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Deals + Steals

830 comments · 11501 views
Brendan Rigby
Apr 12, 2013 at 01:38 PM
for the next 18 minutes, 2012 Red GXP BB is on sale for $1200 on chainlove. http://www.chainlove.com/

Specifying parts for a new frame, while rewarding, can also be a disaster due to non-compatible components. The SRAM Red/Black Road Kit-In-A-Box eliminates the guess work by offering all the high-performance SRAM Red/Black drivetrain parts to get your ride shifting.

The kit comes with everything needed to complete a drivetrain, including brakes. You'll get a 53-39T Red GXP crankset, Red braze-on front derailleur, and Red DoubleTap shifter/lever set. For rear derailleur duty, there's a Red/Black short cage, and the 11-28T cassette and brake calipers are Red/Black as well.

The SRAM Red/Black Road Kit-In-A-Box also includes a SRAM PC-1091R 10-speed chain with PowerLock link and cables and housing.
Rick Perner
Apr 12, 2013 at 03:16 PM
Chainlove has had the Red GXP Compact cranks up periodically for $229.....I've been sorely tempted
Brendan Rigby
Apr 12, 2013 at 04:01 PM
sorry, i'm dumb.  was posting quickly to try to get the information up before the sale expired.  

they were selling the whole SRAM Red 2012 Gruppo w/ a GXP BB.  Brakes, chain, cassette, cranks, chainrings, shifters, the whole caboodle, for $1200.  But I think it sold out.
Adam
May 07, 2013 at 04:55 PM
This comment is the antithesis of this thread, but...

I tried to buy some road tires from Sunrisecylery(https://shop.sunrisecyclery.com/display/1605/0/), a local bike shop who do online sales.  Based here on Long Island.

They never sent me the tires and I had to email them 3 times and call them 6 times over 7 weeks and got nowhere.  "Manufacturer blah, blah, blah...".  I was really patient and they were supposed to call me back multiple times but never did.  They never explained anything.

I said that I ride with the biggest club in NYC and asked them finally what I should say to my teammates.  I got the prophetic response of "It's up to you."  Of course it is, WTF!?!!

Anyway, don't waste your time with these clowns.  There is no way in today's world, with buying from internet suppliers in China, Vietnam, Brazil and Brooklyn equally as easy, that you should bother with them.  Tried to buy local and got nowhere.


Brendan Rigby
May 12, 2013 at 06:45 PM
SRAM Red Black, full kit, $1200. PF30. http://www.chainlove.com/

includes brakes, fd, crankset, chain, the works. shifters too.

only for the next 20 minutes...
Marc Bertucco
May 20, 2013 at 02:50 AM

Having spent a fair amount of time recently obsessing over what could have been, what maybe should never be, I'm thinking that Competitive has a pretty good deal on a PT wheelset here:

http://l.mail-competitivecyclist.com/YesConnect/HtmlMessagePreview?a=8h_Qc-qx7V78C4GsfKOvX9

Now if only JP's employers at Competitive thought I looked as much like him as everyone around here does! Harhar.
David Gardiner
May 22, 2013 at 01:36 AM
Marc check ebay, I just got a nice set of used allow G3 power tap for $700
twoyacks
May 22, 2013 at 02:36 AM
Marc...screw all those options...How much time are you realistically going to spend staring at blinking lights on your computer?  Get this thing...I got one...yacks

Ryan J
May 22, 2013 at 02:59 AM
I'd delay the purchase and save up a little more for crank based power. It's much more practical (if you really can say that any of this crap is practical). But really, you can find quarqs for under $1000.
Jeffrey White
May 22, 2013 at 01:04 PM
There are more bottom bracket "standards" these days than kinds of wheels, which really undermines the original selling point of crank based power. I'm a huge PowerTap fan. I have a training wheel and a racing wheel, both of which can be used for road and cross, both of which can be moved to any bike I may buy in the future. Not so for crank-based. See the predicament Vlad has found himself in when BMC warrantied his frame.
Ryan J
May 22, 2013 at 03:05 PM
If you buy a gxp power crank you can easily run that on either a BB30 or a gxp and then you don't have to have a power tap in every new wheel you buy. It's way more flexible.
Ryan J
May 22, 2013 at 03:14 PM
Jeff why couldn't you move a crank from your cross to your road bike? Aren't your giants both GXP?
Jeffrey White
May 22, 2013 at 03:39 PM
Well, my road bike is "press fit" GXP, and my cross bike is "standard" GXP. If I get a Cannondale through our deal next year, it'll likely be a BB30, but who knows. Why bother with BB30 when you're just going to undermine the entire concept of it with an adapter? Besides, I'm a lot handier at swapping wheels around than bottom brackets. Sticking with PowerTap for the foreseeable future.
Adam
May 22, 2013 at 04:36 PM
I love it Jeff, you are a man after my own heart!  After using the argument that 1 crank-based power meter is difficult due to different BB standards (true-I have just swapped from Shimano to BB30 on my 'fleet' and that was a pain alone for cranks, let alone cranks with expensive watt-thermometers in them), and argue that hubs are more convenient, you then describe the TWO hub power meters you have!  In your case, you could get a crank one for your racing bike and a hub one for your training bike!  Still ending up with 2.  I too have noticed that with bikes, when compatibility becomes difficult, which is all to often, further investment is frequently the only remedy.  I have 4 racing bikes.

