Velocite Magnus

I've recently been given the opportunity to ride the Velocite Magnus, so I thought I would do a review and provide a little more information to anyone out there since Velocite is not a super well-known company.

I ended up with the Magnus frame with the Velocite Bora fork. The Magnus uses a BB30 bottom bracket shell and an asymmetric 1.5" headtube for added stiffness. I am coming off of riding a Cannondale SuperSix with a full Dura Ace build and Cannondale Hollowgram SI BB30 cranks for comparison. The Cannondale was a great bike, the Magnus is an outstanding bike. Evervthing I liked about the supersix is there on the Magnus, plus a few added things: extra stiffness under

hard acceleration, slightly different geometry that aids handling, and a nice crash

replacement/upgrade policy if needed.

I've seen a lot of broken supersix frames recently, either from crashing or just riding along. Weird.

I built the Magnus with Sram Red components, an FSA SL-K BB30 crankset, Reynolds Carbon Strike 66mm clinchers, Thomson post and stem, Kuota carbon bars, and a WTB Silverado saddle. Total weight with pedals and cages: 15.3 lbs:

Not bad for a bike that rolls on clinchers.

The ride quality of this bike is awesome. I kept my supersix built up just in case I could not get the Magnus dialed in quick, but after one ride I was sure it was the bike for me. My second ride was the Missouri State Criterium and the bike was awesome. The large diameter seat and chain stays coupled with the BB30 absolutely ensure that every pedal stroke goes into propelling the bike forward. There is no flex anywhere when killing it or leaning the bike over in corners. Tracking through corners is spot on too...I originally had a 110mm Ritchey WCS stem installed, I swapped it out for my old trusty 100mm Thomson. I like the shorter, more compact cockpit, it is a little more predictable and stable to me. I have put some decent miles on the Magnus, including a 70 mile fast group ride through a bunch of hills and everything worked very well. I still felt rather fresh at the end of the ride, and the responsiveness of the frame really helped on the rolling hills during the ride.

Honestly, I have no complaints about the Magnus. It has to be the best bike I've ridden so far. The finish of the frame is excellent: the red graphics really look nice, and the matte carbon finish looks nice too. Here are a couple of pics:

For more information, contact DNA Distributing

Long overdue

An update...

So, where to start? Its been since February that I have updated this thing, and a lot has gone on. Lets start with the kids...Dillon and Brodie are doing great. Dillon started Kindergarten today, kind of a sad day for mom and dad. Brodie is growing like crazy and is quite the little tough guy. They have both been swimming a lot over the summer, and Dillon played T-Ball for the Ashland Optimist club too.

I am in paramedic school, and hope to be done with that in August of 2011. Nothing else too new with me, riding bikes, racing a bit here and there, and still editing movies.

Alicia is doing good too, she has been running a lot and riding bikes here and there. We went to Cancun again this summer and had an excellent time down there with friends.

Really, so much has actually happened that it is hard to update this. Nothing of a whole lot of consequence, though...I will try to update more.