Full Carbon Fork

These are popular not because they are famously strong, but because you can get them easily and for not too expensive a price. In my case it wasn't particularly cheap because few companies make a 1" steering tube anymore.

When it arrived (FedEx has to be the worst delivery service in the world) and I removed it from the box, the full carbon steering post made the fork about half the weight of the aluminum steering tube. It also included the countersunk brake nut and the expansion head piece though I already have both..

Most of the parts are Campy Centaur including the 10 speed levers which we discussed as being sort of screwed up because they use Torx connector which cuts up the rubber covers just as I predicted. So I bought some new covers and they are actually for the Record 11 speed levers. Record levers allow you to downshift (go into smaller cogs) three or four shifts at a time so they have a long slot whereas the Centaur 10 speed only shifts one at a time so there is no slot. No big deal but someone might look into using the mechanism out of the Record for the Centaur. 10 speeds still need to shift a lot.

On my latest rides I've attempted to use the minimum amount of gears as possible but you still end up doing a lot more shifting that you should have to do. Armstrong made it about perfect with the 9 speed levers.

Before this you had 8 speeds but that was a climbing gear short, so when racers approached the big climbs they would stop and change bikes at the bottom. Lance with an extra cog would ride right past and pick up two or three seconds in that way alone.

Too bad that gave the rest of the sport the idea that more was better.

Getting the Airborne on the road is getting closer but I'm still waiting for the Power Torque English threaded cups. I talked to the cop friend of mine that saved my life and it turns out that he too uses the Power Torque cranks rather than others because they are available in triples. For the life of me I can't figure out what the hell he needs with a triple in and around Phoenix. Originally he was a Novato Cop and there are some pretty nasty climbs around there. 20% in at least two places he lured me into. But the climb he thought was the worst turned out to be about two miles of 7%. As you were approaching it you could see cars going up at a 90 degree angle (the climb started from a right turn off of the highway) so I guess it looked scary steep but it wasn't.

He bought a large number of Power Torque cranksets because he was afraid that they were going to disappear (as they have - Campagnolo no longer makes them and they have a different bolt pattern from the latest). This gave him spare chain rings. Well, at least he was thinking ahead.

Have you ever noticed that as you're approaching a climb they usually look steeper than they are? Around here that is very common.

So I'm presently looking at two projects to get the Airborne on the road, swapping the fork crown race and getting the Power Torque cups. Then fitting the cables and bar tape. I bought the light Bontrager saddle with the titanium rails on it and that's on the bike.

Chain Reaction had some Prolite Brachiano aluminum wheels so I got a set for the Airborne. I will put the Chinese wheels (if they ever come in) on the Douglas Ti. No one is presently buying anything off of Craigslist so getting these extra bike out of here is becoming a problem.