eloy said:

I've heard of some recommend multiple chains... so if one gets wet, you change it, and redo the wax on the wet one, etc... but I have never met anyone that has that kinda of time.

Paging @AlexandervanHatter who I think cycles through 3 different chains at any given moment?

Okay I’m in on waxing. I’ll probably wait till winter to get started when I have more time and energy for technical work (and hopefully spare cash for a new bike too!)

I had a similarly mixed experience with my Redbeard bike fitting. 

Can someone please catch me up with regards to WTF happened to speedplay cleats? I'm finally riding regularly again and (of course) it's time for new cleats - when I look around it's all 3rd party manufacturers...

You can't get a set through Wahoo?

Jules said:

Can someone please catch me up with regards to WTF happened to speedplay cleats? I'm finally riding regularly again and (of course) it's time for new cleats - when I look around it's all 3rd party manufacturers...

You can find cleats here: https://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/pedals/view-all 

Thanks - I did see them on wahoo's site; just took a minute to figure out why resellers weren't also selling them. This is like the fifth or sixth time I've developed mystery knee pain and it's taken me days to check my cleats - every time it's a broken cleat. I need to put up a banner above my trainer.

Finally received my geometry back from Red Beard. The stem and spacers suggestion seems to be the biggest issue in his eyes… I don’t think I agree. A 40mm stem seems wildly small?! I would much rather continue working on stretching and strengthening my core vs make an insane shift… I also wonder if I wasn’t just out of whack on the day… after work after sitting at my desk all day, having ridden in the morning. Who knows. Just seems strange. The rest of the measurements are fairly standard it looks… 

40mm stem?!  What is this?  A mountain bike?

Also maybe it's just because of my disproportionately short legs, but 130mm saddle setback seems like a lot, even with a power saddle.

A second opinion from ACME is a great idea.  You usually have to wait a few months to get in so get on the schedule ASAP.

You had mentioned earlier that you were dealing with pains since your fit.  Were you on new fit?  What hurt?

Everything shorter than 70 is wildly unstable on a race bike, wouldn’t recommend 

LennartZandbergen said:

Everything shorter than 70 is wildly unstable on a race bike, wouldn’t recommend 

I saw a bike fitter video on YT that said “just don’t even go shorter than 70, and don’t even go 70 if you can avoid it.”

GregHoge said:

40mm stem?!  What is this?  A mountain bike?

Also maybe it's just because of my disproportionately short legs, but 130mm saddle setback seems like a lot, even with a power saddle.

A second opinion from ACME is a great idea.  You usually have to wait a few months to get in so get on the schedule ASAP.

You had mentioned earlier that you were dealing with pains since your fit.  Were you on new fit?  What hurt?

During the fit I did feel good on 165mm cranks, but I think that setback really has to be paired with the shift in crank length. I’m on 172.5 now. 

Of course an upright bike is going to be the most comfortable, but no fitter should be trying to make your race bike fit like an upright. That's just malfeasance.

BlakeFoster said:

LennartZandbergen said:

Everything shorter than 70 is wildly unstable on a race bike, wouldn’t recommend 

I saw a bike fitter video on YT that said “just don’t even go shorter than 70, and don’t even go 70 if you can avoid it.”

I ride 70 now but that’s because cervelos have a seat post with a +- 30 mm setback. I don’t think Canyon had that, but it’s something you can check too.

R&A are well known for being the worst bike shop/service in the city. Sorry that just sucks. Hope Enve can sort it for you.

Good to know enve back their products even if the shop is giving you a hard time. Hopefully RA fix it and get you back on the road without anymore hassle

Guess we should all stay inside and never ride our bikes, great advice for our locale given our weather is 75° and sun everyday! /s

I had a similar hub situation last year with a new Zipp wheel: the free hub prematurely corroded and stopped engaging. My local shop Mr Cs talked directly to Zipp, CCed me on their emails, and after pushing them both on the warranty, I got the replacement and labor comped. No issues with shit talking about the quality of the wheels, lol.

I had R&A drop a carbon bike and then claim the obvious chips where there when I dropped it off.

Stripped and waxed a new chain for the main road bike (CAAD10) and an existing one for the infrequently used retromod (Schwinn Peloton). It was a journey, but hopefully the maintenance part will be easier.

