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 ...
@SamFromTex @cognition
It was sort of a joke that my flatmate and I had, because my bedroom has this sort of arch over the bed – see below. The idea was that when my wife came out to visit I should put the bike there as a shrine. She probably would have just rolled her eyes.
Then, as it turned out, photographing a matte-black carbon bike with white trim is bloody difficult.
My place has dark floors and wood trim, and there’s no blank wall that is well lit and has the space to get back far enough for a good shot… and that was when I had the eureka moment.
But if I was going to frame a bike above my bed and worship at the altar, it would be that bike. I love it. I was offered a new, free, Propel this year as our team bike but I said I would keep the TCR.
I actually used to have that same IKEA bed. Never put a bike on it but I did have (in my bachelor days) a mechanical calculator that I spent the better part of a year fiddling with in my free time. Got it to work again and promptly lost interest. Great thing to have after a date that was otherwise going well. Really seals the deal, so to speak. I think it was more off-putting than the time I rebuilt a motorcycle in the kitchen.
So, for all my doubts about bike fitting this was too good to pass up… an appointment with the guy who does Orica, Garmin, Giant-Shimano and others and is about to start doing Sky.
Apparently the reason he is starting with Sky is that Richie Porte came to him, having been told to go lower lower lower… he put him up 7cm higher but that allowed him to get 7cm narrower (which has a greater aero effect) as well as put out more power.
One of his most regular clients is Simon Gerrans. I was surprised, given he’s not someone you would think of as desperately needing to be aero. But he said he’s just really conscientious and wants to do everything possible to minimise energy and maximise power.
Should be interesting. For the name-dropping conversation if nothing else.
@ChrisO Will be cool to see what he changes. I got mine done by the guys that do Trek Factory Racing, and it was an interesting experience, even if the changes were very minor(about 5mm longer, and 5mm lower for the bars, and a very small change in cleat position). It was included in the price of the Saffron frameset, I don’t think I would have payed the price they were asking otherwise!
@SamFromTex From ’89 to maybe ’93 or so I had a POS Schwinn Mtn Bike dangling off the back of my very sweet 5.0 just about everywhere I went. Back then the five liter was gonna dust anything American on the road including ‘vettes. That was my third Mustang. Nowadays I have bikes in the back of an ol’ minivan w/140k+ miles on it… and the bikes are worth a LOT more than the mini-van. Today the strd 6 cyl Mustang, or even I guess the new turbo 4, let alone a Rousch, would flat out smoke the old 5.0. And my mtn bikes are worlds more fun than the old Schwinn. Today is kind of the golden age for internal combustion engines – incredible amounts of power and economy being produced – and very well for the bike as well.
@wilburrox
Yeah but you know the old story – give a US car maker a 4 litre engine and you end up with a Truck with a Hemi, give it to a Euro car maker and you end up with a Rocket Sled.
@ChrisO
Gerrans is a tiny guy, right? He’s also very dilligent about racing in Scott’s egg-shell helmet and in skinsuits – a proper aero weenie. Ever since Cav showed how much of a difference it makes, the smaller sprinters realized position and equipment can make up those 100-200W they’re missing compared to the powerhouses. Then the powerhouses retaliated and started maximizing that as well, and now we have that Kittel monster.
On that Propel. Can I have yours, since you don’t want it?
Ahem, WE prefer to be called Medium Sized Men. Simon and I are both 170/1 cm and 65 kg.
@Ron
You bite-size guys are always like that. Frank Lloyd Wright was so delusional that he once yelled at a normal-sized student to, “Sit down, Wes, you’re destroying the scale!” because poor Wes kept hitting his head on the ceiling of Taliesin.
When you have a life, such as mine you get to enjoy Black! In work I/we go by the code “Dolphin 39 and this loosely translates back home to the bike(s). Most bikes should be predominately black, as should be most of our kit.
@oligali
His little workshop is under the Branka Bride – details here: bikeconsigliere.com. The guy who runs it is named Aleksandar and he speaks very good English. He doesn’t have much stuff but you never know what he might get or what one of his friends has. Some of the bikes up on his site have been sold (one to Anthony La Paglia apparently – the Bianchi). He has a couple of really funky vintage tt bikes. Anyway, if you are coming get in touch. My email is geoffreyduffield@gmail.com.
