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 ...
This is quite interesting..
@unversio
You. Lucky. Bastard.
@PeakInTwoYears I do pay for these items, but it is shipped free. Anyone can contact Amy Jo or Kristi at Lube Tech.
been tossing up whether to post my new bike or not. i thought a chinese carbon frame (clearly cervelo ‘inspired’) might not sit so well with the velominati.
but then i saw the veloforma that you’re giving away as the first prize for the VSP…
anyway, here is mine. it’s an open mould frame which you can buy with many many different brand names on it. veloforma is just one more to add to that list…
(oh, and sorry about the mtb pedals, that has been corrected by now)
@nimmersatt a bit colourful for my liking, could do with more black…
You’re not the only one who’s gone down the brandless frame path, from memory there are a couple more floating about these pages.
@Teocalli Thanks for the vid. Looks like the scientists are still trying to figure out how a bicycle works. So we curse gravity when going uphill, but without we won’t be able to steer. Who da thunk?
@nimmersatt
I love it. And Sram Force is perfect for blacked out frames.
Campy does some good black groupsets, but Shimano only does 105 in black. The Ultegra/Dura Ace dark grey isn’t quite as good.
@TommyTubolare Speedplays have been rebuilt, new spindles, bearings and o-rings – everything apart from the bodies. The old spindles were badly marked by the needle bearings which were also fucked. They’re so beautifully smooth now.
ebay titanium spindles were 26 grams lighter than the old steel spindles – doesn’t sound like much but they’re only 32 grams.
@Chris
Good work mate. Since you reminded me this post now I forgot to add before that since you didn’t know their history – bought on ebay – even though you looked after them the previous owner maybe didn’t. It’s wet here most of the year and so far mine take the beating quite well. That is why I don’t think one very wet ride can finish them off like that. Hope they will give no troubles now.
@Mikael Liddy …you must have missed the bright red cable ends? they’re pretty out there :-)
@nimmersatt
Are Veloforma’s from open molds? I thought they were designed by Veloforma, just produced by others in China.
Keep on posting insanely nice bikes with ho-hum Ksyrium wheelsets. It puts a seriously huge bowl of ice cubes down my Jake LaMotta Carbone wheel-lust boxers.
Goggles, I’m normally not a fan of all black Italian bikes (gotta let the loud Italian paint shout) but hey, if it let’s you sneak that bicycle in the house under the VMH radar, I’m all for it! Slick bike!
@Puffy
to be perfectly honest, i’ve never seen a veloforma in the flesh so maybe my earlier post was a little bit quick, but judging by the photos i would say that the ‘Strada’ looks an awful lot like the FM066 (do a google on FM066 frame). the strada was the only veloforma i looked at.
for a bit of background: the FM066 is a chinese open mould frame. in 3 months of reading up on it i never really got to the bottom of who actually makes it. it’s pretty much a copy of the cervelo R5, however the geometry matches the cannondale super six evo. i found more than 10 companies from all over the world that sell it. they all claim to have designed it and claim to be building it to their own spec. most of them are just resellers though and prices vary greatly.
there’s nothing wrong with this frame though (unlike some of the other chinese knock offs you find on alibaba). it looks stunning and feels very solid. Mine weighs just under 800g and i’ve ridden it pretty much daily for the last 4 weeks and i’m absolutely loving it.
Well my 11year old custom Independent Fab steel 29er frame has a crack in the chain stay behind the chain rings about half way through the tube from years of chain suck and abuse
this frame has been ridden hard for a long time
god knows how long it has been there
do you guys think the frame is worth repair, and at what cost do you say it is not worth it?
Post a picture of it if you can.
I’ve been meaning to post this for a while.
This is a 60cm Vitus 979 aluminum frame from about 1990. The life it led before it came to me is clouded in mystery and rumor.
I got it in trade from a friend of mine, for a Manitou III fork that I was no longer using (I’d upgraded to a Mach 5 on that bike). I got it pretty much exactly as you see it, with the idea that I’d build it into something some day. That was in about 1997.
Needless to say, the build never happened. I already had a Cannondale road bike at the time. So I tucked the frame away in my attic, and there it sat until about a month ago. In all that time, I had little idea of what I had, or who Sean Kelly was.
I dug it out and cleaned it up to share with you all. I’m probably never going to build it up, now that I have a new carbon bike, but it sure is pretty.
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@ChrissyOne “Lost love found again.” Want to sell it!
I’m open to the idea of selling it, if I could find it a good home. It’s just hanging on the wall in my office at the moment.
