Cannondale Slice diet

HowardG

Hi folks,

Would appreciate some help.

I have a very nice Slice for the summer tri season but find it a bit heavy and flexy. Probably can't do much about the flexy as the frame tubes are an aero compromise, but I'd like to lighten it a little.

Firstly I'd like to change the crankset for something lighter, standard size, bb30. Love the look of the Cannondale Sisl cranks but have you seen the price! What are the options? Also hoping for better changing as I find the 105 fd and TR rings not a patch on the all ultegra set up on my roadie.

Another area is to change the brakes and mechs to ultegra. Will save a few grams and hopefully slicken things up.

Anything I've missed? The wheels are staying though!

One more thing, I'll be needing to carry more drink for the half iron I'm doing, especially if it's hot. The bike has one bottle position on the seat tube, should I add one to the bars or behind the saddle?

Any opinions welcome.

How

sungod

make a list of the current bits and their weight, identify lighter equivalents and cost, go for the best price per gram saved

you can use powercordz instead of steel cables, maybe change the saddle

if you're using clinchers, you could use lighter tubes, latex would also give you slightly lower crr than butyl, probably a better change than looking at weight

but if the bike is inherently heavy, a few g here and there on components is not going to make much difference

behind the saddle should be more aero for an extra bottle holder

sloppyschleckonds

FSA SLK-Light chainsets are very light

brettjmcc

How heavy is heavy?

1/ Take wheels off and weigh the frame and components less wheels. Please detail all of you components.
2/ How much do you wheels weigh, what are they?

In the meantime, I'll take a stab. I'll assume you've gone and bought a standard Slice 105 and have not changed a thing.

Let's start with the groupset:
Cranks: Gossamer pro @ 797g > SRAM Red @557g

Ditch the 105 and hunt around for some SRAM Force (rear, front mech, brakes) /TT900 stuff (shifters and brake levers). If you don't want to do that at least change the shifters to Duraace.

KMC 10SL Chain

Cockpit:
You may get a weight reduction if you get a carbon setup. Weigh it first though

Wheels:
Ditch the RS501 and use them for training only. Buy other wheels

On the bottle. I would buy a behind the seat holder and then not put a bottle in the frame. One of the guys in the other club who TTs with us has a very neat unit that has a bladder system that runs then down the top tube with a bite valve, so he doesn't have to get up from position to drink. I'll see if I can remember to see what make it is next time I see him.

I would recommend also what sungod has said. You'll probably need to strip and rebuild the bike. Also assume that you are already dialled in. This would make more of a difference than weight saving IMO.

HowardG

Heavier than my Felt f4 roadie.
The wheels are cosmic sl, mich pro4, standard tubes.
The chainset is trimax pro, not sure who makes it or how much it weighs. Not much about it on line, but looks heavy. Is it the same as gossamer pro?
The rings are tr, don't shift as my all ultegra roadie set up.
Not sure what chain is on it, is there potential for weight saving here?

Thanks so far.

brettjmcc

HowardG wrote:

Heavier than my Felt f4 roadie.

Same is true of my TT bike (which is a tri Quintana Roo), still not quantifying it though? What are you weighing the bike at? In reality, if you are goign for a a few water bottles and tool kit when riding, is the weight saving going to be that significant

HowardG wrote:

The wheels are cosmic sl, mich pro4, standard tubes.

Then you won't do much change, unless you go latex, or lighter tubes; of course unless you go all carbon wheels?

HowardG wrote:

The chainset is trimax pro, not sure who makes it or how much it weighs. Not much about it on line, but looks heavy. Is it the same as gossamer pro?

Trimax is made by Vision, is it the carbon or alloy? Carbon is 773g, alloy 839g. One thing you have to ask yourself is whether the, if any, aero benefit is better on these than say going to a lighter crank like the Red. Link to Vison here: http://www.visiontechusa.com/category_list/41/CRANKSETS

HowardG wrote:

The rings are tr, don't shift as my all ultegra roadie set up.

I have the Trimax carbon with a Force front/rear and TT900 shifter. It shifts well, if a little more positive than my 6600 on my Dale. I personally find I change less on my TT bike

HowardG wrote:

Not sure what chain is on it, is there potential for weight saving here?

It may be marginal, but from the view of marginal gains and all that

I still would question if it is brand new? and if so, have you set yourself up well enough yet. I think you may get more benefit from doing this and improving your aero position than any weight loss. You could spend a lot of money and still not be happy.

Brett

HowardG

Cheers Brett,

firstly I am happy with the bike. It's a 2012 model picked up new just before xmas. No matter that I'm going to add bottles, any weight saving remains.

The bike was weighed in the shop, can't remember the figure and don't have scales at home, just calibrated arms!

Thanks for confirming the weight of the alloy cranks, as suspected, they are nearly twice the weight of Rotor cranks. A change of cranks, latex tubes, changes to brakes and mechs will see over half a kilo saved. Its a plan.

As for my position, I was set up in the shop and have made minor changes since. It's comfortable and quick, just need to train more on it to keep the position for over two hours. Only just getting out on the roads now to practice. Soon have it cracked!

Grill

Dump the Mavics. They're heavy and slow. Get some deep section tubs, or better yet trispoke and disc.

Other than that, weight on a TT bike isn't really a big deal.

pkripper

It's a TT bike, you'll be using it for tri.

Before putting it on a diet, look at the profile of the races you'll be doing - are any of them actually hilly? When I say hilly, I mean hilly, not rolling. Oh, and dead turns, as acceleration will be marginally affected by weight, but then that's only a few seconds in a race.

All said and done, for the weight you're likely to save vs. the money you're likely to spend it's unlikely to be worth it. Just train more / properly and sort your position. If you want to spend money, go for it, but spend it on things that'll make the bike quicker.

The people that win races are the ones that put the time in.