2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO- Mount Washington Hill Climb Bike & First Ride Impressions

The 2012 SuperSix EVO with SRAM Red.

Smooth as Silk, and Lightning Fast! These are just a few very technical words to describe the 2012 Cannondale SuperSix EVO 2. I've been riding Cannondale road bikes for over 10 years now and they have evolved a lot since my 2000 era CAAD 4 Aluminum R1000. More recently, I've been riding a couple of different Cannondale's. I have a 2004 Aluminum R3000 with Optimo tubing, that I just love to ride, it's responsive with excellent power transfer and not too stiff to provide a harsh ride. I also ride a the 2007 SystemSix which was my first road bike with a blend of carbon and aluminum. The SystemSix has been by the far the lightest and stiffest, but also the fastest road bike I've ridden, until now! 

As pictured above, the SuperSix EVO has been changed from the stock build to accommodate my upcoming up-hill race on Mount Washington. I've added a SRAM X9 mountain bike rear derailleur, a SRAM 11-36 tooth cassette, and SRAM chain and paired up with a Cannondale Carbon Compact Crank. This is going to be the ideal gearing choice for the average 12% grade up the hill, 7.6 miles to the summit. Other subtle changes I made were in regards to my fit, so I widened the handlebar to 44cm and installed a longer, 110 mm stem.

 Gears for Hill Climbers.

Having spent a few hours yesterday morning dialing in the bike for the first ride, before I knew it, I was out on the roads of Southern Maine heading for some nice little hills around Mount Hope in the Sanford area. The roads leading up to the climbs are generally light rolling, but mostly flat. I am instantly amazed at how comfortable the ride is, bumps and cracks in the road surface pass under me unnoticed and I'm speeding right along with maximum efficiency, all pedal effort just progressing me forward. Standing up to sprint, I jet ahead in amazingly fast form (as fast as I can push this bike).

That's some low gearing!

Arriving at the base of the first climb on Fox Farm Hill road, I am able to maintain 7.5/8.5 MPH, 80-90 cadence and my heart rate around 170-180, well shy of my max HR. I find myself using the 34 chain ring with 28 or 32t cog and climbing with ease. As I stand on the pedals to climb, the bike just shoots uphill defying all gravity. Since that first lap was so much fun I descend and go back to hit it again! On the second descent, I push it hard to hit a fast speed, there's some nice corners and bends in the road and the bike just floats through with pin point precision where ever I want it to go. I'm able to experience even more bliss as I start to climb Mount Hope, it's amazing how this bike rides, accelerates, and how comfortable it is.

Our Super Star Cat, Harry, in full approval of the SuperSix EVO.

Here is my ride up and around Mount Hope from the park and ride in South Berwick, ME.


I'll be blogging a bit on my training on this bike in the next couple of weeks ahead of the race and definitely a blog on the race itself. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

Steve

2011 Specialized Roubaix Expert SL3

Ninety nine percent of us don't need the absolute fastest, stiffest race bike. We don't put out over 1000 watts of power in an all-out sprint like Mark Cavendish, we're not going to pull ahead of a world-class group of climbers headed up Alpe d' Huez like Alberto Contador. We're going to go out for a few 1-2 hour rides a week and throw in an occasional century ride or 60-miler, and we're going to ride New England roads with pavement that is cracked and rutted with frost-heave lumps.

The Specialized Roubaix was built for exactly this kind of riding. Well, actually, it was built to win races like Paris-Roubaix, where the race course includes dusty, muddy, rough cobblestones covered with a patina of tractor gear oil with myriad unexpected obstacles placed between the start and finish lines. Luckily, that just so happens to describe a lot of the roadways here in northern New England too!

The Roubaix SL3 is a fantastic frame whose technology was only available on the $7000+ S-Works version of the Roubaix as recently as last year. Carbon is a fantastic material to build a bike frame out of, since it is almost infinitely tunable in terms of compliance - shaping of the tubes, layup of the carbon fabric make it possible to keep significantly stiff lateral and torsional rigidity while adding a substantial amount of vertical compliance, resulting in microsuspension that both smooths out the potholes and dampens the smaller inconsistencies of the roadway.

The thing that makes the SL3 version of the Roubaix so much better than previous versions is the way it is laid up in better sections. SL2 and earlier versions had a separate bottom bracket piece that chainstays and downtube plugged onto, which resulted in extra structural carbon overlapped and bonded together. The SL3 chainstays, bottom bracket, and seattube make up one piece that makes the bike about .25 lbs lighter, and BB30 carbon bottom bracket shell also contribute to a stiffer, lighter weight system. Size specific stays for EVERY frame size mean that there is specific thought going into every size bike, not just the 56cm one like a number of competitors.

THE RIDE
The geometry of the Tarmac is relaxed. This gives it a longer wheelbase than a race bike, which makes it more stable and predictable at speed. It is still a light (16 lbs.), stiff, responsive bike, just more like a sport sedan than an F1 race car. The ride is plush and forgiving, but there is a sort of positive springy feel to the ride that seems to drive you forward with every pedal stroke. The headtube is probably at least as tall as any of its competitors, and with the 4-position stem that comes spec'd on every level Roubaix there is a huge range for fitting you comfortably (or aggressively) on the bike.

Full Shimano Ultegra 6700 drivetrain, Fulcrum Racing 4 wheelset, and FACT carbon seatpost w/ Zertz insert all add to the ride. Specialized's own Avatar saddle is plush, anatomically correct, and comes in three widths to fit any rider's sit bones.

We have Roubaix SL3 bikes in our Test Bike fleet. Come in, get fitted, and take one for a long ride over any road, smooth or rough!

First Ride: 2011 Specialized Tarmac Expert SL3

Specialized has concentrated an awful lot on their road bikes over the last few years. They have poured resources galore into sponsoring not one, but two Pro Tour teams: Saxo Bank and Astana, and new for this season: HTC-Columbia. Their Tarmac carried the reigning champion of the Tour de France to victory last year, and their Roubaix has been ridden by the winner of the race it was named for (Paris-Roubaix) for the last three years running.

Specialized seems to always be evolving their road bikes, and none so much as the Tarmac. For 2011, the SL3 frame has trickled down from the S-Works model to the Pro and Expert, making the Expert a fantastically stiff, light bike weighing in around 16 lbs at less than half the price of the 2010 S-Works version!

THE RIDE
The geometry of the Tarmac is very neutral. It is quick and nimble, yet stable and predictable. It holds a solid line in the middle of a pack, yet feels playful and positively springy dancing up a climb. The carbon layup, creating the downtube, bb and chainstays as one unit, dampens the rough New England roads, but doesn’t adversely effect the responsive road feel. The bike is a race fit, with long top tube. The headtube is long enough when paired with the Pro Set 4-position stem to put you in a fairly upright riding position if desired, but not so long that you can’t slam that stem if you want to ride like the boys in the TdF.

Full Shimano Ultegra 6700 drivetrain, Fulcrum Racing 4 wheelset, and FACT carbon seatpost w/ Zertz insert all add to the ride. One last spec note: Specialized has been producing their own line of saddle for over a decade, generally offering all their saddles in 3 widths and testing bloodflow with their saddle to help keep you safe and comfortable. The Specialized Romin may be the best spec’d saddle on any road bike offered by any bike manufacturer in the world! It is lightweight, attractive, and jam-packed with technology and comfort.

We have Tarmac SL3 bikes in our Test Bike fleet. Come in, get fitted, and take one for a long ride on a twisty road!