Yesterday evening I was able to meet with a friend, a long time bike builder and mechanic, who I hired to teach me how to build a bike. We spent from 6:30 to 10:30 as he carefully and intricately went through the entire process. I tried my best to absorb it all as he worked through the process of the build and pre-stretching the cables and then readjusting. At 10:30 we got the bike out on the pavement where we both tested it out. One of his comments was how scarey precise the build was with the SRAM Red components. The shifting seemed to be dead-on crisp and with only a slight chain noise in one of the extreme gears.
The finished weight is 14.9 pounds minus the tool bag and fluids, but that also includes all other functional parts like computer mounts and the heavier Powertap rear hub.
Why the LOOK frame?
The project started as a means to learn how to wrench on bikes and grew from there into something much more elaborate, but I still had a great need to keep the cost down. Even though my budget went way over what I intended my thought process evolved over the year of thinking about the project as I was researching frames. Based purely on owner reviews it came down to two frames, the Tarmac SL or the LOOK 585 for overall reputation on general satisfaction and stability on fast descents. I love my Cannondale six13, but the bike scares me on fast descents and I already had a 40 mph crash with that particular bike. Perhaps it is more me than the bike. Looking around at the two frame alternatives both at my LBS and internet, I found a closeout 2008 LOOK 585 Ultra frame deeply discounted and I jumped on it.
Why SRAM Red?
Once again I had to consider my overall budget and my current experience using the Shimano Ultegra compact drivetrain. I had my frustrations with the Shimano compact drivetrain since purchasing the six13 back in 2007. Even with the best mechanic skills the drivetrain had too much chain noise in more than 2 to 3 gears in the extremeties. (However, this last tune up by Josh Boggs of Probikewrench and Outspokin, the bike is really running pretty good with some chain noise on the most extreme gear, but overall much better than in the past.) Since the Shimano compact drivetrain has been so hard to tune out the excessive noise I thought I would try something different and I found the SRAM Red groupset on ebay for a very low price. I will know better tomorrow on a 57 mile ride how well the Red group works, but based on the test ride it was very good and quiet. I just have to get used to the double tap shifting.
The review?
Since I do not have a lot of experience with a variety of bike, group sets and components it is hard for me to give a detailed review so I will keep it simple.
The bike overall feel and performance is an improvement over my now older bikes a 2004 Felt F45 and a 2007 Cannondale six13. Here is my simple comparison.
Overall ride: smooth feeling SRAM Red drive train that shifts nicely even under torque of climbing and the feel of being able to fully use the 11-28 cassette with a compact crank was nice. I did a test run at mile 23 with the gang today and opened up my engine. The bike just felt so sweet in the 11/50 gear that I just didn't want to let up. Climbing the bike had a light feel to it and descending did feel more stable, which was what I was hoping.
Overall Ride - A+
Descending - A+
Climbing - A+
Shifting - A
Bling (appeal) Factor from the Group - A+
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