Shame those pedal power meters that Garmin are supposed to be making don't work.  I think that would be the easiest.  Stupid Garmin.  And while I'm at it, Garmin- stop making HR straps that tell me my heart is beating 243 bpm!!!
Jules
May 22, 2013 at 06:29 PM
Adam said:
  And while I'm at it, Garmin- stop making HR straps that tell me my heart is beating 243 bpm!!!
This
Jeffrey White
May 22, 2013 at 06:30 PM
@Adam - You're right. Except I wouldn't bother with the pedals. I use different pedals for road and cross!

image
twoyacks
May 22, 2013 at 07:33 PM
Wait...moving the power meter from bike to bike? That's pretty easy to do when you are WEARING IT ! Spend $85 and dip your toe in the power pool...
David Yang
May 22, 2013 at 11:08 PM
twoyacks said:
Wait...moving the power meter from bike to bike? That's pretty easy to do when you are WEARING IT ! Spend $85 and dip your toe in the power pool...
Que?

Ediot: nevermind, I flicked my finger on this magical scroll wheel and saw you were referring to the cycleops powercal strap.

http://brandscycle.com/product/13cycleops-powercal-power-meter-165646-1.htm?gclid=CPnli-PVqLcCFUKd4Aod1DgAbQ
twoyacks
May 23, 2013 at 08:59 PM
Oh.....I just did another 20 minute interval on the computrainer at 250 watts... the powercal reading for those 20 minutes?.....wait for it......251 watts.  Don't believe me?  check my strava or my garmin.  Take THAT fancy pants over priced strain gauges! 
vlad
May 25, 2013 at 12:15 AM
Ain't nothing wrong with fancy pants bro.
twoyacks
May 25, 2013 at 02:37 AM
Hey Stokes...what's "off topic" about pimping an $89 power meter in the deals & steals forum?  Wait, if a good hr strap goes for $50...and the power cal is only $39 more...making it...a $39 power meter....I just supersized this deal & steal !
Marc Bertucco
May 25, 2013 at 03:06 AM
Yacks...you make an interesting argument re the whole HR monitor strapage...wasn't considering a power cal before, but seeing as how my HR monitor strap has mysteriously gone missing...and unlike the folks who routinely curse their Garmin straps, the only time I cursed my cycleops strap was whenever I lose the damn thing.

So is the power cal strap ANT+ compatible too?
twoyacks
May 25, 2013 at 03:09 AM
U bet your chamois it is !

twoyacks
May 25, 2013 at 03:17 AM
u can't really use it on the bike...as the reading jumps around way too much...but once off the bike it avg's and total's things pretty well.  If you have a trainer with some kind of watt reading (as I do) this is a good tool....It is also good for getting a read on your total effort for a ride.  I like this as it tells me how many days I will need to recover (strava does that).  For short intervals = no good.  For longer intervals and ride avg's = pretty good.  For the $$ = what do u really have to lose as it is also a good hr monitor ?  here is a ride I did this week on the computrainer....I tried to keep the watts right at 250 for 20 minutes...

http://app.strava.com/activities/55901015
twoyacks
May 25, 2013 at 03:21 AM
Oh...and so's not to confuse the powercal...I tired to keep my cadence between 100-102 for the entire 20 minutes...I did get out of the saddle about 10 minutes in just to stretch my back...it is pretty interesting to see how the power readings look as my hr goes up during the ride....
Mark Clifford
May 25, 2013 at 11:34 AM
But being able to see power readings on the bike is I think hugely beneficial. I am not suggesting Sky-esque adherence to numbers, but real-time views of efforts I think have both a regulating effect as well as, for me at least, motivational benefits (particularly during intervals).

twoyacks
May 25, 2013 at 11:42 AM
power readings on the bike are useless with the power cal...even with a head unit that performs smoothing (that doesn't right at all).  For regulating I use cadence...

psst...carbon is the chick on the rocks...good luck with that captain !
artworks-000046927774-84adx4-original.jpg
Phil Maronilla
May 25, 2013 at 01:05 PM
I feel so out of place... I hardly use any tool. Even my heart rate monitor, most of the time I forget to put on. I go by feel all the time. I know if I can sustain an effort in a race or if I can go harder or if I'm about to get dropped (I hardly look at my computer during a race anyway). In training, i know what a recovery/endurance pace feels like.

Having said that, I would like to know how much power I produce at the end of each ride. And based on all the enthusiastic posting by Yacks on the powercal, I just picked one up and will use it for the first time tomorrow!
Ryan J
May 25, 2013 at 01:19 PM
@Phillip While I train with power religiously, I never look at my power in races. In races, my mantra is "you do what you have to do, no matter what." And if the demands exceed my abilities, which sometimes they do, there's not much I can do about it. 

Where its useful is in training. Your fitness spectrum includes much more than recovery/endurance/race pace. Having the power meter allows you to train very specifically and if you have limited time, that's huge because every pedal stroke of a training ride is giving you the most possible bang for the buck.

Now, I say this all with a grain of salt. Part of me thinks all this expensive crap we buy is just stupid and absurd. And it is, in some ways. But if you can afford it, and if, for whatever reason, you want to get better at bike racing, a power meter is a very important tool. I have improved exponentially since I started training with power, and I say pretty confidently that it would not have happened without it.
Jules
May 25, 2013 at 02:50 PM
Power meters are definitely great training tools - when combined with good coaching.

An interesting note re: threshold, lactate, power etc.  For whatever reason, a PE or "perceived effort" of 7/10 is almost exactly your threshold.  Keep that in mind if you don't have time/dough/patience/geekery to deal with a power meter.