I have been using it for almost a year now and I find it subpar. Why? There are 2 reasons behind this:

1) The disc will warp even I pressed the brake for just 1-2 secs but it did get back to shape after it cools down. Even the replica Brakco disc I had did not have this issue unless I pressed the brake for a long time. I have asked some friends who are using 180mm Hope disc to understand if they have the same issue. They replied “NO”. Hmm…. I guessed I need to upgrade again or stuck with this until I replace it.

2) The 2^nd issue may or may not due to the rotor disc. It could be a XT brake set that Specialized shop sold to me. I noticed the brake cables are different from original XT set and the braking feel is completely different from my friends’ bikes that uses XT Brake. The braking power is very weak since the day 1 I got them. 😦

Verdict:

Yes, this is cheap comparing with Hope or other brands within the same range but the disc rubbing sound is very annoying. So, definitely I won’t get the 2^nd pair again.

Review: How Hard or Easy To Change Bar Tape

I believe this question is lingering in some of our mind. How hard or easy to change a bar tape of our roadie. Before I begin, I wasn’t confident to do this at all. Thinking, what if the bar tape comes off during my ride or I wrapped it wrongly. Luckily we are leaving in the internet age. 1^st thing I did is to watch YouTube on how to do it. I did struggle a bit on the 1^st wrap. I had to run back and forth from my PC and bike to make sure I got it right. It was pretty easy when wrapping the drop bar but it gets harder when during the turn at the shifter. Once you get it, is pretty easy. The other side takes much shorter time.

So, is it easy? No, as it took me 2 hours to wrap 2 sides but I am happy and satisfied I did this on my own. It may not be nice but it is practical. Try to get a single color and no wording on a tape as it helps a lot. I got the Fizik Tape Performance 3mm Thick. Yesterday was my 1st tried and I love the feeling. It has good grip, soft and comfortable.

Good luck and have fun!

Review: Wishbone BBright PF30/BB386 Bottom Bracket

As expected, my Cervelo bottom bracket (BB) didn’t last very long. I had the bike for a little bit more than 2 years and the original BB fell apart. It all started with tuk tuk tuk sound and when the mechanic took apart, the ball bearing just dropped everywhere.

So, I got the Wishbone BBright PF30/BB386 Bottom Bracket and this model is specifically for Rotor 3D+ crank. I bought this in Apr, 2016 for MYR415.

This BB is a bit different from any other BB that I had used before as it comes in 1 piece. According to the guy who installed it, it supposed to have a better power transfer than the 2 separate pieces. The theory behind it is, when you drive with your right foot it will not flex the frame and no impact to the left crank and vice versa. In another words, it has better power transfer than individual BB. Best of all, this is a ceramic BB.

Ride

I have put on almost 4,000km (shy of 35km) since I last installed. Honestly? I fine it no significant different between the old and new. It is not super smooth nor super stiff. May be it will have significant different if the frame is aluminum or a softer carbon.

Verdict

If your frame is aluminum or softer carbon, then I will recommend this as it may have better power transfer. Otherwise, I don’t see any point of spending MYR 400+ for this.

Update: Another important point I left out is that it is pretty much zero maintenance. I had it for more than a year now and it is pretty much work like new still.

Review: Trek Emonda SL6 Roadbike

Today, I am reviewing the Trek…

EMONDA SL6…

 

BIKE SPECIFICATIONS

Frame:                  Ultralight 500 Series OCLV Carbon, DuoTrap S compatible

Fork:                      Emonda full carbon

Groupset:            Full Shimano Ultegra 6800

Crank:                   50/34 (compact)

Bottom Bracket: BB90

Cassette:             11-32, 11 speed

Seatpost:             Bontrager Ride Tuned carbon seatmast cap

Handlebar:         Bontrager Elite VR-C, 31.8mm

Stem:                   Bontrager Pro, 31.8mm, 7 degree, w/computer & light mounts

Saddle:                 Bontrager Montrose Comp

Wheels:               Bontrager Race Tubeless Ready

Tires:                    Bontrager R3 Hard-Case Lite, aramid bead, 700x25c

Weight:               7.4kg (with 2 bottle cages), 52cm size (excluding pedal); Trek website posted 56cm – 7.43 kg

About EMONDA

Every company has their own way of defining their carbon strength and technology. For Trek it is called OCLV or Optimum Compaction Low Void and it is patented. It is actually breaks down into 2 areas – Optimum Compaction and Low Void. In short, it is Trek processes of how they cut, mold, heat and compress the carbon. All Trek OCLV carbon frame is given a limited lifetime warranty. Emonda models comes with OCLV 300, 500 and 700. The SL6 is OCLV 500.

