I’ve been really busy with my new position at Pearson. What can I say…I love my job. It’s busy, I work with great people, I’m challenged daily to come up with unique solutions and really pushed to resolve our customers needs to have software that gets out of their way and let them do their jobs. It’s been great working on PowerTeacher Gradebook, PowerSchool and a new product that I’m not sure I can mention at this point. Anyway it’s great work and a lot of fun too.

In follow -up to previous entries, my Truvativ cranks continue to loosen on each ride. I carry an 8mm wrench with me at all times. I’m taking them to Performance tomorrow to talk to them about what they can do for me. It’s a total pain in my heiny.

On another note I watched the Blue Angels do flybys last weekend and here are some pictures from the event. It was the Capital Airshow at Mather Field in Rancho Cordova.

So when you think about Scatante frames, and their cousins, realize that they are being built by companies that manufacture the majority of the bicycle on the road today. That would make them the experts.

Martec of Taiwan for example makes the Scatante frames and forks. They also make Orbea, Kuota, and Kestrel. Logic aside most reviews you run across for these bikes run something like this one from Pez Cycling News about the Kuota Khan:

“I don’t mean to get boring here, but I have to speak about the build quality. It is the logical result when the factory is an ISO 9002 approved facility. That means they have to live up to top flight standards not generally associated with the cycling industry. Adding another set of eyes and opinions and living up to a higher standard at Sintema is nothing but good from a consumers point of view… But enough of the babble about factories.”Read the rest at Pez

So the real question is if they build them, who designs them? Most of the brands design their own frames, either in house or hiring an outside industrial design firm. The manufacturer will offer suggestions on engineering, or the brand may have their own engineers working on solutions with the manufacturers. So when it comes down to how a bike rides it’s mostly the design that determines those characteristics, and as long as a good company is making the frame that should be of little concern.

I’ve added an image at the top of this article that I think warrants some special attention. It is taken from a newsletter that Trek bicycle produces. I saw it when I read this article on the Bicycle Design blog. While it looks bad, it may not be structurally inferior. Additionally Trek makes no reference to the manufacturer, or brand of bike that was dissected. No one has any idea how cheap this frame is. I doubt that Specialized, Giant, Fuji or any other recognizable brand has construction as poor as this. Additionally, with Martec in mind, I doubt that these products meet ISO compliance.

The next time you look at a bike, worry less about who made it and more about how it rides. So go out and ride!

Here is a great article really laying out who makes which bikes.

Doing a search on the SRAM/Truvative site I found this manual (PDF) which states that the splines, and threads need to be greased. Well, I guess I need to call their warranty group to see what they have to say.

UPDATE:
After striping the grease off the crank bolt, spindle, and bearing seal, the crank did not come loose. In light of the SRAM tech specs though I decided to try another solution…

Upon further research several sites have posted threads discussing Truvative cranks coming loose. It appears that the solution to the problem lies in greasing the head of the bolt, the splines, the floating seal, and using loctite on the threads on the bolt. I only had blue loctite and will try this first. Many posts seemed to indicate that the heavier-duty green loctite was the solution. Time will tell.

I thought I would write up a review for this bike as the usual resource for reviews, roadbikereview.com, seems to have stopped updating their site. I added this bike, and wrote a review, but after a month it has yet to appear on their site. Oh well. Some of the old reviews I read about the 2002 and 2003 Scattante CFR bikes were less than inspiring. They cited issues with the reseller, Supergo, and the bikes as well. Things as severe as high speed head wobble in descents. I’ve put in about 700 miles on it so far, mostly on my commute to work. I’ve taken it out on a few longer rides, one was a trip to Davis from Sacramento with my friend Aaron, and another was one of my favorite rides from my old stomping grounds the Santa Cruz mountains.

Wow, what a ride! I posted earlier about the crash on this ride, but the other 90% of the ride was fantastic. The Scattante CFR climbs well, it’s got great gearing for climbs as long as you are relatively fit, and its comfortable for long stints in the saddle. The frame is stiff, and light with no hint of chain rub when you are out of the saddle. As for old issues with previous versions of this frame, no head wobble what-so-ever. I was descending down Bear Creek Road with traffic (+35 MPH Mr. Officer) and I can tell you from that alone, this bike corners like it’s on rails, even with my high mileage, puncture resistant, commuter tires.

The 07 Ultegra shifter are simply dead-on precise, and the trim clicks work like they should. Trim clicks are half clicks that allow you to cross gear a bit and keep the front derailleur from rubbing on the chain. My ancient STI shifters were not nearly as refined as the new ones, guess ten years of progress and refinement help.

Transitioning from the Ti frame to the carbon was an easy transition. I was always a bit disappointed in how flexible the Ti frame was, especially when standing or sprinting. It was light, but I just wasn’t ever excited by the ride. The Scattante CFR doesn’t have any of these issues. It rides a lot like my old steel frame being comfortable and stiff, but light. There are a couple of issues with the cable housing rapping on the head tube and sounding rattly, but I can resolve that with a bit of padding around the housing at the head tube. I also want to add some anti-scuff at the head tube as well to keep the frame shiny where the cables will rub.

Here are the specs:

• Frame: Carbon Monocoque Road Frame
• Fork: Carbon Blade, Carbon Steerer
• Headset: 1 1/8″ Integrated, 36/45 degree
• Crankset: TruVativ Rouleur 2.2TM, 53/39T, Double
• Bottom Bracket: TruVativ
• Shift Levers: Shimano Ultegra STI
• Handlebar: Forte Precision 6061-T6 Aluminum w/ 31.8mm clamp
• Stem: Forte Precision Aluminum, cold forged, w/ 31.8mm clamp
• Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra, Double, 31.8mm clamp
• Rear Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra, Double, 10-speed
• Cassette: Shimano 105 12/25T, 10-speed
• Brakes: Tektro R740, Dual Pivot
• Wheelset: Shimano WH-R561-L, 16H front and 20H rear
• Tires: Continental Ultra Gatorskin 700×23
• Pedals: Speedplay X5 (old)
• Seatpost: Forte Precision Aluminum/Carbon, 27.2 x 350mm
• Saddle: Velo   
• Chain: KMC DX10 SC
• Grips/Tape: Synthetic cork tape

The only bits I changed out from the stock bike were the tires, I prefer Continental tires, and the seat. Although I’m still trying out several seats to find the one true seat. Other than that, I’m a bit skeptical of the bars and stem, I don’t know who manufactures them, as they are re-brands from someone else. I will change those out before the spring of next year.

For the ~$1,700 that these bikes are going for I think they are an incredible bargain.

Update – I have recently noticed pulsing when using the rear brakes. With the wheel in a truing stand I noticed that the seam on the drive side is bulged slightly (a one inch section, with a ~1 mm change) with no deformation in the roundness. While not catastrophic it is annoying. So much for Shimano 105 quality control.