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Re: Flying [bootsie_cat] [ In reply to ]
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Molly bought a size small. A medium would also work, and would fit more like her small TTX. However, she would need to use a -17 degree stem at the bottom of the steerer stub to achieve her current drop. The medium would be a slighly slicker setup because there would be no exposed steerer-stub catching the wind (though routing the brake cable might therefore be difficult). However, she likes to experiment with different drops and has been able to get lower over time without losing power, so the medium might have eventually been constrictive. My back and forth with Carl suggests that the sizing tradeoff will be similar once she moves to the intergrated bar when Trek releases the UCI version.

The new bike is set up with contact points that are identical to the TTX, so she does feel much difference at all when riding the two bikes. However, the new bike does seem faster for her given the very limited data available. Her two fastest TT efforts ever were the first two races (Putah Creek and Master's Worlds) on the new bike. Equipment wise the only difference between those TTs and the ones she has done for the last couple of years (many Putah Creeks included) was the bike frame. Conditions were good both days, but neither ride was partiularly close to her season best power output for efforts of a similar length. So she is pretty happy about how the bike has raced, even without the integrated bars.

Outside of the soon to be resolved UCI issues (which proved to be irrelevant this year because of lax enforcement) a small downside SC relative to the TTX is that it is hard to adjust the front brake width quickly. This prevents her from choosing her front wheel (H3 or 1080) just a few minutes before the race to match the wind conditions. This probably cost a couple of seconds on both of the TTs mentioned above, because of my bad pre-race guess about the conditions. I think there might be a way to solve this when using the steerer-stub by placing a cable adjuster in-line. However, I am not sure that would actually work given how the brake operates, and don't think a similar solution would work with the integrated set-up.

All in all, she really likes the TTX , but likes the SC even better.
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Re: Flying [rvh] [ In reply to ]
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Great info- thanks
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [Carl] [ In reply to ]
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Carl and others,

Has anyone tried to use the new HED Stingers on the SC? I just received the Hed wheels in a few days ago and they don't seem to fit. HED assured me that they would fit and that they have employees riding the SC with the Hed Stingers. I will be contacting HED as well, but just thought I'd see if anyone here has experienced this and if/how it is solvable.

Thanks!

Jake
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Re: Flying [bootsie_cat] [ In reply to ]
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After writing my earlier post, I became curious about the front brake adjustment and have some more thoughts.

First, there is some margin of adjustment in the front brake provided by the centering screws on each side. They seem to independently adjust each brake arm inwards or outwards. Thus, if you had perfectly dished and trued wheels, you would have some margin to adjust for different rim widths using these centering screws -- putting each arm all of the way in for narrow rims, and all of the way out for wide rims. However, that does not provide enough adjustment to go from a very wide rim (1080 tubular) to a very narrow rim (H3c). But smaller differences in front rim width could be compensated for this way pretty quickly. The rear brake does not have centering screws so this would not be an option for it.

Second, another option that Carl had mentioned to me (and that may have been discussed on this forum) is swapping out the brake pads. It is possible to loosen the Bontrager pad fixing bolts on both the front and the rear with the brakes fully installed. Then, by putting in very thin pads you can accomodate wide rims and vice-versa for narrow rims. By playing around with different pads this evening I found that I could accomodate the 1080 tubular with Bontrager cork pads (about 8mm) and the H3 with Shimano Dura-Ace 7900 pads. Making it work requires a little bit of centering adjustment as well.

It is a pretty quick swap and could be done on race day or between training and racing to accomodate using different training and racing wheels. The only part that makes it sort-of time consuming is getting the fixing bots in and out. I guess it might be possible to dispense with this step given how tight the pads fit. Alternatively you could swap the right and left pad holders, which would make access to the heads of the fixing bolts be easier because it would be from the bottom of the bike rather than the top where the fork crown gets in the way.

This work around does not completely solve my particular problem, however. The narrowest rims I have are H3c's which have very irregular braking surfaces. The standard Dura-Ace pads that are fat enough to make the brakes work with these rims, are also very, very grabby on these rims. The narrow Kool Stop carbon pads are the best I have found for these rims, but they won't work because they are too narrow. I tried the popular yellow pads (name escapes me now) with the H3c some while ago. I think they are thicker than the cork or Kool-Stop pads, but they were very grabby with the rims also. Another problem with the work around is that as pads wear it might not continue to work.

