Maiden ride this morning with Reggie.
Just reporting in with initial thoughts from a 1.5hr shakedown ride.
Fit & Feel: My SL6 fit is so dialled in that it feels more like an endurance bike than a race bike. I have the stem slammed on the SL8 (15mm spacer on the SL6) and the reach is 5mm longer and I can feel the difference (feels more like a race bike, slightly more pressure on hands too). That said stem angle is -12 on the SL6, and -6 on the SL8 and my hoods aren’t turned in at all on the SL8 and I feel they’re a little low on the bars too.
The bar tape job isn’t the best, so I’ll book in with Sam at CCACHE who did the bar tape on my Allez (literally perfection) and at the same time I’ll move my levers up a little and angle them in too.
The S-Works Power with Mirror saddle is so damn comfy it feels odd. My position is racey, but the saddle feels like a comfy lounge chair. It’s damn grippy too which is something I’m not used to. IE: Every time I sat back down after being out of saddle I had to micro adjust.
The Roval Rapide CLX II hubs are so silent I literally couldn’t hear them at all unless I pedalled backwards! Towards the end of my ride I started to hear them a little. I just assume they’re really packed with grease? It’s always windy at the park and all that I’ve read about these wheels handling crosswinds well is true.
The gear shifting is so damn smooth it’s kinda mindblowing and now I’m convinced that it’s because of the closer gear ratio cassette (same SRAM Red E1 on my Allez but with a 10-36 making for some larger jumps).
All in all I’m happy with the bike, but is it $10K+ better than the SL6 and Allez Sprint? Fuck no! No way (and hey I’m OK with that!).