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 EffectRule #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 BlackGuest 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 StableDialing in the Stable
    This 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 rugMatching the drapes to the rug
    As 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 HourFestum Prophetae: Waiting for the Hour
    Everyone 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 ...

15,871 Replies to “The Bikes”

  1. @Sparty

    The Orange Seal sealant continues to work miracles on tubulars out here. Wife rode over a broken bottle, instant flat. I had her hold the bike upright, whipped out my kit, left wheel on bike, installed 30ml sealant, spun, pumped, we rode away. I blew her mind. She momentarily believed I was a damn genius. Four months later, tire still on bike and fine. Love that shit.

  2. @frank

    @Sparty

    Would not wish this on anyone. Had the good old double puncture today. FML

    You punctured so hard your wheel came out? FYL for sure!

    After not flatting for AGES, I have had a rear puncture on the last four rides. That’s $500 down the drain.

    Ahem, that’s why I ride clinchers. Well, that and I’m Scottish.

  3. @wiscot

    @frank

    Ahem, that’s why I ride clinchers.

    I ride ’em because wheel sets are awesome. The clinchers available today are awesome. And more than anything, I swap tires on my wheels like I swap socks for whatev the occasion.

    On a ride this afternoon with my son he dealt with his first flat. A pinch flat. I so, so much wanted to grab the wheel, tube and lever and CO2 and show him how quickly could be handled but I refused to touch anything. And just kinda sorta helped talk him thru it in only the way you can talk a young person with teenage brain syndrome thru something knowing they maybe hear one word outa ten… maybe… So I ask him, what would you have done if on your own? “Uhhh, probably watch a youtube video”.

  4. @Oli

    Toeing in is the idea, just use a small crescent wrench to bend the brake arms a tad.

    As for pad wear, the idea of toe in is that the arm will flex enough that the pads end up flush to the rim under braking, reducing/eliminating the squeal but not wearing the pads unevenly.

    Yep, toe in is the go !.  PLus, has the added bonus of resembling the letter V when looked at from above.  Problem solved

  5. @Minnesota Expat

    @Teocalli

    Are you talking about turning the front end of the pad up or down a little, at an angle to the rim? There is only one axis that be adjusted. I’ve always lined them perfectly lengthwise with the rim. Does that make sense?

    I’ll give it a try. I’m going for a nice easy recreational ride with the VMH after dinner. After giving my new Jaegher a bath, it’s been wet and rainy here and she is a little gritty (insert emoticon here).

    As others have said, so that the lead end of the pad just touches first.  If the pad mounts don’t permit this then you could try inserting some old MTB shims/washers that allowed toe in adjustment or file down some washers to be tapered as shims.  Yes you would need to keep swapping the pads to maintain it and in a long ride it may well wear in.

    The noise will come from the pads but is induced by flexing in parts of the system.  On MTB bikes V brake squeal did come from the forks/stays panting but the noise is/was generated at the pad.

    The theory with toe in (as I understand it) is that it acts as a damper to what is in effect the pad bouncing on the rim.  So if the pad is flat on the rim it bounces on/off but with toes in it bounces on/a-bit-less-on and so removes/reduces squeal.

    I could of course be talking absolute bollocks.

  6. @Gianni

    @ErikdR

    Nice Peugeot. If I could get my time machine working I’d give you all the french components I binned off my PX-10LE in 1970s. After I cursed the French for their french threads and french diameters I slowly replaced most of the mafac, simplex, stronglight stuff with Campagnolo. I was a campag snob even back then. Never was able to replace BB or cranks. The Stronglight cranks were nice looking and some chainrings came all drilled out. mommy!

    I also took my bike in to LBS and they tapped the rear derailleur hanger so I could install a real one, that was a happy day, my friend.

    WooHoo! Am crossing my fingers that you’ll get your time machine to work.

    In the meantime, I could also go completely bonkers and start searching the interwebs for these fine specimens of “Blingue à Bicyclette Francais”:

    Gold Plated?? And in the mid-seventies, FFS? Mon Dieu; zeese French, zey are creezie, but zey heve ze steele, non?

