Equipment Review - Reynolds Stratus DV Clincher

Video Gear Review: Time Trial Helmets

Product Review: FSA - SLK Compact Mega EXO

I was hardly an early adopter of the FSA carbon cranks. Prior to purchasing my cranks I asked numerous people how they liked their cranks? Were they as stiff as the hype claimed? Eventually I too joined the party, purchasing the FSA - SLK Compact Mega EXO. The thought was the compact cranks (34/50) larger range would be better suited to ultra distance racing then traditional cranks(53/39). Many reviews one reads online often are written by people with limited exposure to products. I too must admit I've a limited exposure to the FSA cranks, I've been off and on them since 2005, I trained for RAO on these cranks, road a PAC tour, RAO camps, raced RAO solo, trained for the two man RAO, and now have trained for FC on them, ala I've logged thousands of miles on them.

First the good: The external bearing design of the cranks bottom bracket significantly reduces the total weight of the crank set and bottom bracket over traditional BB + crank set designs. But this feature is not unique to the FSA cranks; most all crank set manufactures (Shimao, Campy, etc.), have joined the external bearing bandwagon and are offering a weight saving crank sets featuring this design. As to the increased stiffness of this BB design, I'm sure the BB is stiffer, but to be honest I don't notice any real difference between it and my traditional cranks. So for practical value the FSA Crank Set stiffness is HYPE. The final good point for the FSA Cranks is they cost less then some, and are made out of swanky lighter weight carbon fiber, like the campy ones, unlike the alloy shimano ones.

The Slightly Bad: The FSA bottom bracket/crank set combination is prone to creaking. Yes, tightening the BB can help, but in general the crank set/bb design likes to talk while you pedal. Other friends who have been on FSA cranks have also experienced this wonder...

The Very Bad: The carbon/alloy bolt bindings can break. I haven't experienced this but I've witnessed this first hand at a race. Last year while riding for OSU, a women racer on our team had her FSA cranks catastrophically fail when the alloy threading connections carbon/alloy bonding failed and broke off. I also heard through the grape vine that a similar failure occurred at one of the 2006 RAO race camps.

Continuing in the very bad category is the general fixing bolt design for how the cranks are connected. Like all crank sets of this general design the crank axle is bonded to the drive side crank set spider thus removing the need for crank set fixing bolts from the drive side placing them only on the non-drive side. Now the problem with the FSA cranks that I've experienced multiple times, is that the crank fixing bolt un-threads while riding loosing up the crank set while riding. This year this has happened at least twice in the last few months out on the road, once climbing timberline at "RAO Llama camp", and once a few weeks ago I was 20 miles from home and my crank arm just sorta fell off. Is it just me who is experiencing this? Are my cranks cursed? No I don't think so, over Labor Day weekend I was up in Seattle training, and while riding with the Ti-Cycle racing team and one of the cat 3 riders had the same exact failure. Talking with Jay, he said he had attempted to have his cranks "Fixed" by sending them back to FSA and that he was now on his second set, which they had promised fixed/addressed the problem. But obviously they were incorrect as it was still was occurring.

It's worth noting an example of a superior fastening design. The shimano external BB crank set fastens the non-drive side crank arm through pinch bolts instead of a traditional crank bolt. The pinch bolts run perpendicular to the axis of rotation for the crank arm thus making it impossible to unscrew the bolts while riding.

My Review: FSA - SLK Compact Mega EXO = F-Suck-A,

Crankset itself (Two Thumbs Down) Compact Gearing ( Two Thumbs Up).

Ripping the Rim

Ahh.. Bike Parts. They all fail some time. Some just don't seem to last as long as they should, my 10 mile vittoria clincher tire come to mind. This last week, for the third time, in about two years, I had catastrophic failure from my rear Velomax Orion II rear wheel. Before I go into my unlucky experiences, I would like to say, that I do really like how the wheels never go out of true and are fairly light. But then again maybe these great traits have contributed to my troubles.

First Failure: Snapped a spoke at the nipple a few months after purchasing them, sent back they fixed it no questions asked.

Second Failure: Spokes ripped the rim apart, faulty rim drilling, had caused the spokes to exert a force on the rim over time separating the rim, like a can-opener, fixed again totally brand new wheel hub and all no questions asked.

Third Failure: A couple of weeks ago I was on my rollers, when all of a sudden the bike started make a sound like a train zipping down tracks the way classic trains used to sound ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk. Well, I looked down, and hollysmokes batman, the rim had separated at the seam! This third failure occurred approximately 1 year after the second failure. Yesterday, I got a phone call from them. The call went something like this..

Them: So, you ride a lot?
Me: Yeah, I guess you could say that..
Them: Well it looks like you wore through the breaking surface...
Me: You can do that in a year?
Them: Yeah, you can if you ride alot.

So, the crazy guys down at Easton are fixing my wheel for a third time. I hope the third times the charm.

Power Cranks

I first heard about power cranks from a colleague a few years ago. I had just come back from my first Terrible Two and was talking with Dave. Dave said that his brother who was also a serious cyclist had tried them. On his first ride with the cranks, he pedaled out 8 or so miles and then had to call his wife to pick him up, the cranks had just kicked his ass.

Power cranks, are basically normal cranks with the big exception being that the crank arms are connected via ratchets to the bottom bracket and must be peddled independently. The basic idea, is that you are forced to pedal correctly in circles, theirs no cheating. The neutral position for the crank arms is for both of them to point straight down, so yes you can descend with your feet straight down.

Flash forward a few years, all last year I kept thinking to myself, I should really try power cranks. But because all the literature indicated that it would take a few weeks to adapt to the "correct" pedaling style and while adapting ones power might decrease and finally that the power gains from the cranks might take up to six months to really materialize. I decided I would wait for the season to end before starting anything radically new. In August, I ordered my cranks; my goal was to be able to ride my regular rides on the cranks by September. The day my cranks arrived I slapped them on my race bike, the install is easy, and I proceeded to TRY and ride the rollers. It took me about half an hour to just get clipped in. The tricky part is that pedaling one side does nothing to the other crank arm so both feet must be clipped in at the bottom. Finally after getting clipped in, I found that I couldn’t pedal for more then 5 min, before my hip flexors were on fire and screaming.By the end of the week, I was able to ride the rollers for about an hour, and I decided to venture out side. Over the next few weeks I gradually increased my distance, first 20 miles, 30, and then 50, all over courses I regularly train on. At the end of doing the 50 mile route, it wasn't so much that my legs were tired, as my hip flexors had tightened rock hard and I could barely pick my legs up. The next morning, it felt like I couldn't get out of bed, I have never hurt so much the day after riding.

Eventually after about two months on the cranks, the pedaling action just started to become natural. The only real thing of any real note is my max cadence was much lower, and that when really hammering with a high cadence I would tire faster then when on normal cranks.

A lot of people, have asked, do I think they are making a difference? In some ways, it’s hard to tell. After about 2 months on them, I road my final double for this year, the Knoxvill double down in CA. For the double I used my normal cranks, I felt over the entire ride like I had more endurance and powers then I have had in the past, so I think the cranks are helping. Also when doing single leg drills on the computrainer, I'm definitely much stronger then I was before.