After a few years of use I decided to retire most of the current parts on my road bike and start over. Ever since Ian built up one of the matte black anodized Caad10 frames I have been a little jealous. Saturday I finally got around to finishing up the build on mine.

I have been riding Sram’s Red group for the last 3 years and loving it. No reason to mess with a good thing and with their new “black” version out it was a no brainer to match the black parts to the black frame. I kept my tried and true Shimano Dura-ace hubs that I built up to Hed Belgium wheels as well as my trusty Selcof seatpost.

Ever since I lost weight this year my bars felt wide all of a sudden so this was also the perfect chance to try moving from a 44cm 3T Ergonova Pro handlebar down to a 42cm.

I put in a solid 4 hour ride in on Sunday to try out the change and I’m loving it. The aluminum caad10 frame never ceases to impress me with not only how responsive it is but how smooth it is as well. Every time I start to get the itch for that carbon frame I go for a ride and ask myself “what was I thinking?”

For the price you just can’t beat one of these bikes. Even the “entry level” Shimano 105 equipped bike still gets the exact same frame and fork I have and rides just as nice. For anyone looking to get a solid race bike for under $2000 the quest should start and end here. Shimano 105 for $1400 or Sram Rival for $1700. Both are ready to race over at Bryan Park on a Tuesday night.

In case you can’t tell I LOVE MY BIKE!