Good news for Campagnolo riders who have been waiting patiently for Chris King to develop a Campagnolo compatible rear hub – they will be launched in January 2012. There is a lack of good quality light hub options for Campagnolo 11 speed riders and these high quality Chris King R45 road hubs will be a great option for many riders.
Chris King R45 Campagnolo hubs
PowerTap G3 | lighter and stiffer, easier to service
The PowerTap G3 and PowerTap Pro will be launched in the UK shortly and I was interested to see the improvements PowerTap had made to the performance monitoring hub.
September will see the UK debut of the new PowerTap G3 hubset (G3 representing third generation). The current SL+ front and rear hub with a carbon fibre window cutout to save weight will become obsolete. That shell has been scrapped in favour of a greatly pared down hub body absent any flashy visual features. The flange of the rear wheel has been made wider for greater stiffness, has been reduced in size and is significantly lighter at 325 grams. For comparison, the existing PowerTap SL+ hub weighs in at 412 grams. There is also a PowerTap G3C version with ceramic bearings. I think it is a sleeker, better looking hub than previous versions with a black finish being more in keeping with the demand for black components on modern bikes.
Also of interest is a claimed increase in service and repair. The thread-off cap for the rear hub now houses the unit’s electronics (the replaceable battery and antenna) and this means the user now needs only send back the cap (and PowerTap can then send out a replacement) and not the entire rear wheel for a replacement electronics pack.
CycleOps also debuted a revamp of its PowerTap Pro hub. It too gets a weight reduction at 20 grams of savings to 440 grams, a cosmetic re-design and has a 15mm alloy axle.
Client’s bike photo + words | Tune hubs + A23 rims
Winkie order a pair of gold Tune Mig Mag hubs, Sapim CX Ray spokes and Velocity A23 rims for his bike and he has been kind to send a photo and some comments.
“Guys, check out my newly blinged (blung?) up bike. Had to share it with some people who would appreciate, having just shown it off to the bird who hardly seemed to notice.
Look – no decals (came off nicely with paint thinner), Tune hubs. Beautiful new Velocity wheels thanks Jonathan. Fancy Nokon cabling (which I’ll never do again, nightmare!).”
We will appreciate the build even if the Mrs doesn’t! Thanks Winkie and enjoy the ride.
Fabio Close | Mid Season Sponsored Rider Report
The 2011 season so far…
The season started well in Southport when I was aiming for a top 10 in both races and ended up getting two top 5’s and then a few weeks later I went on to win the Dolan series. However, at the first national series event in Bristol my good streak made a turn for the worse as I punctured with 3 laps to go after doing so well staying in the top 10 all day. I got selected to ride for the North West team in the Isle of Man youth tour which was one of my goals for the season. The team rode well taking the overall leaders jersey, the point’s jersey and the team classification. The team stayed the same for the North West Youth Tour and we were successful as our team leader finished 5th overall and one of the riders won the last stage. I didn’t do the third national series race because it was the North West circuit championships which I wanted to win. I rode strongly making the attack that took me and three riders away but I had a mechanical with 5 laps to go and wasn’t allowed a lap out. I had to run to the pits and change my rear wheel and by the time I got back on the gap was unbridgeable.
My biggest aim for the season is to get on the talent team which I am capable of but I needed some decent results to put on my application and so far I didn’t have any that stood out, so I went up to Hetton for the fifth round of the national series. I had ridden the course before so I had an upper hand and the weather was awful, 13 degrees and pouring it down which is my favourite racing weather. I was at the front all day doing really well but I lost focus on the last lap and found myself near the back. I managed to overtake a few riders in the sprint but only managed 15th. The same thing happened at Curborough and I wanted to make sure that it didn’t happen again so at Blackpool I was on the ball the whole race. I avoided an early crash which took out 40+ riders. I wanted to take some points in the sprint laps so I was 4th wheel going into the hairpin but a rider slipped out in front of me and I couldn’t get out the way or brake in time. I took a lap out and got back in the bunch. On the next prime lap I got 3rd which gave me 2 national series points. Not much, but 2 more than I had before! Nine riders broke away so I had to rely on my sprinting ability to get me a position. I came 3rd in the sprint which made me 12th so another national series point.
