AllBlack Rival Silvio

[Lief]

Here it is, my new AllBlack Rival Silvio.
Once it became clear that my groupset was black I decided to focus on making everything black.
I intentionally chose every component thereafter in black.

Specs:

• SRAM Rival Groupset (thanks Cruzbike).
• Mavic Open Pro rims with double-butted black spokes on DT Swiss 370 sealed bearing hubs.
• Serfas Seca 700x23 130psi tires (Schwalbe Duron's weren't readily available - and I was getting ancy)
• I will eventually be running my speedplay pedals but for now I am on some PowerGrip platforms I had laying around.
• Weighed in at 27lbs / 12.2kg dead on the nose.

I freaked out my wife because at 22:00 I started circling in front of the house and the next thing she knew I was gone. After a few loops in our cul-de-sac, practicing starting on a slight grade, I was off.
An hour later, with slightly tired arms I rolled up - a little late in her opinion to be "practicing".

The only hill I couldn't climb was a steep access path I take every day. It has a lot of root swells, I was trying to do it "slow" so I didn't weave off the path and every time I would go over the first big one of those swells I would spin the front tire. Sure is easy to "jump off" though. MUCH easier than my Thunderbolt by about 2 orders of magnitude. I may get better at it once I don't have to go "slow" on the approach and can safely apply a more power in a higher gear; as opposed to spinning in granny low.

In the dark I snapped some pics but I was eager to get riding so I didn't labor long. I hope it is suitable as bike pr0n for you Mark B?

I still haven't put the grips on, I need to experiment with the brake positions first.
BTW, not liking the way the shifters sit, they get in the way of my knuckles when I reach to brake/shift.[/]

 

[John Tolhurst]

oooh, looks so nice.
let us know how y ou settle on the brifters. Can you get the bars level and the top of the brifters level with them as well?

You could shorten the brake cable housing under the seat by about an inchh to not obscure the decal. !!!!!!!! :roll: :mrgreen:

 

[Lief]

Quote: let us know how y ou settle on the brifters.

I will absolutely, I haven't had much luck getting them where I want them...more tinkering.
It will be raining this weekend so it's a good time for some tinkering.

Quote: You could shorten the brake cable housing under the seat by about an inchh to not obscure the decal. !!!!!!!!

Haha! I hadn't noticed that until I was working on this picture. That is my LBS's doing...and I fully expect to maximize exposure by reducing that cable housing.

 

[Mark B]

That's getting clost to meeting my requirements! Nice bike!

Mark

 

[Lief]

Mark B wrote: That's getting clost to meeting my requirements! Nice bike!
Mark

Another decent shot of the AllBlack.

 

[WhiteSilvio]

blief.z wrote:

Mark B wrote: That's getting closest to meeting my requirements! Nice bike!Mark

Another decent shot of the AllBlack. Snip pic

Good looking bike there, Blief.z!!
Looking at the pick I see that you have your handlebars in the "highest" position due to having the two SPACERS under the steering-head clamp bracket. You can rearrange these to suit your personal tastes/needs, but whatever order you put them in, they ALL need to be there!!
Putting both the spacers on top of the clamp bracket lowers the handlebar mounting point (obviously, note to self!). I'm sure you'll play around with these settings but, as I discovered, it's not always obvious what adjustments can be made where.
It pays to sit and ponder about what does what. (Your avatar suggests to me that you might just be the "pondering type". ??) If you're not sure, post a query on the forum. Someone will have tried it!!
In the end it will all get adjusted as you grow into the bike, or as Mark would say "you will be assimilated!"....... I'm not sure if that is painful or not but I have to say, it will happen.
In fact the test ride late in the evening suggests the process has already started. Just hang on for the ride, you'll enjoy it immensely.

Regards,
John R.

 

[Doug Burton]

Very very very nice. A beautiful machine.

You will love it.

Well done.

Best,

Doug

 

[Mark B]

How much does your handlebar clear your knees? If you can drop that bad boy a little, I think you will be much happier. Also, why do you have so much cable flopping around in mid air (to the left of the headtube in the pic.

Mark

 

[Lief]

Quote: John R. said:
Looking at the pick I see that you have your handlebars in the "highest" position due to having the two SPACERS under the steering-head clamp bracket. You can rearrange these to suit your personal tastes/needs, but whatever order you put them in, they ALL need to be there!!

Thanks John R. I recall reading that but it had escaped me again. I will DEFINITELY consider that as I continue to dial things in.

I am the pondering type by the way.
I also scour these forums for ideas and I think EVERY one of my decisions so far have been based on this community...you all are a HUGE resource.

