Races start

this weekend. We will be hitting up Colorado Springs and Fort Collins for some crit racing. Not looking forward to the eight hour drive form Durango to Fort Collins. Hopefully I can get a chance to get some riding in at Fort Collins. Whoopeee.

Not impressed yet

The new Sram XX group set was officially released today. No specs have been released to the public and there will most likely be changes to what you see here.

Upon first seeing the press release I was excited but soon let down to see that the brakes are only slimmed down Elixers with a one piece bar clamp, the front derailleur is a slightly lighter version of the current X.9, the rear derailleur is a mix between Red and X.0 and grip shift is not being offered yet.

The highlight of the groupo is the crankset. The spindle looks to be a BB30 in the picture and the rings are bolted to two different mounts, hopefully meaning it is a low chainline setup. The down side to the crank though is you will most likely be limited to a narrow chainring selection.

At least the brakes should be light.

Parts and stuff

All the parts are Bontrager, and thats fine. I picked out a bar, stem and seatpost combo that would all lean towards efficiency. The bar I chose was the XXX riser. It weighs a heafty 50g g more than my EC70 but is wider, 580 to 630, stiffer and has more sweep, 5deg to 7deg.

For the stem I chose a XXX stem. This was the hardest decision to make due to my fit. The XXX stem comes in one angle, 17deg, where the model down the X Lite comes in two, 7deg and 17deg. The XXX stem would give me the best fit bewteen my Race Lite Big Sweep and the XXX Rizer, but was 157g vs 114g for the same effectice length. I went with the XXX based on fit and the hopes of superb stiffness and I feel that it has delivered.

For seatpost and saddle I went for the XXX post and the RXL saddle. The post was an easy choice due to its light weight compated to my Thomson, 297g vs. 170g, and its simple design.

The saddle was my only iffy choice. I really didnt want to end up switching all my saddles out and buying new ones but I bought in to try for the spring on the 29er. So far so good, I got my ass sized at the local trek store and ordered up. It has a narrower fit than my custom SLR saddles and was quite comfortable. The bikes new weight as is, is 19.15lbs
More later....

Bontrager XR1 Team Issue

I just received a pair on Team Issue XR1 tires and I thought that I should share. The tires are intended for fast courses and tubes. There are two versions of the tire, a Team Issue and a Expert issue. The both have the same tread pattern but the Team issue has a softer rubber and thinner rubber. They have a claimed weight of 565g for the expert and 510g for the Team Issue.

My tires came in at 488g and 506g which made me very happy. There is now a tire option as light as a crow but with taller knobs.

Tubeless inflation on my 355 with yellow tape was not easy. It took 80psi form my portable 10 gal air tank, removal of the valve core and a lot of time. My difficulty was based on my past experience with Bontrager tires. Normally I can get Bontrager Tubeless and non-tubless tires to inflate with a floor pump. Any one with quality air compressor should have no problems.


They are labeled as 1.9" or 48/48 but are more like a 2.0 and take on a round profile when inflated. The look small when compared to my Karmas and ACX tires.

More to come once my flu bug goes away and I get a chance to rally them.