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 ...
@Nate
That’s what my buddy says. He tells me that the biggest gains he’s made in 20 years has been using them. Just looking for other opinion.
@Dr C
Yeah I hope not. Park Tools has some troubleshooting guides for testing if your bearings are going without having to take everything apart, so if it’s not a bent cable being struck at every pedal turn that’ll be my next thing to try.
@mcsqueak
if it is the BB I wouldn’t worry. you can get em for cheap and you get to buy a new tool to be able to remove and install it.
@Dr C
Sounds like a dry BB cup, or just a loose one. Pull the crank, grease it up, and make sure it’s tight. Easy as pie.
@scaler911
I’ve never ridden them. It looks really weird when you see someone riding them come up to a stoplight and let both crankarms come down to 6 oclock.
@RedRanger
Yeah, wish my bike part fund was a bit deeper at the moment, though. I have a friend who use to be a wrench that I can probably get to help me, and he still has his tools and a stand. I always forget about consulting him because he doesn’t really ride anymore.
@mcsqueak
What kind of crank do you have? I recently got a tool from my LBS for free so I could take apart my crank and clean out the old lube and re lube it. super simple. but I would also look at the FD cable that me and pakrat mentioned and maybe applying new lube to the threads of your pedals(this got rid of a very annoying creaking sound for me)
@RedRanger
I have an FSA compact crank and should have an FSA BB if I were to open ‘er up (according to manufacturer’s tech specs).
Pedals are Speedplay zeros which you lube with some teflon shit injected through a little port hole on the side. Supposedly my LBS lubed the pedals a few months back when I took it in for them for a quick service after riding it around for a year.
I may remove the pedals, clean/re-grease the threads and reinstall them if the cable isn’t the issue.
@minion
Sadly the bike will be used to go to the university so i don’t want to spend alot of money on it right now but i do got me some good lock cause i dont want to lose it too.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
The guy from who i bought was the original owner and remember having bought it in the 2000 but knowing the bike shop around here, many keep a couple years old bike especially higher end one and exquisite company like look,conalgo and pinarello so thats why i have a hard time finding the exact year of the bike while the 8 speed groupset look to be from 1998-1999. The bike is in super shape just need a new chain, some greasing in the headset and rebuild of the jockey wheel or new one cause they are very noisy. But the ride is good, can’t compare it to anything else since the last road bike i rode was 8 years ago on a aluminium Louis garneau bike loaned by Mr. Garneau himself for the cycling developement center i was going to but one thing for sure is that overtaking bike policeman at 50kph was fun and no drama was felt from the bike.
@mcsqueak
My bike just developed the exact same sound. I haven’t pulled anything apart yet but am thinking it’s the BB cup. I thought it might be the valves knocking about on the zipps but the tape is holding up. Alas, I’ve had the fd cable tap before. I had to laugh at myself when I found out what it was.
Anyway, mcsqueak, I’m pulling by BB manana. We’ll see if that’s it and I’ll let you know.
@mcsqueak
That’s your problem. Your compact cranks are crying from the massive amounts of pain you’re forcing them to endure. You should replace them with standards and fix the problem.
@minion
I just repeat to myself FULL SPEED AHEAD! as I thunder down the street. It probably adds at least 1 kph to my overall speed. People look at me weird, but so what? I totally psych them out with the tactic and win many cat-6 races that way.
In all seriousness, I may toy with the idea when I’ve worn the chain rings out and it’s time for a replacement. We’ll see where my fitness is when that time comes. I’m getting more into climbing now and the thought grinding up a hill on a standard makes my legs hurt.
@Marko
Yeah, let me know what you find. I have my fingers crossed for my cable to be bent. I’ll check my valve stems as well, but I’ve never had an issue with that in that past.
