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 ...
@936adl
We had a Brian Rourke in the studio about two months ago. It was made for a woman on the Kiwi national team back in the ’80s. On the Sugino crankset, it had her name engraved! Very nice and in pretty good shape after all these years.
Congrats on a great new bike!
The difference between you and me, when I obey the rules, I make it look good!
6.9kg for 60cm frame ain’t too shabby.
1.16kg for the wheels (Reynolds thirty two tubs laced to CK R45)
[dmalbum: path=”/velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/urbanwhitetrash/2013.09.01.21.22.51/1/”/]
@urbanwhitetrash
Beautiful rig right there!
@urbanwhitetrash holy headtube batman!!!!
Also, may want to add a chain to the mix if you plan on riding any where…
@Mikael Liddy
You probably get shit for this all the time, but that is one choady stem. Great if it keeps you riding though.
@urbanwhitetrash
Nice!
How much does it weigh with all the parts on it? (heh, heh)
@Mikael Liddy
Are you on MEDIUM Mikael if you don’t mind answering of course?
I thought it was about time that I took the plunge and posted a bike photo. Here is my n2, 2008 Madone, before heading out yesterday morning. She’s ridden all year round, the only change for commuting being a swap of the Zipp’s for her original Bontrager Race Lites.
Please note that whatever feedback the Selle SMP does or doesn’t generate, it stays. I refer you to @Gianni on that one.
Super slick Rourke! Love the classiness set against the more modern logo tape. Very nice! (though I have seen some older shots of Der Kaiser with logo tape).
Also, wow, that is one beautiful Ridley. It fills me with pure joy when people take an awesome frameset and do it up just right. (it fills me with sadness when people take a great bike and leave it wanting changes or updates).
Okay, hoping someone can sort this out, haven’t figured it out on my own yet. Trying to recable some Dura Ace 7700 ST C shifters, 9-sp for a friend. I can’t find out where the shifter cables emerge. All the Shimano stuff I’ve worked on has a small opening on the outside of the shifter lever area. These don’t seem to have that. They do however have a small plastic cap/cover with a tiny screw where I think that opening should be. Do I need to remove this cover? Am I missing the opening, just not seeing it?
I don’t want to unscrew anything on a Shimano shifter before I know if I actually should.
@Ron If you haven’t already had a look at Shimano’s tech doc section this might help? (you may have to download a .pdf font pack for it)
I have no experience with exposed cable Shimano, but I believe they carried the shifting mechanism At the top of the levers, not in the body. If it just a screw on a cover at the top of the lever, it is probably how you get to the shifter/brake cables. Newer stuff has the brake cable cover there. Make sure you shift the little lever all the way down first.
Will someone please buy the Volta, then decide they don’t like it, then resell it at half the cost? Please.
Thanks for the info on shifters, lads. So…it turns out that I did need to remove those covers. And, it turns out, I should have been more careful removing the screw that held on the dust cover plate. I tried to be, then it hit the floor, then the VMH and I spent 45 minutes trying to find it. No luck. Damn. Teeny tiny little screw with a flat where it seats into the cover. Keep crawling on my knees or try and find a replacement. Hmm.
@Dan_R
That is one of those small stories from the cyclo world that gets my mind racing. Where is she now? Why did she become a cyclist? Where did she grow up? Did she give up on the Small Island and Move left to the Big Continent?
I guess the intrigue is because I’m relatively new to the sport, it is very much an inward focussed one, because you are thinking about making yourself faster, your bike “better” and you forget…there was someone laying down the V on a Rourke in NZed in the 80s, and her bike was awesome, and still lives…
@Ron Get yerself a magnetic parts bowl to work over. Catches the little screws like a charm.
@Mike_P
One beautiful bike. I dig the looks of that SMP; when I first saw it, it reminded me of a Formula 1 car. (Others had associations from the domaine of disfunctions that afflict the gentleman from a certain age on and are naturally not so keen on it.) The Zipps are awesome.
@DerHoggz no kidding, but it’s better than looking at the bike sitting unused with the longer one on there.
@TommyTubolare nah I’m on the large from memory.
@Mirko Thanks!
Good suggestion, Nate!
