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General Bike Thread (Desiderata, Questions, Pics)

Piobaire

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I wear Pearl Izumi sun guards on my arms and a nice, cooling buff for my neck. Sun damage is a real thing.
 

smittycl

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Ask @smittycl how I get decked out for my rides. I cover up from head to toe with a long sleeved base layer for the arms and sun sleeves for the legs with sunscreen on the remaining exposed parts. As a matter of fact, I do the same for mtb however to protect myself against ticks.
You were pretty well tricked out in riding gear! I overheat easily and don’t like any extraneous items or layers if I can avoid them. I stick to shorts and tshirt, no gloves, hats and such. Have gone tick-less so far. ?

I’ll add a jacket, pants and gloves when it’s cold of course.
 

patrick_b

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I'm stuck in a loop of watching Specialized Aethos build and review videos. The Pro model (non S-Works) comes with disc brakes, Roval carbon wheels and Ultegra Di2. In a 56 it weighs 14.1 lbs bone stock. I didn't think stock bikes came in that light anymore especially with discs. Makes my similarly equipped Roubaix (and the Tarmac) look porky in comparison.

aethos_pro_ult_di2.jpg
aethos_pro_ult_di22.jpg
 

HRoi

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I'm stuck in a loop of watching Specialized Aethos build and review videos. The Pro model (non S-Works) comes with disc brakes, Roval carbon wheels and Ultegra Di2. In a 56 it weighs 14.1 lbs bone stock. I didn't think stock bikes came in that light anymore especially with discs. Makes my similarly equipped Roubaix (and the Tarmac) look porky in comparison.

View attachment 1649080 View attachment 1649081
I’ve been reading up on the Aethos as well. That design brief of “be the best riding bike, not necessarily the fastest or winningest” really appeals to me. The only thing that gives me pause is some reviews saying that it still has aggressive geometry compared to the Roubaix.
 

patrick_b

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I’ve been reading up on the Aethos as well. That design brief of “be the best riding bike, not necessarily the fastest or winningest” really appeals to me. The only thing that gives me pause is some reviews saying that it still has aggressive geometry compared to the Roubaix.

My thoughts exactly, though two things come to mind. Roubaix also gives you the Future Shock. I've been riding my Roubaix with the Future Shock locked out for weeks (about 75 mi/week). I completely forgot about it and don't miss it at all. For long rides or gravel, it will be nice to have but most of my riding is relatively short. You can also add a few spacers to the Aethos and get the front end up a bit to match a higher stack bike.

Stack/Reach ratio is one quick and dirty way to look at the aggressiveness of a bike (not perfect) but a starting point. A stack/reach ratio of 1.4x or lower is fairly aggressive, think Tarmac or Madone. I put these specs into a spreadsheet when bike shopping this year. Also flipping my stem the other way would drop the ratio a bit as well. All that said, one could get very close to the Roubaix "feel" with the Aethos in terms of stack/reach with the addition of a few spacers and/or stem choice. You'd lose the Future Shock but save 3 lbs in bike weight if that matters. I could really talk myself into one of these pretty easily :-D. Maybe be a couple of years.

geo.jpg
 

Piobaire

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Domane for life!
 

sugarbutch

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If I were buying a new bike today, I would be looking at the Diverge instead of the Tarmac or Roubaix, plus a set of wheels with road tires. It also has internal storage, should that be something that matters to you. ;)
 

patrick_b

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If I were buying a new bike today, I would be looking at the Diverge instead of the Tarmac or Roubaix, plus a set of wheels with road tires. It also has internal storage, should that be something that matters to you. ;)

I was looking at the new Pinarello Dogma F and Bianchi high end models and was surprised that the Euro bikes [generally] have a less aggressive geometry than the US made top end race bikes. I've read that it's because the Italian bikes are designed for long one day races like the Classics and multi staged World Tour events while US makers like Specialized & Trek design for shorter, crit type racing? Wonder if that's actually the case? Though look at how many World Tour teams ride the Tarmac and Madone so it maybe not.

I'm liking the idea of multiple, purpose built bikes. Not sure my wife will agree.
 

sugarbutch

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Having at least two bikes is nice when one needs a bit of maintenance and you just want to ride.

It certainly seems plausible that the different bike cultures led to different choices for geometry. At this point, though, I suspect that if geometry were a performance differentiator, the brands would have converged on the ideal. Also possible that US brands are less traditional, so they're not bound by the inertia of brands that have been around for 100 years. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 

HRoi

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My thoughts exactly, though two things come to mind. Roubaix also gives you the Future Shock. I've been riding my Roubaix with the Future Shock locked out for weeks (about 75 mi/week). I completely forgot about it and don't miss it at all. For long rides or gravel, it will be nice to have but most of my riding is relatively short. You can also add a few spacers to the Aethos and get the front end up a bit to match a higher stack bike.

Stack/Reach ratio is one quick and dirty way to look at the aggressiveness of a bike (not perfect) but a starting point. A stack/reach ratio of 1.4x or lower is fairly aggressive, think Tarmac or Madone. I put these specs into a spreadsheet when bike shopping this year. Also flipping my stem the other way would drop the ratio a bit as well. All that said, one could get very close to the Roubaix "feel" with the Aethos in terms of stack/reach with the addition of a few spacers and/or stem choice. You'd lose the Future Shock but save 3 lbs in bike weight if that matters. I could really talk myself into one of these pretty easily :-D. Maybe be a couple of years.

View attachment 1649136
Yikes so the stack ratio of the Aethos is equal to the Madone? I have an old ass Madone that probably doesn’t have the same ratio as the current one (and data probably not even on the Internet), but if I were to get a new road bike, it would be more endurance oriented to complement the Madone. So from that list I’d end up with a Roubaix or Domane…although I do hear you about the potential mods
 

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