What is so different about the Salsa Casseroll?

Normally bike shops have these Casseroll’s grouped with their road bikes. To me, that is a huge mistake. These bikes take the road very well but the tall head tube, mount for rear rack, beautiful front rack and ability to rock fatty 700×38 with fenders this bike is more than a road bike. This bike is a go to commuter, light touring and really to do everything beside the hard single track riding.

This bike would fit in well next to your Trek Madone for when you want to be more up right, haul some panniers or maybe take the slower path next to your kids and want a more stable riding geometry.

The bike is ready for multiple riding positions

Earlier this week I witnessed the most beautiful Casseroll build to date with swept back urban bars and paul brake levers with bar end shifters. The woman riding it was glamorous looking with a rear rack and panniers. The silver bits all over really accented the paint and made me feel giddy that this person really got it. The bike had some minor swaps from the stock build (handlebar, brake levers, bar end shifters) and she totally rocked it hard core. It made me want to run home, order up some parts and duplicate the build.

The Build of the Bike

The bike has some Shimano bits, shifters are STI Tiagra 3×9. Brakes are Tektro. Cranks are Sugino.

For the person riding 20-30 miles maybe twice a week or the girl commuting through crappy weather these parts will be perfect. If riding in rain or anything other than dry weather I may suggest to put on mini v-brakes for better modulation and stopping power.

The build won’t break the bike, and gives you the ability to upgrade parts as you would like.

With the Pro’s there are always Cons

The bike is relatively heavy, it isn’t a super light weight steel tubing. If you are carrying it up and down steps it won’t break your back, but it will surprise you next to that Madone.

The geometry is for light touring comfortable riding. You won’t get a snappy feel out of it, especially with the Sugino triple crank and bb. It will excel and the fat tires float over rough terrain, but will feel slow next to your 700×23 tires.

I wish they had run a compact crank up front and mountain bike gearing in the back. Truth be told I hate triples and as it is a 9 speed in the back they could have kept it at the same price.

Final Thoughts

If this was my personal bike I would totally rock a Salsa Casseroll but with a custom build. Ordering a frame and fork, zip tying a little basket to the front rack, running new 10-speed 105 5700 group in silver. The external bottom bracket will stiffen up the cranks a bit. If I was looking to haul I would run 10 speed mountain gearing in the back, and keeping a compact in the front.

To me the Casseroll is for someone that understands fatter road tires, ability to run geared or single speed, racks, fenders and all that good stuff. It is for someone that has the eye for a custom bike but can’t drop the cash yet.

It’s a good bike and at $1200 you really can’t beat up on the parts for the extras you get.

This bike was provided at no-charge for review. Yes, I am a QBP rep but also have strong opinions that hopefully were shared during this review. I wasn’t bribed or threatened on this review. Amen.

The Troll was an interesting vehicle and rather fun to ride. Take the proven 1×1 platform, edit a few things, add a crap ton of braze on mounts for fenders, racks, and various other things. Add mounts for a killer Surly trailer, and have sliding drops like I’ve never had before. The Troll also has a bigger brother, the Ogre, which is the 29er based completely on the Karate Monkey. Once the Ogre is available in another color other than army green I plan on replacing my beloved Karate Monkey frameset with the new Ogre. It won’t be breaking any weight barriers, well maybe with being heavy, but it is tough, stout and can take abuse from the best of them. Oh yeh, it’s steel – that’s a winner too!

Details from Salsa Cycles

The Casseroll is our relaxed road bike, perfect for long road rides, credit card touring, and randonneuring events.

Intended Use: Randoneur, Commuting, Century Rides, Credit Card Touring
Key Specs: Steel frameset, Shimano Tiagra 9 Speed, Tektro cantilevers, Salsa Delgado Cross rims, painted to match Salsa front rack

Overview from my Eyes

To say the least, I was elated when the words came through this past September that Salsa would be sending an updated Salsa Casseroll for review.

For the past three years I’ve been commuting, morphing and loving my original Salsa Casseroll purchased as an all around steel bike. (Purchased with my hard earned cash, not given to review.) There were things I wish were different, like the strange semi-compact geometry which was fun to ride as a road bike but not as upright as I would like for long distance or commuting. Or that the long pull brakes didn’t allow me to run fat 38c tires with fenders.