I never found the screw but my pal at the LBS pulled some Shimano screw from a broken shifter and we made one work. Not a perfect fit, but it’ll suffice.
Another question on Dura Ace 7700 shifters. The right shifter is acting funny. It won’t upshift with the paddle when you just push/press it. If you hold the brake lever out and then push the paddle in, it shifts. One mechanic suggested the paddle was bent but the paddle/lever do move independently, not stuck on each other. Another mechanic suggested flushing it out with cleaner.
Anyone experience this? Or have any ideas?
My SRAM drama continues.
Force left shifter, Red FD. Out cross riding and trying to shift small ring (39) to big (46) and trying to chase to get back on. Would not shift, so kept on pushing the paddle.
Well, the paddle went past the lever and got stuck inboard, to the right of the lever. I had to gently coax it back to return position, behind the lever. At home in the stand put on more cable tension and it shifts better to the big ring but…the paddle still overshifts and gets stuck.
Hmm, I’m sure I’m not the first to experience this. Broken paddle? Broken shifter? Replaceable spring or part? Should I just not jam at it so fucking hard?
Fill me in, please. Thanks in advance to the resident expert!
Thanks for the comments all, I’m waiting on a new KMC Superlight in gold to show up. If anyone is curious I’m running the Vittoria Corsa SC in 25’s, so smooth and so fast
@urbanwhitetrash
On my death bed I’ll be clutching a pair of 25 mm tires.
@urbanwhitetrash mind if I ask how much those puppies set you back?
@Ron
Leaving aside the issue of your shifter at the minute, part of your shifting woes may be due to a mismatch of the rings you’re using. SRAM specify that you use a 36-46 combination (for example). I suspect that this has to do with the location of the pins and ramps that assist the chain from the bottom to top rings. The reason that you’re having to push the lever further is that the ramps aren’t lining up properly and you have to push the chain all the way over to where it actually has to engage the teeth.
@Ron A couple of suggestions: Check the cinch point of the cable. In my experience, it the cable is cinched to the wrong side of the bolt, it doesn’t pull the FD arm enough/overpulls on the FD arm.
Check to make sure the cable stop is properly seated in the shifter body.
Otherwise, there might be gunk in the pulley/BB cable guides.
Run a new cable carefully and see if it helps.
@Ron swith to shimano
@RedRanger Hah. I was lending a friend a rear wheel this evening after he broke a spoke on a ride this weekend, and we needed to adjust his SRAM front mech. Fussy it was. Anyone have any tips so I can invite him back over, apologize for the mess I made of his bike, and fix it? It’s a Yaw-version red.
@Ron I’m ready to part with a section of latex tube for you to make patches from (the valve is non-removable). Email me at snoovinatgmaildotcom with your address and I’ll post it to you. Now we just have to figure out which glue is best to use!
@mouse
Sram sells a rival crank that is 46/38.
Also, switch to a top pull shimano cx70
@Weldertron
Yep, similarly they have a 34/50 and 36/52 or 39/53. Again, they are very specific about the combinations (you’ll note that on the CX rings they specify the combination).
…and shimano is not the solution. To anything.
Thanks for all the advice.
Now, I might lose my mind. All of this mess was caused by my crank arm pedal inserts coming lose.
I replaced them with new SRAM Force 130 bcd cranks, with a 46/39 setup. In looking around it seems that 36-t rings are all 110. Can I get a 36-t in 130?
This is a Ti Red FD as well. Force shifter.
I’d really rather not have to buy/install a new compact crankset. I also race/train in the 46 but I like having a double because I use this bike for winter road riding as well. Looking for the smoothest path to just riding and not monkeying with the darn bike anymore.
EricW – the cable is routed to the left side of the pinch bolt (if standing behind the bike) and then emerges a bit off to the right, from the top. I’m pretty sure this is the right orientation. I’ll check the housing seat and yeah, a new cable/housing might not be a bad idea…cx riding put a lot of wear and tear on the bike.
Thanks, Eric, mouse, and Weldertron, I appreciate it!
@Ron Very much doubt you can get 110 bcd 36t. But I could be wrong.
