kienle con nuevo grupo Sram electrónico ( cubierto ) en su scott plasma en la Challenge Heilbronn
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Lifestyle/Challenge_Heilbronn_check_in_5152.html
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DIY Solar Hot Water Heat Kit For About $30
http://www.offgridquest.com/diy/diy-solar-hot-water-heat-kit-for-about-3
The tubing is 5/8" irrigation pipe I bought at Lowe's. I boughtthree 100' sections for $10 each. The concrete under is my cesspool tank cover. The glass is from a sliding door that the salesman at Lowe's gave me (he bought a new one for his home).
The water comes out scalding hot, so I think plastic sheeting could be used instead of glass. The water enters the coil system from my water pump, and returns to the house at any hot water line.The tubing holds about5 gallons of water, but is so hot that when mixed with cold water at the shower valve I can get a pretty decent shower. I have thought of using a circulating pump and a tank to store up hot water but so far I am just using the coil itself as the holding tank.
There is no county water on my property. I buy 4000 gallons of water for $140, and store it in a tank. 4000 gallons lasts about4 months. A short shower saves on the water bill. Most of my water goes into the landscaping.
Electricity is 30 cents per kilowatt in Hawaii. I think the payback period for my solar hot water heater is about 2 weeks. After 2 months the pressure in the pipes blew out the plastic connectors between the 100' sections. So I switched to brass barbed hose repair kits with stainless hose clamps. They cost about $1.50. Don't use plastic fittings as they will not last.
Steve
This entire project cost about 30$ not bad considering it is used to offset a significant amount of energy costs and has already paid for itself.
Obviously in a colder environment you would need to make the enclosure more insulated, and you would have to worry about freezing, but in warm climates this set up could solve all of your hot water needs.
Enjoy the hot water.
http://www.thesietch.org/projects/solarthermalpanel3/index.htm
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Cannondale Slice new
Written by: Dan Empfield Added: Mon Jun 15 2015
The Cannondale bikes you see ridden in timed racing tell a story. The current Cannondale Slice is built as it is for a reason. (One version of the current Slice, the Black Inc, is in the image just below.) But let’s go back two Slices ago, to the very popular Slice that was sold all up and down the price range and was ridden by both Chrissie Wellington and Mirinda Carfrae. The only real knock on that bike is that it was difficult to get the saddle to level with any precision. The seat post hardware was a pain. That was it. Otherwise, the bike was a clear win.
Cannondale then thought it would upscale the bike with a makeover and out came the Slice RS in 2012. This was a compelling product, because it was fast. That’s all you need, right? Fast!
But the Slice RS project had problems. The most urgent was that “The brake plates can loosen and break, posing a fall hazard,” and this is a quote the CPSC used during its recall announcement of this bike. The second problem was a seat post that, visually, people just had a hard time with. Nowhere in the history of tri bike manufacture did a seat post seem more incongruent than the post on this bike. However, it worked. This bike worked. Well, other than the brake thing. It was fast and we’ll get to that. The third problem with this bike was its geometry and not the nominal geometry of the frame, but the position you got out of the complete bike with the custom stem taken into consideration. The stem was very flat, scooted over the leading edge of the fork and then dropped down a couple of centimeters. The resulting rider position was very low.
Ardent Slowtwitchers might call me on this, asking if the lowness of the front end of this bike wasn’t an example of the “Return of long and low” I wrote about last month. Fair point. Except that this bike wasn’t long, just low. To put this in layman’s terms, instead of a size run that ended at L or XL, the size run ended with something around M or ML (see chart below). Was this a mistake or on purpose? At first I thought the former, but I’ve come to view this bike as a calculated attempt to present a geometry that matched the UCI positioning regulations (maybe conforming to the UCI also explains the seat post shape). As a result of the above, a fast bike never got out of the starting gates in triathlon. That bike is not sold. Okay, yes, if you look at Cannondale’s website, the Slice RS is there. As a frameset. For $10,000. So, is that bike sold? You decide.
