Finally I've stumbled on something truly amazing. Even my wife, who frequently rolls her eyes at my equipment priorities, agrees that the VCRC ceramic bottom bracket is just freakin' cool! Bear in mind, I've ridden on this apparently friction free BB for fewer than 100 miles but - well DAY-UM! After the missus installed it I spun the crank (with the chain off). That was two days ago and I think if I hadn't stopped the crank myself it might still be going around. She's getting one.
Skeptics will tell you that the amount of drag produced by a crank just isn't enough to matter, but I disagree. Most people who care about such things put the absolute mechanical efficiency of a racing bicycle at around 95%. For what it's worth, here's my opinion based on degrees in engineering and physics, and a lifetime of bicycling. I'd rank the friction penalty of components in the following order: bottom bracket, deraileur pulleys and wheels last. This is not a statement about the importance of the component perse, but rather that manufacturers have actually paid some attention to wheel friction, and not the other factors. Even moderately priced wheels spin pretty freely, but some really pricey cranks don't.
Back in the late 70s an engineering grad student told me that derailleur pulleys were most important (bear in mind, this was in the day of cup-and-ball BBs so they were much slicker than today's sealed models) and the difference could be about five watts or more. Thing is there are fairly cheap ball-bearing jockey pulleys for $10-15 which eliminate most of the friction compared to the ones with bushings. That's the way I've gone, mostly because my wife would surely believe me insane for blowing $80 on derailleur pulleys. I crunched some numbers and concluded that in a 15 second sprint over 800W that every five watts translates to 0.5 meters at the finish line. That's why basically every pro has ceramic bearings in their cranksets and I suspect in other components as well.
Monday, April 27, 2009
MicroShift Redux
Since MicroShift has generated more interest than other things I've blogged about, I'll try to keep current. The shifters still work. There are two real issues: the shifting of the front derailleur and availability of the product itself. These are clearly four position front brifters. So you can trim on both the large and small chainrings. That's good, and it worked at first. Then, to facilitate racing, I asked my my mechanic (AKA my wife) to change it such that trim on the big ring was effectively defeated. During a race it's kind of hard to tell if you're chain is rubbing, you don't want it to, and you REALLY don't want to look down to see if it is. That's all well and good, but now the front derailleurs requires fiddling so it won't rub on the fourth cog from the inside (a combination I'd like to have for racing). Now the bad thing: no matter what is done at this point, there is no way to trim down from the fourth position to the third. It's as if the spacing between the two stops has gotten larger. On the other hand, this is immaterial for me since I can reach the third cog on the cassette from the outside position on the fron derailleur.
Gripe number two, availability. In the USA it appears to be Nashbar only and the cool new components shown on the MicroShift website (Arsis system and MTB stuff) aren't there. In fact, I can't find the Arsis series anywhere. Some UK sites have something they call the MicroShift 2x10 which looks like the Nashbar offering. The MTB stuff appears to be available in Australia, NZ, Malaysia, the UK and South Africa. Usually a product website will point you to either distributers or retailers, no such luck. So bottom line, Nashbar has two versions of the basic 10s. The more expensive one is clearly the SB-R102Band the cheaper one can't be found on the microshift website, but appears to be the same thing only with the large paddle made of plastic rather than forged aluminum. Pricing appears to be random, I've seen the expensive ones marked down to $150 from $200 and the cheaper ones at half price ($100) on occasion. Imagine that, 10s brifters for $100.
I'd have to say these things are a buy at $100. Compare that to over $300 and up for Ultegra SL and so on. Give me a break, who the hell in his right mind lays out $800+ to shift gears? My wife thinks I'm kind of a kook because I'll lay out $100 for a bottom bracket, but try to save money on brifters or derailleurs. I'd argue that this makes sense since the BB is directly in the power transmission sequence and, as long as the shifting works reliably, it's less critical.
As far as the slightly more expensive model is concerned, I may give it a try. A small improvement may be realized from the use of aluminum rather than plastic on the structure which bears the largest load.
Gripe number two, availability. In the USA it appears to be Nashbar only and the cool new components shown on the MicroShift website (Arsis system and MTB stuff) aren't there. In fact, I can't find the Arsis series anywhere. Some UK sites have something they call the MicroShift 2x10 which looks like the Nashbar offering. The MTB stuff appears to be available in Australia, NZ, Malaysia, the UK and South Africa. Usually a product website will point you to either distributers or retailers, no such luck. So bottom line, Nashbar has two versions of the basic 10s. The more expensive one is clearly the SB-R102Band the cheaper one can't be found on the microshift website, but appears to be the same thing only with the large paddle made of plastic rather than forged aluminum. Pricing appears to be random, I've seen the expensive ones marked down to $150 from $200 and the cheaper ones at half price ($100) on occasion. Imagine that, 10s brifters for $100.
