Kazyole's Cervelo RCA: 5.3kg (New pics on page 3)

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Kazyole
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:45 am
Location: NYC

by Kazyole

New Frame/New thread

Alright guys. Even though this is a bit of a continuation of my weightweenie journey, I feel like this warrants a new thread since I’m not really building an R5 anymore.

This is my freshly built Cervelo RCA. It’s been my dream frame for years, since the Ryder Hesjedal days. There’s just something so incredibly alluring about it to me. Years old and lighter than the current R5. Or most current flagship GC frames for that matter. Last bike from Project California. Boron filaments. Hollow dropouts. Blacked out logos on sexy naked carbon.

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I’ve migrated all the parts over from my previous R5 build, viewable here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=150733&start=15


There are two goals for this build:

First off, a few years ago I went to France and did some climbing. This year I’m going back with the goal of improving my time up Alpe d’Huez to sub 1 hr. Last time I did it was right when I first got my powermeter at around 80% of what I now understand my FTP to be on an 8kg bike with two bottles (because apparently I’m an idiot) and did it in 1 hr 10 minutes. So since this isn’t the kind of thing where I can go back every month and try again, I want to bring the bike that gives me the absolute best chance of beating that time.

Second, I wanted to see how light of bike it’s possible for me to build without making concessions to practicality. I live in an apartment. I only have space for one bike. So anything I can’t ride every day I can’t do. So for me, that means a clincher wheelset that’s robust enough to be ridden regularly. It means tires with good puncture resistance. It means Di2. And it means having a powermeter.


Here’s the build list:

Frame: 624g
Fork: 266g
Crank: SRM Origin Powermeter with rechargeable battery and Carbon Ti rings: 625g
Pedals: Zeros with Ti spindles, bowties, and hardware: 145g
Chain: YBN SLA 11 speed chain: 210g at 116l
Cassette: Omni Racer 11s titanium cassette, 11-28: 118g
Stem: Extralite Hyperstem in -6°, 120mm length: 86g
Handlebars: Zipp SL 70 Aero: 225g
Seatpost: Darimo Gloss 3k post in 27.2x280mm: 71.6g
Saddle: Berk Matte UD Lupina with round rails in the 132mm size came in at 72g
Cages: Tune Wasserträger cage (x2): 28g
Shifters: Dura Ace 9150: 228g
RD: Dura Ace 9150: 197g
FD: Dura Ace 9150: 134g
Di2 Wires: 80
Di2 Battery 69
Di2 battery holder: 6g
Brakes: Cane Creek EE Brakes: 172g
Wheels: Roval CLX 32s with Rox Ultralite rim strips: 1266g
GP5000s: 221x2 439
Tubes: Tubolito: 41g/tube
Skewers: Titanium QR Skewers: 39g 
Computer: Wahoo Elemnt Bolt: 62g
Wahoo Mount: Raceware mount: 20g
Wahoo speed sensor: 16g
Upper Headset bearings: Cane creek AER upper headset bearings: 21g
Lower headset bearings: Stock cervelo: 25g
Carbon spacers: Unknown: 7g
Top Cap: Absolute Black: 3g
Seatpost collar: Stock Cervelo: 16g
Derailleur hanger: 10g

Total is 5363g. Unfortunately the remaining parts I haven’t weighed, so here are my educated guesses

Fizik Bartape: ~50g
Star nut: Stock Cervelo: ~40g
Bottom bracket: Stock Cervelo: ~144g (per stevec1975)
Brake Cables/housing: Alligator I Links: ~48g

Total current measured weight: 5645g

It should be lighter, but I made the crucial mistake of using the stock cervelo bottom bracket. Apparently the stock cervelo BBs are quite weighty, so that’s obviously unacceptable. I’m looking into some lighter weight options and should be able to save approximately 70 grams there.

And then the big outstanding item is the handlebar. I intend to replace the zipp bars with Darimo’s new bar once they make a 380mm version. I just haven’t gotten along with the bend in the zipps and it’ll be worth around 100g to make the switch.

First impressions:

I’d been looking for an RCA for around a year and a half. But they only made about 300 of each generation, and my size isn’t exactly the most common. And I wanted to buy from a shop so I’d be able to get the full warranty. So I’ve had a while to fantasize about what riding one would be like. And I’ll admit, I was concerned that I’d built it up in my mind to some kind of mythical level that it wouldn’t be able to live up to. I’m happy to say I was wrong. It’s noticeably better than my R5. By a considerable margin. For its weight it feels solid and planted. It’s lively without being twitchy. And it’s an absolute monster uphill. But the largest difference is the vertical compliance. I wouldn’t say the R5 is a harsh riding frame at all, but by comparison this thing is a magic carpet. It just soaks up the miles and the vibration from the road. It doesn’t feel muted. It just feels right.

It's only been two rides so far, but I'm in love.
Last edited by Kazyole on Mon Apr 06, 2020 8:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.

by Weenie


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exctasy
Posts: 154
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 4:34 am

by exctasy

This looks AWESOME!
"It’s noticeably better than my R5. By a considerable margin. For its weight it feels solid and planted. It’s lively without being twitchy."
so the trickle down to R5, wasnt that much eh :)

Nozes
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 1:56 am

by Nozes

Fantastic.
Dream bike right there.

When will you try it up Alpe d'Huez?

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ryanw
in the industry
Posts: 2284
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:52 pm
Location: London

by ryanw

Really nice build.

How have you found the Carbon-Ti rings?

