With the release of the clincher versions of the 6.7 and 3.4 rims, Enve reset their pricing – the clinchers are all at the previous tubular price of $975/rim, whilst the tubulars have dropped to $899/rim. The new clinchers and the just-released 8.9 tubulars are now up on the rims page.

And here is Parker’s tri frame fresh out of the jig – just tacked together at this point, ready for an alignment check and then brazing the joints.

In other news, I just received my first sets of the new Enve clincher rims.  Building up the wheels this weekend, but here are the actual weights:

• Enve SES 35mm clincher = 438g
• Enve SES 45mm clincher = 456g
• Enve SES 60mm clincher = 514g
• Enve SES 70mm clincher = 530g

I will be using NoTubes tape and sealant to set up the 6.7 set tubeless with Hutchinson tires, should make for a great do-anything wheelset.

And finally for this post, next up is Parker’s Tri bike – here is a shot of the tubeset prior to beginning construction. It comprises  a custom ovalised seattube, Columbus Life Air aero downtube, custom ovalised tapered chainstays, 1″ True Temper toptube and Deda tapered seatstays. Now just to turn this into a frame….

Oh, and a quick PS to Jan who emailed enquiring about a TT bike; I tried to reply to your email but your address keeps failing to deliver – please try again and I will respond!

The parts are a balance of durability and weight, with 28h Chris King single speed disc hubs laced to Edge XC rims with Sapim cx-ray spokes, Race Face Zeus SL cranks and SRAM XX brakes. Total weight is 18.5lbs.

Once again I used my little blue road bike for this event – the titanium seatpost really helps dissipate the vibration over the gravel, even with 110psi in the tubeless tires on a custom set of NoTubes Alpha wheels.

The 1/2 field was small at 30 riders, so I was prepared for a hard race. Now unfortunately I have been dealing with some gastro-intestinal issues for the past few weeks. I had been feeling pretty good all week (in fact, last weekend I was flying in training; shame there wasn’t a race then…), but it kicked back in on Friday, and on Saturday morning I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to start. But I felt okay on the ride out there, so….

On the first lap I lead into the gravel so I could get a clear run at it. Over the top of the hill one rider clipped off, with two others bridging up shortly afterwards. Teammates then started blocking on the front, and everything slowed down for a bit. I sat tight, waiting for the selection to be made next time through. Which did end up happening – we went through the gravel at 30mph, then when I saw there was a split I pushed the pace as we approached the hill. Over the other side and we had a break of five away. One of which was my nemesis from the state road champs last year, Scott Gray – and he had a teammate up the road, so could legitimately sit on our group. Fortunately two of the other riders were very strong and willing to work. Mind you, we had a long way to go with this happening less than a lap and a half into the race…. Eventually, on the penultimate lap of five, we caught the three ahead, and the lead group was now eight strong. Scott started working and we kept moving. But I knew he would attack on the hill the last time up. I made sure I was on his wheel through the gravel, and then, despite cramping, I managed to hang onto him over the top to give us a two man break. I wasn’t feeling great, and couldn’t see a way to beat him, but given being sick I was okay with racing for second. We worked pretty well together – with Scott taking turns about twice as long as me, then at the line he led out the sprint and, as expected, I wasn’t able to respond.

So second race and my second 2^nd place; have to be fairly happy with the season so far!

This is the bike I have wanted to build for a while, but only recently were all the components I needed readily available – namely integrated drop bar shifters for an internal hub gear and an efficient belt drive. These roles are fulfilled by the Sussex Engineering Versa shifters and the Carbon Drive belt/sprockets respectively. To accommodate the belt drive the frame needed a couple of special features to enable installation and tensioning of the belt, for this I created a split rear dropout for the former and used a Niner eccentric bottom bracket (custom machined to take a 68mm width road BB/crank setup) for the latter. To continue the low maintenance theme, the bike has disc brakes front and rear, mounted on custom post mounts for straight forward fitting. Finally, for my personal use (commuting and winter training) I decided to integrate the rear pannier rack as part of the frame, allowing a small set of panniers to be carried mounted low on the bike and as close to the centreline as possible. Otherwise the bike has regular road geometry, with clearance for 25C tires and fenders. MTB (29er) disc rims provide a wide tire profile for grip on winter roads. Lightweight was never a design intent with this bike, but the final 24lb complete weight is reasonable considering the Alfine hub, heavy duty wheels, rack and fenders.

On the first lap a soft three man break went. Seeing as it featured one each of the three biggest teams, the bunch rode a very slow first lap. But they weren’t really committed up ahead, and when the racing got going on lap two, they were soon brought back. I continued to bide my time, letting others wear out their fresh legs. I did one dig on lap two to see how I was feeling, then on lap three started really looking for the move to get away. The one that stuck ended up being a subtle roll-off-the-front attack, that ended up with five of us up the road. With once again all three of those teams represented, when we got a minute I was fairly confident we would stay away. So I then had half a lap to figure out how I would win…. I was feeling okay, not super, and wanted to attack early, but was worried about the headwind in the last few miles. I’m kicking myself now, I should have tried it anyway, but I thought I could take the uphill sprint. It was cagey up the hill, then I lead it out and got a gap, and the line was so close I could taste it, when Zak Winter did a tremendous jump and shot past on my right. So 2nd….. Disappointing simply becuase I feel I messed it up tactically, and to get so close. But ah well, it should give me some motivation to go train more before the next one.

It was just my second ride on the new bike, and I am really pleased with it. Stiff, light, responsive – yada yada; I don’t want to bandy these words around without quantification (light I can put data to – under 13lb with the deep 6.7 wheels on it), but for me this is a pure race bike at it’s best. Also my first race with the Enve SES 6.7 wheelset. These were great in the windy conditions, I never felt blown around as I did at times with the old 1.68s, and they were so easy to keep rolling through once the break was established.

Finish line photos by Leonard Johnson / Hot Foot Photo.