Third Time's a Charm: Litespeed T3

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asiantrick
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by asiantrick

I always love all of your builds. Great job and awesome pics as always!!
Last edited by asiantrick on Wed Oct 19, 2016 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

RyanH
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by RyanH

Thanks all for the kind comments.

Got some KCNC pad holders for $50 with pads that should fetch $20 or so.

KCNC Pad Holders with Hardware @26g:

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Super Record Pad Holders with Hardware @ 46g:

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by Weenie


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McGilli
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by McGilli

I see lots of different wheel sets on this build - I like that :)

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PinaRene
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by PinaRene

RyanH wrote:Image


Love the bike with the tan sidewalls 8)

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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

Ryan you have style! Your T3 looks like a race machine. What do you think about the Carbonworks cages? I haven't had a chance to use mine yet. They sure look nice on your T3. Also, will you be switching back to a German crankset?

edit:

You did post a nice review on the cages right here. My bad for not checking first.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=132403&start=60
Last edited by godzuki26 on Sun Oct 16, 2016 8:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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maverick_1
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by maverick_1

@Ryan,
IMHO I think this is probably one of the best looking Ti build in this forum, congrats!
Your setup is spot on, beautiful :thumbup:

Btw, sorry to derail the build thread.
I'm keen to understand your take on eTap vs Campy mechanical?
I'm considering going eTap on an up-coming project, but my other builds are full Campy.
Wireless is a big plus but my primary concern is the shifting speed, accuracy etc..
Would appreciate your feedback since you've gone thru both groups..

Cheers

RyanH
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by RyanH

@godzuki26

Here's my feedback on another thread:

RyanH wrote:I got these on Thursday of last week and have about 250 miles on them. General impression is that they work very well. The arms are very rigid, which could mean that the amount of deflection they're willing to take is less than Mandibles, for example. With Purist bottles they insert in and out very smoothly.

Compared to the Tune Wassertrager cages
They are not finicky about bottle circumference and they don't vibrate visibly when riding. With the Tune cages you can see the bottle move about.

Compared to Arundel Mandibles
They don't quite have the death grip. The arms are much more rigid and have less give, which makes them feel very sturdy but I believe jamming a bottle in sideways could cause them to fracture. They are a little more particular about bottle insertion angle but not nearly as much as the Tune cages.

Other Thoughts
I think it took about two weeks to get them in Los Angeles but I was not given any communication that they were on their way. Installation specifies 1.5nm of torque and using carbon paste on both sides of the cage to prevent bolt backing out. For good measure, I put loctite blue.

Overall, I'm very pleased with these cages. They really don't give up much to the Mandibles and are a fraction of the weight.


Image

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@maverick_1

Regarding eTap vs Campy Mechanical

RyanH wrote:I wrote somewhere else that electronic vs mechanical is like the difference of a high end sports car kitted with paddle shifters or a great manual transmission. IMO, paddle shifters are great, but ultimately, I find myself just using the automatic feature of them (not an option on bikes atm). Manual transmission does the same thing but has a different feel. At the end of the day, it comes down to what you prefer. The only thing that electronic really provides over mechanical is auto-trim (Di2 and maybe EPS) or on the fly adjustments (eTap).

I spent quite a while setting up Super Record (Chorus FD) and I was blown away at how good the shifting was as well as how satisfying it was to use after being on eTap for over 4 months. I'll probably run eTap on the race bike and SR on the every day bike. With a race car, it'd be the same way.


To build on that, there's a few situations where being able to dump a handful of gears is really nice/necessary. One situation in particular that highlighted this need well was riding fireroads. A steep pitch and a poorly timed shift sequence could mean getting off the bike. That's no so much to do with the speed of the RD as much as electronic lacks the ability to dump gears like mechanical. Don't worry about the speed of the RD, it was never an issue when riding on challenging terrain in fast paced group rides. If you notice it, it'll be when you're putzing around at 15mph with nothing else to think about. Accuracy was flawless and the shifting action was brain dead simple. The only quibble I had was that if you lose track of where you are, you can inadvertently shift to the big ring when you were already in the small since the action is the same.

It comes down to, are you a paddle shifter guy or a manual transmission guy?

RyanH
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by RyanH

On the Cervelo, I had Tune's MTB Time Trial skewers which had the Ti rod and came in at 24g after trimming them. They had very good clamping force but there were a few things that bothered me: smooth nut interface, need for a special tool and the nut rotated against the dropouts. I think the smooth interface was the biggest issue as I had to run carbon paste to prevent creaking.

With that in mind, I heard the J&L's were only a few grams heavier and had a clever design, so I went ahead an purchased them. Getting them in, they look like they have some thoughtful details:

The nut is on the non-threaded end and rotates against the cap, not the dropouts. Brass washer is a nice touch:
Image

Butted rod and knurled ends:
Image

O-Ring at the end to keep it from backing out:
Image

Weight without springs:
Image


Initial Impressions
I greased the threads and the dropouts. I figured I'd go for broke and use them with the RZRs, which are finicky as is due to their smooth hub interface which lends itself to creaking without high clamping force.

I did a 70 mile test ride before my 114 mile adventure on Saturday. That went fine but on Saturday as it heated up, I began getting the annoying click/creak. I went to tighten them and they didn't want to budge. Seems they seized a bit and can use grease somewhere else. When I got back to the car, they definitely didn't want to budge coming off. Maybe copper paste will resolve that?

McGilli
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by McGilli

RyanH wrote:That went fine but on Saturday as it heated up, I began getting the annoying click/creak.


That's the worst... always ruins my mood when I have to stop - loosen and retighten for that reason. I'm a bit of a Skewer nut - I just keep always ordering new kinds. Brass instead of plastic/nylon usually gives me no issue... weird that these did for you...

NoBlink
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by NoBlink

Sick ride! Where did you get the Litespeed decals?

RyanH
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by RyanH

@NoBlink, decals from graphicshack.

Finally got around to upgrading my Speedplays to Ti Bowties. These came from Toronto Cycles and fit perfectly. Got the black versions for a nice stealth look.

Ti Bowties with Ti screws @ 21g
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Steel bowties removed:

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Loc-Tite the screws:

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Off with the old, on with the new:

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Black Ti spindles and Black Ti Bowties @ 152g:

Image

Overall savings was 70g over the Chromoly that I had on there.

AZR3
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by AZR3

That's a huge chunk of weight! How durable are the Ti bowties?

RyanH
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by RyanH

My friend rides about 15K miles a year and he said he's had his current pair for the last two years, so, awhile.

RyanH
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by RyanH

Last week about 200 people showed up for the annual Circle of Doom ride; a 100 mile ride with 10K feet of elevation and about a 30 mile climb. I wanted to keep my HR around 160 bpm so about 6 minutes from the top, I didn't go with the other two when they picked it up which is about where the below were taken. I finished the main climb 6th at an average of 4 w/kg for the 90 minutes, good enough for about 10th all time fastest time up that climb. Not a bad day for someone that isn't a climber.

Image

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godzuki26
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by godzuki26

Wow those are some outstanding numbers. You don't even look tired in the pictures. It is nice to see someone pushing themselves on the very bikes they post on this forum.
:arrow: BH Ultralight
:arrow: Litespeed Ghisallo
:arrow: Scott Addict Singlespeed
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