Just after I returned from Holiday I decided that having 2 road bikes, the same spec, was a little pointless, So I stripped and sold the Ribble, why not the Surosa ? Well the Surosa is actually the better bike.
I decided that I wanted to upgrade the Surosa, its a great bike yes BUT its not perfect, So I purchased 2 good quality , strong hand-built wheels and a full Shimano 105 Group Set.
The weekend before my RTC I started the upgrades, I was intending to go out, buy he part I needed for the cranks, get some good quality cables and finish the job at during the week, however the impact of a van hitting me left my hands far too weak to be able to do it myself, that and the fact that you cant upgrade while you are passing out !
So I took it to Crown Point Cycles in Denton and paid the man £69 to finish the job for me, that was £69 that I wouldnt have needed to pay, if I wasnt hit by a WVM, while he did a good job, I was a little gutted I didnt finish what I had started.
Surosa Upgrade
So not does it have a better group set I have also gone from a 50 chain ring to a 53 and from a 13-27 cassette to a 11/23 cassette and a new set of “Nuke Proof Rims”.
Now I just need to find my bottle and learn how to ride again.
Cycle Of Life - Fix You 
It looks mean & moody in matt black Gaz :>D
And higher gearing to make the hills round here even more of a challenge eh? I guess they saying is true – if you’re gonna be a bear, you might as well be a grizzly!
Enjoy your revived ride m8.
Yeah its sleek mate, thenly issue being is that there i no lacqure on the frame, so it has already picked up quite a few marks, will need a respray within 12 months, though part of me says dont do it as its less stealable 🙂
Joel Lane is my new best friend mate and with a 39/23 it HURTS but im getting quicker up, enjoying it AND I flew up BHOD on Thursday so I just assume the higher gear ratio just suites me better and on the flats I love being in my “Granny Ring” and sitting at 20mph withou effort 😀
Never will I be good at hills, but by doing them with “stupid” gears I am getting so much better everywhere else 😀
LOL if pedalling up Joel Lane doesn’t improve your cycling legs then no hill will.
I’ve always gone up there in the lowest cogs sat on my ass!
Yup its a real leg breaker, I have done it 7 times in the last 8 days now 😀
Im too fat to do it sat down though, I HAVE to stand up and give it hell, it burns after about 1/3 of the way up, the rest I just want to pass out LOL
Took my helmet camera last weekend and did a video 🙂
Chapeau on the gearing Gaz! Pairing the non-compact cranks with 11/23 should make for some fun descending 🙂
It sure does mate, hit 36mph on Friday and still had LOADS left, the only issue was lack of road 😀
Fun for SCR’ing too, getting to 23Mph before needing the big ring always makes for either a scalp or a great sprnt out 😀
🙂 My technique at the moment is using a big gear and winding that up from the lights 🙂 Currently using 42*12 (the SCR 3.0 has a triple….) That would get me to around 25 with a bit of grunt…..
I was using 1 gear up (42*13), which was a bit easier to pull away in and then meant I could change up to the big cog up front (52) when it got a bit spinny to destroy anyone that was left hanging on >:-)
🙂 hehhe Excellent….Gimme another 12 months and I will go with a bigger lower ring, for now, after the accident, its just about getting back to where I was (Mind you last week got me close LOL)
The only issue with SCR up here is there are so few cyclists, I dropped an old boy on the flat on Friday night after he RLJ’ed but again 20 mph was enough to drop him, now the weather is on the change I suspect like the last 2 winters I wont see anyone else out and about till the spring …….by then though :-)……
Looks like a Stealth Bomber mate. Very nice!
LOL Cheers Man, It (at times) Flys like one too 😀
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear about the WVM.
11-23 and a 53 outer ring? You’re getting some high gears going there.
Eh Up Red, Hope you’re good mate.
Yeah the WVM incident has really knocked me for 6, but I’m building back up, just taking my time.
Yeah its an amazing combo, Im pretty much happy to sit in the smaller ring until around 22Mph, then after that its head down and kick like hell, great for the slightly sloping (Down) flats too, can just fly off, seems to help on most hils (under 16% ) also, so all in al, im happy 😀