Modernizing.
I like my LeMond Revolution trainers. The "road feel" is second to none, and I've never really cared about the jet engine noise level it produces. That said, not everyone at the radar sites could ignore it as easily as I can. When I'm getting on the bike around 3:45 AM, this becomes an issue. I needed to do something, but most quieter trainers either are too heavy or too bulky for air travel when in a case. The ones that aren't usually give the impression of riding through mud.
Wahoo came out with their Kickr Core, and I tried to research it to see if it would work for me. After less-than stellar answers to my very specific questions, I just went ahead and ordered one from Fall Line Fitness because they're local, they support local racing, and everyone sells Wahoo products at cost anyway. Justin was cool in letting me weigh each piece and see how it fit in the case before I laid down the cash.
The good news? It fit in the Pelican case my LeMond travels in. The bad news? The combination weighed a few pounds more than the airlines would allow, even with all removable parts and packing removed from the case. Crap. I disassembled it to see what other weight I could shed, but it just wasn't practical for travel. I bought the trainer anyway, figuring at the very least I could use it at home and maybe save what's left of my mid-frequency hearing.
Even though I really didn't want to spend any more money, I started looking for cases and in the end I opted for a Pelican 1607 Air, which is over 5 pounds lighter than my Pelican im2750 and slightly smaller. I hope it's close to as durable. I should have a couple pounds for packing material before I brush the airlines maximum, and the rest of the Kickr parts will go in the S&S bike case in place of the very heavy Lemond base. The bike case should end up lighter and easier to pack. I'm cutting down the foam the Kickr came in to fit the new Pelican case, making a nice package for TSA to manhandle.
I'll still have a couple cases that push 50lbs, guys at the sites will still comment on their size/weight, and I'll still say they're my makeup cases and to stop judging my lifestyle choices.
This change in trainer is spurring me to swap drive trains on my bike from 10 speed Shimano Ultegra to SRAM eTap. I was waiting for Davidson Cycles to put S&S couplers on my travel Moots Compact, but a bike building backlog has had it languishing there since the spring. I'd rather have it done right than done fast. So, I'm going to install the eTap on my Ritchey Breakaway CX for the next couple months. Since there are no cables to run (no need for brakes on the trainer), it's going to be easy enough to do. That's why I opted for eTap in the first place.
For radar site trainer duty, I will be using eTap Clicks on bullhorn bars fed into a Blip Box. The bullhorn is more compact than drop bars for packing, and TSA has broken more than a couple brake levers when shifting packing jobs around. If I don't need brakes, why run the risk? The blip box is also a nice addition for tuning the shifting.
When I want to use the bike on the road, I'll just pair the derailleurs with the drop bar shifters and install some brakes. Done. Hopefully this will be an elegant solution for frequent travel. I am a little worried SRAM will stop support of the original eTap in the next couple years, making parts increasingly hard to find, but that's a problem for the future.
I'm not always crazy about modernizing, as experience has taught me it usually causes more problems than it solves, but hopefully this will prove to be the exception.
Wahoo came out with their Kickr Core, and I tried to research it to see if it would work for me. After less-than stellar answers to my very specific questions, I just went ahead and ordered one from Fall Line Fitness because they're local, they support local racing, and everyone sells Wahoo products at cost anyway. Justin was cool in letting me weigh each piece and see how it fit in the case before I laid down the cash.
The good news? It fit in the Pelican case my LeMond travels in. The bad news? The combination weighed a few pounds more than the airlines would allow, even with all removable parts and packing removed from the case. Crap. I disassembled it to see what other weight I could shed, but it just wasn't practical for travel. I bought the trainer anyway, figuring at the very least I could use it at home and maybe save what's left of my mid-frequency hearing.
Even though I really didn't want to spend any more money, I started looking for cases and in the end I opted for a Pelican 1607 Air, which is over 5 pounds lighter than my Pelican im2750 and slightly smaller. I hope it's close to as durable. I should have a couple pounds for packing material before I brush the airlines maximum, and the rest of the Kickr parts will go in the S&S bike case in place of the very heavy Lemond base. The bike case should end up lighter and easier to pack. I'm cutting down the foam the Kickr came in to fit the new Pelican case, making a nice package for TSA to manhandle.
I'll still have a couple cases that push 50lbs, guys at the sites will still comment on their size/weight, and I'll still say they're my makeup cases and to stop judging my lifestyle choices.
This change in trainer is spurring me to swap drive trains on my bike from 10 speed Shimano Ultegra to SRAM eTap. I was waiting for Davidson Cycles to put S&S couplers on my travel Moots Compact, but a bike building backlog has had it languishing there since the spring. I'd rather have it done right than done fast. So, I'm going to install the eTap on my Ritchey Breakaway CX for the next couple months. Since there are no cables to run (no need for brakes on the trainer), it's going to be easy enough to do. That's why I opted for eTap in the first place.
For radar site trainer duty, I will be using eTap Clicks on bullhorn bars fed into a Blip Box. The bullhorn is more compact than drop bars for packing, and TSA has broken more than a couple brake levers when shifting packing jobs around. If I don't need brakes, why run the risk? The blip box is also a nice addition for tuning the shifting.
When I want to use the bike on the road, I'll just pair the derailleurs with the drop bar shifters and install some brakes. Done. Hopefully this will be an elegant solution for frequent travel. I am a little worried SRAM will stop support of the original eTap in the next couple years, making parts increasingly hard to find, but that's a problem for the future.
I'm not always crazy about modernizing, as experience has taught me it usually causes more problems than it solves, but hopefully this will prove to be the exception.
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