I'd have to say these things are a buy at $100. Compare that to over $300 and up for Ultegra SL and so on. Give me a break, who the hell in his right mind lays out $800+ to shift gears? My wife thinks I'm kind of a kook because I'll lay out $100 for a bottom bracket, but try to save money on brifters or derailleurs. I'd argue that this makes sense since the BB is directly in the power transmission sequence and, as long as the shifting works reliably, it's less critical.
As far as the slightly more expensive model is concerned, I may give it a try. A small improvement may be realized from the use of aluminum rather than plastic on the structure which bears the largest load.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Dominguez Hills Crit Course
This is the other CBR course where they generally run four or five crits per season. This differs from the Hughes Park course in that it has what some crit monkeys call "terrain". That's about thirty feet of altitude gain per 0.9 mile lap. Although it doesn't sound like much, this is going to add up to 600' of climbing in a 45 minute crit which will wither the chunkier riders pretty well (unlike Hughes Park which may actually have zero altitude gain.) The course is run both clockwise and counter-clockwise (CBR generally alternates). The start/finish is on Broadwick (see link)
Clockwise: Turn one is never very problematic, but you may find yourself braking on the inside line. The run between one and two is generally gnarly on the last lap or primes. Trying to move up on the inside is chancy because people nowadays seem to think that all corners should be ridden from outside curb through the apex and exiting wide. Turn two is sharper than 90 degrees, off camber and comes after a downhill. In Men's 4/5 and Women's 4 this is where riders pile up. Crashes tend to happen on the entrance while riders brake too much going in. The outside line is technically more difficult as it is off-camber in the apex, but I use it precisely because others avoid it. Turn three is structurally messy and the following straight necks down since that's where the coned-off car traffic is allowed on one lane. There are gutters and a few small fissures in the asphalt/concrete interface which can screw you up. It's slightly downhill going in. A little bumpy. Turn four has lots of space on the exit and the sprint is uphill. The dicey moments tend to happen on the short straights late in a race.
Advice: I like the inside line more when near the front and going fast. Back in the pack you'll find people slowing inordinately when they're on the inside. There are two distinct "humps", between turns 3&4 and to the finish. In spite of how things look, it's the little uphill from 3 to 4 that really seems to make or break the finish. I have actually seen the pack come apart at this point on the last lap. Be there or be square!
Advice: I like the inside line more when near the front and going fast. Back in the pack you'll find people slowing inordinately when they're on the inside. There are two distinct "humps", between turns 3&4 and to the finish. In spite of how things look, it's the little uphill from 3 to 4 that really seems to make or break the finish. I have actually seen the pack come apart at this point on the last lap. Be there or be square!
Counterclockwise: You go downhill into turn one which is narrowed (see above) on the exit but generally smooth. Turn two is bumpy, but less trouble this way because of the wide exit and (very) slight rise on the straight into it. Turn three and the straight that follows tend to cause the most trouble. The reasons must be purely tactical because anybody who races much should fly through without significant risk. It amounts to this, on a prime or finish lap I'd say you're about 40 seconds from the line when you enter his turn. The straight after the turn kicks uphill pretty quick. I've nicked a number of primes by getting a teammate to put me in front and accelerating at this point. Anyone who's going to try to take the prime from you at this point had better be on your wheel because a committed racer can quickly open a gap on the uphill. At the finish lap this tactic is suicide, because everyone's going to be going about 33MPH coming out of this and opening any gap is near impossible.
Advice: Crunch time comes on the backstraight - period. There will absolutely be an all-out sprint from turn 3 to 4 up the hill in every race, so you need to be placed high and going fast into turn 3 in my opinion.
