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 some ways like a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, the way we honor our machines. We love them to a point that lies well beyond obsession. Upon these machines upon we endure endless suffering, but also find an unending pleasure. The rhythm, the harmony between rider and machine, the outdoors, the wind in our faces and air in our lungs.
The Bikes is devoted entirely to our machines. Ours, The Keepers, and yours, the Community. It features articles devoted to our bikes, and proves a forum for uploading photos of your own machines for discussion. We will be harsh, but fair; this is a place to enforce and enhance our observation of The Rules.
If you’d like to submit an article about your own beloved bike, please feel free to send it to us and we’ll do our best to work with you to include it.
- Rule #12 and the Cascade Effect
That is a very reasonable opening salvo for the Rule about bike ownership. Three is good and certainly a minimum, and we are talking road bikes here, if there was any doubt. They naturally become ordered: the #1 is ichi-ban, top dog, go-to bike for every and all rides. #2 was the old #1, ... - Guest Article: Black Is Not The New Black@kogalover is singing my song here. Bikes are beautiful. ’nuff said. VLVV, Gianni With all those posts on riding in winter and being visible, either by putting Eyes of Sauron or other car melting devices on one’s steed, or by even considering a YJA instead of donning plain black kit, it was about time to finally get ...
- Dialing in the StableThis was going to be an article about Rule #45. It is amazing how much time is wasted and matches burned when professionals stop for that second bike change to get back on their #1. With all the jigs available to team mechanics it would seem they could set up five bikes exactly the same. And ...
- Matching the drapes to the rugAs a longtime titanium bike owner, I’ve always been jealous of a beautiful painted frame but Ti and carbon frames don’t need paint like a steel frame needs paint. But I want some painted beauty. It’s like buying a white car; I can’t do white, need some color. So between a Ti frame and a ...
- Festum Prophetae: Waiting for the HourEveryone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. – Mike Tyson The one thing everyone should always plan for is that however well-conceived a program might be, things will never go to plan. The high level plan for my Festum Prophetae Hour Ride was as follows: Have a custom Hour Bike built by Don Walker. Because reasons. Reasons like custom ...
@Dan_R A bit strange really the guy who runs the shop is pretty OK but I get the impression he is not yet familiar with the ways of V. I may go shove this months copy of cyclist magazine under his nose and point him to Franks article in the hope of prompting some enlightenment….
He pointed out to me today that my bottom bracket was starting to wear (probably only just over 1500kms on it) he said it is not near replacing but it is a little noisier than perfect. After a bit of problem solving we decided I had probably been a bit over enthusiastic with the WD40 which should be kept well clear of BB and hubs because it will start to break down the grease…it sounded plausible but I am no bike mechanic. He said its great stuff but only on chain, front mech, rear mech and brakes and levers (not pads).
@Deakus
Good article isn’t it?
@Deakus
I am not surprised about the lack of knowledge of the V. If he is more of a mnt/trackie/hipster SS guy, he may be a great mech, but just not initiated to the road. By all means, shove that article under his nose!
Yeah, I never use WD-40 on new stuff. I don’t mean to frighten you about previously using it, but while I do have some in the shop, I only keep it for disassembling older bikes or during restoration jobs. For a simple cleaner, get yourself a spray bottle of rubbin’ alcohol. It evaporates quickly leaving nothing behind to screw with finishes, lube, or grease. It can also loosen some of the tightest stuff – sometimes. I have seen BBs last for a decade or more, so I would say that it was not originally tighten enough or the crankset was not torqued to specs, or a bit of both. In the end, if your’s does go, it is not the toughest job to take care of yourself, or for your local grease monkey.
@the Engine
I’ve planned a transplant on my Pegoretti.
I’ll change the group, from Shimano to Campagnolo. I can’t wait…
@Pedale.Forchetta
Aha….and light was shone upon the earth…and forth came Gruppo…the one true way ;)
@Pedale.Forchetta That sounds like a proper gruppo for a Pegoretti. It will be like having a new bike. Is it easy to change the cassette body over to Campagnolo compatible or does Pegoretti get new wheels?
I just put a KMS 11speed chain on my wife’s Chorus bike. It has a quick-link instead of the the pain-in-ass Campagnolo 11 speed special link. The KMS quick-link goes together fast but it would be some work to get it apart.
@Pedale.Forchetta awesome, we expect photos!!!
In the meantime, those of you keen for a little bike porn may want to check out this article http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2012/11/bikes-of-the-bunch-firefly/ not only for the beautiful bike being featured but the shot of some of the others in the stable…this is a velominatus with a huge budgetatus.
@Pedale.Forchetta
If you were to ask an anglo-saxon fetishist of Italian bicycles, they would tell you this is the only way to set up a Pegoretti. But far be it from me to tell an actual Italian such a thing. In any event, I obsess periodically about upgrading my Pego from square taper Record 10 to 11 speed.
