Ooh, that looks nice... Wonder how much it costs though
*edit* found it, bought it... Not as pricey as I'd feared
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New bike day is closing in!!
- Thread starter JhnBssll
- Start date
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Ooh, that looks nice... Wonder how much it costs though
*edit* found it, bought it... Not as pricey as I'd feared
BianchiVirgin
Über Member
- Location
- Norn Iron
You're a bling bitch! Nice bike. I prefer when there's not too much celeste color on the Bianchi. That black and celeste is a nice balance. Jury's out on that orange but I think I like it.
Oh yes!
It's here and it's all I dreamt it would be and moreThey had problems with the brakes, they're a little spongy and the bite point is way off on the rear but I've got it to ride around for the weekend and it'll go back in for fine tuning next week
They already seem to work better than the (very good) SRAM discs I've got on the Roubaix so once they sponginess is gone and the bite point is right they should be superb
I think the orange bits look stunning, some will probably disagree but I think my gamble has paid offThe Aria was a lovely bike to look at, but this thing is something else... I've got a bit more fettling to do but hope to take it out for a quick spin tomorrow to check it over before Sundays sportive.
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Nice one man looks great worth all the wait
Thanks all, the wait has certainly been worthwhile 
I tried to bleed the rear brake earlier and succeeded in making it significantly worse I had to stop for dinner and football, then went to meet some friends at the pub. I got in at 11.30pm and went back to the garage to finish the job, the rear brake is now almost on a par with the front and certainly better than it was on collection but not quite perfect. Seems there was a decent amount of air trapped behind one of the pistons, I put a bit of vacuum on the caliper and the bubbles streamed out
I've also had a tinker with the contact points and it seems fairly comfy so I'll aim to do a few miles in the morning and see how it goes Gears need a tweak first, the front derailleur is miles out but all easy stuff to sort now the hydraulics are playing ball
I tried to bleed the rear brake earlier and succeeded in making it significantly worse
I had to stop for dinner and football, then went to meet some friends at the pub. I got in at 11.30pm and went back to the garage to finish the job, the rear brake is now almost on a par with the front and certainly better than it was on collection but not quite perfect. Seems there was a decent amount of air trapped behind one of the pistons, I put a bit of vacuum on the caliper and the bubbles streamed out I've also had a tinker with the contact points and it seems fairly comfy so I'll aim to do a few miles in the morning and see how it goes
Gears need a tweak first, the front derailleur is miles out but all easy stuff to sort now the hydraulics are playing ball 
wheresthetorch
Dreaming of Celeste
- Location
- West Sussex
Looks amazing. The orange bits were an inspired choice. Brilliant. 
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
That's a seriously nice looking piece of kit. I wouldn't be brave enough to team orange with the frame/fork colour scheme - but then I'm and safe a steady person! It does work well though.
Shame the bike shop didn't get the set-up bang on but as you say easy to sort out.
Shame the bike shop didn't get the set-up bang on but as you say easy to sort out.
I got my first outing on her today; 54 miles at the Diss Cyclathon. My initial thoughts;
I'll start with a few niggles...
- The rear brake was awful at first. The bite point was waaay too low and once it had bitten the braking performance was significantly worse than the front. Add to that the ungodly noise it made at low speeds and I found myself not wanting to pull the lever Fortunately I suspect this was mostly due to the bedding in process as the noise and braking improved significantly over the course of the ride. I think once it's been bled through again and the bite point is where it should be it will be spot on
- The front brake played up for a mile or so - after a period of heavy braking the pads rubbed for a while. Again I think this will be better after proper bleeding, I suspect they're not fully retracting if there's air in there somewhere. Could also have been excess heat buildup as I didnt dare use the back brake at the time
- A few spoke noises from the front wheel. Nothing alarming but there's no harm in asking them to check it over for me when it goes in. They all seem tight enough but one of them has visibly twisted slightly which seems odd (they're the flat blade style spokes).
- The gearing is going to take some getting used to; I've gone from a 34-32 low gear on the Roubaix to a 36-28 and my poor little legs felt it up the steeper hills
- The matt black/celeste is going to be a real pain to keep clean
And then the positives...
- My god is it nice to ride! 54 miles on a bike that was barely set up and yet this afternoon I felt like I could do it all again
It was a pleasure from start to finish, even with the niggles. It probably helped that I properly indexed the gears and did some tweaks beforehand but I'm really pleased with the bike
- Very responsive, tucks in to corners nicely and generally goes where you point it in much the same way as the Aria did but without being quite so bone-shakingly stiff
- It's quick! 54 miles is the second longest ride I've completed to date, and yet today I managed my fastest ever average speed. Which is only 17.4mph but I'm really pleased with it
So, next step is to contact Elmy's and get it booked back in later in the week for a proper fit and to iron out the niggles. Then it's onwards and upwards to next weekend's 70 mile Sportive Happy days
I'll start with a few niggles...