However, I think one possible solution for Bontrager would be to market brake pads of different widths and with different compounds. So, for example, if they marketed both thick and thin cork pads (or some other carbon specific pad) then I would be able to swap wheels without much trouble at all, and maintain good braking performance. This solution is probably preferable to the spacer kit they supply because it would allow changes without going to the trouble of readjusting the somewhat finicky brakes.
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [dubd71771] [ In reply to ]
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FWIW, I have seen someone use new HED Stingers on a SC. I have used a HED Jet clincher disc with a C2 rim and it worked fine, but the Stinger may be wider.
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [dubd71771] [ In reply to ]
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The true 2010 Stinger with the 28 mm width is a no go for the front - the back works. If the guys at HED can make it work then congrats but IMO it would not provide reliable performance. FWIW, I tried with Bontrager narrow pads as well.

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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [Carl] [ In reply to ]
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Hi, I am considering a speed concept for next year but somehow can't find an appropriate size, especially in terms of arm pad stack.

My current measurements (on my 51cm p3c) are:

pad reach: 482.6mm
pad stack: 523.4mm

base bar reach: 628.65
base bar stack: 513.24

saddle height: 723.9mm
saddle setback: 3mm

I don't see an arm pad stack below 540mm available, though it looks like 100/10 with xs may work. Is there a way to get the pads ~3cm lower? The XS with the 10 stem has a base bar stack of 490mm, the smallest arm pad stack (540mm). Does this mean the smallest spacer+pad material is 50mm?
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [daryl1] [ In reply to ]
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Heather Jackson got her pads lower by using a custom bit of hardware that let her mount her pads right on top of the base bar, and the extensions underneath it. I asked Trek about it, and they said they were not sure whether they'd make those commercially available. Hers are a one-off.

http://www.heatherjacksonracing.com/...ncept-ready-for.html





TriRig.com
The Triathlon Gear Guide
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [dubd71771] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah yeah I'm lazy and can't be arse trawling through 27 pages of posts.....

Does the SC 'box' (sorry I'm new to this bike) at the rear of the bike for your spares etc, not fit with a Hed Jet 90 clincher? My wife was told today that she couldn't use the two combined, and with the bike being in a different country I'm unable to confirm by sight.

SB.
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [daryl1] [ In reply to ]
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Howdy-

The lowest the (top of the) pads will go on a 9-series bike with the SC RXL bar & stem system is 540mm from the BB. With the steer-stub and your bar and stem of choice you can definitely get lower, and the same holds true on the 7-series and 2-series bikes which are designed for more standard cockpit hardware.

Carl Matson
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [dubd71771] [ In reply to ]
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electusunus is right...the really wide 2010 version doesn't work reliably on the front. I have no doubt some of the Hed guys have found a way, but I suspect it wasn't done with unmodified and/or stock hardware.

We've got this on our radar for a continuous improvement project going into 2011, since the 27mm+ wide-rim aero wheel phenomena isn't likely to be limited to any one or two manufacturers for very long.

Carl Matson
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [sentania] [ In reply to ]
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Haven't seen carl respond directly to this, so I'll "call" him out.

Carl -

Has trek received many other reports of paint cracks appearing in the fork as described by a few of us? Or reports of the headset not wanting to stay tight?

My headset is giving me issues - my LBS even worked with their rep to warranty the bearings. Seems to loosen up every couple hundred miles.

And the paint crack on my fork keeps getting fuglier and fuglier - I'm almost tempted to stop in Waterloo on my way to madison on Friday or on the way home on Monday simply to bitch about how fugly my 8 week old bike is. Especially since the line I'm getting from Trek via my LBS is that paint cracks happen - deal with it.
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [sentania] [ In reply to ]
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sentania, which paint color do you have? I have the grey/white/red/black and recently had the 10/100 stem installed. I haven't seen any paint cracking (yet) but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I wonder if it is color-dependent? Also I may be lucky but the headset hasn't loosened either. Maybe it is my turn to have good luck because my last superbike had a lot of problems with the fork coming loose, paint rubbing off, etc... I hope they get your situation taken care of.
Last edited by: need4speed: Sep 8, 10 9:39
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [Carl] [ In reply to ]
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Any plans on producing that mount for the aero bars on the bottom of the base bar? I'd think quite a few people would also have issues getting low enough, like how it is difficult to get low enough with a -17 ventus on a p3/p4.
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [need4speed] [ In reply to ]
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Mine is the 9.5 color scheme.
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [sentania] [ In reply to ]
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We have an ongoing project to improve the paint crack issue. Will be implemented as a running change to production, timeframe is on the order of 1-2mo.

