i can't afford these bikes please stop me - Ritchey, Serotta Legend & Tmax, CAAD5 Saeco

Picked up a new project today and figured I would document it and my other bikes here, otherwise I'd never take any pictures.

Starting with my complete bikes:

1993 Serotta Colorado Ti
Born the same year I was. Graced with Chorus 11 and Reynolds Assault wheels. Was planning to go threadless with a hylix fork, but decided against it in the end. Nothing planned for it other than changing the saddle back to a China carbon SMP copy, and a slightly shorter stem in the future.

2019 Cannondale CAADX
Bought this for the girlfriend, but made sure that it could be adjusted to fit me when needed :^)
No real plans for this either other than going tubeless in the future. And a carbon seatpost at some point. Otherwise stock with 105 R7000 stuff.

90's Specialized Rockhopper
Haven't bothered taking a picture of this beater, will get around to it at some point. Pretty much stock from the day it was born. Threw on a Wald basket, possible fenders come winter.

And lastly, today's purchase, also "for the girlfriend" because she "needs a road bike"...

90's Ritchey Road Logic
In a beautiful cobalt blue that transitions into a purplish color. Geometry similar to the Serotta, but with a longer top tube.

Already have a plan and most components around for this one, just need to find the time.

1. Chris King threaded headset - locknut in a mismatched color but fuck it
   
2. 8 speed Chorus groupset and Vento wheels - pilfered from the Serotta's original build
   
3. China carbon seatpost + Flite Ti saddle
   
4. Soma Hwy 1 bars
   
   

Just have to figure out what quill stem to throw on here. Thinking maybe SimWorks or Nitto UI-2. Thoughts?

Also want a mountain bike, but no idea where to go with that thought.

Nice bikes, what country you in?

Thanks! I'm in the US, specifically California.

Had a few minutes to whack on the headset and crankset today. Turns out the seatpost was a smidge too big at 27.2. Have a tasty Thomson elite on the way in 27.0 instead. Soma bars arrived but I think I'll swap them out with the bontrager bar on the Serotta because silver matchy matchy bits.

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Been half a year now, figured I'd post some updates.

Changed the saddle and stem on the Serotta, added some aliexpress lightweight bottle cages. An absolute joy to ride as always, but the 53/39 is misery. Think I'm gonna switch to a Columbus minimal fork and an inline carbon seatpost sometime next year, and hopefully switch to 50/34 chainrings sooner (which unfortunately requires a new crankset because campy bullshit).

Finished up the Ritchey, but ran into some problems during the build. Couldn't find a front derailleur clamp narrow enough to fit the seat tube, so ended up going 1x instead. It's been my daily commuter for the last 6 months-ish, and as much as I love it, I won't be commuting by bike next year. Going to be selling it on in preparation for another incoming project.

No changes with the CAADX, and gave the old specialized that I never took pics of to my mom.

Both are very nice. I'm not sure the chunkier Grammo stem works better than the thinner one you had on the OP though.

Agreed, looks pretty tumorous. The bars also keep slipping in it, even though both are 26.0 and I've shimmed it. Pretty annoying honestly. Bought it on a whim since it was Ti, shorter, and a good deal. It'll do until I make all the changes I'm thinking of.

Good news and bad news today
Good news: switched out the fat Grammo stem for a SimWorks SW28 stem off the Ritchey. Much thinner profile that matches the tubes better, and better yet, has had no issues with bar slippage, and no shimming needed. Ignore the tape job...


Bad news: seatpost slipped on my last ride. Went to tighten it today and a nice loud ping sound later, the bolt from the seatpost clamp had snapped, with half of it still inside the clamp.
Also bad news, the Campy aero seatpost no longer really matches with anything other than the headset on the bike after the stem change. And I realized just how heavy that shit is today, so I'm tempted to throw a carbon post on instead...

Also something I've been neglecting:
Serotta T-Max that I was tinkering with and planned to take out on some overnighters until something in the BB/cranks area started squeaking... and now it's in pieces in the garage because the BB is stuck. Will get it sorted at some point.

