The road bike I’ve been riding for nearly 5 years is a steel Tommasini Sintesi. It has been a great bike and I’ve qualified for RAAM 4 times on it. For RAAM I wanted to have a bike with a triple on it for the steep hills when I’m exhausted.
Last fall I did research and talked to some riders and concluded that I wanted a Specialized Roubaix. It is a full carbon frame with inserts that they call Zertz. The Zertz help to dampen vibrations.
First I tried getting on the Specialized grass root program which I have been on in the past. Part of the program is really good discounts on their bikes. Due to some mis-communication with the shop I went through, I didn’t find out until pretty late that for this year Specialized is only accepting teams to the program instead of individuals. I then tried getting a good deal through the shop that sponsors Pikes Peak Velo. They really wouldn’t do much for me so I called Paul at Team Telecycle.
Paul is a great guy and I used to mountain bike race with him back in the early 90’s. He gave me a great deal on last year’s Roubaix Elite Triple. I really would have liked the Comp Triple which is the same frame but with some better components but Specialized didn’t have any left in my size. Paul is also helping me out with some other things that I need for RAAM so a big thanks to him.
I got the bike a few weeks ago but the longest ride I’ve done so far has been a little over 4 hours. Tomorrow I plan to put in 8 hours since I’ve now gotten pretty much everything dialed in so it fits just like my old bike. As much as I love a new bike I also don’t like it because it seems to always take a month before I get it to feel just right. I keep rotating the bar slightly and turning the brake hoods a little, etc. I finally got the aero bars on last night so I’m sure I have some more tweaking to do on them. I rode the lunch time training race on Wednesday and felt very comfortable on the bike and also fast. I finished 3rd out of about a dozen riders so I’m getting some speed and climbing well on it.
Probably the biggest thing I’ve noticed about it is how stiff it is. I hadn’t realized how flexed out my Tommasini. I have over 25,000 miles on it and I tend to gear mash which probably hasn’t helped it. It’s amazing how fast my new bike accelerates when I get out of the saddle and I don’t feel the bottom bracket flexing. The Roubaix has the same bottom bracket design as the Tarmac which is their USCF racing type bike. The bottom bracket stiffness is also very noticeable when I’m climbing hard. It’s also noticeable how it feel when going over bumps. I feel the bump but then it more like a thud and no more vibration. I’m not sure how much of it is due to the carbon fiber and how much is due to the Zertz but I think it’ll make a big difference on long rides.
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