I rode my older bike, with the triple crank, on the ride up Henry Coe last night. I was thinking to use it on the upcoming Devil Mountain Double this Saturday because it has the lower gearing. It was making some rattling sound, the speed pickup came loose, and it just doesn’t fit me like my new bike, even though both are a 52 cm Trek frame. I was thinking last night to go ahead and use my new bike for the tough double this Saturday, even though it only has a double crank. I can climb all those hills with the double, but I am not sure about doing all of them the same day with a double. I had to use the triple last year for this event due to cramping in my legs.

I spent this morning putting a new tire on the front and moving the front tire to the rear to replace that worn tire. I reattached the speed pickup for my Polar heart rate monitor and I tightened the cassette, which I think was the source of the noise. I had used a torque wrench before but I guess I had the wrong setting.

I weighed both bikes, loaded as I would ride them, sans water bottles. The new Trek Madone is a lighter bike but I have aero bars on it. On my old bike I have put on new wheels and a new Durace crankset so it is lighter than it use to be. I was surprised that both bike weighed nearly the same, within half a pound.

• Trek Madone 5.2 18.65 lbs (with pack with 2 tubes, CO2, mini pump, aero bars
• Trek 5200 19.35 lbs (with pack with 2 tubes, Co2, mini pump)

Part of the difference is the weight of the Syntace C2 aero bars at 358 grams, close to one pound. I could remove those since there is not that much drafting on this event. That would bring the wieght of the new bike down to 17.8 lbs, or 1.5 lbs lighter, both on an equivalent basis.

I set up both bikes next to each other to see if I should make any adjustments to the old bike to match the ride I like on the new one. I ended up moving the saddle forward slightly. I notice the handlebars one the new bike are a bit higher and the 10 speed shifters really do have a better angle, but without getting a new stem for the old bike there is little I can do there.

I just finished 24 mile last ride using the old bike. I fixed the rattle and it seems to be working fine. I calculated that the difference of 1.5 lbs will only mean 4 mintues total time difference for the entire DMD. I recall when I did the Furnace Creek 508 going up Townes Pass with my double and having a difficult time. Later I thought I should have used the older bike with the triple (which was on the support car). I expect the climb up Sierra Road after already doing 140 miles and 15,000 feet of climbing will be similar. But I did the entire Furnace Creek 508 with only a double, even Townes Pass. I used the double on the Death Ride and the Cimb to Kaiser. So I have decided to tough it out and go with the faster and lighter bike.

Categories: Cycling, Cycling Equipment, Devil Mountain Double
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While visiting Mac World I stopped by the Garmin booth to see what new items they had. I found three very interesting new products.

Forerunner® 405 1st Quarter, 2008 Part Number: 010-00658-10 Suggested Retail Price: $ 318.74 USD

This unit is much smaller than previous Forerunner units and was finally down to the size you would expect for a runner’s watch. It had a most unique user interface. Instead of pushing buttons to move through the menu options, you just run your finger around the watch front, and tap it when you find what you want.

There is no mapping function but it does support heart rate, and has optional bike speed and cadence, and supports a footpod. It automatically transfers your data to a computer.

Edge® 605 1st Quarter, 2008 Part Number: 010-00555-00 Suggested Retail Price: $ 430.75 USD

This unit appears to be a much improved unit over the previous Edge 205, which it appears to be replacing. It now includes a true GPS mapping function in a package no larger that what I recall the 305 to be. Included is only the base map so that means buying mapping software to get other than major highways. It has support for a MicroSD card so you can add your own maps. This unit does not support a bike speed/cadence sensor heart rate and does not include a barometric altimeter, so you may want to opt for the Edge 705.

Edge® 705 1st Quarter, 2008 Part Number: 010-00555-20 Suggested Retail Price: $ 541.65 USD

This unit appears to be a much improved unit over the previous Edge 305, which it appears to be replacing. It now includes a true GPS mapping function. It adds support for heart rate and cadence and will also support Power with third party ANT+Sport-enabled power meters. You can also send your course wirelessly to another Edge 705. The battery life is suppose to be 15 hours, an improvement over the Edge 305, but still a bit on the short side. Even though the price of the 705 is more than $100 more than the Edge 605, I would recommend it because of the added features the serious cyclists would want and if you are not a serious cyclists why would you bother in the first place with one of these expensive units.

