I sold my Scott Addict and a cyclocross bike to buy this little beauty. Didn’t want to spent silly money on the frame which will be used for road racing, sportives and maybe the odd trip abroad. The Campag Record equipment and Fizik seatpost are also new but the rest of the components were already in my garage stash. I opted for a compact chainset mainly because I’m a spinner rather than a pusher and it’s also useful for sportives and foreign trips when you’re not quite sure what’s around the next corner! I built the wheels myself with Planet X 50mm rims, Dati hubs and Sapim CX Ray oval spokes – reasonably light at 1280g and sufficiently rugged for racing on some of the dodgy roads we have here in Ireland.

The frame is a size 55cm and the weight is exactly as advertised on the Simplon website at 840g, with the cut fork coming in at 324g. The total bike weight as pictured is 6.24kg with the Planet X race only tub wheels. For general riding and sportives I’ll be using a pair of IRD Cadence Aero rims again built up with Dati hubs and Sapim CX spokes which will increase the weight by approximately 140g.
I haven’t actually had a chance to ride the bike yet. The evening after I built it up I was out kicking football with my daughter when I tore a quad muscle – not a good injury for a biker! And now I’ve got a bloody chest infection so it might be a week or so before I get a chance to take the Simplon for it’s first run. Enjoy.

BUILD LIST
Frameset – Simplon Pavo III (55cm)
Shifters& Derailleurs – Campag Record 11
Rims – Planet X 50mm carbon tubular (20/24)
Hubs – Dati Superlight
Spokes – Sapim CX Ray with alu nipples
Tubs – Vittoria CX Evo
Skewers – tune DC14
Cassette – Campag Super Record 11 (12-25)
Chainset – Fulcrum RS (50/34)
BB – Fulcrum BB86
Pedals – Look Keo Blade Carbon Ti
Chain – KMC SL 11
Saddle – Prologo Zero Nack
Seatpost – Fizik Cyrano carbon (27.2mm)
Brake callipers – TRP 920SL
Bars – 3T Ergonova (42cm)
Stem – 3T ARX Team (110mm)
Bar tape – Lizard Skin DSP
Headset – Acros Ai69
Headset spacers - FSA
Cages – Zipp carbon