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 ...
@Ron
Yup. And the 180mm crank is on a 110 bolt pattern for a 50×34 compact. 11×28 in the rear on a short cage.
I’m a big guy. See the pic opf #1 posted as the first post in this thread. It has a 23cm head tube!
@eightzero a point well made. I ride campag. I have tried groupsan 105 and it was flawless for 10 yrs…so why campag. I love that I can change down with my little fingers when riding on the bars and can also change down with my thumbs when descending…it is just about as simple as that?
@eightzero
I had SRAM Rival/ Compact on #1 (came with it), and it took a bunch of post delivery tweaking (and a couple calls to the frame manufacturer) to finally make the front shifting “adequate”. Then on a balmy 3rd of July, out in the middle of nowhere Oregon, I was planning on an attempt on the closed, but plowed, and dry roaded, McKenzie Pass. I tried to shift up the RD: nothing. Tried again, and the DT lever broke off in my hand. No bike shops open, and my shop (and spare bike) 300 miles away, I was stuck riding a HC climb on a 2 speed. I was done.
Fast forward to January. I picked up a used, but in great condition Dura ace “mini groupo”. Full sized rings. After install and initial cable stretch, haven’t had to adjust a thing, and never missed a shift even while frantically shifting during rolling road races, or crits. Personal opinion of course, but I’ll never put SRAM on another bike I own (unless it’s free, I’ll use most anything if it’s free).
Since Steampunk has set the standard for how to measure the quality of a groupset, and Frank has cats, dogs, chickens, and maybe some other kinds of animals that I don’t know about, I’d like to see a side by side test. Which groupset do cats really prefer to eat cat food from? And do they prefer to eat off a compact or a standard?
@G’rilla
@G’rilla
Cats would go for whichever is the most convenient groupset nearby and would change to another at the blink of an eye. No loyalty. Dogs stick with one groupset forever, it is always the best in their eyes and they are always happy to see it.
So, you need to ask yourself, when it comes to bike gear, are you a cat or a dog?
You won’t find me befouling a nice Campagnolo crankset with petfood.
I don’t think the testing should be limited to the cats. For instance, of @frank’s groupsets do the chickens prefer to shit on?
@scaler911
I can understand the need for tuning, and “adequate” is indeed subjective. For sure there is good/better/best from all manufacturers.
I will take it on faith that the install was correct and that there were no crashes or lack of maintenence. I would agree – if I had a defective product like this, I’d first of all demand warranty service; and depending how that went, swear off the manufacturer. It’s a character weakness of mine to overlook some deficiencies if people make good on an opportunity to “make it right.” Yeah, I’d be pissed about the 2 speed HC slugfest…but i wouldn’t say Shimano or Campy never had a manufacturing defect either. Shit happens.
Hear ya bro. Good point.
And I’ve done that MacKenzie pass thingy. It’s pretty sweet. The run down into Sisters was pretty spiffy too.
@Nate
Per @Marcus, you are headed in the wrong direction for this test. Clementine, the alpha chicken (her second-in-command is a Barred Plymouth Rock we call “Shakespeare”, get it?) will fly up on my shoulder or arm when I’m in there futzing with the coop and run, but if I move too suddenly, I am a chicken killer who should not be trusted. Chickens and cats share too much DNA for reliable Groupo Testing.
The true question is, which crank set or shift lever would a dog most readily play fetch with? I have a population of three in the test group, so there can’t be a tie.
@scaler911, @G’rilla
Maybe its those compact cranks you’re running that is causing the problem. Shifts fine on a Flemish Compact.
@frank
Campagnolo, obviously, because it’s the only lever you can remove with a hammer and awl. The right lever on my Pegoretti was lightly chewed on by a dog at some point in its pre-Nate life, proof of the unknown canine’s good taste.
@Nate
One of my cats chewed on my Ergo lever; which is why I now have only one cat. I think you’re right, though, my dogs do love working a hammer and awl.
