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 ...
@mcsqueak
Joe Parkin talked about this in his book. He showed up to a ride with a Real Belgian, and of course, as an American, had 2 bottles in 2 cages. The Belgian said (in Belgian, of course – I translate…) “Why 2 bottles? We can stop, you know…”
V-Bidons on The Gear? Something else for poor Frank to wrangle for us assholes. I saw purelycustom.com makes custom bar end plugs. Don’t have the heart to ask Frank to get some emblazoned with the V-Cog. Although I did notice that the middle letter of my bike manufacturer’s decal (seVen) needs to be replaced with a V-cog. And oddly enough, I hear they will do custom decals. Still, over decaling The Steed tends to make one look like a douche.
@eightzero
“In Belgian” dude? Really ?
@sgt
Yeah, it took me a while to transition, just moved to the small bottles this past spring. When I first switched from the camelbak to only bottles I thought I was going to die of dehydration, until I figured out that my body can run on less water than I originally thought. Perhaps that is a function of getting more fit, as well? I’m not sure – all I know is I can ride longer on less water without feeling as thirsty as I use to feel.
Thanks for that bottle link as well – those look interesting. My VMH has grabbed my bottles before when going for a run and made the comment “ew, these taste like you don’t wash them”, to which I replied “no, that’s just the leftover flavor from Strawberry HEED, which makes my bottles taste like a mix between strawberries and dirt”.
@eightzero
Yeah poor frank has enough on his plate – we should probably not request more stuff until he can farm out the work to other folks!
@TommyTubolare
Interesting, but definitely not.
It certainly shares strong similarities at the head tube and top tube and possibly the down tube top tube junction, but the seat tube / seat stay junction is subtly different. Then the Trek chain and seat stays are quite different.
Dare I say that Dengfu may have ” borrowed” some IP?
I just don’t know.
@paolo
Ah. So you saw what I did there.
@eightzero
Your slick escape attempt has me smirking ear to ear.
Well Played.
Well damnit, sgt…I just got myself set-up with enough Camelbak bottles for each bike, in the proper colors.
Now I have…Bidon Lust? That is fucking nuts.
Thanks.
So, I just got me a ‘cross bike (2011 Focus Mares AX2). I don’t intend to use it primarily for ‘cross racing, but as a jack of all trades on which I can ride on the road at acceptable (though not top) speed and also ride safely on gravel / dirt / 4WD tracks at acceptable (though not top) speed. Think dry forestry road and smooth double-track rather than than wet, rooty singletrack with drop offs. Question is: what tires should I use? It came with ‘cross tires, but they will wear away (and be cumbersome) on the road. So I’m thinking something like the widest Gatorskins I can find. But I’d welcome suggestions from you ‘cross riders and – in particular – gravellers out there.
@G’phant
If the budget can handle it, maybe get another set of wheels (with cassette) that you can swap over in the blink of an eye. If you don’t plan on going top speed on the road with it, just get a pair of cheap road wheels and you are done.
The Principle of Silence is hard to observe with nobbies on the road…
@G’phant
Hell yeah, G! Nice work. Gatorskins is the right call. I ride 28s 80% of the time. Gravel, forest circus roads, tarmac. They’re money. What you really need is another set of wheels to keep the cx tires on for the icy, snowy, really muddy days. That said, I’ve been riding my gatorskins on ice for a week now. Btw, we need pics dude. Those focus cross bikes are cool.
@marcus
Great minds…
@All
Enough with the cross bikes! I’ve got a mild case of n+1 fever right now, and a cross bike seems to be what’ll scratch my itch… Serenity now…
I have cross bike fever for sure. If I win the lotto I’m gonna go with a Van Dessel.
@sgt
Its not a bad choice for the Keepers Tour, either.
Instead of having to worry about extra wheels or tire swaps…I just picked up my second cross bike in a few months.
One will be race-ready with Hutchinson knobbies in 32 mm, on my jack of all trades, 28 mm Continental Four Seasons. Why? I own them already! And they should be sweet as.
Cross bikes, I’ve realized, are awesome! When you aren’t flying on a road ride, they make far more sense.