  7. For the record: That’s Bernard Thévenet there in the yellow jersey – and the guy in third position in the ‘Gan’ jersey is Joop Zoetemelk. Not sure about the rider in the Polka dots (Giancarlo Bellini?) – and not sure about the ‘Kas’ Pain Cave dweller in fourth position either – but such wise ones as @Oli and @Wiscot will know (and, hopefully, chip in…)

  8. @ErikdR

    Not gold-plated, just gold anodised, haha! We used to have a set of these brakes in the shop I worked at in the 70s and 80s; they sat there forever and I’ve always regretted not buying them myself.

  9. @Oli

    @ErikdR

    That’s 6x KOM Lucien van Impe in the Maillot Pois, but I’m not sure who the KAS dude is, sorry.

    Of course – van Impe! Belgian rider who won the TdF in 1976, right? Not sure – but perhaps I would have had an easier time recognizing him without the cap. I seem to recall he had a fairly characteristic hairdo. Anyway: cheers, @Oli.

  10. @wiscot

    @frank

    @Sparty

    Would not wish this on anyone. Had the good old double puncture today. FML

    You punctured so hard your wheel came out? FYL for sure!

    After not flatting for AGES, I have had a rear puncture on the last four rides. That’s $500 down the drain.

    Ahem, that’s why I ride clinchers. Well, that and I’m Scottish.

    I flatted with about 14 km to go in the Tour of Cambridgeshire.

    There were a lot of people at the side of the road fixing punctures (and a fair few cunts leaving their dead tubes behind) so I’d spent 120 km trying not to think of their misfortune or how long it had been since I’d had a puncture.

    We’ve just moved house and some of my bike kit is either in storage or in a box that hasn’t been unpacked yet. Amongst that kit are the neatly folded spare tubulars so I had decided to risk it and go without. But being a tubular I could carry on ( a bit slower and making quite a bit of noise). I made good use of the slow speed giving encouragement to a lady on a mountainbike who hadn’t ridden any further than round her local park.

    By the time I got back the rear was suffering a slow leak. That’s why I ride tubulars.

    @frank $500 down the drain? Can you not get them fixed in the states?

  11. @chris

    @wiscot

    I flatted with about 14 km to go in the Tour of Cambridgeshire.

    There were a lot of people at the side of the road fixing punctures (and a fair few cunts leaving their dead tubes behind)

    Bummer.

    I just don’t understand the mentality not to roll the old one up and put it back in a pocket.  Being a Yorkshireman I repair mine anyway (inc Latex tubes which I’ve found patch fine with ordinary patches).

  12. @Teocalli

    Unfortunately sportives, gran fondos and the like seem to be a magnet for idiots. The standard of riding was appalling.

    Loads of crashes, some quite serious with medics and ambulances attending, being caused by people swerving around other riders without checking behind them to see if anyone else was coming through faster.

    It’s a shame because it’s generally a good event, right on my doorstep and the kids had a good time doing it.

  13. @chris

    @Teocalli

    Unfortunately sportives, gran fondos and the like seem to be a magnet for idiots. The standard of riding was appalling.

    Loads of crashes, some quite serious with medics and ambulances attending, being caused by people swerving around other riders without checking behind them to see if anyone else was coming through faster.

    It’s a shame because it’s generally a good event, right on my doorstep and the kids had a good time doing it.

    Yeah, all of those are pretty much why I have given up riding Sportives.

    A few of our club did it and had fun.  Looks like one of them picked up some road rash but don’t know the circumstances.

  14. @chris

    @Teocalli

    Unfortunately sportives, gran fondos and the like seem to be a magnet for idiots. The standard of riding was appalling.

    Loads of crashes, some quite serious with medics and ambulances attending, being caused by people swerving around other riders without checking behind them to see if anyone else was coming through faster.

    It’s a shame because it’s generally a good event, right on my doorstep and the kids had a good time doing it.

