The blog of a Leslie Wong
I ride my bike around this hill a couple of times a week. The three-month chronicle below shows the cycle of California’s famous ‘golden hills.’ After the winter rains, the Horse Hill Preserve starts March in a vibrant green, but as the dry season sets in, the grasses cure into the striking amber ridges you see by June.
I bought my used De Rosa Merak in 2023. The dealer that I bought it from, bike-room.com, did a great job of refurbishing and setting up everything. Some of the Campagnolo Super Record EPS components were brand new. On my first ride, after attaching the integrated bar/stem (Vision Metron 5D), and installing the wheels/tires (Fulcrum Airbeat 400, Vittoria Rubino Pro 700×28, the bike shifted and braked pretty much perfectly.
Now, I’ve ridden it about 4,800 miles. The only parts that I’ve replaced are a couple of sets of brake pads (Campagnolo DB-310) and the brake rotors (Campagnolo DB-160C3).
The only other problem was the Ergo Power rear disc brake lever was leaking brake fluid through the banjo fitting for the hose that goes from the lever to the caliper. Instead of looking for the Campagnolo hose brake screw that comes with two new o-rings ( Campagnolo EC-EK107), I measured them then bought a lifetime supply from McMaster-Carr. (9262K259 Oil-Resistant Buna-N O-Ring, 1.2 mm Wide, 6 mm ID, Packs of 50)
After a couple of thousand miles on the Campagnolo Super Record EPS front derailleur, I started dropping the chain, both when shifting to the inner chain ring and up to the outer chain ring. Campagnolo has great documentation – Diagnostics and troubleshooting electronic groupsets EPS – Internal Power Unit V2 / V3 / V4 (pdf)- for adjusting the zero setting and adjusting the riding settings of the derailleurs.
Basically, pressing the mode button for six seconds should give a solid purple light on the interface. After that, pressing once on the up or down shift levers on the left hand control will move the front derailleur 0.1 mm in either direction, respectively. I was able to prevent the front derailleur from over shifting onto the big chain ring, but I was still dropping the chain on the inner chain ring.
When I searched for a Campagnolo Super Record EPS 12 speed chain catcher, the first hit was for the K-Edge Pro Road Braze-on Chain Catcher. The compatibility specs say, “Not compatible with Campy EPS.”
Campagnolo calls their chain catcher, Chain Security Device (FD-SR203). Unfortunately, Campagnolo doesn’t make it anymore. I could take that to mean maybe you should just adjust your derailleurs correctly and you wouldn’t need a Chain Security Device. But I found it available at Total Cycling, in the UK. I ordered it and it was delivered to me in California in about a week.
Campagnolo has a technical manual (pdf) that includes instructions for mounting the Chain Security Device (if you understand the use of square nuts to fasten the front derailleur, let me know in the comments). I usually use the right tools in order to make things right but instead of buying the Campagnolo Front Derailleur Alignment Tool UT-FD120, I eyeballed it and it’s working perfectly. No more dropped chains.
Tadej Pogačar’s Strava Stats vs Mine for the week ending July 21, 2024. Pogačar rode 10.5 hours more than I did. Though as an explanation, I am 45 years, 10 months and 26 days older, and I did break my knee five months ago.
My Team Cofidis De Rosa Merak came equipped with 700×28 Vittoria Rubino Pro tires. Bike-room.com set up the tires with tubes. (The wheels are Fulcrum Airbeat 400 DB, an OEM wheel that is similar (but heavier) to the Fulcrum Wind 42)
The rear tire started showing wear through the tread at 2050 miles and I retired it 30 miles later. I attribute the wear to my weight (~211 lbs – 97.7 kg).
The front tire, after almost 3300 miles seems to have a lot of tread left. In the center of the tire, there is still a trace of the flash.
I replaced the rear tire with a 700×28 Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR and went tubeless. The Continental tire has a little over 1200 miles on it and the wear indicators are still showing. I did get a puncture, a 1.5 mm long cut in the tire (probably from a glass shard), that the Orange Seal Endurance sealant sealed.
For safety’s sake (see this video of my descent down Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands), I decided to patch the tire from the inside. I removed the tire, cleaned out the sealant and put a round Rema patch over the hole. I’m wondering what other high performance tubeless road tires there are that are slightly more puncture and cut resistant.
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These are my 2023 Strava stats from riding my Eddy Merckx Professional and De Rosa Merak. I bought the used De Rosa in March of 2023 and rode it the rest of the year, 2,834.4 miles.
On first glance, the numbers look impressive until one sees that every statistic has decreased compared to my 2022 Strava stats, my 2021 Strava stats and my 2020 Strava stats. It’s a little disheartening to compare my 2023 numbers to the previous years. It’s the natural version of “The Machine” in the Princess Bride.
The yearly decrease is definitely connected to my aging and maybe fewer days of good biking weather (blame El Niño?). Maybe I’ll make a chart and projections of my decline based on how long I am going to live but that might be a little depressing. Or I should try to do more in 2024!