I'll get hold of Emery's rep to get more details on the headset.

Carl Matson
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [Carl] [ In reply to ]
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Cool - I'll bug and follow up then ;)

I know that Rob @ Emery's gave their guy (Can't think of his name, but I think they called him Homer ;) ) an ear full about the headset w/ a buncho suggestions.
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [daryl1] [ In reply to ]
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No plans at present...but your 2nd sentence holds the clue as to what would force the issue.

Carl Matson
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [sentania] [ In reply to ]
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Interesting about the headset. I tracked down a 100/45 stem and made the swap - brakes are much better btw - and I tightened everything to spec and rolled it out the door. While waiting for the elevator I tested for anything loose and the headset felt loose. I brought it back in, stripped it down and found that the stem was actually loose so I added some more torque to the stem clamping bolt. I had to go past the 5.2 NM and didn't reduce that play until about 9NM. But that reminds me that there was no instructions in the service manual about installing a new stem. I just torqued bolts per general instructions, but I wonder if there is any specific order they are supposed to be tightened in or any other gotchas. Carl does Trek have instructions for installing new stems?

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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [Weaver] [ In reply to ]
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I just received my Speed Concept w/ Dura Ace 7900 on Friday. Got out for the first ride on Monday. By far, this is the best tri bike I have ridden. It handles great, shifts perfectly and brakes well.

Coming off of a P4, it is also quite nice to have brakes that work well.

I'll post pics later.

-Jared
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [JGell] [ In reply to ]
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For the SC owners out there who swap between carbon rim race wheels to regular training wheels, how is the brake pad switching situation? I have only been using my SC for races and it currently has swissstop sram brakes, however I would like to throw my training wheels on and was wondering how much of a hassle it might be.

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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [JGell] [ In reply to ]
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The question is how does it start to function down the road - I'm glad your prefaced your post with that you just got it. The Speed Concept is going to be a great bike but it needs some polish. If you use your bike often I'm sure you will understand what I mean.

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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [TurboCurbo] [ In reply to ]
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Compared to my Dual - total PITA.


Easiest way to realistically do it, is to have a cartridge with the race pads and a cartridge set with training pads - and swap the cartridges.
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [electusunus] [ In reply to ]
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Good catch. There is an order and it does make a difference in the success of keeping things tight up there. Will get a revision to the online manual going.

Use recommended torque at each step.
  1. Stem mount (to fork) bolts need to be tightened first.
  2. Then set steering axle (preload) nut.
  3. Last step is clamping down the pinch bolt.


Carl Matson
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Re: Official Speed Concept Owners Thread [sentania] [ In reply to ]
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Gotcha,

Actually that seems like it will be easier in my case since the pads I need on the SC with the training wheels are currently on my road bike. Hopefully its just a quick switch with an allen key!

I am glad to hear that some people are having really good luck with their brakes. For some reason the brakes on my bike when I have my carbon wheels and carbon pads on are just awful. The swissstop srams with aeolus 6.5's have been decent enough but I wouldn't call them great.

And as for the draft box I think that they really need to come up with version 2 for that. Their is something about the dimensions that doesn't allow it to fit right. First thing that happened was the wheel rub that others have been getting. Yes, this can be solved by some nice electric tape wrapped around the seat post..but common that makes the bike fugly and it would be a disgrace to ride it like that (although someone did in LP, but I'll let him get a pass on that cuz he needed the spare kit in their at any cost..and I would have done the same on race day) anyways along with the tire rub I have found that when I have my spare supplies loaded in the box that the top is constantly "popping" off..annoying more than anything else. Hopefully their is some update to the box down the road.

But I must say that I expect these things as a first generation adopter, in the end it is what it is and I am still pretty darn happy with the bike. I must say that quarq installation onto a sram red setup on my SC was pretty easy. I was suprised to see my buddy who helped me install it actually do it because I was like..wow..I actually might have been able to do that by myself.

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