Crossroads Bicycles

I ride a Gunnar Roadie. I got it in 2007, and it rides like a nice steel frame is expected to, at about a pound or two heavier than any modem carbon fiber frame. The parts came from my 2000 Voo Doo Rada: Shimano Ultegra 6500 grouppo and Mavic CXP 33 rimmed wheels. All 9 speed. I did upgrade to compact cranks about a year ago. Well, that spec is about to be changed.

I got an advance from Esther, for my birhday, father’s day, wedding anniversary, Christmas presents, and got some parts.

My new parts consist of Shimano Dura Ace 7900 chain, Ultergra 6600 10 speed cassette, Sram Force shifters, rear derailleur, and Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheel set.

My old Ultegra shifters started to stick, refusing to up/down shift. Since the Mavic wheels were 10 speed ready, I thought why not take advantage of this and upgrade to Sram’s excellent DoubleTap shifters. I read last year the pros were running Sram shifters with Shimano cassettes, and I wanted to give that a try. The new Dura Ace chain was entirely new, with a master link and perforated plates.

As I slowly took off the older parts, 9 year old drivetrain, the new parts installed easily enough. After positioning Sram Force RD, I turned the crank and shifted through the rear shifter with unimagined ease. Sram and Shimano is a marriage made for road riding.

My older ride came in at 19.90 lbs. The new ride came in at 18.98 lbs. Mavic wheels alone took off 0.6 lbs!

Enough talk. Ride impressions right after the build was impressive. I read Sram Rival shifted as good as Force. I beg to differ. Force feels a lot closer to Red. Rival is solid but Force is refined. Mated with a high end Shimano cassette and shifting performance is clock work. It’s like butta’ without the fat.

I took the new ride on a Monday nooner earlier this week. Shifters worked as promised, no gears dropped, no gears missed. And the Mavic Ksyrium Elites roll so much faster than my 32 spoke wheels. There is no replacement for reducing rotating mass. It could have been the easier Monday ride, me being well rested or the upgraded bike, but I rode with he group until the 17 mile mark in 22 mile loop. I got separated on Whiskey Hill and Sandhill due to a full stop. The pack made the left turn, and cars were coming in both directions. Live another day to ride again.

Suffice it to say, I think the upgrade works quite well. There were definite performance gains. Great shifting, faster rolling wheels all work together harmoniously. But I am sure losing 50 lbs also had something to do with it.