@nimmersatt
My understanding is that the popular open mold frames are in fact built by many different companies. That is why there is some variability in pricing/specs/weight.
@ChrissyOne If you still have it and are feeling good about selling in May — I will follow up.
@Weldertron
Here is are pics of the crack
I did clean up the area and then drilled a small hole at the each end of the crack thinking that I would weld it my self
But The metal is pretty thin in that area and I know I will screw it up
If I have not screwed it up already, I do not know what I was thinking at the time
Oh well
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@Roger Have you contacted IndyFab?
@Nate
No I have not
It has been 11 years and all the guys I used to deal with there are gone.
Plus I know they will want an arm and a leg to fix it, they are not cheap when it comes to repairs, plus shipping the frame to them, dont think it will be worth it
I just want to turn it into a fairly cheap gravel/road grinder
I got my moneys worth out of the frame if it will cost to much to repair it
I figure it’s come far along enough I can post some updates. The filler is a polished stainless plate folded over itself.
@roger
It doesn’t look like a horrible fix, but it’s gonna take some tweaking. The crank dimple adds to the work.
Make a mount for it and hang it on the wall?
@Weldertron
That crank dimple was home made by me to fit a bigger chain ring many years ago ;)
So hang it on the wall?
I guess what your saying is that it is not worth fixing?
@Weldertron
Nice. I like the extra detail brought out by the black piping.
@roger
Why not take it to a local aluminium fabricator. They should be able to tig it up for you no problem. If you want a better repair, get them to add a compensating plate over it but probably not required. Take it home, give it a hit with the flap disc and paint. Rough but hey, it’ll be rideable. If it were in our shop, it would be less than $100.
Don’t know if this was someone’s attempt at an April fool’s joke, but came across this on the work bike rack this morning…
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@Mikael Liddy someone lost a bet?
@Weldertron
Nice, is the tyre (tire) match intentional at the front to the fork or waiting on a blue?
Its actually a front wheel off of my #1. I just tossed on so I could sit on it. I have to build up a rear wheel, then I’m going to run all black.
In the ongoing bike replacement saga:
My LBS is pushing one of these for a frame. I really want to buy from them , but I’m not so sure on Specialized, and the colors are lacking (I would probably go for neon vomit honestly). I have no doubt it is a great frame, and he said Specialized may do a goodwill crash replacement discount to get me on a Specialized.
Thoughts? Dan R?
@DerHoggz I actually like that neon color scheme. reminds me of the 80s when I was in elementary school…
@DerHoggz Many great frames to choose from that don’t require pushing to get on them.
@RedRanger
I like it, but it will be dated in just a few years. Murdered out is just boring though.
@unversio
I’ll see what else he can get for me, but I have to acknowledge it is a good frame and will possibly be a very good deal.
@Weldertron
Slammed! That’s the ultimate vote of confidence that you’ve got the headtube the right length (if you’re using that fork…)
@Weldertron who makes the seat clamp? Very nice!
@DerHoggz
I’m currently racing the last pre-Smartweld version (2012 E5) and it works fine, including for 150+km training rides. I spoke with another racer who had the frameset I have and went with the Smartweld version, and he said the new one is a noticeable improvement, even though he really liked the earlier version. I’d go for it and get the “Colorline” version, since I can’t stand the murdered-out scheme. Note that these framesets are listed as mostly out of stock on Specialized’s dealer website, with a late April arrival date. Depending on budget limitations, I may be getting one then as well.
@minion
I built the bike based off a retul fit. I knew what my reach and stack were, so I built it to use no spacers. The headset stack height is only 1cm.
@sthilzy
It’s a Thomson.
@sthilzy
Its a Thomson clamp from what I can tell.
@sthilzy
Pretty sure it’s a Thomson.
For all of you having cyclocomputer problems, you can put this handy tool in your EPMS:
http://www.abbeybiketools.com/collections/all-products/products/computer-repair-kit
@Nate Abbey is cool enough. The crombie single-sided tool is handy.
@unversio Yup love my Crombie. For some reason I got the double sided one.
@Weldertron
That there is a thing of beauty. Very clean looking, love the colors!
@Roger
Wait. What? You made the “crank dimple” yourself… and then it cracked in almost that exact spot…
I applaud your enthusiasm for embracing the way of the Velominatus Budgetatus but @Weldertron is right. Unless you want to send it to a pro it’s time to hang it up.
@Weldertron
(Assuming XY genes) Have you every had that moment when you see an absolutely stunning woman and you spontaneously swear… out loud?
Well that just happened, only it was your bike that did it. The stainless filler, the Thomson collar, the colours and the trim, the slammed stem. Damn!