Ugly dog needed an ugly saddle.

Wobbly start, but we got there! 4 laps of CP!

Maiden ride was a little muddy, so BoB the Dog got his first wash.

A look that only a mother could love.

This Hinloopen.bike mount is so good I’m going to go out and buy a Wahoo computer just for it.

Ti hardware on the OEM seatpost is a nice touch.

Tactic hubs sound unique, but not as loud as I was expecting.

Much thanks to Sam at CCACHE for putting in some overtime in last night to get BoB the Dog ready for me to ride today.

Of-course no build is without issues:

1) The bearings in the front wheel are shot. With the bike in the stand you can hear the bearings when the wheel is spinning, hand on the bars and you can feel the vibration through the bars. We took the wheel off, and spinning the hub with your fingers you can really feel how gritty they are.

I messaged the seller, he was as shocked as I was as he had hardly ridden on this wheelset. Either way I have to replace the front bearings. The Tactic web shop has some ceramic bearings for the TR01, but I’m not sure they fit in the TR02. I’ve shot them an email in any case for confirmation. I might also reach out to the local shop that the seller bought the wheels from (I do have the receipt).

2) The frame and groupset came with 2 x 140mm brake rotors, and when putting on the front rotor the brake caliper hits the spokes. Putting on a 160 fixed this, but when out of the saddle the caliper juuuust brushes the spokes. It’s tight in there but there is more space between the rotor and the fork than the caliper and the spokes so I’ve ordered some centrelock specific shims and hope that will do the trick.

Initial impressions: It’s a fast bike! I expected it to “feel” faster than my S-Works SL8, but I actually think my SL8 not only is faster, it feels faster too. Yes, the Dogma is stiffer and it feels really planted but the SL8 feels lighter and more playful. The SL8 is 1kg lighter though so I’m assuming the weight difference might be the difference here.

Dura-Ace shifting lives up to the hype. It’s definitely faster and feels more direct than SRAM Red E1 and the front mech shifting is light years ahead of SRAM Red E1. I absolutely hate that the right shifter is for both going up and down the rear gears though. Apparently I can program it to work like SRAM? I’ll look into it as I’m only ever in the big ring so having buttons on the left shifter that don’t do anything feels odd and unbalanced to me.

I really love the Red E1 hood ergonomics, but the Dura-Ace hoods are also great. The Dura-Ace brakes though feel nowhere near as powerful and sensitive as SRAM Red E1.

I went for the 4mm longer axles on a set of Dura-Ace pedals and really like them. What I like most about the pedals though is that now I can swap bikes with my mates! Today I let 2 of my mates try the Dogma out and both of them were super impressed with how fast the bike is (though one of the guys who’s ridden my SL8 says the SL8 felt faster and had more of a WOW factor).

The 120mm stem on the cockpit is perfect for the aero tuck position but too long for me when I’m in the hoods. It’s passable though and I’m hesitant to pay up the insane asking price for a shorter Most Talon cockpit, for now.

All in all it was a good maiden ride. I’ll sort out the brake caliper and front wheel bearing issues ASAP and I’m still waiting for my saddle, 0 offset seatpost and direct derailleur mount to arrive.

Finally found a Dura-Ace front derailleur with the right diameter clamp (just happens to be NOS too).

Perfect fit, and the clamp bolt no longer gets dangerously close to the rear tyre anymore.

Found a titanium seatpost clamp bolt on eBay (steel one was 12g).

Way cooler when it was 6.66kg’s.

Officially UCI Illegal!

Working on Nick’s new VeloBuild VB-R-268.

I drove way out West to pick up some wheels I bought off FB Marketplace and the guy selling the wheels just got this FDJ SL8 frameset. Looks AMAZING IRL but beefy dude was pretty upset when I told him that it was the women’s team bike.

Cybrei in 162.5. Light and damn tempting.

But naaaaah. Went for these. 165’s, 50T compact. Bit porky at 677g, but this is no weight weenie project so all good.

Woof!