Bespoke computer mount?

Woody "Macgyver" our shop manager has been growing a little tired of the minimal placement options of his Garmin 500 on the stem or bars. Plus he spent so much time to come up with the paint scheme on stem and bars that it was a shame to cover it up with the computer... So, in all it's glory Above Category presented by Woody debuts our custom computer mount thingi...

It's a little rough but this is prototype #1. To prove the Macgyver status, Woody made this from a cutting board!


Kind of looks like the SRM mount. Super tidy front end now. Woody was restricted by the materials he had which is why it's not perfectly centered. Again, this is #1...


Super aero! Not wind tunnel tested yet, but we'll get Smiley on it asap!


So, there you go, if you want one bad enough you can either talk nice to Woody and shell out maybe $1oo for his time, or wait for someone to actually make one as it is needed, esp. for TT bikes and such. (Unless of course, someone already does and Woody just wasted a Sunday!)

Di2 Moots CR

I really didn't take too many pictures at this years interbike show. For the most part there is nothing really new since Eurobike and as I've told a few people, this seems to be the year of refinement for a lot of companies. One thing that caught my eye is not really new, more of a refinement on an existing bike. I'm referring to the Moots VaMoots CR (compact race) modified for Shimano Dura-Ace Di2. Weather you like or dislike the thought of the electronic gruppo, one thing can be said, it is clean, especially when the frame is modified to hide the cables and mount the battery. This Moots is one of the cleanest examples I've seen yet and is absolutely beautiful.



My photo skills leave a little to be desired here, but you can see how much cleaner the front end looks without the shift cables. Also I really like the Di2 levers. Much smaller and cleaner looking in my opinion...



More incredible Moots welds to look at, the super clean exit hole for the front derailleur cable (sorry, I'm sure there is a much more technical term for what I just said!). Also, and this is from a long time Campagnolo guy, Dura-Ace looks SO good on a Moots...



Very tidy battery mount. Really, the only thing this bike is missing is a king bb. Just another reason to give us a call and talk Moots! Next up, a quick look at a new product we'll have here soon...

Weekly Update, camps and 2011 stuff and...

Welcome to another weekly update from Above Category. As usual there is a ton of stuff going on now which is why this blog gets updated so infrequently. But I am working hard on that and am pretty amazed that this is the second posting in one week! Damn, what's next? O.K, like I said we have a lot going on right now, some upcoming camps (one we are not putting on and a few we are), Pegoretti's that are in stock, new bikes on the way and a few other new products that we are starting to stock...


We'll start off with camps. The first one is not being run by us but by our friend Joao Coreia, currently racing with the Cervelo Test Team. He's doing a small and relaxed camp in Chianti, Italy in Mid October, coming up pretty quick. Knowing Joao (and Chianti) the rides will be amazing, and the food and wine even more so. And there will be a lot of hanging out at Paolo's (pictured to the left) bar in Lecchi which is only a bonus. If you can get away, I highly recommend getting out there for this! More info on Joao's blog.


Then there are our camps, we have 3 in mind for 2011. The first will be in January (24th - 29th tentatively) and will take place here in Marin. This camp will focus more on longer endurance rides to get you ready for the season to come (and our other camps). The rides will be incredible and a perfect way to start the year. Figure about 4K for the week including everything (food, transportation, mechanic, massage, etc.), and a more detailed itinerary is coming. Mark you calendars now and let us know what questions you have. The second camp we are planning is where Joao is running his camp, Chianti. Exact date is coming, but we want to run it at the same time as the Pro race run there on the strada bianche (white gravel roads) called Monte Paschi Eroica. The race is on March 5th which means the camp will most likely take place the week before. This is one of the coolest races on the calendar and we are super excited to offer a camp in this special area of Italy and with all the great folks who will be supporting it. Again, more info coming soon, but let us know if you are interested as space will be limited. We'll get into the last camp of the year in more detail later, but we will run it in conjunction with the Grand Fondo Pinarello in Treviso, IT mid July. This will be a do not miss camp and we are working on the details right now. Keep an eye out...


