Category Archives: Bike

Saw it, had to have it.

My new helmet! It looks awesome, comes with a rear light too. Now I just have to go fast enough for air to flow through.

Wasn’t expecting it, but I’ll take it!

Risk link cables.

6.66kg’s! Risk link cables saved another 40g. Last time I used a set of these super lightweight link cables was with some KCNC link cables back in the early 2000’s. I remembered that they were a pain to set up right, and yup, these Risk cables were an absolute pain to set up right too (I let go of the cable housing at some point and every single little piece scattered all over my floors lol). They’re also functionally not as good and brakes feel pretty mushy now, but hey the brakes work, saved some weight and the extra flexibility let me route them internally through the handlebars for a cleaner look.

6.70kg’s. We did it boys!

Bit silly, but my goal was to shave 3kg’s to get this 80’s steel bike below the UCI 6.8kg weight limit and I’m oddly super satisfied with how it’s all turned out.

Could I get it even lighter? Sure; lighter wheelset, top cap and bolt, link cables, cassette… but I set a weight goal for a reason, otherwise the build would never end!

Bottle Cage: AliExpress + Better Bolts Ti cage bolts (9g)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB-6500 (232g)
Brake Calipers: Cane Creek eeBrakes Gen 3 (199g)
Brake Levers: SRAM S900 Carbon Road Brake Lever (246g)
Cables: Jagwire/Shimano (90g)
Cassette: Dura Ace CS-7700 12-23T (190g)
Cassette Lock Ring: Dura Ace (5g)
Chain: KMC X10SL 10-Speed (226g)
Crankset: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 Cranks 53/39 172.5 (604g)
Frame: 49cm ST/52cm TT Columbus SLX Campagnolo dropouts/guides
Fork: Hylix carbon threadless 27mm race 45mm rake (307g)
Fork Compression Plug: J&L (14g)
Front Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7800 (111g)
Front Derailleur Clamp Adapter: Shimano 28.6mm (g)
Handlebar: Kocevlo SL 380mm (141g)
Handlebar Tape: Tesa 51608 (15g)
Handlebar End Plugs: Lucendi (1g)
Headset: J&L threadless ceramic bearing 30.2mm cup (75g)
Headset Spacers: J&L alloy 10mm (4g)
Pedals: Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium (165g)
QR Skewers: Extralite (29g)
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7800 (183g)
Saddle: AliExpress (54g)
Seatpost: Elita One 27.2 cut (98g)
Shifters: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 9-Speed downtube shifters (78g)
Stem: Extralite Hyperstem Stealth 110mm -18 degree (82g)
Stem Shim: 1″-1-1/8″ (10g)
Stem Cap: God & Famous Ti (15g)
Tubes: RideNow TPU Road Light (71g)
Tyres: Panaracer Agilest Light 25mm (335g)
Wheelset: Wheelsfar Feder 45mm Extralite/Sapim CX-Super (1262g)

Weight: 6700g

Bottle Cage: AliExpress + Better Bolts Ti cage bolts (9g)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB-6500 (232g)
Brake Calipers: Cane Creek eeBrakes Gen 3 (199g)
Brake Levers: TRP RRL-SR (286g)
Cables: SRAM/Jagwire/Shimano (94g)
Cassette: Shimano HG400 11-25T 9-Speed Cassette (225g)
Cassette Lock Ring: ZTTO (5g)
Chain: Shimano HG (272g)
Crankset: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 Cranks 53/39 172.5 (604g)
Frame/Fork: Paino 48cm Columbus SLX/Campagnolo dropouts/guides (2513g)
Front Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7800 (111g)
Handlebar: ENVE Aero IN-Route 40cm (258g)
Handlebar Tape:
Headset: Campagnolo Nuovo Record (194g)
Pedals: Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium (165g)
QR Skewers: Extralite (29g)
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7800 (183g)
Saddle: AliExpress (54g)
Seatpost: Elita One 27.2 cut (98g)
Shifters: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 9-Speed downtube shifters (78g)
Stem: ENVE Aero stem + K-Edge mount (193g)
Tubes: RideNow TPU Road Light (71g)
Tyres: Panaracer Agilest Light 25mm (335g)
Wheelset: Wheelsfar Feder 45mm Extralite/Sapim CX-Super (1262g)

Weight: 7470g

I’ve now got the full Dura Ace groupset on, eeBrakes too and I’ve got the 9-speed 7700 downtube shifters tuned to perfection. It’s funny, but the indexed shifters are actually a HUGE upgrade over friction shifters!

Part of me misses the old campag groupset though, especially the look of non-aero levers, but I figure I’m not doing anything that can’t be undone, so whilst I’m here I might as well have some fun.

I’m now chasing 6.8kg’s. Buying a lighter wheelset for this bike wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense, so instead I’ve stolen the Farsports wheels off my SL6 and ordered a custom set of Brisk wheels for the SL6 to get it into the Sub 5 club.

I’ve ordered a Hylix threadless carbon fork which should shave off a lot of weight, but as pictured, with the heavy ENVE bars and stem it’s at 7090g.

Went to drop in to Europa Cycles to get the BB out of my Paino (I threw out a lot of my tools in the move as they were rusted up) and almost got a heart attack when I saw that the shop was completely empty. Turns out they’ve moved just down the road!

Thank fuck for that!

These guys have been around since 1973 and whilst I’ve not seen John Abeni in many years now the shop is being run by his son Alan. I have so many great memories related to Europa as I visited Europa a LOT as a kid, both the huge store on Anzac Parade in Kingsford as well as their CBD store (where I used to drool over Colnago frames). I also did my year 10 work experience at the Europa (bike hire) shop in Randwick.