Bottle Cage: AliExpress + Better Bolts Ti cage bolts (9g)
Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB-6500 (232g)
Brake Calipers: Cane Creek eeBrakes Gen 3 (199g)
Brake Levers: TRP RRL-SR (286g)
Cables: SRAM/Jagwire/Shimano (94g)
Cassette: Shimano HG400 11-25T 9-Speed Cassette (225g)
Cassette Lock Ring: ZTTO (5g)
Chain: Shimano HG (272g)
Crankset: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 Cranks 53/39 172.5 (604g)
Frame/Fork: Paino 48cm Columbus SLX/Campagnolo dropouts/guides (2513g)
Front Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7800 (111g)
Handlebar: ENVE Aero IN-Route 40cm (258g)
Handlebar Tape:
Headset: Campagnolo Nuovo Record (194g)
Pedals: Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium (165g)
QR Skewers: Extralite (29g)
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7800 (183g)
Saddle: AliExpress (54g)
Seatpost: Elita One 27.2 cut (98g)
Shifters: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 9-Speed downtube shifters (78g)
Stem: ENVE Aero stem + K-Edge mount (193g)
Tubes: RideNow TPU Road Light (71g)
Tyres: Panaracer Agilest Light 25mm (335g)
Wheelset: Wheelsfar Feder 45mm Extralite/Sapim CX-Super (1262g)

Weight: 7470g

I’ve now got the full Dura Ace groupset on, eeBrakes too and I’ve got the 9-speed 7700 downtube shifters tuned to perfection. It’s funny, but the indexed shifters are actually a HUGE upgrade over friction shifters!

Part of me misses the old campag groupset though, especially the look of non-aero levers, but I figure I’m not doing anything that can’t be undone, so whilst I’m here I might as well have some fun.

I’m now chasing 6.8kg’s. Buying a lighter wheelset for this bike wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense, so instead I’ve stolen the Farsports wheels off my SL6 and ordered a custom set of Brisk wheels for the SL6 to get it into the Sub 5 club.

I’ve ordered a Hylix threadless carbon fork which should shave off a lot of weight, but as pictured, with the heavy ENVE bars and stem it’s at 7090g.

Went to drop in to Europa Cycles to get the BB out of my Paino (I threw out a lot of my tools in the move as they were rusted up) and almost got a heart attack when I saw that the shop was completely empty. Turns out they’ve moved just down the road!

Thank fuck for that!

These guys have been around since 1973 and whilst I’ve not seen John Abeni in many years now the shop is being run by his son Alan. I have so many great memories related to Europa as I visited Europa a LOT as a kid, both the huge store on Anzac Parade in Kingsford as well as their CBD store (where I used to drool over Colnago frames). I also did my year 10 work experience at the Europa (bike hire) shop in Randwick.

Nick’s Malvern Star Oppy on the scales.

It’s not a bike night without some bloodshed.

Eugene getting straight into replacing all gear cable outers and inners.

Nick putting on a new ZTTO cassette.

Old chain had to go.

New chain + cassette + gear cables = life.

Here’s cheers!

Final weight with KCNC seatpost clamp and QR skewers + carbon saddle.

The Oppy lives to fight another day.

Last night Nick and Eugene came over to work on Nick’s Oppy which was in much need of some TLC. BMU (Bikes Move Us) Bike Nights were a regular bike maintenance night that I used to host where anyone who needed anything done to their bikes would come over to get shit done. Add tunes, beers and pizza (and most of the time a post ride) and it’s a recipe for a rad night!

It’s it. What is it?

When I bought my SL8 from Pedalheads Cycles I was given the option to choose my bar width and stem length. The Roval Rapide cockpit only gets as narrow as 380mm so that was locked in, but the 380mm only comes in either a 90mm stem length or 115mm (quite odd that there is no 100mm option).

Of-course, for looks alone I went for the 115mm, but the 115mm stem plus the extra long SRAM Red E1 levers has had me at 20mm longer from saddle tip to centre of bars measurement than all my other bikes (partially due to me asking the shop to also clam my stem, again, for looks!).

I’ve put up with the stretched out position for the past 3 months, and on every ride I do I find myself moving my hands down the hoods (away from the brake levers) a few centimetres, but I’ve finally caved in and made the ridiculously expensive move to buy a 380/90 cockpit (RRP: $850 AUD).

It comes in at 299g, and I had Sam and Victor at CCACHE install it for me. Good news is that I managed to sell my 380/115 bars for $650 on Marketplace within minutes of listing them, and better news yet is that the 90mm stem whilst looking way less aggressive fits me SO much better.

It’s been raining for a week, but first ride out this morning with the new cockpit and I’ve broken all my PB’s at the park. What everyone else says is right; if you’re more comfortable you can ride faster for longer. I had to learn this for myself though because I’m a stubborn fuck that still prefers to learn things through experience (in this case, trial and error).