@SamFromTex
Heyyyy. After years of having to fight and battle with all the big dummies on the football field, basketball court, soccer field, hockey ponds, and lacrosse fields I’m THRILLED to have found a lifetime sport where my size is an advantage. I have less to carry and it’s worthless to draft me. Plus, 53s look better than 63s. Those long headtubes are just ugly.
And we need a full-size photo of that darn De Rosa!
De Rosa will not be finished until mid January. It’s tough to get any parts sent to Serbia – decent tyres and spokes for example. So wheel build will happen after Xmas trip to UK.
@Barracuda
@pistard, update
The search just went up a nothch with a guy in Adelaide confirming your details above of my grandfathers bike, and was even able to provide the following for me to continue along the path of building a replica :
It is a CARROL cycle works bike who used to be in Gouger St.
It looks as though it is a lightweight road race bike ( for the times) as it has rear dropouts not fork ends.
Saddle is probably – Brooks b-17
Brakes are – Philco centre pull
Hubs are – BH solite
Stem and bars are probably pewter finish
Cranks are probably – Williams
How would I get a copy of that awesome decal and head badge you did ?
Hello all,very rare poster here(do more ‘lurking’ really) but thought you might like to see the new no;1.
Ridley Helium sl with ultegra mechanical group-san,Campy zonda wheels and Deda bits.
Frame was bought at an advantageous price and ultegra groupset also. I already had the wheels and some of the Deda bits hence the white stem(it will be replaced eventually but this was a tight budget build so as it stays until funds permit a black service course.The light will also go to be replaced by a Fizik under saddle one.
Oh cxuse the rule violations(cranks etc) as the pic was taken while I had time to do so;a proper one will be forthcoming once I get chance to ride the thing as I am not christening it in cold rain on crap covered fen roads.
Hope you like;
@Ron
Fuck you Ron ;-) I completely agree though.
@Barracuda
Glad to see this project progressing, and happy to help any way I can. Your timing is fortuitous “” my old laptop died a few months ago and I just got around to extracting the drive this week, so I do have the files. contact me via pistard (at) imap (dot) cc
The Carroll logo I made is a postscript outline, sharp, scalable and easily changed colour-wise. My suggested head badge was a Carroll clan shield found on the interwebz. That one’s a middling resolution bitmap, but a quick search turns up a slightly different, much higher res version. Usable as is, or sharp enough to autotrace into outlines with a little effort.
If you want to do a black/dark frame with white (and/or metallics) in the decals, it’s a bit tricky. Old-style water slide or varnish fix decals were litho or screen printed, as are good quality repros. Digital printing doesn’t generally do white (or metallics), and a one-off by traditional means will be expensive, but there are DIY options. Some digital printers can image onto substrates like aluminum or zinc plate, so a head badge can easily be printed, cut and shaped.
A local guy restored one of Torchy Peden’s track bikes from the 20s or 30s and it’s on display here in town:
@VeloVita
I still enjoy provoking you big lads though. Thanks for writing that!
@Ron
Every time I see a photo of a sexy as hell bike I always need to remind myself that if I built a similar bike in my size, it will never look like that. I’m happy with how my Engin looks despite its ridiculously long head tube (since it allows me to run a -10 degree stem with no spacers) and my CX bike has a much lower position since I’m riding it more aggressively for a shorter period of time, but even the CX bike with headset/spacers has an equivalent head tube length of 235mm and a 0 degree stem. If I were as lanky and flexible as Frank I’d be much better off from an aesthetic standpoint. As always, flexibility and core work will be the name of the game this winter.
Good core, terrible flexibility here. I blame a lifetime of sports without proper warm up/cool down. “Uhh, coach, I could use another 25 minutes of stretching…” Yeah right. One day, one day I’ll get serious about flexibility. Can’t complain too much though as I used to have chronic neck pain from a crushed vertebrae and that has finally gone away. Used to hurt on the bike and sitting at a computer monitor.