Digression on the curb-apex-curb cornering technique: This would work great if (and only if) you are the only rider on the course. I've raced about 50 crits in the last year or so. In round numbers, that's about 1000 miles of elbow-to-elbow wheel-to-wheel hammering and I have not crashed in that period. I make that out to be about 5000 successful corners at speed. Any idiot who tries to take the whole road to complete a corner would become fatally unpopular pretty quick. Unfortunately there are bloogers and youtube bike racing professors who teach this. In most races you'll find yourself at least three across in any corner. Follow the guy in front of you, don't change your line or brake suddenly. Relax.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Racing at Hughes Park Long Beach
Lots of racing goes on at this course, some of it sanctioned. SoCalCycling lists this as a training ride Tuesday and Thursday evenings year round. Anyone who rides those regularly will have evolved into an official CritMonster and should be feared. I race there about four times a year at sanctioned events and the scary stuff I see just boggles the mind. I've been touched, bumped, leaned on and just downright pushed but have stayed vertical through about a dozen events. I've watched at least ten crashes, some of them quite impressive. My best finished was eighth in a 40+ 4/5 event. My biggest prize was a prime I got by TTing away after a crumbled breakaway and holding out for a pound of coffee (expensive coffee I'll have you know).
So here's a course map. The start/finish is on Via Oro heading north about halfway between the corners. The announcer's trailer is normally on the right. The one used by CBR is just huge and that affects how the pack maneuvers down the stretch. More on that later. Turn one is normally uneventful, but the streets are crowned so don't get too wide. Almost all crashes on this turn are caused by pedals touching down as racers try to maintain speed. They tend to pile up on the outside.
Last time out there was a big crash in the 30+ 3/4s early in the race on the exit of turn two toward the inside. This suggests that it resulted from people squeezing to the inside in the corner. Turn three isn't a turn at all, the road bends and things go on at full speed. Don't get wide though as the course narrows slightly on exit. Turn four is sharper than ninety degrees and has Bot's dots in abundance. Frequently one or two riders will hit them an go down here, but pileups are rare. In the last 50+ race the average speed was 25.5MPH until two to go. Kind of lazy. The next two laps went off at a hair over 27MPH. Last lap was 31MPH. Moving up with less than three to go is awfully tough.
Here's a general comment: everyone's going to want the inside line everywhere on the course. This minimizes potential for pedal touching as the crowning of the roads makes the inside line look "banked". On a small, but mostly wide course running along the gutter also shortens things. Finally, if you're outside on the last corner on the last lap you'll lose three places in an eyeblink. If you're on the inside you might get chopped. Good luck.
So here's a course map. The start/finish is on Via Oro heading north about halfway between the corners. The announcer's trailer is normally on the right. The one used by CBR is just huge and that affects how the pack maneuvers down the stretch. More on that later. Turn one is normally uneventful, but the streets are crowned so don't get too wide. Almost all crashes on this turn are caused by pedals touching down as racers try to maintain speed. They tend to pile up on the outside.
Last time out there was a big crash in the 30+ 3/4s early in the race on the exit of turn two toward the inside. This suggests that it resulted from people squeezing to the inside in the corner. Turn three isn't a turn at all, the road bends and things go on at full speed. Don't get wide though as the course narrows slightly on exit. Turn four is sharper than ninety degrees and has Bot's dots in abundance. Frequently one or two riders will hit them an go down here, but pileups are rare. In the last 50+ race the average speed was 25.5MPH until two to go. Kind of lazy. The next two laps went off at a hair over 27MPH. Last lap was 31MPH. Moving up with less than three to go is awfully tough.
Here's a general comment: everyone's going to want the inside line everywhere on the course. This minimizes potential for pedal touching as the crowning of the roads makes the inside line look "banked". On a small, but mostly wide course running along the gutter also shortens things. Finally, if you're outside on the last corner on the last lap you'll lose three places in an eyeblink. If you're on the inside you might get chopped. Good luck.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Poor College Kids' Road Race
Held on Jan 31st, 2009 start near Los Olivos CA. This is a 34 mile out-and-back (17 each way) course and the 50+ group did one lap. Here's the scoop: sit in until the climb on the return. The total climbing was 1800', which is neither trivial nor particulary much. It starts with a steady uphill for about four miles. A word to the wise, if you race in a big group (over 75 riders) you'll really want to be near the front at the beginning and the turnaround. The road is sufficiently narrow that team tactics can come into play. The 50+ group kicked up the pace in the last part of the outbound climb and and a few folks tried to ride off the front. We were all back together before the turnaround.
