CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 16years old!
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RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
resolvedDo I get awesome "power" points for breaking a titanium saddle rail?
Popped out at lunchtime for some squash, and discovered that one rail had sheared on my Spec. Alias - still supported by the clamp, but clearly needs replaced...
Very happy with this one, so does anyone know what is the current equivalent?
Robert
I'm not hugely up on modern saddles, but I do have a vintage Selle Italia Flite that would like a new owner.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290659006173?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
got one of these t'other day
light and pretty comfy
even on my less than slight posterior
what would you want for it?
I got fat arse points for breaking a saddle rail. Just sayin'
Ended up with a Specialized Phenom although the Toupe (yep, really its name!) and the Romin made the shortlist.
The Toupe has a hard plastic pointy nose, potentially a source of unpleasant impalement...
The Romin has a kicked up rear, so very nice overall, but slightly sharp for slipping off the back of the saddle for weight transfer under hard braking.
So settled for the Phenom which is billed as being more MTB than road - flat like the Alias, but designed to facilitate moving off the back of the saddle.
Gone for the cheaper model with CrMo rails which might last better - I think I lift the (laden) bike by the saddle too often, and the rails aren't really designed for those forces...
Robert
I love my Specialized Alias on my road bike.
I was hoping to buy exactly the same saddle for my commuter. Some interweb searching doesn't seem to herald very many results! One of the wrong size discounted to £45, but nothing else really.
I have had a Specialized Toupe on my road bike for some time. It is nice and long as well as being particularly light. On my other bikes I have a Van Nicholas saddle and a Charge Spoon.
Getting the right saddle makes quite a difference and it is a gamble buying a new model but changing the angle of it can also help. I used to hate the VN saddle until I changed the angle.
Also your backside tends to become more robust (!) Is this the principle with Brooks? A long time ago I used a B17 - which became really comfortable, unless I had a break from cycling. So is the saddle or the bum that is broken in?
Yep, sorry, it's either eBay or switch to a current model, as I found out.
EBC will have 15% off this weekend, so not a bad time to go and have a look...
For a road bike, I'd probably look at the Romin, primarily as I didn't like the pointy nose on the Toupe! If you never slide off the front or back of the saddle, though, the Toupe might be of interest.
Robert
I ought to find out what the exact designation of the saddle I have on my road bike is in case I ever need to replace it, if the creaking changes to a cracking or if something ever burrows into it through the big tear in the cover. A *somethingorother* 143 from eBay for the sparebike is comfortable enough but markedly narrower.
Amir, maybe the ghastly truth is that the leather gets sweated into and made pliable, but after long enough to dry out, it goes cold turkey from lack of your magic gusset and becomes stern as Clint Eastwood's face. If you sweatily sat on Clint Eastwood's face a lot then stopped, that is.
Just got the new perch. I did look at the Phenom and the Romin which are probably similar spec wise to the Alias.
In the end I went for the cheaper Avatar which has more padding and is designed for longer rides (It's also very similar in shape to the Alias).
As it's for the commuter and weight and skinny'nes aren't a factor, but being comfy for over 2hrs a day is, was what made the difference in the end, and it does seem to be very comfy.
With apologies to those that don't subscribe...
This was my first proper saddle demise - it was bought when my "came with the bike" saddle died.
Captures my sentiment exactly - I've not even managed to throw out the Alias. Perhaps I should arrange for a burial instead?
Robert
How many points for this?
Have you sheared off the axle too? Those HT crankarms are prone to slip out if incorrectly installed.
Whatever points you get should count double if you managed to cycle home with one crank. Actually with that system doesn't that mean the one left in is loose?
Indeed, the crank is still connected to the axle, well a bit of it anyway.
Rescuing was required, happened 6 miles into 25 mile commute.
"That still only counts as one!" Gimli - Return of the King.
Indeed, the crank is still connected to the axle, well a bit of it anyway.
In which case, 6.0 for technical and 6.0 for artistic (if you managed to stay upright)
Sorry to hear that Baldcyclist, I'd take it back to the cowboy who replaced your BB and demand your money back!
I recomend doing what I did, take it to The Bike Shed, and get him to put on a Stronglight Impact Chainset. They are not as light as Tiagra but bullet proof which is what you need for commuting and heavy miles you put in commuting.
6.0 for artistic
Did manage to stay upright somehow, but not sure there was any artistry involved! Just sheer panic as I somehow strangely skied uphill on my cleats for 10 yards whilst straddling the crossbar.
It was an FSA compact crankset which only had a 46T big ring. Gone for a 50/34T Tiagra as a replacement, should give a better range.
Just to put icing on the cake, thought, I'll use the road bike for the next few days till crank arrives. I'll just nip it in to Bike works to get a spoke replaced, and trued. Rim bent too, needs rebuilt! £110, meh!
Oh well, knew it was needing done, but thought I would get away with the replacement spoke for a wee while! Whoever said cycling was cheap was lying.
£110 for a wheel rebuild!! Are they putting new spokes and rim on? I got a front wheel for just under a hundred quid a couple of months ago. Hand build locally, Mavic Open Sport, Shimano Deore XT hub, double butted spokes, and built all for £97.50!!
Aye, Spokes and rim. I knew it was needing rebuilt as it was popping spokes all the time, but thought I could get away with a spoke for a few weeks, but the rim is bent too. Been sitting in the garage gathering dust since August because of that.
Mavic Open Pro rim: £44
Black double butted spokes: £33
Build £28
It's on a Hope Pro 2 hub, so worth getting built on that.
This is the wheel as new:
Mavic Open pro Hope hoops
I thought Bike Works charged 50p a spoke (DT Swiss stainless), which would be £18 total - maybe the black ones are £1 each to cover the anodising costs therefore?
That would make Baldcyclist's wheel £90 if "basic" spokes were used (which is what I'm sure I paid for my last rebuild on a new Open Pro rim).
Taking off the cost of DaveC's hub (£24) makes his build £73.50, which is £16.50 less than Baldcyclists. The price difference between Open Pro and Open Sport is c. £18, suggesting DaveC paid £1.50 more than Baldcyclist on a like-for-like basis :)
Always worth doing le maths.
I know the pice of spokes has doubled in the last 12 months. I had a wheel make a year ago and the cost was 30p per spoke. Now my local wheel builder is quoting ~65p per spoke. He says the spoke suppliers are complaining about the price of steel.
Hey - Baldcyclist
You can borrow your ex-Cuillin for a while if you're stuck - bumpy tyres currently replaced with nearly-slicks but your wheels and tyres easily swapped back, bar-ends now in place, bargain rates inc staff discount for cce readers ;o)
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