Uhhhhhh... Indy Fab Anyone?

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RyanH
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by RyanH

@calnago agreed, this Thomson was something that I had just lying around.

I'm trying to find a gloss black carbon post with about 15mm of setback. Any ideas?

I got about 50 miles in today. My initial impression is that it's like my other metal bikes. Probably a tad softer in the BB area but harsher in the rear. For the moment, I'll contribute that to the Thomson and oval railed Berk. It was definitely a firmer ride in the rear than the Classic, which is a Cadillac. I'd say it feels a tad more stable than the T3 at speed but not quite like the Classic which just generally feels different when cornering and descending.

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AndreLM
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by AndreLM

RyanH wrote: I'm trying to find a gloss black carbon post with about 15mm of setback. Any ideas?
Syntace P6 HiFlex has a nice gloss UD finish and a short setback. It is a bit on the heavy side, and I am not sure it is more compliant than any other carbon seatpost - but it looks quite nice, and provides a good support for carbon saddle rails.

Image

edit: sorry about the crappy out-of-focus picture... It was cropped from a whole-bike picture... at least it is good to see the setback. Let me know if you want better one showing CF finish.

RyanH
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by RyanH

Hmmm...

I wasn't planning on riding today as I'm supposed to be taking an easy week but I really wanted to get a back to back on the Indy Fab with the T3. So, I drove over to the park and did a handful of slow hill repeats with the Indy Fab and T3 using the Boras and Lightweights.

I'm short, it's a good bike BUT it lags behind Ti. I was hoping this was going to be a comfy, all day bike but the T3 is definitely more compliant on each of my back to back runs. Fine, that may still be remedied by a better seatpost and my regular Berk saddle, but also bear in mind that the Litespeed Classic I have is notably more compliant than the T3 using the same Thomson and saddle while retaining most of the BB stiffness of the T3. The other thing I was kind of hoping for was kind of a Colnago Master type approach to handling. I figured with 410mm chainstays and 75mm BB drop, that should be good for gliding around corners. Again, here it lags behind the Classic which nails that feel. The T3 is definitely more agile and asks for you to toss it around. Putting the Lightweights on after the Boras, the T3 just begs for you to sprint up the climb (but it's a recovery day so I only pretend). The Indy Fab just felt a little bit uninspiring, even with the almighty Lightweights.

As much as this thing is a looker, I'm probably not going to keep it. I'll ride it the rest of the week to see if my opinion changes, but I'll tear it down Friday to ride the Classic again and revisit my ride notes on it.

Here's the geo chart for those that are interested.

Image

Nixster
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by Nixster

Really good looking bike, love the colour.
It seems you have nearly exactly the same bike set up as me despite being I think 2” taller?
To be fair you run more drop but I’m guessing tempus fugit sorted that.

gravity
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by gravity

This frame fits me so well...

RyanH
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by RyanH

I'm 5'9" (175cm). That geo chart isn't my fit. I run a 72cm saddle height and usually prefer bikes in the 38x mm range of reach so I can run a 120mm stem. I typically run between 9 and 11cm of drop so I usually try to find bikes with no more than 53cm of stack.

RyanH
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by RyanH

I've been riding the Indy Fab on and off this week, partly to refamiliarize myself with Campy SR and see what I like and dislike about it now that I've been on 9150 for awhile. Took it out for a spin today with the FSE wheels to see how the braking felt between 9150 and eeBrakes and SR with differential Campy brakes.

Image

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the FSE 25 wheels. They seem to be reasonably stiff and braking is fantastic with Campy red pads. My only quibble is that they seem to induce shudder at under 20mph braking. I toed my brakes in my usual amount of a credit card thickness for the rear but seems to still be shuddering. The braking feel isn't as refined as Boras but I'd venture to say it's more powerful.

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