I finally decided on a paint scheme for my Davidson titanium, one that keeps much of the metal bare but still brings the fork into the overall image. I despise forks that don’t match or at least compliment the frame. With the goal of unifying the Enve carbon fork with a titanium frame, the fork is painted colour #5086 titanium with electric blue on the front face. Painting the front of the seat tube and a small portion of the down tube echoes that pattern. Paint will never exactly duplicate the look of a brushed metal surface, but by adding the blue to both the frame and fork, the difference between brushed titanium and titanium-coloured paint becomes less apparent. The red stars are a graphic theme that I end up applying to a lot of my possessions.
What handlebars are those? Zipp Super Short Reach?
(Shimano) Pro Vibe OS (carbon), round bend. Though Pro calls these bars “round” bend, this bend is subtly different from traditional curves as still used by Deda and 3T. They’re somewhat short reach, but not more than typical, current “compact” bends. However, the shoulders are very rounded, so there’s almost no ramp behind the lever. It’s my favourite bar for use with current integrated levers, which position a clamp high on the hook of the bar. I used to prefer crit bars with older levers, which have even more rounded shoulders, but current levers end up awkwardly splayed out. This Pro Vibe bar is essentially a crit bar to fit newer levers. I move the bike around a lot while sprinting, and this bar stays out of my way.
Another unusual characteristic of the bar is that it maintains the oversize 31.8 diameter to the shoulders, rather than tapering down to 24mm just outboard of the center section. This makes the bar stiffer for its weight.
I use this bar and its aluminium version on road and cyclocross bikes.
There are 2 other styles of bend for the Pro Vibe series. In addition to the round, there is also a ergo and compact bend.