12 Comments
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David C's avatar

I like the addition of a tech tip! 👍🏻

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Malcolm Yeung's avatar

Off topic but can’t figure out in Substack how and where to send you a comment.

So first off, super grateful to see you “back” in action. Thank you!! Second, I’m not an “aero guy” and I’m one million percent in agreement with your philosophy on cable internal internal cable routing and third, I’m also an FTP’er with a “2” as the first number …. all that said, any thoughts on easy peasy aero marginal gains that don’t break the bank or cause home wrenching nightmares or that matter for the lower ftp’ers?

I’ve read about aero socks, aero helmets, aero bars, aero clothing …. Etc. I live in SF so much of our riding is straight up or down and rollers.

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James Huang's avatar

Looks like you must have figured it out because I'm reading your comment right now!

The easiest aero gain is first and foremost always your own body, partly because it creates the most drag of the whole bike-and-body system, but also because it often doesn't cost much to make big improvements there. Position first, I'd say, then clothing second. Aero helmets also yield pretty big benefits for relatively low cost compared to other stuff you could buy.

This is a good resource for understanding aero gains in general: https://aero-coach.co.uk/learn

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Frederick Richardson's avatar

His handwriting is mesmerizing

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David Savage's avatar

One quick bit of feedback: if you do any future coverage on eyewear, even a brief mention of corrective options that are or aren't available is a pretty essential feature question for some of us. It's not standard practice in most of the review industry but it really should be.

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James Huang's avatar

Good point! I'll keep that in mind moving forward. Thanks for the feedback.

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Andrew Bowen's avatar

Do love Cane Creek, but I already have a bit of a collection of silver stems

- Ritchey C220, but they have an unusual angle for face plate mount which can be awkward for out front mounts but would be my favourite if not for that

- Nitto UI, looks as good as I like the subtle engraving and they have -17 if you want that horizontal TT maintained

- Velo Orange, seems fine, it's on my trainer so haven't paid much attention to it

- Uno, bang for buck, hard to beat, lots of angles/lengths, just take the logo off :P

Thomsons never appealed to me, and I think Zipp had one but I didnt get it

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Frank's avatar

"Sometimes it’s perfectly ok to celebrate the simple things" is such a spot on comment when it comes to so many products. I'd be buying that cane creek stem if I hadn't just ordered a Ritchey. It's simple and clean, just a kind of classic look applied to it.

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James Huang's avatar

Yep, there’s definitely a sort of quiet elegance to it.

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Allen Foster's avatar

If David Millar's handwriting was a font, i'd buy it - it is incredibly smart!

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Arleigh's avatar

I can’t tell you how many shifter replacements I’ve saved with a good shifter soak.

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James Huang's avatar

If I've only saved one person from disassembling a Shimano STI Dual Control shifter by posting this info, my work is done :)

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