May 25, 2010

Peacock Groove Project: Parts

I've been getting a bunch of questions lately regarding the status of my Peacock Groove roadbike.

Well, it's at Spectrum for paint/powder and supposedly they are supposed to start on the work today. It's been there for a little over a month now, and I actually keep forgetting that I have this thing coming (out of sight/out of mind), then I remember that "Holy Shit!" I've got this bike coming and I get super stoked because it's already paid for so it's like, hey, free bike.

I was recently able to move my Campy 10 speed group and decided to pick up a Sram Red group to replace it. I know this may come as sacrilege to those of you who buy into the cult of Campy (believe me I understand the mystique of their 60's through 90's alloy components with some of the most gorgeous finishes in existence), but they totally fucked up when they stopped supporting 10 speed and pushed all their high end stuff to 11.

While I enjoyed my Record/Chorus group a bunch, here is where I'm at with Campy: all of the high end Campy stuff is crazy expensive, especially the parts that wear out such as chains and cassettes, owning a bunch of wheelsets that are Shimano compatible and then having one wheelset that is an odd duck (Campy compatible) is a pain in the ass, and I am super not into 11 speed. The tools are wicked expensive ($200 plus chain tool) and I am not into having even tighter tolerances on a bike I am going to get dirty*. Yeah it's got the drool factor but so what? The Red stuff is way lighter and way cheaper, it's true that it's not as serviceable as Campagnolo, but after hating on Sram for a long long time (I've never forgiven them for gripshift) I'm stoked to see how their road group checks out.

*I love Shimano 9, if any of you out there are ever going to sell any 105 or above Shimano 9 speed STI's, hit me up dawg

IMG_2704

BB30 Red Crankset
IMG_2706
seriously retarded light

IMG_2710

Shimano Mid Reach Calipers
IMG_2708
this is the one kind of bummer item. I can't find any black or sexy mid reach brakes. If any of you know about any out there, please let me know.

I also cheaped out and bought a Force cassette and chain. I'm not made of money, and this stuff is still pretty balller. The Red cassette is a piece of art, but I saved several hundred by making this concession, and since this is the stuff that wears out I'm pretty content with riding the lower end consumables.

Previously
PG-40
Paint Jobs
Frame Drawing
Tubes
Fork and Dropouts
Bottom Bracket
The Clock Starts Ticking
Dropouts, Chainstays, Fork Crown
Part #1

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

there is nothing wrong with Sram Red, that is some nice stuff, i ran some on my Tarmac for a while. Now running dura ace, but still thats just preference.

colin said...

i love sram, cheap, reasonably compatible, and well designed. you have to forgive them for grip shift, without it they never would have become the market force that they are. you gotta sell crap to the mass market to sustain the high end stuff that they develop. i've worked on road frames equipped with sram x7 to x9 for a few years and i found it easier to service and quicker on the shifting than XTR. just one former messengers opinion.

Vincent said...

If you don't mind centerpull; Paul Racer Standard (57-67mm), Medium (47-57mm).

http://www.paulcomp.com/racerm.html

Jeff said...

I didn't realize they made a med reach version of the racer brakes.

I think that's my answer. Thanks for the heads up Vincent

fuzzy said...

http://www.velo-orange.com/grcrulorecab.html

just another idea, we recently started handling VO.

Jeff said...

yeah, the Paul's are tempting, but the more I think about having to put cable hangers on... I"m still up in the air

Jeff said...

Fuzzy, have you actually seen that brake in person?

I'm also confused on this issue:

The reach they refer to: 47-59mm seems more like a mid reach brake, but they're calling it a long. Semantics I know, but I don't want to order the wrong thing.

what's up peeps? let me know

Vincent said...

Hope it works out.

And by the way... blew my mind with the new Nature Boy fork. Q picking up a budget friendly bi-plane option is long over due. Can't wait to order that f*cker up. Keep shit like that coming and I'll support AC all day. Offer a fillet-brazed framset (not likely, I know)... and I'll lose my f*cking mind.

Sorry about the ramblin(g) man (dare I say it... The Allman Brothers), but keep up the good work!

Vincent said...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/brake-calipers.html

You're right, it is semantics and somewhat relative. I would consult your frame builder (in this case, Eric).

Tough decision though, good luck.

Vincent said...

Correction, Erik.

fuzzy said...

JF,
I just look at the 47-59mm reach, long by modern standards, standard reach by old guy terms. I have not seen them yet though, just came to mind when you asked. The guys at VO are very nice, drop them an email. We are also a dealer if that helps, I am sure you wouldn't have trouble getting them.