Further, if you’re a pro triathlete sponsored by Cannondale you may not ride this bike. Only the current Slice. Yet former triathlete Andrew Talansky won the 2015 US Pro TT Championships 3 weeks ago on the Slice RS (the higher of the two images above), and Ben King (just above) was second place aboard a Slice RS.
The above explanation describes how a bike can be very fast yet not be a successful bike when offered for sale to triathletes. This is what Quintana Roo, Cervelo and other companies have found out. Cervelo’s P4 was absolutely a fast bike, but it didn’t connect with consumers. The newer P2 and P3 bikes have connected with triathletes, although it would not surprise me if the old P4, with its integrated frame bottle, armrest pedestaled up, is faster than either the P2 or P3.
So Cannondale went back and created a bike that appealed to those who value a bike that fits; that stops when you depress the levers; that shifts; that handles nicely; that doesn’t weigh like a boat anchor; that you can work on and that you can travel with. What you won’t find, at least without a lot of digging, are wind tunnel results. In fact, I can’t find any and I did dig. Cannondale says the Slice, “goes beyond the controlled environment of the wind tunnel to give triathletes the best possible performance in the real world.” I don’t know what that means.
Still, what makes this bike work is the value. The Shimano 105 build of this bike costs $2,700, but street price is $2,500. Really, the best value is to be had in the packages like those Nytro sells. For an extra $400 above the street price ($2,900) you get almost everything to do a tri except running shoes and the race entry. You get helmet, pedals, tri top and bottom and, notably, Zoot’s top-end wetsuit. And some other stuff. It’s probably about $700 worth of stuff for that extra $400. Of course, you have to want that specific set of accessories, but someone new to the sport it’s a nice way to wrap a lot of possibles into one tight transaction. And it’s available mail order.
Even more eye-popping is the old Slice (same frame mold used by Chrissie in some Kona wins, Chrissie's 2009 Slice just below), with a very similar package, for $1999. Where does Skip McDowell, owner of Nytro, get that old Slice? And how can he sell that package so cheap! I don’t know. But let’s get to the new, current-model Slice.
GEOMETRY
We’ve plotted the height and length of some tri bikes just below, and you can see how the Slice RS was just never became a large bike in height and length, when its custom stem was taken into consideration. The current Slice? This bike is geometrically sound, about like the old Slice (Chrissie’s Slice), very slightly tall versus its length. It’s got a small size built with 650c wheels (which I like). This slight tallishness is counteracted by a very low-profile Visiontech Trimax bar. Geometrically, yes, it’s sound.
But whoever spec’d this bike is behind the times. There is a lot of Visiontech and FSA that I ride, that I like, that I admire, but mostly it’s the cranks, bottom brackets, head parts, chain rings, stems, road bars and so forth. Not these aerobars.
Why? Because the bars and extensions don’t pedestal as a unit. This isn’t new. I wrote about this in 2013 (see similar articles links below) and that wasn’t the first time. The way a complete bike conspires to give you height has been discussed on Slowtwitch since 2010.
Simply put, this aerobar is a problem in today’s world of bikes. Don’t misunderstand. It’s completely safe. It’s comfortable. It’s fine. It’s just a problem if you need the aerobar taller than its base configuration. You can just tilt up the stem, or add headset spacers, you might argue. Fine, 2005 is calling and it wants its tri bike front end back. Further, I can’t find a Slice up and down the price scale that doesn’t have this aerobar spec’d.
So, what do you do about this? You may find that a perfectly sound front end is available to you with this bar. How would you know? Okay, this is a little complicated, but there are tools on Slowtwitch to exactly predict and prescribe a front end. If I knew my “pad” height and length from the bottom bracket, such as what is required of you to use the fit systems for Trek’s Speed Concept, Cervelo’s P5, Felt’s IA and so forth, you could back-calculate the stack and reach of the frame you’re looking for by knowing the X and Y dimensions from the pad center of the Vision aerobar back to the handlebar clamp. Then you calculate the X and Y of the front end of that bike back to the head tube top using the Slowtwitch Stem Calculator. Then, with a little manipulation of this calculator you can drill down to exactly what the front end of this Slice would look like in your best frame size.
