Or at least I was bored and stumbled upon some semi-interesting bits of cyclo-centric newslets.
Curtis Keene, or “The American Dream” as he’s known, is a regular on the Enduro circuit. He has a pretty good social media presence, and posts some cool ride pics from his adventures. This week he posted a picture of his newly RS1-equipped XC racing hardtail and I was among the surprised minions. The whole setup looks very appropriately XC pro with the wicked short stem, aggro bars and Intense lock-ons being the only tip offs that this may not be your average XC racer’s bike. I’m glad to see he didn’t do what many other gravity riders would in this case and set it up with a ridiculously low saddle height, flat pedals, or other malarkey. Truthfully his setup is similar to my hardtail- Guide RSC brakes, 1 x 11 drivetrain, two bottle cages, lock on grips, and wide bars. His are bars are decidedly wider and the stem is decidedly shorter (60 mm) than current XC norms, but it does make me contemplate a similar arrangement on my bike.
Curtis also claims a 19 lb total weight which means this thing really is what it should be- an all out XC race rocket.
Lukas Flückinger is a member of the BMC Mountain Bike Team and is also reigning Swiss Cyclocross Champion, so not only is he regularly top 10 in XCO World Cups but he has a pretty full schedule racing through the fall & winter. This is his current race bike- Dura Ace Di2 and as you’d expect for a mountain biker it’s got disc brakes. It also has some cool but subtle national champion-specific graphics.
I can’t tell much about the wheels beyond the ubiquitous “Shimano” sticker on the rear rim, but they’re certainly shod with A. Dugast tubular tires.
So that’s two black and red carbon bikes in a row.
Flückinger’s BMC teammate, Ralph Näf, has also been campaigning on the cyclocross bike this fall, but really this pic caught my eye more than any of his on-bike shenanigans. First, he has some really cool race shoes, glasses and helmets at his disposal. Second, I like the cable method of organizing everything and will keep that in mind for future dwellings. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks about this stuff.
So yeah, still not riding much outside, but the very cold weather with very little snow at moment means that I might get to ride my mountain bike tomorrow on trails at Catamount, which could be awesome if it’s not an icy death trap.
Until then I’ll amuse myself by wondering about whether I should run a shorter stem (I several at my disposal) or which glasses/helmet combo I should run.