As I have been beating around, commuting, tooling around Charlotte, taking along the back roads, finding hard packed gravel roads and learning what this bike yearns for – I am pleasantly surprised. Never did I think there would be so much change between the two bikes. The characteristics are still the same, but the handling, geometry and capabilities have grown. Personally, I added a rear rack to compliment and allow for panniers or a rear trunk bag. The front rack that comes stock is beautiful, but I’m still left wondering what type of bag to put on it. Normally I am left strapping a stuff sack with a bungee cord.

A full review is coming along well, I need to somehow do a quick over night tour on it before I can tell you how it does for “credit card touring.”

This bike was provided to me for no charge from Salsa Cycles. I’m reviewing this completely unbiased and my relationship with Salsa Cycles as a rep will not taint any views or opinions I have of the bike or how I share them with you. Swear.

Spec’s of the Raleigh RX 1.0 You Should Know

Weight for the 56cm is 21.5 lbs
The drivetrain is mostly SRAM Apex, other than TRP brakes and FSA BB30 cranks
MSRP is $1,650
The colors are stunning and I really enjoyed the sea foam green 

Overall Feelings

The bike for the price point is solid. I’m sure you’ll be able to find it a bit cheaper out there, as it is MSRP advertised and most shops run lower than MSRP in store. The setup is proven, the brakes stopped, the tires hooked up beautiful and are some of the best tires I’ve seen on a stock cross bike under $2k.

Recommendations

After my first real ride I swapped the seat. You should know my love of Fizik Vesta saddles and that is what was put on the seatpost. I didn’t change out anything else, not the handlebars, stem, seatpost or tires. This bike (other than saddle which is personal preference) is out of the box ready to race and be ridden hard. My only other recommendation is to take some very fine grit sand paper to the braking surface of the rims. Painted rims aren’t my favorite and after a couple tacky races the paint started wearing off the braking strip and the brakes worked much better.

If you are a first time cyclocross racer, or using this bike for commuting/general purpose riding, leave the sissy brakes on the handlebars. They come in handy and I really enjoyed them there even though I have made fun of them in the past.

Fit of a Women’s Cyclocross Bike

Raleigh women’s line fits me. It always has. Out of the box I can take their 56cm and set the seat height and be done. I don’t need to change the stem length or angle. With that, I am biased on the fit of this bike. Normally for a cyclocross bike to fit me I either have to ride a size bigger with a shorter stem in order to have the head tube height I need, or I run a size that “fits me” and end up with lower back pain on long rides.

Final Thoughts

This is a great option in the women’s cyclocross bike market. The colors are very neutral and appealing to many different types of women. I hope shops stock them and once cyclocross season is over they sell them with a commuter tire. With rack and fender eyelets this is a great year around bike. The spec of the bike is solid, the wheels are stout and it should take any road or cyclocross course you throw at it. At 21.5 lbs some women may complain they need a lighter bike, but this is a price point cyclocross bike. Either a great 2nd pit bike, or a 1st bike to try the sport, or to try commuting and general purpose riding.

Go check out Raleigh and all they are doing for cyclocross in the US.

Disclaimer: Raleigh USA provided this bike for review, I wasn’t paid or bribed. 

Initial Impressions of the Trek Lush

It took a full ride to get used to riding a 26″ full suspension bike again. Lucky for me the Trek Lush is very forgiving and climbs well even when wrenching out of the seat like a single speed freak.

The bike is responsive, with the DRCV rear shock and full floater design on the backend the bike rides very well uphill. The 26″ wheels allows you to whip around the turns and cut short angles as needed. Going down hill is the most fun you can have on a non-all mountain bike. The 120mm of travel (just shy of 5″) is more than enough for cross country riders, while the DRCV rear shock and sturdy fron Fox Shox is confident inspiring to push you a bit harder and faster.

Comparing the Trek Lush to EX Series

I’ve been riding an 2009 Trek EX-8 since it came out. It has treated me well and after riding the Lush it inspired me to pull it out of the attic where it has been sitting, hibernating, since the spring. Riding the two I need to say the suspension works pretty much the same for me. The biggest difference is my EX-8 doesn’t have the DRCV rear shock, and I would love to have the 15-mm thru axle on the front fork as it really stiffens up the front end in the corners.

