All kinds of stuff... (SRAM, SRAM, SRAM, SRAM, SRAM...)

Man, what a week... these things just keep running together like crazy. It's amazing how the time has just been flying by for the past, oh 6-8 months!

I won't bore you with the tedious details, but it's been a heck of a ride.

The highlight of the week? Did somebody say SRAM road group? Yes they did! Bryan Bos of SRAM came by the Masi World Headquarters this week with a built up bike with the new Force road group. I can't pronounce the brand of bike... so I won't spell it out either. The bike was a little small for me and I only got to ride it around our parking lot for my own personal criterium, but the group did feel good. That new group, even travel-worn and imperfectly adjusted out of the bike case was very impressive. The shifters feel great in your hands and the shifting is very easy. The front shifting was a little stiff, but that was probably just because of the fact it needed to be adjusted. I mean, the prototype I rode on the trainer in Las Vegas during the trade show was 100% flawless, so I have every ounce of faith that the finished product will be impressive. As cool as the shifting was, I have to admit that I was most impressed by the brakes. The test bike was built up with carbon rimmed wheels and the braking was still very impressive. Sure, the brakes had special brake pads for carbon rims, but the braking power was still very impressive. Even when using special brake pads for carbon rims, braking is usually less than perfect and the braking of the SRAM brakes was flawless and I almost grabbed a bit too much brake going into a turn and spooked myself... they are that good.

Needless to say, I can't wait to get a set of the parts to give a longterm test. I'll update if it happens...

Next week is a short one, thanks to the holiday, and it will be another packed one. Posting may be very sparse again, but it is not because I've stopped loving you. It's me- not you...

Tim