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 ...
Forgive me Merckx, for I have possibly committed a transgression. But it was in your name.
I just bought a Molteni Replica Merckx MX Leader in full Dura Ace.
But it is a triple.
I know, but hey, I am 43 and fat with a dodgy knee. Honestly, it was the triple that sold it to me.
Can’t wait to put a few of my favorite bits of kit on it (new saddle, correct sized stem, color matched tape and cages) and put it on the road.
Now I just have to figure out how to tell SWMBO. (i keed, she knows. She ain’t happy. But she knows.)
@Oli Brooke-White @Jeff in PetroMetro
Just a quick update: I still don’t have a Look 595. I do, however, have a Raleigh Olympus (ca. 1984), which I’ve just finished converting into a single speed. Probably not quite as fast, though.
I just pulled the trigger on this five minutes ago.
A Look 586 R-Light Limited Edition. Only 60 were made. It retails for $10k – I got it for $6k.
SRAM Red, Zipp 303 tubs, 6.1kg
I’m totally crapping myself right now.
@Cyclops
Awesome. All the cool kids are riding a LOOK(which is why I am not)
I hope that really works out for you.
OMG!
Confuckinggratulations! Look really is the team bike for Velominati.
@Cyclops
I was so excited for you I forgot to hit “reply” to your post. But you know my Confuckinggratulations was for you. I hope you luuuv it. Ooh la la.
Wow, very nice Cyclops. I’d be interested in hearing the story about how you you came about getting that particular bike, and off of Ebay of all places.
@Cyclops
Holy Merckx,
1) That looks the sweetest ride.
2) Way to lay down the V in bike buying.
I hope you enjoy both the bike and the envy of all.
@Cyclops
Exceptionally strong work! As is fitting for a velominatus’ Bike #1, Look describes it as a VMH:
@Cyclops
What, no free hotel stay?
Strong work. Can’t wait to hear a full report.
Grats :-)
Wow.
@Cyclops
Very well played indeed. Congrats, Mate.
Cyclops – WOAH! I can’t wait to see it, I can’t wait to read a build up report, then a ride report! Congratulations. I’ve got a LOOK and I’m a big fan.
I enjoy how “light” is included in the name, as if it weren’t…
my girl audrey, posing at mt. tam
@heath
I like the way she sticks her rear end up in the air like that.
“No, no, no, don’t take ’em off. Don’t take ’em off.” David Lee Roth
@heath
Ah, Audrey. I believe you pinched that from How to Steal a Million (and Live Happily Ever After) which is, after Star Wars, my favorite movie. Exceptionally strong work.
Oh, and awesome bike.
@heath
Very nice! You must have similar proportions to FrÄnk, with that slammed down stem.
@frank
try again, amigo.
Broke a spoke on my other wheels the other day, in the meantime, I put the Open Pros on. I call it the cobbled configuration. New stem too.
@Marko
Open Pros rock. As does that bike.
As does that saddle. I am a big fan of that model.
@Cyclops
Nicely done – welcome to the Brotherhood of Look. My 595 with dura ace and fulcrum zeros weighs in at 7.2kg – 6.1kg seems pretty light for a Look…
@RedRanger
I have recently swapped over to that saddle, and I think those bars too (3T Rotundos?) I ought to re-post.
I’ve decided the Schwinn can make an appearance after the weekend’s first time over 100k’s in one ride, here she is all loaded up ready to head out on Saturday morning…the rear light was going to come off but the 50m visibility due to fog at the time of departure meant that would have been asking for trouble!
@Mikael Liddy
Nicely done on your milestone ride. Keep at it. There’s something about your bike that just works. I wouldn’t change a thing (well, aside from getting that label on the front tire over the stem, levelling the saddle, and ditching the light). Keep riding the piss out of that thing and keep it as number two when you’re ready to upgrade. Subjectively speaking, who doesn’t have a soft spot for the Schwinn brand. For me, it’s the three speed Stingray with a banana seat (yes, seat), sissy bar, butterfly handlebars, and big ‘ol slick on the back.
@Pedale.Forchetta
That, and the fact it’s a Pegoretti. You could put Alivio on that thing and I wouldn’t notice. I’d just stare at the frame.
My new toy:
Parlee Z5 with DuraAce 7900/EDGE wheels (laced to CK R45 hubs), FSA cockpit, Thomson Masterpiece seatpost, Specialized Romin Pro saddle and Look pedals.
