Melanie Späth: New Bike Details

Ryan actually went through the effort already to describe the details for our new 2010 race bikes on his blog, so this is taken almost directly from his blog. In short, for 2010, both Ryan and I are racing on near identical 2010 Specialized S-Works Epics. The bikes are basically the stock S-Works bikes with some modifications from our other sponsors: KCNC, Schwalbe and a little help from Stan at NoTubes.

The detail pics below are from Ryan's bike, but mine is virtually identical (I've got a white saddle though and slightly different disk brakes).

Outside of the paint work, the major changes on our bikes this year are:

Full SRAM XX drive train, we have a double (39x26) on the front and 11-36 on the rear. I haven't moved out of the big ring yet....
NoTubes Podium wheelset – from NoTubes, we are running the NoTubes Podium tubeless wheels – total wheelset weight is 1.26kg. Slightly heavier than my old ZTR 7000 wheels but the additional weight is in the ZTR hubs which, due to the flange spacing, will give a slightly stiffer (and more affordable!) wheel
The frame has been upgraded with a stiffer carbon front triangle and the liberal use of ceramic bearings for the bottom bracket etc...
The rear brain shock has also been updated – a slightly heavier weight in the inertia valve gives better terrain sensitivity. It is also now produced with Fox which should alleviate some of the quality control issues some earlier versions had.

KCNC components are used throughout to also drop the weight down to a hardtail beating 9.4kg (20.7 lbs). This is not showroom weight, but ready to race weight with tires, sealant, bottle cage and pedals. It feels light, very light.

Tires, we stick with our general purpose setup of a 2.1 Schwalbe Rocket Ron on the front and a 2.1 Racing Ralph on the rear. We use this exact setup for 95% of our racing and training.

Well, what can I say, I've ridden the bike a few times now and I love it. I have decided though to leave the bar ends off it for a while. I like the simplicity of not having them, it feels like another thing to think about while I race. I will probably put some on my training bike though and see if I like them more when I get used to them.

The above pic is actually from Ryan's bike, my seat post will be sporting a German flag. The pic with the wheel is also from Ryan's bike, I'd have turned the Schwalbe tires another half turn ;)

Many thanks to our sponsors for helping us put all this together - Cycleways, Specialized, Schwalbe, KCNC and NoTubes.