Had the Charge Plug out today on 125km of the Central Belt’s finest backroads, ice, rain, mud, overflowing field drainage, potholes, the works.
Am loving having my Garmin Edge 25 on the handlebars showing me where to go now, means I never have to ride the same road twice and can plot some needlessly convoluted routes exploring the narrowest and twistiest backroads.
(I’ve posted this pic plenty before but I’m so happy with the bike right now I thought it deserved to be posted again)
The Charge handled it all impeccably, testament to the whole endurance road/gravel/adventure niche I guess. 600g 38c tyres are a godsend, not sure I want to go back to 25s on my summer bike now. 🙁
A new DHB Blok Windproof jacket with an spare waterproof eVent shell in the back pocket dealt with the worst of the weather as well (several prolonged downpours in 3-4C temps, could have been awful).
Thing is, for the whole ride I was struck by how well the cheap Tektro Mini-vs on the bike coped with the conditions. The only concession to performance I’ve made is to fit some Swisstop blue pads to the front brake, but otherwise they’re just standard. The braking was powerful, controllable (I had to scrub some speed on a couple of descents liberally sprinkled with black ice, a good test of modulation) and consistent, even in the wet. Most importantly (to me, and unlike any disc brake I’ve ever owned) they were silent when braking, even in clarty wet cold conditions on the sort of short descents that would never get a disc brake hot.
Sorely tempted to try and shave some weight off the Charge with a spare QR front wheel I’ve got kicking about (I think that would chop off 300g) a carbon seatpost and a narrower chain, the stock chain looks like something a street rider would use for grinding on! Fitting some 28c GP4000s for summer duties would be fun also, but by that stage I think my fancy new road bike would be completely redundant. Guess I could pimp up the brakes as well 8)