Another gruppo comparison (but a new one I think); Ultegra vs. Ultegra SL

Peter@vecchios

Waterford with 1987 Campagnolo C-Record, right down to the friction shifters and 7 speed freewheel.

Phill P

Maybe you should start making carbon frames as well!!

Are you selling more Ti or steel frames these days?

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Thylacine

You mean like this?

Equal Ti to steel sales atm, but it varies month-to-month.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Powerful Pete

Thylacine, heck of a nice paintjob on that frame. Not for me (more of the classic, one color kind of guy here) but very eye-catching!

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Powerful Pete

Peter, we are still waiting for the pictures of your ride!

... unless I missed something...

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Thylacine

The bottom section is Titanium and the top hand laid carbon, so it would've been a shame to cover it all up with paint.

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Powerful Pete

Aha. Now I get it (did not realise the different materials used). Very nice indeed.

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Peter@vecchios

Haven't been able to figure out how to do it on this forum.

TheDarkLord

You can either attach pictures (click on "Attach files" in the Additional Options section below the Submit Reply button). The alternative is for you to upload pictures to an online photo-sharing service (fotopic, imageshack, etc.) and either give the link or use "Insert Image" to show the image directly in the thread.

Phill P

MY GOD how much would that cost?

Amung my dreams for when I win the lotteries is a weight weenish bike (carbon and lots of bling) but I'd have to say some thing with a bit more soul and uniqueness as well that people would ask about, ie a Thylacine.

But then when I see things like a hand laid up carbon and Ti frame.....who needs a mass produced carbon frame! Carbon Ti road bike, and steel 29incher tourer, off roader......ah the dreams!

Thy...what do you see in te future for integrated BBs and after market taper steerer forks?

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Thylacine

How much? A lot!

Tapered steerers? I don't see the point. It's not like we're seeing a rash of failures in that area. Technically there's more stress in the lower race so techically it's the right way to go, but from where I'm sitting it's a solution to a non existent problem.

If people are truely concerned, just get one of the new Crank Bros headsets. More balls in the lower race, more load spread over a greater area. 'Problem' solved.

Of course none of this will stop the marketing people getting their grimy hands on anything that 'differentiates'.

I think BB shell sizes will increase, although there's nothing wrong with having the bearings outside the BB like they currently are. Bringing them 'inside' will just be neater. Shimano is already selling a press-in BB kit.

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jojoma

I always thought a cassette was part of a group, but it does not appear that there is a cassette in the SL group. Not sure why...

Phill P

The cassette is stock Ultegra, not part of the SL upgrade.

Warwick, I see your point about the headsets themselves being durable enough, but isn't the tapered steers about stiffness and optimised design with CF?

The Madones and Cannondales and meant to have great steering due to the stiff tapered steerer, and Trek are going on about the optimised fibre orientation in the lower shoulder.

I'm sure you agree, being a taller guy as well, that a stiff steerer is helpfull when going down hill at 60+kph, and a long head tube/steer isn't helping in that area.

Have you done integrated/BB30s on any of your frames?

Sorry for high jacking the thread.....

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Thylacine

Stiffness and optimised design? Not sure about that, you'd have to ask someone who designs CF parts for a living. However, I can't say I've ever had an issue, and I'm not a subscriber to the 'stiffness is everything' mantra, and with my bike at 60km/h you feel like you're standing still anyway, so where's the problem?

We're having good luck with the Edge Composites forks which are 100% CF, and they're obviously confident enough to sell the things without having an oversize lower race, so......so are we!

If you want a solid handling frame, you're better off not skimping on the size of the downtube. That's where you get your torsional rigidity from.

I'm looking into doing an 'integrated' (actually press-fit) Shimano BB'd frame at some stage, but Shimano Australia is useless and I haven't been able to track down one yet, but it is on the cards.

The whole 'Bottom Bracket' thing is going to get interesting in the next year. Wouldn't be surprised if Shimano releases a 'new standard' (if they haven't already) or adds a slew of new internal models.

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