We now carry Oakley! But there is a catch, we only stock custom glasses that we design here. I think we came up w/ a few very nice and clean designs and of course picked colors that match the bikes and clothing we have here. We will be focusing on just a few of the models, the Radar, Flak Jacket, Jaw Bone and finally the Split Jacket when custom is available. We have sold out of our first couple batches but have a couple left with more on the way. Come on in and we'll get you set up...


On the theme of what's new and coming soon is the new line of BMC's. This is the Race Machine and is based on the Team Machine but a little stiffer and with a super sweet Gulf Porsche colors. We are pretty stoked as it still comes as a frame set so you can build it how YOU want to and is priced pretty well at $2850 which is a K less than the Team Machine. Love them or hate 'em BMC sticks it out there with their paint schemes. Yes, they have some black, white and red bikes, but every year they come out with some color as well. So if you like it and want to see more of it, buy it! We'll have them coming as soon as possible, hopefully in October. And of course we'll build one up about as cool euro as we can so you get an idea of what's possible... We already have the Team Machine in stock now and will be getting the Road Racer frame set in as well (in lime green!).


The new Pinarello's should also be coming in soon. The only exception is the new super fast TT bike, the Graal. Sold a couple already and even got one for myself as I do SOOOO many TT's. Maybe 3 in the past 5 years! I'm hoping this will guilt me into getting back into it. Really, in person this bike looks the business and coming from the minds of the British Cycling Federation (in part) I know how much thought went into it. Maybe not as sleek looking as the BMC TT01 but close and almost as expensive at $8500 for the frame, fork, headset, seatpost and handlebar and $9750 for the Di2 version. The Graal will come in 3 different color combos, Team Sky, British Cycling Federation (white, blue and red) and white and red. Hopefully available in November, but don't hold your breath, it may be as late as January. But look at it this way, plenty of time to save up!


Here's a pic of a BMC Team Machine we built last week with the new 2011 Super Record. As far as we know this groupset is still unavailable and will be so for at least another month or two. Or three. Or...
Anyhow, we have two groups left, one with 172.5 cranks and another with 175s. Right now the groupsets are on brand new Pinarello Paris'. We'd rather sell them on the bikes and have had a ton of interest in the bikes themselves but so far the sizing has not worked out. We have a 57.5 and a 54cm available. It seems that we have a lot of people looking for 50 and 51.5cm bikes, but no dice... Give us a call on this as even if the frames last the parts won't!


Speaking of things that won't last we have 4 new Pegoretti Marcelo's available. They are all the 'Thelonius' paint scheme and we have a 58, 59, 61 and 62 ready to go. Enlarge the photo to the left for a better view...






A quick update for everyone with pegoretti's on order that are still waiting. In the picture are a bunch waiting for paint and shipment to the states. I don't know who's are here, but they are coming along nicely. Our longest waiting frame currently is 14 months and I assume we'll see that sooner than later. We'll keep you informed as much as we can on wait times. On this note, we still have plenty of stock frames and as much as we love Dario's painting, the real magic of his frames is the RIDE. So maybe don't wait for the paint, get a stock bike and get out on it! That's why Dario builds bikes in the first place, to experience them on the road. But this is coming from someone with a Luigino that's been on order for a while, so I won't say too much...


We'll finish off this post by announcing that we have our Moots RSL demo bike in 57.5 built up and ready for you to ride! You can read our thoughts on this bike here.



Thanks for reading!

Our take: Moots RSL

The very first Moots RSL ever built (for a consumer at least)!

So, it's been almost a year since Moots introduced the new RSL at last years Interbike show in Las Vegas. Having been on a Moots Compact SL for almost 3 years before that and knowing how much I loved that bike (the Compact) I knew the RSL would be a winner from the start. So much so that we made the very first order ever right there on the spot. I've already covered the details of the frame, of which there are many, so here I'm going to talk about my experiences on the road since I now have a couple thousands miles on my personal RSL.

My personal Moots Compact SL which has apprx. 10,000miles on it...

As you can see from the photo above, I have plenty of miles on the Moots Compact SL which was the highest performing Moots before the RSL. The SL model used 6/4 titanium for the main triangle and was discontinued a couple years ago when it was getting hard to source quality tubing of that grade. I always wondered why they didn't look a little harder to get more, but now I know, they were working on something totally new all together...