@scaler911
I’ve tried them once, which means I didn’t do them nearly long enough to use them properly. I haven’t seen any really fast guys use them here. I’ve heard about your kind of experience. They make you hurt. I’m not convinced that having your hip flexors and lower back and hamstrings and quads and shins and toes feel like shit means that your spin and your strength is improving. I understand the concept, but I’m still in the “gimmick” camp. Excellent that you’re not spending a grand. But you should try them for a while and report back. I’d like to hear what you think.
@Godsight
It is stunning. You picked up a great bike. Take good care of it.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Mighty nice of ya Jeff. I’ll let you know how it’s going when my hip extensor tendons are in my armpits. I’m kinda excited for more suffering, given that living with the NW weather and trying to race with a job and family aren’t V enough. Can’t wait!!
@mcsqueak
My Felt has an FSA crank. The original BB developed a horrible noise and was promptly replaced, although I was pretty ignorant of wrenching back then, so it might have been salvageable.
@Nate
Yeah, in my humble experience, FSA make good cranks but terrible BB’s, especially the Mega-Exo’s. Not sure what the newer type are like with the ceramic bearings but the original/first versions were pure crap. Those things rusted within a few hundred K’s and were a pain to remove.
@mcsqueak
It was the bb. BTW, the crank is a FSA K-force light so probably the same design as yours. I pulled the crank, wiped everything down, blew out the threads, and re-greased. Went for a short shakedown and the sound was gone.
One thing that’s always made me wonder about the FSA cranksets is the wavy washer. When I first installed the K-force on my BMC I torqued to specs. The wavy washer was not very compressed and a noise developed so I cranked it past spec. That did me fine until this current noise. Although I can’t attribute the noise to the washer I think they’re related. The wavy washer is now close to flat.
Anyway, I hope this helps. 15 minute fix. Group ride tonight so I’ll see if it comes back.
@Marko
Thanks for the update, it’s what I’m thinking is wrong as well. I played with my bike a bit when I got home, and the FD cable wasn’t hitting anything, and it doesn’t make any noise when I spin the crank with my hand, meaning pressure needs to be applied to make the noise happen. That all leads leads me to believe it’s the BB (or possibly pedal as has been suggested as well).
I’m going to crack open my bike mechanic book tonight and see if I can’t figure it out, and what tools I’ll need. I actually think my tweaking is what lead to my FD breaking, since my riding skills heavily outweigh my wrenching skills – but going to the shop to get simple stuff done sucks so it’s something I’m committed to improving upon. I’ve read that replacing the FSA BB with a better Shimano one is a pretty decent improvement, so that may be the route I take.
@Nate
Can a Shimano BB be used with an FSA crankset, or do brands need to be paired together?
@scaler911
Ride those on the Ronde Van West Prtlandia route. That’ll be some suffering for you. Let the little lions lead the way!
@Chris
A couple of months ago I built up my number one bike with a second hand 10speed record groupset – except cranks which are sugino/stronglight unbranded. Obviously new chain, cassette and chain rings. It developed a bit of a creak on the right hand crank after about 300k. This, I thought, was because I was trying to use a camapg ISO BB with a JIS crankset and I couldn’t tighten the crank enough. Changed the bottom bracket – noise gettting worse. Perhaps I’d damaged the cranks so changed them – still noisy. Came to the conclusion that the bottom bracket non fixed cup didn’t have a close enough grasp on the body of the BB – fitted more expensive bottom bracket and rechased the threads while I was at it. Eventully realised that current noise was now quite different from the original click, more or a creak, only occuring under pressure. I still think the original ckick was BB/crank interface related, but it had taken me a while to realise I now had a new problem – if only I’d spotted these posts sooner. Went though changing pedals, seat post shims as possible sources. No luck. By now I was concerned the frame might be the source. I put on an old wheel with a 9 speed cassette on it and the noise went away – obviously I could only use two gears though. Put the 10 speed wheel back on rode around a bit more thinking about the wheel and cassette and it became apparent that the noise was worse in the middle of the cassette. Last night I changed over the chain and the creaking, at least on the way to work this morning has stopped; although the chain is a bit noisy as one would expect as the cassette probably had about 600k on it by now. I’ll swap the cassette tonight and see if the rule of silence is observed once more. Record chain, centaur 13-29 (shameful I know, but it was for Mt Ventoux – 12-25 going on tonight).