@marcus @Marko
Thanks, lads. I ride Gatorskins on the road as it happens – weight penalty worth paying to avoid the wait penalty (see what I did there?) of fixing punctures – but wasn’t sure if they made sense off-road. Took the new stable member for a quick spin tonight. I needs me a smaller chainring and possibly a longer stem, but I can definitely confirm that ‘cross bikes is fun. Will post photo when I work out how to do that …
keepers i need some advice, one of the blokes i ride with here is selling his old Cervelo S3 because now that he’s racing he’s realised that he needs a frame that fits him, this in being too small for him but about the right frame size for me, i think. What is the Cervelo sizing like? i ride a 56cm Cannnondale CAAD8 atm so anyone have experiance?
secondly i’ve seen it and it’s been in a couple of crashes, it’s been checked and approved by the local bike shop for him to race on afterwards so it should be fine but the paintwork has taken a beating.
He’s selling after christmas so i need to get saving now, so what do my esteemed followers think?
First post here, so hello all.
I’ve got a Genesis Vapour CX bike that I use for everything. I’m running 32mm conti sport contact tyres, I wanted 28’s but was impatient at the LBS and didn’t wait for them to order them in. When run hard they are fast on the road and comfy with enough side grip on gravel and track. I can’t imagine that 32’s are that much slower than 28’s on the road so if you’ve got room you might want to try them out.
The rule of N+1 dictacts that I’m looking at full on road bike for next spring. Something light and faster. @mouse I’ve been looking at those carbon frames on ebay for a while and following a long long thread on the bike radar forum. I’d like to hear what you think about it after you’ve had it for a while.
I’m slightly disturbed to see talk of monster-truck tyres here.
Surely anything above 23mm has no place on a road bike, with the possible exception of a muddy edition of Paris-Roubaix.
Do we need a Rule on this ?
ChrisO – I think the talk about portly tires is for cross/all-arounder/gravel bike needs. I ride 23s on my road bikes, but now that I’ve been riding a cross bike with 32s around town, on gravel, all over, I realize how nice wider tires are when you are doing more than strictly apply The V on your road bike.
For me, I loved the versatility and wider tires of my nice cx bike so I decided to pick up a second, more modest cx bike to use as my all-arounder and move this into my line-up, trading out one of my road bikes with 23s. For me, wider tires, more upright geometry and less concern about chipping paint or getting it stolen were all very nice. I realized after owning a cx bike for a few months that they are far better than a road race bike for everything beyond hammering on the road (and they still aren’t bad for this, with road tires!)
@G’phant
I will soon have my XC bike back. It’s been in storage since the move this summer and will be getting it back right before Christmas. It’s a Lemond Poprad 2006 in the Cannibal paint scheme. Love it but had been using it as a road bike for a few years prior to the latest two Prophets that joined the stable. Now will convert it back to XC. G’phant’s remark about chainrings made me wonder what I should run on it. I currently have road rings of 53/39 on it. Any one know what a solid combo chainring set is for XC?
@ChrisO
Meh, I run 25mm Conti GP4000 on my bike, and I like that they can handle all conditions (including some gravel climbing trails we have here) with grace and fluidity.
It doesn’t hurt that they are actually lighter than the Vittoria 23mm tires I replaced once those started getting slices and nicks in them.
My Bianchi after a jolly good clean this afternoon. I’ve posted it once or twice before, but there are always subtle changes going on that make me want to take fresh pictures of it.
@Oli
Very nice indeed.Perfect touch with that silver/black Campy bottle.
@frank
Actually screw it I want an S5 now despite my strenuous opposition to it. I have spacers on all my bikes and I’m ok with it.
@Oli good looking bike. I see you’re graced with altitude too! What size is that frame?
It’s a 61cm. I’m only 183cm tall, but I have a freakishly long 93.5cm inseam.
@Oli
Very, very nice bike.
@Oli
Very interesting. I was curious about inseam to height ratio recently. Checking around on-line, most people were in the mid to upper 40% range. I don’t remember anyone over 50% . You are 51.1% (I’m 49.5). If cycling hadn’t worked out, you coulda been a Top Model. Then again, who says you weren’t?
Beautiful bike btw.
@Oli
Beauty bike, new shifters? Damn, it’s worth an ebay search to own a celeste Bianchi. Such a bel mezzo.
