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 ...
A terrible thing happened on Monday night/Tuesday morning for me. An individual broke into my house and stole my, my dads and my mums bike and our car. Now it’s taken me a while to regroup after this, i was meant to be racing in Scarborough this weekend and a friend lent me his bike for the weekend to race but it became obvious that i couldn’t race due to the severely higher probability of crashing and wrecking a bike in a race than training on the road. The policeman was kind enough to tell me that they retrieve bikes 50% of the time and all sorts of things like that. And now my head is here
I’m going to really miss that bike
I loved it. It was only a Cannondale CAAD 8 but, it was quick and nimble, it responded fantastically whenever i pushed the pedals in the proper fashion and didn’t mock me too much when the man with the hammer came to call. I’d done 2000 miles (ish) on it in the year i had it. Sliced a minute and a half off my 10TT time and competed in my first race, where i finished 9th and gained my first British Cycling license points.
Now the insurance company wants to replace it with a lump from Halfords and my form is dropping away.
So i just needed to say that somewhere
so goodbye and thankyou
@Sam
Brother, reading that is like a gut-punch. So awful. And I feel so bad for you. Sounds like you need to get someone involved to help out with the insurance as that is BS. Maybe contact a local cycle shop and have them write up a statement as to what the true replacement cost is.
@Sam
Sorry to hear that, and getting shit stolen sucks (I know), but someone’s got to tell you this, and it might as well come from me:
Apply Rule #5.
Take the best bike you can lay your hands on and get back on the road. And think of the good news. No one got hurt, shit can be replaced, and at least you are still able to ride.
And keep us posted, I want to see pics of your next bike. Soon.
@Sam
Sorry to hear about your loss. Buck has some good ideas on getting the old girl replaced. I gotta say that was a fine looking bike, but I think you will enjoy your next ride as well.
@Buck Rogers
yeah, we got the quote but i don’t always trust men in suits, but he did seem ok
@sgt
you are right and some perspective is needed, hopefully within the week, i’ll have the new ride and start racking the kilometers up again
just trying to get some work done before the last of the Dauphine and the second toit du TdS start and really distract me properly
but I saw this clinometer on a bike in the rack next to mine at work t’other day and thought you might like the concept – I have other ways of telling when I am going uphill
@Sam
Awful. Good advice all around, but I second the notion that all you really need it a set of wheels. You’ll fall in love with the next one as well. Just make sure you get something comparable from the insurance company – it’s their job to make sure they spend as little to replace your loss as they can get away with.
@al
That is awful.
@Oli
Thanks, mate. That’s high praise from you.
@sam don’t take it lying down from the insurance company, quote the t&c’s at them if necessary and get a bike shop on side as @Buck Rogers suggested.
You should also look into getting your replacement through the bike to work scheme or one of the equivalent schemes. You pay the for the first £1000 of the cost of the bike on a monthly basis as a salary deduction so you don’t pay for the VAT or national Insurance. Depending on how much you earn it could be a 50% saving on the first grand.
Just had a call from the bike shop. It Is Here. I’m picking it up tonight!
Took it out this morning for a test ride, gearing is different to the old one, 35/50 and 12-27. God knows what the other one was, but I need to get out alot more!
Have to say I was pretty disappointed with the state of it when I picked it up – the tape finishing the bar tape wasn’t well applied and the end of the front shifter cable was just a bit too long so caught the crank when using the little ring. Just little details but these thing should be right from the word go. You should only really have to remove the safety stickers and reflectors (and before any of the eagle eyed notice that I’ve failed to remove the plastic disc of pointlessness, I know. 5am hill reps tomorrow in penance). The rear shifting is also disappointing – work will have to be done there!
Other than that, though, the difference between old and new is stunning. Had a heavy headwind on the outward section and came within a minute of my best on my 15 mile loop which was set on a nice still evening.
This is the old one, it has got to go – too small and its imminent appearance on ebay was part of the purchase order approval conditions set by the Financial Controller.
