WHAT'S NEW

Cervélo S2 & S3 Cable Routing, and more

- The most intriguing detail on the new Cervélo S2 and S3 is its cable routing. Instead of feeding into the frame in the downtube, Cervélo made things more aero by feeding the cables into the top of the top tube, directly behind the headtube.

Cervélo's design is a clever one. But after building up a few S2's and S3's and getting some mileage on them, we identified opportunities to do some nip & tuck work to the design. For starters, the tension of the cables cause them to pull outward as they loop by the stem. This puts them right where your knees pump when you're pedaling out of the saddle. It's an annoyance, something you certainly don't want when you're accelerating in a sprint or a climb. And while we didn't rent a wind tunnel to verify this, we suspect that as your cables creep higher and/or further to the outside of your bike, they're less aero.

So in an attempt to keep our knees happy and our drag minimized we challenged the Competitive Cyclist Advanced Performance Labs to engineer a suitable solution. One part Shiner Bock + one part drill press and voila! it's a Tour de France-caliber set up.

As you can see, we've drilled holes at 3:00 and 9:00 on a stock Cervélo stem cap, and we've looped around O-rings inside to hold the cables in place. It keeps them low and in the centerline of the bike better than any other solution we've seen. And while the O-rings holds the cables, it doesn't arrest them. Unlike zip ties, which won't budge & which will ultimately pull the housing out from under your bar tape if you turn the bars too much, O-rings have some elasticity and will let your cables move a bit when you turn your bars. And, of course, it looks much more PRO than zip ties.

- FYI for First Endurance users, their Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip EFS bars are 100% free of salmonella contamination. Here's what they emailed us: "Every lot of First Endurance products come with a Certificate of Analysis. This Certificate tests for active ingredients and also for salmonella. Prior to a single bar ever being sold salmonella tests have been performed offering 100% assurance that salmonella is not a risk."

- Do you own Hudz brand brake hoods? Here's a pretty cool trade-in program for current Hudz owners.

- Lord knows Bicycling Magazine has its problems, but next time you're at the grocery store see if the March 2009 issue is on the newsstand (it's the one with the cover model whose Twin Six jersey has mysteriously crawled up to the back of his rib cage…) Our pal Michael Barry has a superb article in there called "The Best Hard Time", including beautiful photos from Rouleur veteran Camille MacMillan. Worth buying? Probably not. But worth stealing? Maybe…