I ended up really liking the stock Specialized S-bends. (I managed to get extension plugs from Specialized without the bars attached - and tried straight extensions as well as other manufacturer’s S-bends, but the stock ones ultimately worked out the best).
The Specialized brake levers were removed - as they were just too big and clunky for my taste. The most minimal levers I’ve seen are the 3T ones, as shown. They make the SRAM levers which I also tested look big! As a side note, I lost caliper adjustability with the front brake lever. To remedy that, we put an adjusting ferrule inside the brake lever housing, and can adjust that by removing the brake lever.
I tried many pads (I did not like the stock Specialized pads) - such as Fizik, CeeGees, etc. The Bontragers worked the best for me. They are very comfortable, and promote a super narrow, arms touching position without any shoulder or wrist pain.
To clean things up, we rounded off the carbon fiber arm cups to match the pads.
The cleanliness of this set up is really quite remarkable, and I’m very pleased the way the bike came out. As far as fit, the bike fits like a glove.
Although it seems to have minimum adjustability, the screw spacing is standard - meaning I had no problem putting on 3T cups or other manufacturers cups - and playing around with many other fore/aft reaches - not supported by the Specialized cups. I also could play around with S-bend steepness reduction by using longer screws between the cups and the pads - and putting 3T ventus aero spacers in between. Ultimately, I settled on none of these tweaks - and just am using stock Specialized S-bends, 25 mm total spacing, stock Specialized cups that I rounded, and Bonty pads.
Nice setup. Is it just me or does that look crazy narrow. Can you post a pic of you on it? I want to see how you fit with the elbows and hands so close.
Phenomenal looking bike. I’m gonna stick with my P3 - it could never ACTUALLY hold me back, but if I had a Shiv, I’d literally have no excuses.
How stiff are the Specialized bullhorns? They seem really tiny - and it’d be silly to put all the work into building a stiff TT bike only to slap flexy horns on there.
Why? - Because the bars are built (integrated) directly into the front end. The bars, brakes, nosecone are a single unit - which attach to the fork/frame module. In fact, Specialized even proclaims how stiff their front end is.
“And in the interest of further safety, engineers built what they think to be the strongest, stiffest production aero’ bar for the Shiv. If you saw Cancellara hop a median strip in the final time trial on his way to overall victory in the Tour de Suisse, you will not have any doubts about these characteristics.”
I’d like to see a front view of you seated.
It looks like your hands can’t wrap around the grips without your own knuckles interfering with each other.
Very narrow elbow pads, without much ‘cup’ shape. I would probably roll my elbows right off those pads!
Very neat set-up. How are you finding the brake calipers? Is adjusting them tricky? Also, does the cable housing run internally throughout the frame, or is it just the cable?
The rear brake calipers have a noodle w/barrel at the bottom bracket. It is a little hard to micro-adjust toe in/out -since there is little clearance around the rear brake/chainstay/crank.
The front brake calipers are really hard to adjust - as I took off the stock specialized brake lever - which has a barrel adjuster. We put in a cable ferrule adjuster to alleviate this issue – but if you want to do any major readjusting, you’ve got to take off the whole front end and fork to play around with cable tension. That is the worst issue with the bike.
Cable runs are all single unsplit cable from brake lever/shifter lever directly to brake or derailleur. Very easy, smooth cable runs - all internally guided. Not tricky at all, compared to my P3C…which was a PIA particularly w/respect to unhoused, unguided derailleur cable.
I do the local (New Jersey) TT circuit which includes distances as short as 6 miles to as long as 40 Km. (The state championship is in 2 weeks. I hope to take first for my age for my 3rd year).
All my rides are intervals - though I do the group ride thing every week or so, for social reasons!
My longest interval ever was 3 hours @ 280 W avg @ 76 miles. (I didn’t have any aero equipment, thus only 25+ mph…) {This was on a dare as my younger brother Mark - who writes here often - wanted me to substantiate my claims that I could ride 3 hours @ 270 W) …Typically, I ride @ 300 - 320 W @ 27 - 30 mph avg on flat roads…with a TT bike FTP @ 320 W, 20 mins ~ 360 W.
I’ve had no issues with comfort on rides up to 2 hours or so. (I don’t really train longer than that on any single ride).
Note that I’ve been riding aggressively in TTs at the local, state and national level for the past few years, so I’m used to aggressive riding positioning. I don’t do triathlons…
My training wheels are very heavy – powertap + mavic open pro, DT Swiss front. Built tough & bullet proof for training only.
I just weighed the bike - around 18.4 pounds in the training config. It isn’t super light - and I’ve not tried to be a weight weenie.
Racing wheels are hed jet disk w/powertap internals, front is H3 - both clincher. Not sure if these wheels would be heavier or lighter than the other set.
I don’t carry a water bottle when racing.
I’m 5’ 11" - but I have very long forearms. (Every year for masters nationals, I apply for the 75 cm morphological extension for UCI rules - and have gotten it easily). Previously, I rode a 54 Cervelo P3C.
I am riding a 495 (Large) Shiv. The frame geometry was closest to the 54 Cervelo P3 as far as wheelbase and a lot of other paramters - so that is how I wanted it to handle.
Having said that, because of my longer arms, and that I like to ride with my arms a bit forward, my reach is a little more (slightly) than the 495 with the arm cups forward - but I definitely did not want the bulkiness of the XLarge frame. Accomodating a slightly bigger reach was no problem since the large bontrager pads can be pushed a few mm’s forward, and still fit tightly and firmly on the velcro.
What one needs to do is go to this page, - change to the “More Info” tab, and then click “Detailed Geometry Chart” link at the bottom of the page - and see how your current bike relates.
The spacer kit is incredibly extensive. There are spacers to build the stack from 0 mms through 40 mms in 5 mm increments. Then one can add a bridge-cross-bar - and add on another 45 to 75 mms in 10 mm increments.
For a crazy set up that can be built with the stock stack/spacer kit, check out Jens Voight’s Tour Of Cal. TT bike
Also - here are pictures for those of you who wanted to see my fit - with me on it. This position is typical of positions measured at A2 windtunnel @ around mid .19ish CdAs with the P3C. The Shiv should be around .01 CdA or more faster (meaning lower) than that…
