Minneapolis.

There's a nice velodrome out here.

First - the sad news - I got advanced notice this week that I am going to be laid off. I have to part with my company (and co-workers that were like family), and my crackberry.
I am now in transition mode, and possibly getting a job with my company's new owners, so my work gets interesting in the coming months.

That being said, this is a good thing for me for various reasons I can chat about over beer or computrainer, and its time for getting new things (like a personal computer and cell phone after having work ones for sooooo long). So here is where it is kinda sorta bike\Kissena related. I need a new personal cell. My current one (that I don't even carry) is a vcr from 2005.

I am thinking about an android ? Anyone have any phone opinions, based on what works well with Strava, google maps, and other bike related "necessary" applications ?
I love google maps on my blackberry, and it has the bike directions option. On my brother's iPhone, google maps does NOT have the bike option. He heard that is google's way of saying "get an android". Not sure if thats true, but if it is thats an iPhone killer for me.

thanks all.

Joshua

PS - I want to be Strava friends with WDC. It's the real #1 reason I need a new phone.

Wait, are you saying WDC is nicer to his Strava friends rather than the rest of us?

Also, sad to hear that you are getting laid off. hopefully it is a good seperation package.

I am on iPhone, but I would be on an android, if our IT folks would not be scared of the technology. There is some significant inconsistency of how particular android phones work with the apps available since there isn't nearly as much consistency of how the platform is used by the carriers. It is probably more important to get a good carrier that isn't going to put a bunch of propriatary apps on the phone and muck around with the interface in weird ways.

Sorry to hear the news.

I'm firmly in the Android camp. Android in general is much more customizable, and gives you almost infinite options for layouts, widgets, etc. if you're a power user. IOS is probably a bit more stable and better on battery, but I prefer the free reign Android gives you. In terms of market share, Android has passed IOS in installed base. If you're Mac-centric, i.e. desktop, apple tv, macbook etc, an Iphone will sync cleaner, but otherwise, meh.

I liked my Android, but the music player and the music syncing experience in general were abominable. Maybe DoubleTwist has gotten better. I use my iPhone 4S as my primary music player, and I'm very happy with that experience. In general, the usability and UI design of the iPhone is far superior in my opinion. It also seems snappier, more stable, and less buggy in general. Strava and maps work fine, and Siri comes in handy as a sort of hands-free interface while on the bike. For instance, it sure is nice to just squeeze the in-line remote and tell Siri to "call South Brooklyn Pizza" on the way home from a long ride so it's waiting for me when I get home.

In reality, they're both very good mobile operating systems and only getting better, so it's hard to imagine being terribly disappointed in either.

Doubletwist seems to take forever to sync things that clearly should not take forever. I don't update my music library terribly often, so it's only a minor nuisance. But if you're a new digital download a week/podcast dude, I could see rising frustration. I've never looked more into it though, I'm sure a better solution exists. Also, for the record, my Droid is rooted/rom'd.

Sorry to hear Josh, guess we are all changing now. As for a phone, nothing works better with Google maps than Android. It is simply part of the DNA. The music issue depends on the app. I do not use iTunes so Double Twist never made sense, 3rd party Apple integration never does. I use Google Music which makes me all happy, (cloud based, my actual files and ability to mark for off-line listening).

As for a phone, great things are happening. But to make your search easier two points. 1) just look for the best carrier, usually Verizon for quality and Sprint for price. 2) Look for a phone which has or promises to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich in the next 3 months. You can always root the phone and get the OS, (see Eric Ragot), but the hardware specks for these phones are the best in the business.

I have been very happy with the android system. I still have the og Motorola Droid. fwiw, I don't use it for music listening. The maps and navigation are top notch.

It has been getting a bit buggy and slow lately, probably because of so many system updates and app updates that I neglect to install. I might try to do that rooting thing folks are talking about to prolong the life a bit. I hate to change phones every year even though I believe I qualify for an upgrade already.

hi Josh, sorry to hear about the turmoil.