The n temporarily stands at 5! (Rule 12)
company, there remains but one question and it’s one which i have been struggling with for a while
Triple or Compact?
I used to like a double i had on the first road bike i owned but companies seem to think that we don’t have the chops to cope with them anymore. So opinions please
@Chris sweet ride, love those cannondale frames, they feel like they want to go up steep ramps like some overly giddy mountain goat
@Sam
Don’t ride triples. Drink tripels.
@Chris
Nice bike, congrats! Please remove the valve caps. STAT.
Compacts are infinitely preferable to triples, and there’s nothing wrong with gearing down if it’s needed; they mean you can ride hills easier, so you end up riding the hills more, and you get well hard, facilitating the ‘V’
@Chris
Reckon you will get a better price on your sale if you remove the reflectors…
@Oli
2 instructive conversations last week.
Conversation 1 – with Brett:
G: Reckon my chain and cluster have had it. I’m gonna swap my 11-23 cluster for a 12-25.
B: Your chain and cluster are certainly dead. Better check your chainrings too. Hmmm – the big one certainly looks OK. Guess it doesn’t get much use.
G: Thanks.
B: Mind you, it’s a compact, so it’s not really a “big” ring.
G: Again, thanks.
Conversation 2 – with physio:
P: What’s wrong now?
G: Knee trouble.
P: Which knee?
G: Both.
P: Again?
G: Again.
P: Hmmm.
G: I’ve just traded my 11-23 for a 12-25.
P: Well, that’s a good start …
Get a compact. I need friends …
@G’phant
After coming back from retirement (there were no compact cranks), I frackin love those things. Go uphill great, and get you to spin, spin, spin………… Not exactly great for crits or TT though, when you ‘need’ to mash a big gear.
@Chris
AAAhhhh!!! Reflectors……..
I’m so snobby about reflectors that I actually removed them from my kids bike (which needs a lexicon by the way). Is that wrong?
@G’phant
It’s not the ring that is important it is the gear.
If you go standard you’ll have 12-25 most probably, and compact probably 11-23.
Do the maths… 50-11 (121.7) is bigger than 53-12 (118.2) .
And at the other end you get 34-23 (39.6) against 39-25 (41.8).
Bigger top gear, better low range, nearly straight block with 11 speed – failing to see any problems or violations.
@ChrisO
Isn’t the 34-23 (39.6) an easier gear than the 39-25 (41.8)? By my calcs, to get 39.6 with a 39t ring I’d need a 27t cog. And with my new 34-25 I get 36.4, which is easier still. (With a 39t ring it would require a 29t cog). I live in a very hilly town, don’t do crits or TT’s, and am a middle-aged bio-mechanical disaster with skinny little legs which have not had a quarter century’s worth of cycling strength beaten into them. So low gearing is definitely right for me. If only people would stop sniggering …
@G’phant
Yes exactly – that’s what I meant about getting a better range. Bigger at the top, smaller at the bottom.
It’s not a huge difference but it’s just wrong to say the compact is not as ‘hard’ – unless they are are on a standard with 11-23 of course, in which case shake their hand and offer respect to their guns.
@frank @sam thanks, it’s the first decent road bike I’ve owned. Lovin it…
@frank @marcus @scaler911 violations will be rectified this evening and another dose of hill rep penance will be taken!
@scaler911
If your kids are going to be riding on the road in poor light, they are not such a bad thing although a proper set of lights would be better. If thy’re not then no reflectors! Apart from the pedal reflectors which don’t last five minutes, I’ve left them on my kids bikes as they occasion ride down to the park in our village.
I’m not sure why I still have reflectors on that Giant, probably because it’s a bit of a pig and too small so I hardly ever rode it other than on the trainer when the weather was too filthy to get out on my mountain bike (obviously I knew nothing of Rule #9 then).
@ChrisO
Ah, now I see. And concur.
@G’phant
exactly this is my issue with compacts, when going full chat i sometimes feel a little undergeared, but point made by @ChrisO taken on board and the general berating which may be received, i’ll be going with the compact.
