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Giro D'Italia 2013
Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: Oli

Order: Black Order Velominatus

Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Social: Website / /

Middle-aged, buff, seeks hours in the day to ride bicycles. Fixes bicycles and builds wheels for a living. Sometime team mechanic. All the time father to three boys.

@Oli's activity:

The Keepers

Cycling is a mighty sport with a rich and complex history. Every company, racer, piece of kit, and component has a legend, a story behind it; in many cases it also has a personal and nostalgic connection to our lives.  While this particular sport is steeped in tradition, it is also fiercely modern, a fact that serves only to deepen its complexity...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @wiscot Yep, Reynolds. Most likely 753 in this era. »

The Bikes

The Bike. It is the central tool in pursuit of our craft. A Velominatus meticulously maintains their bicycles and adorns them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. The Rules specify the principles of good taste in configuration and setup of our machines, but within those principles lies almost infinite room for personal taste.It seems in s...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @the Engine Fair enough! I’m a Giro man, myself. »

  2. @the Engine Why not get another Specialized helment? »

Look Pro: The Hunchbacks of Notre V

The flat back position is perhaps the greatest lie ever told in sport, provided you ignore any of the racing we’ve seen in the last decade or two.It is possible, I suppose, that when we talk about a flat back, what we really mean is that on an elementary level, all curves are really just a series of straight segments connected at an angle; wh...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @the Engine It would have to be the 1986 Amstel, as Zoetemelk won Worlds in ’85. »

The Tubeless Enigma

There must still be a few readers out there who have not followed the Dutch Monkey down the merry tubular path; for them I offer an update on an alternative. Road tubeless has been lauded as the best thing to happen to cycling since the introduction of seatpins. These have been around for years but the road version has not gathered the expected mom...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @Ron No, he was talking about using a needle to actually puncture the tyre and tube to add some sealant if the valve core isn’t removable – I have the Stans injector too, which gets plenty of use. »

The Bikes

The Bike. It is the central tool in pursuit of our craft. A Velominatus meticulously maintains their bicycles and adorns them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. The Rules specify the principles of good taste in configuration and setup of our machines, but within those principles lies almost infinite room for personal taste.It seems in s...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @RedRanger Hotness! Enjoy! »

Gelukkig Sinterklaas

December 6th is possibly the biggest holiday of the year for the Dutch. We put out our shoe, we write gedichten, we play pranks on each other, and we exchange gifts. As luck would have it, the good old Sint made a stop by the Velominati Headquarters in Seattle and left me an absurdly large bottle of dry lube; the the point where I felt like I need...

@Oli's posts:

  1. Happy Dutch Christmas, Frank. And a happy and prosperous New Year too. »

Look Pro: The Hunchbacks of Notre V

The flat back position is perhaps the greatest lie ever told in sport, provided you ignore any of the racing we’ve seen in the last decade or two.It is possible, I suppose, that when we talk about a flat back, what we really mean is that on an elementary level, all curves are really just a series of straight segments connected at an angle; wh...

@Oli's posts:

  1. A back will look flatter if the rider is fully stretched out like Jeff with his arse back and his hands on the hoods – if he’s holding the ‘bars near the stem (like Larry above) he’ll be forward on the saddle and pulling on the ‘bars a bit, so his spine w… »

The Tubeless Enigma

There must still be a few readers out there who have not followed the Dutch Monkey down the merry tubular path; for them I offer an update on an alternative. Road tubeless has been lauded as the best thing to happen to cycling since the introduction of seatpins. These have been around for years but the road version has not gathered the expected mom...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @Carl Interesting, I’ll have to try this! »

  2. I’m curious, have you actually tried squirting sealant through a hypodermic syringe? It’s hard enough getting it into a de-cored valve without the solution clogging up… »

The Bikes

The Bike. It is the central tool in pursuit of our craft. A Velominatus meticulously maintains their bicycles and adorns them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. The Rules specify the principles of good taste in configuration and setup of our machines, but within those principles lies almost infinite room for personal taste.It seems in s...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @Oli Man, I wish there was a delete function sometimes. Yet again, I apologise. I apologise for being pedantic (I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear) and I apologise for, yet again, firing off before engaging what I laughingly refer to as my brain. This… »

  2. @frank Elude = evade or escape from, allude = hint or suggest. »

