Ryan's Disc Bike #4 (Litespeed T1sl)

[CustomMetal]

I've just got the Overfast thru axel. Custom length, stupidly light, good QC, great customer service from panda podium

[spdntrxi]

curious what your opinion of the E 2.3'S. Will be?

and do you need xxx4 or xxx disc tubs ?

[RyanH]

curious what your opinion of the E 2.3'S. Will be?

and do you need xxx4 or xxx disc tubs ?

Do you have a pair of XXX 2 disc tubs? I've been looking high and low for a set.

[spdntrxi]

curious what your opinion of the E 2.3'S. Will be?

and do you need xxx4 or xxx disc tubs ?

Do you have a pair of XXX 2 disc tubs? I've been looking high and low for a set.

I have xxx4.. sold the xxx about 6 months ago. Bummer.

[RyanH]

Got a quick pic of it this morning with bar tape on.



Did a shakedown ride this morning and was reminded how much I hate tubeless when my front decided to fully deflate mid ride and my rear was down to 30 psi;



When I went to pump the front, it didn't want to seal. I'm guessing this is a fun fact about hookless?



After 30 minutes of pumping, I finally got 40 psi or so into the tires and hobbled home. The front seems to be holding pressure but the rear is losing it still. This is really effin stupid. I need tubulars, this is just dumb what people put up with for an inferior design.

That aside, the T1sl felt pretty smooth and the bit of descending I did do, it felt pretty dialed, maybe even Evo-esque. The Shigura set up feels leaps and bounds better than what I recall of 9270 and 9170. Loads of modulation and with the campy pads and rotors, very smooth in feel. I tested the campy rotors on a street with an over 15% grade braking to a stop multiple times to see if I could get them to ping or make noise and I couldn't. The only issue I have at the moment is that the brakes rub out of the saddle. It is a faint rub but it's there.

[caballero]

I might give this setup with the mt4/8 clipers paired to my 9270 levers. Seems to be a marked improvement in brking and not a bad deal when selling the old calipers.

[Nixster]

Personally not convinced by road tubeless + hookless. And tubeless + hookless + veloflex was probably a big ask.
Selling the wheels so soon does seem a little hasty though?

[RyanH]

Personally not convinced by road tubeless + hookless. And tubeless + hookless + veloflex was probably a big ask.
Selling the wheels so soon does seem a little hasty though?

After being nearly stranded on the side of the road yesterday and dealing with a nasty mess this morning, I just don't have the time, energy or patience to sort it out. I was iffy on hookless going into this and have already two less than stellar experiences with tubeless in the past, so I'd rather pawn the wheels when they are near new to minimize my loss on this trial. I dunno, I'll sleep on it and see if I want to try one last time tomorrow.

I did reach out to my friend though to see if he's not using the Mcfk 35 that I sold him last year, so I may grab those and run Specialized turbo cottons for a bit or I may pick up a set of Roval CLX (gen 1) since they're on discount to run for a bit. My preference is probably to get a disc tubular wheelset so whatever I pick up is probably going to be temporary or at least be a medium to validate I'm willing to stick with disc attempt #4.

That leads to the overarching question of why I'm even trialing disc again. The primary driver is the inability to source new 28mm wide carbon tubular rims. The second driver is my current minor annoyance with the slight (or not so slight) vibration you feel when you finish a stop on carbon rims (from like 20 kph/ 12 mph to 0). Depending on the day and how tired I am, that is a bigger annoyance than others. My recollection of Campy H11 was that it was the closest to alloy rim braking (silent, smooth) of all the disc brake setups I've tried. The metallic grinding noise and feel that Shimano has, coupled with rock hard lever feel makes me dislike their approach. Shigura has excellent feel, pretty much exactly what I was looking for...but (and there seems to be always a but), pad clearance on the front is barely there and it's going to take some tweaking (and luck) to get them to not rub out of the saddle.

[mike]

Love the shoes ryan! Stick with tubulars and you will be happy

[gurk700]

I'm 100% sure this is gonna be me in a month or so (swearing off of hookless + tubeless for the 5th time) and it's killing me to not have the ability to cancel the wheelset order (they gave me a discount when I ordered with a frame) because it feels not polite or something.

I really need to be more extroverted.

[RyanH]

I've been dealing with a lower back injury so I haven't been riding much (I tried 3 weeks of riding with the injury and two weeks off the bike). I think I strained one of the muscles or even possibly a very minor tear. Anyway, I resumed riding yesterday and today so I'll see how things go.

I managed to procure my Mcfk wheels back from my friend. All in weight was actually 70g lighter or something despite the wheels being 30g heavier. Yesterday, I was reminded though that 35mm V shaped wheels get pushed around a lot more than U shaped sub 30mm wheels. I'll most likely keep these wheels but I think I might order the Extralite 327c. Any one have feedback on them? There seemed to be minimal real world feedback on the forum.

I've only gotten 3 rides in on this bike sadly but it seems to be a great bike. Really like how it handles. Not sure if that's due to the slightly longer chainstays or possibly slacker HT due to the taller stack on the lower headset. The Shigura setup is the closest thing I've experienced with disc to a good alloy rim brake setup, which was exactly what I was going for.

Here's an updated pic with the Mcfk wheels. 25mm Veloflex are on it now but I'm probably going to swap over 28mm black Veloflex today.

[gshb]

Very nice. Am following this thread as I am bit by the Ti frame bug. Closeout T1SL in size small are gone sadly, but would love pics and ride impressions as they are hard to come by especially for the new Spezia.

[RyanH]

I'm unfortunately going to be off the bike for another 2 to 3 weeks (back isn't healing) so won't be able to get any meaningful ride impressions. My gut reaction to the little bit of time I've had with this bike is that the frame falls into the special category.

I did order a set of Extralite 327c and Galfer rotors which should drop the weight to 6.2 kg.

[iamraymond]

Damn 6.2kg for a 1100g Ti frame with discs is impressively light. You got a build list for this?

[gurk700]

Hey Ryan. I need someone to sell me on Marugas. But there's a twist. I don't necessarily have a problem with shimano brakes performance-wise. I'm sure it can be improved but I don't find myself bombing down hills these days, lol.

While rubbing has not been an issue on my either of my disc brake bikes, more room is never a bad thing.

-Do these have more space between pads?
-Do they weight less?
-Do they bleed easier?
-What are some other upsides that I can't think of?
-Or is your preference purely on performance?
-What specific models are those again?

Thanks dude. Shouldn't spend more money these days but I've been curious about these since my first ever disc brake bike.