I'm looking to get some, but race weight of 84kg and 1,800w, I'm a bit scared they'll disintegrate under my loads...
SL8 S-Works Project Black - 6.29kg
IG: RhinosWorkshop

Geoff
Posts: 5395
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 2:25 am
Location: Canada

by Geoff

Ok, that's nice. So many good choices made there. How do you like that SRM?

Kazyole
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:45 am
Location: NYC

by Kazyole

exctasy wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:44 am
This looks AWESOME!
"It’s noticeably better than my R5. By a considerable margin. For its weight it feels solid and planted. It’s lively without being twitchy."
so the trickle down to R5, wasnt that much eh :)
Thanks!

To be fair, the R5 that I had ridden prior to this was the same generation as the RCA. It was a ~2015 (the one with the red toptube), so there hadn't really been any time to trickle anything down. It's possible that the newer R5 has some of that additional compliance. Though at least according to the owner of the bike shop I stop at most often when I'm out riding, "there isn't anything out there that rides like the RCA."

Kazyole
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:45 am
Location: NYC

by Kazyole

Nozes wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:44 pm
Fantastic.
Dream bike right there.

When will you try it up Alpe d'Huez?
Thanks!

Still finalizing the plans. Should be late June/early July. So plenty of time to get in really good shape before I go

Kazyole
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:45 am
Location: NYC

by Kazyole

ryanw wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:52 pm
Really nice build.

How have you found the Carbon-Ti rings?

I'm looking to get some, but race weight of 84kg and 1,800w, I'm a bit scared they'll disintegrate under my loads...
I like them quite a bit. Plenty stiff and the shifting performance is solid. I've heard that in earlier versions the shifting wasn't great, but I've had no problems.

That said, I'm ~58kg and am lucky to close in on 1000w. But I do know a guy who is like ~70kg who uses them and I've never heard him complain.

Kazyole
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:45 am
Location: NYC

by Kazyole

Geoff wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:03 pm
Ok, that's nice. So many good choices made there. How do you like that SRM?
Thanks!

I love the SRM. It just works. No dropouts and no issues. It's pretty reasonably lightweight for a crank based powermeter, but it being rechargeable was honestly the biggest selling point for me. Not having to mess around with swapping batteries like I did on my Quarq or having to send it back to SRM is a big plus. I just plug it in whenever I charge my Di2 and it's good to go.

mnmasotto
Posts: 581
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:16 pm
Location: Irvine, CA

by mnmasotto

Very nice build. Is that a size 48. I am currently building a size 48 r5ca which weights 660 grams. Not luvin the LaVar Ball jockey wheels though. Just sayin.

Kazyole
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:45 am
Location: NYC

by Kazyole

mnmasotto wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 5:42 pm
Very nice build. Is that a size 48. I am currently building a size 48 r5ca which weights 660 grams. Not luvin the LaVar Ball jockey wheels though. Just sayin.
Thanks! Yeah it's a 48cm. I'm a weirdly proportioned guy. I'm just under 5'6" but I'm all torso, so I ride a 48cm to fit for my legs. Then on top of that I have really short femurs even for my short legs so I ride a 0 offset post so I can get properly over the bottom bracket. And then because my torso is so long for my height I end up riding a long stem. Right now I have a 120mm on there but I've done 130 in the past on my R5. Fortunately I'm also pretty flexible so I don't have to end up running the smaller frame with a boatload of spacers.

The jockey wheels I get. It's a lot of look. But I figure if a gold chain automatically makes you faster, gold jockey wheels probably can't hurt :wink:

1415chris
Posts: 1433
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:59 am
Location: Surrey UK

by 1415chris

Nice, very nice. One of the most interesting and beautiful recent builds over here on this forum.
The only small crime you committed was not taking the pictures with the proper camera ;) This bike deserves hi res pics and more of them, please.

Kazyole
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:45 am
Location: NYC

by Kazyole

1415chris wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:05 pm
Nice, very nice. One of the most interesting and beautiful recent builds over here on this forum.
The only small crime you committed was not taking the pictures with the proper camera ;) This bike deserves hi res pics and more of them, please.

Thank you! That's very kind :)

And I know. I just couldn't wait to share. Enthusiasm got the better of me. I originally was planning on waiting to do a photoshoot with a real camera until I could get the Darimo bars in so it would be completely done by the time I posted. Rest assured, there will be more pictures

Seedster
Posts: 672
Joined: Fri Jun 05, 2015 11:05 pm

by Seedster

Beautiful build. It's amazing how this frame still has the same appeal and allure after all these years.

Congratulations on finally getting your dream bike. This build and training will have you setting new personal bests. Now you just need a set of tubulars for the climb and descent;-)

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Kazyole
Posts: 236
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 1:45 am
Location: NYC

by Kazyole

Seedster wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 2:53 am
Beautiful build. It's amazing how this frame still has the same appeal and allure after all these years.

Congratulations on finally getting your dream bike. This build and training will have you setting new personal bests. Now you just need a set of tubulars for the climb and descent;-)
Thanks. Yeah it's a weird feeling, finally buying the frame I've wanted basically from the beginning. I'm just happy and relieved it actually lived up to my expectations.

I'm not sure I can do the tubs thing though as a product of the small apartment situation. I don't think I can justify having a special "just for certain occasions" wheelset. But I mean, I should be able to get it down to under 5.5kg and at that point the bike realistically isn't ever going to be holding me back.

But I suppose once I get to that point the wheels would really be almost all of the remaining theoretically available weight savings. Short of doing crazy stuff.

EDIT: Maybe lighter shoes are next? The new Exos shoes from Specialized look promising. They'd be like 82 grams saved over my Fiziks.

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