While I was at it I cleaned the rest of the drivetrain including 3 cassettes, rear derailleur jockey wheels and bike chainrings. Cleaned the cassettes in the ultrasonic cleaner in a bath of simple green. So much easier than scrubbing. Hoping the waxed chains mean less grimey everythings in the future.

Random notes:

The cheapie little crockpot took something like an hour or more to melt the bag of Silca hot melt. I suspect because it was the first time and the air pockets between granules prevented the heat from spreading quickly? Will see the next time I wax a new chain.

Silca chain stripper works amazing. What took several steps is basically dumping a chain in a jar and letting it soak and shaking it for a minute. Wish I discovered this sooner.

Learned that "skewering" the chain into a box shape with two spokes on opposite ends is a lot easier to handle and keeps the wax from just dripping down on one end of the chain if kept straight up and down. I'm still kind unclear on wax distribution and retention as the wax cools and drips more on some links than others. I didn't lose sleep over it (I kind of did).

Got a Wipperman connex link which can be reused on the main race bike and just reused the quick link on the other. Both were difficult to install due to the wax buildup, had to "squish" and clear out the wax before they connected. The connex link is kind of a miracle in design. Again, wish I discovered sooner.

I do not like the tiny wax bits that come off and rain down all over after the chain install and test pedaling. Easier to vacuum than cleaning up chain lube though.

Stiff chain made shifting kind of funky on both bikes.

Finally, unrelated but realized why installing my rear wheel on the cannondale has been a pain all year: one of the hanger bolts is missing (?!?!?!) so flops around without the hub/quick release clamping it down. Promptly ordered replacement kit while trying to understand how this happens. I'm pretty good about bike maintenance but somehow missed this until I was pulling apart the drivetrain to clean.

Debating whether to wax the cross/gravel chain or stick with lube.

Nice!

My cheapo crock pot also takes forever to melt the wax.  Every time.  It's ok though cause I can just turn it on and go do something else while it's melting.

I like to flex the chain after the wax is done cooling.  I find it helps loosen things up and you can keep the mess off your bike/drivetrain.

Wax the cross chain.

My double-boiler method, aka the coffee can inside a pot of boiling water, takes 5-10 minutes to go from 100% solid to 100% liquid.

I've taken to laying the chain down on a paper towel after waxing.  I like to think that if the pins are parallel with the ground, the wax stays in a bit longer.  

I find the stiff chain sensation lasts for less than a minute, probably just several revolutions.  But the flaky wax stays on the chain and cassette for a while.  

Update on the bike fit: back home from Colorado, did myvelofit today (incl the mobility assessment) and every measurement said it was in range haha. The saddle height was on the lower end of their accepted tolerance as was my stack height. Added spacer to my stack and raised my seat 5mm. Will see how that feels on rides this week. Did a 2 hour endurance this morning and the narrower bars (now 39cm) felt a lot better. Still had some hand numbness and saddle discomfort towards the end but wasn’t too bad. 

mugwump said:

My double-boiler method, aka the coffee can inside a pot of boiling water, takes 5-10 minutes to go from 100% solid to 100% liquid.

I've taken to laying the chain down on a paper towel after waxing.  I like to think that if the pins are parallel with the ground, the wax stays in a bit longer.  

I find the stiff chain sensation lasts for less than a minute, probably just several revolutions.  But the flaky wax stays on the chain and cassette for a while.  

Yeah I may just pour the hot wax into a can eventually.

I laid my chain down on a sheet of nice white printer paper to dry after it stopped dripping. Same thought process where I figured the wax would be slightly better distributed.

Rode the inaugural waxed chain ride on the trainer today and I swear I could feel the difference. Probably also has a lot to do with a new chain and a sparkling clean set of pulleys and chain sets.

Also I don't know why it took me so long to get a chain stretch/wear checker and highly recommend it. Got the park tool one with the little gauge which was a few bucks more and can be useful for my Brompton and track bikes as well.

@mugwump you inspired me to move my roadbike over to wax. Ultrasonic'd the cassette/chain, did a quick isopropyl bath to get the water out, double boilered the wax (5-10 minutes) then hung the whole thing dry for a couple of minutes. Sounds better than ever, shifts great. Got a couple of new reusable quicklinks and will do my gravel bike next.