@Mikael Liddy Lovely bikes!
@Pedale.Forchetta that will be lovely. Frankly, I need to stay away from the Bikes section. I’m waiting on a frame now, and already I’m looking at a Moots which is sooooo smooth and wonderful looking, and also looking at something from Dario. Love #3 or the Responsorium with either Baci, Ciavete, Fiorellin, Guantanamo, Why Not, You Really graphics. I’d love to get a stable of 3 wonderful bikes and leave it at that for a decade. I know everyone loves old vintage bikes of the days of old, but there are still wonderful frames being put together today imo.
@Mikael Liddy he is a mate of mine. And yes he does.
@Mikael Liddy
Pow! Sweetness. And yes, Campag on the Pegoretti.
@Mikael Liddy
Firefily have been absolutely killing it lately.
@Marcus
why did I know you were going to say that???
Out of curiosity, what is the general opinion on the SRAM Apex gruppo? I’m aware it’s of the lower end, but it’s all I could afford to outfit my bicycle with on my collegiate budget. Sure, it is a compact, with a chain ring of only 50 teeth, but it’s trait of having more ratios than a standard triple is helpful, but, more importantly, I NEVER have to leave the big ring while running the rear cassette. This lends itself to an advantage for Rule #90, but is that accomplishment diminished by the use of the gruppo itself?
I will not be switching on account of budget, but it’s good to know the opinion of my climbing tools.
@Nate
+1 their bikes are literally awesome
Ciao @Gianni I have to change the wheels because of the C.King hubs, so it’ll be a deep restyling! I like the Neutron that are already on the Moots.
Photos will follow… thank you guys!
@Airless
I cannot answer your question on Apex I am afraid, but I can tell you it is not Gruppo…only Campag is Gruppo, Shimmys are Group-San and SRAM are Bro-Set. I am all for going Sur La Plaque but you should should try and avoid riding in the big dog at the same time as being on the top of your cassette. By the same token you should also try and avoid riding at the bottom of the cassette in the lower chain ring (less important…why would you?).
The reason for this is chain angle. If you seek The Principle of Silence this is not a good way to pedal, but probably almost as importantly this places a great deal of stress on the chain which is effectively having to deal with all the power from your guns whilst being out of alignment. On modern 10 and 11 speed chains this will likely expose any weaknesses in your chain…yes on occasions they can snap and it ain’t funny believe me…but will also increase wear on the chain and noise, you are effectively compounding the stretch factor.
I hope someone else can answer your question on Bro-Set
Long non-answer to your question but hopefully this will lead to Fluidly Harmonic Articulation.
here is my pedalwan bike – my first proper road bike!
@xced
That is a very proper rig, young Pedalwan.
@Deakus
Thank you for this; I will certainly brush up on the Lexicon about the group sets.
I have experienced the big chain with big cassette noise and stretch, but I reserve that combination for the steepest sections at the top of a climb; where putting it in the little ring would be a waste of time. The frout derailluer trim feature aids with canceling the noise, but the chain stretch is certainly something I will avoid in the future.
@Airless From my understanding and experience, there is little difference in the Bro-set lineup as far as functional performance until you get into Red. The main differences are the finish of the components and the weight. Apex was initially introduced to allow the use of wider gear ratios, but is now just spec’d on many entry level rigs without that as a concern. Apex is a perfectly usable groupset and if that’s what you could afford, then I wouldn’t give it a second thought – just ride it. I have Rival on my Bike #1 and am perfectly content with it. The shifts aren’t as smooth as the 105 on Bike #2, but they are precise.
Have a question, Google was useless. My daughter (7) has informed me she wants a BMX bike Christmas, but not any BMX that would be too easy. No, it has to be blue with black skulls on it – now I’m pretty sure that she has seen said bike somewhere – anyone know what brand it would be?
@xced
Pretty sure if my first one looked like that there wouldn’t have been a 2nd or 3rd…
@Giles not sure, but you could always just give her this & tell her it’s Italian so it’s automatically cooler.
http://instagram.com/p/SC_xIVFrUG/
@xced
Xced – You are doing it correctly.
@Mikael Liddy Oh yes.
@Giles @Mikael Liddy
Did she see it in a shop/mag or street? Skulls could be stickers or worse still using butterfly wings to decorate!
Agree with Mikael, go for cooler points!
@sthilzy
Back up a bit! Those BMX tyres are tubs in the ad!
@Airless
Yep, Apex good.
As for your points about cross-chaining, I’m with you.
I do it all the time when i’m riding. If I can leave it in the big ring the whole time, I will. I haven’t experienced any negative effects with over 6000km on the chainset (Force BTW). Yes, I know that I’ll have to replace chainrings chain and cassette in the next 2-3000km, but all up I don’t think that’s too bad.
Also, you should be able to set it up so that you don’t get chain rub at either end of the spectrum of your casette, as I have.
