Godzuki26 Wife's Cannondale Evo HiMod 48cm build [3.96 kg] or [8.73 lbs]

[godzuki26]

@Marin - Thanks for the info. Your Ax Lightness Sprint saddle looks amazing. I could really use this on my mountain bike saddle. Using leather from a handbag is a great idea. I will use one of my wife's Chanel bags to do this! I can get rid of some of her junk this way

[Marin]

You can get really nicely patterend saddles this way, the LV pattern nicely matches some brown bartapes

[RyanH]

I don't think the godzuki household sports monogram LV.

Quilted lambskin sounds nice though.

[godzuki26]

I would like to update everyone on how the rides went with my wife. First off, the crazy looking Dash P3 saddle was a success! She didn't complain too much about it but we only did a 30 mile ride. If it didn't work, She would have complained about it the first 2 miles. Clipping in and out on the Mavic Zxellium Ultimate pedals was an absolute disaster. She dropped the bike 6 times the first day in front of the house before she started crying in frustration. So, I said we are done and you will use tennis shoes until you get used to handling the bike. The bike seems to fit her well but she needs to learn how to handle it before she worries about clipping in and out. The next issue we encountered was descending. We live in a hilly area and we are at the top of a hill which requires some long fast descents. She was too scared to go down these hills and ended up riding the brakes until I started smelling smoke. I was like "wholly shit you are going to melt the rims!!Get off and walk it down the hill!" After we walked down the hill we rode to the beach. Again, she is not confident handling the bike and rode at 16 miles per hour as other people blew past us on Laguna Canyon Road. Despite my frustration, she enjoyed riding to the beach and getting a coffee at Urth cafe. We rode back home and she had no problem spinning up all the hills without stopping and resting. I wanted to take some action shots and post them here but the pictures look silly as she is wearing cross fit shoes and is not clipped in. Once I get her clipped in using her Giro Empires, I will post some more action shots.

On another note, the front shifting was rather poor on the Campy BTP tuned front derailleur. Perfectly fine if I was using it, but for a beginner she will need a SRAM Red front derailleur which I will replace this week.

The Godzuki26's wife goes aero: 48cm Cervelo S5 thread will have to wait!!! Lol

[Fuchspk]

Oh that sounds like a nice ride She will need some time to learn the bike but it sounds like you will have fun on the way getting there.

[RyanH]

She might find speedplay light action more to her liking. I'd think you should be able to do the normal bow tie and spindle swap. If you go alloy butterflies, should come in at 135g. Just keep in mind that some Ti spindles are heavier than others. You want the nano kind.

[mannequinforce]

I know this won't be a popular opinion but from someone who just got his wife into cycling (she loves it now) I didn't go overboard and wanted to make sure she enjoyed the experience. We didn't clip her in until after 5 or so rides and she had good but not great equipment that I didn't worry about breaking or crashing. It's a far more enjoyable experience that way. And I didn't want my opinions of cycling "code" to hamper her enjoyment. Just something to think about as I have followed along with the build.

[nvroadie]

Throw some aluminum wheels on for the learning process


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[Stormtrooper]

Insane build. Enjoyed the process and your dedication.
Hopefully her confidence will increase as she rides more.

[godzuki26]

I would have to agree with everyone that this build was a little too ambitious for a beginner. Trying to learn on a 9 lb bike is not the way to go. There are scratches on the bike now including the frame and Dash saddle. There is also red cork burned into the carbon brake tracks. The worst part about learning on a weight weenie bike is one cannot appreciate the upgrades so to speak. If she started on a steel frame and labored up the hills and then switched to this bike she would say "wow!!!" Right now she says "oh this is ok I guess". I am will be swapping Praxis Aluminum chain rings for the Fibrelytes. I will also put an aluminum wheelset on here before the Ax wheels get ruined. The Speedplays are also an option if they are easier to learn on.

[evan326]

This thread hasn't disappointed yet

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[ico]

I would have to agree with everyone that this build was a little too ambitious for a beginner. Trying to learn on a 9 lb bike is not the way to go. There are scratches on the bike now including the frame and Dash saddle. There is also red cork burned into the carbon brake tracks. The worst part about learning on a weight weenie bike is one cannot appreciate the upgrades so to speak. If she started on a steel frame and labored up the hills and then switched to this bike she would say "wow!!!" Right now she says "oh this is ok I guess". I am will be swapping Praxis Aluminum chain rings for the Fibrelytes. I will also put an aluminum wheelset on here before the Ax wheels get ruined. The Speedplays are also an option if they are easier to learn on.

At least your wife know how much you love her

[Marin]

How about using SPD pedals with those super-easy relasing cleats to start with? The 2nd benefit is that she can walk in the shoes. That's what I'm planning for my wife at least

Maybe go for a flat ride next in a low traffic area?

[jimaizumi]

Sounds like she took a crash course in the fast fears of riding a road bike... How about having her take laps around the block and expanding from there?

[BmanX]

I have my wife on an order TCR Giant Zero that I built up for her with light weight parts. The only place that I did not do light weight parts was her seat that she picked out and pedals as we purchased the cheapest SPD style pedals we could find so we could change them between her MTB and Road bike with some nice shoes. She took to them fairly quickly. I also had her on more Jr. gearing to start until she finished 3rd in our local Fondo by doing 60km in 1:59 which was amazing. She said for me to go as fast as she could hang on and away we went. I need to get her on some 50/34 with an 11/32 and she would be golden.