Isen no7

Having suffered a chest infection for a few weeks I didn’t want to make this a long ride more just a little shake down and to test it out.

I took my Silca baby torque wrench kit with me and a torx key for the @mdcc_tester top cap. After 1/2 a mile the brakes had been bedded in but the headset needed a little tightening.

When I turned on the Garmin it gave an error message regarding calibration of the power cranks but this quickly resolved itself. For the rest of the ride they performed flawlessly.

650b is awesome, 45 psi in the tyres and it all felt super plush. Ideally the bars need to drop a fraction lower as they felt too high and my arms were more than adequately bent while riding on the hoods.

Ugly bars don’t appear so ugly in situ and they offer a lot of give and comfort. When in the drops my wrist could just catch the bulge but if the bars are levelled I think this’ll be resolved.

The bike just felt invisible underneath me. Super comfy and responsive. Big tyres gave ample grip, local roads here are muddy and lumpy and yet these things presented no issues to the bike. A couple of times I diverted down footpaths which were bumpy but the bike just felt like it floated and it felt oblivious to what was under the rubber.

The new shifters sit well in my hands, but the right hand one needs an adjustment to its alignment. The brakes are much better than previous non series di2/hydraulics or the mechanical/hydraulics. The bite point requires much less lever travel and they have great sensitivity. New Di2 is great, I decided to try synchro shift and was really pleasantly surprised by it. It basically does what I do normally, ie shift two gears at the rear when I do a chainring shift, but unlike me, it doesn’t forget which gear it’s in.

Being able to control the Garmin via the hood top buttons is great, especially in winter gloves when the touch screen is often non responsive to clad fingers. Also being able to get it to illuminate via these buttons on night rides will be a huge benefit.

I have a feeling this will be my general go to bike for a lot of riding, and envisage myself doing more little detours down bridle ways and through woods.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1324048333