One of the influence for Phil's CDA

And the other influence for Phil's CDA

POP-UP TEST - JULY

BIKE OF THE MONTH JULY - SEROTTA CDA
THE PINK PERIL
Why if I have a Serotta MeiVici, a Glider GPM and access to any of our Alpine Test Fleet have I elected to build a special bike for the Etape and why on earth would I build it from steel? Has been an oft repeated question from staff and customers alike. And this bike-test is an attempt at an answer. And why so overwhelmingly pink?

IT'S ALL ABOUT FLAVOURS
I have no one perfect answer I confess, so I will ramble for a while. Mostly it is all about 'flavour'. I can see the benefits of carbon, I have spent enough time on the MeiVici to know it is probably the best 'race' bike in the world at the moment, if full-contact racing is your bag. I love titanium for it's no-nonsense un-burstabilty and stripped-down minimalism. I even know that the Ottrott is quite possibly the most desireable all-day bike yet conceived - it has won enough industy awards that testify to that fact. But steel found too significant a place in my affections many tens of thousands of miles and a few decades ago to be purged by current notions of fashion or must-have trends.
Personality
The way I see it is that Carbon doesn't have a personality as it can have any personality depending upon lay-up and construction method. It can be hard and accurate like a MeiVici or squishy and bendy like too many we could mention.
Titanium is of course a wonderful metal that does have personality and is made ideal for a bicycle frame by careful engineering and design.
Aluminium I can't even mention on this page.
Good Molecules and a 17lb Bike
But steel's molececules have always inherently suited the forces of cycling - steel actually is stiffer by volume (measured by Youngs Modulus of Elasticity) than carbon, aluminium or titanium. And recent technology has polished out the majority of steel's major detraction - it's density (euphemism for weight). The Pink Peril was weighed in by Warrick yesterday afternoon at 17lbs all tooled up and ready to ride. The Columbus Niobium air-hardened tubes are individually selected for rider preference and weight and mine are triple-butted down to 0.3mm in the middle of the toptube and downtube! The frame weight is a couple of hundred grams off titanium and lighter than many cheaper carbon frames we have weighed.

Juju Magic
The big reason I wanted a steel bike for the Etape is because I just love the resonance and sense of groundedness a well crafted steel frame will bring to the day. The Etape is day out, an event - I wanted a bike to celebrate that. However the day goes on 6th July, this bike will always remind me of it.
The major influences for my CDA were my own 7/11 Merckx frame that I raced in criteriums in the early 90's (1990's that is). The Columbus SLX is approximately double the weight of Columbus Niobium air-hardened steel and the whole bike weighed about 23lbs ready to race. But the figures don't tell the full feeling of how well this bike coped with the heat of battle, how free it left my mind for tactics and introspection when cranked at 45 degrees on cobbles. How little concern I ever gave to the battering I was giving it every week during the seaon. It just performed and appeared to take care of me. I never crashed this bike in anger, which is truly remarkable in itself considering my record. The Merckx is now restored and retired at CycleFit but its proportions and over-engineered build ethic inspired the CDA.
The other frame that influenced my Serotta CDA is the Moser Team SLX that was raced by my then team-mate and now CycleFit advisor, Jay Barbour. The Moser's elegance and sophistication was the perfect counter-point to the 'Eddy's' brutish functionality, which in a sense sums up both Merckx's and Moser's (and mine and Jay's) personality and attitude to racing. I always secretly coveted Jay's Moser and even raced it at Eastway on one sunny afteroon. The frame now sits in my front-room - I can't remember why - but it reminds me of all the races from those days. Of course you don't see too much of your own bike when you are racing so you tend to see more of your close friends and team-mates. Seeing the Moser brings back crits in france, climbing the Ventoux, long training spins in sunny Hertfordshire, evening time-trials...etc.. Both the Merckx and the Moser now look like anachronisms with their heavy lugged construction and obsolete pro-team livery. But they are physical embodiments of a time when they were cutting edge and we were younger, fitter stronger versions of ourselves. And most of all I need some of that juju magic on July 6th if I am to make it round.
I will tell you how it rides when I get back.

Link to July Blog ..more
Link to Etape Aftermath Blog ..more

Read Jules' Pop-Up Ottrott Test ..more
Read Phil's Pop-Up Colnago C50 Test ..more
Read Kimberly's Serotta Legend SE Test ..more

Read Phil's Pop-Up MeiVici Test ..more
Read Marcel Wust's review of the frame we designed for him ..more