As someone said above, I can deal with Ritchey on a MTB but on a road bike it must be Italian…

I like the new cobbled background, BTW.

It would take an hour just to get a basic intro into how that silly sport works, yeah?

There’s one more cyclocross race here in January. If I ride 300km in deep sand twice a day between now and then, I might finish in the top 50%.

Best, “Best of Craigslist” posting ever: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sea/1192150038.html
Enjoy……..

hah! That was awesome! And oddly familiar. Confessions about hating people are only really appreciated by other people who work or have worked in retail.

I don’t think I can toss out anyone or solely choose anyone at this point – I still need to balance what I want on my bikes with what I have in my bank account, and when you have N+1 bikes, well, you gotta compromise sometimes.

Thomson stuff – some I like, some I don’t. It could even be color, black or silver which throws me off.

All of them offer nice stuff. They key is to match the bits to the bike to the bicyclist to the Casually Deliberate approach though, right?

@frank
I’m sure I’ll catch hell from someone regarding this, but that’s the same way I feel about Thomson seatposts and stems.

LOL. Serves to reason, I’d be running the Thomson gear on my MTBs (seatposts & clamps). I just do not have a flashy style preference. I like all logos to be understated, with a touch of class. I have pretty much been running the Ritchey pro logic gear on all of my road bikes, stayed away from the “wet” finish in favor of the matte finish, and insist that all of the components match (red or blue logo). My wife thinks I’m nuts, but conceeds putting up w/ a couple red bikes in the garage (s-1) is preferable to me buying a red sports car and running off w/ the secretary at the office.

A DEDICATION TO ALL THE HIPSTER DOUCHEBAGS:

-If you shitheads had any money, you wouldn’t NEED a vintage Poo-zhow to get laid. Go have an ironic mustache growing contest in front of American Apparel, so that I can continue selling $300 bikes to fatties, which is what keeps the lights on.

– Being made in the 80’s may make something cool, but that doesn’t automatically make something good. The reason that no one has ridden that “vintage” Murray is because it’s shit. It was shit in the 80’s, a trend it carried proudly through the 90’s, and rallied with into the ’00’s. What I mean to say is, no, I can’t make it work better. It’s still shit, even with more air in the tires.

Heh, heh.

@Chris
RBR posters; Dopey Fuckers (note to self, must stop swearing)

Do mankind a favour and donate an old D-Lock to the cause. Drop the key down the nearest drain.

@scaler911
Did frank ghostwrite that?

It certainly wasn’t any of this lot.

(I know it’s not nice to make fun of those less fortunate than ourselves but sometimes I can’t help myself)

@scaler911
Class.
“While we’re at it, you recumbent people scare me a little. Don’t bring that lumbering fucking thing anywhere near me.”

I arrived at the library today to do work only to find that my lock-up spot had been stolen. By a recumbent. That was foldable.

Class.

“While we’re at it, you recumbent people scare me a little. Don’t bring that lumbering fucking thing anywhere near me.”

Enjoy……..

@ChrisO

I had a disastrous gash about a month ago, which gave me my cue to switch to my winter (tubed, with Spec Armadillo Elite 25mms) set up and save the $$$ rubber for spring. Changing it on the side was actually just fine – but it does require some effort to push the bead to the center of the rim. not too bad, if my candystick arms can manage it roadside. just booted the gash and stuffed a tube inside. Made it 20miles back home after that.

@all
Am I the only one that just doesn’t like Ritchey products on a road bike? Given the choice between two products of equal value and performance, I’ll take the other every time.
Love the shit out of them for off-road, though.

I’m sure I’ll catch hell from someone regarding this, but that’s the same way I feel about Thomson seatposts and stems.

If I was going to replace bar, stem and seat post I would go with 3T or maybe FSA. I agree that Ritchey does not catch my eye the way those two brands do.

Ritchey gear is the business, as has been established by this very site. I built my cross bike starting with Ritchey WCS classic bend bars and moved backwards and downwards to frame, wheels, and gearing.

They are 50g lighter than the 3T Rotundos.

I hope to find another pair under the tree this weekend which will free up my 3T Ergonova bars and stem for bike #3.

@Gotta Ride Today, @scaler911, @paolo
They make great parts and great stuff, and Tom Ritchey is an American Legend. The Bridgestone bikes used to come laden with their stuff. I would not hesitate to buy a Ritchey 29er. But their stuff just doesn’t strike my fancy for the Road. No good reason, it just doesn’t capture my imagination the way 3T or Deda does.

Totally understand. I feel the same way about Cavandish.

@scaler911
Those pictures kind of stack the deck there. You can get absolutely beautiful carbon bling by Ritchey. And if you ride a bike you’re pretty much aware of that since it’s everywhere.
However, I am with Frank on this. Off road only. I don’t know why except that TR made his bones off road I guess but it does just seem wrong on a road bike.
3T ftw!!

True. But Tom did make nice road bike for awhile too:

And there is absolutely NO fucking around with his ‘stach.

I hypothesize that while the entire eyelet is ideally covered, covering the hole is the most critical as it backs the tube and keeps it from dimpling in the eyelet as it’s inflated. Nevertheless, I have yet to puncture or see any slits from these rims. Probably just luck or Fond de Jante is just that good that it’ll make up for the mechanic’s shortcomings.

