u/Crokaine

I had previously had an Era White Gen8 Madone, but its life came to an abrupt end when a car hit me at the end of a training ride last July. This is the replacement that I received earlier this year, but hadn't prioritized photographing.

Size 56 (M/L) Purple Phaze

• Aelous Pro Saddle with the long mast
• Standard cockpit with the 5mm shorter bearing cover to mimic the position on my previous build
• Aelous RSL 62 wheels
• Aelous RSL tires, 28mm, which I'll bump up to 30s when these are toast
• Purple Sram chain, because it exists and matches the bike perfectly
• Aliexpress bar plugs

E1 Force is quite a bit more of an upgrade than I was expecting it to be. The braking power and modulation is far superior to D1/D2, and the shifts are crisper, especially on the front. I do look forward to the next groupset being direct mount for an even crisper feeling, especially under load.

I had previously had an Era White Gen8 Madone, but its life came to an abrupt end when a car hit me at the end of a training ride last July. This is the replacement that I received earlier this year, but hadn't prioritized photographing.

Size 56 (M/L) Purple Phaze

• Aelous Pro Saddle with the long mast
• Standard cockpit with the 5mm shorter bearing cover to mimic the position on my previous build
• Aelous RSL 62 wheels
• Aelous RSL tires, 28mm, which I'll bump up to 30s when these are toast
• Purple Sram chain, because it exists and matches the bike perfectly
• Aliexpress bar plugs

E1 Force is quite a bit more of an upgrade than I was expecting it to be. The braking power and modulation is far superior to D1/D2, and the shifts are crisper, especially on the front. I do look forward to the next groupset being direct mount for an even crisper feeling, especially under load.

After having multiple Checkmate isospeed frame failures, I wasn't prepared to spend another season on one. Trek and I came up with this build to replicate the Checkmate as close as possible.

• Checkpoint Sl7 Frame
• 39/42 x 100 RSL Cockpit with wireless blips in the drops
• Rsl Seatpost
• Aelous Saddle
• Force cranks with power (not as keen on the aaa power meter as the previous dual sided)
• 46t Wolftooh Chainring
• 303SW Wheels for gravel with G One RS/RX combo for proper gravel , Aeolous 49v with 45mm Gravelking Slick R for allroad and champagne gravel (If I ever find any)

So far, the frame is as comfortable as the Checkmate but not as stiff when doing sprinted efforts. The front end is also quite high, which I'm not as keen on, and, in retrospect, I should've gone with a two-piece cockpit so I could run a negative-rise stem.