I asked about Mac computer support. All of the above units currently will only work with Windows, but Mac support will be coming later in 2008 (as Garmin has been saying).

Categories: Cycling Equipment
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Yesterday my new BR Light arrived by FedEx, just in time to give it 45 minutes on the charger before I jumped on the bike and headed north to Morgan Hill for a ride up Henry Coe with the Nightriders. I waited until dark before I started the ride back home from Morgan Hill so I could test out the new light. I had purchased the C2-H model, which is a handle bar version and the model with the higher lumen (and shorter run time).

The light has three power settings, high, medium and stealth. I had them program my light so the stealth mode was at 5% instead of the normal 2% because when I tested it last Friday during the mountain bike ride, I didn’t feel the 2% would be adequate. I am glad I made that change.

Before I get into how the light performed on the road, in the dark, here are some interesting comparisons between my new light and an older 20/10 watt dual light system I have used in the past.

On the left is the new BR Light, which is all self contained in one unit. That means the mount, the light, the battery, the controller switch are all together. Compare that with my old light with a separate battery, a bag for the battery, cables to connect the battery to the light, a light mount, and a control switch I had to attach to the handle bar.

I weighed both setups (san chargers). The BR light weighed 14.2 oz (408 grams) while my old light came in at 2 lbs, 2.5 oz (992 grams) or more than twice the weight. My old light has two lights, a 10 watt and a 20 watt, for a total of 30 watts, but with both lights I can only get a couple hours of run time, even with that heavy battery.

The BR light is small enough and light enough to mount on the handlebar with no need for cords (note I have small hands).

I then did a very unscientific test and shined both lights in a dark room against the wall.

The BR light is on the left, the old light on the right. It should be obvious to even the most casual observer that the BR light is much brighter and the light is whiter, which is easier to use on the road.

The mount for the light is attached to it. It is a clever all metal mounting system that I believe is very solid, even fully adequate for mountain biking. Once mounted, it is easy to move the light left or right as you are riding, to aim the beam. The light does not come off as quick as those lights that have a mount that stays on the bike such as my Cateye HL530, but then those mounts are often flimsy. The BR light is relatively easy to attach and remove and certainly faster and easier than setting up a light that has an external battery that you need to attach to the bike somewhere then wire it to the light on the handlebar.

Now back to my ride in the dark. I rode 13 miles in the dark, part through the city streets and about 10 miles on a road that had no street lights and enough times with no cars to test things out. I found that on high power the BR light has plenty enough light for me to go as fast as I wanted. I took my speed up to 30 mph on a short descent and felt fully comfortable.

On the medium setting the light is adequate for 20 mph, what I would usually do on a flat road. If the route was short enough I would still opt for the higher light setting, but the medium setting was fine, especially if the road has a white line to gauge off and is in reasonably good shape.

I had a short climb where I tested out the stealth mode (my light was set at 5%). I found it adequate, but barely, for climbing at up to 7-8 mph. I am glad I had them change the setting and maybe a slightly higher setting would be useful. In any case it is about as bright in the stealth mode as my Cateye HL530, which has a claim of 1,500 candlepower (a useless measurement in my opinion).

I feel that with this particular light, I could basically go all night on a single charge by using the medium setting for flats, the high power for descents and the stealth mode for climbing. The light has a 6 stage battery indicator. A colored LED goes from green (full power) to blinking green, then to orange, then blinking orange, then red, then blinking red. It is a clever system and very easy to see how much battery life left.

I found using the single control button on the light to work very well. It was very responsive.

If I owned a HID light I would make a direct comparison. When we did the night mountain bike ride last Friday we did an informal comparision with some HID lights on the ride and found the BR Light similar in terms of illumination. The BR light has the big advantage of using the new CRED LEDs which are very reliable and much more shock resistant than a HID light. The LED light turns on immediately and it is no problem to shut it off and back on as you wish.