All eyes were on the national circuit championships which I was looking on good form for. I was feeling strong but tired through the race but I knew that if I stayed in the bunch I could do well in the sprint. 5 of the strongest riders got away with 11 laps to go. This turned out to be the decisive break so the battle for fifth place was on. Several riders attempted to bridge the gap but failed and popped out the back. I knew that I wasn’t strong enough to bridge the gap so I sat in around the top 10. Out of 100 riders, only 27 didn’t get lapped and finished the whole 22 laps. With 2 laps to go my team mate Joe Evans made an attack up the hill but nobody worked with him so he got brought back. He tried again on the next lap but ended up being counter attacked by Callum Ferguson who got away and came 5th. I was 6th wheel going into the final corner which was a bit far back. I gave everything in the sprint and overtook 3 riders to come 3rd in the bunch sprint and 8th overall which I was extremely happy about.
There are only two national series events left so I want to do well in them to get top ten overall in the national series.
Darren Milne of Team Wyndy Milla gets results on Strada 88mm wheels
Darren Milne has picked up some impressive results this summer on his Wyndy Milla Saw Doctor EVO Tri bike fitted with Strada 88mm deep section wheels:
In short, Darren was winner of the Shropshire World Championship qualifying event, 3rd at Windsor Triathlon with the 2nd fastest bike split and 2nd at the European Championships – with the fastest bike split by 25seconds. Qualification to the Beijing Worlds coming up in September 2011.
Note the pink matched Strada flashes on the wheels to match the frame – sweet. Congratulations to Darren and Henry at Wyndy Milla.
Congratulations Martin Lee – LEJOG completed
Congratulations to Martin Lee and his riding mate Dan on reaching John O Groats in 7 days. Martin road a pair of ENVE 45 clinchers we built for him and he will hopefully submit a report once he has recovered. In the meantime here is his report on the slog through the final day to the top of Scotland.
“We made our goal of riding from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 7 days. We arrived at a completely desolate JOG car park at around 10:15PM after a 12 hour day, 7 hours of which were in the most miserable icy cold driving rain.
There were points later in the day where I really thought we would have to throw in the towel and finish on the Sunday but thanks to sheer bloody mindedness and a quiet day on the roads we soldiered. The visibility was so low that I lost sight of Dan if was more than 20 meters ahead, and as his lights weren’t working it was lucky the cars were few and far between.
The day had started fairly well, if a little labored on my part, but as usual Dan was a constant figure in front to keep me going. I thought the final day was going to be all smiles and joy as we got ever closer to the goal but to be honest it only seemed to get further away as the weather closed in and the climbs on the A9/A99 kept on coming. A couple of the ascents were amongst the biggest tackled during the 7 days followed swiftly by some very fast descents in the wettest conditions yet that were more than a little hairy at 35+ mph.
But it’s done! Even 3 days after the finish it still hasn’t sunk in and there was a strange emptiness. At the end of almost 900 miles of cycling, the fact that we had such a tough last day meant the focus was really on getting back to our B&B to get warmed up and get some sleep. We were truly knackered.
But looking back now it has been an amazing experience, people have been behind us all the way and we have already flown past the target for our chosen charity. The fact the last day was so arduous has made it all the more memorable and even more of an achievement to be proud of.”
Well done Martin + Dan who raised in excess of £1250 for charity enroute.
Mondraker Podium Carbon
The 2012 Mondraker Podium Carbon has been unveiled ahead of Eurobike 2011. It is interesting to see recent road design advances being used on an XC race bike – an integrated headset and internal cabling. Here is the Mondraker press release (thanks to Google translate) and a couple of photos. We are now building a selection of XC Race wheels.
