[Mr Tonka]

Thanks! First ride went well. Night and day difference between my BMC and the F8. I mean, one is an endurance bike and one is pretty much an aero bike so the difference were expected to be vast. But man, they are so noticeable.

First off, with the Red 22 cranks and Dura Ace brake upgrades, the bike weighed in at 16.7 pounds vs the BMC coming in at 18. With some normal pedals, it would be supa light, those P1s weigh just about 1 pound - 437g. (your Vectors are only 351g and dura ace are only 250g)

On the flat, i really dig the new gearing. Jury is out for riding anything with an incline. But for some reason, the drive train is silent. Even when shifting there is virtually no sound. I don't get it. Didn't change the cassette, just the chain rings. Speaking of, shifting from big to small and vise versa is much smoother and faster with Sram chainrings. I'm not sure if using a sram chain and shimano chainrings caused the issues or if the top end sram chainrings shift better than Ultegra chainrings. What ever the cause, i like it. There were a few times when shifting from 14 to 13 was so smooth and quiet that i had to change back to make sure that anything happened.

Ride quality is still very good. I can't call the ride more harsh, it's better described as more solid. The bike feels like it was milled out of a solid piece of material. There is a section of my Wed ride that is made up of two bridges. One of them is about 1/4 mile long and is made up of 4' horizontal sections of concrete which makes for a pretty bumpy ride. The difference wasn't like going from comfy to harsh it was like going from a 335 to an M3. Just felt more solid, more controlled. When riding on the bridge with no hands, you can most definitely feel more impact though the saddle. So i'm assuming the more forward riding position, putting more weight on my hands is somewhat responsible for spreading the jolts the stiff frame transmits. The lack of flex is obvious when compared to the BMC. Standing up over the bars when going over some familiar bumps results in feeling the rear tire coming off the ground. Even the difference in sound makes it seem like the BMC had a rubber like flexible frame where that flex just isn't there with the F8. Not in a bad way, more like how a car with good shocks goes over a bump compared to a car with blown shocks, riding on springs alone.

Responsiveness was a big surprise. It's really snappy. I was riding with a friend and when he was pulling i'd some times fall off the back a little bit for blowing a snot rocket, taking a drink, etc... Today i noticed that catching back up required much less effort. So i started doing it on purpose and came to the conclusion that it takes about 1/3 of the effort the BMC required to get back on his wheel. The first few times, i'd start up with the same amount of effort as i was used to and had to put on my brakes to avoid running into the back of him. I stood up and did some light sprinting coming off of a few corners and just dropped my buddy immediately. Previously on the BMC, i'd do that and as soon as i sat back down glancing over my shoulder, he'd be right there. Today, he was 4 or 5 bikes back each time. It feel stupid fast to me.

Shorter crank arm lengths was a wise choice. I didn't really expect to notice a difference between 172.5 and 170. I figured the shorter length might be beneficial to me physiologically, but i did't expect to perceive any difference. I actually forgot that i chose shorter lengths until i was pondering mid ride why my pedal stroke seemed smoother and somewhat more effortless. Seemed to have no dead spots at the top, seemed to be able to turn them over more quickly. I didn't feel the need to stop pedaling nearly as much. Of course, these perceived differences could be a result of many factors, but from what i've read and knowing my wife's experience with shorter crank arms, the differences seem to be more a result of the shorter arms. Being an idiot, i forgot to change the crank arm length on my power sensor, so my cadence and power data were skewed by some degree. I'm guessing there is a formula that i can follow to figure out the discrepancy, but i'm not that curious.

Can't wait to ride again on Saturday!