-Italian Cycling Journal
@Gianni
Nothing so exciting, I’m afraid. I replaced the out of place AlphaQ carbon cages with some classic Phillips ones. They were just an excuse to post her again really…
Here ya go Oli, these are for you
What it’s supposed to look like
What it actually looks like
What I look like
Haha! I like the moustache continuation of this theme too.
@anyone
dumb question – are the significant compatability issues between various shimano cranksets (not talking about BBs here) – or is it simply a case of replacing one compact crankset with another?
If you mean shifting or spacing differences, 9 and 10sp are all interchangeable. I wouldn’t use 8sp just because the cogs are thicker and can cause chainsuck.
So today I discovered that my stupid water bottle has just rubbed a little hole all the way through my paint to the frame in the down tube, right across from the bottle cage attached to the seat tube..
I think it happened because it’s been messy out recently, so some leaf jizz or something acted as a grainy paste between the edge of the bottle and the frame.
I’m not really that concerned, as it’s a spot no one will see and this isn’t my dream bike. I’ll adjust the bottle cage and make sure that there is slightly more clearance in the future.
However, what could I put on there to protect the paint (and exposed frame metal, which is alu) from any more problems? Would a little dab of the VMH’s clear nail polish “seal” it? Automotive paint clear coat touch-up?
Suggestions appreciated!
@mcsqueak
Aluminum is fairly self-sealing so I reckon you have a cosmetic problem, although I stand to be corrected by the likes of Oli. The surface of the alu will oxidize but the oxide quickly seals the surface preventing further reactions, until rust in steel which keeps eating away at the underlying metal until it compromises the strength of the frame.
@mcsqueak
The oxidisation that Nate refers to is a bad thing, as it will spread under the paint. Your nail polish idea is good.
@Oli
I left a bit out – what I meant to say was, “I wouldn’t use 8sp chainrings with 9 or 10sp chains just because the cogs are thicker and can cause chainsuck.
@Oli
What would we do without Oli? You da man.
@Nate
thanks Oli – I am selling my Spesh Roubaix – unfortunately in the early days of learning how to tune my FD, I dropped the chain a few times off the big cog, which has rather made a mess of the black crankset – I was thinking of replacing it, as the bike is pristine otherwise, despite the kms, but this is only viable if I can shop around rather than sticking to an exact replacement
sounds like if I go for a 50/34 Shimano I should be okay?
I can’t see a problem.
@Oli
beautiful – off to Ebay for me
@Oli @Nate
Thanks. I’ll apply a coat of clear nail polish to the area tonight and hope for me best. Sad face.
@mcsqueak
You could always find a pot of modelling enamel (like they use on plastic model planes) that roughly matches the colour of your rig – if it’s even vaguely close in hue your eye won’t notice it at all after a few rides, and it should look better than bare aluminium anyway.
@mcsqueak
What color is your Felt? Mine is a low-gloss black (IIRC yours is black too) and it came with a small vial of touch up paint. It’s probably 6 years old at this point but if it sounds like a match or near match to your rig I can drop it in the mail to you. My Felt is no longer bike #1 so I’d be happy to pass it along.
@Nate
My Felt is matte black, but it happened right on the state of California graphic they have near the bottom of the down-tube now (which is white). Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll be OK with just nail polish since it happened on a spot that is normally not seen.
@Oli
Well the VMH has nail polish in all sorts of colors, and I thought about matching it, but since it’s just a little spot normally hidden by the bottle I might just go over it with clear and call it good. It’s not like it’ll harm the performance of it or anything.
@mcsqueak
why dont you have your LBS contact Felt to see what they can do?
@RedRanger
I don’t think that is really necessary, since it’s just tiny little paint blemish and not a frame failure or something more serious like that. Plus it’s really my own darn fault, so I don’t think it would be covered under any sort of warranty.
Plus their FAQ says this:
Do you sell touch up paint?
Felt does not have touch up paint available. We have found the best way is to visit a hobby shop and they usually have a wide variety of touch up colors. You can also check with your local bike shop as bikes usually come with a very small bottle and many shops save these. One other option is to use nail polish, which is an enamel paint and comes in a rich variety of colors.
Thouight this would fit in nicely here….. and I thought you guys might appreciate this:
Vintage lightweight Racing bicycle collection