The other thing you will notice is the geometry and of course weight. The Lush fits women better, has a better stand over and everything I have read on test rides, the Lush reacts better to lighter weight women with the suspension setup. I’m 160lbs, so I don’t need to worry about the lighter weight suspension setup!

Overall Impression

Since the Trek Lush Carbon was a loaned bike from a traveling rep I didn’t have the bike as long as I normally do. I didn’t make as many long 5 hour rides in the mountains as planned due to weather but I did ride the bike a good amount.

The Trek Lush, is a great riding women’s designed full-suspension mountain bike. It is straddling the line of cross country machine and light all mountain. I believe having a completely redesigned bike like this will push the targeted market. Hopefully get more women to try new things and go confident as this bike does inspire confidence.

The handling of the bike tracks very well, allows you to make some errors that other bikes would make you regret. That has always been the way of the Trek “full-floater” suspension design.

 The Trek Lush in the carbon model will be a stretch for some women. I am sure Trek didn’t stock as many of this model, but I do believe there is opportunity to sell a sub $5k mountain bike and the person interested in it will want the spec that Trek put on the bike. A good drive train, carbon bars, light components and stout yet reasonably weight wheels.

It was a very, very, fun bike to ride. Personally I don’t think I would go for the carbon mostly for the cost. If you are a woman in the mountain bike market, the Trek Lush series starts at $2,199 which is rather reasonable for the bike build. If you can find a local demo and take one for a spin.

Things I Would Change

There were two main points on the bike that I highly disliked.

The grips – some folks like those foam basic grips. I am not one of them. The whole time I was missing my Ergon‘s!

The crank – I wanted a compact double on this bike. It would make the shifting and chain slap a ton better, plus I don’t see myself climbing on a 120mm bike in the granny gear or jamming in the big chainring/small cog very often.

Disclaimer: Trek Bikes provided this bike free for review, I wasn’t paid or bribed. 

Here for photos? Scroll all the way down.

Out of the Box Raleigh RX 1.0

Very first thing I noticed is the coloring of the bike, very white with mint green ascent color.

Next thing was the drive train and sissy brakes. Yes, I call those brakes on the handlebar sissy brakes but I do like them! SRAM Apex shifters front derailleur, Rival rear derailleur, Tektro RL721, FSA Gossamer Pro Cross BB30 Cranks and sprinkled with Avenir components. Finally, rolling on Weinmann rims with Formula hubs and Vittoria CX Cross XG Pro tires.

Features of the 2012 Raleigh RX 1.0 Women’s Cyclocross Bike

A few key details I am really digging on the bike so far.

Rear rack bosses. Allows the bike to be used for more than cross. Commuter, grocery getter, campus ride, road bike, baby puller, and well… do you get the idea?

Tektro brakes. These brakes set up well, and are rather inexpensive.

Shaped rear seat stays. It is hard to see in a flat photo, but the rear stays are flattened which in practice should smooth the rear end allowing the aluminum to give some. At the least it shouldn’t be as darn stiff vertically (to your butt/back.)

The rims are slightly deeper in depth. The jury and all of its testing is still not shown if deeper rims help get through mud and sand. Regardless, they are deeper on these wheels and show the labels off well. Also, makes the bike look faster.

 More words to come soon…

A first review will be ready in a couple weeks. Need to get this bike dirty first!

Disclaimer: Raleigh USA provided this bike for review, I wasn’t paid or bribed. 

The Fit of the Specialized Myka 29er

As a woman, I stand 5’10 with 33″ inseam. That is a crazy long inseam and if you have ever seen my bikes first hand I take what is women’s geometry to an extreme. Super high seat height, with the need of a decent stack height on my head tube or stem. When sizing “normal” mountain bikes I normally am sizing up inorder to get the right seat height and handlebar height, giving myself a shorter stem to achieve the reach I need.

Specialized did a few key things to the sizing of the bike to make it more women’s friendly.

