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 ...
@scaler911 Nice work! You put allot of blood and sweat in to that i can tell.
@scaler911 ive been following that on FB good shit man.
@all i didnt realize that wheb you order from 3T, they are actually sending the stuff stuff from Italy
Long time reader, first time poster :)
My trusty aluminum steed, first bike so don’t expect anything special..
Fresh black bartape is already waiting, but the current needs to wear a little more off first.
@stupidnoob looks like you have some dust caps on there, but i can’t tell.
@stupidnoob
Nice. Looks like you have the same seatpost affliction that Frank has.
@stupidnoob i like the bike though, not sure how i feel about the white fork.
Long story short, I just moved back to Redmond, Washington to live with my parents after 4 years in Iowa for school and 7 months in France working as an au pair. Sadly I had to leave my 1984 Peugeot in France with a friend and I found this 1990 Miyata 721a on Craigslist for $200. My aunt was able to pick it up for me before my return because a week without the central tool in the pursuit of our craft was unthinkable.
I’m new to riding in the Seattle area because I got into cycling in Iowa so I’d love to hear from people in the area who wouldn’t mind riding with a budding Velominatus. VLVV!
@zeitzmar
Well done! Good find with the Coulmbus fork. Enjoy the bejesus out of it.
*Columbus*
@mouse thanks! I was lucky that I found a chrome one because I think it would have been hard to match the original color.
@zeitzmar
Nice!
@zeitzmar hey hawkeye, damn tgat blue looks good! welcome back stateside, all the best getting resituated
@zeitzmar
Do my eyes deceive me, or are those Biopace chainrings?
@Nate That they are! I don’t have an issue with them, but if I did I don’t have the money right now to do anything about it.
A must watch for those that love British bicycles, particularly Raleigh.
particularly love the chainring segment, and the segment showing the ladies doing the wheels.
http://vimeo.com/39401575
Following my post several weeks ago with a photo of the hubs for my new number 1 bike stealth build, I am pleased to report a recent delivery from Italy. A semi custom Sarto Kilo frame. The semi custom is a standard tube set cut to your size. They do obviously make lighter frames but to me they are less aesthetically pleasing, have plain round tubes and external cable routing. I’ll hopefully save the grams elswhere and end up around the 7kg mark, in any event it’s all academic after a few beers and a curry.
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@Mark1 Wow, stunning.
@roger
Awesome thanks! 50 seconds for a tire and tube, there’s something to aim for.
@Mark1 i love the sarto line, i have a friend who is a dealer and i’d love to get one.
@motor city
Are your brake QRs opened in this pic? Or is that reach adjust on the levers?
Set up with a set of Stealth Haleakalas and a test SMP Evolution saddle, the 06 Marinoni came in at just over 16lbs with a 105 group-san and an older SLK crankset. Yes, I missed shifting into the big ring for the photo as I was excited to finally get back on the road…
I climbed like fuckin’ Pantani!
@Mark1
Looks great. I will just interrupt as I am the sole Sarto dealer in Western Canada…
Sarto is a completely custom offering, so you could have asked for internal routing and shaped tubing. If this was purchased in the UK, that dealer may have recently received a “stop & desist” order. I do not know or want to tread into the legalities, but Sarto NA has world-wide distribution rights on the Sarto “stock” offerings and fully custom Sarto. These are all made he custom way by Sarto, but under the design specs of Sarto NA. Here is the Kilogrammo specs…
http://www.sartobikes.com/en_US/p/1/custom-road-bicycles/22/kilogrammo.html
It is still a stunning bike, but I would ask you, did it come with the transferable lifetime warranty and is it micro-chipped?
If so, even better!
@Mark1 The photos show shaped tubing. C’est vrai?
@Dan_R My apologies, I am one of two Sarto Western Canadian dealers.
@Dan_R
Nice rig, but how do you stop yourself falling off the front of the saddle?
@Dan_R Great looking bike, except maybe the thing on the seat post.
A question for your wheel building knowledge, is it possible to build wheels up using regular rims, say a standard drilled 38 or 50mm carbon rim, using Dura ace 7801 hubs – the ones that have the nipple at the hub end of the spoke?
Reverence for the factory lube on a new chainset — solemn silence.
@wiscot Pantani climbed with bigger rings.
@Dan_R Pantani climbed with bigger “fucking” rings.
@Dan_R 54/44T “fucking” rings
Pantani’s 1998 Mercatone Uno Bianchi Mega Pro XL Reparto Corse
@Chris I’m no expert but you’d need to match the number of holes in the rims to the number of holes in the hub.
@Nate I may not be the most practically minded but I had worked out the need to have the same number holes at each end of the spoke.
I’m just not sure about the practicalities of using hubs that are designed to have a nipple at the hub with rims that are designed to have a nipple at the rim. Presumably the Shimano rims have some way to stop the spoke rotating, something that is usually achieved by the bend in the spoke as it passes through the hub flange.
I got the wheels off ebay cheaply – the rear rim was advertised cracked so I was thinking of retaining the hubs only but hadn’t realized that they had the nipples at the hub. Turns out the freehub body is a knackered as well so I’m waiting to hear back from the seller on a solution. Worse case is that I have a good lightweight clincher front (hubs are super smooth) and a pair of Dura Ace skewers for less than the cost of a new pair of skewers.
@the-farmer
So I guess we’re brothers in bikes now, huh? We also weigh the same btw. Have fun with your Spartacus, and consider slamming that stem a tad.
Question – why do Pro’s use electronic gearing? The bikes get serviced after every stage/race, so everything is incheck for the next day. Also if involved in crash the wire could be torn or battery knocked off terminals. Why are we seeing more bike chucks?
