Velominati Community Profile Archive

Velominatus: pistard

Order: Level 2 Velominatus

@pistard's activity:

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @minion I often go four hours without food while functioning in the real world. It’s pretty fucking awful, but I manage. »

Young riders rise through the ranks with such promise. We all know the story; the rider who borrows a bicycle and enters a local race and wins. He decides he might be good at going batshit fast on a bike. Mom and Dad buy him a klunker for his birthday and he takes out a license. He starts winning most races he enters locally and rises to the region...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @piwakawaka It might just have been the head of the moto driver that was removed… I think the photo is from ’88 on the Gavia, just before things got really bad, so maybe that’s Hampsten in front of Chioccioli? »

  2. @Mikael Liddy I wasn’t suggesting that it ruined that photo. I didn’t even think much of it until @universio pointed it out. Same photo is on Cyclingnews.com, so perhaps that’s when/where it was photoshopped. May not have been to remove another rider, may… »

  3. for instance: »

  4. I think what universio is referring to are the obvious photoshop artifacts where another rider or two were erased from the image using the clone tool. To the right of Coppino, and at the bottom right of the photo, there are duplicated areas, repeating pat… »

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...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @mouse Yep, SL is a little lighter than SLX. SLX was introduced a bit earlier, 84 or 85. The rifling in the bottom end of the seat and downtube (and chainstays) makes the bottom bracket area stiffer, and there’s suggestion it was also to beef up the do… »

  2. @roger SL is nothing to sneeze at. I have SL and SLX frames from the era (Merckx) and they both ride beautifully. That’s a nice, handmade Italian frame that appears to be in almost mint condition. Components look to be Athena (below Chorus but rarish in… »

There are always at least two ways to accomplish any task: properly and improperly. Drinking beer from a glass, not the bottle; carrying a full umbrella instead of a miniature fold-up; stirring your gin martinis, not shaking them; wearing french cuffs with a suit, not button cuffs. The Velominatus, of course, is drawn towards doing things Properly,...

@pistard's posts:

  1.   Match your cuffs to your hatband, your tires to your pocket square.   »

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@pistard's posts:

  1. Campy Lobacter? Is that Record or Chorus? »

André Leducq was a complete French Badass, with a capital B. He was third, below Merckx and Hinault for Tour de France stage wins. Nicolas Frantz was an equally Badass Luxembourger. He rode to more victories than Frandy Schleck shall ever attain in a few lifetimes. He did win the Tour de France.The crowd is obviously pleased to have these thin, he...

@pistard's posts:

  1. Cheap welding goggles would look the part, but I’m not sure how functional they’d be…lenses are pretty dark. Fancier options available from purveyors of steampunk goods. »

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...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @Beers When you said size was unknown I thought you hadn’t seen it in the flesh and were working from someone else’s dubious measurements. Sounds like it’s definitely too big. As for ideal top tube length, I’m sure there’s a formula, but it would have t… »

  2. @Beers They also “fit” differently then. When classic was current a fistful of seatpost showing was the rule of thumb (period Campy posts are really short by today’s standards, and you wouldn’t put anything else on it). I just finished building a mid-8… »

The simple art of riding a bicycle can be undertaken in many ways. Watching the stylish commuters of Amsterdam going about their business in the most Casually Deliberate way makes you wonder if indeed anyone is actually going about any business at all. I don’t know how anything ever gets done in that city; everyone seems to be on their way to...

@pistard's posts:

  1. You all know he’s also Le Lanterne Verte, right? Are those solar panels in his TT helmet? »

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...

@pistard's posts:

  1.   @PeakInTwoYears Back in another lifetime I did a bit of product photography and shot a few bikes for catalogues and print ads. Valve stems were either 6 o’clock or (contrary to Rule #26) hidden behind seat stay and fork. Sometimes we’d flip the tire… »

I hadn’t planned to ride them every day. In fact, I had planned to only ride them once and let other people ride them. But, genius that I am, I forgot my ceramic brake pads and had to source some new ones which was a maddeningly difficult process given that Europe observes something in the neighborhood of 363 holidays per year.I was more than...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @Deakus But the ride justifies the beer. It’s the beer that demands the curry (or chipper). »

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @VeloSix In Canada we usually call them Albertans. @Tobin excepted, of course. »

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...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @Dan_R  14-XX is often considered a Junior cassette, to keep the gearing under whatever the limit is for sanctioned racing. And 14-23 is one of the few affordable straight blocks available these days. »

  2. @Simon The ones I have are stitched, and have old style labels, as do ones I’ve seen online on team bikes. Here’s a random picture I grabbed from the interweb (Orica-GreenEdge at Ronde van Vlaanderen).   I think only the GP4000 is vulcanized together. Al… »

  3. @Simon I have a set of Continental Pro Limited Competition ProTection 25mm that are pretty awesome. They’re used by some teams for spring classics. Gatorskin sidewalls, two layers of puncture protection, but still relatively light. Team issue only, so yo… »

We are the Keepers of the Cog.  In so being, we also maintain the sacred text wherein lie the simple truths of cycling etiquette known as The Rules. It is in our trust to maintain and endorse this list.See also The Prophet’s Prayer. Continue reading...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @snoov That’s basically a one-handed version of Vaffanculo or “fuck off.” »

We interrupt our usual programming to announce a new and exciting program between Velominati and our Partners: Velominati Partner Coupons & Discounts.DeFeet has been quietly supporting Velominati almost since our inception, using Rule #5 and Rule #9 to promote their line of products which fall squarely into the Flandrian Best range of cycling...

@pistard's posts:

  1. DeFeet stuff is great. I wear Woolie Boolie or Wooleator socks every day, on or off the bike. Knee and arm warmers too (but just on the bike). I second the disappointment that they don’t ship to Canada. @Chris MEC carries some DeFeet (socks, warmers, bas… »

I’m not going to lie to you, friction is an asshole. In the bottom bracket, in the bending of every single link in your chain as it rolls over the cogs and threads its way through the rear derailleur, and in the pulleys themselves, the devils. I cleaned out my rain bike last weekend after a few rides where I was forced to neglect my usual dai...

@pistard's posts:

  1. Newer Contis have labels on both sides, so it’s a bit harder to glue them on backwards. @frank  How about some two colour symbol packs in Black & White? I have an orange frame that needs some decals but the orange cog would disappear. »

Somehow Movember and Vajanuary have slipped out of our grasp without too much fanfare. It’s never too late to pay homage to a ‘stash and a rider such as Urs Freuler. Our trusty cycling historian @wiscot has once again stepped up and delivered, many thanks. Yours in Cycling, Gianni…...

@pistard's posts:

  1. That frame is freaking me out; not just extended headtube but seattube as well. Urs is riding a way smaller frame than what was considered appropo. Pioneer indeed! »

  2. Does the ‘tash get him a Rule #41 exemption too? »

As a dyed-in-the-wool Northerner, my time living in the South was a mixed bag. Southerners think differently, speak differently, eat differently, and prioritize life differently than do Yankees. In many ways, I became a better person during my time in the South, learning to relax a little bit and stop chasing my tail over everything all the time...

@pistard's posts:

  1. @shackleton In no particular order: history, geography and climate. And beer, of course. »