bjarnetv

The back bike (with chromor tubing) has been my everyday commuter bike for a couple of years - the frame is pretty much the same size and geometry as my modern size 58 CAAD12, so pretty aggressive compared to how it was supposed to be set up back in the 90s. (i guess thats the reason why vintage handlebars have such a big drop)

Battle of the vintage steel frames! Two vintage Daccordi frames with the same geometry - Colombus Chromor vs SLX - will there be any noticeable difference? some intense testing will be needed, but first some much needed service to make sure both are up to the task

i think realigning the BB would be impossible without converting it to another standard, since removing material would make the holes to big for the bearings. The bike's only 3 months old, so if the BB is indeed badly machined and keeps eating bearings, i would think getting a replacement frame from Cannondale wouldn't be to hard for the dealer. I suspect they will replace the bearings one more time before considering replacing the frame though.

The caad is aluminium and uses press fit BB, so the only way to mess things up too badly (except for making the opening to big so that the bearing can wobble around) is not aligning the two sides properly when machining them, thus making the axle improperly centered. So in theory, pressing the bearing directly into the frame is superior to pressing them into cups, as there is one less part to misalign and with the potential to creak. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of manufacturers get quite sloppy with the tolerances, so it doesn't matter how you mount the bearings, because they will start creaking anyway because they dont fit properly. At least they are cheap and easy to replace, so at least thats something...

Yeah, i'm worried that might be the case - but unless the dealer suspects the same thing, actually proving it and getting a new frame might be difficult. Crossing my fingers the mechanics has a bit more brains then the shop-clerk.

Yeah i know, i was really close to blowing up when he said that, but in the end i just calmly explained that he was wrong and i was right. Didn't want him to refuse looking at the bike after all. it's cannondale caad12 with a BB30a SI hollowgram cranks. i suspect the new bearings they put in must have been knackered from the factory, and they just didn't check them properly before inserting them, or there is something wrong with the machining tolerances on the frame, making the bearing slightly misaligned and thus ruining them quickly.

Well, the saga of the bottom bracket continues. It started making a noise again, so i pulled the axle and inspected the bearings. They made a slight grinding noise when turning, and it almost felt like they had sand particles inside! Having only ridden around 300km on the new bearings (in dry conditions), i was obviously not happy with the situation, so it went back to the shop today. The guy behind the counter was oviuosly having a bad day, and was not happy to receive the bike - he even told me its normal for bearings to feel gritty! Hope they take it seriously and figure out why the bike keeps eating bearings...

start saving! GS lives up to the hype

The last year it's been pretty spot on most of the time, i guess around +/- 1,5 sec a day. the only reason to adjust the time is to set the correct date once in a while.

The regular snowflake still exists, and is of course the superior version (SBGA211) The gold-index version is a separate model (SBGA259) Though i really like the dial on the snowflake, i'm not too keen on the shape of the case. i prefer the more angular cuts of the other case designs... which is partly why i have a SBGH001 instead i'm not to anal about accuracy, but i prefer a watch where i can forget about adjusting it for a month or two without it getting too bad. so i guess i'm happy as long as its off by less than 5 minutes after two months.

Just picked my bike up from the shop - they replaced the axle and bearings free of charge, so that was nice. Will make sure to dismantle and regrease at least once a month from now on, just to make sure it never happens again.

Went on a pretty high intensity ride yesterday, so i had planned to take it easy and just enjoy a short trip in the sun today. Ended up being caught up in the mood, so the trip ended up as a 108km ride... i had forgotten my wallet, and only brought a banana with me, so on the way home i was pretty much running on fumes ? https://www.strava.com/activities/1799130499

indeed!

some more tweeter porn

I sent the pictures to the store, and they said to bring it in next week. Hopefully they will change both axle and bearings free of charge...

I've ridden in dry conditions 99% of the time, and kept the bike quite clean - never pressure washed though, as i've read it could harm the bearings ? Bearing turned around nicely without any grinding, but there were some grit underneath the dustcover, so it has obviously gotten quite dirty. it didn't make any noise before a recent trip when it made a slight creak when the crank arms were vertical.

My bike recently developed a slight creak in the cranks, so i pulled the axle to clean and re-grease it, only to be greeted by this sight. Not exactly the kind of wear i had expected after only 2,5 months of riding on a brand new bike (though it has covered 1,733 km in those months) I'm taking it back to the shop to see if i cant get a new axle and bearings under warranty.

A cycling thread eh? After riding an old early nineties daccordi steel bike for a couple of years, i finally bought a moden caad 12 ultegra in early june this year. I honestly didn't expect the difference to be as big as it was, and the modern alu bike just feels so much better. It's so quick to accelerate, so fast, and the handling is insane! So far i've ridden it 1648 km, and i'm getting kind of worried that i spend all my free time riding the damn thing (or thinking about it) i've even bought a used wahoo kickr so that i can keep riding it through the winter... i think it might be time for an intervention.

i liked the first and third book better then the second. i think part of it might be related to the translation by Ken Liu, which just felt better/more natural to me then joel martinsens work. i didn't think about it when reading the dark forest, but something just felt a bit off. when i started reading death's end it became immediately apparent though, as it recaptured that missing essence from the dark forest.

Not sure if other people are as fond of these records as i am, but here is a heads up anyway Ryo Fukui's two first albums are being reissued in the EU/US as a limited edition half speed remasters in a couple of days. These records were reissued i japan last year, and most were quickly bought up by resellers and sold with a huge markup, so if you are interested i would preorder before it is too late. both records are great, and even though i bought the japanese reissue last year, i just had to order the pair, to see if the remastering is any good http://wrwtfww.com/album/scenery http://wrwtfww.com/album/mellow-dream

Man, those Arthelute speakers are expensive! at least they use TAD 2001's so they probably sound alright wonder how they compare to the TAD 2402? i listened to a pair once, and even though they sounded good, they sure could benefit from some good subs and supertweeters.

And alnico even biggerer and heavyerer! Comparing the TAD and Radian is quite interesting though. Both are 1" drivers with beryllium diaphragms, but the TAD is built like a tank and sounds way more 3D and lifelike compared to the Radian. I guess its mostly down to tight tolerances and better phase plug design. the radian is built like a mcdonalds toy, and just a slight variation in backplate tightening will affect the performance A LOT.

A selection of three 1" tweeters. it turns out you actually can determine sound quality by weight (TAD 2001, Radian 475 Beryllium, 18sound ND1020)

Though i'm pretty happy with Anaview class-D amps paired with compression drivers in my current setup, i still recall with horror how bad the old icepower Rotel amps sounded driving ESL63's so try before buying (the new quads are basically improved esl63's as far as i understand) The best amp i ever tried with the esl63 were an old 200w class A/B sumo andromeda, so my bet would be something powerful but neutral sounding. when i tried tubes on them it always sounded to soft and polite.

i haven't really watched a whole lot of recent stuff (and enjoyed it), but both Youjo senki and Flip flappers were good (if flawed) Youjo senki starts out pretty uninteresting (and ugly) but turns out to be pretty enjoyable. Flip flappers starts out nice, but the ending episodes aren't too good. Being an old robot fan i also liked gundam iron blooded orphans s1 a lot. s2 was merely ok...