I’ll bet I just lost a few of you! No problem, you just need to do two things:
1) Know your Pad X/Y, also terms the Pad Stack and Reach;
2) go on our Reader Forum and ask for help figuring out which Slice works for your Pad X/Y.
If you don’t know how to calculate your Pad X/Y go on the forum and ask how to do this. If you are still asea, go to the reader forum, refer to this article, and cry "Help!" Someone there will help you.
If after all that is explored, you just can’t find a way to make that Slice work for your position, then you have the retailer swap out the Visiontech bar with one that you can successfully pedestal up.
I think you might want to consider other swaps. Can you swap out pedals, wheels, tires, cassette gear ranges in these Nytro packages or on these bikes? Nothing ventured, nothing gained or, as the Good Book says, “You have not because you ask not.” In fact, I popped a question over to Nytro, and the answer I got back was, “A customer can substitute virtually anything as long as they are willing to pay the additional fee.”
VALUE PROPOSITION
You might think I’m pimping Nytro. Yes, Kind of. I like the approach Nytro has taken with this particular bike. This isn’t an approach any other shop can’t take. This Slice – both the old and the new sold through Nytro – is the perfect entry-level tri bike. Especially the 2015 model, because it is priced affordably and because it’s designed to appeal to everything a newb will need in a tri bike. I urge all shops to consider these kinds of all-inclusive packages perfect for those entering the sport.
Already noted is the 105 build on the Slice. The highest-end bike, the Slice Black Inc, nice bike, but at $10,000 complete I think most Slowtwitchers will want a bike more conceptually aero-driven. If a bike is built for a newb, you have to be a very well-heeled newb to want to spend $10,000 for a bike designed to specifically work for the beginner, the MOPer, and the person who is willing to give up a few seconds over an Ironman in order to have a bike that is trouble-free. (Obviously pros ride this bike successfully, such as Michelle Vesterby, her Slice pictured below, and who just won Challenge Denmark yesterday over a very good field; and Ironman champion Victor Del Corral is in front of a Slice image just above.)
The Ultegra Slice, at an extra $1000 above the 105 Slice, seems only “Ultegra” above 105 in the derailleurs and cassette. Not worth the up-charge just on that basis. Yes, there are upgrades in other areas, wheels notably, but there is that very interesting Cannondale HollowGram Si crank on the Ultegra bike, and Cannondale makes the best cranks you probably don’t ride. While Specialized and Bontrager (Trek) are better known for their parts, accessories and components, Cannondale does a thing with cranks that really sets itself apart. Cannondale cranks are so good, so well made, so expensive to make, it can’t afford to spec its own cranks on many of its own bikes.
GOING FORWARD
Cannondale brought on Damon Rinard, ex of Cervelo, Trek before that, Kestrel back in the very early days. Why Damon? I can only speculate. My own everyday rider, for road, is a Cannondale Supersix EVO. It’s probably the best road bike I’ve owned. But it’s not an aero road bike, as is the Cervelo S5, the Felt AR, the Giant Propel. It is my guess – I’ve got no proof – that Damon is aboard to take Cannondale to where it’s going next and I think that place is to take Cannondale’s superior construction, safety, handling, quality, and introduce a new attention to aerodynamics without sacrificing what Cannondale already does so well. But this is roundabout body language saying that Cannondale’s current Slice isn’t a bike that you take to the wind tunnel with the expectation of blowing the doors off the competition.
As the Good Book also says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The buyers of the current, 2015 Slice will want to treasure the value of what you get versus what you spend; a bike that is quite light and not unaerodynamic; and a bike that’s simple to work on, to travel with, that handles nicely, and that is generally going to be a headache-free bike to own.
[NOTES: Here is a link to the aforementioned Slowtwitch Stem Calculator. Here is a link to the sort of all-inclusive packages Nytro offers that feature this particular bike.]
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Fit_Calculator/stem_calc.php
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Tri_Bike_by_brand/Cannondale/Cannondale_Slice_5142.html
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