    Tell me about it. I rode the United Performing Arts Fund ride in Milwaukee yesterday. 110kms. Lots of rule contraventions on view, but perhaps the two most egregious were the old fit tattooed guy who seemed to think it was ok to draft me for mile after mile and think it funny when I asked him sarcastically if he was going to suck my wheel all day. Even at the first rest stop, he hung around waiting to get on my wheel. I let him go, passed his later and never looked back. Then there was the worse case of “monkey ass” I’ve seen in year. The back of this guy’s shorts were translucent FFS. Then there was the guy riding with his female significant other who kept dropping her on the run in. I told her to get on my wheel and paced her back at one point. Fortunately I didn’t see any crashes and looked like everyone had a good time for a worthy cause.

  15. @Teocalli

    @chris

    @Teocalli

    Unfortunately sportives, gran fondos and the like seem to be a magnet for idiots. The standard of riding was appalling.

    Loads of crashes, some quite serious with medics and ambulances attending, being caused by people swerving around other riders without checking behind them to see if anyone else was coming through faster.

    It’s a shame because it’s generally a good event, right on my doorstep and the kids had a good time doing it.

    Yeah, all of those are pretty much why I have given up riding Sportives.

    A few of our club did it and had fun. Looks like one of them picked up some road rash but don’t know the circumstances.

    Too true – I was helping at a race on Sunday and chatting to one of our club guys who’d dropped out. I was surprised, because when I’d seen him before he was a good Cat 2/3 level racer and the course suited him.

    Turned out he’d only been back riding since February from having 6 months out after a crash in the Ride London 100. And then he floored me by saying he was aiming to get back and do it again.

    I think I know more people who’ve crashed in that event than have completed it unscathed.

    Then again… Chris did choose to ride with the muppets not the racers.

  16. Jeez, wiscot. That dude sounds awful. I’d have definitely lost my temper with that guy after he laughed at your question. What a dick.

  17. @ChrisO

     

    Then again… Chris did choose to ride with the muppets not the racers.

    You’ve got to support your local events…

    Anyway the original plan was to be at the front with the racers looking to qualify for the masters world championships. Unfortunately, work got a got busy and I didn’t apply enough V to fit training in around work.

    In the end I decided to see how far I could go with only one bottle and nothing in my pockets. The splits were pretty good considering I haven’t ridden since the Chiltern’s Cogal but poor signposting had me miss the first feed station. I was feeling pretty grim by 80 km when I got to the second feed station.

    Some of those muppets are pretty quick!

     

  18. @KogaLover

    Cheers mate – will look into that.

    Which reminds me: I have a very nice, brand-new Koga Miyata – Agu Sport – Continental cycling jersey lying around here (bright orange, with white band on the sides), which I bought brand-new and never used because it is a touch too small for me. If you’re interested (and if we can figure out whether it would fit you), it’s yours.

    I’m on my way out of the door right now – but will upload a picture of said jersey tomorrow – or you can pop me a mail at [email protected] and I’ll attach said image to a return mail. ErikdR Over and Out for today.

  19. @ErikdR

    In ’76 his hairstyle was pretty standard, but when he won the jersey again in 1981 he’d had a perm which certainly stood out.

  20. @Minnesota Expat

    @Oli

    Toeing in is the idea, just use a small crescent wrench to bend the brake arms a tad.

    As for pad wear, the idea of toe in is that the arm will flex enough that the pads end up flush to the rim under braking, reducing/eliminating the squeal but not wearing the pads unevenly.

    First: Carbon rims squeal.  Your Mafacs sing, and they sing the ancient song of the Gods of Mount Velominatus.  OK, it’s technically vibration in the brake arms falling in to harmonic resonance, but whatever.

    My main point is I knew @Oli would lead you in the right direction.  Knurled / Stamped / Milled rims used to be the cure for squeal and to improve wet braking, but don’t you dare scuff those polished rims.  So that leaves us with toeing in.  You’re right about not being able to toe the pads in like you would on modern side pulls and most of the other center-pulls of the era where the brake shoe post is held with a beveled washer.  The posts on your… ahem.. “Racers” just lays flat on the brake arms.  You just have to take the pads out, slip a large crescent wrench over the “0” shape on the arms like @Oli said and twist – SLOWLY AND SLIGHTLY – inward.  It doesn’t take much.  Like, it will be barely perceptible.  I know it sounds like sacrilege to bend old parts like this, and your under-40 mechanic at the LBS will probably shit his pants if you mentioned it.  But for reals, it’s just what you do.  And since it wasn’t done circa 1978 when it should have been, you might as well do it now!

