n_maher

I'm going to leave it as a 9spd for now for sure. I am interested in the cost of the changeover and that was why I mentioned investigating the price of the shifter. And it's a DA cassette so no worries there .

We're both wrong, just confirmed via multiple sources that the RD will work fine but the brifter, cable, chain and cassette have to change. I'll probably see how much the right brifter would set me back...

That would require a new brifter, rear derailleur, and cassette - way more than I want to get into now.

Stupid effing Verizon won't support it.

You're both not wrong. But going from no drop to ~4" of drop is a pretty drastic change and I think I can get about half that back between the spacer (already done) and the stem flip. It was definitely a semi-surprise that the ride is as compliant as it is. I was expecting something on the order of bone-jarring and it's a far cry from that. And yes Juan, it's DA 7800. The guys and the shop said that it should be a very reliable group and the shifting action is light and predictable. It should get even better with a little use. And the Ksyriums are great in my book, I just wish they were the version with black spokes. I know, I know... seriously weak reasoning. I may see if the hub on my other black set is compatible with the 9spd cassette and if so, switch them over. We'll see and like I said, there's no good reason to do anything with the bike other than ride it.

I got the bike over to the LBS this morning at 9:30 to throw myself at the mercy of the court and see if they couldn't help me dial in the last few bits to get me on the road today. As usual, they were great. We played with the spacer arrangement and were going to flip the stem but the current front brake cable is too short to do that. So we put the big spacer under the stem and got it setup as best we could. I bought a set of pedals for it - the least I could do given that they charged me $10 for what ended up being 45min. of shop time - and I raced home. I got home, folded some laundry so that I could at least cross one chore off the list and while sitting there the wind blew so hard that it pushed my Weber all the way across the deck and into our deck table in turn pushing the hole thing tight up against the railing and toppling a few chairs. Uhhhh, not a great sign. But WTF, it's only wind, right? At least it was 70 and windy today. So I headed out for my usual ~18mi loop around town. It was entertaining dodging sticks and leaves and the bike feels great. It's very responsive, climbs like a beast and surprisingly I did the whole ride in the big ring. Now, I always do that on the Roubaix but the Calfee is running a standard 53/39 up front and a 12-25 in the back, a far cry from the 50/34 and 11-32 of the Roubaix. My back definitely felt the much more aggressive setup but I made it through the hour long ride without any real pain. Over the winter I do think that I'll have the stem flipped just to relax it a bit more but without really putting any effort into the fit I'm pumped. All I really did was set the saddle level and at the right height, centered over the seat post. With a proper fitting it should fit like a glove. And originally I was not at all psyched by the silver group on the black frame. In person it looks much better. So much so that I've gone from hunting for takeoff SRAM groups to thinking there's no reason to do a damn thing with it. I still would like to get a different set of hoops/spokes for it but the silver Ksyriums might grow on me too. All in all it's a stupid amount of bike for what I paid for it. No pics - it was so windy I was afraid to try to lean the bike anywhere.

It was rainy and 50 when I left the office and unfortunately the bike required some reassembly so zero chance for a ride today. I've got it 90% back together and the plan tomorrow is to take it to my LBS as soon as they open and see if I can beg them to finish the final few bits and send me home. One thing is for sure (at least to my eyes) - this thing hasn't been ridden much at all. Or it didn't get ridden outdoors or something. A few quick pics. The only issue so far seems to be a sticky rear shifter, which from limited research is pretty common and hopefully cured by either replacing the cable or liberal application of WD40. I'm hoping my shop can get it cured tomorrow.

The Calfee is at the house. My desire to work is quickly waning...

Yikes, that's not good. Me: the Calfee is out for delivery a day early. That never happens. I already put in to work from home tomorrow (unofficially of course) and now it'll be a challenge to work on anything other than getting out for a ride.

For casual, non-critical extended listening sessions that tend to happen at work I would stick with something like the 600/650. They're not that hard to drive, very comfortable, and most importantly don't really have any glaring/offensive sonic traits. They're just good, solid performers.

Ouch, sucks Stretch. I went to the dentist this morning and other than raping my mouth with floss it was a relatively pain free event that did not identify a need to return for 6 months. Win.

Brent, When it rains it pours man, hang in there and like everyone else I'm glad to here that you and the family are OK. Hopefully a year from now you'll look back and laugh at all this. Or at least realize that it was just a bump along the road to a better life.

Donation sent for a couple of tickets. Good luck and well done in advance, Mike.

Definitely.

Holy shit, I came back and beat Raf.

likewise.

If there are other decent places to move to I'd move. I'm not sure the camera is going to be a huge deterrent to a douche this big. I do understand the pain of moving though and why you'd want to avoid that.

Nice! I see that your trails are as littered with leaves as mine are now. Last year it was ok, they let people go out and blow off sections of the trail with a leaf blower but they've outlawed that this year. It's pretty wretched, especially if there has been any sort of rainfall. For me, two things of note. One, I did what will definitely be the last commute of the year unless I work a half day or something. It was near full dark for more than half the ride in and fracking cold. It was below freezing when I left the house at 6:10 and while most of me was wrapped up well enough there just doesn't seem to be much that I can do about my feet. The wind on the way home sucked as well. It was blowing a steady 10mph out of the west with gusts in the mid 20s. No thanks. The second thing of note is that I briefed the wife on the arrival of the Calfee. She was a little nonplussed on being brought in after the purchase but I managed that well enough to not be sleeping on the couch. I'm psyched for its arrival on Friday and I'm going to try to make an appointment for it Saturday to have my LBS give it a once over and adjust a few things. I am a little scared that it's going to be too aggressive but the price was too good to pass up and low enough that I can keep the Roubaix for a while and decide which one I want to keep.

Actually, it might be time to mount a gopro discretely inside the car somewhere and see what it captures...

WTF? No words.

I've held off installing iOS 7 on my 2nd Gen iPad, am I being overly cautious?

So you want us to wait until next week to donate?

I'll definitely be in for a few tomorrow, mike.

I was looking to a have good week till I ran into Raffy and the combo of friggen Andy Dalton and Calvin Johnson who combined for a cool 93. Jebus.

Holy shit, Jeff! The kids had me up way too early this morning so I doubt I'll get a ride in today.