Fair enough with good, solid intertubes – but be careful if you ever switch to latex – little issues with rim strips and valve holes have been the bane of my existence when using too-thin tubes. Yuck.

Those pictures kind of stack the deck there. You can get absolutely beautiful carbon bling by Ritchey. And if you ride a bike you’re pretty much aware of that since it’s everywhere.

However, I am with Frank on this. Off road only. I don’t know why except that TR made his bones off road I guess but it does just seem wrong on a road bike.

3T ftw!!

@allAm I the only one that just doesn’t like Ritchey products on a road bike? Given the choice between to product of equal value and performance, I’ll take the other every time.Love the shit out of them for off-road, though.

Don’t understand why you don’t like “Ritchey”. I like their products fine and their customer service is great. I have always had a good experience whenever I had to get someone on the phone, etc.

@all
Am I the only one that just doesn’t like Ritchey products on a road bike? Given the choice between to product of equal value and performance, I’ll take the other every time.
Love the shit out of them for off-road, though.

What about a Ritchey frame set? As I’ve mentioned before, I love mine.
I do agree that their components aren’t as “finished” as others though.

Pretty:

Meh:

@all
Am I the only one that just doesn’t like Ritchey products on a road bike? Given the choice between to product of equal value and performance, I’ll take the other every time.
Love the shit out of them for off-road, though.

If I was going to replace bar, stem and seat post I would go with 3T or maybe FSA. I agree that Ritchey does not catch my eye the way those two brands do.

My question, tho (im also on the 6700s), is that I’ve heard the road tires that seat well are frustrating to remove when roadside reinflations are unsuccessful. Any such experience?

Love the shit out of them for off-road, though.

@frank
No it doesn’t! There are different width rim tapes – Velox has at least two, and between brands you can find almost any width going. I stock several different brands for exactly this reason. Matching the rim tape to the rim is vital.

That’s what I mean – any rim strip that is bought in the wrong size will have this problem. Its not Velox’s problem, its the person who bought the wrong width.

No idea what Stan’s is but I do use sealant.

I find it is brilliant at avoiding slow leaks and small punctures, which is a very common hazard here with lots of little bits of metal and debris from trucks.

But as Rookie said the only downside is that Hutchinsons aint cheap and I find them a bit more susceptible to a disastrous gash than other tyres.

I have Ultegra 6700 hoops, and ran them tubeless all summer with hutchinson 25mms on and stans sealant. I was really impressed with the ride quality and the grip. The road tubeless set up has a lot of nice features, but the rubber is expensive!

@frank

The pic was taken today as I was swapping out Gatorskins for retired slicks to ride bike #3 on the rollers. The rim pictured is an Open Pro and I can’t remember if that’s the tape that came on the rim or if it’s what I had in the shop when I purchased the wheels. At any rate, I thought about the coverage issue but it’s been a non-issue thus far. I hypothesize that while the entire eyelet is ideally covered, covering the hole is the most critical as it backs the tube and keeps it from dimpling in the eyelet as it’s inflated. Nevertheless, I have yet to puncture or see any slits from these rims. Probably just luck or Fond de Jante is just that good that it’ll make up for the mechanic’s shortcomings.

@Steve Wilson
Indeed. The wheels pictured have such an inscription. (builder, not race)

@Oli

I like the Ritchey tapes as they are much more consistent and reliable, albeit not so old-school cool.

Unless you fail to notice that the blue Ritchey tape, which has a tiny, tiny dot on the back with a pin prick in it, is made for a 26 inch wheel. And it won’t stretch to a 700c wheel, no matter how much you can’t be stuffed going back to the shop.

Ritchey do the yellow for 700c. I like the Ritchey ‘tape’ too, reusable, snaps on, doesn’t creep to the side of the rim which Velox can do, and has done to me in the past.

I like the Ritchey tapes as they are much more consistent and reliable, albeit not so old-school cool.

Unless you fail to notice that the blue Ritchey tape, which has a tiny, tiny dot on the back with a pin prick in it, is made for a 26 inch wheel. And it won’t stretch to a 700c wheel, no matter how much you can’t be stuffed going back to the shop.

My issue with the stuff, though, is they do a sloppy job cutting the hole and it leves a lot of the hole exposed. My trick from that, which I learned from @Tim on the Whidbey Island Cogal, was to put a stip of electrical tape over it and it fixes the problem. In fact, that little trick solves all manner of problems; stopes valve rattling, etc. Handy.

@Steve Wilson
+1

@Oli
Re: width – Funny, I noticed the same thing, though to be fair – all rim tape has that problem.

@G’rilla
Favorite cycling book. Period.

how many, count them, how many products do we have that technology has not been able to master, nor other products that have not shown superiority…none that I can think of. In other words, how many product got it spot on the first go around…nada.

Chapeau

And, there are others that have tried, and shown inferior products IMHO. Mavic makes a plastic piece of crap that moves around and opens the nipple holes up allowing for flats, and others have stolen the idea of a fabric based tape and hacked it, but Velox is original

A friend and mechanic, journeyman master wheelbuilder that showed me how to build a wheelset, finished all of them with none other, Velox.

It’s a rich language that can spare a word like ‘jante’ for a meaning like ‘rim.’

“” Tim Krabbé, The Rider

Jante = llanta in Spanish.

It’s a rich language that can spare a word like ‘jante’ for a meaning like ‘rim.’

“” Tim Krabbé, The Rider

@michael
I think so but they are wasting their time.