Time VX Elite

Price Paid:  $1000.00 at Road Bike Review Cla

Favorite Ride:
Castro Valley-Moraga Via Redwood Rd

Bike Setup:
SRAM cranks and BB. Chorus derailleurs. Ultegra brakes. Mirage 9-speed levers. Mavic Helium wheels with Hetchins tires. 12-27 Shimano DuraAce cassette. Selle San Marco Regal Ti saddle. Performance handlebar with 31.8 mm hub. Time seatpost, stem, headset, frame and fork.

Summary:
I have a large collection of top end bikes. In carbon I have a C-40 and a Look KG241 as well as the Time VX Elite. I got the bike on Friday evening and put it together and rode it Saturday and Sunday for about eighty miles.

The Time is much stiffer than the Look and steers more precisely though the Look is a nice bike and WAS my favorite.

The Time isn't quite as stiff as the C-40 and has all hell and gone better road feel while not losing any control.

The astonishing thing is that there's no rebound from bumps. You feel the bump and that's it. No post bump ringing.

Strengths:
This is the smoothest riding bike I've ridden. While the Look is nice and soft riding the Time doesn't have any vibrations following a bump like most other bikes. You can feel the road but it doesn't jar your senses whereas other bikes are too soft or too stiff. This Time is the most perfect riding bike I've got.

Weaknesses:
There doesn't seem to be any.

Similar Products Used:
C-40, KG241. I also have a titanium Eddy Merckx EX-Pro, an Eddy Merckx Corsa 0.1, a Colnago Super, Basso Lotto OS and a Fuji Newest in road bikes.

Price Paid:  $2700.00 at Time Outlet, Santa B

Favorite Ride:
Mulholland Highway

Bike Setup:
Campagnolo Chorus 10 gruppo. Chorus/DT/Mavic Open Pro wheels. Michelin Tires. Campy pedals.

Summary:
This reveiew is for a TIME EDGE TRANSLINK.
I have about 3000 miles on this frame. I love it more every time I ride it. It's comfortable, quick, and good-looking. It has near perfect geometry (at least for me). It's stable and calm, and very much a no hands bike, but it'll dive into that bumpy, descending, decreasing radius curve like it was Greg Louganis. While not pillow soft, this bike is gentle enough to allow me to go a good third further both distance and time-wise than my previous bike, a Colnago Dream. Its 1040 gram weight is light enough to give you a bike that'll approach the UCI limit, but not so light as to invite paranoia.

Strengths:
The geometry is finely balanced and nuanced.
Beauty. The tubes are narrow, lending the bike an elegant retro look. The tubes themselves are shaped with an eye toward things natural, not things mechanical. The inspiration here is less Gustav Eiffel and more Leonardo da Vinci.
Ride. Connected but never harsh.
Zip. The bike wants to move. It wants to go fast. It's light on its feet...er, wheels.
Confidence. It's well made. It feels solid not flimsy. It feels as if it'll last a very long time.

Weaknesses:
A few very minor workmanship lapses. There are a couple of places, for example, where the finish could have been sanded a bit more. The headset has a tendency to work itself loose...though this is solved by firmly pushing the stem down onto the fork steerer. When I'm really honking on it, I'm able to spot marginal bottom bracket wag.

Similar Products Used:
I tested my share of bikes before deciding on this one. Among them were the Time VXR and VXRS (too expensive!), the Gunnar Roadie, the Look 585, the Orbea Orca, the Colnago C-50 (too expensive), a Merckx Scandium, a Cannondale Six/13 and a Scott (I can't remember which one). Of these, it was only the Look that gave this one serious competition for my dollars.