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
That looks like one unforgiving ride – what is the story with Sarto? And what are the rims? Look like Zipp profile??
@mouse
It seems nigh on impossible to predict what will be puncture proof – I rode all winter with no flats on my Gatorskins, then ping, ping, front and back on a fairly inoccuous ride
The Veloflex that said, whilst my favourite, are only for smooth tarmac holiday climbs, anything else and they slesh to hell in no time – but boy do they allow you to descend like the Devil
@Piwakawaka
Damn that spell checker!
@brett
Damn that spellcheck!
@snoov Cheers snoov, the headset colouring was Rickys idea, I pretty much just let home do his thing and I’m well pleased with the results.
The fenders have the same pint striping running down the centreline. Also not shown is the top of the seat stays which are capped with a machined end which reflects the vents in the rear deck lid of the 1968 Porsche 911R that the bike is based on.
fell eel do lucky to have this bike, it’s a thing if beauty to ride and look at.
Fucking clumsy fingers and apple software correct !!!
@SimonH
My feelings, too! Thick man fingers and touchy touch screen combined with hypersensitive spellchecker lead to sorry bloopers.
@unversio
Yes, I know you’re right. I have a -17 on my bike and a spare -6 stem but I know that I would never get round to changing them over for specific rides.
@snoov
I have those bars but looking at this photo my shifters are in a poor position. I run Campag Chorus so it may be the shifter shape but they are sitting around 2cm lower on the curve of the bar. They’ve never felt quite ‘right’ and this photo illustrates why.
@RedRanger, @snoov, @motor city Absolutely love my ergonova bars, the flat section tops really seem to suit my hands. i’ve got my (105) shifters set slightly lower which improves the reach to the levers in the drops (small hands) but not so low that I can’t relax on the hoods with my fore arms on the bars.
Nice tape job btw. Did you run your cables along the groove in the underside of the bar?
I’d love to try out the Tournovas for the combination of traditional bend and flat tops.
@Gianni
Ha! Just giving you shit, Gianni. You’ve probably already glued more tubs than I ever will in a lifetime (although I do love my tubs and woud recommend anyone to use them!)
@Chris
And particulrly condusive to flying Belgian aerobars
@DocBrian
Well, we are familiar with the Queen’s measure, but knowing that 6.8kg is the UCI limit and that is the equivalent of 14.9914lbs, we like to weigh the mass of bicycles in English vice metric. All wheels are measured in grams. Kinda like all distances are measured in km and climbing is measured in feet.
Nothing wrong with the scale, the hand is on the wheel to hold it steady after the scale settled on the fixed weight of 15lbs 15oz. That Sarto is the equivalent of an XXL (60ish cm) sized bike, so pretty fair in the weenie department.
@brett & @Dr C Sarto started out as an Italian OEM company in the days of custom steel. Just as CF was becoming known, Antonio Sarto began working with it in tube to tube construction until he was happy to add CF to the line-up. He was building frames for company’s that marketed “made in Italy,” as Sarto is located in Veneto. Many, many pros had Satro build custom frames for them and then had them re-branded to match the sponsor. In fact many still do this. Most if not all of the CF frames ridden in the late 90s/early 2000s (known as the EPO era, n’est pas?) were actually custom Sartos. Just like Chris Carnikle was COTHO’s “coach,” um, Trek was his ride.
A few years ago, Sarto began to sell under his own name. All the frames are still made tube to tube in Veneto and are technically custom built. I have brought in Sarto as our Italian custom CF builder. I am also working with an American company on custom CF, but that is still in the discussion level. Sarto is only available in select locations and due to my proximity to a large population, great riding, and our philosophy, Sarto NA asked to come aboard the Cafe Roubaix express. Along with Sarto comes, Santini, Miche, Vittoria shoes, and another to be announced Italian bicycle line.
The components are a mix of Miche Supertype and DA7900 shifting. The wheels are from the Miche Supertype line-up and are NOT Zipp. Please do not compare these wheels to Zipp. We only carry Zipp as one of the build options from one of our other bicycle brands. Not Zipp. MICHE!
