Christie

I will take that with a pinch of salt, till somebody takes a pic of a frame on a scale. The previous Dogma was claimed at 900-and-something grams, but clocked 1200 on scales everywhere. My guess is that their claimed weight is probably for an XS, without dropouts, bb shell and epoxy clear coat.

The fans are probably all aware of this one: http:// http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pinarello-dogma-f8-launched-chris-froomes-new-tour-de-france-bike It looks much nicer than previous ones imo. (and more like a standard bike) The performance increment seems to be around 15% in terms of weight, asymmetricallity(?!) etc. Weight is claimed at 120g less for the frame, which would be around 1080 grams on a 56, I recon. Price not announced, possibly up by 15%?

Some thoughts: I wonder how the numbers look in terms of weight, for the gruppo and crank in particular. Ugly it may be, but if it is light and stiff, people will buy. Campy cranks have become expensive to the point where they compare with high end cranks from THM, AX-Lightness etc. Some may rather go that route. Both companies probably read the same research paper on crank optimization, and Shimano was just faster to put its crank on the market.

Derailleur position for each sprocket can be fine tuned. You can also set te deraiieur to index perfectly with a Campy or Sram cassette. Once set, shifting will never go out.

No bike is worth R65k imo. If your children could inherit it, like sports car or hunting rifle etc, perhaps. After owning a R120k+ road bike (Zipp everything, SRM, 3 carbon wheelsets) and a R90k TT bike (same spec as the road bike), my view have changed. I have found that the enjoyment I get from cycling is not linked to the spec and price of my equipment. I can also not notice a difference in times or speed that I ride, except for TT - for road and mtb fitness and body mass dominates everything. I now do not own a bike that cost me more thanR25k in total.

Im not feeling the look of the new parts - cranks look like a carbon version of DuraAce. I wonder who decided that 4 arm spiders are the next big thing? Best thing about the new design is that more of the previous generation stuff will be available in the classifieds, at better prices.

Coooool! Good to pin the date down in advance.

From the above, it looks like xtr will have 2.16mm spacing, vs. 2.53 of xx1, if I am reading the chart correctly. It makes me wonder how narrow is too narrow for a chain?

I agree with heyyou, around R2000 sounds about right

Colnago and some Campy gruppos count as classic. Few other bikes do.

Good win, Gilbert is back! (Perhaps it is possible that the whole peleton is on "par" again. Conto & his team, BMC, OPQ have all won races, it looks balanced in a way. If the French teams plus some others are completely useless and get nothing, "parcan mean something bad)

They make industrial machines too, that take differend capsules. I dont know what availability is like in SA.

Great win for Terpstra. I think he was working for Boonen, with big T being a Belgian and all. Big T is not quite in top shape, he still rode an awesome race though, and set it up for OPQ. Terpstra helped tow Booned back up to the lead group when Cancellara chased Sagan. Perhaps he also waited for Boonen in Flanders last week. Best P-R in a while, with the race being decided so close to the line. Looks like Degenkolb would have won if the big group went to the line. He never made a move during the race, his legs were the best in the group.

Xtr 11 will fit a standard body, I would think the chain is narrower than xx1, wont work with xx1 der. I find the gear ratios interesting, too. Perhaps there will be a different sprocket range available later. 10 sprocket may be missing for chain wear reasons - the more the chain bends, the faster it will wear. Shimano may not be ok with the wear rate that results.

Other thread here: https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/138306-new-xtr-m9000-11-speed/ With some more pics etc

Looks hot! Note the big sprocket is a 40. I like the current xtr crank more.

1x11 if you are a pro, or need to look like one. If you just want to ride Sani, pretty much anything will do - it is not an event of extremes.

Carbon or steel would be a better material for a frame, both will be more durable than aluminium.

Costs the same as a top end smart phone, same size etc. There should be an app that can do the same, then everybody can save 350 odd grams. That is the difference in weight between my Dura Ace clinchers and something expensive like Ligtweights, or the difference between a carbon and aluminium frame.

I think setup will get interesting - some will go all out to be as light as possible, others for disks in the rain (and Wiggins, if there are any downhills). Electronic or not will depend on sponsor. Power meters are hard to call, imo not something you look at when racing.

"safety rule" of 6.8kg is total BS. A bike can be over 6.8 and still be unsafe if not designed and manufactured properly. Testing to a standard is the the way they should have gone from the start - but that would have been the intelligent option, which is the complete opposite of what the UCI does in most cases. It would be something along the lines of being able to take several loads in different directions.100kg load on the bb for 100000 cycles, 70kg to the side, etc etc. If those 4kg bikes pass, why not ride them? I also wonder how this will impact on the use of power meters and disk brakes - I would like to see if the pros will choose to use these if they had the option of riding lighter.

Great example. Alu is a superior material choise for a stem, imo.

In light of all the swearing, shouting, tears etc on another thread, about a different brand of Italian bicycle, it is perhaps worth noting here that the C59 and C60 are hand made and painted in Italy, and that none of these owners were checing under the BBs for a serial number last night.

Big loser on the day was Quick-step. I dont know if they did not have legs, got caught out of position, or if Terpstra waited for/was stuck behind Boonen on the Kwaremont. Terpstra looked the stronger of the two.

Great race! All 4 leaders were on tired legs at the end. Cancellara would have gone sooner if he could I think. He had the best jump to the line of the 4, played his hand the best. Van Avermaet was possibly the strongest rider in the race, but he used a lot of reserves because Vandenbergh were almost no help to him. Big up to him for still getting 2nd.