that bike is called the ex5, kasi tekan je and it will go like nobody's biznez whether it is flat, down or up...
ahaha. cheap also...around RM5k only anyway tomorrow i'm gonna have a Grand Fondo kind of thing..a 92km, short and flat route which attracts more than 1000+ riders which make it the biggest in the Middle East cycling event...with all the national UAE riders and strong amateurs, i'm aiming to finish in the top 150...wish me luck
top 100 in my dream..impossible at my current state..haha. those national riders and mat salehs are damn fast like a pro...i finished 92km in 2hrs 46min averaging at 33kmh...still a long way to go to get 40kmh avg for such distances.
OTH, 25mm rear tyre feel supple enough, cornering a bit weird, maybe because the front tyre is running on 23mm. 23T cassette is a mistake! too many flyovers to climb..lol
Dragon Back in sg buloh there I tried already, it isn't long enough..maybe 10km? I can't recall, only tried there once. The krabi one looks nasty with 50km of distances.
Added on December 14, 2012, 3:15 pm
QUOTE(tareh @ Dec 14 2012, 12:18 PM)
i know you guys are hardcore climbers but id like to share this Krabi Dragon Road. It goes like these continuously for 50 odd km. i faced this when i pedal from KL - Krabi recently hahaha. i think my peha about to drop goin up and down up and down
dude... you change cassette some more and you will be owning 3 cassettes...
not going to change the cassette. it's bearable anyway..time to build some iron calfs and thighs..i think there is one japanese rider with a steel bike, his gear is at the top tube...sweet ride..i'm a wheelsuckers..if butthead is here he'll be happy..so many chicks riding in front of you to motivate you to the rest of the ride.. i'm a happy wheelsuckers afterall
i had a hard time mounting panaracer stradius. i pinched the tyre bead bit by bit.
hey thanks man..my thumbs is in pain now..good tips..tmorrow im gonna sun bathe this damn tyre..i never had this type of stubborn tyre to the fact that I think it is the wrong size and to return it to shop...
i am on the cheaper romin, previously on prologo nago evo ts before prologo have a big presence here... before that, san marco..
maybe selle italia could be next, or fizik...but i am liking the spez except for some creaking sound after a while
Added on December 16, 2012, 12:10 am
cannot imagine only have 2 shirts for 10days...how did you come back on return trip? by bus?
yeah, should do more while you still can... until things and commitment start tieing you down
Added on December 16, 2012, 12:17 am
i soap it if it is too hard, also good to use levers where you can hook onto spokes if you don't have an extra pair of hands around the house it's not a bad choice... the race and ride series are built for different purposes... the race frame as the name states is a more racier geometry, it is built to be more compact with a lower head tube causing a bigger saddle to bar drop meaning you have to bend down a bit more..
ride on the other hand is the opposite of race in a more longer headtube so u sit more upright... basically it is a frame meant for more comfortable long distance riding and a mellower handling characteristic...
many bike brands do a simillar 2 frame lineup like this...
Get the race series..it'll suit you in the long run later on, unless you intend to be leisurely riding then the ride series will suit you more.
Added on December 16, 2012, 12:58 pmIs there any effect of using an oversize stem? Apart from the looks, will there be any real advantage?
This post has been edited by mrjgx: Dec 16 2012, 12:58 PM
personally, no.. i don't think you should base your measurement on that..
currently, height measurement does not equate to a pre-determined frame size and neither does your inseam as the height of saddle can be adjusted more variably with the introduction of more compact - sloping top tube frames...a bike fit should however take into account the riders torso length, arm length and also their flexibility alongside their measurements of the lower body like inseam... which is why fit calculator starts off with 3 types of fitting to first find out what sort of riding posture you can or prefer to be riding on your new frame...
uhh? wats the definition of your oversize stem... our ones currently are already oversized... same as our 31.8mm bars
i'm talking about this stem..I believe it much more bigger than my current merida one. pardon my lack of bike technical know-how but the one I saw at the lbs is pretty huge or issit the same?
OTH, since i will be buying some stuff from wiggle and i'm still would like to slam my stem without any hesitation (despite whatever craps the lbs told me about how unsure he is whether my merida can use a zero stack headset or not and asked me to contact merida official, and a possibility that my head tube maybe damaged in the process, wut the heck), I'm still wanna buy that zero stack online.
so butthead, I need your input on this..is this the correct one?
*my bike headset is BB410 neck, which in your recent post mentioning it is using 1 1/8" in size.
Added on December 17, 2012, 1:35 am
Hurm this looks easy..any other tips before my shifting goes totally haywire? I plan to change my casette interchangeably depending on the course..apparently there are some mountains with total elevation of more than 1000m here.
So one cassette is Ultegra 11-23T, another one is Force 11-32T. Chain length remains the same, and as shown in the video, we only adjust the rear gear, what about the front? is it automatically follows what we played at the rear?
Added on December 17, 2012, 1:44 am
QUOTE(butthead @ Dec 17 2012, 12:03 AM)
it is very hard to quantify any losses on either bikes... you have to include factors like how strong the rider is?
if you have a gorilla riding the ride series, maybe the extra slight flex might waste energy on the climb while a slender less muscular rider spinning his way up the climb on the same bike might not feel any difference....