The road is narrow at the turnaround and if you're more than ten riders back you'll find yourself queueing up at 2MPH while a bunch of guys sprint back the other way. This is both ruthless and reasonable. The 50+ category is small enough that organizers don't care if you're a CAT5 rider. In particular, the race entry fee on this occasion included a one-day license (you are welcome for the subsidy, really!) The whole topic is enough for a separate blog, so more later. With about 5 miles to go you hit the real climb, even though it's only five minutes, it shatters the group. The finishing straight is way too narrow for any kind of group, so the way to deal with this is to go like crazy on the climb and hammer it home.
The Good:
The Ugly:
The road is narrow at the turnaround and if you're more than ten riders back you'll find yourself queueing up at 2MPH while a bunch of guys sprint back the other way. This is both ruthless and reasonable. The 50+ category is small enough that organizers don't care if you're a CAT5 rider. In particular, the race entry fee on this occasion included a one-day license (you are welcome for the subsidy, really!) The whole topic is enough for a separate blog, so more later. With about 5 miles to go you hit the real climb, even though it's only five minutes, it shatters the group. The finishing straight is way too narrow for any kind of group, so the way to deal with this is to go like crazy on the climb and hammer it home.
The Good:
- Nice location.
- Organized.
- It's a road race!
- Parking (suggest taking spot soon after turnoff and sign reading "park off road").
- A long way from civilization (2.5 hours from LA area).
- Gnarly full-stop turnaround.
The Ugly:
- Narrow road for a field sprint.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Review of MicroSHIFT shifters
Specifically I bought the MicroSHIFT (that's what's printed on the brifters) brifters and rear deraileur. I have a compact FSA system with the FSA front derailleur. As far as installation is concerned, just follow the directions - nothing fancy. Adjustment, same deal - no surprises. The big surprise is that you can buy a brifter that even works at all for the price I paid ($119/pr). Nashbar claims MSRP at $199, but I've never seen them at full price. The rear derailleur was $29 ($59 MSRP). One thing I did do was replace the incredibly crappy pulleys with Shimano ones. Performance pulleys (11T sealed bearing) would be first choice and I'll make that change later.
Shifting is Campy-style, but without the refinement. There are large and small paddles used separately for up and down shifts and the brake lever is old-school and isn't involved with the shifting. The paddles are plastic and the overall appearance is unexceptional, without looking too cheap. With the exception of the 34-->50 front, shifting is precise and quick if somewhat noisy on occasion (clack!) Going from the small to large ring on a compact is never pretty, but this is the only shift I'd rather have my old (9s) Ultegra for. The effort is high and the response somewhat slow and occasionally a second push is necessary. Trimming works, but I seldom use it since I'm set up for racing.
Under racing conditions it's never let me down, but I haven't had to upshift the front under pressure. When you think about it, that doesn't come up all that often in a race when a 50x21 combination is easily obtainable. I'm on the big ring a lot, with the compact you'll find people do that. Unfortunately, there's no way to say anything about durability or reliability at this point. I have to say I like the Campy shifting better than Shimano. It's nice to have a brake lever that doesn't move sideways, speaking as an old-timer I never gotten used to that.
Even though the shifting is Campy-style the appearance is more Shimano-esque. The brake cables are hidden, but not the shifting cables. The pull ratio is 2:1 (Shimano) so the brifters should work. I don't know if Campy is different, but something deep inside tells me that Campy buyers won't be interested.
Shifting is Campy-style, but without the refinement. There are large and small paddles used separately for up and down shifts and the brake lever is old-school and isn't involved with the shifting. The paddles are plastic and the overall appearance is unexceptional, without looking too cheap. With the exception of the 34-->50 front, shifting is precise and quick if somewhat noisy on occasion (clack!) Going from the small to large ring on a compact is never pretty, but this is the only shift I'd rather have my old (9s) Ultegra for. The effort is high and the response somewhat slow and occasionally a second push is necessary. Trimming works, but I seldom use it since I'm set up for racing.
Under racing conditions it's never let me down, but I haven't had to upshift the front under pressure. When you think about it, that doesn't come up all that often in a race when a 50x21 combination is easily obtainable. I'm on the big ring a lot, with the compact you'll find people do that. Unfortunately, there's no way to say anything about durability or reliability at this point. I have to say I like the Campy shifting better than Shimano. It's nice to have a brake lever that doesn't move sideways, speaking as an old-timer I never gotten used to that.
Even though the shifting is Campy-style the appearance is more Shimano-esque. The brake cables are hidden, but not the shifting cables. The pull ratio is 2:1 (Shimano) so the brifters should work. I don't know if Campy is different, but something deep inside tells me that Campy buyers won't be interested.
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