Final upgrades Orbea Euskaltel

After taking much time and finding some extremely good deals on eBay I performed the "final" upgrades.  They were the following:

1. FSA SL-K triple carbon crankset w/ bottom bracket.  Very hard to find!

2. Campagnolo Record triple front derailleur.  10 speed which works well with the 9 speed shifters. 

3. Campagnolo Record carbon 9x3 speed levers.

4. Campagnolo Record carbon/titanium 9 speed rear derailleur. 

There was a definite improvement in shifting with these higher end components, especially with the levers. The weight savings also placed this setup in the low 16 lb range. When all was tallied, the bike came in at the same price of an entry level road bike.  If this bike was brand new with all these components, it would have been too ridiculous for me to even think about purchasing.  So with a lot of time, patience and research anyone can do a high end build on a modest budget. 

Now the components I took off will be sold to offset these latest upgrades. 

Free Garmin Maps

While searching for Garmin, I came across a website that contains free maps for Garmin brand GPS devices - http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/.  There is a set of directions that explains all the steps needed to generate and upload the maps here - http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/05/download-garmin-705800810.html.  After playing around I was able to load maps to an SD card and use it on a GPS unit.  I have also placed a link in the GPS links section of the blog.

Six Pillars Century

So after building the Euskaltel, I decided to try out a longer ride than my usual 20 miles.  I signed up for the Six Pillars Century and rode the 57 mile course.  This was a nice ride around Cambridge but it was quite windy that day.  I was glad that I had the Rolf wheelset.  After the last stop on the course, I slowed down considerably due to the wind and hurting from sitting so long.  The next day I didn't have any soreness in the legs and no issues around the sitting area that was irritated on the ride - the Aquaphor sure did it's job.  Nothing like the MTB rides where my legs were sore the next day.  A few days later I did notice that my right foot was bruised from all the pedaling and rubbing against the shoe.  I need to use my left foot a bit more than I did and possibly see about the alignment of my foot with the pedal.  Gel inserts might fix the issue.

In preparation for the century, I made a long list of items to take, which might be useful for someone else:

Food:
bananas - take a few and find the smallest available at the store so that they fit in the Camelbak
Gu gels - about 4 of these
Gatorade - fill two bottles worth
granola bars - about three of these

Equipment:
helmet
gloves
water bottles / Camelbak
shoes
GPS / heart rate strap
tire pump
sunglasses
multitool
patches
tire removal levers
spare inner tube - it is much easier to replace a tube than using a patch kit
underseat storage bag - extra storage for items if needed

Ride info:
directions to start
ride maps / cue sheets
registration information

Misc:
sun tan lotion - always put it on.  I came back tanned and it was cloudy for most of the ride.
full gas tank
wallet / cash
Aquaphor - very useful relieving soreness / chafing.  You can also use it to lather the pad in the shorts.

Trace of 57 mile course

Some pics

Orbea Euskaltel Upgrades

After selling one of the MTB wheelsets that I had laying around, I purchased a few upgrades:

Rolf Elan Aero Campy wheelset (titanium hub) w/ titanium skewers
Zeus Category 3 carbon fiber handlebars
Orbea lightweight aluminum stem
Felt carbon fiber seatpost
Selle Italia SL seat w/ Orbea logo
Crankbrothers eggbeater pedals - replaced the quattro pedals that were a bit too loose for my taste.

With all these upgrades, the bike weighed in the high 16 lb range.  The wheelset is unbelievably lightweight and made quite a difference from the Campy Vento's.  You accelerate much faster and the sideways wind does not affect you as much due to the small number of spokes on the Rolf wheelset.

The bike still came in way under the price of a new entry level road bike with all these upgrades.  Currently, the 9x3 setup will work much better than a standard 10x2 for going uphills, which I desperately need.  I might upgrade the drivetrain at a later date to make it even lighter, but for now this setup seems to work fine.

Orbea Euskaltel Specs / More Pics

The specs on this build are the following:

Frame - 2002/2003 Orbea Team Euskaltel 54 cm
Wheels - Campagnolo Vento G3 w/ Campagnolo hubs
Cassette - Campagnolo 9 speed 13-23
Tires - Michelin Kromion
Crankset - Truvativ Elita 3.1 - 175 mm - 52/42/30
Pedals - Crankbrothers Quattro (these were ideal since I can use my MTB shoes without swapping cleats)
Fork - Orbea full carbon
Brakes - Campagnolo Veloce
Shift/Brake Levers - Campagnolo Xenon
Headset - Cane Creek Italian IS
Plug - FSA Compression
Bottom Bracket - SRAM GXP
Seatpost - Sette Venn
Front Derailleur - Shimano 105
Rear Derailleur - Campagnolo Mirage
Bottle Cages - Catcage
Drop Bars - Ritchey Pro
Stem - Easton EA30 (110 mm)
Chain - SRAM quick connect

