Category Archives: Bike

A few months back I was hanging out at CCACHE with Sam and he was pretty excited to show me a bike, in my size, that he thought I’d be interested in.

Turns out it was a Pinarello Dogma F.

Funny as I actually hate how they look. Those wavy shapes, it’s as if the frame designer was on acid. The SL8 is just such a good bike. I don’t NEED the Dogma, but secretly I’ve been wanting one because it’s… different. Add to that I’m cycling obsessed and feel happiest when I have a project bike to work on.

When I got up at 4am to get ready for a ride this morning I saw that Joel Lidden had re-listed his mates 2024 Pinarello Dogma F as a frameset + groupset (IE: without wheels) for $11,950 (he was previously asking $20K with a Lightweight wheelset)

I was hovering over the contact seller field, but thought I’d better not waste his time as I was 50/50 on it so I shut the laptop and got ready to ride.

The ride was awesome, and when I got home and hopped on messenger I realised there was a marketplace message waiting for me. It was Joel replying to “Hi, is this available?”.

WTF! I did not send that (I would never send that and hate it when people message me with that when I have listings for sale). I took it as a sign though (lol) so I apologised for dick dialling him, but we got chatting anyways.

The frame was my size (50), but the stem on the cockpit was way too long (120) and the crankset too long too at 172.5. He suggested that he could remove the crank and lower the price. He gave me a great price, but I’m Asian, and I have to haggle (parents brought me up this way, can’t help it!). I offered $10K and I’d take it and pick it up today. Joel called his mate, and well fuck. I now own a Dogma F.

Frame: Pinarello Dogma F 2024 ONYX BoB (Black on Black)
Size: 50
Bars: Most Talon Ultra Lite Aero 400 x 120 (380 at the hoods)
Bottom bracket: CeramicSpeed
Groupset: Dura Ace 9270 12 speed Di2
OSPW: CeramicSpeed

I need to drop in to see Sam at CCACHE on Monday to remove the crankset as Joel didn’t have the specific tool needed to remove it. The brakes are installed European style too so I’ll have to get Sam to swap them around.

I think the 120 stem will still be too long even if I get a zero offset seatpost, but I figure I’ll at least try that before looking into a new cockpit. I’ll need a crankset with 165 crankarms and I think it’s going to be hard to not look past the ugliest wheels out there, the Princeton CarbonWorks Wake 6560 Evolution which are as wavy as wheels get.

Dropped in to Wooly’s Wheels today to pick up Gina’s new Tarmac SL8 Expert in Satin Champagne / Black Pearl. Such a lovely colour!

Gina’s been meaning to buy a bike for some time now and I’ve spent hours on the lookout over the past few months. It wasn’t until recently that her acupuncturist suggested she do more cardio and that kinda sped up the decision making.

At 149cm Gina is super tiny. You could make the argument that a flat bar road bike, or even a mountain bike would be the best place for someone new to riding to start, but Gina’s not completely new to riding, and hey everyone in our group rides a road bike so it was always going to be a road bike (Gina’s yoga background should mean she’s more than flexible enough too).

Turns out a lot of bike brands don’t make road bikes in size 44. Liv (made by Giant) have a fair few models in the right size but Gina didn’t like the look of any of them, and hey! IMHO that’s a totally legitimate reason to not buy a bike. If it’s beautiful (to her) she’ll be motivated to ride it more.

I was on the constant lookout for a size 44 bike on Marketplace, and whilst I did spot a couple over the past few months, they were mostly almost 5-10 years old, full mechanical and again, not a bike she would want to ride.

A few weeks ago a size 44 Tarmac SL8 popped up as “in stock”. We spent a week, or maybe 2 weeks deliberating. I had no doubt that it would be the only one in the country (the shop ended up confirming this), but I was also of the mindset that if it sells, it’s not meant to be.

One day last week Gina was feeling abundant, so BAM! We walked in to Wooly’s Wheels and got it done.

I’ve taken the liberty of removing the dork disc and some warning stickers. Bike weighs in at 7.18kg’s without pedals and a bottle cage (couldn’t help myself!). Wouldn’t be hard to knock some weight off of it, but nope, no mods until she gets some pedal time in (and makes the move to clipless pedals!).

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