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 ...
@chris
It’s an integrated stem as was with my F75. Basically the compression ring sits up from the top bearing – the top cone fits on this and I assume provides some sort of seal.
I fitted a slamthatstem cover to the F75 but you can see it doesn’t seal at all. I wasn’t that worried and now I have a new race bike I’ll go back to the higher top cap.
I want to do it ‘proper’ on the new bike. I think replacing the whole headset might be easiest.
@RobSandy
I meant integrated headset, not integrated stem.
@sthilzy
The brake levers were carbon of some sort, but now have Campag levers. The brakes are Campag painted white for some reason and work poorly in their current condition. The bag is the spares container of the day but would indeed suit a very small ping pong paddle.
Oh yes, the helmet was indeed a Brancale of some sort, famous for its great style and smelling like a locker room. I don’t miss it at all.
I’m trying to get rid of some 105 5700 shifters, and random aluminum parts:
https://harrisburg.craigslist.org/bop/6307518398.html
i TOLD ya i was gonna build TWO!! har har
it’s the same as my other Gran Crit, except this one is Columbus Cromor, while the other is Reynolds 525. i will likely build this one with Shimano RS 30 wheels, so it will come in a bit heavier, at 21-1/2 lbs. same 6700 Ultegra, Ritchey cockpit, Prologo saddle, Nitto seatpost.
@Cary
So many bikes!
I’m already getting impatient about my new build.
I’ve decided that the one job I need my mech to do is to replace the headset – the one that came with the bike about a 30mm rise. What’s the point of that on an aero race bike? Anyway, I’ll see if he can replace it with one that is flat.
The rest I’m going to do myself. But I don’t want to start until the headset is sorted.
@RobSandy
in addition to twin Masis, my wife and i also have twin humans that will be two years old next week. n+1 is done for a few years.. lol we need a bigger house!
@Cary
We’re looking for a smaller house nearer the coast but with a bigger bike room!
@Teocalli
my next house will be in the ‘burbs, as i can’t afford adequate property downtown. my LAST house, otoh, will be at the end of a long and nameless road, in the middle of nowhere!
@Teocalli
I went round to the house I know through our cycling club for some assistance with putting the kiddie cranks together for the tandem. I saw no evidence of any living space. It was all bikes.
He had at least 5 road bikes and 5 mountain bikes in the front room. He also had a tandem frame which he had got resprayed and not built back up. It was still in the bubble wrap. He said it’d been like that for 3 years.
@sthilzy
Woot, found a 3T 17 degree stem on ebay for £30. It’s 110mm not 100mm…but worth a try at that price.
A buddy is going to lend me a Felt 100mm 17 deg too so I can try them both.
I want my position on the bike to be as low, stretched and aero as possible.
This may provoke amusement/recognition.
This is what I’m currently keeping in a box under my desk.
You wouldn’t be hiding that stuff from someone, would you? Or are you going for the honest, but slightly ambiguous “Oh, I’ve had this stuff for ages.” line?
@wiscot
No idea what you mean old chap. Wink.
@RobSandy
So where’s the matching frame, under your seat?
@KogaLover
Frame is at home in the workstand (actually right now it’s at the mechanic’s having a slammed top-cap headset fitted). The rest of the parts will be drip fed home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM
@RobSandy
Just make sure you do get all the bits……..
@Teocalli
That’s not what it’s supposed to look like?
@RobSandy
I knew that was the perfect video! One piece at a time . . . however, I suspect the project has indeed “cost you a dime.”
Well, cycling fans, you have been warned. Don’t be a dickhead supporter at any of the WC road races coming up. The Norwegian polis willnae be having any of it!
http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/twitter/?title=Norwegian+police+bodycheck+fan+on+the+final+climb,+Elite+Men%27s+TT&dashboard=road-cycling-world-championships&id=CyclingHubTV/status/910531362414907393&yr=2017
@wiscot
Yeah that did make me smile when I saw it. Nice hit!
@wiscot
In relative terms its not costing me too many dimes. And hopefully I won’t need an ay-daptor kits.
Just want to ride it already.
@wiscot
You got any cycling history left in that brain of yours? We could do with an article.
@RobSandy
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I think Gianni has 2 or 3 articles by me somewhere, but as he dropped out of the Keepers Club, I’m not sure where they are. Two were short and fun (one on Hinault’s jewelry line, the other on toe straps), and one was a longer one on Raleigh and Renault teams in the early 80s. I could send them to Frank, but he doesn’t visit here too often these days.
Frankly, I love writing the pieces I’ve done for this site (10 or 11 I think), but if there’s little to no chance of them being posted, I’m not sure I want to put the hours in just to see them disappear. The ones I wrote were certainly better than having nothing new for over a month, that’s for sure.
@wiscot
I had an email from Gianni a while back saying to send all articles to Frank.
