Bianchi Oltre Super Record (Vacansoleil)

Who are you (no off-topic talk please)

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bearman
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:59 am
Location: London

by bearman

How do I like them for climbing? Good question, I don't have a lot to compare them to they are fast, rather light and once you get them spinning they want to stay spinning. I did in total 28 mountians this summer and the felt great going up them (much down to my set up probably), there are wheels that role more freely when spun, but there always is.

For me the most important thing was highspeed stablility and breaking power, I like to go "hell for leather" down mountains and break late and hard before turning, and the combo between ultra sticky mavic tyres and the xalith breaking surface make using these rims an aboslute pleasure. The surface is hard wearing, eats brake pads and the tyres that come supplied last about a week if ridden hard continually!

Why not treat yourself, its not going to be your last set of wheels! Falling that Light Weight clinchers are on special at the moment in a few places..... :)

bearman
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:59 am
Location: London

by bearman

E777L wrote:Ciao bearman... looks like I am going to let you down because I ended up getting the FFWD wheels. A dealer wasn't able to sell the complete bike, so he sold its bits at crazy prizes. He made an offer I could not refuse! :lol:

So now I have a full team replica! (minus the gold KMC chain and white cables)



Ciao. Its a lovely looking bike, i really can't wait for the summer to come again so I can get back out on mine. The wheels look great, I've seen them with black decals too which also looks really good. One thing I would say to anyone looking at the pictures of the Oltre's is that in the flesh these bikes are really very pretty, so attention to detail through out the frame. Let me know how you get on with yours! :beerchug:

by Weenie


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mfcycling
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 6:59 pm
Location: USA

by mfcycling

all-in-all its a great looking bike

bearman
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:59 am
Location: London

by bearman

Hey!! I've made a few changes to my bike... a set of smashed handlebars meant I lightened mine, having had a set of 3T Team bars I went for a set of 3T LTDs (really due to stock availability) and I HATED them. There was so much flex when I was out the saddle it felt like I was going to touch the floor! So I've bought yet another set of Team Ergonovas... Lesson is less carbon means less rigidity.

I am now looking to get a new wheel set... Campy Bora Ultra Twos in black?!?!... Lighter and faster.... If I can't ride my bike because of the weather I have to add new shiny things. :lol:

E777L
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:54 am
Location: AUS

by E777L

Smashed? Hope nothing too grave and nice psychological treatment plan there ;)

My TURN for summer time!!!

bearman
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:59 am
Location: London

by bearman

E777L wrote:Smashed? Hope nothing too grave and nice psychological treatment plan there ;)

My TURN for summer time!!!


Nothing happened! I actually found out that the stem plate wasn't shaped correctly so when torqued up would pinch my bars. The bad thing was that I swapped the stem plates for three other pairs the same issue was present.

3T acknowledged the issue and have refunded my two crushed bars!! Result.

Enjoy the summer!
Last edited by bearman on Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Calnago
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Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2010 9:14 pm

by Calnago

@Bearman: You say that 3T acknowledged the issue of your crushed bars and replaced them. So are you saying they acknowledged that their own faceplate on the stem was the cause of your crushed bars, also 3T bars? You'd think they'd issue a recall if that were the case.

I was interested to hear you say you think the LTD's were flexy. I have the LTD Rotundos but was thinking about trying some alloy Pro's just to see if they're stiffer. There are times out of saddle in sprints where I'm thinking things are getting a little sketchy. I guess the only way I will know is to try them myself, which I think I will do one of these days, when it needs retaping or something anyway.
Colnago C64 - The Naked Build; Colnago C60 - PR99; Trek Koppenberg - Where Emonda and Domane Meet;
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SalsaLover
Posts: 431
Joined: Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:21 pm
Location: Zürich, Switzerland

by SalsaLover

The FFWD are beautiful wheels

I got a chance to see them in the flesh, interesting shape.

I still prefer my Boras though
Hucken The Fard Up !
Colnagos : C50 ST01 - Master 30th AD10 - C40 Mapei WC

bearman
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:59 am
Location: London

by bearman

Calnago wrote:@Bearman: You say that 3T acknowledged the issue of your crushed bars and replaced them. So are you saying they acknowledged that their own faceplate on the stem was the cause of your crushed bars, also 3T bars? You'd think they'd issue a recall if that were the case.

I was interested to hear you say you think the LTD's were flexy. I have the LTD Rotundos but was thinking about trying some alloy Pro's just to see if they're stiffer. There are times out of saddle in sprints where I'm thinking things are getting a little sketchy. I guess the only way I will know is to try them myself, which I think I will do one of these days, when it needs retaping or something anyway.


Correct my bars and stem were both 3T. It was only after I wanted to get rid of the LTDs because of the flex that the bike shop mechanic who'd originally fitted them noticed on taking them off that these bars had been crushed too like my original pair. It was my impression that I'd originally torqued up the first pair to much and crushed them. We then placed the face plate on my new bars held it up to the light and you could see a visible gap. The mechanic got another 3T stem, same model (serial number confirmed) and the problem was the same, out of all the pairs only one fitted closely to the bars. I'm not sure about a total recall as it could have been a batch, I don't know but it was interesting that it wasn't necessarily and isolated case or me being heavy handed.

The LTD's are extremely flexy in my opinion, I'm a small guy and if you push the drop inwards you can move them, I noticed this difference as soon a I originally changed them. I wasn't interested in the wieght saving just the shape of the bar and that's all that was available at the time, it didn't occur to me that a 20g reduction in carbon would make such a difference but that's a lot of material. You'd be hard pushed to flex the Ergonova Team bars, they're so stiff. 3rd time lucky.

bearman
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:59 am
Location: London

by bearman

Yet to test the new wheel-set but I think they're going to be great. The free hub is quieter than expected but presumably because of the grease inside it.

Running Bora twos:
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tazik
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Oct 19, 2013 7:39 pm

by tazik

Great bike!
Bianchi Oltre

manne
Posts: 174
Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:33 pm
Location: Sweden

by manne

Not a fan of Bianchi, but I really like this one. Good work mate!

em3
Posts: 883
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:57 pm
Location: NYC

by em3

Calnago wrote:@Bearman: You say that 3T acknowledged the issue of your crushed bars and replaced them. So are you saying they acknowledged that their own faceplate on the stem was the cause of your crushed bars, also 3T bars? You'd think they'd issue a recall if that were the case.




...crappy out of round 3T faceplates are a well documented issue on this forum and others. I had to ditch two 3T stems for the same reason, and I never tighten my stem bolts beyond 4 Nm. A manufacturer will only issue a recall if they are forced to by consumers who file claims/suit....certainly not out of the goodness of their heart.EM3
______________

bearman
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2012 10:59 am
Location: London

by bearman

manne wrote:Not a fan of Bianchi, but I really like this one. Good work mate!


High praise indeed! Cheers.

em3 wrote:
Calnago wrote:@Bearman: You say that 3T acknowledged the issue of your crushed bars and replaced them. So are you saying they acknowledged that their own faceplate on the stem was the cause of your crushed bars, also 3T bars? You'd think they'd issue a recall if that were the case.




...crappy out of round 3T faceplates are a well documented issue on this forum and others. I had to ditch two 3T stems for the same reason, and I never tighten my stem bolts beyond 4 Nm. A manufacturer will only issue a recall if they are forced to by consumers who file claims/suit....certainly not out of the goodness of their heart.EM3


Third time lucky! We kept changing stem plates until one fitted...

by Weenie


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