Category Archives: Bike

cSixx 50T chainring.

Black YBN chain.

Barely Illegal.

My cSixx 50T chainring came in the mail today. Not exactly light, but it’s a direct cinch mount, so once you minus the XMCS spider (43g) and chainring bolts (6g) it works out to be 46g lighter than the XMCS 52t chainring (165g) setup.

cSixx suggests the nafrrow wide ring is Shimano 12-Speed compatible, but again I had some sticking with the quick link. Not as bad as the XMCS chainring, but it’s still there. No such issues with the Alugear narrow wide chainring which very specifically is made for Shimano, but I put a YBN chain on (211g vs 235g for Shimano chain) and voila, no issues at all, so I’m now sure the YBN quick link would be the “fix” for the XMCS chainring.

Really happy with how it all looks, even with the cheeky Roval front wheel. Definitely tempted to get a lighter wheelset, but I’m in no rush. A set of CRW 5060’s would drop the total weight down to 6.4kg’s. A set of ZEN Carbon Bike wheels would see 6.3kg’s.

Last week one of the Moderators of the Weight Weenies Forums reached out to me to ask if I would be interested in potentially joining the moderation team.

For 7+ years only 2 of them had been running the forums, and only a few weeks ago they added one more. This morning we hopped on a zoom call to discuss, and man, it’s always awesome to put faces to the names hey?!

One of them lives in England, the other in the US. Big energy, great vibes! We’re all on the same page and I’m super excited to be joining the team.

Visit: https://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum

Fastest bike I’ve ever ridden.

I’ve been riding the S5 and only the S5 for the past week or so and yup, it’s hands down the fastest bike I’ve ever ridden. I usually average 30km/hr each ride on the Tarmac SL8, but on the S5 I’ve clocked 32.4km’s/hr average and that was on a day with 30-35km/hr winds (the following day was 40-45km/hr winds and I clocked 31.8km’s/hr).

My initial impressions of the S5 weren’t so hot. It felt like a plank of wood (much like the Dogma F), but I’ve taken a kilo out of it since and gotten my fit right too. The XMCS 155mm cranks are working out for me and from a visual perspective I’m super happy that there’s 15mm more seatpost showing.

Right now I’m using an Alugear 48T chainring as the 52T XMCS narrow wide chainring doesn’t work with a Shimano 12-speed quick link. The chainline isn’t perfect with the 48T in the smaller cogs on the rear cassette (which I’m using a lot on the S5) and I’m thinking a 50T would be perfect so I’ve ordered a few things to try out; 50T ring, lighter YBN chain (since I’m no longer using Shimano HG) and I’m still waiting for my Hylix seatpost to come in the mail (as well as a few more smaller weenie bits).

One thing that I really had to address was crosswinds. The bike came with 30C tyres which ballooned out way past the rim. I replaced them with 28C Conti GP5000 TT TR’s which also ballooned out past the rim and in 30km/hr winds the wind would catch the front wheel in a sharp and abrupt manner.

These ENVE 5.6 wheel specs are now far from modern (19mm internal width, 29mm external width) and designed to be used with 25C tyres. I begrudgingly ordered a GP5000 TT but then realised I had a 29C Aero 111 in the parts bin so I thought I’d at least give it a shot, and man, the Aero 111 truly is magic. Even though it balloons past the rim, the front wheel was perfectly manageable in 40km wind gusts.

I then realised I have a perfectly good set of Roval CLX II’s in storage so I’ve put the Aero 111 on the front wheel and now have that on the bike. The Roval front wheel is 35mm wide and it’s lighter than the ENVE 5.6 too so… happy days!

Super happy with the bike. Riding position is pretty low, long and aggressive forcing me to sit more on the nose of the saddle. Took me a while to get the angle of the saddle right but I think I’m there. Very tempted to order a lighter set of ZEN Carbon Bike or XMCS wheels. Was tempted to go deeper, but pretty decided on 50/60 if I do. A 1,100g wheelset would get the bike down to 6.2kg’s but honestly it feels plenty fast as is and I god damn love the sound of the ENVE hub now that I’ve removed the dust cap and some grease out of it.

