It looks utterly hideous. I hate it. The chassis is actually the finest looking of the Lotus-inspired set, which isn't saying a lot for a style that just doesn't work for a lot of people, including me. The orange colors are terrible. I don't know why he couldn't have just made the base color scheme a light grey, or something else neutral, and then allowed the one person in the world who wants that orange -- Nick Salazar himself -- to apply those awful decals.
Aerodynamically, I think it could be interesting. I'm sure it will test well -- the story he is telling about this frame is the same one that's been told about the Lotus and the Ventum, not that we've seen reliable data yet. The fork is sort of a half Dimond superfork / half old 3T one.
I think he came as close to nailing the fit for as many people as possible as he could -- with only three molds of the frame and a fixed stem length, anyways. Ironically, because this bike is offered in only three SKUs, it more than most others needs the additional flexibility that Zipp provides in small, medium, and large offerings of the Vuka Stealth front end. At any rate, it happens to fit me acceptably -- not as well as the Canyon, but well enough -- and that's a rarity among these new orthodontist bikes.
I expected the $5,000 price point, bolt non occlusion, removable FD hanger, bosses everywhere, integrated Omega brakes, a compartment for the junction box, etc. These are all classic Salazar, which shouldn't necessarily diminish them, because in total they are important. But of course, they reflect the details that matter to Nick, not necessarily all that matters to triathletes. The hydration setup is totally impractical for many of us who need to race a 112 mile time trial or train in remote areas for several hours -- and sort of by definition in much of the world, you are in remote areas when you are riding for several hours. Nick doesn't understand this. That cage behind the saddle, the Kappa -- it won't launch bottles, but it will make your life hell, and possibly kill you, if you ever need to reach back there and pull something out while you're riding.
I didn't expect a bento storage solution integrated into the top tube, which looks more spacious than others of its kind...not sure, hard to tell, but I guess it partially negates the whiff on hydration. I didn't expect an integrated Silca tool with a push lock or a hirth joint in the steerer, which seem like interesting integrations...if they work. Apparently the manufacturing required to product effective hirth joints is cumbersome and difficult. These are exactly the types of processes and products that are easily bungled in a first generation design. The thing doesn't even have a patent yet.
Which brings me to my next point...what happens when this thing fails? And there are probably more potential failure items / points in this bike than any other debut superbike in recent history -- from a one man shop with a history of products that fail on athletes at the worst times (e.g. Kona) and a track record of ambivalence towards those customers / problems when they do happen. Who is going to be the $5k guinea pig on this thing? Any takers? Count me out.
So with these concerns, you'd expect Nick to back his products with some sort of long term guarantee, right? Wrong. He goes to market with a 1 year (very limited) warranty...(Edit: no changed to five years...because, "typo".) For a $5,000 frameset. This is a problem. This has always been a problem. A buddy of mine couldn't get his Alpha X extension clamps securely on his gamma extensions, and Nick told him to cut up a soda can and layer it around the extension in the clamp to act as a 'shim' of sorts. A $1,000 front end solution needs a Bud light shim to function properly? Stop. If you want to sell big boy products at big boy prices, you need to put on your big boy pants and back the customer when those products don't work properly or are damaged.
Speaking of first generation products described as "bomb proof" by Nick that happen to have serious quality issues, Flo's come stock on the $8,000 complete build. I am not sure who rides a bike this expensive and is content to roll around on Flos. Oh, yes, I do. Nick. Because he doesn't ride in adverse conditions like rain.
Anyways, this bike is about to be irrelevant. Six years he spent developing a bike architected around his Omega rim brake, and in three years, no serious racing bicycle will have rim brakes anymore. I am setting the over/under on TriRig bankruptcy at 18 months.
Aerodynamically, I think it could be interesting. I'm sure it will test well -- the story he is telling about this frame is the same one that's been told about the Lotus and the Ventum, not that we've seen reliable data yet. The fork is sort of a half Dimond superfork / half old 3T one.
I think he came as close to nailing the fit for as many people as possible as he could -- with only three molds of the frame and a fixed stem length, anyways. Ironically, because this bike is offered in only three SKUs, it more than most others needs the additional flexibility that Zipp provides in small, medium, and large offerings of the Vuka Stealth front end. At any rate, it happens to fit me acceptably -- not as well as the Canyon, but well enough -- and that's a rarity among these new orthodontist bikes.
I expected the $5,000 price point, bolt non occlusion, removable FD hanger, bosses everywhere, integrated Omega brakes, a compartment for the junction box, etc. These are all classic Salazar, which shouldn't necessarily diminish them, because in total they are important. But of course, they reflect the details that matter to Nick, not necessarily all that matters to triathletes. The hydration setup is totally impractical for many of us who need to race a 112 mile time trial or train in remote areas for several hours -- and sort of by definition in much of the world, you are in remote areas when you are riding for several hours. Nick doesn't understand this. That cage behind the saddle, the Kappa -- it won't launch bottles, but it will make your life hell, and possibly kill you, if you ever need to reach back there and pull something out while you're riding.
I didn't expect a bento storage solution integrated into the top tube, which looks more spacious than others of its kind...not sure, hard to tell, but I guess it partially negates the whiff on hydration. I didn't expect an integrated Silca tool with a push lock or a hirth joint in the steerer, which seem like interesting integrations...if they work. Apparently the manufacturing required to product effective hirth joints is cumbersome and difficult. These are exactly the types of processes and products that are easily bungled in a first generation design. The thing doesn't even have a patent yet.
Which brings me to my next point...what happens when this thing fails? And there are probably more potential failure items / points in this bike than any other debut superbike in recent history -- from a one man shop with a history of products that fail on athletes at the worst times (e.g. Kona) and a track record of ambivalence towards those customers / problems when they do happen. Who is going to be the $5k guinea pig on this thing? Any takers? Count me out.
So with these concerns, you'd expect Nick to back his products with some sort of long term guarantee, right? Wrong. He goes to market with a 1 year (very limited) warranty...(Edit: no changed to five years...because, "typo".) For a $5,000 frameset. This is a problem. This has always been a problem. A buddy of mine couldn't get his Alpha X extension clamps securely on his gamma extensions, and Nick told him to cut up a soda can and layer it around the extension in the clamp to act as a 'shim' of sorts. A $1,000 front end solution needs a Bud light shim to function properly? Stop. If you want to sell big boy products at big boy prices, you need to put on your big boy pants and back the customer when those products don't work properly or are damaged.
Speaking of first generation products described as "bomb proof" by Nick that happen to have serious quality issues, Flo's come stock on the $8,000 complete build. I am not sure who rides a bike this expensive and is content to roll around on Flos. Oh, yes, I do. Nick. Because he doesn't ride in adverse conditions like rain.
Anyways, this bike is about to be irrelevant. Six years he spent developing a bike architected around his Omega rim brake, and in three years, no serious racing bicycle will have rim brakes anymore. I am setting the over/under on TriRig bankruptcy at 18 months.
Last edited by:
PubliusValerius: Sep 13, 16 9:23