- The rear brake was awful at first. The bite point was waaay too low and once it had bitten the braking performance was significantly worse than the front. Add to that the ungodly noise it made at low speeds and I found myself not wanting to pull the lever
Fortunately I suspect this was mostly due to the bedding in process as the noise and braking improved significantly over the course of the ride. I think once it's been bled through again and the bite point is where it should be it will be spot on - The front brake played up for a mile or so - after a period of heavy braking the pads rubbed for a while. Again I think this will be better after proper bleeding, I suspect they're not fully retracting if there's air in there somewhere. Could also have been excess heat buildup as I didnt dare use the back brake at the time
- A few spoke noises from the front wheel. Nothing alarming but there's no harm in asking them to check it over for me when it goes in. They all seem tight enough but one of them has visibly twisted slightly which seems odd (they're the flat blade style spokes).
- The gearing is going to take some getting used to; I've gone from a 34-32 low gear on the Roubaix to a 36-28 and my poor little legs felt it up the steeper hills
- The matt black/celeste is going to be a real pain to keep clean
And then the positives...
- My god is it nice to ride! 54 miles on a bike that was barely set up and yet this afternoon I felt like I could do it all again
It was a pleasure from start to finish, even with the niggles. It probably helped that I properly indexed the gears and did some tweaks beforehand but I'm really pleased with the bike - Very responsive, tucks in to corners nicely and generally goes where you point it in much the same way as the Aria did but without being quite so bone-shakingly stiff
- It's quick! 54 miles is the second longest ride I've completed to date, and yet today I managed my fastest ever average speed. Which is only 17.4mph but I'm really pleased with it
So, next step is to contact Elmy's and get it booked back in later in the week for a proper fit and to iron out the niggles. Then it's onwards and upwards to next weekend's 70 mile Sportive
Happy days
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
I got my first outing on her today; 54 miles at the Diss Cyclathon. My initial thoughts;
I'll start with a few niggles...
- The rear brake was awful at first. The bite point was waaay too low and once it had bitten the braking performance was significantly worse than the front. Add to that the ungodly noise it made at low speeds and I found myself not wanting to pull the lever
- The front brake played up for a mile or so - after a period of heavy braking the pads rubbed for a while. Again I think this will be better after proper bleeding, I suspect they're not fully retracting if there's air in there somewhere. Could also have been excess heat buildup as I didnt dare use the back brake at the time
- A few spoke noises from the front wheel. Nothing alarming but there's no harm in asking them to check it over for me when it goes in. They all seem tight enough but one of them has visibly twisted slightly which seems odd (they're the flat blade style spokes).
- The gearing is going to take some getting used to; I've gone from a 34-32 low gear on the Roubaix to a 36-28 and my poor little legs felt it up the steeper hills
- The matt black/celeste is going to be a real pain to keep clean
And then the positives...
- My god is it nice to ride! 54 miles on a bike that was barely set up and yet this afternoon I felt like I could do it all again
- Very responsive, tucks in to corners nicely and generally goes where you point it in much the same way as the Aria did but without being quite so bone-shakingly stiff
- It's quick! 54 miles is the second longest ride I've completed to date, and yet today I managed my fastest ever average speed. Which is only 17.4mph but I'm really pleased with it
So, next step is to contact Elmy's and get it booked back in later in the week for a proper fit and to iron out the niggles. Then it's onwards and upwards to next weekend's 70 mile Sportive
Only 17.4 mph av' - I've never averaged much more than 15.2 mph.
Good little write-up.
Are you sure the front caliper is centred properly? That's usually been the case when I've had rubbing after braking.
I've a Trek in Matte Dnister Black (looks more like grey to me) and it shows up every greasy mark. Still, it's only a bike so not worth fretting over too much.
My latest Ridley is all Matte Black, as was my Bianchi before it, but the Ridley shows the dirt or water marks a lot more than the Bianchi. I guess every paint finish is subtly different.
Come to think of it, I did put wax on the Bianchi frame, so that would perhaps explain why. Haven’t done the Ridley yet.
Come to think of it, I did put wax on the Bianchi frame, so that would perhaps explain why. Haven’t done the Ridley yet.
I'm tempted to get some wax on it, might look in to matte finish protective coatings.
Here's a quick photo with the Aeroclam under saddle storage box fitted
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Right about the Aeroclam sure looks good. Thinking the same re getting matte finish coatings looking at the same for mine.
pamplemoose
Active Member
Nice to see another XR3 Disc owner! I got mine in mid-April and have had a grin on my face ever since. Those Cosmics look better than the Fulcrum 4s that mine came with and I like your choice of aero bar. I'd love some kind of integrated cockpit setup but they're all eye-waveringly expensive!