New beastie:
Scott Addict R2. Ultegra group, Ksyrium Elites, Ritchey gear which is nice in the cockpit but a bit heavy and cruddy in the seatpost. Tyres are Conti Ultra Race, which I’ll ride until knackered then replace with something else. Pedals are my old Look Keo carbons.
So far I’ve loved it. I’ve been off road bikes for four years (hence the high stack of spacers and upright flipped stem. The cockpit will migrate downwards over the next six months). Light – very much so. It’s over a full kilo lighter than my old Avanti, which was alu and carbon, full Ultegra, same wheels, but was bought in 2003. It’s funny. First ride I pointed it up the 1:20, a popular Melbourne climb. Legs and lungs asking me “look, are we going to be doing this more? If so, we need to talk”, and the bike seemed to be saying “Is this all we’re going to be doing? BORED…” Just seems to squirt forward easily.
Let me tell you guys and girls who have lived through the changes, bikes are different now. Not so much radically different, but considering I paid exactly the same for this as my last bike, it’s freaky how much better it is. Everything works better.
Handling is nice. I was a little worried when I pulled the trigger that I’d bought something a bit unforgiving. I mean, the Scott CR range exists for a reason, right? But it’s fine. It’s a bit twitchier than my old ride, but nothing silly. Sure, I’ve got the front jacked up a bit, but my belly will disappear and my flexibility will return.
So a happy camper to be out and about.
On the subject of noises: on the first ride I hit a bump turning left. A big crack rang out from the front end. Yowch. Big carbon frame makes a good speaker box. Kept going… hit more bumps later. Another, more muted crack. Was close to home, so kept going. At home I had a loose headset. Probably some sort of settling-in, first one side, then the other. Front hub a bit rattly after a few rides, too. Took it to the dealer today to get its first service, the usual retouch, and its tight as a tight thing again.
Hmmm… Didn’t upload the pic. It was there in the preview…:
Yes, that’s Garmin mounting gear. Doesn’t it look great on the wet gloss white Ritchey WCS stem? Someone tell me how good it looks :-) I’m sure frank will. He’ll also tell me to keep the valve caps, I bet.
@Blah
Hate that settling in period, also known as waiting for the symptoms of a lazy ass manufacturer and bike shop to manifest themselves. My new Cannondale is going back in tomorrow to get the shifting sorted, a new brake cable (the old one was crushed/kinked somehow, paint cleared out of the bottle cage bolt socket threads and bar tape sorted. I try to most of my own maintenance/fettling but I absolutely refuse to sort out stuff that should be right from the outset. Huge hassle as I can’t take it on the train during peak hours unless I fold it.
Nice bike btw!
@Blah
Very nice ride! And if you’re violating rules by using a Garmin, you may as well join our super secret rule violating Strava club.
@mcsqueak
Yes, shhhhhh…. When do you think would be the right time to ask Frank if he can put the Strava widget on this site ?
@ChrisO
Ha! Never sounds about right for timing with that. Frank would probably beat you with a frame pump for asking.
@ChrisO
Am I wussing-out on my standard and 11-27 then? WTF, I did Kootaney Pass with that gearing.
PS–I threw-up three times before the summit. I was going through a touch of bother…
@Blah
Loverley bike, good work. Do Mavic still put a counterweight in their rims that rattles loose really quickly? My 08 Ksyriums had that, touch of superglue and she was sweet.
@mcsqueak
Agreed. We should really keep that on the DL around here
@minion
Nope. Mine have less material machined from the rim opposite the valve. Neat solution. Loved my first ksyriums. Bomb proof on rough roads under a heavier rider.
Yeah I loved mine too, never let me down and I raced on them a bunch. I’d buy another pair in a flash if I needed wheels, I’m keeping an eye out for a pair for bike number 2.
@Dan_R
Nice work. I recoil at the sound of an 11-27, but not because the 27 is a pie plate; it’s because the gaps between the cogs are too big, unless you have a one-off 13-speed drivetrain.
I prefer 11-23 or 13-26 if I’m climbing, because the gaps between cogs is more important to me than spinning out my 53×13.
