In a word – “OUCH“!

In two words – “!@#$ing OUCH“!

But hopefully it keeps my legs healthy this season.

But it’s not going to work. Using the geometry measurements on Cervelo’s website, the bike should fit but it just doesn’t. I should have guessed based on the feedback that Bolder gave me about his and from what I’ve read about the bike. But the OCD in me wanted to believe in the official numbers posted that things would work.

For those that are interested, I took some pictures so you can see where the fit is causing me problems. I lined the bikes up side by side such that the bottom brackets were aligned:

The following is a picture of the seat posts in the forward 78 degree position. You can see that the clamp area of the seat post on the P3 is further forward than that of the P3C:

And another picture at the steerer tube. You can see that the tube of the P3C is physically more forward on the P3C than it is on the P3:

So effectively, the bike is just slightly longer in both directions. I’m already slid all the way forward on the rails of my current saddle on the P3 so there’s no room for adjustment there. And I’m already on a 90mm stem and would need shorter than a 70mm stem to make things work which just isn’t right.

The LBS doesn’t have a 51 in stock, nor will they be getting one anytime soon so I may just end up on the Tiphoon after all, which I’m totally fine with. It is cheaper at close out prices for what’s a more expensive retail priced frame. And I was pretty torn between the two anyway – the P3C does have sex appeal, but the Tiphoon gives you all those wonderful benefts of titanium. More importantly, the fact that the Tiphoon fits makes the decision a no brainer.

So… it’s back to the bike shop for me again today. I think I’ve been there almost everday in the past week! That has to be some kind of record, even for me. :)

EDIT: Ugh. A 51 P3C is coming on the 28th. Just when I thought that the decision had been made for me, now I have to pick all over again. Bleh.

I did full clean and degrease my drivetrain and applied the product as directed. The product itself went on very easily. The solvent that the wax is mixed with dries fairly quickly so each drop onto the rollers of my chain was followed by a quick evaporation of the solvent leaving a dull white finish that must have been the wax. After each application, you let the solvent dry for a couple hours leaving just the wax in place. I applied two coats Sunday evening and was set for my ride the following day.

I rode for 30 miles the next day. No real complaints other than maybe my chain being a little louder towards the end of my ride than at the beginning. If it was louder, it wasn’t by much. It may have possibly just been in my head. There was no squeaking in my chain and my bike shifted through its gears flawlessly, so things worked alright. I got home and inspected my chain. I saw little clumps of black wax sitting on various parts of the chain link plates. The chain itself wasn’t filmy or oily to the touch. It had a wax-like feel to it and my finger was pretty clean off the chain except if I hit a clumped up wax piece. I wiped the chain with a shop towel to get off most of the clumps and reapplied.

Another 30 mile ride on Tuesday revealed pretty much the same results. Again, my chain seemed to be a bit louder coming home than it was on the way out. The same waxy clumps were on my chain when I returned. I also noticed that I was starting to develop a little waxy haze on the pulleys of my rear derailleur. I only really noticed because those small gears are black which shows the white wax more easily than my cogs or cranks. I’m guessing there was the same build up across the board, but I just couldn’t see it on the other pieces. I hate to even say build up as it wasn’t really caked on there or anything. It was pretty easy to remove by just wiping it with a shop towel, but then again it was only have 60 miles and two uses of the lube. I don’t know if it would have been as easy to clean after say 600 miles of use?

I didn’t ride Wednesday, but the more I thought about it that day the more I thought about switching back to using Prolink. Eventually, I cleaned everything again Wednesday night and switched back. My reasons? In the back of my mind it was starting to bug me that wax really probably wasn’t the best lubricant out there. I mean, sure it could keep metal parts from rubbing together but what happens when the lube, working as advertised, sheds all of its wax complete off? Reapplying on the spot would be a pain and really isn’t an option anyway since you have to let it dry for two hours before riding. I was a little hesitant to push the envelope of how far could I ride before my chain started to squeak. It seemed like it was getting louder after just 30 miles. Would the wax be gone after 60 miles? 100 miles? Whatever the distance, I didn’t want to have to worry about going out for a century ride and having my lube be entirely gone before I got back leaving me to finish the remainder of my ride with a dry chain.

