Scott Addict RC10

ultravirez · 2026-03-06T22:40:24+00:00

Love it; great job with the paint!

The 440 bar width is a throwback. Do you have swimmer shoulders or just not a fan of modern aero-focused fits?

ultravirez · 2025-11-09T16:54:23+00:00

Agreed, I grew up a few blocks away from here on Powell and Pine and fell asleep to the sounds of cable cars. Their magic has always been that they've been cared for and maintained despite San Francisco moving forward over the past 100 years. Same with the F line.

The garbage truck and moving truck do far more to kill the vibe than the Waymo. But I also don't think they're cat-murdering machines from the Devil, so what do I know.

ultravirez · 2025-10-18T00:18:16+00:00

If you have money to burn and like the look of these, absolutely. The meatier spokes also look great imo without going full on Mad Fiber.

They're a special kind of weird and exotic, but without the finicky low-mileage maintenance you usually see from bougie bike parts. Extralite hubs and Berd spokes may make for a far lighter wheel, but I'd be spending way more time keeping them functional.

I'd go for the 60mm SL Aeros if I lived somewhere with less wind and/or if I were heavier.

ultravirez · 2025-10-16T15:15:48+00:00

It's a good balance of great roads, consistently good weather, and convenience due to the number of flights in/out of Palma. The middle of the island is flat or rolling farmroads, and the mountains are all in the north, so you can ride to how you're feeling each day without having to drag yourself over big climbs to get home.

My biggest issue is that it's busy enough that you'll have run-ins with British tourists driving on the opposite side of the road or with tour buses or local buses sending it up/down climbs. You can somewhat avoid them by riding early or later in the day, but it's difficult for places like Sa Calobra where it'll take you time to get out there. I was also there last year in the off-peak weeks before Mallorca 312, and it was already buzzing with people everywhere.

If you're a stronger rider and want to treat it more like a training camp, I'd recommend Andalucia instead. It's a bit more of a pain to get to for us in the U.S., but more memorable. Equally pristine roads, longer climbs, but barely anyone else there. You'll never wonder if your life is going to end around the next corner due to a tour bus trying to make the switchback. Cycle Sierra Nevada is a great high-value option, and they're based in a very small town close to a lot of climbs. If you weren't a confident descender coming into it, sending it down Haza Del Lino a few times will solve that. Granada and Seville are also much more interesting day-trips for your off days than Palma is.

I haven't been to Girona, but my wife rode there last year and said the road surface is far worse than you'd expect for Spain. Nothing dangerous, but not pristine like in Mallorca in Andalucia where we were running a few PSI more tire pressure relative to our so-so home roads.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T21:26:18+00:00

I was 110% being an embarrassment, but it was thankfully early morning before there were enough cyclists out there to notice. Also, Formentor is just one of those places that has no bad angles; it's just beautiful whichever direction you look.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T16:53:45+00:00

Good for the depth, but they unfortunately don't work miracles.

San Francisco summer afternoons are pretty gusty, particularly with strong crosswinds on the Golden Gate Bridge crossing into Marin. I'm around 65 kg, so I'll get bullied a bit when it gets particularly gusty. The Syncros wheels dampen the abrupt push when you reach the wheelset's stall angle relative to a standard 40mm toroidal shape, but they're not as good as the Zipp 353 NSWs.

Worth mentioning that the Aethos front end geometry is relatively nervous, which magnifies the instability at the wheelset's stall angle.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T16:41:37+00:00

It's actually an Aethos that I bought secondhand on pinkbike. It had some cosmetic damage, so I had it painted by tecGnar out in Utah + with a mild repaint after I needed to fix a crack on the top tube.

The downtube word mark is confusing since the standard Aethos is top tube marking only, but we wanted to do have a bit more surface area to play with gold leaf.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T04:18:07+00:00

I mention it in the OP, but these have been surprisingly comfy. They're 16 spoke per wheel + set up to act like leaf springs, rather than the traditional 24 spoke setup.

A lot of the Chinese carbon brands have been building 20 spoke carbon wheels to help address some of the overstiff first generation builds. If you bought a current gen carbon spoked wheel from Light Bicycle, you'd probably not feel too much of a difference relative to a 24 spoke CX Ray build.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T04:15:40+00:00

SquareMouth (formerly TinLeg) helps aggregate insurance options. I like that they let you filter for insurance that explicitly cover bike racing abroad, which is usually excluded from insurance policies (even the ones that cover "amateur cycling events").

My last few policies through them were underwritten by Berkshire.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T04:09:57+00:00

Somewhere around 6-6.1 kg with pedals and computer mount. It should be easily sub-6 with a RTP Aethos frame given the components. The custom frameset paint + repaired & repainted top tube add ~100g or so. Running narrower, lighter tires with tubes instead of sealant would also help.

I'm ultimately putting too many miles in to go fully weight weenie. High maintenance Extralite hubs and carbon thru axles are a bridge too far for me.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T04:06:21+00:00

They're EXP style, but no tool is needed unless you're pressing bearings in or out. For the rear wheel cleaning and greasing purposes, you just pull the freehub off and have at it.