Added on December 17, 2012, 12:04 amlet's just be fair that most of the time... you don't get dropped because of equipment inferiority.. buying myself an SL4 today will not make me drop 30 seconds over my favorite short climb immediately... neither does it make me an ace climber overnight...
it's usually all in your mind...
My friends who are beginners fallen into this cycling madness and IMO is making unwise decision. They bought a beginner alloy bike, and ended up buying a more expensive carbon bike 3-4 months later. It's their money so they can buy what they want but it is unwise to do so. Cycling isn't motorsports. Hence it won't improve your performance but rather your appearance
Best bet is to use your current bike until you feel that your current bike is no longer be able to cater for your speed, performance, or whatever, then only your bike upgrade will be significant. (A reminder for myself too)
This post has been edited by mrjgx: Dec 17 2012, 01:44 AM
thanks bro..just called Kent from my lbs...he confirmed the size to be 44cm and as a reference he asked me to go to CK website and find for inset 1 type.
M frame so old Skool wan..u don't want to be lance fanboy do u?
If u r wearing contact lens, get a proper cycling shades and in my case radar path seems to be the best in terms of the look and functionality.
But they said the lens is hydrophobic but u will still get the fog on your screen during your morning ride mini break. Get the vented one to solve the issue.
Added on December 18, 2012, 7:38 pmBased on my experience, some too curvy shaped like my Merida shades will cause me dizziness when wearing a lens and will make your lens moving especially in a hard fast descend..
Added on December 18, 2012, 7:44 pm
QUOTE(butthead @ Dec 18 2012, 05:17 PM)
feels more like vomitting...
Added on December 18, 2012, 5:18 pmget it off the screen!!! i can't scroll past that thing
Wearing radar also will make you looks much better when u look in a mirror. Like a PRO
This post has been edited by mrjgx: Dec 18 2012, 07:44 PM
I bought mine at Optical 88 at Midvalley..after surveyed around I think they sell the cheapest one..and I get the special edition in purple color..heroes something etc model
Woah..all the expensive keo pedals got bad record eh? Cancel my plan..decided to do a weight weenie project on my bike..going for a full carbon on those non carbon items
So I was browsing through some of the overseas cycling forums and happened to came across this one thread, and one of the poster did made me realized about what a good bicycle is, at least to a mere mortal cyclist like us (working professional with weekend rides).
QUOTE
I know this is RBR and guys on here love to talk about "performance" and "stiffness" as if these are the holy grails of decisions of buying a high end bike. Guys will say that blah blah bike is amazing, incredible, etc etc.
But consider this. The average pace of the Tour de France today, using the lightest frame, the stiffest frame, the best wheels, the best aero... that carbon technology has to offer.. only beats out the pace of the Tour from the 1960s using heavy steel bike, all that glorious 5 speed, solid metal shifters... for about .5 mph.
Now think about it. Sure if you're racing at the Tour, then .5 mp is a significant difference. But for most of us in here, .5 mph means close to nothing. This the difference between a 1960 steel bike versus a 2012 carbon bike. Therefore, I can only imagine that the difference between a 2012 carbon bike from company X.. versus a 2012 carbon bike from company Y... is almost absolutely zero. I mean when review magazines need to resort to high precision calibration equipment to differentiate the advantages/disadvantages of bike X compare to bike Y... that's when I say it's starting to enter hype territory (this is not to say the hype is fase, not at all, but ain't all that).
To me, it has to be about quality of the finish, durability of the bike. I've seen a few Tarmac Pros and frankly the finish leaves a little bit to be desired (I'm comparing it to my Serotta Ottrott).
QUOTE
I don't exactly recall where I got the .5 mph figure from, or was it just a stage?
At any rate, I took a look at your link, and did a comparison of the speed average from 1960-1965 versus 2007-2012, and the difference is 9.1%, which to me isn't really all that great. Most Olympics record from the 60s have probably been shattered by more than 9.1% in the course of 50 years.
The other factor we also must consider is that in today's environment, team tactis, team radio, advanced nutrition, advance training, and of course massive peloton doping... probably contribute to at least half of that 9.1% speed gain. So gain in speed due to equipment improvement alone is most likely much much less than 9.1%.
The bikes today from the big boys (Trek, Spesh, Cdale, Pina, Colnago, etc) all look so similar in terms of geometry, material, and tubing. They all tend to have oversized, thin walled, light weight downtube, headtube, and toptube, followed by skinny seat stays. Their designs are converging into a single form factor.
At this point, I have totally stopped being obsessed with stifness, blah blah blah. I will take a quality bike with quality finish over any stiff & high performance Tour de France bike anyday.
In short, i've concluded that what I need is a good quality bike that can bring me to places..enjoy the ride and journey..becoming healthier, and such. Getting the same bike as the pros will not make me any faster, but i'll gain the cool factor and a thinner wallet. A good quality bike, that looks nice to your eyes. Am I changing my target from the SL4 to some Italian beauty? In the end it's gonna be the same lor..good and cool looking bikes is all expensive and at least pro-tour level..I'm back to square one!
Dec 13 2012, 11:36 PM
Quote
anyway tomorrow i'm gonna have a Grand Fondo kind of thing..a 92km, short and flat route which attracts more than 1000+ riders which make it the biggest in the Middle East cycling event...with all the national UAE riders and strong amateurs, i'm aiming to finish in the top 150...wish me luck 
i'm a happy wheelsuckers afterall 
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