Cue howls of derision, right abouuuuuuuuut………………………………………………………
Now
@sthilzy
Interesting.
I’m currently Chrissie shopping for two BMX’s for my kids, like this:
Looking to get BMX race bikes as they are properly light (as kids bikes should be FFS. I can’t believe that most kids bikes weigh more than my MTB!)
Damn, cut off a bit..
As I was going to say, I’m going to get proper seatposts and saddles so that they can ride singeltrack on them.
Apologies for trying to turn this joint into ebay, but am currently selling a bike oh so cheap, so thought I would so bold as to post a link to it here. I post this here confident in the knowledge that I have upset far more people on this site with other posts than I will with this one.
Turns out that in my house the “n” in Rule #12 is actually 3. So with 3 road bikes and an MTB, if I want to buy a TT bike I need to sell a roadie. Going very cheap as I am a lazy farker who cannot be arsed going thru a long sales process… Perfect first race bike for a new velominatus! Will ship interstate through a bike shop…
Oh and if this does upset anyone, I suggest you turn the lights down low, open a bottle of wine, put on some soft jazz and then go fuck yourself.
anyway, here is a pic – feel free to criticise
@mouse was going to ask about the saddle, wtf is up with the lower than the back wheel shit?
@sthilzy in the street, probably stickers then.
I’m half tempted by all that gold Campy/Columbus gear myself, mmmmmm shiny things….
@Mikael Liddy
Yeah, I know. Worse, the seatpost is actually only about 150mm long, so you can’t actually raise it.
It’s a BMX thing apparently. I can’t profess to understand it, though perhaps @Cyclops might be able to shed some light on it.
I guess you’re not really supposed to sit down.
@mouse yeah I see many pre-hipsters on them & all I think is ‘that’s a fucking uncomfortable way to sit on a bike’
@Marcus
No fucking way you ride a medium you short fucker. You selling Wifey’s bike to get a new one for yourself? That’s low.
@mouse
I think it has to do with freestyle bmxing, the seat post is basically kept out of the way for things like jumps and skips (these moves obviously have proper bmxy type names but every time my kids start telling about skate, skooter and bmx moves I glaze over). Anyway they basically ride standing up. When they do sit down it is so that they can expose even more of their underpants!
@Deakus I actually think it’s a race bmx in the pic – remember kids have short legs so you don’t want the bike bouncing up and smacking your future retirement home fund in the knackers if he/she/it makes a mistake.
@minion
I still have not had the heart to explain this to them yet though…bless their cotton socks.
my new #1 turns up on monday, its a Rose CRS 5000 with Campag Chorus , Mavic Kyrsium SL’s and fizik antares saddle. I’ve not yet mentioned this fact to my wife.
Any consensus on the cost reduction formula for discussing a new purchase with a VMH? I’m thinking actual cost minus 40%.
I expect at least one of you will tell me to have a Rule #5 conversation with myself.
@Nate
I’d like two upgrades & they will happen at some point. Would like to put a regular crankset on my Casati, which has a compact. And, I’d like to put some machined chainrings on my LOOK, as the ones that came with the Centaur gruppo are stamped.
@Mikael Liddy
I don’t know. Those bikes are from a pretty wide range of time. Maybe he picked them up along the way? Was just discussing this with Gianni. I’m a graduate student but have managed to build up a pretty decent stable along the way. Patience & a keen eye can allow for some nice bikes. Plus, I only recently acquired a VMH that I can’t shed on long climbs, so I only had to justify my purchases to myself!
I do indeed like the stainless bike. Shows some style & class. I get bored with, “I set out to build the most expensive bike possible, look at what I accomplished!” build-ups.
Gotta question for the lot. I’ve got a bike with a press-fit bottom bracket cable guide. It cracked & fell off. Haven’t been able to dig up a new press-fit one. Have gone through some various fix options and the best/easiest one seems like simply tacking on a regular, bolt-on cable guide. The hole on the BB shell is a) big, around 8mm b) not threaded. I could cut a bolt down, I could epoxy in a bolt. But, the cable are going to hold the guide down. Steel bike, nice but not anything too precious.
Question: to tack a plastic Shimano BB cable guide on should I go for a) super glue b) gorilla glue c) epoxy.
Again, the cable hold it in place and I even talked to a guy who just let the cables hold it there, nothing else. Spoke with someone else who used two-sided tape.
@Ron Strongly recommend using a metal BB cable guide (you will have to work to get it) that is bolted. Plastic guides can get chewed and grooved thus making your shift stick — not move properly. I found an Ebay source and ordered 3 pieces to keep in the toolbox. It looks like this :
Total Cycling has metal Campagnolo BB guide to reference.
@motor city
Very ballsy move sir. I’m pretty sure if I pulled a maneuver like that, I’d be sleeping in the chicken coop for the entire winter. And spring.