Well I decided that bike number two was going to be purposely built for climbing. After a year of riding Pedal Force No. 1 I had to change a few things to make it work the way I wanted it to. Just as a review, No. 1 is full Dura-Ace built on a 1050 gram carbon frame Pedal Force RS. I have many light weight parts on it but the key factor was reliability. That bike comes in at just about 15.9 pounds. When I built it up originally it was just over 15 pounds but I did have to replace the fork and stem, also a change in wheels brought the weight up.
Now on to bike No. 2. This is the same Pedal Force RS frame as No. 1. This time I wanted to build it lighter with reliability as the second criteria. So I am starting with a full SRAM Red group with compact 50/34T crank set. The fork will be an Alpha Q GS-30, the stem will be a 110mm Ritchey WCS 4-Axis and the bars will likely be Syntace Racelite2 Carbon. I will most likely swap seat posts between the two bikes, they are both Thomson‘s with a Masterpiece currently on No. 1 and an Elite on bike No. 2. I will stay with the Selle Italia SLR on No. 2.
With a few tweaks and my light tubulars I should just come in under 15 pounds. As I swap the few remaining parts I plan on riding it and reporting how well my choices have worked out.
I am doing this in lieu of purchasing a new frame this year. There is simply nothing out there that I am so impressed with that I just have to have. I will look later in the year for a new frame, or maybe a Time Trial frame, since I now have a full Ultegra group with both a standard road double (53/39T) and compact (50/34T) crank set sitting in a box. I also have some Dura-Ace 10 speed bar end shift levers as well as time trial bars in the same box. I am just missing a frame. We shall see.
Tags: Pedal Force, Red, Shimano, SRAM
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Where did you get your pedal force frame? And do you know anything about the Bottecchia Road Bike carbon frames that sell on ebay for around $500, claiming to be the same frames used for some highend bikes?
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The Bottecchia carbon frame is made in the same factory as the Pedal Force frame I have and is in fact the same mold, the key difference is the Bottecchia uses 12K carbon cosmetic weave as opposed to 3K and the tube join areas are painted instead of just clear-coated. The net result is that the frames are about 150-200 grams heavier than the Pedal Force. They will both ride the same and are plenty stiff in the bottom bracket. The frames are manufactured in Taiwan by a company called ADK, consensus is that it is the same frame as the Litespeed Pavia, LaPierre X-Lite 400, Fuji SL1s just to name a few.
The Bottecchia frame is available directly from BikeIsland and the Pedal Force is available directly from them here.
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