@frank
Frank agreeing with @Marcus (regardless of whether or not he’s right): Either this is a typo or the internet is broken.
@Ron I’ve had internal routing on two bikes, just get on with it?
Yank out the cable and I did find blowing compressed air through and ensure the new cables had some light lubrication on made it easier. I don’t think you can really fk it up that much? As with all servicing a couple of ales makes it all seem a lot easier.
Back, for a moment, to Frank’s new ride: that exposed carbon fiber looks fantastic. We’re going to need more photos along with a full write-up ASAP.
@frank
Interesting. My cats seem to have total control of my apartment, but they do not mess with my bikes.
@frank
This is probably the wrong time to mention that, last week while at your house, I was feeling a bit peckish and nibbled on one of your Zipps.
The rear one, by the valve stem.
@Steampunk
The internet is properly broken. I thought that this was the last refuge from people who thought that posting cat meme bollocks was in any way clever.
If this sort of shit carries on I should expect my productivity at work to increase exponentially.
@Chris
This.
@Chris
yup, I recently decided to withdraw from a pretty regular weekly group ride purely because the organising thread upon the local cycling forum has been flooded with memes instead of actual comments.
@Chris @piwakawaka @Mikael Liddy Sorry for the cat meme, posted without thinking of the tackiness. Won’t happen again.
For redemption, those of you who ride tubs/singles, what do you do when you get a puncture? Take it to the LBS for repair or purchase a new one? Actually do the puncture repair yourself? I was in my shed over the weekend and found a bundle of tubs that are punctured and half way through repairing. As a kid I was fortunate enough to spend time looking over the shoulder of late great Jack McGowan, as Jack was ‘the’ Jedi Master when it came to fixing tubs. The thread, the stitching, latex tube repair, silks and life tips. So I started looking for my old wooden awl to do some repairs and the needle mounting was stuffed. I found a new awl at a online auction site once it arrives shall be jogging the memory with these instructions;
@sthilzy That would seem to go a long way towards redemption although it could be argued that true redemption can only be found whilst contemplating the inside of your skull during the last ascent of a particularly gruelling set of hill reps.
I’ve got a couple of punctured tubs kicking around in the garage that I’ve been meaning to deal with for some time. There’s a guy in the UK advertises in Cycling Weekly who does a great job for £15 a pop but I would like to have a crack at it myself. The awl looks like a decent piece of kit but I had it in mind that a hooked needle might also be the way to go.
It sounds like an excellent subject for a Guest Article, top man for volunteering. I’m looking forward to it already.
@frank
Interesting that you bring that up. Turns out, when I was having trouble with the Rival FD, and contacted Blue, the oversized BB combined with the FD needing to be lower on the seattube (to accommodate the 50T ring) created too sharp an angle for the cable. Too much friction. So they (Blue Bikes) sent me a gore cable sleeve and that’s how I got it “adequate”. My issue actually caused Blue to change the way that part of the bikes carbon gets laid up on the new models.
When I changed to DA 53/39, there’s not been any issue at all since the angle the cable takes around the BB is just enough different.
I do have a SRAM 10spd cassette that works great with the DA though. And it’s slightly lighter.
@Steampunk
Sorry, I fat-fingered that paragraph.
@Ron
It depends on your bike and how its built. Some have a little bit of tube inlaid so nothing can possibly go wrong. Others don’t, which means you have to somehow will the cable back up out of the frame when it passes by the hole at the other end. I normally just tuck a loop of cable in there (an old brake cable will work fine for this) and look in the hole while pushing the cable through. When the cable comes through on the other end, use the loop to pull it up through the hole.
Oh, and a bit of a trick is to put the cable and housing through together because its easier to catch/bend the brake cable and once you grab the cable, the housing will follow.
@scaler911
Friends don’t let friends ride compact.
@Chris
Plus one badge to you, matey.
@snoov Niiiice!
