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
They are indeed reactions – they have different cables for brakes and shifting – that is the way they come. It makes sense because there are different types of loads on the cable and weight considerations (brakes take on a short but intense compression force, shifting takes on more constant but lighter compression forces.)
They are great cables – improving both SRAM and Campa performance in my experience – I’ve never installed them on a Shimano bike.
@frank Thanks for the fit advice. The new bars offer significantly more drop but not more reach. I’ve been looking for a 17 degree stem that is a bit longer so I can lower the bars and try to get a more neutral position in the arms. My track racing season is over until next May so I have a lot of time to experiment with different setups to find the ideal one for la posizione.
Also hoping to raise funds for a V-kit so I can represent the Velominati and not just my alma mater on the track.
@frank
Your seat is too low. It should be at the same level as the Space Needle.
@Nate
Perhaps he can procure this gentleman’s seatpost.
@frank I read some where a while back that they actually make the Dura Ace cables for Shimano. I would use Yokozuna any day of the week good choice
@frank As a friend, I feel that I need to tell you this:
If you had bought FMB ‘cross tires, they would say “FMB” on the side. And have gumwalls. And smell like FMB rubber.
Which is better than the smell of weed. Or so I’ve heard.
Also, I need to borrow some tubular glue.
@EricW
If it weren’t for the suspect saddle level I’d swear that was Keeper Jim’s.
if it had flowers, it could also pass as Rob’s. I believe he commuted back and forth in NYC with his do
@frank
that orange vinyl tape…oh mama. devil in the details…
i already had an idea of what i wanted on my next frame colour wise, but now this whole belgie orange thing is starting to speak to me
@G’rilla
Magnficent tires. Next time buy the can of glue not those namby pamby tubes.
@frank
I have been riding the beloved clement LAS file treads mixed cx and road. 3 rides, 2 flats in less than 7 hours saddle time. not racing, mind you, just mixed terrain. using latex tubes and medium pressures (40ish +/- 5psi). I’m concerned. Some people love their tubulars. I’ll give it a few more rides. The good news is that they are super easy to change of and on my fulcrum 5s.
I had a set of tufo cubus tubeless tubulars, but sold that wheelset. They rode nicely enough to me, others have said they are harsh but certainly wear well and fairly flat resistant. Perhaps a good choice for the graveleur if you gonna run tubulars, pretty certain more cost effective than dugasts.
@roger
Refer my earlier post :
2014 Fuji SST has the spirit
@Mikael Liddy If I ever get put in charge of a big group ride, one of the rules is that the last one up the big climb each week has to ride a skinny tired Bike Friday the next week. It folds up easy to go home with the “winner”, embarrassing enough to be a motivator, but (unfortunately) fast enough to actually keep up with the ride.
@Barracuda oh, now that is heading in the right direction!
these are the 3 schemes i have in mind, subbing in orange where appropriate:
rapha scheme: orange for pink, and the rapha on toptube replaced with cog and velominati. orange V in seven…
cascade scheme: orange for lime green, seat tube with velominati. seat and chain stays pain terminates halfway with bare ti to dropouts
dart scheme: minimal orange. swap white bands for orange. orange piping inside of front fork
will probably have to have it signed off by frank so i dont face some sort of lawsuit. we know how litigious those dutch are…
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@roger actually now you mention it I feel it might actually have been Rob I meant…
@roger Why a Seven? (Or were you just highlighting color schemes?)
@frank
In hindsight it was obvious @Teocalli old man – tubulars always put you in Nip…
@gaswepass
Except Zinn is about as relevant to today’s bikes and modern fit philosophy as Grant Peterson, and they’d both get a heart-attack if they saw Frank on his bike charging at them. The epitome of the Anti-V.
If I were 210cm tall, I might look at longer cranks, but for road riding 175mm fits me great (might even go a tad shorter on the next bike) and for TT, I could definitely use something a bit shorter. Again, the whole “longer cranks = more leverage” thing is a myth, whereas “narrow hips = less power” is easy to test.