“The new Mondraker Podium carbon offers the ultimate XC racing geometry. The integrated stem technology allowed us to lower the handlebar position to find the better pedaling efficiency position on a Cross Country bicycle. We decided to copy and why not copy one of the greatest of all times – Mr. Mies van der Rohe (“less is more”). We took off the stem and made it part of the frame. This allows us to shorten the steering tube and strengthen all the front area of the bicycle for a better force transmission from your upper body to the trail. With a new proprietary fabrication process we reached an improved stiffness than our predecessor podium carbon with a lighter frame weight (L size under 1000g fully painted). The new IST (patent pending) limits the steering angle to make sure your frame keeps shining from the first to the last day. Fine tuning stem with +/- 5mm in X and Y axis, with an eccentric aluminium insert for the most precise adjustments.”
- Ultimate XC Racing geometry
- Higher steering precision
- Greater stiffness structure
- Streamline integration looking
- BB 30 Press Fit
- Stealth Post Mount brake tabs
- Internal cable routing
Major Tom wheels review from Crossjunkie Al Dorrington
Al Dorrington writes the Crossjunkie blog and kindly agreed to review the Major Toms we offer as an all season tubular wheelset. Thanks for the Major Tom review and photos Al.
“The more eagle-eyed amongst the RvOL turnout a few weeks ago may have noticed the chunky wheels and tubs my bike was sporting on setting out from Barrowford. Or, may have picked up on my slightly giddy tweets by way of tip off. Either way, I was looking forward to a first proper ride on this much anticipated Strada Wheels build of Velocity Major Tom tubular rims with Hope Mono Pro 3 Road hubs and Sapim spokes. They had arrived circuitously from fellow Belgian and Strada originator, Jonathan Day. Circuitously, as writer, photographer and Trophy cross rider Andy Waterman had been trying them out first with some new Specialized cross tubs. More on that later…
At this juncture, I should point out that I’m no wheel expert, and to be fair have never ridden really top-end wheels including carbon offerings from the bigger manufacturers. I do however have an extensive wheel collection, many tubular, of more reasonable offerings from Bontrager, Xero, Shimano and a heap of older traditional box section aluminium tub rims in similarly traditional build patterns.
My brief for this review is to look at their on road performance, particularly with the cobbled classics season fresh in the memory as these wheels would seem to have a second home on cobbles, away from their true home on the cross course.
The Major Toms look quite understated really – minimal graphics, matt black rims with an alloy braking surface, plain silver hubs and spokes. Therein lies much of their charm, as when you pick them up to look at them, the chunkiness of that 23mm wide rim is immediately apparent and they simply shout ‘solid’ at you.
For all that ‘solidness’, they are light though – depending on build components you are looking at a 1550g wheelset which is plenty light enough for all but the highest level of cross or road riding.
Gluing a tub on such a wide platform is a dream – the centre seam relief channel makes seating the tub easy and reliable. Stretching a tub on the rim, it was apparent that the surface contact with a 32 or 34mm cross tub would be massive and therefore bond and confidence enhancing as suggested.
Gluing road tubs on however, would take a bit more care I feel, due to the wide rim bed vs a narrow tub. Even with large volume 27mm Vittoria Pavé’s on, there are visible gaps between carcass and rim edge. Nothing too major as such, and nothing that restricted my confidence in a 50mph descent followed by a vicious and long 1 in 4 descent with hairpins down Mytholm Steeps during the Ronde. The kind of attention that one would pay to gluing cross tubs would pay dividends here, rather than the usual slap ‘em on and rely on pressure to keep them on approach I’ve often take to road tubs.
And the ride? Plush, comfortable, luxurious, err thesaurus anyone? You get the picture – these are compliant wheels that soak up road buzz easily (and would even without such big volume tubs on). I put the same 27mm tubs on some (cheapish) carbon wheels on the same bike and they rattled me about. No comparison to the Major Toms.
Along the road they feel stiff, solid, quick to spin up, and very, very stable on descents. And that is with a radial front. You can specify your spoking pattern for your build and discuss your personal requirements with the team from Strada meaning you can get a wheelset tuned to you, your weight and your riding requirements.
The Major Toms feel very light and spritely up the hills too meaning they would go well in hillier sportives as well, whilst braking on descents is solid and reassuring on those big alloy braking surfaces.