Emonda is not new anymore and it has been out since 2014. But, it was a newly added model into their lineup. The bike design is definitely meant for a purpose – climbing (and I would said endurance too). From the picture below, you can see the massive downtube that helps in climbing.

The tested bike was equipped with a full Shimano Ultegra groupset. There aren’t many bike companies would give out a complete groupset. Many times there are doing a mix match components to gain maximum profit. There is a slightly cheaper version that comes with Shimano 105 groupset. I am a bit of reserve of that… so, go for Ultegra and you won’t regret it.

 

Another thing worth to note here is the seat tube. It defied the conventional way of designing. Part of the seat post “extended” out from the frame. The purpose? To reduce the weight of the seat tube as it can designing it thinner.

All cables are all internal routed and nicely hidden. Whoever cleans the bike will definitely appreciate it.

Since cables are hidden away, can you do without cable tie also? With the DuoTrap S Compatible, you can now. So, no more messy cable tie for your speed and cadence sensor. The sensor is now nicely tuck into the frame.

A complete bike without pedals but with 2 bottle cages and stock wheels weights 7.4kg. It may not be an ideal weight as a climbing bike. Probably it was due to the heavy wheels. Published spec for the wheels are 1720g. Changing to carbon wheels probably can shed off 300-400g but that increases the price of the bike. If you are weight wheenie, get the Emonda SLR 10 that weighs 4.88kg only!!! And, it is a large frame with 56cm! Moreover, it is on sale now.

This is the weight of the bike without the wheels (of course, tires and tubes too).

This bike comes with 2 colors – Matte Dnister Black or Matte California Sky Blue. What I had tested was the Sky Blue. Ain’t she pretty with the high profile wheels?

THE RIDE

I believe everyone question now is can this bike climb as what it claimed. Personally, I find it average on climbing. It may be due to 2 reasons. 1) I picked the wrong time of the day to cycle as it was superhot (37C) to cycle and probably not my best performance. 2) It could be due to heavy wheels. Why? As the temperature cools down, I managed to gain speed and earned a Personal Record (PR) on one of the segment. It is a 3.6km path with small rolling hills. Secondly, each time when I was off the saddle and pedal, it did sprint. So, that tells me the bike is very stiff during the climb.

A bike is good if it can perform uphill, downhill and flat. Basically we wanted it all-rounded.  What about downhill and flat then? I definitely love the handling when coming down the hill and through each cornering. It has a superb handling and again, I have another PR. The steady frame and the 25mm tires helps a lot. On a flat road, I can feel that I need to put on a bit more effort but still manageable.

This bike is definitely set for endurance and comfort. The headtube length is 140mm for the tested bike vs 128mm for my Cervelo S3 and a chainstay length of 410mm. Also, the stack is 547mm. All these couple with 25mm tires, it was really a pleasure for me to ride that day. It was so comfortable that I can’t feel much of the road vibration even with a long stretch of road constructions during my ride. That earned the endurance title from me.

The wheels aren’t so bad as it didn’t flex so much when I was standing and pedal. Though it is heavy but a much better wheels than the 2 Mavic wheels I had tried on.

Beside the wheels, the only other thing I dislike about this bike is the handlebar. It is too wide for me. I find it not suitable for Asian size but this can easily settle by changing it.

Make sure you do fitting before deciding which size fits you well. Every single brand will have their own way of sizing. Trek personnel is happy to explain and get you fitted.

The price tag for this bike is RM12,499 before discount. The SL6 Pro comes with Vision Metron 40 carbon wheels. The 40 is indicating the 40mm depth and it weighs 1,490g without the quick release. The price tag of this bike? RM15,499. Is RM3k worth the upgrade? Hmm…. Probably, because you can’t get RM3k for carbon wheels. How it perform? You may have to test it out on your own as tested bike comes with standard wheels only.