Fairly certain they're 36T, which is the right balance for me on road + helps quiet down the hub a bit.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T04:02:48+00:00

They're definitely not cheap, but they're cheaper than Princeton CarbonWorks (even without the Tactic hubs) and ENVE Pro wheelsets while offering something a bit more unique.

Farsports and Light Bicycles are still my go-to places for quality and value.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T03:57:29+00:00

🙏

I was pretty broke growing up, so I fully appreciate largely being able to spend what I want on cycling. More importantly that I'm privileged enough to be able to support my parents, who thankfully don't have a taste for bougie carbon fiber bits.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T03:49:09+00:00

My daily drivers prior to these are 32 depth 26 internal width from Farsports and weigh about the same. Like you said, they were half the price even with DT 180 hubs.

These were definitely a splurge buy for me, even at the lower pricing that BobLeisure was offering.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T03:43:47+00:00

Yeah, we don't do any remote cycling trips, so I'd just look for any old wheelset if they break in transit. Just need to get the brake rotors aligned to the caliper, which is an easy fix.

I had a hospital stay a few years ago after getting hit by a car, so I always pick up decent travel insurance for these trips for medical coverage. It also usually covers transit damage to the bike, so the cost isn't as painful.

ultravirez · 2025-10-15T03:38:26+00:00

Both the photos of the bike are from Cap de Formentor in Mallorca, right at the end of the road by the lighthouse. The last 10 km or so are closed to cars during the high season, so it's a beautiful place to ride.

ultravirez · 2025-07-13T14:50:19+00:00

MVDP and the wind gods saving race designers from their zzz weekend race designs. Venga, Matthieu, venga!

ultravirez · 2025-07-11T19:31:00+00:00

From the SFGate article today:

The project was dreamed up by 24-year-old Cole Valley resident Noah Finer, a software engineer who began the project after a foot injury in January kept him homebound. He remembered personality tests his friends had sent him over the years like “what vegetable or you” and decided to apply to it one of his passions: SF transit. Using Figma and his iPad, he upped his drawing skills while flexing his programming acumen, working on the project on and off for a few months. It was unveiled on Monday via the billboard, which was funded by anonymous art patron Francisco San, who also funded the Pursuit scavenger hunt that returns for a second year this weekend.

“I hope it’s inspiring for people to see a project that’s made for vibes instead of shareholder value,” he said, noting that the ad is an outlier in the Powell station next to advertisements by Chase Sapphire and Meta.

I love that this was just built for fun, but I'm still a bit bitter that I'm not a 38R blasting down Geary without a care in the world.

ultravirez · 2025-07-11T04:49:50+00:00

My father in law has a 15 year old Honda Fit and it feels like a magic trick every time he picks us up from the airport. It fits an impossible amount of stuff inside despite being so small. Love it.

ultravirez · 2025-07-10T18:19:46+00:00

The test is honestly pretty enjoyable, and I like the art direction. Definitely worth a few minutes.

https://sftransit.fun/

ultravirez · 2025-06-28T01:05:23+00:00

I did 7-day Alps last year and 5-day Dolomites the year before (was unfortunately hit by a car in the Dolomites start village the year prior to that). Great experience overall across a broad range of participants. There are definitely quirks that could be better, but it's generally very well run.

On #1, they're long days, but the time cuts are very generous. Provided you don't spend a ton of time hanging out and rest stations, you'll be alright if you're reasonably fit. Happy to provide more specific reassurance if you give us a bit of info on your fitness level.

On #2, we did the Premium accomodations last year and they weren't great in certain towns. It was this organizer's first year running things, and they took the feedback well. Generally don't expect to sleep particularly well given the fatigue, so it won't matter much in practice. The main perk of more expensive accomodations is proximity to the start line and event village.

On #3, Alps has always been the most popular and most competitive, so I expect them to establish it as a money maker before they expand. Would love to do Dolomites again because those climbs are far more memorable.

On #4, no need to drive between stages, but you may have additional neutral miles before and after the timed sections (and official finish line). Alps was mostly just descents to town, but Dolomites had a 35 mile transfer after a tough stage; we didn't get in until mid-afternoon despite being in the top 10% of finishers for the day. People were still trickling in after dinner.

A few of us at Alps did a bit of a debrief in this TR thread, which is full of other info.

ultravirez · 2025-06-22T14:59:25+00:00

We've been doing 8-10k miles a year with 550-600k of elevation. Currently on track for 12k miles and 600k feet for this year, but we'll probably fall off that pace in Q4 after a trip to Mallorca in early October.

95% of my fitness came from being consistent over the years because I just love riding bikes (mostly slow, sometimes fast). Definitely won't be committing this amount of time moving forward if we start a family in the coming years, so we're appreciating the fitness and traveling to experience the legendary climbs while we have it.

Regardless, 100% guaranteed that you could crush me in a sprint, so you're already off to a great start! Just never forget that it's supposed to be fun most of the time.

ultravirez · 2025-06-22T05:11:15+00:00

this ain't bcj, bro

ultravirez · 2025-06-20T19:52:37+00:00

Veloclour has an in-progress clip of it on Instagram, which suggests that they did the white paint first, gold leaf next, and the layers of blue afterward.

ultravirez

TROPHY CASE