@Ron apparently, 38 is the smallest number physically poss with 130 bcd
@Ron are you looking for old latex tubes? I have an entire one I can send your way. ask @frank to give you my email.
@Nate
I have 110 bcd 36 inner rings on my 3 (soon to be 4) road bikes and my cyclocross bike. One SRAM (Force), two Shimano (105 and something else, soon to be SRAM Rival) one Nashbar and one FSA cranks. I live in a pretty hilly area of WI and found the 34 too small. I like to ride an 11-23 cassette and with the 36, I can do anything around here with the 23 to spare.Shifting doesn’t seem an issue but as I don’t race, it’s never done under much pressure/urgency.
@Ron @Nate One more thing, don’t be afraid to play around with FD angle, especially with the older Red. You might have the cage tail angled slightly inward. This can also cause funky shifting no matter how much cable is being pulled.
Red Ti FD’s are very finicky. I lucked out when I put the Bronago together that I nailed the FD positioning the first time. Now I’m terrified of even looking at my FD wrong in fear of it going out of adjustment.
Thanks for the feedback, again.
I have a 38 ring, I wonder if that would make any difference over the 39.
Okay, so looks like I should put on a new cable, check the housing, and then try to fine tune it.
Might a regular ol’ Force FD work better? The opinion on the Shimano FD seems divided but, I did just install a new 105 on a 46/36 compact and I got it working well right off. I just wonder how SRAM has managed to be so popular if the front shifting sucks. But then again, I think they’ve addressed this…but Nate just had a problem with the newest stuff…
@Ron Force FD definitely shifts better because of its stiffer steel cage. Red front shifting works well, but it takes a lot of effort to get it dialed in. I think the reputation it has comes from how it’s sloppy with anything less than a perfect setup because the cage flexes so much.
@Nate The new Yaw FD works well IMO but setup is totally different from anything I’ve ever seen. Zinn did a good article here:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/08/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-breaking-down-the-setup-for-the-sram-yaw-front-derailleur_300548
@EricW Thanks. I knew I saw something like that somewhere. Now I can atone for maybe mucking his set up.
@Ron
It was the first time I have tried to work on SRAM, so I wouldn’t take anything from my experience.
I generally like doubletap, but that SRAM produced the Force FD without a trim option is atrocious. When 105 from 5 years ago has it, for SRAM’s second top-of-the-line FD to be without is pretty bad form.
@EricW Now that I’ve read that article, can you translate into english?
@Ron “I wonder how [COMPANY] became so popular when [COMPANY’S PRODUCTS] suck.”
One of the mysteries of the universe.
@wiscot
That’s not so.
my Force FD has trim. One soft click down from dropping the chain to the lower chainring is the go.
@Ron
Its strange, I’ve had nothing but a good experience with my Force FD. I didn’t find it that hard to set up. Cable tension and perfect parallel positioning of the cage to the ring is key.
Sram BCD’s are all 110 except for the 53/39 combo.
FWIW I swapped out the 46 to a 50 chainring on my CX bike last summer when my number 1 was being repaired from a car accident. Strangely I didn’t notice a huge problem with the mismatched rings though I would have had it in the big ring 99% of the time.
It was fun/interesting racing crits on the CX bike!
@Ron
I have seen no evidence that the front shifting sucks; its just harder to adjust. Both SRAM bikes’ front shifting I have shift as good or better than anything else I have.
The only advantage to the CX70 FD is that if you use a top-tube cable routed bike, you eliminate the pulley on the seat tube.
@Weldertron
I noticed no improvement in the shifting itself when I made that change, other than that the action was much lighter, so much less friction, in other words.
@Nate
Install. Cable. Pray. Repeat.
@G’rilla I concur
@Ron
Re-reading your original post has prompted a few more thoughts.
Ti Red FD is likely half your problem. I’ve never used one but I have heard that they’re flexy as hell and would be in keeping with the sort of experience you described.
The other thing that I find odd is the 130 BCD crank with 46/39 chainrings. I didn’t know SRAM did 130BDC CX specific cranks. Having looked it up on their website, they suggest that they have a 48/39 130 BCD, but not 46/39. Curious.
@mouse
I have the CX Rival crank and it’s 46/39 130 BCD.