Re: Six/13: Bikefanclub.com

Hello TwoCentsDavid,
Well im very impressed by your unbiased view of how the bikes stack up against each other, although i had already figured you would obviously have a vertically challenging scenario comparision in the report somewhere.
So from reading what you said, its safe to say that in your opinion, the Trek 5200 makes you work harder on the inclines, and you also need to expend more energy output with the Trek just to stay up to the same speed as when riding the six13.
I also found this same scenario out too very early with my first Trek riding experiences, and was given a severe tongue lashing on forums here for saying so, but i'm not going to keep flogging a dead horse when i can afford to change a frameset that gives me a better ride and performance attitude.
Please bear in mind that i never changed anything else on my bike except the frame when i converted from the Trek, so i didnt use or add any gimmick stuff to favour the results. Actually when i made the frame swap i took out my Ksyrium SSC wheels and put in regular 36 spoke wheels, so that alone should make my results worse for the new frame.
Also when i took my first ride on the frameset that replaced my Trek one, i tried like you, to not focus on the fact it could be a better frame, and surely i would naturally go faster or climb better or whatever, but after my first ride, i was, i actually WAS riding faster everywhere with less effort, or could my speedo be suddenly fooling me.
An old advocate for years of the saying "train harder to go faster" with the bike being only as good as the rider is fine, but with the way technology is these days, there are new products coming out literally every week designed to assist you extract the best from your level of fitness,its the plain truth.
Like you too as well, climbing is not a strong point of mine, so ANYTHING that can help me climb better and faster,i'll try it once maybe even twice to see if it gives me an edge.
Can just a frameset actually do this?? well from my experience it can and will,if its designed correctly. For this to happen you need a frame thats literally got geometry designed to put the bike 'UNDER' you, and not around you, so when you 'gas it' in the hills, the frame responds immediately to all your pedal input and not take its sweet time to think about it.
I dont really care who makes the frameset, as long as its durable and performs properly with many attributes, a name on a down tube isnt good enough to get you over the finish line first, so brand devoted loyality for me is non-existent, but a high quality well thought out and properly engineered frameset is.
A very close friend of mine has a Postal version 5500 with almost identical parts on it as my bikes,ie Campy Record,with a few other bits, and his Trek is way heavier than any of my other bikes, funny thing here is that his bike is a 54cm c to t, and mine are all 60cms c to c in size,hmmmmmmmm.
However he's seen the light and is now well on his way to buying a Cannondale as soon as he can gather up the necessary funds, a few test rides have him severely smitten already.
His responses to me were "WOW,,, oh WOW its sooo light and so responsive, i just touch the pedals and its gone, i cant believe it" and look at the quality of finish, my 5500 looks so cheap,i've got to get one of these soon.
Thanks again for taking the time to send in your review to share with us on this forum, and while i'm sure your idea for the Project One cow spots might somehow "look good", for now i'd hold the mayo on that thought, if not your Dad will disown you.

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Its time to ride.

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