Current Projects chat and miscellany

New ride, bars were swapped straight out, need a different saddle. Running a smaller cog for the road. Will swap out parts as they brake/need it. Just going to ride it hard for now and get used to the geo.
Feels good.

Nice! I like the tk2

i do mean drops and hoods/levers yes

Just did the exact same thing, will post a pic, different bars though. Loving it

^ Is that the regular microtex or the soft-touch?

Currently this is being striped so that I can get the frame powder-coated with one of Armourtex's fancy new colours. Then new Deda seat post, bars and stem and Romin saddle.

Frame at Armourtex, parts bought from Ribble... just waiting on a set of forks and a white Romin saddle to go with the white bar tape.

Will either look great or shit. Ho hum.

^ Is that the regular microtex or the soft-touch?

To my knowledge it is the microtex tape. The other version is leather feel, but the microtex is often referred to as soft touch, I didn't realise/dont think there are two microtex versions

Scratch that. This is the microtex soft touch version, not the leather kind.

There's definitely two kinds of microtex (regular, and soft touch) according to wiggle. I might go to a shop and feel them. How do you like the tape, is it 'soft'?

Wiggle | Fizik MicroTex Bar Tape Bar Tape

I quite like the soft touch Fizik but not the regular stuff (which has hardly any grip at all, it's quite shiny/smooth). It's not particularly stretchy though, so it's quite hard to wrap without any kinks or high spots. Very little padding compared to cork tape as well, but I've not found that to be a problem.

The soft touch has a nice grippy suede-y finish (which you can see in that pic above).

Yeah I am a fan of it, as regal says its hard to wrap, I've made a bit of a dogs dinner out of it, oh well. It doesn't have and cushioning which is only a small issue. But the tape is otherwise very sound, I have the soft touch, (nicer than the leather ish one) but it defiantly has a plasticy feel even though it looks like suede, it is good stuff mind you

+1 on the stretchiness. I found it fine for the track bike without levers but with ergo bars and brake levers I just couldn't get it not to kink in some places. Comfort and grip is great though

i got it on fine on my bike, you just need to apply even tension

Sounds good. Suedey in particular sounds nice.

even nicer with the gel pads underneath.

Close to getting the pads, ran out of monies though

the hipster TT toolkit is growing... did a cruise round a local 10km last week and it was ok, some scary junctions though so might find a straighter route to open this baby up, what does everyone think a good time for a 10 and a 25 is?

zipp carbon front by monomaniac(tom), on Flickr

gipiemme track disc wheel by monomaniac(tom), on Flickr

what does everyone think a good time for a 10 and a 25 is?

25-27min for a 10mi is respectable. The more you do the better your technique gets, so even if you don't get fitter you learn how to pace yourself just right for the distance.

what does everyone think a good time for a 10 and a 25 is?

I think under 23:00 and under 58:30 is good, other people have their own targets, faster or slower. Depends a lot on the course and the day too.

cool, thanks!

i've only done a few locals and a lot of them round my area at random amounts, 8.5, 9, 11 - annoying! i'll aim for as close to 23:00 as possible and under an hour this year and see how it goes, i've only ever done one 25 and it was 1hour, 1 minute something - really annoying at the time but i'll probably end up being slower second try

i got it on fine on my bike, you just need to apply even tension

Same here.
I find wrapping bars one of those Zen kind of jobs.
On my Cougar I got the levers in the right place then removed them from the clamps, then taped the bars. When you get it right it looks good.
I've been using standard/smooth Fizik tape for a good 7 years now (I had white tape on track drops with a cross lever painted white!) cause it's really comfortable and looks good. I've only found it slippy if I've ridden without mitts - which is onl going to be down the corner shop anyway....

i got it on fine on my bike, you just need to apply even tension

It's definitely do-able, just not as easy as some other tapes. It is quite easy to unwind and re-adjust, which helps. #bartapechat #csb

The backing tape is grippy not sticky so if you fuck it up you can easily re do it.

^this, i recently reused some of the black soft touch stuff for wrapping drops for the 3rd time and it may as well have been brand new.

The Soft Touch Microtex doesn't last very long IME. As it wears it goes shiny then falls to pieces. Regular Microtex is fine though.

just bought a 2012 sram red black groupset.

Oofffff!