The clumps of wax also bugged me a little bit. Again, the product did seem to work as advertised and the wax would clump up taking the dirt with it, but I didn’t think that the clumps would stick to the chain as much as they did. I thought that the wax would shed more during normal riding. It also seemed to be creating some build up between the outer and inner plates which worried me because I couldn’t get that off with a quick wipe of a shop towel. That took a bit more work and that was just 60 miles of riding.

So… I’m back to using my trust Prolink chain lube. The stuff is oily to the touch and leaves black marks when you touch the chain, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that it’s still there after 100 miles; my chain stays whisper quiet at the end of a century as the beginning of the ride. I’m pretty sure it’d be there after 200 miles, but I’m not that cruel to my bike. :) It’s good stuff. It always gets very high reviews. I does its job and does it well. I can’t really slam White Lightning. The stuff does work and the added bonus of your drivetrain always looking clean is appealing. I guess I’m just in favor of staying power with a little dirt and no buildup over questionable longevity and clean.

I’m sure I’ll get bored with Prolink sometime down the road and start itching to try something different. I’m pretty dumb like that and always end up switching products despite finding stuff that I know works for me.

The first thing that intrigued me with this saddle was that it had a cut-out. Actually, I take that back. The first thing that I noticed about the saddle was the price. A quick online search and I could get the saddle for about $70!! Compared to $130 of many of the other competitors on the market, this seemed like a dream. And the saddle comes with a warranty for a few years. It doesn’t say if the rails are covered or not, but I know for certain that San Marco doesn’t cover their rails in their warranty (if they even have a warranty). For $130, you’d think that you’d be buying at least some protection? But anyway, back to the cut-out… my Azoto (really, the only other saddle that I’ve ridden for any significant amount of time) caused me some numbness and tingling when riding, especially while riding on the trainer. I wanted to try a saddle with a cut-out to see if that helped to alleviate the problem.

The saddle itself is quite long. I’d say almost an inch longer from end to end than the Azoto. It is also longer vertically from the rails to the top of the saddle so I was well served in taking numerous measurements before I swapped my saddle out. There also seems to be slightly more rail play when adjusting the saddle forward (I’m not sure about if you ride with the saddle in a slack position [forward on the rails] because I don’t ride that way). There was plenty of room to get me nice and steep on my P3.

Another difference between this saddle and my Azoto is that it’s flat across the top. I really like this feature of the saddle. With the Azoto, if I would try and scoot back to have more of my weight distributed across the back of the saddle, the saddle would end up being too high for my natural pedal stroke and it would end up pushing me forward anyway due to the tilt. The Tri-Stryke has no such angle and allows me to scoot back and be more supported on my sit bones. It still obviously causes my pedal stroke to be lengthened by moving back, but not double so like the Azoto (moving back and up at the same time).

The tip of the saddle is very thick. Most people think that the Azoto saddle is wide enough at the nose, but it has nothing on this saddle. The Tri-Stryke is far wider at the nose than any other tri or road saddle that I’ve seen. This doesn’t really bother me though. My thighs do touch the nose a little when I pedal, but between my shorts and the slick neoprene cover of the Tri-Stryke, this doesn’t really cause any problems.

But for the meat of things, how does it ride? Well, saddles are very much a personal thing. But I can say that this saddle seems to work out for me pretty darn well. The cut-out hasn’t really eliminated the tingling in my nether region, but it does seem a little better. I really think the numbness has more to do with my bike shorts itself, but I digress. For whatever reason be it the cut-out, the extra padding on the nose, the flatter top of the saddle, the Tri-Stryke saddle does one thing for me. It allows me to sit in my aero position more comfortably and for a longer period of time. And for the ten hours or so a week that I currently sit on my saddle, $70 is a small price to pay for a little extra comfort.