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Archives for May 2010

Selle Italia Gel Flow SLR Saddle (Review)

05.11.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

Don Blount gave us a rundown of his upgrades in the last post. Now, he reviews one of his recent equipment upgrades: his saddle.

If you want to get a conversation about biking equipment going, just bring up saddles. When Bikenoob tweeted recently that he had gotten a new one, I quickly asked: which one? I saw that @mainevelophile also asked that question. I would guess that we were not the only ones.

Click to enlarge.

Well, I got a new saddle too just a few months ago. I retired the Forte Pro SLX saddle that came with my bike and went with a Selle Italia Gel Flow SLR saddle. The new saddle works for me and I love it. But it may not work for you as saddles are such an individual piece of equipment. A clerk at my LBS said he used the saddle I bought and it hated him. He switched to something else.

The SLR is a leather grain-covered racing-style saddle, weighing in at about 215 grams. The saddle has a slight curve at the rear (no pun intended) that is supposed to help relieve back pain. It also has “strategic gel inserts” that, at least for me, provide plenty of padding in the right places.

The saddle comes in black, blue, red, white and yellow. I bought mine, in black, on eBay for $98 – I’ve seen it for as much as $179 at other retailers. Mine cost less because it has a slight barely noticeable cosmetic imperfection that, fortunately, does not affect performance.

Still, a saddle is such an individual choice. Keep in mind that your seat, hands and feet are the three places where you as a rider come in contact with your bike. If you are not comfortable in one of those areas, it can make for a miserable ride.

When selecting a saddle you have to consider your riding style. Do you settle in one spot on the saddle and stay there? Do you move around? Do you ride on the front or back of the saddle?

I move around on the saddle, that’s just how I am. The SLR allows me to sit in a number of spots comfortably.

I also prefer a cutout in the middle, so as to physically, and psychologically, have nothing pressing on that tender area down there.

A few days ago while stopped at a traffic light a pedestrian gave my saddle a funny look and asked if it was comfortable. I said, “Yes it is…”

I have plenty of hours and hundreds of miles on this, including a metric century and I plan on getting in many more.

I recommend the SLR but with the caveat that what is right for me, may not be right for you.

The Bike Noob reviews his new saddle in the next post.

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Categories // Equipment, Review Tags // Review, saddle, Selle Italia Gel Flow SLR

Upgrading the Bike

05.09.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Guest poster Don Blount has been making improvements.

I am really enjoying my new bike. At the same time I am not missing my old bike. That’s because my new bike is my old bike but improved. I did the next best thing to getting a new bike, I upgraded components on my old bike.

After about 18 months of riding I just wanted my bike, a Scattante CFR Comp, to perform better.

I don’t know if I could say that I outperformed the bike but it seemed that I was putting too much work into keeping the bike moving (if that makes sense) and wanting it to be more comfortable as the saddle began to become unbearingly uncomfortable. Also riding in the hills, which are not forgiving, and a difficult metric century I have targeted for late June motivated me to want to have the bike running at its optimum.

This evaluation came on the heels of replacing a chain and cassette, which is not included in the cost below since that was routine maintenance. Once I started with the saddle, everything else followed.

The bike has a carbon frame and seatpost and a combination Shimano Ultegra and 105 drivetrain. Those parts along with the cable covers, stem and brake levers are the only original parts remaining.

I did a lot of comparison shopping, buying everything online and on sale from various retailers.

Here is a list of the original part, the new part and the cost in order of replacement, including tax and shipping:

Original Part New Part Cost
Forte Saddle Selle Italia SLR Gel Flow Saddle

$99

Xero Element Wheelset Williams 30X Wheelset

$529

Tektro Brakes Ultegra Dual Pivot 6600 Brakeset

$100

Truvative Rouleur Crankset Ultegra 6650 Crankset

$190

Transit Saddlebag  (110 cu in) Fizik Saddle pack (30 cu in)

$11.50

Forte Precision Alloy Handlebars Ritchey Pro Carbon Matrix Handlebars

$117

Total $1046.50

I spent a few hundred dollars less on the upgrades than I spent on the bike brand new. Why not just get a new bike? Because I didn’t want to spend three or four times this amount. The wheelset was the big ticket item but also had the biggest impact in terms of performance. I would advise anyone considering upgrading parts on their bike to do that first.


Some of Don’s upgrades. Click on each picture for a larger view.

I learned a lot by this as well. For example, despite a professional bike fitting, I was never comfortable riding in the drops. I learned that my handlebars were too long and the drops too deep. The new ones are not as long, the drop shallower and a much better fit for me.

All the new parts are lighter and so is the bike by a pound or two. Overall, it is a better ride.

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Categories // Components, Equipment Tags // Blount, components, Equipment, guest post, upgrades, wheels

Doin’ the Dillo – Again

05.08.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

Went out to Liberty Hill, Texas for the Armadillo Hill Country Classic, run by the Austin Cycling Association. It’s a great ride through some nice Hill Country scenery, and is always well attended. I last rode the ride in 2008, and was looking forward to going again.

This year, I convinced Pat to join me. She’d done well on other organized rides lately, but didn’t seem enthusiastic about this one. At first, she told me to go on my own, then said she’d join me and do the 28 miler (there were options of 14, 28, 42, 50, 61, 78, and 105 miles).

Pat waits for me to finish snapping pix so we can ride to the start.

Although I hadn’t registered until one hour before the deadline Thursday night, both our names were on the roster, and we got our numbers, t-shirts and goodie bags. Pat liked the fact that the high school where the ride started was open, and we could use their bathrooms instead of porta potties. Note to self: From now on, on organized rides, bring extra safety pins. We got only two pins to attach the ride number to our jerseys, and I was serenaded by the flutter-crackle-pop noise of the flapping number throughout the ride.

The start went off without a hitch, and we were soon in the country. The day was overcast, with a cool 65ºF (18ºC) temperature and a brisk wind from the northwest. It made riders work harder, but it wasn’t blow-you-over strong, so it was still doable. I figured it would slow me down, though, so instead of the planned 61-mile route, I decided to go 50 instead. A few friends I met at the start told me they planned the same thing.

Cyclists head down the main street in Bertram, Texas.

The Armadillo is known for its well-stocked and friendly rest stops. I skipped the first two, but made sure to stop at the one in Bertram.

A cyclist thanks the ladies for volunteering at the Bertram rest stop.

Replenished and refreshed, I headed out for the second half of the ride. The country roads were in various states of repair, some with new chipseal, others worn smooth by  the local traffic. Live oak trees canopied the riders in some stretches. And then there were the hills. Not killer hills — except for one short, steep one — but long rollers. My increased mileage this year helped, and I started passing other riders on the way back to Liberty Hill.

A typical view during the ride.

At the next-to-last rest stop, I ran into my friend Scott, who’d been left behind by his group. Scott has been out of the country for work lately, and hasn’t been riding much. He was getting cramps in his calves on the uphills. We decided to ride the rest of the way together.

We pulled into the high school parking lot at about 11:40 a.m. Pat was waiting in the car. When I asked her how her ride was, she replied, “Great! I breezed it! Now I’m pissed that I didn’t go 42 miles.” She’s getting stronger on the bike.

My own time surprised me. Although I still felt strong at the end, and had blasted some hills that beat me up two years ago, my on-bike time was only four minutes better than 2008. Thank goodness there’s always that brisk northwest wind to blame.

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Categories // Rides Tags // ride report

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