    And if you have any worries about it, you should probably just throw them away anyway.  They’re old.  Send them to me and I’ll be sure they’re discarded properly.

  21. @Gianni

    @ErikdR

    Gagoo Gagaaah… (*Wipes drool off keyboard*)

    It’s funny with these bling-ey thingies: her in Scandinavia, the consensus seems to be that in order to be cool, things should be as understated as possible. “Less is more”, and all that. By contrast, this particular group set is so far over the top that it manages to convey an odd sort of cool all by itself, IMHO.

    And another thing: I don’t even like them all that much on a silver-grey-and-chrome combo like on the famous bike Thévenet was riding. But picture this: a shiny black Peugeot with gold lettering and decals – and these babies. You would get something in the direction of that uber-cool JPS-like graphic expression of the seventies – as made famous by the likes of F1 driver Emerson Fittipaldi. Mon dieu, c’est magnifique!

    My Brother has a shiny, black Peugeot. I may have to go and steal it.

  22. @ErikdR

    Yeah, I agree, this gold doesn’t look great with a silver frame but it would kill with a black one. My old peugeot was champagne gold, but Thevenet didn’t give me any gold brakes. My frame was beautiful, I must say, though I did eventually beat the hell out of it and had it repainted Merckx orange !?!

    Having clips for everything instead on braze-ons didn’t help the paint last.

  23. @Gianni

    Ah yes… Brake cable guides along the top tube, derailleur cables, pump holders… EVERYTHING was somehow clamped on til o those seventies frames, wasn’t it? And the rust would just keep on gathering undernesth…

  24. @Gianni

    Hmmm… Not one of my brightest ideas, from the looks of it, to try and write a post at dusk and without glasses yesterday-evening.

    But that being said:

    Yes. Imagine this puppy with that gold-anodized Simplex/Mafac group set. Mamma mia…

  25. @ErikdR

    @Gianni

    Hmmm… Not one of my brightest ideas, from the looks of it, to try and write a post at dusk and without glasses yesterday-evening.

    But that being said:

    Yes. Imagine this puppy with that gold-anodized Simplex/Mafac group set. Mamma mia…

    That Peugeot is gorgeous

  26. @ErikdR

    I flat out love that bike. Black and Gold! Has nothing to do with me growing up in Pittsburgh and being a Steelers fan… And I’m sure all of you around the world here know the Steelers. After all, deep down inside, everyone is a Steelers fan. Nope, has nothing to do with that. Black bikes are best and gold is perfect for black.

    And the JP Special.. what a reminder of such a cool car. Cheers

  27. @ErikdR

    @Gianni

    Hmmm… Not one of my brightest ideas, from the looks of it, to try and write a post at dusk and without glasses yesterday-evening.

    But that being said:

    Yes. Imagine this puppy with that gold-anodized Simplex/Mafac group set. Mamma mia…

    Campagnolo did a nice gold plated 35th Anniversary Record gruppo … 1989 might be a couple years late for that frame, but not unreasonably far off.  If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

  28. @Simon

    Black and gold? Raleigh record sprint!

    Yes, I see your point:

    Very nice bike – but I’d still prefer that black-and-gold Peugeot, I think.

    Was the Raleigh Record Sprint (also) built up around a Reynolds 531 frame?

  29. @litvi

    Wasn’t it the 35th anniversary of Colnago that was being celebrated with that particular gruppo?

    https://colnagobike.wordpress.com/tag/colnago-35th-anniversary/

    But I don’t expect I’ll ever have the means to buy one of those: they’re very, very rare, as far as I know – and they probably cost a minor fortune. (I have also never come across any of those group sets as ‘separate units’  – they all seem to have a Colnago bicycle attached to them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…)

  30. @ErikdR

    Seems to be Reynolds 501.  There are a few of these going on eBay.  Tempting for a new project……

  31. @ErikdR @Gianni @Randy C @Simon @Oli

    While we’re reminiscing about gold anodizing, Galli, the poor man’s Campagnolo, was going ape on anodizing every color possible!