Quote: you will be assimilated...snip...the process has already started

That really started before I got the bike.
I lurked here for a year talking the Silvio bike up to friends and family etc...then the pump was primed when my regular commuter (Lightning Thunderbolt) frame cracked and their "customer service" turned out sub par. I was, already then, plotting about my upgrade path. I had it welded and it held pretty well for another 4000 mi. Then it got worse in a different spot and THAT very week I read that Maria went 211 miles in 12 hours and I came unglued, the hook was set, I was assimilated.

I started the "real" ordering process right then.
Usually "racing" stuff doesn't really impress me like that but the combination of it being a distance thing, similar in length to the STP (a distance I can relate to), how freaking comfortable she looked, I ride my bike everyday, she hadn't ridden more than 150 miles in one day, blah blah blah. It was a VERY powerful combination.
I could change my avatar to a picture of the borg if you like.

I rode to the train, into work today, day 3 and probably starting from about mile 6 on the bike.
While I avoided the dodgy spots (out of suspicion of my abilities) I didn't have any trouble. I changed the position of the handlebars again on the platform waiting for the train. I think I may just ride all 17 miles home today. Lovin' it.

Quote: Doug said:
Very very very nice. A beautiful machine.

It's all you guys, I just put the pieces together.
BTW, John, a guy at the office this morning gave you a huge compliment when he said "That looks like something Leonardo DaVinci would have designed."
Nice job to all of you. Me, and others, are just reaping the benefits.

Quote: Mark said:
How much does your handlebar clear your knees? If you can drop that bad boy a little, I think you will be much happier.

Man you guys can tell a lot from a picture.
On John T.'s advice I changed a lot last night.
The handlebars are now "flat" on top, clear my knees by about 1.5 inches or so, the brifters are moved further back along the curve and the whole thing was lowered (from this pic) about 4 inches. My arms are straighter, I can reach the brifters WAY easier (no interference) and yeah, WAY better overall.

Quote: Also, why do you have so much cable flopping around in mid air (to the left of the headtube in the pic.

I made/am making a lot of adjustments and that is why there is so much cable flying around still...I am still tweaking and when I get it right I will shorten it all up and lock it all down.

By the way, I am using ESIGrips on the far side of the brifters (the drops). They look to be really sweet.
I will report back on them some more when I can formulate something more than "they are really sweet". Right now I am focused on riding in a straight line.

I will take more pics this weekend (since it will be raining every dang day anyway) so you all can scope the latest setup and the grips.

 

[Mark B]

1.5" is even way more than you need. All you need is nothing, really. The tops of my thighs will tick the bar every now and again; not enough to bother.

It's a nice looking setup; anxious to see the final revision and hear how you get along with her. I sure do love mine, even after all these miles, she just gets better with age.

Mark

 

[Lief]

I am having my LBS trim the cable housings and tighten up my cables this weekend.
Since Sep 3rd (when I took these pictures) I have 252.5 miles on my Silvio.

Some notes:

• I flattened the Gary Bars completely and had a lot of wrist pain...I twisted them back a hair and no more pain.
• I really like the ESI Grips - they are rugged yet soft and really allow me to really dig into the grips when I am sprinting.
• I find myself going like hell every time I ride and I am getting freakin tired. I decide, pre-ride, "I am going to take it easy today" and then within 5 minutes I am bombing along at 25mph or more and it's on...I go hard the whole way.
• I don't think I have done a ride yet without wheel slippage. I have 3 hills on my commute home on which this occurs.

• 
  [1]Access path near my house - lots of root bumps, if I get enough speed to coast and rattle over them I can catch the other side with enough momentum to successfully downshift to 39x28 and make it up without slipping...but I have to be paying attention.
  
  [2]Juneau Street (GoogleMap Street View) http://bit.ly/OLAc3. If I pay attention closely, and push and pull evenly, I can get up this hill with only slipping maybe 5-6 times. Never enough to make me get off my bike, and it doesn't feel like a bunch of wasted effort. I am probably going about 5mph or less again in 39x28.
  
  [3]Irving (GoogleMap Street View) http://bit.ly/wm1DK. Have given this a go about 5 or 6 times now and not once have I even made it 1/2 way up the 20 yards or so. My front wheel slips on every stroke; left or right, and I slow down to about 2mph and unclip.

I haven't even tried Juneau or Irving in the wet yet (mostly because it hasn't rained yet).

Tires are Serfas Seca 700 x 23c.
Drivetrain granny gear is 39x28
gain ratio is 2.7 in that gear

Still having an absolute blast with this bike.
Thank you Cruzbike for a killer product.

