Vendetta Ready for the Heat

[Jim Parker]

On Labor Day Maria and I rode in the annual Tour de Moore, which is about 103 miles with 4400 ft of climbing in hot and humid weather. Here is the bike equipped with four water bottles minutes before the start.
I was able to easily reach all of the bottles while moving fast and I was glad I had them. An emergency flat kit is in the blue-taped pack behind my neck. The bottle on top of the boom was OK for me, but some shorter folks might not be able to see over it.

We were rolling fast with the lead paceline for the first couple of miles, when Maria pulled over with a minor mechanical. I debated whether to keep rolling, or stop. Chivalry won. I made a valiant attempt to catch the paceline, but never actually saw them again, and rode alone for about 60 miles, other than picking off stragglers. That's when Maria caught me and we rode the rest of the way together, finishing in about 5:16. That's a Renn disc on the back and helped get me going over 40 mph on many of the downhills. ULT Di2 shifting. Stages power meter on the left crank arm. Note Tektro TT brake in high position on rear.

Jim

alt="Vendetta with disc"

 

[Cruzbike Chris]

Very nice setup

Thanks for the pic Jim. That V looks awesome. I like that disc rear. Gonna have to get me a better bottle setup too on my Silvio for this Texas heat. Heading out for my first 100k tomorrow but planning a control stop around 30ish or so for a refill. Will try to remember to. Take a pic as well.

 

[Lief]

Now that's some water!
That

Now that's some water!

That looks like the same wheel Maria had in Portland?
Why does it have the green florescent stickers at 12-3-6-9 o'clock?

I'm going to be going the poor man's route here pretty soon and covering my rear wheel with some airplane skin.

 

[Andrew 1973]

Wheel Stickers...

Lief,

If you look at the photo again, you'll see that the stickers are actually closer to 1, 4, 7, and 10 o'clock. ;-)

Those are reflective strips, I do believe.

 

[Lief]

Andrew,
You are right!
That

Andrew,
You are right!

That just means that, whatever time they show, is speed time.

They remind me of the tape pieces The Mythbusters put on things when they are taking high-speed camera footage and measuring velocities.

 

[BBL]

Renn Wheel Question

Jim .....
Were any modifications necessary to the hub on the Renn wheel to allow it to fit? I believe the rear wheel spacing on the V is 100mm.

 

[KiwiGuy]

Water bottle location

Hi Jim

Thanks for sharing. Decent time for a century ride with that much time solo and that amount of climbing. Nice one.

Couple of questions:

#1. Why did you position your forward water-bottles where you did rather than under the seat (using a Hostel Shoppe or ADEM seat bottle cage mount)? Have you tested them to be more aerodynamic there, or is it simply more convenient for you?

#2. You've chosen the Tektro TT brake over the Ultegra caliper brake. Given the latter seem to be rated as amongst the best around, I'm keen to understand your thinking on the Tektro brake (plus which model you've gone with, and whether you got what you expected to get from it).

Kind regards.... Blair

 

[hamishbarker]

how much power difference for the disc wheel?

Hi Jim,

Since you are using a power meter, have you investigated how much less drag (or at least the power difference at some "test speed" )the rear disc wheel is giving compared to a spoked wheel (and how many spokes?) at some defined speed.

Cheers,
Hamish