Love the Rule #26 compliance – valve stems at 6 o’clock.
@sthilzy Toilet paper between rims and brake blocks.
@snoov Beautiful bike, you’ll need to lob up another pic in some more complimentary light once it’s all gussied up.
p.s CAN EVERYONE STOP GETTING FUCKING LOOKS!!
@snoov While I’ve been known to employ a hammer somewhat indiscriminately myself, I’m hoping the one on the floor there was for the loose baseboards rather than the bike…
@Mikael Liddy You bet, once I’ve cut the steerer I’ll get it done.
@pistard I’ve just laid the flooring and the hammer is for the skirting boards that I’m now fitting, it’s very rarely this close to my bike!
@Mikael Liddy Oh and my LBS Stocks Looks and they did me a great deal on this end of line model, my first carbon frameset.
Almost ready…
@snoov that hasn’t made me hate you any less…
@snoov
Cant wait to see this beauty in action come Saturday, at least until you dissapear into the distance.
@snoov
Ooh look – its the Tay Bridge:
eautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfjhpw_william-mcgonagall-tay-bridge-disaster-billy-connolly_creation
@the Engine Scotlands other great poet.
@strathlubnaig
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.
Pure genius right there
@Mikael Liddy
Seconded… Suffereing from a severe case of carbon-envy here. Bastards.
She’s a beaut, snoov
@ErikdR
Agreed. one day one day. until then i will be happy to have my caad10 and the fact that im still faster than those “wanabe” roadies riding $5000+ bikes just because they can afford it.
Thanks all, I’m delighted with it here’s a picture with the steerer cut and a copy of The Rules I happened to stumble across today while waiting for the AA after the power steering pump went on the van I was using, it’s been a great week and the Scottish Cogal is tomorrow starting where I’ve taken the picture. It also looks like we’re going to have to wear something rare around these parts, sunscreen!
@snoov
Check the length of your brake housing that comes into the rear brake. If that is too short, it can twist the brake over the duration of a ride, taking it out of centre.
@frank
V-tastic! And replied just to see it again, too.
@G’rilla Way to represent!
@frank
Killing a man is never easy. Stealth is imperative when approaching a sentry…oh wait…wrong website.
Replacing internal cables can be easy, first installs can be frustrating as hell. Some engineers need to be made to cable their own creations!
Most, if not all internal cables should have a Teflon over-tube. The Teflon will keep the cable from rubbing directly on the inside of the tubing. First cut your replacement Teflon tubing longer than what is needed. Remove the rear cable stop and grab onto the old Teflon tubing. pull the tubing backwards out of the DT. Wipe the rear end of the old cable and trim it so that it still hangs out and has a nice trimmed end. Slide on the new Teflon tube over the old cable until it stops at the front cable stop. Keeping the old cable in the bike still, remove the front cable stop and pull through the new Teflon, keeping access hanging out both ends. Tape to the frame if needed to avoid it slipping through. Now you can remove the old cable and you can use the new Teflon tubing as your guide.
The Cipo Bond rides like a dream…
Is it common to leave the dangly bit on SMPs?
@DerHoggz Only on the test saddles. Unless a customer is all up in my grill about it.
@Dan_R
flashy ride! i like those rims.
finaly took a picture of my ride,lol.
@brian
Nice ride, shame about the ball bag swinging under your saddle though…
haha,i think that goes back to when I use to race (the 8o’s),I use to carry a fold up tire,2 or 3 tubes and tools,it always made my bike feel light when took it off to race,lol. I’ve been trying the way of the V,i bought a lezene bag that I carry a small multi tool,patch kit,quick stick and a couple allen keys,i don’t even need the saddlebag as all I carry in it is a tube and my wallet,i just feel naked without it.its bad enough that I now carry my pump in my pocket(lol),but i’m learning.maybe by the end of the summer I feel comfortable enough to get rid it.
strange the things we get attached to,cheers.