@Mikael Liddy keeper jim might ride one too. I remember an article from a few years ago robbie and gianni fiddled around on a dahon with glitter and flowers.
@G’rilla ive just came to wanting a Seven over last few months. since last winter i told myself id get in line for a responsorium from dario, but i just cant be bothered to wait that long.
the next thing on the list was a local builder. There are great frame builders all over the Northeast…Firefly quickly rose to the top of that list. The builds they have on the website are stunning. Their facilities are amazing. Wouldnt think for a minute they build frames
over this past summer ive been able to spend lots of time at a Seven retailer and took a factory tour just recently. These folks love bicycles. They share a similar mindset to Frank, where there is a special bike for every situation. Where joe 6 pack sees redundancy in owning a cx and gravel rig, these folks at Seven see opportunities for refinement. I dont know how they do it, but the characteristics are tangible when the km’s start clicking away.
One of the founders reminds me of jake burton, founder of burton snowboards in vermont. jake is out shredding and dropping in pow season after season. He lives to ride everything from stowe vt to argentina. The Seven guys and gals are the same way. City bike paths to 500km weekends. thats the sort of involvement i want from a company. It gives me the fuzzy wuzzies
add to that lifetime warranty, some of the best welds amongst Ti builders, made a few kilometers down the road, ability to have frame before im 40, and completely custom from geometry to tubing with money left for some campagnolo bits, it is hard to beat (for my situation)
This mightbe a loaded question, but how was your custom experience with triple3 fab? As great as the frame looks? Well worth it over a stock bike?
@the Engine
I’ll claim the Mornington Crescent deviation escape clause for reprieve. I did consider tubs but decided to risk “going for it”………..
@JohnB
Love it – that will certainly fly past most readers at 30,000 feet!
Niner just dropped a Gravel rig in their line. Only downer is they made it a disk brake bike. but she is perty.
Also LeMan is bike in the bike game http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/15448/Greg-LeMond-and-Time-team-up-to-reintroduce-LeMond-bikes-launch-at-Interbike-next-week.aspx
@tessar
So you have my attention. Provide a link (that isn’t to anything tri-geek related) that says it’s been debunked. I’m not fighting with you, just honestly curious.
@roger
Yes! I love the Ti ride and the geometry is perfect for me. I’m definitely a fan of custom now.
In my experience, any builder will assume that you’re getting a custom frame because you want a comfortable (upright) position. I had to push back on the first geometry diagram but we shortened the head tube and now I ride it slammed with no problem. I’m glad I insisted on it.
@scaler911 Apparently there’s a study from 2001 that Cervelo references a lot:
http://www.cervelo.com/en/engineering/ask-the-engineers/crank-length.html
@roger Custom so worth it over stock. It seems to me it’s not more expensive, either, although I don’t know Seven’s prices. You get a bike with the contact points, wheel placement and ride qualities tuned to how you ride, which is awesome and so much more important than the usual boring weight/stiffness selling points. Plus the process is a lot of fun.
@RedRanger
Hmm, looking forward to seeing what comes out. When the Bronago’s time comes and she is put out to pasture, this would be an interesting replacement.
@RedRanger
Oh, fuck me sideways! I’m definitely interested in these when they’re released. I’ll never be able to afford one of the commemorative TdF editions, but will definitely look into the others as they’re released. =)
The Veloforma is screaming for one of these……
I guess even at that, Frank rides a non VS model.
@RedRanger Dead sexy that is!
So have Niner crossed to the dark side? I have always loved their bikes, but they are very expensive in Oz due, I think, to dealer/distributor arrangements.
I think that rig has hydraulic discs as well.
Anyway it sure keeps Rule #12 alive and well! I just picked up a Marin CX earlier this year so don’t think I can spring for another graveller just yet!
@asyax It seems very much inline with the spirit of the company. I would get another Niner in a heartbeat. and one day I might.
I still have to wonder if its better to have a dedicated gravel rig or a cross frame set up as a gravel rig.