I love my iphone, because I *never* have to think about it. It just works.

j

I like to think about things. However, my phone just works. A reboot here or there, but they are quick and everything is golden again. I rooted it and installed Cyanogenmod - great ROM that has many of the newer features already integrated before they are part of official OS updates. I don't think about the phone much, other than I would like a Scrabble app.

I ahve T-Mobile and am very happy with it in the city. FWIW, reception in MY apartment now is not so good, but wi-fi calling solves that.

i love my iphone for exactly the reason Jules cited: it never fucks ups

THAT SAID i got really jealous of my buddy's droid this summer on our bike trip because he could see terrain maps and i could NOT on my iphone

Hey all,

Anyone using an interval counter/timer on their iPhone that they would recommend? Something that can be pre-programmed for the workout and then it just beeps or something when it's time to switch the pace/cadence/gear/etc....

runkeeper does that - not sure if it's only for Premium accounts or not

i use it for every ride and run - when i work up to intervals on foot, i'm definitely going to try it out. it's cool cause it would probably keep track of your interval pace over time and allow you to compare

Hi all,

i have had a very good time racing my Quattro Assi aluminum frame the past year, and i especially like how it is quick and kind of twitchy, lets say sports car rather than cadillac ride. which i attribute, i think, to the geometry and possibly the smaller, compact style frame. however, as i gain experience, i now notice how soft the front end is, a combination of a soft fork, and too much steering tube height and stem length, resulting in quite a bit of torsional flexion. basically, the frame is a little bit small, and i have maxed it in all directions possible to fit. i want to get a bigger frame, i guess ideally with a longer head tube and a stiffer fork. i dont want to give up that quick twitchy feeling though. i quite like that for sprinting. does anyone have a preference similar to mine and can recommend a frame to try? i would be interested in getting a hellafaster, as i think it would be in the neighborhood of 650$ with the club discount, but i have heard a nos caad 9 might be similiar in price and a better ride. when i briefly tried one, it seemed nice and stiff, but less twitchy. anyone race a klein? or a felt? or have a better idea for a relatively inexpensive aluminum frameset?

i've owned both a hellafaster and a caad9

i can't speak to which one is "twitchier" - i never felt that either was twitchy, but both were nicely responsive.

they are both extremely stiff bikes with the stock fork. i switched the cannondale fork on mine for a lighter and slightly flexier Easton EC90 to cut some weight and soften it up a bit. the hellafaster was almost overbuilt for my size and power. i ended up selling it because it was too small and a bit heavy compared to a larger caad9.

if you're not riding hilly races, either one is great, though there were a few details on the hellafaster (such as seatpost binder) that were underthought. that said, the hellafaster is an EXTREMELY dope looking bike, and is compact too boot, if that's your style.

CAAD 9 4 life.

You can find some good steals on ebay occasionally, but they are getting harder to come by.

It might be worth calling around to bike shops across the city. I found mine last year new in box waiting for me. They had had caad 10s in and didn't bother to build it up and gave me a deal on it.

Owens is riding a caad 10. Maybe he can comment. Folks seem to love em. I doubt there is much difference between the 9 and 10 except the 10 is even lighter and not American made.

McKay:

you might also want to consider a CAAD8 frameset - not a lot changed between that and a CAAD9 and still being made, so prob cheaper and more available.

that said, look at this fucking CAAD10!!!!

http://cdn.cannondale.com/catalog/product/cache/3/small_image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/c/_/c_12_2rax4c_blu_8.png

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: mperlberg</cite>CAAD 9 4 life.

You can find some good steals on ebay occasionally, but they are getting harder to come by.

It might be worth calling around to bike shops across the city. I found mine last year new in box waiting for me. They had had caad 10s in and didn't bother to build it up and gave me a deal on it.

