La Rueda Tropical Has Moved!

With the new hosting I’ll be able to put up better Flash enabled content. New address:

RuedaTropical.com

 
 
 

Speedbicycles.ch Bike Porn

This ICS-Design Prestige from Italcicli has to be one of the most gorgeous machines I have ever seen. Go to: Speedbicycles.ch for more.



Via: Speedbicycles.ch

New Saddle & White Tape for the Waterford

New Selle Italia Diva saddle, straight Thomson Elite seatpost and some white Giro tape for the Waterford.

Horology

Before cell phones, cycling computers and all things digital men wore watches…

Louison Bobet, Fausto Coppi

Luis Ocaña, Jacques Anquetil

Miguel Indurain

2011 All Silver Campagnolo Athena

Via Campy Only! details on 2011 Campagnolo gruppos including an all silver alloy Athena gruppo with some improvements and weight savings over last years model.

More details from Campy Only>

Terraferma 700C Geometry

The Terraferma Corsa GT and Corsa Strada (image will change in a 30 seconds).

Rhygin Metax Road

A few changes to my Rhygin: Swapped out the Brooks for a San Marco REGALe saddle. I almost did not try the demo REGALe because it felt rock hard and rigid but to my surprise with it’s classic Regal shape it is a dream to ride on.

With the long railed San Marco I was also able to put my Campagnolo Record seatpost back on the bike . I love the clamp on this seatpost. One bolt but still secure and very easy to adjust. Plus shiny alloy and an engraved logo from the C-Record era…beautiful.

My “small” boxy Rando bag was way overkill for me except when I was carting along my big DSLR camera with photo kit. I got a 2 liter Zimbale saddlebag and put two holes in the bottom to strap it to the rack and used the seatpost strap to tie it to the rack tongue in the back. The two straps intended for the saddle hold a small Lezyne road drive pump (a great pump).

I used to ride Speedplays. I need the float so my right foot can point out but I never was crazy about the cleats and tiny platform. I now have Stainless steel BeBops and am liking them much better. The stainless steel Bebops have as much float and are two sided like the Speedplays but have a larger platform. They are as light as exotic super expensive titanium carbon road pedals and have a lower stack height. Not to shabby.

Bike Fit from Coppi to Contador

The more things change… Fausto Coppi (5′ 9½”) and Alberto Contador (5′ 9½”) position on the bike.

Note that although there is a bigger drop from saddle to stem on Contador’s bike the default modern position in the hoods is actually higher then the old in the drops position of Coppi.

UPDATE:

I plugged in the geometry of Coppi’s 1949 Bianchi which can be found in the Winter 2008 issue of BQ and a Specialized Tarmac SL3. It doesn’t look it in the photo but the front and back are equally shorter so weight distribution does not change as was pointed out in the comments. I thought the longer stem on the modern bike might provide additional leverage but Coppi’s stem was 115 and I chose a 130 for the Specialized and looking at the drawing the difference is not dramatic. For a rider switching between the hoods and the drops while racing the contact points are very similar between the 2 geometries.

Cycling Computer App for Android phones

According to VeloComputer it’s patented dual sensor accurately measures distance, spot speed, acceleration and cadence allowing the VeloComputer mobile application to calculate propelled power and other performance data.

Unlike traditional cycling computer sensors, which measure a full 360° (degree) wheel rotation, VeloComputer’s sensor technology is capable of detecting as little as 1° (degree) of wheel rotation. This unique sensing technology is at least 360 times more accurate than traditional sensors. It measures a spot speed and acceleration with less than 1 second delay comparing up to 7 seconds in traditional cycling computers.

VeloComputer is available for Android as well as the Blackberry, Apple iPhone and other smartphones.

http://velocomputer.com/

Terraferma Corsa GT

Ready for paint, a Terraferma Corsa GT set up for center mount medium reach brakes.