@Beers
I assume VS stands for Velominati Supreme
@RedRanger
As I think you know, I’m battling that very thing right this moment. I just picked up a entire Campa C-Record 9spd gruppo (Ergo shifters, F/D, R/D, calipers, chain, cranks with rings, BB, and a lightly used cassette) only thing missing is the hubs, and I already have a front one). Ergo levers and everything. For a price so low, I can’t even type it here.
So, I think it’s going to end up on a gravel rig. But I also ran across a mid 90’s Merckx road whip with a chrome fork.Sexy as hell, and would still serve as a great training bike. Fuck. A suggestion or 2 would help.
@scaler911 since you already have a steel training bike…
I vote for a CX/Gravel bike. sounds like @frank has figured out how to use tune his cross rig for both applications. As I understand it, a gravel rig should pretty much match your road set up(or maybe Im wrong)
the new Niner seems like its more of a gravel rig based on the fact that it has a less agro head tube length and angle than say a Crux.
@scaler911 the Merckx would be such an awesome vehicle for the 9 speed gruppo.
@scaler911 The Merckx. I’s not like they come up all the time. The gravel rig can be the next one.
If you don’t some hipster twat will turn it into a fixie; that will be on your conscience and held against you by the Apostle when you reach the gates of the Velodrome.
@Barracuda
Velominati Speciale.
Despite all my love and care, my bike is beginning to show the effects of everyday use and a few trips in a bike bag. I’m very tempted to get it stripped and resprayed. Black with thin outline only cannondale decals in orange and a V-Lion on the head tube. Can you strip and respray carbon forks?
A Fizik Velominati Speciale Edizione would look superb on it, especially with carbon rails.
@Chris I did hear the other week of a place somewhere around here in the South of England that can scan your bike and re-spray it, decals and all, exactly per original (with sprayed on decals). I’d assume that in doing that they could manipulate the colours after scanning. I can’t see why it couldn’t be done on Carbon. Next time I see the chap who told be about them I get the details and post them.
@Teocalli That sounds awesome. I’m thinking of moving away from the current design to something similar to @frank’s veloforma but with some styling cues from the Rourke website but the Idea of sprayed on graphics appeals over decals. Getting someone like Rourke to do it would at least mean that they were cover with the clear coat.
Sounds expensive as well.
@Chris From memory, there are usually adverts for refinshers in the classified ads in the back of cycling weekly. They’ll repaint any frame at enigma bikes but that might be expensive.
Carbon forks can be repainted, just take it easy on the stripping, you just need a key for the paint to stick to. You could powder coat the frame but not the forks, I don’t think it works on carbon due to magnetic stuff I don’t understand.
When I was younger I always used to repaint my BMX’s by rattle can, I got quite good at it in the end. I even painted my Vespa T5 a few years ago, the matt black is really forgiving:
@motor city There’s plenty of time to research this as I don’t have a budget for it at the moment.
Can you pop round on your Vespa and do some motorpacing for me? I’m getting fed up with the wind round here.
I think I may be about to weep a bit. Having waited 2 months for my warranty replacement Cervelo frameset to arrive, it is now with the LBS. Only problem is that they’ve shipped a 56, not the required 58cm.
Now, I guess I could ride like Ryder, with a small frame and babies arm stem, but I’d rather not. UK distributor is saying they’ll overnight a 58 frame. Seeing will be believing.
Aaggghhhhh.
@Chris
The people are Ooey in Camberley. The chap I know is going over to see them sometime. He’s probably about to read this after I post it anyway as I know he is in here somewhere so may post an outcome of his visit.
@Teocalli
@Chris My bike was powder coated for US$600, including three colors and 8 decal areas, some of which used all 3 colors. I thought it would have cost more for all the work involved.
So far the powder coat has been very durable (9 months in).
Does anyone want to give this bike a home? I am more than happy to play middle man to get this in the hands of a Velominati (I’d do it myself but I don’t have the $800)
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/bik/4065067731.html
@DeKerr Thats about £490 here, looks well worth it, but don’t have that spare unfort.
@motor city Loving that Vespa nice job.
@motor city
Lord Vader, your Vespa is ready.