@motor city
Actually, my shifters are sitting way too high on the curve of the bar so I’ve angled them forward to compensate. It was only seeing @snoov’s photo that made realise what was wrong.
It looks like i’ll be learning how to wrap bars sooner than I thought I would. Any definitive guide worth looking at?
@motor city yeah, thats not right at all.
Has any one heard of H plus son rims?
http://www.hplusson.com/products/archetype
@RedRanger Newer product, seem to get a lot of good feedback from wheelbuilders.
@Nate yeah. I can see getting some wheels built on those hoops.
Just ordered a pair of tb14, basically a wider version of the nemesis in clincher.
Will be using campagnolo hubs. Cant wait to see if they live up to the hype. Will report back
@roger can’t wait to hear about them. I like how they have theit version of the golden tickets on the rim.
@motor city
I think there’s no wrong way to set up your bars and shifters except having the shifters kind of pointing up, which makes your bike look like it has a hard-on. I went for the top of the bars and levers being horizontal. The way you have yours set up is the way I’ve seen pros who use the Ergonovas do it. That gives you a lower hand position when riding on the hoods. I’m going to do that to my set up soon as I’m much more comfortable in a lower position these days.
The reason I have that photo is because it was my very first attempt at taping the bars myself. You’ll find plenty of videos online to help you but the bit I had most trouble with is the start where you later put the end caps in. My second attempt on my CX rig didn’t go as well as the job above although it was with much thicker cork tape and I reckon that’s why I struggled with it.
Keep it tight, keep it even, job done! Oops, thought I was an expert for a moment.
@motor city Although looking again your levers seem pretty far from the bars for your fingers to reach them. Maybe you can move them down a bit without having to redo the tape.
@Chris
In the groove? Yes I did and thanks for the compliment on what I already said was my first taping job. When climbing I get a particularly satisfying sensation when my finger tips fit into the spongy hollow just in front of the cables under the tape. I always seem to notice this. I’ve now got these bars on my CX bike too and fancy the Tournovas as well, flexibility shouldn’t be a problem nowadays.
@motor city
Some light reading;
http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/tape-o-philia/
http://www.velominati.com/reverence/reverence-3m-electrical-tape/
http://www.velominati.com/tradition/le-mecanicien/
http://www.velominati.com/nostalgia/ride-like-a-leader-white-bar-tape/
Fuck me, is the reason you guys only put up pics of bikes and not yourselves that we all look as bad as this! Bloody hell I’ve lost 6kg and am still 95Kg and 1.8m.
Me with my new n1, Trek Domane 4.3, really needs red bar tape but the budget was tapped out. VMH insists on the YJA and I will never be Rule #33 compliant. The only rules I follow are 4 and 5 with a good helping of 9, days that aren’t Rule #9 are invariably taken up with work. Rule #4 ‘cos it’s all about the bike and Rule #5 cause breathing out of my arse while not climbing well for my weight takes my mind off all the violations!
Also a pic of how we roll down on the ranch bitches, the kit in that pic is worth more than a lot of houses!
Blimey, did this site just change rule with a small r to rule with a big r, now that’s clever! Can you tell I dont get tech that well, as long as it works I’m fine but if it goes wrong or winds me up (are you listening apple) then I’m goosed. But then again I am a certified crop Dr. :)
@the-farmer
Basically, yes, our bikes look better alone than with us. However, a Domane squire, that is cool. I’ve seen them in the shop but never on the farm. It’s good enough for Fabs it would be good enough for me. Nice purchase.
I shall have to get a proper pic of it tomorrow then with all the right angles etc etc.
Bloody comfy bike, step up from the alloy BSO, no road buzz and even going over rough tarmac is awesome, very happy bunny. Its got 105 on it and the brakes are the dogs, must be careful how hard I use them methinks.