I have a sophisticated light meter back from the early days of photography that will measure LUX, but I have to find some batteries first. They don’t make the mercury button batteries anymore for this device that is 25 years old. When I get it to work, I can do more testing.

In summary, I am very glad I bought the BR light.

Categories: Cycling Equipment
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I ride with a group called the Nightriders, who both road and mountain bike. Tonight I decided to join them for a night time mountain bike ride up Henry Coe, the largest State Park in California. I wanted to join the ride tonight because we were going to have guests from BR Lights come join us and bring some of their new lights for us to test out. I was in the market for a new light, needing something I could use for the Furnace Creek 508 in October and other events I want to do, in addition to the night mountain biking.

They let me try both the handlebar light (C2.1-H model) as well as the helmet mount light (Jen-H model) with the auxilary battery pack. I got the lights setup quickly due to a clever design for both the handle bar light and the helmet light. Unlike my existing lights that required me to first put an a handlebar bracket, attach the battery, attach the light, connect the light to the battery and finally attach the control buttons to the handle bar; this unit is all self contained so the battery and control switches are all in one unit. It makes the design look a bit boxy but I was pleasantly surprised that in the field when I had mounted the unit on the bike it didn’t look as big as I thought it would after looking only at their website.

The helmet light is a nice looking design, again all self contained. The only downside of this is that it is a bit heavy on the head, but not unreasonably so at only 300 grams.

We took off soon after 7 pm, with plenty of light to make the first climb. Kyle and Jeni, from BR Lights, were out in the front and I struggle to keep up with them even though we were on a fire road. I realized they were great mountain bike riders in addition to knowing a lot about LED light technology.

Kyle and Jeni from BR Lights

Franz with BR helmet light

As we reached the first regroup area it was getting dark and we had a chance to finally try out the lights.

After the rest of the group arrived we had a chance to compare the lights. Jim had a triple shot on his handlebar so we pointed it ahead to the right and I pointed the BR handlebar light to the left. You can see the comparison in this photo.

Comparison of BR Light (left) and Triple Shot (right)

The BR light was clearly brighter, not only over the wide area, but much brighter in the spot area.

Jim also had on one of the BR helmet lights while he hammed it up for the camera.

Jim with BR Helmet Light

We made our way to the tricky single track. Not being a real experienced mountain biker, I normally would have been very nervous doing this single track in the dark but I found the combination of the BR handlebar light and the BR helmet mounted light illuminated up things fully. I usually was running the handlebar light on half power and relying more on the helmet light, which seemed to work fine.

Both lights have a stealth mode, that sas some extremely long battery life. I tired that mode but found it too weak for anything other than maybe climbing on a road bike.

Some of the riders in our group were using HID lights. I didn’t see that they were any brighter than what I was using, which is quite a feat considering the BR Lights use CRED LEDs, are all self contained with a total weight much less than the HIDs and much greater durability.

It was well past 11 pm when we finished about a 20 mile ride.

I was so impressed with the BR Lights that I ordered the handlebar version (C2.1-H model) right away. I would like to buy the helmet light also but that would be a bit much for me right now, but I am tempted. I hope I get my new BR light quickly before the our big night mountain bike adventure in September.

Franz Kelsch

See also:
http://www.swim2bike2run.net
(my personal endurance sports website)

http://www.actc.org
(primary cycling club where you can contact me at webaster@actc.org)

Categories: Cycling Equipment, Mountain Biking
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The problem with getting a new tandem is that I had no place to put it. I already had 3 road bikes and two mountain bikes stuck in the garage. But being an engineer, I was sure I could figure out a way to store all this stuff in our small garage. I started yesterday and put in far more hours than I expected it would take.  By 10 pm last night and I was still not done so I got up early this morning to finish the job. Here is how it looks.

I even added a shelf above the bikes to put things like helmets and shoes. One mountain bike is stored on hooks behnd the tandem. I installed a hoist system for the tandem so it is easy to lift up. The other 4 bikes are mounted into fork mounts. So you see I can make it all fit in only a small corner of the garage, and still have room for my repair stand and pumps.

