# My 06 Siena



## climr (Sep 29, 2005)

Thought I'd post a pic of my nearly completed new 06 Siena. I'm still waiting on a custom built wheelset and then I *plan* to be very happy for a while. 

IT's a M/L and yes, I've removed the Siena decal from the top tube. Ultegra drivetrain, reynolds ouzo pro fork (integrated size) which I think matches up very well with the King headset. The cages are ravx that I've refinished in nude carbon.


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## estone2 (Sep 25, 2005)

climr said:


> Thought I'd post a pic of my nearly completed new 06 Siena. I'm still waiting on a custom built wheelset and then I *plan* to be very happy for a while.
> 
> IT's a M/L and yes, I've removed the Siena decal from the top tube. Ultegra drivetrain, reynolds ouzo pro fork (integrated size) which I think matches up very well with the King headset. The cages are ravx that I've refinished in nude carbon.


Very, very nice. :thumbsup: I like it a lot.
Why are you going for custom wheels over the AM Classics? Are you just going to use the Classics for races or something?

How much does it weigh?

And finally, this is a rather bad bike post, it says nothing about what you think of the ride! 
How's it feel? That's what matters most  
-estone2


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## climr (Sep 29, 2005)

estone2 said:


> bad bike post, it says nothing about what you think of the ride!
> How's it feel? That's what matters most
> -estone2


Ha! good point. I've aluded to the ride in other posts, but for the record I find the ride to be a perfect combination of comfort and stiffness. At no point do I feel like I'm on a bike built for comfort, but it is just enough to take the edge off. I find this bike plenty stiff for me, much much more so that my previous ride (Giant TCR carbon). You stand to accelerate and it just rockets out from you, I don't feel like I'm losing any energy. I did a ride today that included the "Tail of the dragon" near the NC/TN border (318 curves in 11 miles) and it was very planted and solid in the high speed turns. I already feel very comfortable on the bike and I've only ridden it ~150 miles. 

re: the wheels. I find the AC 350s to be very good wheels for the weight, but they are pretty flexy for my 165lbs, and I'm becoming more and more convinced that weight isn't as important as most people think it is. So I'm having a set of semi-aero aluminum clinchers (30mm) built with some tough White Industries hubs and Sapim CX-ray spokes. Estimated weight is still only ~1450g so they won't be exactly heavy, but should be much more stiff and more aero than the 350s. I plan to sell the AC 350s. 

I haven't weighed the bike yet, but I will soon.


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## cptab (Sep 12, 2002)

*Nice*

Nice ride. How did you refinish the bottle cages?
I think my bike would look just like it if I removed the stickers.


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## estone2 (Sep 25, 2005)

climr said:


> Ha! good point. I've aluded to the ride in other posts, but for the record I find the ride to be a perfect combination of comfort and stiffness. At no point do I feel like I'm on a bike built for comfort, but it is just enough to take the edge off. I find this bike plenty stiff for me, much much more so that my previous ride (Giant TCR carbon). You stand to accelerate and it just rockets out from you, I don't feel like I'm losing any energy. I did a ride today that included the "Tail of the dragon" near the NC/TN border (318 curves in 11 miles) and it was very planted and solid in the high speed turns. I already feel very comfortable on the bike and I've only ridden it ~150 miles.


Sounds like a normal Litespeed  
I rented an 06 Sienna in Colorado, and took it climbing in Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. I took a wrong turn of sorts, and ended up on an 11-mile long one way dirt road, with lots of switchbacks, a huge climb - it went from 6000 feet to 11282 feet in those 11 miles. Thank god the bike had a compact on it!
I know that the bike made a huge difference... I climbed the whole way in as much comfort as a flatlander from Illinois could be in - my butt was comfortable, my back was comfortable, and my lungs/legs were in agony (A flat at 2300 feet just doesn't compare to a 12% dirt section at 12k...). I don't think I would have been able to make that climb on my Trek - at the time I didn't own a Litespeed.
When I got to the top of the climb, I had to take a highway back down, and I was passing cars like they weren't moving - I was going ~55, and I was perfectly relaxed. I was whooping and screaming the whole way down the highway. I'm a fearless descender, but usually the whooping stops above 49... the bike just tracked amazingly.
Unfortunately, I had taken a wrong turn, and so when I got to a Visitor's Center, I found out that in the 2 hours my parents had given me on the bike, I'd managed to get 50 miles away (it must have been a loooong downhill, cuz I was creeping up the climb in granny gear basically).

But that ride... just... wow. I got sold on Litespeed titanium, and as I was sitting on a bench looking at the Litespeed, waiting for my parents to drive the rental car to where I was, I realized that I didn't just want a LS, I _needed_ one.
Summer job solved that pretty well - I got around 4000 dollars and then with a bit of scrounging around, I was able to build up a Litespeed Ultimate, far nicer than I can possibly deserve, and far nicer than I can ever rationalize...
Well, that's a lie. To rationalize it, I just have to tell someone to throw a leg over the bike.

Your Siena will be the same. You're gonna get miles of smiles out of that bike.
Seriously, you think the first 150 miles you were comfortable on the bike?
It only gets better


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## 12x23 (Jan 28, 2004)

*nice bici !*

Gotta come clean; I'm building one up just like it today / next week, as time permits, except mine is a large and with the Easton SLX fork.  

I'm sitting here right now trying to decide whether to move the components over from my Vortex or 5900 - I keep going back and forth.

Estone2 - thanks for the ride report. It confirms I made a good decision to pick up the Siena on sale! :thumbsup: 

I hear "around" that the Siena is the best frame Litespeed's ever crafted. I don't know about that; I've owned Ultimate's, Classic's, and Vortex's since 1993, and I've yet to ride a dud. But if so I'm gonna have some bicis for sale soon. 

That does it - I'll pull the plug on the 5900 and donate the components !!


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## climr (Sep 29, 2005)

cptab said:


> Nice ride. How did you refinish the bottle cages?
> I think my bike would look just like it if I removed the stickers.


I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand down just deep enough to get the decals off. Then smoothed it out with some 600 grit. Then I used a few coats of Polycrylic Clear Gloss (rattle can I got at Lowes) and they came out great. The trick is to spray the clear thick enough that it goes on smooth but thin enough to avoid runs. 

BTW, the main reason I did this was because I got both cages new on ebay for $24 because they were teal. These same cages are $50 each at my LBS, so I figure it was worth the trouble!


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## WildBill (May 11, 2006)

*I dig it !!!*

Solid bike !!!! Your gona love it ! Great desender, climber, sprinter, all day ok for me ! I built up an 05 (same geo.) this summer and road the last half of the Tour on it ! I was smiling my way through the alpes. The bike flies up and down !! Anyone want an o5 !! I'm coveting those ti stays. Congrats !!!!! 

12x13 cant wait to see the lg built up !:thumbsup:


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