Also got 10% off! paid for bottle cages etc etc, downside of the week is that I’ve worn through the arse of those biblongs after only 300 miles so VMH was sent to the shop with them, cashback ka-ching! Bontrager seems to have a comfy chamois and aren’t a bad price either.
There are one or two rules I do keep,no EPMS, that’s what pockets are for n’est pas? And I’ve just got a proper cap for under the helmet to stop the baldie heid burning so that should sort out the old 3 point rule.
BTW Did you know that the three point linkage system was invented by Harry Ferguson and is still in use today (in a much heavier form, using computer control etc etc) to attach implements to the front and rear of tractors. See, connections are everywhere.
Brain fart, amanged to call myself something different!
Today’s weather in Seattle was beautiful, perfect for a full day of outdoor bike repair.
@G’rilla how big is your sable?
Proper pic this time, saddle is level but bike is on a bit of a slope.
Did 60k this morning, very comfy.
@the-farmer Nice Domaine there. Hope you can make the next Scottish Cogal (8th of June). I’ve sent the details to @Gianni so depending on how busy he is they’ll show up here soon.
@RedRanger
I have one of each kind of bike: road, rain, cyclocross, pit, full suspension mountain. The bare minimum!
@G’rilla
You need to carefully study how to lean your bike properly, matey.
@snoov
you never know doing the trossachs ton the wek after that though so depends on work rotas etc.
@G’rilla that’s proper, but where is that amazing custom?
went and picked it up this morning. made some crude measurements and slapped the pedals on and took off for the club ride to sweep. you can even see my reflection rocking the V kit, doing a deuce pose, aka asian squat.
a few questions: the bars rotate around in the stem no matter how hard i can get the bolt with the lezyne tool. happens under hard braking with hands on hoods. can i wrap the bar with hockey tape or something similar?
is the san marco rolls saddle not as tall as the one currently on there? im thinking i can swap saddles to something lower profile, which will allow me to raise the seatpost juuust enough so that it can tighten properly and not where the tubing starts to narrow off. as is i know it will continue slipping down into the seat tube.
gratzi.
@roger
Wow, that’s a beauty. What stem and what bar is on there? They used to make those diameters proprietry and differed from one brand to another by a mm or so, so you couldn’t get the bars/stem tight enough. LeMond used tin cans sliced up to tighten his Scott Dropins enough but that never worked well for me. Nevertheless, try that or you can slip a bit of sandpaper in there.
Is that a Turbo saddle on there? I think its about the same height as the Rolls. Try a Regal, I think those are lower profile…
Sweet, sweet bike, though. I want more closeups of the parts. You’re inspiring me to take the TSX out on like most glorious of Seattle Spring days…I don’t have the same problem as you with the seat pin.
@roger
Sounds like your handlebars and stem clamp are two different diameters. If the bars are Cinelli and the stem isn’t then that is for sure the case. Even if not, older handlebars were commonly anywhere from 25.4-26.0mm in diameter, so a mismatch in brands or even two diameters from the same brand is not uncommon. You can probably shim it. I found this discussion of the issue. If Oli were here he would have some suggestions. Maybe Dan_R or someone else experienced with vintage quill stems has an idea…
@G’rilla
Sounds like you’re missing a hardtail, and you need both the full sus/hardtail in both 26″ and 29″ wheels, so you still have a ways to go for the bare minimum. So do I, by the way.
And then we haven’t even started talking materials yet…you get to 25 or more bikes as a base before you even break a sweat.
@the-farmer
only show up if you are sans YJA though.
@strathlubnaig
Safety first last and everytime you know! It either that or a high vis short levered top I’m afraid.
@the-farmer
You will be fine, loon, safety in numbers, ken.
@Skip
I would keep to the spirit of the vintage and go with the coke can shim. Although there are commercial shims available if you are so inclined.
@roger
Try a brooks swallow saddle…
my race/everyday/whenever bike.
@brett Sarto is a really cool bike company.
@snoov
There is nothing right about how those bars are set up.
@frank
Don’t forget track bike as well.