Now for some bike porn.

That is all for now - when I get all the cables wrapped up I will see about taking a lot of shots of my fully kitted, AllBlack, commute / racer. [/][/]

 

[John Tolhurst]

As you get more comfortable with the bike, lean forward, lower gearing, smooth the torque to eliminate most wheelspin. Thanks for the log, interesting pics and looking forward to more!

 

[Mark B]

Another thing that helped me was going to 25c tires. I also experimented with running lower pressure in the front tire and higher in the back to compensate. As John says, as you perfect the technique, the wheelspin will get better. I only spin on real steep slopes; in excess of 15% grades and dirty. I found one hill that has bumps in excess of 20% I haven't gotten up, yet.

Mark

 

[Lief]

johntolhurst wrote: As you get more comfortable with the bike, lean forward, lower gearing, smooth the torque to eliminate most wheelspin. Thanks for the log, interesting pics and looking forward to more!

John, thanks for the advice. I am sure I will get MORE comfortable over time but I am already pretty darn at ease on it; clipped in, riding in heavy traffic, coasting up to 38mph [61kph] each morning (still don't pedal over about 32mph [51kph] ).

That said, I wasn't leaning far enough forward, I had "tried" it and it didn't change much so I was focussing on smoothing the torque.
Yesterday was different, I went up the Irving street incline which I now know is 100 feet long and based on http://www.heywhatsthat.com/profiler.html shows as a 9.6% grade.
I leaned forward (pulled myself forward is more like it) until my chest was dang near touching my handlebar and zip zam! Up I went. I think I had one little slip that didn't amount to much.

In the wet I may need to apply some pitch to my tires first.

Good on ya John!
I even had my BikeBin on the back with about 5lbs of commuter gear in tow.

 

[Lief]

Been a little dry on updates of late. My bike is too dirty from use to want to take pictures...that and it is always dark when I am on it commuting. Here are a couple I have recently snapped on my iPhone. Northern hemisphere is turning towards summer. Can't wait.

This morning the sunrise was too cool to pass up.

The one in the park was taken a couple months back, when I still had my Gary Bars on. Recently I switched over to straight drops (cut off the ends) to see if it helped with my wrist kinkage. Too soon to tell.

 

[Nanda H.]

Thanks for the preview...the AllBlack looks great!!! I just re-order our next Silvio demo bike, with a Rival kit. Opted for a 165mm 50/34T compact crank and a 11-28T cassette. Anxious to build up a bike with the DoubleTap shifters as all the Shimano builds I've done leave the shift cable out in the wind right in the knee box area. This did allow fitting taller riders with easy as there was enough service loop with the shifter cables, so I'll have to find a way to leave a little extra cable somewhere else.

 

[John Tolhurst]

Nanda H. wrote: Thanks for the preview...the AllBlack looks great!!! I just re-order our next Silvio demo bike, with a Rival kit. Opted for a 165mm 50/34T compact crank and a 11-28T cassette. Anxious to build up a bike with the DoubleTap shifters as all the Shimano builds I've done leave the shift cable out in the wind right in the knee box area. This did allow fitting taller riders with easy as there was enough service loop with the shifter cables, so I'll have to find a way to leave a little extra cable somewhere else.

Yeah that's the trick isn't it, leaving enough cable loop for multiple adjustments.

The 2010 ultegra has dual cables down the bar, don't know if that model is coming out the supplier's pipeline yet.

 

[Lief]

More AllBlack bike pr0n!

Just hafta upload my favorite new pic.
Everytime, before I race in Portland, I clean the bike up a bit and everytime (cause it takes so long) I think I better get a picture cause it won't look this nice again.

JPG is 1440 x 900.
Uhhh, disk quota issue still exists - so here is an external link for now.
If it get's fixed I will move it here.

http://goo.gl/7O3Q8

And...this may be the last time I have dropbars on my bike, I found a great deal on some SRAM bar-end shifters, and ordered a bullhorn bar (forget the make/model right now) and some cross brakes.

Should be retrofitted this week sometime.
More pics to come then.

 

[kling]

Hi Lief,

Wow your Silvio looks great. Stunning really.

Must clean mine and take a photo (recently fitted with SRAM Red as an upgrade from Ultegra)

cheers
Kendrick

 

[Lief]

My best Silvio pic

Time for a little Silvio pr0n in HD.
I took this sometime this past summer (Northern Hemisphere) and it is still on my desktop today.
Best shot I've made of this bike methinks.