kileyay wrote:
KevQ wrote:
BTW, I think this test was great regardless where the Andean will place. This new generation of Triathlon bikes has given consumers more choices than ever before. Perhaps, this breadth of choice has lead to confusion and as an industry we have to do better to communicate. Thanks for the explanation and kind words, Kevin. And agree with you as you know on the communication and as I've said here.
Disregarding aero, I think the Andean has its challenges -- the current state of disc braking and peripheral components (wheels, hydraulic Di2 levers, and the like) being chief among them -- and its huge merits: amazing design, hawt as all hell, and possibly a winner at high yaw given the engineering behind it that was designed to "win the championship".
I don't know if I will keep it honestly, most of all that the wheels I acquired for the bike's braking system -- the Enve 7.8 SES disc hoops -- are intolerably difficult to mount a tire on. And that's a
regular tire, not a tubeless tire. This is the only wheelset on the market that isn't just a rim brake rim slapped into a disc brake hub, and I have to break levers just to get my race tires on the rim. Being an early adopter here is fraught with downsides, but this tech is going to get a lot better quickly. Imminent are Dura Ace hydro TT levers, for instance, and I would be shocked if disc brake rim molds aren't in the works over at SRAM.
In fact we may see that on rappstar's bike this weekend, apparently. Full hydro disc brakes are better brakes, which everyone seems to agree on except for Tom A. But it's still early yet on their practicality as an end consumer.
These are all fast bikes. They are all great bikes. But they are different bikes. The rest of us consumers just need to sort through all that to make purchase decisions, if we decide to buy new bikes at all.
There was a ST Facebook Live video yesterday of him assembling his Andean at the Woodland's venue where he was speaking. The brake levers could be hydro, but I didn't see answers to the comments regarding the levers. His Zipp bars and pads/holders look a bit different than the existing Vuka too, but no answer about them either. He has still photo of the assembled bike on his FB page with the brake levers visible.