# It's here! My 2009 Synapse Carbon 4(X)



## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

Ordered a 2009 Synapse Carbon 4 back at the end of July. It was delivered to my shop this morning and is now all set to roll! This thing is a beauty.

I put an (X) in the title because so little of the bike is actually stock. Run down of the specs and a little feedback after my 2 mile ride home. Hopefully will get to take a real ride on it tomorrow!

Wheels - I swapped out the stock Mavic Aksium Race wheels for a set of Xero XR-1 wheels. Dropped about a full pound in rotating weight!

Drivetrain - removed SRAM Rival shifters and derailleurs. Purchased a set of Sampson Stratics shifters and derailleurs. These seem to be really nice. The rear derailleur features really nice CNC'd pulleys and weighs about the same as Dura-Ace. The shifters have carbon brake levers. Same pull as Shimano, so can interchange with other Shimano parts. Mainly, I found out about Sampson Sports, and liked the idea of running something a little different. Ergonomics are great--features separate shift levers from the brake lever. But instead of a thumb lever ala Campy, it has a second little shift lever above/behind the large shift lever. Much more intuitive and ergonomic than Campy, and very, very close to as ergonomic as Shimano or Sram. Definitely know when you shift, as it makes a very audible click as you change gears. Time will tell how much I really like them. So far I'm impressed.

Handlebar and stem are Shimano PRO carbon. Save some weight, but wanted to make this bike as comfortable as possible, so why not a little more carbon?

As for comfort, swapped out the stock Maxxis Columbierre 700x23 tires for a set of Michelin Lithion 700x25s. When I run through these, I'm hoping some 25 tubeless tires will be out.

Sampson pedals.

Blue bar tape. The bike came with white, but I don't want to be bothered with trying to keep the white clean and bright, so I just swapped it out to start. Besides, I already have a saddle I like, so the white saddle that came stock isn't going to be used, either. So the blue seemed a nice fit.

Stock FSA compact double BB30 crankset.

Weight: with the heavy seatbag full of tools: 20.5 pounds. Without the seatbag, but still with all the water bottles and everything, 18.9 lbs. Light enough for me!

My initial impression is that this bike is Smooth! It glides over the road and smoothes it all out. I can't wait until I can get it out for a real ride.

Oh, and if you want a brand new Sram Rival drivetrain, San Marco ponza power saddle, or Control tech bar and stem, look for them to show up on eBay soon.

Meanwhile, here's some eye candy:


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## lesper4 (Jul 15, 2008)

beautiful bike and beautiful componets. happy riding!


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## TheDarkAce (Jun 15, 2008)

Thats a nice bike. Cool color scheme. Have to let us know how those components stack up after a few hundred miles. Sure do have a plenty of water bottle holders there !!!


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## acckids (Jan 2, 2003)

Thanks for the post. I have been looking at the 09 catalog daily but the photos show this is a sweet ride. How many spacers are they putting on the 09 Synapse. I know last year they have the 20mm head tube riser-thing.


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

yeah, 4 bottle cages, but I usually drink about a bottle an hour when the weather is warm. I can probably take off the extra two now that the weather's cooler. And although I could stop and refill a bottle even on a longer ride on a warm day, I prefer to be able to just keep going, so I pack it all with me.

As for the spacers, there is still the large 25mm cone and four 5mm carbon spacers. There was also a 5mm alloy spacer, but I removed that because the new stem had a larger stack height than the stock stem. I don't know why the top spacer was alloy, probably just whatever they happened to grab out of a bag? Remove the 45mm worth of spacers and flip the stem, and it would make for quite an aggressive machine.


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## OneGear (Aug 19, 2005)

love the sampson bits... definitely different from your run of the mill drive train.

but why the 3 lb bag and cages? thats what your back pockets are for...whatever weight you lost on the wheels was just gained back 3 fold


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

OneGear said:


> love the sampson bits... definitely different from your run of the mill drive train.
> 
> but why the 3 lb bag and cages? thats what your back pockets are for...whatever weight you lost on the wheels was just gained back 3 fold


Bag has multi-tool, spare tube, levers, co2, spare link, and a patch kit. Maybe I'm over-cautious, but I like to be prepared. extra cages and the bag itself don't weigh that much, and it's a lot more comfortable than trying to carry all that in my pockets, which already have gels and cell phone. Like I said, I'll take off the two extra cages now that it's fall.


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## jhamlin38 (Oct 29, 2005)

wow. that's a lotta stuff. do you do endurance rides, like 150-400 miles? nice bike. interesting selection of group. how do you like it?


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## Jwiffle (Mar 18, 2005)

jhamlin38 said:


> wow. that's a lotta stuff. do you do endurance rides, like 150-400 miles? nice bike. interesting selection of group. how do you like it?


I do do some endurance rides, though not that regularly. My regular road rides are between 25-50 miles, and some 60-100 milers on weekends. I did the C & O Canal in a day back in June-185 miles. I've done a couple 100 mile mtb races, as well. I haven't had a chance to do much in the way of long distance multi-day tours, yet, but I plan to when I have the time.

As for the group, I got my first real ride on the bike yesterday. The bike is super smooth...had to keep looking down to make sure I wasn't on my full suspension mountain bike As for the group, I really like it. The Stratics shifters a very ergonomical: you can easily reach the shift levers and brake levers from either the hoods or the drops (I can't stand the Campy thumb lever--can hardly reach it from either position, and it requires shifting the hand slightly) The reach to the brake levers is nice and short, so easy to grab when needed. I found, without even thinking about it, myself shifting the rear paddle lever with my middle finger instead of forefinger, which is cool because it allows me to keep the forefinger wrapped around the hood for better control.

The shifting is nice and positive...audible click as you shift gears. No second guessing. Full trim features allow me to have use of pretty much the entire cassette from either chainring. The only minor I may knit-pick is that in order to downshift to the small chainring, I first have to click it to the trim setting, then click again to shift down. It does not easily "shift-through" the trim setting. Might be able to tune it a little better to make that shift easier. Not that big a deal, though, because if I've already shifted down in the rear, I have already shifted to the trim setting, so it will shift immediately when I downshift the front. But sometimes you just want to drop a lot at once and drop to the small ring. Otherwise, the shifting was great.

But the group set is as light as Dura-Ace and a good value. I think the rear der retails for around $140-150.


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## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Beautiful color on that 2009 Synapse, which is very close to the original model. If you need someone to test ride it or to baby sit it while you're on vacation, Volunteer right here. 

Enjoy your new ride.

CHL


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## fireplug (Nov 19, 2008)

Very nice bike....hope my bike can grow up and be like that some day


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## cyclust (Sep 8, 2004)

Yea, I like the color scheme too. I had an 06' with the blue and white and though it was the best looking synapse they've made to date. But the 09's really look good too. {I hated the flat black ones form a few years back-so boring]. To the OP, you need to check out Zefal's magnum water bottle. They hold 28 onces instead of 24 like the normal "large" water bottles. Get 2 of those and maybe you could lose the extra cages. Nothing wrong with the big bag though. I've never liked carrying things in the rear pockets myself- I'd rather have them in a seatbag. Great looking bike!


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