I've had a lot of people ask me why exactly they went with the press fit 30 bottom bracket on the RSL. Stiffness was not really a concern as face it, none of us are really going to flex a conventional spindle or shell, so it has to do with the larger down and seat tubes. Yes, Moots could have mitered the tubes a bit more and had more overlap but that heats up the bottom bracket shell even more since there is more area to weld and this can warp the shell itself, so by going with the press fit cups instead of the direct placement of the bearing in the shell it solves this problem and is also a little quieter. At first this presented the problem of being able to use anything but the SRAM or FSA cranks, but Zipp came out with an adapter for their cranks pretty quickly and so did white industries for Shimano. Now we are only waiting for the Campagnolo adapter which has been developed but is just not available yet. It should be soon, so those of you who will only run Campagnolo, the opportunity to do so is very close at hand...

Moots RSL #1, which we got in February

And did a super trick and somewhat custom build with...

Then I received my frame a couple months later and built it as seen above. Make no mistake, this is a metal frame that delivers at the level of the top carbon bikes out there now. This is a pure high performance bike. While I felt that the Moots Compact was a more than able race bike, the RSL is even more so. But Moots was able to add the stiffness, the direct and violent ability to accelerate matched by few bikes regardless of the material they are built from. But all the while Moots has kept the essence of what their bikes are known for, smoothness, comfort and control, longevity that other frame materials can only dream of. Also, this bike is light, easily UCI illegal light. My bike is 14.2lbs all in, pedals and cages included. Yes, I have lightweights on there, but at 1100g for the pair, there are lighter out there if overall light weight is what I desired. This is an everyday and year round bike build. 3T aluminum bars, SRAM Red and even the Hive RevL brakes are super durable and easy to maintain. We have a demo bike built in the shop now that is a 58cm and built with SRAM Force, 3T aluminum bar and stem, Thomson Elite post, Fizik Arione VS saddle, stainless cages and yes, Lightweights again, but still, 14.9lbs w/ pedals. Switch to Edge tubulars or even clinchers and you are still in the low to mid 15's for a metal bike, that will last a long, long time. Also remember, this is the top of the line Moots, it deserves a nice build!

The brakes are sweet and the seat stays are svelte

I have ridden this bike on every road surface and in every weather condition with many different wheels in order to see how it handled each situation. For sure the Lightweight wheels are special and will make any bike feel better, but the RSL felt great in all configurations. The frame is so smooth and felt great on dirt and gravel roads and seems to stick to the ground a little better than some of the over built super stiff carbon bikes that are all the rage right now. Climbing is great and descending is amazing. It did take me a few rides to get used to the handling, especially with the super light German wheels on it, and now feel that this is one of the more neutral handling bikes I've ridden. While the other Moots models are great climbing bikes they seem to lack the acceleration in the first couple hard pedal strokes on a steep climb or in a sprint that you find in a bike like a Parlee Z4 or Z5, but after those first few strokes it all evens out and the Moots' feel as fast as anything. The RSL on the other hand is more like the Parlee in that you feel the acceleration right away and with great effect. Again, the tubes are thin and flex more for sure but in a good way that enhances the ride, doesn't take away from it. If my only concern was ultimate stiffness the RSL would not be my first choice, but to be honest, I'm not looking for that ultra stiff bike. The Moots RSL is a bike that is at home in road races and century's, hard group rides and hill climbs. While it would hold its own in a criterium, it would again not be my first choice if that was the only type of racing I did. But for a stage race that included a criterium you would have a hard time finding a more suitable bike.

Riding the RSL with Fulcrum Racing Zero 2-ways


And Easton's new clinchers...


And in the pouring rain...

And finally, with Lightweight Obermayers...

In conclusion the Moots RSL is for anybody looking for that ultra high performing bike that happens to be super light, as stiff as you need and more comfortable than pretty much anything out there today in this category. Don't forget that it is titanium which means it's one of the most durable frames out there, does not fatigue over time, doesn't rust, corrode and can be rebuilt if you do mess it up and is just plain gorgeous. Pictured above is our 58cm demo bike, if you need proof and are looking for a new high performance bike, give us a call and come take a ride!

Thanks for reading and thanks for your patience in waiting for our review while we were out riding the RSL... As always give us a shout with any questions...