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On a short trip right now, when I get back I’m going to take it to the gravel Lake Apopka trail and then on a 200+ mile bike packing trip. Will get some a videos posted on those rides and initial thoughts on the bike in the next few weeks

Century Ride, 100 miles and it was a beautiful day for a ride

If you stay on the main dirt roads it is hard packed. At a few road intersections there might be some lose dirt at the intersection, but nothing bad. Now if you venture off the main roads and go on to the secondary roads you will hit loose dirt and ruts, and if you go on the two track roads you probably will run into sugar sand and in some places that sugar sand will get deep. Stay on the main dirt roads and you should be fine.

awesome. thanks for the info. @@RNagy052

Yes I have a mirror and use it constantly. You have to maintain situational awareness all the time when 🚴 riding in The Villages. I also limit my time on the roads to early morning when traffic is not as bad. If there is a lot of traffic then I will go on the Multi Modal paths or the Bike/Walking Paths instead.

You're Welcome, it was a fun and well organized ride

Heard that group cheering us on as we peddled by

We had a light misting rain for about the first hour, so the roads got wet, but no downpours or heavy rain

It’s located at Gatorback Cycle Park behind their SX Track in Newberry, FL

Chuck you are welcome. We are planning on doing the Tour de Melon ride as well on the Rail Trail. The Trail has a lot of shaded areas except for a long section going towards Cross City, That section is out in the open, so make sure to where some sunscreen

@@RNagy052 thanks... i am debating the 32mi or the 43mi trail ride as one branches to Trenton (32) and the other to Cross-City (43)... i am thinking it might be the Trenton, i think with my cruiser that will be plenty, i dont do these bike things, i am drawn to this event because I am a watermelon nut... but with the flat terrain, i should be OK... you will see me with a watermelon bike helmet (if i can get the one i seen on amazon)... lol... take care and thanks for the dry-run!!

Nice find and fix, I switched mine to 52/36 chainrings up front as well. Although I did switch back temporarily to the 50/34 when I took it to Six Gap for the Century ride in September, then once I got back to Florida I put the 52/36 chainrings back on. I am still very happy with this bike

Yes, I still have the bike and am still riding it. I have had it for a year now and have just over 6,000 miles on it. I've replaced the bottom bracket bearings myself twice, once at just over 3,000 miles, and then replaced them again at the beginning of the month when I was just over 6,000 miles. I'm just going to put that on my maintenance schedule to replace every 3,000 miles, although the new one I just put in looked like it had an improved seal design from FSA around the bearings, so maybe I will get more than 3,000 miles out of the one I just put in. I also just replaced the original rear shifting cable last week with a new one and re-indexed the gears, and of course I have also gone through tires, tubes and chains along the way under normal wear and tear usage. I still like it and enjoy riding it. I have no regrets on getting it, and I would buy it again.

@@RNagy052 That's sounds good. I just saw it is on sale at bikes direct. $1999.99. Good price for a carbon bike with Great components. Safe Ride.

I am currently running 25mm tires on the bike and it looks like it still has plenty of clearance both to the sides and on the top if I wanted to go up to 28mm tires.

I’m just a hair under 5’8” and this one fits me really well. My other bike is a Cannondale Synapse and is a size 54 and I feel like I’m reaching on that bike. This one fits me much better. I now have over 5,700 miles on this bike and no regrets about getting it. Really like this bike. Aside from normal maintenance like with any other bike, no problems.

omskiTT I personally like it, I have done a number of Century rides on and have also done 2 - 120 mile rides and a 140 mile ride on it. Right now if I should need to replace it in the future I would just get another one. The only issue I have had with it, and this minor, it was making a squeaking sound, put a very small spray of WD-40 under the very front of the saddle and that fixed it. Width at the widest point is 5 and 6/8 inches

Mine is the 52/54.5 size that is listed on their website. You can find all of the sizing info at this link www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/road_bikes/lechampcfsl-geo-zsl.gif The link for this bike on their website is here www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/road_bikes/carbon-roadbikes-lechampcf-sl.htm

This is my first Carbon Fiber road bike so I do not have anything else to compare it against, except for my Aluminum Frame Cannondale Synapse. I am not feeling any noticeable flexing, if that is what you are asking about, it feels very well planted when I am riding it, yet it seems to absorb any roughness in the road, so it feels very smooth when riding it. I almost popped for the Dura Ace Model, but they had this one in my size in stock at the Jacksonville Store so I went for it. Aside from the Dura Ace Group set (which comes with the Dura Ace Crank, mine came with FSA Carbon Fiber Crank), I believe this one is the exact same bike, Frame, Forks, Wheel Set, Bars, Stem, Seat and Seat post. I just went over 590 miles on it so far and I have no regrets about buying the bike. So far the only mods I have done to it was changing the gearing. I went from 50/34 in front to 52/36 and went from the stock 11-34 in the rear to an 11-25. I am in Florida and pretty much everything I ride on is flat. I have taken it out on Group Rides where they do hit bursts of 28-30 mph on the flats, and the bike seems fine at that pace. Sorry I didn't reply sooner, just saw the comment today.

I know it has been a year since you first asked about this bike and my initial reply, but since you mentioned the N GA Mountains in your post, I just rode this bike in the Six Gap Century in Dahlonega on Sunday and it worked fine for me the entire ride through those Mountains. I switched it back to the stock gearing that came with the bike 50/34 and 11-34 and that gear range worked well for me on those Mountain roads. I now have around 8,000 miles on this bike and still no regrets about getting it.