Owens is riding a caad 10. Maybe he can comment. Folks seem to love em. I doubt there is much difference between the 9 and 10 except the 10 is even lighter and not American made.</blockquote>

Mike,

I thought quite the opposite riding the 9 versus the 10. I loved my CAAD 9 and after 4 years of owning a carbon bike, I am going back to aluminum because of it via a CAAD 10. The CAAD 9 I thought was a great bike, was stiff and compliant, and handled well. But the 10 felt very much alive and twitchy, it felt like it just wanted to go fast, as cheesy as that may sound. I am weak, at best, as a climber, and I felt confident quite confident on that bike going up hill.

McKay you may want to consider seeing if one of the shops that sponsors us offers cannondale and use a discount for a CAAD 10 frame, though the 9 is no slouch, the 10, I felt, was really special.

I've looked the geometries of the 8, 9, and 10. I think the old 8, the now-discontinued 9, and the current 10, share geometries. That is, they have the same head tube length, top tube length, head and seat angles, fork rake and bottom bracket height. I have an old 8 and a 9, and the two fit exactly the same, and ride mostly the same--the 9 is definitely laterally stiffer than the 8, might be vertically, too.

The new CaaD 8 appears to have the same angles as the 10, but, it sure looks like the head tube is taller, and it's impossible to divine from the specs whether or not the fork rake is the same. My guess is they wanted it to work for a slightly different rider than the CaaD 10.

Overall, I think that Cannondale designed their road bikes to ride fairly traditionally. I'd put them more on the "stable" side rather than "twitchy," but not quite a Cadillac.

In terms of stiffening front end,there seems to be some research that a taller front end with no spacers between the headset cap and stem is stiffer than one with spacers. Cervelo is going so far as to build their front ends so their pro racers should use 73-degree stems, claiming it rides better overall.

Comes in Alder colors! (sniff sniff...we hardly knew ye...)

Yeah, I like the CAAD 10 a lot. But it does handle rather differently than my Cervelo R3. It's obviously a bit heavier, and doesn't..."respond" as well? The R3 is just an amazing bike and I don't think I really even appreciated how supple and amazingly it handles (thanks eBay!). It was my first bike since a 1990 Cannondale. Like JP said, the main difference, which is glaring when you just look at them, is the headtube and fork rake. A -17 degree stem on the R3 points down, where on the CAAD 10 it's level. I think this is the main handling difference, but I only really feel it when descending. It'll just take some getting used to.

Alas, I got the CAAD 10 frame for less than the Rotor cranks would have been (old ones went bonk) for the BBright crap, so I just threw my still awesomely functioning 2006 Durace 7800 on the Cannondale and I'm happy as a clam (except for the $2500 frame collecting dust on the wall). Also nice is that fact that when I slid out a few weeks back, the top tube got a small dent. No carbon breakage! Although I don't understand how I dented the left side when I fell on the right....maybe my knees are super hard.

Get one.

"McKay you may want to consider seeing if one of the shops that sponsors us offers cannondale and use a discount for a CAAD 10 frame, though the 9 is no slouch, the 10, I felt, was really special"

We have a bike shop sponsor?

Posted By: Jeff OwensComes in Alder colors! (sniff sniff...we hardly knew ye...)

Yeah, I like the CAAD 10 a lot. But it does handle rather differently than my Cervelo R3. It's obviously a bit heavier, and doesn't..."respond" as well? The R3 is just an amazing bike and I don't think I really even appreciated how supple and amazingly it handles (thanks eBay!). It was my first bike since a 1990 Cannondale. Like JP said, the main difference, which is glaring when you just look at them, is the headtube and fork rake. A -17 degree stem on the R3 points down, where on the CAAD 10 it's level. I think this is the main handling difference, but I only really feel it when descending. It'll just take some getting used to.

