I like the way this bike rides though I cannot yet really comment on it because it arrived with the wrong fork. It currently has the the fork for the smaller 650b frames and even though the 700c wheels and tires fit the lower trail makes the bike a bit of a squirrel. Soma's customer service in this regard was tremendous in that all the bike shop here on Guam had to do was to call them to get a replacement. However, I am waiting for the mail. You may have heard of the "Slow boat to China" Well the boat to Guam is slower! So when the proper fork arrives that will have to be changed out. The only immediate issue with the fork is that I have to use a short reach brake caliper on the front and the rake looks a bit funny looking at the bike you can tell it has the wrong fork
I was expecting this bike to handle a lot slower than it does. Looking at the slack angles and low BB I assumed it would be more like a touring bike but that is not true at all. Maybe the shorter than normal front center is the reason. It has a smooth ride and despite the fork issue steers well has long as I pay attention. Indeed, I've a triathlon bike in Hong Kong that is far more squirrelly than the Soma and the Tri bike has no issue with the fork Most of my components are pretty straight forward. Lots of bike have Veloce shifters. The only realy odd parts are the flat-bar shifters and I can really recommend those. They take an hour or so to get used to but once you figure them out they are really nice. The weird thing is that they are not a push/push setup where you only use your thumb but a push to go to a bigger sprocket/chain-ring and pull on a trigger behind the brake lever to go to a smaller sprocket/Chain-ring. This is kind of strange at first but easy to learn and now when I ride the other bike I find myself reaching for the Campagnolo downshift trigger. The harder thing is that you can shift more than one gear at a time and it takes a while to learn to push or pull just enough to shift only once; they take some technique. However, once you spend the time to get used to them I think you can shift faster (not that matters a whole lot to me) with them than with a push/push system. Two other things that are notable about the shifters. First is that unlike Ergo versions they have no quick release so you need to use non-Campagnolo caliper brakes which on the Soma is not a big deal. Second Campagnolo got the location of the gear indicator exactly right. I have used 7&8-speed flat-bar shifters on other bikes and the gear indicator was generally worthless because you could never see it. By placing it in front of the bar rather than under the bar Campy made it useful and with 10 cogs in back it is nice to have the visual reference I am still a bit scared of the Vento Reaction CX Wheels. They just don't look like they have enough spokes but they are fairly light and seem to hold my weight. They are certainly light enough without being stupid light. I've put about 200 miles on this bike in the 3 weeks or so I've had it just making loops around the university campus and riding to Tamuning for lunch on Fridays. Once I get the right fork on the bike I am planning to do what is called the South Island Loop which is about 60 miles around the hilly southern 1/2 of Guam On Thursday, April 18, 2013 3:30:49 PM UTC+10, Fai Mao wrote: > > Greetings > > After a 5 week delay to get most of the parts the San Marcos is on the > road. > > I was looking for a less slow bike than the Mongoose grocery bike and the > Sam Hillborne is in Hong Kong with the family. When this contract is up in > 18 months I'll take the Soma back with me. > > This is not a very retro build. > > Frame and Fork: Soma San Marcos 54 CM > > Components > Headset: Campagnolo Record > Seat Post: Generic > Saddle: Selle San Marco Regal > Stem: Dirt Drop 80 CM > Shifters: Campagnolo Veloce Flat bar 10/speed > Bars: Nitto flat & straight I do not know the number > Crank: Centaur compact 170-50/34 > Cassette: Camagnolo 12-30 10/speed > Derailleurs: Campagnolo Veloce medium cage rear QS front > Chain KMC 10 speed > Brakes Tektro long reach > Wheels Campagnolo: Vento Reaction CX > Tires: Continental Gator Skins 700X28 > > The bike weighs in at just over 22 pounds > At this point the only thing I'd change is to get a Campy triple up front. > I have a very bad knee and need a bit lower gears > > Notes: > 1. The photos show a temporary crank that was installed until I got the > Campy one in > 2. The tires have also been replace with the 700X28's > > I am an awful photographer so excuse the poor pictures > > http://s10.photobucket.com/user/Phil_hk/slideshow/Bicycle/Soma > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