Look Pro: The Hunchbacks of Notre V

The flat back position is perhaps the greatest lie ever told in sport, provided you ignore any of the racing we’ve seen in the last decade or two.It is possible, I suppose, that when we talk about a flat back, what we really mean is that on an elementary level, all curves are really just a series of straight segments connected at an angle; wh...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @the Engine Haha, does it? Thought I’d seen that picture before! (Note I never claimed this specific picture was from the ’78 Tour, just that he wore the Tricolor in the Tour that year and not in the ’79 one.) »

  2. @the Engine Sorry, you’re wrong. He won the French road champs in June 1978, rode the 1978 Tour wearing the jersey then someone else won the 1979 Championships in June of ’79, presumably wearing the tricolor into the 1979 Tour. »

The Gear

Our products represent the spirit of Velominati; every product we offer is made with the utmost attention to detail – no compromises were made in their selection or design. Whenever possible, our products are made my small, locally-owned businesses who share our passion for quality and we make every effort to ensure they are made in an enviro...

@Oli's posts:

  1. Fuck, we don’t drink that weasel piss! »

Look Pro: The Hunchbacks of Notre V

The flat back position is perhaps the greatest lie ever told in sport, provided you ignore any of the racing we’ve seen in the last decade or two.It is possible, I suppose, that when we talk about a flat back, what we really mean is that on an elementary level, all curves are really just a series of straight segments connected at an angle; wh...

@Oli's posts:

  1. Nice post, Frank, and sound. »

  2. 1978 »

Return Of The Gumwall

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that ‘useful’ things like practicality and functionality can often take a back seat to more basic pursuit of aesthetics and taste. If you haven’t, then your name might just be Paul.You may have also become aware that there is occasional flagrant flouting of certain guidel...

@Oli's posts:

  1. Did it to me and I totally fell for it. Twice. »

The Bikes

The Bike. It is the central tool in pursuit of our craft. A Velominatus meticulously maintains their bicycles and adorns them with the essential, yet minimal, accoutrement. The Rules specify the principles of good taste in configuration and setup of our machines, but within those principles lies almost infinite room for personal taste.It seems in s...

@Oli's posts:

  1. Or one of these fine Crombie tools from Abbey Bike Works. Can’t speak highly enough of this beautifully made and very handy tool that handles both Campagnolo and  Shimano cassettes, in many cases without even needing to remove the q/r nut. Jason will even… »

Return Of The Gumwall

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that ‘useful’ things like practicality and functionality can often take a back seat to more basic pursuit of aesthetics and taste. If you haven’t, then your name might just be Paul.You may have also become aware that there is occasional flagrant flouting of certain guidel...

@Oli's posts:

  1. Glad to help, @Ron! »

Guest Article: Racing, Not Riding

Is anyone else in need of some bike racing? I’m strung out and need a fix. @chrisO has come to the rescue by actually racing his bike and filing a proper report. He didn’t just jump into some Sunday Cat IV event either. He raced a stage race, the Tour of Sharjah, which might be part of Abu-Dhabi, no embrocation and Belgian booties for t...

@Oli's posts:

  1. Great stuff, ChrisO! What a tale and well told. »

The Big Engine that Just Might

I think the last time I cheered for the guy who won the Tour de France must have been Greg LeMond in 1990. Although he would later become one of my favorite riders ever, I didn’t cheer for Jan Ullrich in 1997 because wasn’t cool enough yet.  I didn’t cheer for another eternal favorite, Marco Pantani, in 1998 because I was too dis...

@Oli's posts:

  1. Brilliant, and the whole article sums up pretty much exactly how I felt about Bugno. Disagree about your criteria of what makes a Tour boring, but that’s a given. ;-) »

Return Of The Gumwall

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that ‘useful’ things like practicality and functionality can often take a back seat to more basic pursuit of aesthetics and taste. If you haven’t, then your name might just be Paul.You may have also become aware that there is occasional flagrant flouting of certain guidel...

@Oli's posts:

  1. @Dan_R Nice one, mate. I wish you and Cafe Roubaix Bicycles every success! Chapeau! »

  2. @Dan_R Okay, question answered while I was typing. Nice, although I still prefer Richter. »

  3. @Dan_R Yes, it’s a cool name and a nice logo for sure. I just thought Richter was personal and unique, whereas Roubaix is great but a bit more generic. Will the wheels be called Cafe Roubaix Bicycles wheels? Will the wheel decals be the same as this one? »

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