Verdict

If you are looking for comfort and long ride that doesn’t taxing you. Also, most of your rides are rolling or climbing hills such as Cameron Highlands, Fraser Hill, Bukit Hantu or Peres. Then, this bike is definitely for you. Otherwise, you may want to consider Madone.

Trek Shop

There is a Trek concept store in Penang. It is called Treknology and you can actually borrow and test ride the bike. The criteria’s are simple. 1) You are genuine buyer that wanted to test out the bike before buying. 2) You are out in the group ride with them and you do not have a bike. They can lend you 1. You just need to bring your own pedal and spare tube during the ride.

There are 6 models that you can borrow and try it out. All you need is to fill up this form. And… Get a friend who knows Trek personnel very well to borrow the bike. Well, these are expensive bikes and they need to make sure you do take care of the bike and return in 1 piece. Oh… this program is also available in KL if you reside there.

Enjoy your ride… (I know I did :))

Travel: Penang Street Arts

This is my 2^nd blog after I have stopped for many months. I would like thank all of you who are still following. Hope to get back onto my 2 feet and get some posting rolling.

If you a fan of street arts and have been following the arts around the country, then you will need to come to Penang for these 2 magnificent pieces. They are located in Balik Pulau with the GPS coordinate 5.351705, 100.235621 or you can refer to the map below with the red dot. It is pretty easy to find as it is painted the whole piece of the wall.

Since you are here, get a bowl of asam laksa and a fresh nutmeg juice. The famous laksa is just beside the street arts and a big car park. Or, may be some durians since this is the season for durians.

These are my blogs about other street arts.

KL Street Arts
Penang Street Arts
Penang Street Arts 2

Review: SRAM X5 (PG-1030) Cassette for MTB

I just replaced my faithful SRAM X5 cassette as it was worn out after I have put in >6800km on it. I would say it was very long lasting as I had it for 3.5 years and all the abused I had put in. I hardly take care of the chain or cassette as I hardly wash them. I normally got very tired after a ride, so I would just rinsed my bike with water and store it. I would wash them probably once every 2 months (or more :o) but I did lube them occasionally and normally excessively too. But, I always make sure the chain needs to be changed once it is worn out except for once I missed out. That’s when I firstly got my bike. From then onwards, I occasionally check the length using a chain checker. I am sure the cassette will last longer if I take care of the whole drivetrain a little more.

X5 is not the lightest cassette as it weighs 395g but it is strong. I have used it to climb many hills and Penang Hill is one of the list. It is finally gave up on me as it started to jump gears and I had the intention to bring this bike for touring. So, I have no choice but to replace it with another brand new SRAM X7 (PG-1050). X7 is <100g lighter than X5 and it weights 299g. I picked X7 over X5 as the pricing (MYR25) is not much different and it is 100g lighter.

Since I had my chain and cassette replaced, it was no point for me to keep the old chainrings. So, I had them replaced too. I had used the 38T chainring as long as my cassette and the 24T was the 2nd sets. I believe the 24T still usable for another few hundreds kilometers.

Well, my X7 review will probably take some time as it is harder for me to accumulate the mileage now especially I have 2 bikes.

Will I use SRAM again if I have to replace them? The answer is DEFINITELY. It is basically low maintenance and long lasting. Keep up the great work SRAM guys!!!

Event: Melaka International Century Ride 2016 – Update

Another blow from the Melaka Century Ride organizer. 1st, the event was cancelled then they told us to collect the jersey during the collection day. Within days time, they changed their mind again and said it will deliver to us if we provide them the mailing address. Again within weeks time, they told us to pay additional RM10 to deliver it to us. This is clearly telling me they are out there to rob us clean. I will vow not to take part in any event under Azmar AB Hamid or Myskillmedia. See the message below from XIRCOLO.

STATEMENT FROM XIRCOLO

Greetings to all riders,

We, XIRCOLO as the event supplier is concerned about what has happened due to the cancellation of the MICR event. Together with the participants, XIRCOLO similarly has incurred a lot of losses in terms of money, manpower, time and other preparations for this event.

After further discussion with MICR Management, few events organisers, cycling experts, event suppliers and some riders, include from Singapore together with XIRCOLO Management, we have agreed to give away the jerseys and medals to the participants with the postage and processing fees.