What’s going on? Is this normal for campag 10 speed – presumably not? But it never ran as quietly as 9 speed. Was I just unlucky. Might be cheaper in the long run to get the shifters converted to 9 speed. Should I try a different brand of chain in the future? What do you lot run on 10 speed campag?
All very frustrating as my much loved, but quite frankly neglected 9 speed steel tourer that I usually commute on is still as quiet as a belgium beer brewing trappist monk after many 1000k.
@Marko
Me too; mine was a loose BB cup; One easy twist with the tool and the sound went the way of the Dodo.
@mcsqueak
Ya, I’ll pass. That ride is suffering enough on a 6.8K bike with compact cranks. I think I puked twice on the Ronde this year. We should invite Frank down for next years version.
@Marko
@Minion
@Jeff in PetroMetro
@frank
Thanks for the input, all. I’ve just sort of puttered around on the Bianchi since I got. I did a serious ride on the Cannondale again last night, and even after the short stints on the Bianchi, it has to be my new #1. The ‘Whale felt like a literal whale-sized frame under me after my short stints on the Bianchi. Shamudale shall be the Cannondale’s new name.
SO, the 9-speed Chorus group shall be transfered to the Bianchi. That’s been decided. I just spotted some Fizik Microtex tape (white w/the black Fizik logos…very cool in my humble estimation, especially for the new steed), so that’s going on. I’m trying to source some WHITE cable housing for the rear brake cable run, at least.
The next question: should it be repainted? Frank and Marko seem to dig keeping it as un-perma-changed as possible. I tend to agree in principal, but the frame, aesthetically speaking, is in need of help. And we are holistic Velominati, are we not? The #1 must look as worthy of the V as possible, non?
So last night I took off everything down to the frame/fork (although I couldn’t get the fixed-cup side of the BB to break loose…). Here’s the frame as it sits. I’m going to give it a good cleaning tonight and see where we stand. A lot of the nasty is just from the Gravage it’s been buried in for the past n-teen years. Such a shame. A good cleaning will tell what real finish damage is there.
Hope ya’ll don’t mind the play-by-play. I always enjoy seeing other people’s tear-down/rebuilds.
[album: http://filemanager.dutchmonkey.com/photoalbums.php?currdir=velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/earnest/2011.07.26.16.14.35/|width=595|height=512]
@scaler911
Surely I’ll do that. I’m planning a Seatle Ronde for next year as well (reconn’d the route with a few Velominati this past year); lost of climbing, lots of steep cobbled climbs. I’ve heard a lot about the Portland ride; I’ll plan on coming down if I’m not in Belgium.
De Ronde Van West Portlandia:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/32147992
@scaler911
Ha! I think Frank would kick its ass. I think I’m going to try it for the first time next year, I didn’t attempt this year because I sort of let myself go last winter, didn’t stick to my rollers like I had planned and basically didn’t ride for about 3 months. It was pretty ugly. Back on track now though. Went up to skyline for the first time two days in a row last weekend and beat myself up a bit, if I can keep that up until next April it shouldn’t be an issue.
@frank
Awesome. Suffering and beer……..Can’t wait……..
@earnest
@Brett’s going through a similar dilema right now with a new frame acquisition; I’m trying to convince him to forgo the instinct that bigger is better…see my own frames to understand my bias.
Small frames (if not too small) give you more leeway with positioning, handle better, are lighter and stiffer (shorter tubes = less flex). It’s great all around.
It’s hard to see from the pictures how bad the frame is, but if it’s #1, you may have to have it repainted, any rust removed, and have the inside frame-saver’d. But if it get repainted, you’ll have to make sure you have it done by someone who knows what they’re doing and who can get the decals replaced. For me, a big part of the beauty is the badging of the frame. Of course, if you can’t get them, you can re-brand it a Velominati.