I should be getting a set of Shimano 9speed shifters by the end of next week and I picked up a Park Tools cable cutter today. That last thing I need is new housing and cables. Any suggestions?
I saw this and was wondering what they would be like?
Integrated brakes on the latest Ridley Noah FB. Interesting…..
@RedRanger
I’ve been running Yokozunas on my #1 for a little over a season now. I’ve been happy with them. They’re certainly smoover than stock shimano cables and have a really nice look about them.
I’ve got Gore on the rain bike. They seem fine too.
@RedRanger
Just changed all cables and housing on bike No.2 to Jagwire. No complaints so far after a few hundred K’s.
@Marko
Clarification: Yokozuna Reaction cables.
@Marko
That looks good. I like that it all comes in a set. How does it look in “smoke”?
BTW this will be my first time doing anything this complex to my bike. any tips?
@RedRanger
Hm…if you can, find a cycling sensei to help. If not, go chat with the mechanics at your LBS. As far as tips go, I would make sure you start by preparing your favorite hopped beverage. Thn, make sure you don’t underestimate that, while the components are all very simple, together they still form a fairly complex system. At the same time, you can understand every part and how it should function, so when you screw something up (you will) you can figure out what’s wrong.
Make sure your shifters are all set to their neutral position (left set to the inner ring position, and the right to the smallest cog position. Also, only cut your cables down once everything is functioning – give yourself room to start over. If your cable gets frayed and you have to re-run it through the housing, snip the smallest amount possible off the end so it runs through smoothly. Also tighten your cables enough that they dont slip, but don’t over tighten them, either.
Don’t forget to do a bang-up job taping; you’ll be looking at/touching your tape job almost every moment you’re riding. Also, when you get around to cutting the cables, make sure you cut them nice and close, I usually give it twice the length of the cable-end, though some Pro mechs go with just enough slack to hold the end itself, and I’ve even seen some go shorter than that and forgo the cable end in favor of a touch of solder instead.That’s a clean look.
I Re taped my bars once and had a little trouble cutting it at an angle at the end. Other than that I did a good job.
This project will be a good primer to get my mechanical juices going ahead of me going back to school in august to be a airplane mechanic.
The thing I want to ask about bike maintenance is, Why does it always make me bleed ?
I don’t try anything too difficult. Bottom brackets and hub bearings might as well be nano-circuitry for all that I would attempt to tamper with them. I limit myself to basic stuff from brakes to bars (and I’m not bad at bar-tape if I so myself).
So tonight, inspired by my inner Velominati I turned my attention to Bike No.3, a Colnago Master recently returned by the mate I had loaned it to.
I don’t know what he’d done to it – everything looked much the same and the basic measurements were the same as my Ridley but something was different so I decided to flip the stem and do some new bar-tape – a small slide some months ago had loosened it and made the tape a bit ragged.
And while I was at it I thought I would take off the computer accessories, since I don’t need it on that bike really.
Now you’d think a few hex screws, some cable ties and tape would be relatively harmless. But as I speak I am looking at a nasty piece of skin hanging off the side of my knuckle where I caught it on the steerer tube, and some parallel scratches across my left knee where the bike fell as I tried to adjust the bar angle.
Is this normal. If I were a bike mechanic I expect I would be missing several fingers if I survived against tetanus for long enough.
We need a Part III of La Vie Velominatus – The Survival Guide, otherwise we should prepare for Le Morte Velominatus.
@RedRanger
I think the smoke looks sweet. From far away it’s pretty much black but up close in the light the housing braids are visible. It’s cool. The brake housing is a pain to cut compared to others and you must have good sharp cable cutters to get it clean (your new park ones will be great). Give the brake housing a practice cut first. It’s burly. Competitive Cyclists review of it sold me on it and they were dead on.
@Marko
I looked into this morning. I am pumped to get all the pieces together and get started.
My bike was a gift back in Italy and it’s been evolving ever since.
@RedRanger
So you WILL be posting pics of your progetto, no? I look forward to it.