I think there's way to many folks here that are more interested in their front end slammed for aesthetic purposes rather than high/near if that's their ideal fit.

I've seen countless folks ask you for the PN for low/near stems. I don't recall many others, if any, looking for the PN for high/near or high/far. I'd love to see the numbers of low/near stems sold versus all others.
My hunch is that it's quite disproportionate.

Pretty hard to imagine that most folks get their ideal fit on only low/near or low/far stems.

Good advice here from you as always Carl.

i felt slammed on a mouve fit with the coordinates of a medium-far stem, dont know how some of those guys get so low!

I'm on a medium far as well. At some point I will work my way to a low far but I still have a few cm that I can come down on mono spacer for now. I think the medium far with lowest mono spacer would look better then a low far with the tallest mono spacer...

Carl,

The rubber bumper on the head tube/down tube junction came off from my frame. I still have the rubber piece. What kind of adhesive is best to reattach this part?

Thanks in advance.

It's interesting you say that, because I've heard a lot of people say they like the look of a bunch of stack better. I personally could care less if the bike fits and the base bar is in a good spot for climbing, cornering, and shameless drafting

Man the matte black looks so damn good. Beautiful bike!

Thanks Carl, I asked because I was a little confused. Back in 2011 I actually talked to you on the phone via conference call with Kevin McDermott at Trek Store of Tampa. I had bought a Speed Concept 9 series through my local bike shop and they didn't fit me properly. My retul guy could not get me fit on the medium frame with the 60/45 standard stem.

Kevin faxed you my retul numbers and you came up with the 50/10 stem that you overnighted to their store and they replaced it. Now, that day you told me I could have gone med or small on the SC.

I just ordered the new generation SC and I went with the small frame, but I don't think I should be on the high/near stem if I was on a 50/10 stem on the previous generation of SC's even though that bike was a Med and this one was a small.

Here are my retul numbers. If you say the high/near is what I need, then I am ok with that. I just thought that I would be more along the lines of the low near, with the biggest monospacer.

The only reason I can think of to have suggested a 50/10 on the old bike for your fit #s would be to accommodate the basebar stack...which is really low compared to your pad stack. Otherwise, considering only pad stack ~630, pad reach ~410 (our charts use middle of pad, Retul goes to back of pad)...a 2011 medium with 60/45 will hit that, and so would a small with the same stem. And a medium with the 50/10.

So yes, based on the #s you posted you could've gone with either frame size, and the 60/45 would've worked on both...but that's only because your pad stack fell within the adjustment range of that stem on both bikes (your pad reach did too, but stack is the key to the argument I'm about to make). The 50/10 would not have worked on both size frames...it can only hit your pad stack on a medium frame because the frame is taller (makes up for the stem being shorter).

Fast forward now to 2014. Same principles apply. You could still go with either size frame, but there's no way a low-near is going to get you high enough on a small frame. It tops out at pad stack of 600 with 45mm monospacer and 5mm pad wing spacer and the fit chart shows that (circled figures connected by arrows). Interestingly, same chart shows the high-near can't go low enough to hit your pad coordinates on that frame size either (circled red box is where your #'s intersect over by the high-near column...note no #s in that box...no solution)...the high-far can, but it's far from ideal for your pad reach.

Honestly, on that size frame the medium-near is the best option (starred).

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Carl Matson

So are you saying with the new bike I should have gone with the med frame instead of the small? Or will I be fine with the small frame and a medium/near stem?

Thanks for all your help.

I'm only pointing out that the low-near on the small is inappropriate...and so is the high-near. As before, you could've gone medium or small on the frame size so there's nothing inherently wrong with the frame size you've got...just the stem choices so far. To hit your pad #s on the small frame you need the medium-near stem.

ETA: fixed typo

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Carl Matson

Thanks again, Carl. So I'm looking at Dexter and all I see are part #'s for High/Near Low/near stems and the covers for both. I don't see mid/near stem and mid/near cover.

Is the stem on a stock medium 7.5 SC a mid/near or a low/near?

The original adhesive is a super sticky double sided tape from 3M, 300LSE...I have no idea if that's available (by special order or otherwise) consumer-direct from them or via your hardware store. A new bumper (with tape applied) is included in SC frame hardware kit 437032 but that has lots of other bits you don't necessarily need spares of (maybe your dealer would be interested, but that's for them to decide).

