Computerfication

 

The more observant of you may have spotted in the previous photos that I've got bar tape and cycle computer fitted now.

 

I'm quite pleased with how the tape has worked out as it was a job that I was dreading.  I've used the Bontrager Gel Cork tape, which has the benefit of using silicone strips to grip rather than adhesive.  This means you've not got trails of tape backing getting in your way and you can unwrap the tape and have another go at it if you don't think you got it right.  The trick to fitting it seems to be to keep plenty of tension to it and to alter the amount of overlap depending on the curve radius.   I have to admit to having a laptop in the garage with me showing a video of a pro wrapping their bars and watching that like a hawk, with my finger on the pause button.

Overall I'm pretty happy with it but I'm undecided about how far I want it to extend over the flattened aero-section of the bars and I'm still not sure whether I prefer the diagonal end cut on the inside or the outside edge of the tape.  I think I prefer it on the outside but I'll wait till I've done a few more rides and redo it when I add the in-line brake levers.

One thing I've found with the Polar computers that I use is that the cadence sensors never have quite enough range to work in the intended position and I've found that the supplied magnets for the crank need to run a very small gap.  The sensor gap is a problem on a bike that gets squeezed into crowded vestibules on commuter trains and shuffled up and down 3 flights of cramped, hairpin-landing stairs as the smallest knock to the sensor is enough to jog it out of alignment.   So as on my other bikes I've instead used a 5*10mm rare-earth magnet which fits rather nicely onto the end of the pedal shaft.  You can just see it in the top right of the picture here, you can also see much larger sensor gap I can run between it and the downtube-mounted sensor.

You can also see in the quantity of muck that gets thrown up during the course of a single days commute along a damp towpath.  Speaking of which the combination of titanium frame, carbon forks and wide 700c tyres makes this quite the most comfortable of all my bikes along the towpath.