New brake levers

Although I still like the looks of the XT brake levers I originally put on my Z Pro, braking was never quite crisp. I could slow the bike down, but that was about it. Until now I never had to make an emergency stop during my rides, but still ..... So to have some more safety into my rides, I replaced them XT-levers with flat road bar levers. While surfing the internet I discovered that Shimano has the BL-R 550 specially designed for flat road bars and they do have them in black, so the choice was easily made !

Yesterday I rode the Z Pro to my bike shop (I do not have a compressor at home to remove the rubber grips) where I switched the brake levers -and I got called stupid by the bike shop owner for mixing V-brake levers with road calipers. When riding back home I immediately noticed the difference in brake power when I needed to stop. Now it is possible to lock up the rear wheel, something that could not be done with the XT-levers. And to be honest : I kinda like the simple looks of the new levers.

Simple but effective

At last .... alive again !

I know, I know : I should be ashamed ! It's been almost a year since I last posted something on this blog .... And what's even worse : only today I took my Z Pro for a ride since almost a year too ! I can't explain why, but I did not ride my CF-bikes much last year. Most of my cycling has been done either with my Stratus XP or my velomobile. Don't know exactly why, but I just didn't feel like taking either the Z Pro or the 700X for a ride. And even then .... In the last three months, I did not even bother to ride the XP or my velomobile. Only used one of them for commuting and that was it. Could not bring myself to grab a bike and take it for a ride ... Of course, I did ride my old Beemer, but that's something completely different .... So anyway, today was THE day. It was a nice spring day with mild temperatures and since the forecast predicted a drop in temps and rain for tomorrow, I took the Z Pro out of its storage. Inflated the tires, checked the brakes and the chain and off I went. There was a mild breeze, so it was pretty tough to keep the speedometer above 19m/h but anyway, I really enjoyed myself ! Of all the bikes I own, the Z Pro is defenitely the most responsive one. This makes perfect sence, since it's the only bike that has a regular rear derailleur and cogs instead of an internal gear hub. And it's also the lightest, which is also nice to ride !

It took some time to get adjusted to the seat again, but that's only acceptable after not riding a CF seat for such a long period. So yes, I did feel my sitbones after I completed todays' 40 mile ride, but not that it hurt or felt uncomfortable in any way. And yes, I really did enjoy the ride and kept wondering why I didn't spent more time on the Z Pro before. Oh well ....

When I got home, I noticed that the rear tire needs to be replaced, for it has several worn spots as you can see in the picture below. Since it'll be raining all day tomorrow, I'll have plenty of time to replace the rear tire.

Time for replacement ....