I’m a per-stretched, stainless steel cable guy and can’t see any gains from electronic gearing. Is it a passing fad?
@sthilzy
I don’t think it is overly cynical to say that a large part of the answer is that the pro teams are supported by equipment manufacturers, and the bike industry in general. They want to sell bikes “as used by [insert rider]” . And part of the strategy is to being new products to market which lead to upgrades and new purchases, and higher turnover
Having said that, people who use them say they are very nice, so maybe some pros genuinely prefer them.
And weight is not really an issue for them as they are below the minimums anyway.
So no, I don’t think it is a passing fad but I think it will be regarded as Very High End for another 4-5 years, before it gets to the stage where say 11-speed is today.
@sthilzy Oh and to add to that, for the punter and pro I suspect there are some very interesting data advantages to be had by integrating electronic groups with power meters and computers but that’s some way off.
@sthilzy The mechanics love it cos of the self trimming, it’s basically fit and forget so they don’t need to fart-arse around adjusting cables and mechs every day. Rider preferences seem mainly to be about the differences in hood shape.
of course, it’s driven by the need to sell new, more expensive stuff, and is really a solution to a problem that, for most of us, doesn’t exist.
@sthilzy
Gains are not what it is about I suspect:
1. Firms want to sell you (the public) “added value” and this is perceived as added value because they are lacking innovation in other areas. Innovation on weight is constrained by the UCIs weight limit and rules around the size and shapes of frames. Cervelo as an example have worked hard on new frame types and shapes but they cannot get around the UCI rule book so it goes nowhere…I read the other day about how much effort Fizik had to go through to get the Arione saddle through the UCI becuase of its length. In the interim they are left to potter around the edges with tweaks…ala…11speed, electronic groupsets, disc brakes….
2. I have no intention of going electronic. I am not normally a luddite but the idea that a battery and servos are doing a fundamentally better job than my finger and thumb holds no grace for me. I will adopt every innovation going until they start introducing electic powedered assistance, the principle of a cycle being a Man Powered Two Wheel Mechanical Device is pretty much sacred to me so, it is, and will remain a no no..
3. Pro teams use them because they are told to…by the manufacturers and sponsors. If it fails on a ride the team car comes up and gives them a new bike…and it has now happened on numerous occasions….if it happens to you then you are single gearing it all the way home…your choice, I would suggest the average member of the public either stays mechanical or gets a team car (i.e. the wife) to follow you round on you ride…
@Chris
Aw hell no. I can’t see how you’d attach the spokes to the rim if they’re anchored to the hub. Your best bet is to try and get a replacement rim from Shimano and reuse the spokes and hub. If the freehubs’ rooted that’s probably a waste of time.
I test-rode electronic and for time-trialling, it’s the bee’s knees. My courses often have significant climbing or short powerclimbs where shifting from the base-bar is very welcome. My TT bike, with internal cabling, doesn’t shift as well as my road bike – I’d love Ultegra Di2 one day. It also “just goes” – no clunky lever to flick. Even the slick SRAM and Campag Return-To-Zero shifters require too much effort compared to road-levers or the Di2 buttons. Shimano’s mechanical TT shifters are a disgrace.
That said, for road the benefit is smaller. You’ve already got two out of three positions where shifting is easily accessible, and shifting can be excellent. I thought my Dura-Ace 7800 left something to be desired, but then I tried a fresh 7900 install – holy shift, it’s amazing. I suspect 7900/9000 and Campag Record is as good as I’d ever need.
I rode for a bit at the Cheesehead Roubaix a few weeks ago and this big tall guy had electronic shifting o his beautiful handbuilt steel Ellis. I asked him about how good the electronic shifting was – he said he loved it. He said the battery lasstys for months with normal use.The guy runs a bike shop so I guess he has access to all kinds of stuff t better than your average punter prices, but still, if it didn’t work, I’m sure he’s go back to mechanical. He reckoned on 4-5 years electronic will ave trickled down to the 105 level.
@Deakus
Try it. You’ll fall in love!
@Deakus
But pros have everything to risk if it fails on a crucial stage. With mechanical, if a cable snaps (which happens as often as a digital cable snapping) you’re stuck in the smallest cog, or small chainring. For the average joe, Di2 is, if anything, safer: You have knobs at the back which let you manually move your rear derailleur and keep it there – it’s a slightly antiquated process, but at it’s an option that gets you home which you don’t have with snapped cables.
My group has about 15 riders on electronic (and some have several bikes with it), and some of us total 400-600km weekly in peak prep season. None had a failure so far.
Electronic shift: instant. auto indexing. Shift down while powering uphill without pausing your pedal stroke. adjustment dead easy. Battery Charge lasts for ages. Less clutter on bars. No need to,lube/renew gear cable. New models all have 11 speed capability. Can adjust change speed via firmware. Getting cheaper by the day!
The chairman of the club I ride with just got Ultegra Di2. He absolutely hates it, says he just doesn’t feel connected to the bike any more.
@Mirko
In consultation with your professional bike fitter or risk permanent nerve damage. Just saying.
@DocBrian You make a good point…and yes…that is my concern…do I give up the principle that I believe the bike is an unassisted mechanical device for the possible beauty/love of having super smooth shifting.
So far no…it may be illogical, it may be a luddite position, but it is borne out of a love and a principle for the mechanical device I sit on.
I will remain entrenched for the forseable future and find every piece of evidence I can to dismiss electronic shifting…but you and I both know, I am probably guffing about because I am indeed worried that I will love it and a dream/principle that sits in my brain will have been shattered in the process..
I am already considering finding some weaving machines to smash up!
@Chris Nipple… lube.
Got me some new frame building jigs. I guess I’m serious now.