Need advice on wife's dream build

[modman]

I put her in touch with the best guy at my LBS. He fitted her out with what SHE wanted.

Thanks for the suggestion. Luckily for me, my wife's ultimately picking out everything for the build. She picked the frame (and we got the Black Inc after speaking about the differences) and she's ecstatic the groupset (as having always rode SRAM). We're both following the thread carefully, and although I'm typing the text, all decisions for the build are her choices. Because your'e right -- it's her bike!

We really appreciate all the advice on the cockpit. I measured her current bars -- 36cm, 75 reach, 125 drop. She's been asking for less drop and reach, so we're probably looking for 36cm/70mm reach, as short of a drop as possible.

[Devon]

I recently got some suuuuuper narrow and compact bars for the mrs. I'll check what they are when I get home and post back.

[Bluechip]

I think my wife's bars are either Bontrager or Specialized women's 36cm. I'm not sure of the drop and reach but they are tiny. They are alloy but if we could have found some in carbon it would have been great. I'm not really worried about her breaking things. She's got some short Profile aero bars on them so it's tough to see any details.

[modman]

I think my wife's bars are either Bontrager or Specialized women's 36cm.

That's what my wife's riding now--the Specialized ones. Here are the details on them: http://www.specialized.com/us/en/ftb/road-components/handlebars/womens-expert-alloy-shallow-bend-handlebar

[glepore]

@tomstr, apologies for the drift:

I used an EC70 post that I happened upon. Tossed the stock cradle and clamp mechanism. Used a J&L ebay cradle (carbon) and their clamps that take 5mm bolts (I had all this stuff laying around, its about 30 bucks if you buy it) and ended up around 160g. Think I paid 30 bucks used for the post. Its almost as light as the hylix etc posts that knock off the Doric style posts-they come in around 130-150g.

That Liv is a nice looking bike, btw

[wrenegade]

Had a similar situation with my wife's bike. 5'0, she previously had a Hi-Mod Cannondale Synapse in a 44cm which was unfortunately stolen. She is now on a Felt ZW1 in a 43cm that we built up with the insurance money. Went with 38cm Zipp SL70 Ergo bars, nice short reach, which allows her to run a 80mm stem. She previously had a 70mm on her Synapse which really negatively affected handing. 80mm is much nicer. She had 165mm cranks on her last bike and it was the only way to go for the new one, and I bought her some 30mm deep FarSports clinchers. I have a good friend who went to inGamba with his wife (who is a very strong cyclist) and she did not like the Zipp 303s on the F8 as she got thrown around in the wind a bit too much for her light weight. That sold me on the decision to go with the 30mm profile. Lighter too, which is always a bonus.

[aerodynamiq]

Bontrager VR-S bars, or Zipp Sl-70 for that 70mm super short reach and good drop size.

[CamW]

170mm cranks seems quite odd for someone under 5ft. I'm 5ft6 and use 167.5 and would consider going to 165 as well. .

Does she have problems with knees into chest when on the drops/low? If so shorter cranks could help. More of a spinner rather than a masher? Might prefer shorter. In saying that if she has no problems with her current length don't sweat it too much. It can be pretty personal as well.

[vejnemojnen]

Does anybody know whether the reach of the Pro PLT compact bars measured from centre to centre, or centre to end?

An older, 2010 review states that the reach is 65mm ( http://road.cc/content/review/26135-pro ... -drop-bars ) , whereas concurrent data indicated 70mm reach.

Is there anyone, who owns pro compact bars?

[delsol]

You should go with 165 mm cranks or shorter Rotor makes them.
Why not the SISL crankset?
You can go with 3T Ergonova 38 cm bars.
Measured from the arcoss the top 36 cm ,in the drops 38 cm reach is 77 cm.

[modman]

170mm cranks seems quite odd for someone under 5ft. I'm 5ft6 and use 167.5 and would consider going to 165 as well.

You should go with 165 mm cranks or shorter Rotor makes them.

Thanks for this. She's always wondered about going to a shorter crank. I may have mentioned earlier that she was fitted with 170s on her first bike during her initial fit, but we believe it's the shortest they had in stock and didn't discuss shorter options. She is having trouble in the drops with knees at the top of the stroke. Do you think 165 is too long? Would 160 be too short? Her inseam is 70cm. She says she won't mind the higher cadence (we can just adjust the gearing).

More of a spinner rather than a masher? Might prefer shorter.

Very much a spinner. Averages 90-100 on climbs.

Why not the SISL crankset?

She likes the look of the Rotors and asked for those. She didn't like the SISLs, which are pretty pricey, anyways. Plus, she wants a crank based power meter. Power2Max Rotor 3d+ is what she's set on. Luckily we can pick one up in whatever size would be best (they go down to 150 i think). She did like the Red Quarq to round out the Red groupset, but those have limited length options.

Bontrager VR-S bars, or Zipp Sl-70

Thanks. These are top on the list right now. Specialized has a nice bar, too, but at 75mm reach which might be a bit longer than she wants.

[CamW]

I'd lean towards 160's at that height but to be frank its just an enormous guess with numbers in isolation in the internet. Some of the studies going round seem to think you can't really go too short (within reason) but you definitely can go too long (knee/chest interaction and oxygen limiting).

At the end of the day it really is preference which you won't really know until trying. If you get rotor cranks its not the end of the world if she decides after an adaption period that she really doesn't like them. You can just buy a new set of arms and swap the spider. It ain't as eye wateringly expensive as a new SRM.

Keep in mind going from 170 -> 160 will necessitate raising seat height ~10mm and as such possibly other fit changes. Might need to raise the bars a bit but some people find that the effectively lower bars are more tolerable with the extra hip angle opening.

[modman]

I'd lean towards 160's at that height but to be frank its just an enormous guess with numbers in isolation in the internet. Some of the studies going round seem to think you can't really go too short (within reason) but you definitely can go too long (knee/chest interaction and oxygen limiting).

Thank you! Since she's wanted a Rotor crankset anyways, we're going to order the P2M Rotor in a 160 length today.

Keep in mind going from 170 -> 160 will necessitate raising seat height ~10mm and as such possibly other fit changes. Might need to raise the bars a bit but some people find that the effectively lower bars are more tolerable with the extra hip angle opening.

She's a medical professional and said this makes a lot of sense to her. It's why she wants to start with 160 on the new build and go from there.

[DeLuz]

I would put Campy Chorus 11 speed on it, thats what I did with mine and love it.
I have SRAM Red on the rear shifter for my tandem, but like Campy better.
Supersix EVO is a great bike.
I ride with my wife on our tandem and recently changed her bars to Specialized Women's expert shallow bend 38cm.
Make sure you get the right length crankset maybe 165mm.
For wheels, White Industries T11 hubs and Pacenti SL23 V2 rims are nice.

[CamW]

Good luck. Let me know what she thinks of the cranks when it all happens. Pet topic of mine I find quite interesting.