It’d be nice to think that no matter how little time Frank has to be directly involved he could at least stick a new article up.
Also, your articles rock so do it.
@RobSandy
Three articles just got sent to Frank. Fingers crossed!
New toy for tuning up my vintage wheels…..
@wiscot
Excellent! Hope to see at least one of them soon.
@Teocalli
it’s not a park.. it’s not Campagnolo.. what is it?
@Cary
Minoura — more at the budget end of pricing but seems to have a good arrangement.
To open a discussion on wheels;
As you probably know I’m assembling myself a new race machine. I’m going to fit an 11 speed cassette to my current ‘race’ wheels (Fulcrum Racing Quattros) and use them as the ‘everyday’ wheels for this bike.
So I’ll be looking for a set of race wheels to do justice to the speed of the Felt AR frame in races and TTs.
So I wondered if anyone had any recommendations for me for what to look for. I think what I would really like is a set of clinchers, depth around 50-60mm as a minimum, but with an alloy braking surface.
So, does anyone want to convince me I want any of the following
1. Tubulars
2. Carbon braking surface (which will mean switching pads – not the end of the world)
3. Deeper/shallower rims
There seems to be plenty around 2nd hand, mostly from the triathlon/TT scene so that’s where I’ll be shopping.
@RobSandy
1. I’ve been riding tubulars exclusively since January this year, which historically isn’t my normal practice. One set of carbon Boras (35mm depth) and one set of box aluminum Ambrosios. Due to wear and a couple of cuts/punctures finally killing them, I’m waiting for a new set of tires to glue. I put on clinchers last week (Campa Neutrons) and I’ll probably ride them for a while. (BTW, summer rains washed plenty of thorns in the roads, so I did have some punctures; with a little sealant I never got stranded, and it was no worse than messing with an inner tube out on the road.) The change in ride quality was quite dramatic, much harsher with the clinchers. What I’m hinting at is to go with tubs, they’re awesome.
2. I’ve found switching pads to be more of a nuisance than it should be. Really – slide pads out, slide replacements in, no big deal in theory. Getting the new ones to slide in can be frustrating sometimes, though. I’m planning to get new pad holders so I can just swap them out with the allen key.
3. Can’t comment on depth too much, no experience with really deep rims.
Mavic Cosmic CXR 60 clincher wheels etc with tyres £500. Good buy? Currently owned by a bike mechanic
@RobSandy
You may notice that in the -17 degree position your 3T stem is actually longer than the advertised 110mm. My experience is that 3T takes the measurement along the positive rise length of the stem (don’t ask me why). I originally had a 120mm -17 degree 3T stem on my bike and it’s actual measurement in the horizontal position was actually more than 130mm. I ended up putting a -17 degree 110mm 3T stem to get something that was more like 120mm.
Also, I assume your back/neck/shoulders can tolerate going long and low. I understand the desire to slam the stem and stretch it out to be as aero as possible and for the totally pro look. But if you can’t comfortably ride in that position or end up causing aches and pains, whatever marginal gain made won’t have been worth it.
@chuckp
Yeah, nice comments. I have borrowed a Felt -17deg 100mm stem, and bought a 3T 110mm -17deg and also have a Cinelly -6deg 100mm stem for my track bike.
The ‘actual’ length for them is all different. If you measure from the headset top cap to the centre line of the handlebars the 3T one is 110mm exactly. The Cinelli is 100mm exactly but the Felt is more like 80mm.
I think the 3T one is near enough, perhaps a 90 or 100mm would be perfect but I can experiment a bit.
It’s a pure race bike so comfort doesn’t come into the equation for this one, as long as the position I end up in lets me get the power down. I’ll try with the long 3T one at first and see how I get on.
Managed to do the internal routing last night (at 4am – don’t ask!). Turns out if you remove the fork it becomes very easy. Who knew? The oddness with the Felt AR frame is that you route the housing for the RD, FD and rear brake all the way through the frame, not just the cable.
<sleep deprived rambling end>
@chuckp
Also, I recall you warning me about Lizardskins tape. You were dead right.
It looked amazing on, feels great under my hands but looks filthy already and wont get clean.
I’ll be going back to Fizik next time.
Il Progetto continues.
Housing is in for rear brake and derailleurs. Going to take some time to get it look good – as it’s got internal routing which goes into the top tube it’s not going to have the standard curves in front of the head tube.
And as the rear brake comes from the left hand side and goes to the LH lever I don’t think I’m going to have any housings crossing the headtube at all. More aero innit.
I just need to fiddle with the position a bit – I know I want it a bit more aggressive than my current bike, so will measure everything up. I’m only going to know how much is too much when I ride it.
