Ben always gets his way. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. He’s just persistent. When Mellow Johnny’s became a Cielo dealer, he was really into the Road Racer. Will Black had one, I had just reviewed one. Thing is. Ben’s a mechanic and he abhors the PF30 bottom bracket. In his mind, they’re achilles heel of any bicycle.

So what did he do? He begged and was persistent with Cielo. Pleaaaaase make an English threaded bottom bracket. PLEASE. When Chris King was in town for Cyclocross Nationals, he continued the persistency. Finally they gave in.

For Cielo to alter even one step in the production process, much less the bottom bracket shell, it takes a lot of time. This frame was an experiment in the time gained / time lost equation. Was the time lost greater than the time gained for making a production frameset with an English bottom bracket? Time will tell. Is Cielo making Road Racers with an English bottom bracket? I’m not sure, but being persistent doesn’t hurt.

Ben built this bike up with ROL Wheels, a local Austin company, Zipp parts and a mix of Shimano including Dura Ace and Ultegra. It’s his weekly race bike, his weekly rider, his rain bike, his sunny bike. It’s his do-it-all road bike and yes, it’s dirty. Dirty but so sick…