The final tuning of the shifters was performed.  Several issues were identified/fixed:
1.  The chain was too long and had to be shortened by two links in order for the chain to stop rubbing on the bottom of the derailleur.
2.  The rear derailleur indexing was performed by placing on the fourth cog and then rotating the knob until it lined up perfectly with the cog.
3. The seatpost was then adjusted for my height.
4. The GPS/cadence mounts were also moved from the 29r to this bike.  The cadence tracking will definitely be needed more for road riding than MTB.
5. Gator Skin chainstay protector was placed on the frame as well as around the headtube for cable rub.  If the original owner had placed them on, the frame would look brand new.

After all was finished, the final weight came to slightly over 19 lbs.  The crankset, brakes, and the drop bars/stem are heavy.  Especially the large three ring crankset.  With a few carbon fiber component swaps - seatpost, handlebar, stem, brakes - and a two ring crankset, this bike can probably come in under 18 lbs.

The following are more pics of the bike:

Full Bike

Campy Mirage Rear Derailleur

Truvativ Elita 3.1 with CrankBrothers Quattro Pedals

Front and Rear Campy Veloce Brakes

Orbea Team Euskaltel

Since I had almost all the components for a road bike from my MTB to road conversion, I decided to look for a cheap frame on eBay. After about 4 months of looking, I came across a 2002/2003 Orbea Team Euskaltel 54 cm frame that was just the right size. No one else put in a bid so I bought it very cheap. Once I received it I couldn't believe how nice it looked and how light it was - 1270 grams (2.8 lbs). After purchasing the missing items I needed - seat post, headset, bottom bracket, compression plug - I was able to put it together very quickly. It looked very nice since I had a matching fork. With everything on it, including pedals and bottle cages, the weight came to 18.5 lbs. pretty impressive for the amount I spent on everything. Definitely much cheaper than a comparable new road bike that would be about 5x more expensive. Most of the components I bought were new as well.

One issue I had was figuring out what size headset to use. It wasn't a standard size and the closest was an Italian integrated headset. Unfortunately the top of the head tube was the only difference with a bore depth of 2.5 mm. The Italian integrated headset sits in a 3 mm head tube. This left a small gap between the head tube and the bottom of the headset. I contacted Cane Creek prior to buying and they said that the small gap should not be an issue. So I ordered the Italian IS headset.

A second issue was that the triple crankset was very close to the frame. I had to use the spacers that came with the bottom bracket in order to clear the frame. Even with the spacers there was only about 1 mm between the small chainring and the frame. I might add another 2.5 mm spacer on the drive side just to make sure I have enough room. The last time I built it on the MTB frame I had to use 2 spacers on the drive side, which gave me the 1mm clearance. So this road frame is much better than the MTB frame.

The picture is of the almost finished result. I have not yet installed the shifter lines as well as adjusting my seat height.

I will post all the components after I finish.

Garmin Edge 305

So I took a nasty spill last Saturday and realized that the Garmin Edge was not working.  Steve also pointed out that I had a nice dent in my frame which I didn't even notice.  I guess the pain of the second time I fell on my arm and scraped the exact same area that I fell on the week before didn't give me time to look over the bike.

I did some research on the Garmin Edge 305 and found out that the unit has a bad design in that it has connectors for the battery and wires for the USB.  These connectors got pushed down after the fall.  I noticed the case was a little dented.  Apparently these connectors don't touch after many bumpy rides.  It looks like they discontinued the unit and the later ones are all soldered wires.  So if you're looking for a 305, spend a little more for a better one.

I also found out that Garmin will replace/fix it for $79.  Seeing that a new unit is about $200, I wasn't going to pay to get a refurbished one that will disconnect again.  So I took the unit apart and took a look.  All I had to do is insert a small flat screwdriver and pop the case open.  It's just glued on!  No screws whatsoever.  Another bad design flaw.  So I see that 3 of the connectors are really flat and don't touch.  I just pried them up a little and put the case together to see if it came on and it did.  Next was how to put the case back on.  I had a tube of loctite and decided to use it.  I placed some all around the rim of the bottom part and pushed it together.  It is currently sitting on top of three heavy textbooks for 24 hours to cure.  I did wipe the excess and opened the case again to see if any leaked into the unit.  Apparently this was the only good design of the unit.  It did not allow for any of the "glue" to go inside.