Unfortunately, the bike is far better than the engine….
@ildiddy
Wow…that bike looks fast! And I bet it is light too. Well played. The engine will soon be tuned riding that beast around. That is not a seatpost I see everyday, very cool, I think.
When will I take the carbon wheel plunge?
@Marko
The BMC-mobile is looking sharper than ever, the cobbled configuration indeed. A fine looking steed. Is that a 3T stem? And a different length or just an upgrade?
Probably, and the most attractive Dura Ace group EVAR I have daydreams about getting a nine speed DA group in that good a condition.
@Mikael Liddy
@ildiddy
Nice work fellas, good to see bikes that are set up to ride and being ridden. If you take Marko’s advice on levelling off the saddle it might pay at the start to drop the seat height one or two mm to help you get used to it.
Parlee? neeoooowwwm zooom zoooooooom neeeeoooooowwwwwmmmm is roughly the only thing I’d be capable of saying around that bike (go – fast noises)
@Gianni
Sharp eye, oh master. Indeed it is a new stem. 3T arx-pro and yes, it is shorter. Went from a 130 to 120.
@Gianni
@minion
Thanks guys! It’s a great bike… handles with precision and doesn’t flex as much as my previous bike at the BB. And yes, it’s a weight weenie bike but without any really exotic components. 14.8lbs with cages and pedals. Just took it for a spin yesterday (101 miles, 7000 feet of climbing) and it came back in much better shape than that the owner. At some point, the zoom zoom noises turn into put-put sputtering in the engine.
@Gianni
Oh, and I highly recommend the Thomson seatposts. Light and bombproof… you’ll bring them from bike to bike. Someone introduced me to them last year and I’m a big fan. The EDGE (now ENVE) wheels are carbon clinchers so flats are easy to deal with while still being aero and light (<1400g). If not now, when? ;)
@Oli, Campy-nati
Just this afternoon I destroyed the Merckx-cog on my 11s Chorus cassette at the base of one of the local murs. Fortunately I was able to get home under my own power. I have 4700 km on the cassette. Any opinion on whether I can get away with a replacement cog ($20) or should suck it up and put on a new cassette (~$160)? Grazie.
I would try the cog first, but think you’ll be getting close to new cassette and chain time.
@Marko
@minion
Cheers guys, yeah the saddle is still in the process of being adjusted to find “the groove” if you’ll excuse the pun. Basically each adjustment gets about a week or two of testing, although I do feel as though I slide forward a little too easily in its current set up.
Re: the front tyre, I put those on before consulting the rules however on reading the conditions I was pretty happy with what dumb luck had achieved I figured I’d leave them be.
@Oli
Thanks Oli.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
The eagle has landed. My bike just showed up. It’s beautiful. I’m leaving work right now to go put it together. Dream Bike story/pix will be forthcoming shortly.
@Cyclops
Don’t forget the legally mandated reflectors and pie plate.
@Cyclops
Bellissimo!
@ildiddy
Mmmmmm… nice toy. Very nice toy.
As for the engine, I find that the bike as much as the ride itself gets me out there. Nice bike means more miles, better engine.
@mcsqueak
The thing had a bag in the parts box that had reflectors in it but it also came with an LED taillight, a headlight, batteries, and even a freakin’ bell!
@Cyclops
Ha, that’s awesome. It’s not a LOOK brand bell is it?
@mcsqueak
No, I might have been tempted to mount it on the 586 if it was. As it is it’s going on the wife’s Schwinn cruiser.
@Cyclops
Well that’s too bad – you would have been able to smugly ding your way along the local MUP with such an audible warning device.
@mcsqueak
Well maybe but it’d be french and not a bicycle, so
a) it must be made of cheese, and
b) because it’s french and not a bicycle it is morally obliged to fall to pieces just enough to not work properly, but not enough to replace it, before it’s third use. Nothing like owning a stylish piece of disappointment (Sorry Cyclops, I’ve been scarred by Peugeot ownership) Lets see it! Before this nonsense carries on!
The final piece has fallen into place as the procurement of old school campy skewers has been completed. The Salsa skewers have left the building.
@frank
Shiny things good.
In the detail shot I was a bit perplexed at first by the juxtaposition of the skewers with the carbon fork. Shiny dropout makes things good, though, and I like the reflection of the QR on the fork.
They look great.
Perfect.