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OPINION

Distance is the new speed

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Stu Kerton embarks on a new bike building project

I’d done an Audax before, three or four years ago, and to be perfectly honest I didn’t quite get the concept. Coming from seasons of time trialling and the odd sportive I couldn’t get my head around a maximum average speed - I mean why wouldn’t you fly around a set route as fast as your legs allow you to?

Yet, back in December tech ed Dave Arthur and I were stood in a damp, dark car park somewhere in Tewkesbury with forty or so other riders about to embark on a 200km ride around the lanes.

We didn’t exactly blend in: I was on a six grand carbon, Di2 wielding Cube with Dave on similar exotica, no bar bags, mudguards or maps but once under way, swapping gels for sausage and bacon rolls I actually found myself enjoying it and by the time the 207km (too busy chatting to see the right turn on the Garmin) was over I was hooked and a plan was hatched to ride as many as I could.

So new bike time. I haven’t bought an off the peg bike, as I find the choosing of the components and assembling each bit just as much fun as riding the finished product. Settling on a frame was actually pretty simple; it had to take full guards, be comfortable with stable handling but without sacrificing speed or looks, oh yeah and it had to be a Kinesis.

I’ve been lucky enough to test both versions of the GF Ti, GF Scandium and the TK3 and they have all provided exactly what I was looking, for plus Kinesis seem to have nailed making winter style bikes kind of sexy.
Unfortunately all of the above were out of my price range due to the kids expecting such luxuries as heating and food in their tummies so the T2 it was, a cracking frame in its own right especially with the carbon DC07 fork.

The 3T Integra Team stem was going to be the centre of the build, setting the theme if you like. I love the lines and as the Garmin is always going to be attached for route finding purposes, I thought it might as well be integrated into the bike. It is very stiff though so for long distance comfort carbon bars were an extravagant shock absorber.

Tempting as it was to go for 3T to match the stem I quite liked the understated look of the Cinelli Neos seatpost calming the front end down a bit. I’m not a huge lover of too many logos.

I’m a Campagnolo fan. I like the way it looks (what can I say, I'm a bike tart) and the shape of the hoods seems to match my hands. Obviously the groupset had to be black and I didn’t take much persuading to pay the small premium for the shiny red bits on the Centaur groupset. A 50/34 chainset with a 12/25 cassette should see me getting up most inclines in the saddle.

For the wheels, I had a choice of Campagnolo’s new asymmetric Vento’s or the Scirroco 35mm’s hanging in the shed. After a little Twitter poll it was the Scirroco’s that come out on top. Well the aim here is speed so a little aero advantage could come in handy. Wrapping them in 23mm Continental Gatorskin's should hopefully provide a decent balance of rolling and puncture resistance. 

As for the saddle, I had a couple of options, either a Fizik Arione that was in my spares cupboard or the Prologo CPC. I’ve always found Prologo’s take a lot of breaking in but the little rubber tubes on the upper provide a decent amount of shock absorbence so should be perfect for long days in the saddle.

To finish things off I’m waiting for TRP’s new deep drop brakes to arrive which should take care of the slowing down especially as the Miche ones are pretty cheap and use wine gums for brake blocks plus I might change the guards for some PDW ones as well.

So that’s that then, we’re ready to roll. The first ride is planned for the Gillingham & District Wheelers reliability ride this weekend with the Chippenham ‘Flapjack’ in February. The aim is then to do at least a 200km every month starting with the worryingly titled 214km Barry’s Bristol Ball Buster in March.

Distance is the new speed.

As part of the tech team here at F-At Digital, senior product reviewer Stu spends the majority of his time writing in-depth reviews for road.cc, off-road.cc and ebiketips using the knowledge gained from testing over 1,500 pieces of kit (plus 100's of bikes) since starting out as a freelancer back in 2009. After first throwing his leg over a race bike back in 2000, Stu's ridden more than 170,000 miles on road, time-trial, track, and gravel bikes, and while he's put his racing days behind him, he still likes to smash the pedals rather than take things easy. With a background in design and engineering, he has an obsession with how things are developed and manufactured, has a borderline fetish for handbuilt metal frames and finds a rim braked road bike very aesthetically pleasing!

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39 comments

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dave atkinson | 10 years ago
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that comment was sponsored by a nice bottle of Graves. or most of it.

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stuke | 10 years ago
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I won't mention the 21mm Veloflex Master's on my Sarto then  4

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TimC340 | 10 years ago
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Nice build, Stu. But Hamsterskins? I have to say that I've found them unresponsive and less durable than you might expect. Durano Plus FTW, and 25s work really well with that frame and forks. If anyone wants something similar but a lot cheaper, I have a Racelight T for sale (and, yes, it has Gatorskins on...  40 ).

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Sir Wobbly | 10 years ago
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Welcome to the slightly bonkers world of Audax!

>The aim is then to do at least a 200km every month

Do that for 12 consecutive months and you earn a Randonneur Round The Year award.

>starting with the worryingly titled 214km Barry’s Bristol Ball Buster in March.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The organising club (the splendid Las Vegas Institute of Sport) ensure you are supplied plenty of cake en route. And I do mean plenty of cake!

I've also entered Barry's Bristol Ball Buster and I'm riding it on this svelte speed machine  4

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stuke replied to Sir Wobbly | 10 years ago
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Sir Wobbly wrote:

Welcome to the slightly bonkers world of Audax!

>The aim is then to do at least a 200km every month

Do that for 12 consecutive months and you earn a Randonneur Round The Year award.

>starting with the worryingly titled 214km Barry’s Bristol Ball Buster in March.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The organising club (the splendid Las Vegas Institute of Sport) ensure you are supplied plenty of cake en route. And I do mean plenty of cake!

I've also entered Barry's Bristol Ball Buster and I'm riding it on this svelte speed machine  4

now that is a Beast! I'll keep my eyes peeled for you

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koko56 replied to dave atkinson | 10 years ago
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Dave Atkinson wrote:

i'm not a fan of 23s either mike. but like i say, broad church. one man's one thing is the other man's other thing and that.

Gold absolute gold!  4  4  4

Tim - Hamsterskins!! Just awesome!

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stuke | 10 years ago
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I finally got round to riding the Kinesis yesterday. 102km around the sunny lanes of Wiltshire.

A couple of tweeks but other than that it rode exactly as expected http://app.strava.com/activities/110705303

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Sir Wobbly replied to stuke | 9 years ago
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Well I managed to finish Barry's Bristol Ball Buster on the Pashley Roadster Sovereign. Ahead of a good few roadies too I might add  4

How did you do Stu?

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stuke replied to Sir Wobbly | 9 years ago
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Sir Wobbly wrote:

Well I managed to finish Barry's Bristol Ball Buster on the Pashley Roadster Sovereign. Ahead of a good few roadies too I might add  4

How did you do Stu?

I take my hat off to you Sir  41

I've been battling tonsillitis & a cold since last monday so after 275km of commuting I needed the weekend to recover, only got back on the bike today.
The T2 hasn't been out much due to the amount of test bikes I've had lately but it has had the brakes upgraded to TRP's RG957 deep drops, the review will be up soon.

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