Haven't tried this, and not recommending it, but I imagine an ordinary decent 2-part epoxy could do the job in a rather more permanent fashion. A note of caution though: we didn't go that route in the first place because if it should fail (i.e. bumper is ripped off) it's likely paint is either going to get ripped off with it, or the paint will be damaged when you/dealer tries to clean up the surface to apply a new one.

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Carl Matson

odd...I see all six...for both generations of the bike.

2014 medium 7.5 comes with a medium-far...436148, includes stem, cover, cover bolts, pinch bolt. corresponding # for a medium-near is 436147.

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Carl Matson

Thanks, Carl!

I replaced the two parts of brake cable housing with a single one in the end and Friday it was ready. Two days later it did a tremendous job on Sunday (4:38 for the 180k @ Roth).

Thanks for all the help here, Carl.

Nice!


And you're very welcome.

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Carl Matson

Carl,
I just got my BTA cage and rail in from my LBS I was wondering if you had any pictures of it assembled and with a garmin computer on top? The only reason i ask is that when i put the garmin computer mount on top of the cage it just does not seem real stable up there. Any advice?

I don't know what comes stock with the Garmins as far as mounting hardware, but it has been my experience that the "security" of any installation where the bands/O-rings are used depends heavily on how tight the bands end up. If you're not using the extra detail that simulates a round bar and just strapping through the small hump on the cage then I can imagine the supplied bands ending up a little slack. If you don't want the Garmin to sit up on top of the bar-simulator then you might need to look into different bands. Variety-packs of O-rings are pretty easy to find in the plumbing section of a hardware/home-supply store.

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Carl Matson

Hi Carl,

I just got my SC a couple of weeks ago. Looking great so far!!

I have a question on this topic which you sort of touch on it but if you can give more details that would be great. What is the most efficient way to get the bike ready when packing it for travel? You mentioned to take the three bolts that hold the base bar and extension but is there enough slack on the cables to hang the base bar to the side of the frame?

Also, rear derailleur and of course pedals should be removed as well? Anything else I'm missing?

Thanks!

JLatimer
Design Engineer - Zipp

It's really about as simple as what you've already listed. You get more slack from the front cable by removing the front brake cover and releasing the brake wedge from between the arms (no need to remove it from the cable). There's a little of the same to be had at the rear brake by following the same procedure, but I find I never need to go that far down there. Might remove that rear brake cover anyway depending on what case I'm using (e.g. cases where the BB rests directly on some sort of support structure).

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Carl Matson

Great thanks!

JLatimer
Design Engineer - Zipp

I've also found that taking the stem cover off of the bike helps free up some cable slack too. I've been meaning to post some pictures of how I recently packed my 2014 SC up to take on a plane. I'll try to get to it tonight.

That would be great if you can get the pics up.

Cheers,
JLatimer
Design Engineer - Zipp

Here you go:

Here's the entire bike wrapped up. It's a little hard to see what I did here because of the pipe insulation I used for padding. In case anyone's curious about how much pip insulation to buy, I think I got about 60 feet and I have a small SC 7.5. I probably went a little overboard, but I have a pika packworks case which is a soft case, and I didn't want to find my bike in a pile of carbon fiber splinters. I did the following things to pack it up:

1. Remove front and rear wheel and replace with dropout spacers. My Trek dealer gave me the spacers for free
2. Unbolt and remove the stem cover
3. Unbolt the 3 stem bolts which will free the base bar and aero bar/pad assembly. Remove elbow pad sub assembly from aero bars and pack separately (I stuck them in with my pedals)
4. Remove RD from hanger and wrap in bubble wrap
5. Remove speed fin and front brake cover, exposing both brakes
6. Release front and rear brake cable
7. Remove seatpost (probably optional)
8. Wrap everything in foam pipe insulation and strap it down. I used velcro (in yellow) and zip ties when I ran out of velcro
9. Secure RD to chainstay
10. Secure aero bars to one side of fork
11. Secure base bar to other side of fork (hopefully the pictures will help show how I did this). At this point nothing should shift if you pick up your frame and shake it and no carbon should be touching another carbon or metal part.
12. Hope to the bike gods that your bike won't be destroyed in transit.

very thorough, and well thought out.

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Carl Matson