@RobSandy
Looking good
@Teocalli
I realised I progressed further than that pic – the housings have been pushed out of the top tube and into the shifters. Need to adjust the front derailleur height (the last owner ran a standard and I’m on 52/36) then I can connect the cables and get them moving.
I’ll have to pause then until I can safely take brakes and crankset home.
Apologies for the shit-pit of the room behind the bike.
@RobSandy
I love my Lizardskins tape because I can ride no gloves with no problems, but any color other than black gets dirty and won’t come clean. I currently have pink. I think may do the pink/black next with the black on the tops since most of the time I ride on the hoods or on the tops and the pink in the drops where it won’t get as dirty as much.
@RobSandy
Your Felt is looking good! Me and mine from a recent coffee ride.
@chuckp
Ride your bars anyway you wish — but keep it clean.
@chuckp
White bartape. Always white. The Lizardskins are on my soon-to-be Ex race bike, a Felt F75. So I’ll go black with that as befitting a Nr#2 when I next change the tape.
The geo of that AR frame is odd – I’ve replicated my F75 position just about, but I need a long, -17deg stem and about 3cm more saddle setback. Why would their top of the range racer have more stack and less reach?
@RobSandy
Thought I’d share some bike porn.
Had to replace my fi’z:k Kurve Bull saddle. Creaking sound it’s been making for a little while was the carbon/kevlar shell … cracked. Thank you to my friend, Sam, for telling me this was a known problem/issue.
It’s impossible to replace a Kurve Bull saddle because (a) they’re not made anymore (probably due to the shells on enough of them cracking) and (b) the design is unique. Instead of relying on padding to absorb shock, Kurve Bull essentially eschews padding and the carbon/kevlar shell flexes. The only way to describe the way it rides is sublime. Absolutely the most comfortable saddle I’ve ever ridden.
After lengthy discussion with the nice folks at fi’zi:k in Italy, we decided that the closest possible replacement would be the Aliante R1 with carbon braided rails. Same saddle shape, but not the same Mobius rail system on the Kurve Bull. Definitely looks the part. We’ll see how it rides.
We all like bike porn.
A question for the class; I have carefully measured all the dimensions of my old race bike in order to replicate my position on my Felt AR1 when it’s built.
I got the contact points at virtually identical relative positions, with one exception; saddle setback.
My saddle seems quite a long way forward on my F75 and to get the same bar-saddle reach I have had to push the saddle of the AR1 back about 20mm.
Any thoughts on how this might affect the ride? I’m not starting from the point of view that the F75 is set up perfectly, either. I was always tweaking my position.
To get an identical position I’d be looking at a 130mm -17deg 3T stem. Hmm.
@RobSandy
What I do with saddle setback is set a new bike up as close as I can to what I think is my measured optimum and then go out and ride it. I then adjust my saddle position so that it is positioned where my arse wants to be. I don’t know whether it’s just me or not but my arse seems to know it’s mind (so to speak) and goes where it wants to be rather than where I put the saddle. So I put the saddle where my arse wants it.
@Teocalli
I think that was going to be my approach. I probably wouldn’t have anthropomorphised my arse though.
I’ll have a few trial rides and see how it feels before tinkering again. All the other measurements are identical.
@Teocalli
And wha la ! It works. That’s exactly what I do too. And the thing is, I can ride my bike for months when my arse can decide it wants the saddle in a little different spot and so, a few runs up and down the street with a hex wrench and all good again. Now, saddle height I measure to the crank spindle is generally always the same on my road bike. But I can shift the saddle a little back and forth and tilt just a tiny little bit up or down from level every now and then to fine tune.
Come to think of it, I mess around too with my car seat making adjustments all the time. Hmmm…
Anyways, I’ve been meaning to try one of those new “power” saddles with the shorter front ends but just haven’t got to it yet. Also, @chuckp , I’ve tried all the fizik saddles with no luck yet. And the Arione that originally came on my CAAD10 ? I felt like I may as well have been straddling a pipe. I doubt I was more than ten yards down the road when I knew it wasn’t gonna work.
cheers all
My new toy is excellent. I had felt that my Gios was not quite right somehow and either something was wrong with the frame or the wheels. The frame measured up true as far as I could tell and the wheels also seemed pretty true using the brakes as a guide. Part of the “problem” here is that in buying vintage refurb wheels you are not absolutely sure of the history of them – all part of the risk/fun. So whilst the bike rode really well, as I said there was a feeling it was not perfect and this was most noticeable on the rollers when hands free as I had to lean to the right to keep it centred.
What I found with the wheel truing stand was that the front wheel was off to one side near 1 cm and the rear about 0.5 cm. Re-centred both and all is fine. One interesting point about this is that some of the lower cost wheel stands only seem have a guide on one side, so maybe whoever built these wheels had one of those and while the wheels were round they were not centred.
So if you are in the market for a wheel truing stand make sure it has a guide for both sides of the wheel.