Scape - hydraulic disc setup

After I found a good deal on some hydraulic brakes, I placed them on the Scape.  White was the color of choice.  The levers were quite nice since adjustments can be made without the use of any tools.  Final weight is not bad either - 23 lbs.

Scape back to MTB setup.  Mavic rims and Hayes hydraulic disc brakes installed.  Seat bought for the road conversion is actually very comfortable.

White levers.  Red screw allows the rider to choose the stiffness of the levers.  I set them right in the middle.  Also added some ergo grips.  I had some body glove grips on the old StumpJumper and found these to be just as good.  No more tingling hands.

Front white caliper mated to SID fork.  Avid front 160 mm rotor.

Rear white caliper.  Avid rear 160 mm rotor

Patapsco Rides, 29r issues, Scape back to MTB, REI

I started riding Patapsco again in February.   Been doing short ~1 hour runs whenever I have a chance to get out.  I started riding the 29r until the cassette on my rear wheel was wobbling so bad that I was having shifting issues.  Since I have not been doing much road riding and I was having shifting issues with my front derailleur on the Scape road conversion, I swapped all the mountain components I took off back on.  I also bought a new set of Mavic wheels which allowed for both disc and rim brakes.  I had a couple of mechanical disc calipers, that originally came on my 29r, that I placed on the Scape.  I didn't realize that the Mavic wheelset needed a spacer for the cassette since my old wheelset did not need one.  So after noticing the shifting issue after the first ride, I took a look at the pamphlet that came with the wheels and it stated that the Shimano freehub requires a spacer for the cassette.  It would have helped if I had read it first.  I also noticed that I was not as tired after climbing as I was on my 29r.  Today I took it out again with the spacer fix and I was able to go much further than with my 29r.  I noticed that I almost doubled my average speed and that was with a 10 minute talk with someone I haven't seen in a couple of years!  I think the 29r will be placed on the back burner for a while.

I did replace my 29r rear wheel with the original one and placed the cassette on there.  Everything worked fine.  I tried to look at the wheel I was having an issue with and was able to take apart the hub/axle but not the freehub.  Apparently you need a special two notched tool to take it off so I went to REI in Columbia.  The guys there are really awesome.  Much better than any other shop I've gone (Race Pace & Performance). They looked over the wheel and said there was really nothing they could see wrong and asked me to bring in the entire bike so they can check the wheel when mounted.  No charge whatsoever!  Can't beat that.  I also noticed that REI's prices are at least 1/2 that of the other places I've gone.  I think this will be my store of choice whenever I have something done that I can't do myself.

Modified 26" MTB to Road

So after adding all the road wheels and modifying the brakes, I bought some 9 speed road shifters and a road drop bar.  Apparently they didn't work very well with the Shimano XT rear derailleur.  It seems that once I had the indexing set on the smaller cassette rings it would skip a gear towards the larger ones.  Setting the indexing on the larger rings had the opposite effect of skipping towards the smaller ones.  After doing some research I found that the cable pull on the Shimano was different than that of a Campagnolo.  So a new 9 speed Campy RD was bought.  Once installed, everything shifted smoothly but when I took it out I ran into a couple of issues with the front derailleur.  It seems that the jump between the middle and small chainring was so large that almost every time I shifted, the chain would pop off.  After a few times, the chain was sucked in and it was impossible to take off unless I either broke the chain or removed the chainring.  A few more rides revealed the same constant issue.  As of now, my solution is to not use the small chainring up front.  A new front derailleur might solve the problem.

I also replaced the fork.  I found a nice matching carbon fiber road fork on ebay which did not sell for much since there were a flood of them on there.  After that I purchased a set of road brakes for the front fork.  Unfortunately the rear of the frame did not allow for retrofitting a road brake so I had to stick to the modified setup of the Vbrake.  So this is the only visible clue that it is an MTB frame.

Road bar and road shifter/brake combo installed with painted white caps.

 

Front view of road setup.

Right side - fork / drop bar

Full road setup with new seat and carbon fork.

