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Tech Report: Post-Buyer's Guide reflections
Well, it's finally over!The 2005 VeloNews Buyer's Guide has been printed and will be hittingmailboxes and newsstands next week. The late nights, frantic flipping throughtattered productcatalogs, desperate searches through image CDs and annoying late-nightcell phone calls to product managers are over...for the time being.
The end result? The largest Buyer's Guide that VeloNewshas ever published (at 156 pages). With a feature section on14 of the coolest ProTour bikes available in 2005, a report on custom buildersand five detailed race scenarios features, I'm certain you'll findthis guide to be our best yet. Check your mailbox next week, the newstandsin about two weeks or just steal one from your buddy's coffee table inthree weeks...As I was rummaging through the mess that has built up in my cubicle overthe last three months of planning and production, I realized that it'stime to compile my yearly Top 10 Buyer's Guide list. Call it thethird annual Buyer's Guide Hot/Not list.
Hot
1. Integrated, oversize bottom bracket technology: You gottagive thanks to old Roger Durham at Bullseye for pumping out the first modernproduction two-piece crankset in the late 1970s. Shimano remixed and remadethe engineering concept with its HollowTech II crankset (debuted in 2003)and just about every serious crankset manufacturer hascaught on to the idea with their own variations of the two-piece cranksetand oversize, outward positioned bottom bracket cups. Lighter and stifferwithout too much added price. And if you're still concerned about "bearingissues" with the new bottom brackets, word is they're entirely worked out for2005.
2. Affordable carbon bikes: Gotta have a full-carbon ridefor 2005? Giant's TCR Composite 3 costs an amazing $1600...for theentirebike!3. Better fit: After scouring through hundreds of catalogs it'sclear to see thatmore manufacturers are producing a wider array of sizes (with correspondingcomponent size selection) to fit their customers.4. Team issue replicas: Want to own Lance's Madone or Jan's TCR?No problem in 2005. Many manufacturers are issuing nearly identical productionbikes of your favorite cycling heroes.5. Trickle-down: From Shimano's Ultegra and Deore LX to Campagnolo'sCentaur, to SRAM's X.7 trigger shifters, the good stuff keeps gettingintegratedinto parts we can all afford.Not
1. Paying for the label alone: The dayswhen fine bicycle craftsmanship conjured up images of the lone welder handbrazing a steel frame in some dusty shop in Europe are gone. These days, it'sall about pre-fab molds and gluing carbon tubesetsin jigs. I'm always stunned to see some manufacturers chargingtwo to three times more for their carbon frames when nearly identical,high-quality carbon frames are being produced in Taiwan or the People'sRepublic of China. In fact, you might want to double check exactly wherethat frame of yours is actually produced. You might be surprisedto find that painting and stickering a bike in one country is reasonenough for some manufacturers to say it was "made" there.2. Wheelset prices: Interested in dropping more than $3000 ona set of road wheels this season? No problem, there's a host of them inthe Buyer's Guide, with one pair over $5000. Last time I checkeda pair of precision hand-built sub-1600 gram, Mavic-rimmed, Dura-Acehubbed, DT-spoked wheels cost around $600.3. Carbon for carbon's sake: You might want to check the price andweighton your next carbon crankset purchase. According to our scales and pricesheets, many are heavier than their aluminum counterparts and costtwo to three times more. In fact, one crankset product designer candidlysaid to me, "You have to admit, we're in the fashion businesshere. Sometimes form takes priority over function."4. Tubeless for the road: I have yet to ride, touch or even seea pair of honest-to-goodness "revolutionary" road tubeless tires. The concepthas had more delays than Chicago O'Hare in December. But honestly,who's holding their breath out there? Not me.5. Chamois time: Thick, thin, vented, gel, wide, narrow,antibacterial,...Just give me one that doesn't make me feel like I'm wearing a diaperand can withstand a year's worth of saddle time. If you really want tomake me happy, try and keep the price under $120.
Thoughts? Comments?