• Relatively low stand over for a 29er. If you look at the pictures the top tube swoops down and the cross bar is there to reenforce. Several women at 5’6″ that tested out the bike could stand over the 19″ 29er.
• Shorter front end. This is something all companies are trying to achieve with 29″ wheels. The bigger wheels, and taller fork lift the front end up. Many companies are using integrated headsets, flat stems (compared to ones with an angle up) and flat handlebars. Specialized is no different, there is also less spacers on the fork than most other mountain bikes. Leaving this bike with a relatively low “stack height” or amount of space taken up by the headset/spacers/headtube.
•  Shorter reach. This is a given, a women’s designed bike is going to be shorter in the reach from saddle to handlebar.
• Bottom Bracket drop isn’t too extreme. When manufactures try to go smaller on their mountain bikes, they often have to drop down the bottom bracket. Leaving you to pedal in to rocks and bang your feet along the trail.

Riding the Specialized Myka Expert 29er

It took 6 rides to get used to the fit of this bike. It wasn’t the bikes fault, I have been forced to make 29ers fit me over the past 8 years. This means my setup as I have been running it, has been a bit backwards. Once I rode the bike for a few times and put a slightly longer stem on the bike, the handling became natural and quick. One of the first 29ers I felt that I could flick around corners. Normally the bigger wheels leave me taking turns wider, but the Myka 29er rides like a 26″ for handling. (This is a good thing ladies!)

The front end came with a Rock Shox Tora 80mm coil sprung fork. The fork is “tuned for women” and what I found was it was more sensitive and seemed to have a lighter spring than what would normally come on a 19″ mountain bike. This is completely based on your personal weight and riding style. Sitting at 160 pounds  it rode well and the coil fork is very easy to maintain. This may change depending how much weight you have on the front end, and where you are riding.

More Saddle Time

Raleigh Capri 4.0 Spec from Raleigh USA

MSRP: $1,650
SIZES: 45cm XS, 49cm SM, 52cm SM/MD, 54cm MD/LG, 56cm LG
FRAME: Atomic 13 SL Hydroformed, Butted Tubing, Women’s RE2P Geometry
FORK: Custom Carbon Composite w/Alloy Steerer
SHIFTER, F. DERAIL, R.DERAIL, GEAR, CRANKS: Shimano Ultegra with 34/50t cranks and 11-28t cassette
BRAKES: Shimano 105
WHEELS: Weinmann TR18 and
TIRES: Vittoria Zaffiro Pro 700x23c
HANDLEBAR: Avenir 200 Series Road, 31.8 Women’s Short Drop
SEAT/STEM/HANDLEBAR: Avenir 200 Series & Women’s Road Seat
EXTRAS: Rack and Fender Mounts, Cateye Reflector Set, Clear Coat, Owner’s Manual

Initial Impression of the Capri 4.0

Back in June I took delivery of a box with a large Raleigh logo on the side. Inside was a Raleigh Capri 4.0 to build up and push through the p

aces. While I have ridden several Raleigh bicycles over the years but I have never tried out their women’s geometry. Let’s see if Raleigh knows their women shall we?

Step 1: Build Bike. Step 2: Fix the creaking in the front wheels. Step 3: Change out Avenir saddle. Step 4: Ride bike for 600 miles over 5 weeks.

Key Details of the Capri 4.0

At the $1500 to $2000 level for aluminum bikes the details are really what speak. No longer are you looking at a bike on a budget, or trying to find the best entry level bike for starting out. At the $1,500 range you start looking for a bike that will last you for a good while, see a ton of miles and have a great parts line up.

The Shimano Ultegra 6700 had me at hello, and the fact that Raleigh finally got the message to not short change you at the shifters or cranks is another great thing. Normally bike manufactures will cut cost by giving you a certain level of components but cut costs but only giving you a derailleur at that level with the other parts a level down.

Ultegra 6700 shifters, cranks, chain, cassette, derailleurs (front and back!) The only thing that isn’t Ultegra is the 105 brakes, still great and great step up from most no-name/Tektro that other bike makers slap on.

Avenir stem, handlebar and seatpost are solid. The handlebars are comfortable and the handlebar tape feels like cloth at first but stays comfortable with use.

Raleigh Capri Women’s Bike Fit

The Raleigh Capri is the first road bike (ever) I didn’t need to change out the stem and/or handlebar. I am a great example of a true women’s fit but very tall. 5’10 wit ha 33″ inseam.