    My boss way back had a blue Vitus, with blue Galli bits/rims, wearing blue kit! He must of liked Smurf’s!

  32. @sthilzy

    Wow…

    That “Galli Pro” brake set at the top of the page (the black calipers and levers, with the gold anodized pivot points) works for me. Heady stuff… And I have a pair of “Vittoria” touring shoes rather similar to those on that poster, that are still going strong. Nice!! (Am smiling at the mental image of your smurf-like boss. Did he wear a large white cap?)

  33. Haha, I’d forgotten all about that Galli stuff! I don’t think I ever saw any out of magazine ads though, apart from the black.

  34. @Oli

    Haha, I’d forgotten all about that Galli stuff! I don’t think I ever saw any out of magazine ads though, apart from the black.

    I had some red Galli hubs. Rough as a badger’s arse as they say.

    And don’t forget Ofmega components! I believe it was an Ofmega crank that snapped clean through where the pedal screwed in when I was riding a TT on the Isle of Bute in the mid 80s. They did rear derailleurs that were basically all plastic and came in white and black.

  35. @wiscot

    @Oli

    Haha, I’d forgotten all about that Galli stuff! I don’t think I ever saw any out of magazine ads though, apart from the black.

    I had some red Galli hubs. Rough as a badger’s arse as they say.

    And don’t forget Ofmega components! I believe it was an Ofmega crank that snapped clean through where the pedal screwed in when I was riding a TT on the Isle of Bute in the mid 80s. They did rear derailleurs that were basically all plastic and came in white and black.

    …and pink!

    I still have some Ofmega DT levers. Light as!

  36. I had an Ofmega rear mech like that in baby blue, but it was terrible – you could feel the flex and needed to button right off pedaling or it just wouldn’t shift at all.

  37. Just fitted new Open Corsa G+ in place of the winter Pave.  Cruised round a short loop to bed them in and set a bunch of PRs without really trying.  So either they are darned quick or it was the new socks I was also wearing.  They seem to be a super smooth ride.  Not quite the same hum as the old Corsa as they are grooved rather than the diamond tread on the old Corsa and Pave.

  38. @Teocalli

    Just fitted new Open Corsa G+ in place of the winter Pave. Cruised round a short loop to bed them in and set a bunch of PRs without really trying. So either they are darned quick or it was the new socks I was also wearing. They seem to be a super smooth ride. Not quite the same hum as the old Corsa as they are grooved rather than the diamond tread on the old Corsa and Pave.

    I’ve ordered both the G+’s and Speshy’s turbo cottons along with some frilly pink underpants to tuck in to these and give a try and see if truly could be the buttery smooth ride I’ve apparently been missing all these years… but really, it sounds like I oughta be looking in to new sox !

  39. @sthilzy

    Hey I remember that Galli Stuff. I always has record in the 80’s, but much preferred Modolo brakes.

    -Eddie

  40. @Randy C

    @Teocalli

    Just fitted new Open Corsa G+ in place of the winter Pave. Cruised round a short loop to bed them in and set a bunch of PRs without really trying. So either they are darned quick or it was the new socks I was also wearing. They seem to be a super smooth ride. Not quite the same hum as the old Corsa as they are grooved rather than the diamond tread on the old Corsa and Pave.

    I’ve ordered both the G+’s and Speshy’s turbo cottons along with some frilly pink underpants to tuck in to these and give a try and see if truly could be the buttery smooth ride I’ve apparently been missing all these years… but really, it sounds like I oughta be looking in to new sox !

    No kidding, wore the socks again Saturday and smashed a whole pile of PRs over a 100Km ride.

  41. @EBruner

    @sthilzy

    Hey I remember that Galli Stuff. I always has record in the 80’s, but much preferred Modolo brakes.

    -Eddie

    I just found a pair of 80s Modolo aero brakes in my spares box! Dark grey anodized they are. They look better than they work!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.