Guaranteed for 1 yr and with a truing for life policy, they cost £445 complete with natty Ti Strada skewers. Details here
Overall, I think they are good value – a handbuilt and hand specced product for not much more, or around the same as many factory built lightweight offerings from big manufacturers. And that is just as road wheels – I have a feeling they will come in to their own on the cross course. Now, I better get gluing and hope it rains soon to get testing in the mud as a further cross-centric review will be coming later.”
On board Tour of California Sprint finish
I know the Tour of California was some time back but the speed of the sprint finish is really brought home by this great 45 sec clip from the seatpost on Bert Grabsch’s GoPro HD minicam.
Cyclo Cross wheels review
Alan “Crossjunkie” Dorrington is preparing for the very challenging annual 3 Peaks race this September. He has been testing the Major Tom Cyclo Cross wheelset for Strada. Here is his report -
“Their performance is spot on for the weekend cross warrior and will not leave you wanting more. Their overall quality really shines through and will reward you for many seasons and because of this I’m confidently recommending them to lots of friends and fellow cross riders who are looking for a new wheelset.
Whilst I have ridden and reviewed them in detail for road use, I had yet to comment on their ability in their true vocation on the course. Cue some gluing of brand new FMB Gripos and a handily scheduled Yorkshire Summer Cross series race for an ideal opportunity to look at their performance off road.
I’ve commented on the quality of the build in the previous review, but after some decent abuse, I mean riding (sorry Jonathon from Strada), on cobbles and the Dickensian potholed roads in my part of the world, the Toms remain absolutely true to the micron. I’ve never used wheels before that have remained that true after that type of use. Impressive.
Gluing wise, as suspected they are a dream for the wide, flat base tapes found on FMBs and Dugast cross tubs. Narrower carbon, as well as alloy rims can make it harder to seat the tub and get a solid gluing surface. Cheats like gluing base tape fillers in the centre to flatten the profile of a too concave rim profile never feel good and add extra faff to the gluing process.
No worries here, the tubs seat without any fuss and maximum security. The Major Tom rim profile will also work well for Vittorias and other similar tubs with a central seam bulge on the base tape as there is still a channel for this to sit in, whilst the important outer contact patches at the rim edge remain in close contact with the basetape of the tub.
And so to the ride off road……
The race I did was one of the Huddersfield rounds and came at the end of a pretty dry period. Hence the conditions were dry and fast. Not necessarily usual cross fare, and for a while I pondered whether it would have been more useful to try the wheels in normal, muddy conditions. on reflection, I think not. In then mud speeds are lower and what can reveal the most about a wheelset for cross is the way it performs in carving turns, and in the way it accelerates out of corners, not grinding through the mud. The course that evening had multiple 180 degree turns, fast cambered and off cambered turns, some very greasy and some bumpy sections where maintaining speed was crucial. It was in fact an ideal testing ground for the Toms.
They were simply flawless. As they are light and very stiff, I found them spinning up really quickly out of the many tight turns and switchback sections. They may even have flattered my far-from-race-honed form too – it certainly felt like it. The stiffness was also on show in the slow turns in these sections. Breaking hard from speed into these 180 degree momentum sappers was controlled and predictable – the braking surface is generous and well milled and contributed to plenty of power from the TRPs I was using. Into the turn and the stiffness allowed a good amount of lean and pushing of the front wheel through the turn for grip.
I am not a particularly technical rider, and have always struggled on this kind of tight turn, blaming my lankiness and high centre of gravity for poor performance (ahem). That night, however, I was losing very little if any time to riders around me and enjoyed pushing for more speed through them each lap. I firmly believe the Toms were helping me on that count.
Finally, a superb section of downhill right and left through changing cambers allowed me to establish that they work well at speed too. Flicking the bike rapidly from side to side through this section was a joy and it felt so stable at the front and the back as the wheels did their thing.
There are a reasonable amount of alloy tubular wheelsets out there in the market and the Major Toms are perhaps a little more expensive than some of these offerings (though not all). They do however have one clear advantage for me – their handbuilt quality – and this makes them a winner and worth paying a little more for. Their performance is spot on for the weekend cross warrior and will not leave you wanting more. Their overall quality really shines through and will reward you for many seasons and because of this I’m confidently recommending them to lots of friends and fellow cross riders who are looking for a new wheelset”.