The only thing I swapped was the saddle as I need a “cooter hole or channel” but the Avenir saddle, that looks much like a Fi’zi:k, is on a friends bike and she loves it. In my photos their is a Crank Brothers seatpost installed but this is due to recently putting it on for review, not because the Avenir seatpost did anything wrong.

Overall Feelings of the Capri

I have spent many, many, many hours on the Capri. This is a swing price point type of bike and I wanted to make sure women that read this bike get the feedback they need as it’s either their first bike or their upgrade bike. The bike is stellar. For $1,650 the bike rides wonderful, the shaped aluminum felt like a entry level carbon bike or a mid-level steel bike. Yes, I said steel bike. The Ultegra will last for dozens of thousands of miles.

The downfall of this bike are two. First, the weight of 22 lbs for a 56cm road bike. Second, the wheels. The wheels creaked, popped and are squirmy. I rode the bike with a pair of Mavic Ksyrium SL for a few days on a bike tour on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The bike became a dream and it also lost three pounds. $1000 pair of wheels can do that to a lot of bikes, and it seems to be a common trend for that mid level bike. New wheels and a completely new bike.

Raleigh dealers said they would warranty my wheels if they continued to creak and pop. I spun up the tension on the spokes and it seemed to fix the problem, but that shouldn’t be done by a standard consumer without wheel building experience. Leave any creaking and popping to your dealer, it will be covered by warranty if you happen to have this problem.

I would certainly suggest this bike to friends and customers, other then the wheels and weight this bike is a stellar for the price.

Raleigh Capri 4.0 Bikes in Photos

The 2012 Raleigh Capri line preview came out a few weeks ago. Check out the latest from Raleigh over here or visit Raleigh’s website, RaleighUSA.com

This product was given to me at no charge for reviewing.  I was not paid or bribed to give this review and it will have my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Why a Cyclocross Bike?

Cyclocross bicycles to me don’t require you to race cyclocross, or even to know what cyclocross racing is. Instead, I’ve always looked at them as utility road bikes. You are able to run skinny tires (most cross rims can go down to 700×23) with more clearance for fenders, racks and all in a more upright position for commuting or those starting to ride on the road. These bikes are often equipped with more durable wheels, easier gearing and sometimes more durable frame/forks. The person buying one won’t have to worry about staying only on the pavement as ‘cross bikes handle gravel and light off road very well.  Before the “comfort” fits that companies started coming out with 6-7 years ago I would put customers on ‘cross bikes for the more upright and comfortable fit.

Initial Thoughts of the Airborne Delta CX

The first time I rode the Delta CX was commuting from Monterrey California to the 2011 Sea Otter Classic. Straight up a huge hill, with the very aggressive tread cyclocross tires that come stock on the bike. I knew the bike wasn’t really setup for me, and all I had was 9 miles of trying it out but I really enjoyed the bike, especially the mountain bike cassette on the rear!

Fast forward a couple months, my second ride on the Delta CX was again a commute, 27 miles from my work in Charlotte North Carolina home to Mooresville North Carolina. Unfortunately it was a commute from hell. A flat in the middle of the worse part of town, a slipping seat post, and a creaking bottom bracket. All of these things are my own fault, a demo bike that was used in Sea Otter deserved a complete overhaul before a serious first ride. I didn’t give my little bike that luxury.

On my commute I did realize a few things on the bike quickly:

• I love disc brakes on cyclocross bikes
• The handlebars were super narrow
• Installing a standard rear rack on this bike would be difficult, time to look at disc brake specific rear racks.

Initial weight of my 55cm without pedals or bottle cages was 23.5 lbs

Critical Highlights Important to Me

In no specific order there is several things I feel folks should know about the bike when they are looking at it.

Obviously is the SRAM Apex drive train (minus cranks) which gives you 2×10 technology with gearing of 46/36 cranks and 11-32t cassette. Perfect for someone looking for a do all bike, and someone getting into cyclocross.

Next up is the disc brakes. This is something that is becoming a trend now that the UCI (main rule makers for pro cyclocross racers) have approved disc brakes starting this coming season. We will see in the next couple seasons a ton of manufactures expanding or switching their current cyclocross line up to disc brake equipped or at least disc brake ready frames and fork. You should know that the front disc is 160mm, standard disc brake sizing. The rear is a 140mm, which is perfectly fine for this usage but you normally only see this size on XC weight weenies.

