A friend of mine recently commented about the appropriate name of my new bike – insinuating that I am a bit of a Diva.
Well, maybe I am. Take, for instance, my list of demands concerning my new bike.
When I decided to spring for a new ride, I was painfully aware that the only option for a proper fitting bike that was an upgrade from what I had was the 2010 Orbea Diva. The full carbon frame with integrated headset and fork retails for $3000 and promises to weigh in at some obscenely light weight.
Now, I am not a weight weenie. I have never, ever had a light bike, nor have I ever expressed the desire to own one. I never owned super light race wheels and I never cared about things like carbon fiber water bottle cages or titanium skewers as a means of weight reduction. My criteria for a bike has always been
1.) it must fit me
2.) I have to be able to afford it
3.) it has to perform in a race
I’ve alluded to my inability to deal with change. I do not like change. I’m the type of person who will use Windows 95 because I don’t want to bother to learn the newer stuff (actually, that’s not true, I’m a Mac person…but when I finally upgraded my iBook G4 to a Macbook in 2007, the guy at the Apple store was shocked to learn that I was still using Panther).
When it comes to change on the bike, I am even less compromising. Even though I’ve changed bikes over the years, my position has remained constant. Since 1997, I have ridden a 50cm top tube with a 0º rise 80mm stem, and 165mm cranks. I use Salsa Short n Shallow 40cm bars and a Terry Damselfy saddle. And I have used Shimano since I started riding in 1997. Sure, I started on Biopace and RX100 and then upgraded to Ultegra, and eventually to Dura Ace, but I am not interested in learning a new drive train.
Selecting the appropriate combination of parts to get my new Diva to a modern day bicycle weight (that would be under 16lbs) was not easy. Because of my strict needs on fit, I couldn’t just buy the lightest parts available -the result would have been a bike that did not fit and was all wrong. For example, I challenge you to find a really light 80mm 0º rise stem. Go for it. Try and find one. Not easy. Now try and find shallow drop handlebars that are super light. Equally difficult.
Some of my equipment choices are simply due to comfort and familiarity – Shimano R540 pedals are heavy, but I like them, and the weight savings from switching to Dura Ace are not worth the price. My saddle is not light, but it’s comfortable. I raced a Selle Italia SLR for 3 years – yeah it was great having a saddle that only weighed 138gms, but my crotch wasn’t that thrilled about it. With my Damselfly I can ride 130 miles in a day and not ever get a saddle sore or numbness…that is worth the extra 125gms.
When the new bike was finally built, we weighed it, and with American Classic Sprint 350 wheels (what I believe are the lightest clincher wheels in 650 available) it comes in at 15.8 lbs (with pedals and cages).
I’m not gonna lie – I was a bit disappointed. After all – the Garmin team Felt bike is rumored to come in below the UCI weight limit at somewhere around 14.3 lbs. Andy assured me that the published weights were exclusive of things like pedals and cages and most likely not accurate.
Last night Andy got his new American Classic Magnesium wheels and promptly put them on his new SRAM Red equipped Felt F1C. His bike weighed 14.8 lbs.
WTF?
How is it that a 56cm bike can weigh less than a 46cm?
Andy pointed out that if I had gone with SRAM Red instead of Dura Ace, I would have a lighter bike.
And this is where I start to get angry. I cannot use SRAM. I hate Hate HATE SRAM. Sorry SRAM, but people with small hands cannot shift the Double Tap technology. I had Rival on my cross bike and I couldn’t shift and had to switch the bike over to Ultegra. People have insisted that it was the Rival and that I would have no problem shifting Red. Last night I put his bike on the trainer and tried shifting the Red. Same problem…too many degrees of lateral swing for my little hands.
This all made me angry and Andy said “look, you could have a lighter bike, but you didn’t want to get the light parts.”
Let me get this straight – for any random guy to get a sub 15lb bike, he only has to be willing to pay the money. He can get whatever length stem and size bars and whatnot and he can have a light bike. If I were to spec my bike with the lightest parts, I would have to ride handlebars that I could not reach, use a stem that is either too long or has the wrong rise, and I would have to use shifters that I was incapable of shifting.
I don’t think so.
So instead, I opt for something that fits, and the result is my bike is an entire pound heavier than a size 56.
It’s just not fair, bicycle industry. Small girls want light stuff too….
March 12th, 2010 | 