Excellent work, keep us posted.
Also of note is the fact that your ‘whale harkens from an era when they were not advanced enough yet to tailor-make the tubesets and they landed you in these ridiculously harsh bikes.
@earnest
Decals:
http://stores.ebay.com/Cyclomondo?_trksid=p4340.l2563
Seems pretty reliable. Working with him on replacement decals/ badging for my Viner TT bike.
Ignore last bit of previous post. What i changed last night was the cassette, not the chain. You can see how all this drive train noise is affecting me. Out for an hour tonight and creak is gone. So it looks like my cassette had had enough after about 600k. What do they make them of? Some kind of steel/butter alloy? Mind you I am now wondering if there isn’t a bit of a click coming from the bottom bracket now, drowned out in the previous racket. I am on the road to the lunatic asylum.
@earnest
I’m in the “bit of cleaning and polishing” camp. Not so much in favor of a sand blast and repaint unless there is some rust that needs to be taken care of. Cool project!
@scaler911
Look at that…alright! Thanks, scaler! I’ll get ahold of him and see if I can find the specific decals. That’ll free me up. I’m with @frank about keeping the badging on a frame if possible. I can repaint and rebadge; glorious, glorious.
@jaja
Deep breaths. You’ll be okay. Steel/butter alloy–hilarious!
@earnest
Celeste anyone?
@mcsqueak
@earnest
I’ve got this voice running through my head, in a ghostly 1950s/hammer horror voice, with all the torquing and pulling apart of BB cups, and it’s saying “grease the threads!!! You can’t get too much grease in there!” With the external BB cups its also a good idea to face the cups, but that is most likely an LBS job, to stop the cups being installed in a wonky fashion and not lining up properly.
@Marko
Celeste is the single greatest color on Planet Earth.
@Minion
Don’t face the cups too much. Nothing like a really narrow bottom bracket where one side is closer to the frame than the other. Bottom bracket spindles just hate that.
Wanna bet the BB cup was lock-tighted in place so it wouldn’t come loose? I’ve seen that before. Need a big BB cup wrench with a very long pipe to extend the handle. Give me a big enough lever and I can move the world.
Edit: I meant to say, “Don’t face the bottom bracket too much.” Duh.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Yep. Been down that road when I was a lackey at the LBS. Lost a lot of skin on the knuckles back then. Kids wrenching at the shops these days don’t know how good they have it with all the plastic bikes running around.
As mcsqueek can tell you, the old bikes around here don’t get any service. That’s how the hipsters like ’em; rusty and noisy.
Yep. Every time I install a BB at home, that voice is going, ‘you should face the BB to make sure the cups line up” while the voice that realizes it’s 7pm, raining and I’m lazy says “ram some more grease in there she’ll be right”. It’s the one thing I should have checked after building up 2 old beaters into things of marginal beauty but never did, and luck was on my side.
@earnest
Photos when you’re done……..
@scaler911
When “hipster” goes out of style, where are all those bikes gonna go? They think they’re gonna get more than they paid for, right? I don’t think so.
@Minion
Ah, the previous owner or the factory where the beaters were built already faced ’em. Lucky, you.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
They get turned into this:
Can I get a rule check on this…..well everything?
Ah good ‘ol Mississippi ave. Looks like bars and seat height are in gross violation of Rule #44.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Except when you have some roadie student who have a bit of cash left and decide to get one of those old nice road bike for not much and have fun the weekends with it and then go to school with without worrying too much because no one know what a pinarello or a marinoni is except for the proper roadie who you assume are not bike thief.
@Godsight
Don’t be too sure. Your bike looks pretty cool, if you’re talking about the one you posted earlier. And I wouldn’t trust a proper roadie. Especially Marcus.
@scaler911
Where’d you find a picture of my cousin Jay Wayne? He owes me $20!