Ability for fenders and a rear rack. The main guy behind product development, Jeremy Mudd, wanted this bike to be able to a little bit of everything. With rear rack mounts on the top of the seat stays and mounts for fenders at the bottom bracket chain stay bridge, and fork drop outs. You will need a disc brake rear rack, the guys at Airborne recommend the Blackburn EX-1 Disc that comes with a skewer to mount the bottom of the rack to.

Well equipped and well priced. Airborne Bicycles takes out the bicycle shop from the equation, saving the end user the extra margin that the bike shop would need. At an MSRP of $1,199 I can guarantee you won’t find a well equipped bike like this, with proper research and development behind it.

A warranty. Do I need to say more? How many “mail order” companies deliver a warranty with their bike, and a customer service line to call with any questions.

Swapping Parts on my Delta CX

Quickly I needed to change a few things out, saddle (immediately), handlebar, handlebar tape, tires, and seatpost.

Tires were swapped to my normal Kenda Small Block 8 that I live on other than muddy races. I’m able to pump up the tires to 80lbs and ride the bike on the road while still having the ability to hop off road when I need.

Handlebar was swapped mainly due to size. The 42cm FSA handlebar that comes stock on the bike measures 38cm center to center, causing shoulder pain and making the bike feel very twitchy.

When I swapped handlebars I installed Lizard Skin DSP 2.5 in Pink, but kept the stock stem.

Seat was immediate to a WTB Diva demo saddle, and the seatpost is a Ritchey WCS aluminum.

After swapping out these parts and installing Crank Brothers Candy SL (in pink) the bike currently sits at 22.1 lbs

Long Term Feelings of the Delta CX

Overall I am really enjoying the Delta. The disc brakes are encouraging when I hit some single track on the bike, and the mountain bike sized rear cassette has bailed me out on some steep mountain bike climbs. Now that I’ve swapped out all of the “touch points” I can say that the bike is handling and riding as I want. The last large upgrade will be the wheels, in hopes to bring the bike under the 20 lb mark for hauling over barriers this fall and winter during cyclocross races!

The Avid BB5 disc brakes do take some time to setup and be proper. Part of that is the long throw road calipers and disc brakes, part of that is the close tolerances I like to run on my disc brakes.

If you are in the market take the time and go check out the Airborne Delta CX before they sell out for cyclocross season. The bike might not fit your needs, but it will crack open that nut of the cyclocross market like no other mass producer will have the ability to do so.

Visit Airborne Bicycles, tell them I sent you.

FTC Disclaimer : I was not paid or bribed for this review.  The Airborne Delta CX was loaned to me, Arleigh Jenkins,  for free for the 2011 entire season.  I was flown to Sea Otter for an all expense paid trip with Airborne Bicycles but hopefully you know from reading my reviews that the trip, nor the bike would change how I feel about the bike.

The Specialized Amira

Specialized has tagged this as a true women’s race bike. Using years of development from the Allez Dolce in 2003, and Specialized sponsored elite women’s road bike teams through the years they now have a new model, the 2012 Amira.

Click to enlarge

High End Technology for Women

Finally, a ground up HIGH END women’s designed bike that doesn’t borrow everything from the guys model with a shorter top tube. This includes shorter chainstays, and completely differently geometry.

• Frame Module Weight = 1970g, more than 100g lighter than the 2011 Amira (I’m assuming this is the weight for the smallest size available)
• Stiffness to weight = The stiffest women’s frame on the market
• Women’s performance geometry teamed with FACT IS 11R carbon

Is there a Need?

I am interested to see how many Amira’s Specialized sold in 2011. Apparently it was enough to justify more engineering time on the 2012. My hopes with high end bikes like this one, it will give women another reason to compete, be inspired and have their own toys designed around their body type. Not every woman needs a womens bike, but having high end bikes makes it easier for a woman to grow in the sport without being intimidated or feeling “boxed in” by bike company marketing. How many women are watching the Tour de France this year and thinking, “God that is amazing” now they have a pretty package, designed around them, to answer that calling.