Please be informed that jerseys and medals distribution is not the work of XIRCOLO the supplier, but base on our sporting spirit, we reluctantly will do so.

Please provide :
1) Name of participant and MICR registration no :
2) Delivery address to :
3) Postage of Rm15/per participant to :
Nurhidayat Ahmad Jalil
Maybank account no : 151605096149
4) Bank payment receipt as proof for the above STRICTLY via
WHATSAPP to hp no : +60137042554
5) a) Only Singapore participants , please contact via WHATSAPP
to hp no : +601126739290 (Eddie)
b) Processing fees S$10/per participant

XIRCOLO will not entertain any queries or claims concerning jerseys and medals pertaining to MICR event after 7 days from the date of this announcement. Parcels processing period will probably take about 14 – 30 days.

Thank you,
XIRCOLO Management
11th November 2016

 

Event: Melaka International Century Ride 2016

The Melaka Century Ride or MCR was organized by Myskillmedia Sdn Bhd and this year was their 3^rd year organizing this event. The 1^st 2 events were quite successful and routes were quite challenging. This was my 1^st time to register for a century ride. I was quite hesitated to enroll as I was quite lazy to train or busy with my schedule but I did enroll due to their reputed event.

The event was supposed to hold on Oct 30^th which was just few days ago. But unfortunately, the event was cancelled 5 days prior to the start date. Moreover, there was no refunds given to the participants. This caused an uproar among all the cyclists. There were few police reports being logged to the organizer and I am sure there is nothing the police can do about it. There were fine prints in the enrollment form clearly stated no refunds shall be given back to participants if event is cancelled. The reason they gave was the event cost was not sufficient to cover all expenses. With about 3000 people registered and each person paid RM130 that was RM390,000. Well, with RM390,000 and sponsors still not able to cover the cost? How much profits do they want?

Though the event was cancelled but they will still ship the jersey and medal to us. What is the point of having the jersey and medal when we did not even ride the route?

The Myskillmedia is also the organizer for Selangor Plus Century Ride which is on November 27. A lot of my friends were registered for this but fortunately the event money collected by CyclingEvents has yet to distribute back to the organizer. CyclingEvents was deeply regretted with their actions and they are willing to refund to those who had registered for Selangor Plus Century Ride. They will bare all the financial and handling charges also.

I am sure this event organizer was to gain people trust for first 2 events and by 3^rd one, they will just take the money and make a quick buck out of it. This posted me a question on whether I should join any event in future. For sure I won’t be joining anything that is related to Myskillmedia or Azmar Hamid.

Event: CFAL 2016 8th Edition

This was the 8^th year they organized this ride and this time the start and end point were different too. This year they held at Youth Park. There are always bound to have good and bad of each event. It is how they pick up and improve or maintain it. The route was longer compared with last year. Based on my Strava tracking, it was increased from 77km to 85km this year.

Youth Park is a great location and I will say quite sufficient parking spaces for cars. The only setback was the narrow road getting into and out of Youth Park was crazy. Imagine you have thousands of cyclists squeezed in a single car lane before joined to the main road. Also, during the end of the event there were cyclists rode against the traffic on a small 1 way street. This posted danger to other road users too.

As mentioned, they had changed the route for this year. It was not only longer and they were no longer passing through Esplanade as the usual route but passed by Georgetown area. I wasn’t sure if they want to promote the Penang Heritage site but I quite sure they missed out taking Penang traffic into account. You have buses, motorbikes and cars came from all directions. This could be scary scene.

They have improved the water stations area also. This year both the water stations were on the left side, so no one needs to cross the road. As normal, people still complained as they did not provide enough water stations. The 1^st water station was at ~35km and 2^nd water stations was at 60km. The last station was at end zone where they served food and drinks. I am sure it is hard to please everyone.

Safety wise, this year they did a very good job as they make sure every junctions or traffic lights they have traffic police or RELA (People’s Volunteer Corps) to take care of the traffic. Even we were very slow and near to the cutoff time, they were still there to stop any traffic. I remembered last year we have to take care of our own safety when we reached late.

Overall, I think they have improved a lot this year even with more participants. Kudos! I am not sure will there be another CFAL next year because last year they said were the last and this year they said the same. So, cross your fingers and hope that there will be another CFAL if you do plan to join them. Good luck…