CURRENT SPECS:

Frame: Size 51 2023 Cervelo S5 Five Black
Groupset: Dura-Ace 9270 12-Speed Di2
Direct Mount Hanger: Cervelo (16g)
Bars/Stem: Cervélo HB14 380 x 90 (271g)
Bar Tape: Burgh stealth lightning (55g)
Bar Ends: CarbonWorks (2g)
Bottle Cage: Celoco + CarbonWorks bolts (9g)
Brake Rotors: Galfer 140mm/140mm (79g/79g)
Brake Pads: Shimano K05TI-RX (12g/12g)
Cassette: ZTTO SLR Gen3 12 Speed ​​11-28 (117g)
Cassette Extras: SRAM stealth ring set (5g)
Crankset: XMCS carbon 155mm (330g)
Spider: XMCS carbon (43g)
Chainring: Alugear 48T (116g)
Chainring bolts: XMCS (6g)
Pedals: Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium (165g)
Wheelset: Roval Rapide CLX II front/ENVE SES 5.6 rear (705g/853g)
Tyres:  Continental Aero 111 29C/GP5000 TT 28C (272g/247g)
Inner Tubes: RideNow TPU 65mm/Magene Exar TPU 85mm (20g/35g)
Saddle: Berk Lupina Short padded 132mm (90g)
Bolts: Ti-Parts stem, handlebar, Di2 mount (31g)

WEIGHT: 6.83kg

Post ride glow.

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1104629935091496
Discord: https://discord.gg/XX8wS6ZD4z

155mm XMCS carbon crankset came in the mail.

Not so light 1 by narrow wide 52T chainring (chainring bolts were 6g).

All assembled.

Assembled weight.

Almost UCI Illegal.

I got my XMCS crankset today, with carbon spider and 52T 1 by narrow/wide chainring.

I’m running on Dura-Ace on the S5, so using a waxed Dura-Ace 12-Speed chain, and the Shimano quick link is “sticking” to the chainring causing the chain to stick on some but not all rotations.

I had to bail out of my test ride, but on the stand I can see the quick link is too narrow for the narrow/wide chainring teeth (it doesn’t engage completely thus causing the chain to lift off the chainring).

I did some googling and found that Stone narrow/wide chainrings state: You have to replace the 12s shimano original quick link to other brand 12s quick link like KMC YBN SUMC any brand. as the Shimano 12s quick link is too narrow.

It’s after hours now but I thought I’d raid my parts bin and run a few experiments:
– ZTTO 12-Speed chain quick link, same problem.
– ZTTO 12-Speed chain + ZTTO quick link, same problem.
– SRAM Red E1 chain quick link, no go (stiff links).
– 10-Speed KMC quick link, perfectly smooth (but the link is loose/felt too easy to install).
– 11-Speed KMC quick link, perfecty smooth, and again, felt a little too easy to install.

I’ll try to track down a KMC 12-Speed and/or YBN 12-Speed quick link tomorrow when the shops are open.

Every gram counts.

I was a weight weenie with my car builds, and naturally I’m a weight weenie with my bike builds too.

In all seriousness though, weight-weenie-ism and the relentless obsession to shave grams is a terrible disease so I’ve started a FB Group for all those who suffer. Let’s suffer… together!

Weight Weenies FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1104629935091496

Sam has a background in BMX.

Secretly a Specialized fanboy.

Random Ostro frame near the bins outside.

These 150mm LEESE cranks look great in the light.

Sam putting on the 34cm Quick Pro cockpit on Gina’s SL8.

Little people need love too. Can’t wait for Gina to try out the shorter cranks and bars (if only it stopped raining!).

Bar to frame integration is pretty nice taking the lines of the speed sniffer into account.

Dropped in to Sam’s cave for hangs today and he installed the new Quick Pro bars on Gina’s SL8 (bleeding brakes is something I haven’t bothered to mess with!). Always mad hangs with Sam, he’s a living legend.

Five Black.

Feels like home again.

Dropped in to Wheelhaus Bicycle Boutique in Enmore to pick up some 38cm bars to replace the way too wide 40cm bars on the S5. Store owner Greg Chalberg runs a beautiful little shop. Lots of Factor bikes and he had the new S5 on display too (a complete Dura-Ace build in my size and one that I seriously considered buying before picking up this 2023 S5). He put the new S5 on the scales whilst I was there and it came in at 7.4kg’s (without pedals), so for sure, it’s lighter than the model I have out of the box, quite impressive as the head tube is SO much deeper on the new model.

Got home and got the bars on right away. They feel right! Burgh Lightning bar tape (IMHO the best bar tape out there) and hey… I’m getting damn good at wrapping bars (I’ve learned from the best! IOW: Sam Mingle).

PS: It’s not even been a day since I got these bars on, and without mentioning names (I don’t want to get into trouble) I’ve been offered an aftermarket 36cm bar for the S5 that should come in significantly lighter than these OEM bars (as the brand making these new bars are known for making very light bars!). I’m happy with the 38cm bars on my SL8 though, but do have 36cm bars on the way, so maybe I’ll get those on the SL8 and see how I get along with them first.