Categories: Cycling Equipment
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Because we were headed up to San Jose for other reasons we decided to leave early and visit the Bicycle Outfitters to see if they had the same tandems for sale. Previously we did a test ride on a Trek 2000 and a Comotion. The Comotion had a longer top tube and seemed harder for me to control and also it was double the price of the Trek. The Trek model was still there and they were getting in their shipment of new models in a couple weeks so they gave me a good deal.

We first tested to see if we could fit the Trek Tandem in our Odyssey mini-van. It fit just right. Oh, what the heck I thought and we went ahead and bought it.  Some people probably think I only buy Trek bikes but that is not entirely true.  Yes my last two road bikes are Trek models, which I do like, but I also bought a Giant Mountain Bike and an Giant road bike for Ann.

It is not what you would call a real high end tandem, but it is also not low end. Most of the components are the Ultregra class, 9 speed. It has a carbon fork and some nice aero wheels. Some people may not want this tandem because it might not have the beafy wheels they need or the steel frame, but Ann and I together don’t weigh that much so I felt it would meet our needs just fine. While the Comotion came with couplers so you can take it apart for travel, we decided if we go to Europe we would rather take single bikes anyway and for the price difference we could buy one Commotion single bike with couplers.

Here are the features:

Frame
ZR 9000 Alloy
Fork
Bontrager Satellite Plus Carbon Tandem
Wheels
Bontrager Race Lite Tandem
Crank
Ultegra 52/39/30
Rear Derailleur
Shimano Deore XT
Sizes
54/44

I had them change the stem to a 70 mm one since the top tube was a bit long for me. I also bought a drag brake but it was not in stock so it is on order. The drag brake allows you to add drag going down a long hill to save breaking so much.

I worked on it during the evening getting it ready so we can try it tommorow.

Categories: Cycling Equipment
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I picked up my new bike tonight. They did a fitting and decided they needed to go with a shorter stem, so they put on a lower quality 70 mm stem they had in stock while they order one, replacing the 90 mm that came with the bike. They are going this time with a 70 mm stem vs. the 80 mm I have on my existing bike, maybe my arms are getting shorter as I age. The crank length is 170mm which is probably more appropriate for my height than the 175mm I have been using. I think when I bought my last bike they did a switch on the crank arm to accomodate another customer and I was too new to cycling to know any difference.

I couldn’t get home to weight by bike and found it is on the lighter side, coming in a tad over 15 lbs, but less than 15.5 lbs, without the pedals. Of course after that I started to add water bottle cages, my speed sensor and mount and my bag with spare tubes, tire tool and pump. I am therefore not going to weigh it further
I was able to get it all ready and plan to ride it tomorrow, even though we are climbing up Quimby and I would normally take my older bike, which has a triple crankshaft, up that steep of a hill. I guess I will have to grind it out and hope that my body is also on the lighter side. I shouldn’t have had Mexican food for dinner.

Categories: Cycling Equipment
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I stopped by Trek Bicycles (formerly ST Bikes) in San Jose today and got fitted for a new bike. I decided to get the Trek Madone 5.9. I went with my old Trek 5200 and got fitted using that one and found out it was almost dead on, only a slight change in the seat moving forward a few mm was needed. The new bike should be here in a week.

I ended up getting a double crankset, which might be a bit much for a guy my age. My exisiting Trek has a triple, so I have a lower gear, but I rarely use that low gear now days.

Trek Madone 5.9

Categories: Cycling Equipment
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Since last fall, I have been thinking it is about time to get a new bike. I did a test ride on a Look 585 Ultra and was quite impressed. I really want to get a lighter weight bike than my current Trek 5200 and I am concerned that I have 25,000 miles on those wheels. I have been considering three different options, the Look 585, a Giant TCR Advanced and the Trek Madone 5.9. They all run around the same price. I have been very happy with the geometry of my Trek 5200 and was thinking that a new Trek might fit me well. I noticed on the Trek website that they are a promotion of up to $700 off on select bikes, including the Madone 5.9. I am going into their shop on Tuesday to decide.

Here is a photo and specs of the bike I am considering.

And the specs.

Categories: Cycling Equipment
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