A bit of carbon mounting paste does wonders on slipping bars and seatposts.

Never thought to use it on non-carbon stuff, will have to try next time!

In other news, LBS couldn't drill out the snapped bolt from the Serotta clamp, recommended that I take it to a machine shop, but everything's on lockdown here in California. Tried to pilfer the clamp off the CAADX but it was too big... Just a long waiting game now I guess.

For now, here's a nice lil pic from a quick spin around town on the CAADX.

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I do need to visit Cali some point in time. After Cov19 and Trumpie possibly.

Also, I want a Ti in my size.

You absolutely should--phenomenally gorgeous here with so many different environments to ride in! And definitely get a Ti if one pops up, so niceeeeeee.

Beautiful day for a new quarantine project! Courtesy of @Levent, I now have a CAAD5 Saeco to work with. He did a phenomenal job packing it up and sending it overseas 10/10. Thanks a lot!

Came with original fork, but since I had this enve fork laying around, figured I may as well chuck it on since it's lighter. Snagged the seatpost and saddle from the CAADX, might keep the post on here but definitely changing the saddle. Kalloy uno stem with Thomson carbon drops. Threw on some light carbon tubulars, but will be using an alloy wheelset instead.

In terms of groupset, I have a big mishmash laying around:
-5800 shifters
-6800 brakes
-R8000 F/R derailleurs
-9000 Crankset
Might look kinda funky though, so I dunno. Maybe cannibalize the Chorus from the Serotta?
And maybe gold KMC chain? Thoughts?

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Go with what you have. It sounds very hiphop! Very nice bikes and lovely scenery

Good lord it's been a trying 3 weeks... All the parts finally arrived, and as I was beginning to assemble, I realized I had left my bike grease at a friend's place (which requires paying toll to reach, and a new tube only costs $2 more). Purchased a new tube at the local LBS and put everything together. Went to go measure and cut cable housing, and the cutters from the hardware/home improvement store mangled, flatted, and stripped the cable housing. Used them to set up 3 other bikes, and at this point the jaws/blades were absolutely fucked. I was livid. Did a little research, and ended up purchasing a set of Felco cable cutters. They arrived last week, and I was ready to finish the build! To my dismay, the housing wouldn’t fit in the jaws... my dumbass forgot to check that before buying. Now waiting on a set of Felco C7 to arrive on Wednesday. Ignore the dildo spacer stack, will sort eventually.

Also purchased a gen 1 Stages DA 9000 crank on a whim. Supposedly it kept dropping the signal. Will try to see if I can get it to work better, but if not, a $50 backup nds DA 9000 crank ain’t all bad. Thanks for reading my rants... As a reward here’s some shite pics from some recent rides:

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Much braap on that Saeco. That drop doe. I got a herniated disc just by looking at that.

Yeah the drop is a bit much moreso for my neck than my back, probably gonna have to raise the front a bit.

Proper sized felco arrived yesterday and was able to finish the bike. Took it for a spin today. Front end a bit low for me, and saddle slipped along the way. Need more carbon paste. In all its glory:

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Big up the CAADX, I got mine a few months ago and really enjoying it.

Nice colour...

Glad you like yours! Indeed the color was nice, but ended up selling the CAADX just a moment ago... Moving soon and had to downsize my collection. Found myself reaching for the Tmax far more often for off-road duties, and just couldn’t bear to sell the Ritchey.

What wheels are on the Caad5?

Not sure, got them off a parts bike a while back that had other bling bits on it too. No ID for the rims, but the hubs are Aivee SR5 which look like some french boutique stuff.

Took the Tmax to the local trails for the first time today (and my second ever proper mtb ride). Cow shit splattered everywhere, and hands hurt from being rattled around for 3 hours, but it was a blast. I want a suspension fork and some flat pedals now.

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Or I just need a lot more practice.

Also picked up this AliExpress carbon saddle on whim, looks like a Specialized Power copy? Maybe I’ll throw it on the CAAD?

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