Just picked up a Selle San Marco Regal.e for a holiday gift to self. Argh, going to be hard not opening it. Have a Regal on my Casati, this shall go on my Tommasini. The white center with red wings should look suitably awesome with the busy Italian paint job. I think it’ll be a nice Nuovo touch on a 1991 frameset.
3 out of 4 gifts for the VMH are cycling related, the other is a road find I spotted when pedaling with a mate. It’s dog walking related – a telescoping walking pole someone must have put on the top of their car and forgotten about. I know I’m getting a new cyclocommuting jacket, which is gonna be a huge improvement for cold mornings. Currently wearing race-fit jackets and gilets with non-cycling clothes. Not cool to feel like a sausage every morning.
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New machine collected today. So many firsts. First all new bike in more than 20 years. First threadless headset. First carbon groupset. First sloping top tube. First ErgoPower. Oh. And it rides, shifts and stops great. Fine work thanks Oli…
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@osbk67 I take it from that headtube length you’re not exactly Gerrans sized!
One last crack at posting a profile photo… Yeah, that’d be another first – first bike without a level top tube. So-called 59cm frame for my 188cm/83kg, more Guido Bontempi than Simon Gerrans, but with the finishing kick of neither, and the vintage of the former…
@osbk67 very nice, I’m noticing more & more Ti around I’m not loving it any less each time.
Like the little white Campagnolo they added to the new hoods!
@pistard
Look. At. Those. Bars. Wow! That’s a helluva drop on them. Torchy would be proud of Frank’s set-up on his bikes . . .
I’m high on Percocet and Belgian dubble after my first post op surgery and the good news is that I have an excuse for not getting out in the cold or on the rollers. My shoulder that got so bad I didn’t want to ride the last few months was pretty torn up and has now been repaired, but I’m not even supposed to start PT for another 5 weeks. The bad news is that before I stopped riding I had finally finished building up 1984 Bianchi, plus my wife and I just got a new tandem. So now I’m itching to get out and can’t do anything about it
My son left me a bunch of parts and a couple of frames when he moved in the spring so I spent this summer slowly putting this together.
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Oops only one picture uploaded
@osbk67
Bel mezzo. Good to see TR is still making a beautiful bike. And Guido Bontempi indeed. I was just thinking about him. The young kids need to know what a stud he was, need to write something about him.
Guy Goodtimes!
@seemunkee
@seemunkee Well, that’s fuck’in odd. My post only shows your quoted bit, not my message? Oh well, I was on about how I am pretty sure that you can still ride stationary trainers (KKPro’s, Cyclops) without using any upper body muscles! (you know, just giving you shit for not riding, etc.)
@Ron
Ron, I just got Tom Danielson’s book on Core exercises. Seeing as he’s a top pro I figured he knows what he’s talking about. Only been at it for 2-3 weeks and don’t follow it to the T, but I can feel a difference already. Mostly core stuff, but a bit of flexibility stuff and an appreciation how how “bad” cycling can be from a posture POV. Recommended.
That being said, in the illustrations, he wears his cap backwards. Big demerit for that.
@Buck Rogers Good to know the message is acting weird for someone else and its not just the drugs.
@Oli Well done on the build!
@osbk67 You have chosen wisely.
Yeah, it just happens to be in my size and fit…visit your local Merckx dealer today.
@Mikael Liddy
That be steel mate…
@Ron quote isnt working. Re: white lettering on campy hoods
i thought you had taste. Next thing youll say is how the cranks look so fantastic.
@brett
Fair enough, still looks pretty.
I got a new paper weight for the office….
Now the agony of choosing the parts…
Mid 1994 Corsa Extra, from the land of the Dutch no less! Sure that gives it a little extra street cred?
@Puffy nice, that’s the kind of agony that we’d all happily embrace.
I don’t mind the white writing on the hoods at all, but remain sceptical as regards to the cranks.
@Dan_R Cheers, Dan! That’s a very nice build yourself!
@Oli
Ha… yes, indeed. Well played.
@Puffy
Sweeeeet. Not so sure about the top race on the headset though……….
@Dan_R
Just AWESOME Dan!!!
@Puffy
Oh YES! Feel the FUCK’IN Merckx love here on this thread the last few days. Just LOVE it!!!