Alas, I got the CAAD 10 frame for less than the Rotor cranks would have been (old ones went bonk) for the BBright crap, so I just threw my still awesomely functioning 2006 Durace 7800 on the Cannondale and I'm happy as a clam (except for the $2500 frame collecting dust on the wall). Also nice is that fact that when I slid out a few weeks back, the top tube got a small dent. No carbon breakage! Although I don't understand how I dented the left side when I fell on the right....maybe my knees are super hard.

Get one.

An r3 and caad9/10 should both have level stems with a -17 angle. Unless you're on a size outlier, most racing bikes are all 73* head tubes.

The current caad8 is not the same bike as the old caad 8 that was the progenitor to the current 9/10. It's an entry level sporty aluminum bike with a taller headtube then the race oriented caad10, rake and trail are close enough to the caad10 that it should "feel" the same. The caad10 also has an oversized lower headtube bearing and tapered full carbon fork which should sharpen up response a bit as well. The tubing is also much more manipulated in terms of shaping/butting etc.

As far as other current aluminum bikes that should race well, the Specialized Allez also has some nice features. Klein hasn't been made in quite a number of years, I'd pass. I'm not as familiar with Felt's current offerings.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: Marc Bertucco</cite>"McKay you may want to consider seeing if one of the shops that sponsors us offers cannondale and use a discount for a CAAD 10 frame, though the 9 is no slouch, the 10, I felt, was really special"

We have a bike shop sponsor?</blockquote>

Wasn't Brickwell a sponsor and offer 15% or 20% off?

Posted By: Mike MancusoWasn't Brickwell a sponsor and offer 15% or 20% off?

I was looking at CX frames summer of 2010 and Brickwell told me that the large discount they originally were able to get us with Cannondale (I think it was actually 25%) was no longer available, since Cannondale had changed their pricing structures.

As of now (Jan 2012) - it is my understanding that Brickwell is no longer a sponsor - though they still have one of our jerseys in their shop & the clerk's eyes did light up when I said I was in Kissena. It can't hurt to tell them your a Kissena and ask what kind of pricing they can give you .

"An r3 and caad9/10 should both have level stems with a -17 angle. Unless you're on a size outlier, most racing bikes are all 73* head tubes."

But they don't. The 2011 R3's (maybe all the re-engineered Cervelos) have steeper, taller headtubes. Hence, I went from a 61cm 2006 R3 to the 2011 and had to go down to a 58cm with the negative sloping stem to achieve a similar position. The rake on the newer R3's is crazy steep, with short wheel clearance to the downtube. There's like 6" on the CAAD 10 (I'm exaggerating). On my 2006 R3, a 10* stem was basically horizontal. Maybe I'm visually impaired, but that's been my experience! :-P

Brickwell, no longer a sponsor?? I better go get my green jerseys back that are hanging up in the shop....

Posted By: Jeff Owens"An r3 and caad9/10 should both have level stems with a -17 angle. Unless you're on a size outlier, most racing bikes are all 73* head tubes."

But they don't. The 2011 R3's (maybe all the re-engineered Cervelos) have steeper, taller headtubes. Hence, I went from a 61cm 2006 R3 to the 2011 and had to go down to a 58cm with the negative sloping stem to achieve a similar position. The rake on the newer R3's is crazy steep, with short wheel clearance to the downtube. There's like 6" on the CAAD 10 (I'm exaggerating). On my 2006 R3, a 10* stem was basically horizontal. Maybe I'm visually impaired, but that's been my experience! :-P

It's a small difference, on sizes 56 and up in 2011, r3s (and r5 and s5s) have 73.5 headtube angles, compared to 73 across the the line in 2010. The stack height is noticeable different, but that shouldn't impact stem angle. A 58 and 60 racing Cannondale also have 73.5 headtube angles.

On all these bikes, a 17* stem would be flat, or at least more flat then anything else.

obviously, jeff is crazy

WATCH OUT!

Tru dat!

But I'm looking at my R3 right now and the -17* stem is pointing down. I'm Insane in the membrane!!! Maybe it's not -17, but that's what the 3T thing says. This is clearly a big issue for me and my mental health!