Ride Stats 11/12/11 - Road Ride

Ride Stats 10/20/11 - Road Ride

Ride Stats 8/20/11 - Centennial Park

Trace

Ride Stats 8/10/2011 - Road Ride

Funny story.  This trail is with a group in Howard County.  My friend joined so I decided to give it a try.  Apparently, this week was hill climbing week.  So I start out fine until the 4th hill when I slowed down drastically.  Then the sweeper kept pacing me back to the pack quite a few times.  About the halfway point(~12 miles) he tells me that at the pace I'm going we won't be back before the 2 hour mark, which they try to keep to.  So I told him I would go back with my GPS.  In the meantime my friend is pushing through and doesn't see me drop out.  So I trudge backwards thinking I'm not going to make it back before dark but I calmly proceed to the start point.  I did stop for about 5 minutes to talk to someone in a pickup truck to see if I was going the right way.  After I verified that I was and he gave me directions back, I felt much better.  At this point I was making a steady 12 mph.  I did stop again to check my GPS after the roundabout.  Then I see a lone lady biker pass me.  She was going at a nice pace so I decided to keep up with her.  Once I caught up I asked her where the community center was and apparently she was headed that way.  We started talking and I found out she was dropped from the group.  So we made our way back.  Then about 1 mile from the finish, my friend zooms by me.  Then three guys behind him go by.  I was scratching my head because I thought these guys would have been at the parking lot and leaving by now.  Apparently he told me that I had 3 ladies behind me, one that I knew about, two I wasn't even aware they were behind me?  I tried to catch him but I wore myself out.  Then the first lady I met overtook me at the last 1/2 mile.  My friend was at the parking lot with a few people following about 5 mins later.  I talked to my friend for about 15 minutes and I saw very few riders come in??  In those 15 minutes he told me what happened.  Apparently the leader of the group kept a fast pace.  It seems that she cracked after a few too many hills and they stopped to take a break.  He pushed on leaving them behind.  I was a little amused when he told me this.  I knew I was keeping a good pace for the C group.  Apparently the leader underestimated the hills and the trail was too long for a 2 hour ride.   I made it back under two hours and only missed a few miles of the entire ride.  I know this because my friend had his GPS and we compared notes.  If I was not dropped and kept going at my pace I would have ridden the whole trail and made it back before the two hours.  At 12 mph average the additional 2-3 miles would have taken me another 15 minutes (the amount of time I spent talking to him in the parking lot, which was close to 8:00 pm).

Needless to say, I didn't' like the first part of the ride too much.  The pace was too fast for me and I kept feeling like I was a bad rider(which I probably am) with the sweeper coming back to push me to a faster pace.  In a way, I'm glad I was dropped.  The second half of the ride was much better.  I went at my own pace pushing myself when I could and even met a few people along the way.  I knew what I was capable of and did it my way.  The only thing I wished was that the sweeper saw me in the parking lot.  He had not made it back those 15 minutes after I arrived and started talking to my friend.  I bet he still thinks that I was out there somewhere. :)

Elevation

My trace

Friend's Trace

Overlap between my trace and friend's trace.  It looks like there is a big difference between the two but in reality I only cut the path short by two of the corners, which ended up being ~3 miles.

Ride Stats 8/6/2011 - Road Ride

The duathlon trail again.

Elevation

Trace

Ride Stats 8/3/2011 - Road Ride

This is the duathlon race path - http://www.creativetsolutions.com/DUthe2/home.asp.  Chris and his wife were entering so we were just riding it to see what it was like.  Not a bad ride at all.

Elevation

Trace

Ride Stats 7/30/2011 - First Road Ride

Went riding with Chris around Cooksville area.  It was a very nice ride, mostly shaded.  The modified Orbea held in there.

Elevation

Trace

Ride Stats 7/25/2011

Quick first ride with 26" to 700c conversion.  Front brakes were pulsating due to the placement of the pads.  I had to re-adjust to angle the rear of the pad touch the wheel first.

26" to 700c Conversion

So after a couple of years of not using the 26" Orbea Scape, I decided to use it as a road bike.  There were only a few brake adapters that were made to adjust for the taller 700c wheels.  One looked like a horseshoe, the other was a BMX brake.  They were way too expensive - between $70 and $100.  So after much research I came across an adapter that was custom made.  Chris helped me out and we came up with the following:

Aluminum adapters

Rear wheel mounted with stainless steel bolts and nuts (nylon locking)

Front wheel

26" with 700c wheel set.

After the first ride with the MTB crankset and road cassette I knew I would need a road crankset.  I found one for $39 - Truvativ Elita triple.  I bought a few bottom bracket spacers from REI and placed them on the chainring side.  The chainrings were so large that they dug into the frame without using spacers.  Once I swapped the cranksets and greased the bottom bracket(didn't need it but thought I would anyways) I tuned the front derailleur.  This took a while to position perfectly.  After two more rides I found that the derailleur still needed some adjustment.  I finally adjusted everything so that the chain was not rubbing on the derailleur.  So now it's an MTB frame with road wheels and road crankset.  This setup was ideal with the small chainring up front that allowed me to climb hills at my own pace and the large chainring that allowed me to go fast on flat roads and pedal during some downhills.  

SRAM Elita 3.3

Mounted

Ride Stats - 6/3/2011

Elevation

Trace