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 ...
@Dr_Death
Excellent. It’s what it is all about. Super article. Thanks so much for sharing!
Can anyone direct me to any tyre discussions here? Got some new wheels and was thinking it might be a good idea to put some new rubber on them and maybe some latex tubes.
@snoov
What kind of bike, riding, wheels, etc?
Frank posted a while back about latex tubes.
@Nate
At the moment it’s an Allez (frame and forks are the next big upgrade). The wheels are Sram S30 AL Race which I got for less than half the RRP (made a fast decision but when I read that they are getting help from Zipp who they now own I thought I couldn’t go far wrong). Riding is mostly training on the Scottish country roads with various surfaces and Cat 3 and 4 climbs, between 80 and 160 km per week depending on the weather and if I have to work at the weekend.
@snoov
I’m a big fan of the top of the line Vittoria tires — Open Corsas for nice weather, Open Paves for wet. Being in Scotland I’m guessing you have wet regularly. Pros: very supple, ride beautifully including on rougher surfaces, grip well. I have lots of technical descents so I like smooth, grippy tires. Cons: expensive, tread is thin so don’t get as much mileage as some other tires. Some say the sidewalls cut too easily. I haven’t personally had that problem.
@Nate
Thank you. I think in terms of budget and trying them out I’m gonna get me some Rubino Pros and for the summer a set of Open Corsas. Luckily for me I live on the East coast and in a rain shadow so we don’t get as much rain as you’d expect, but that’s maybe just in comparison to the West!
Christmas arrived early this year…
@Collin
Sick!!! congrats. whats the build gonna look like?
@Collin
Fuck me, not another one!!!
Yes this is an insanely jealous post…
@RedRanger
I’m cannibalizing my old Roubaix frame. Full SRAM Force gruppo. Handbuilt wheels with Alchemy hubs and Kinlin rims. Run-of-the mill Easton bars. Sadly, snow begins next week, so by the time everything is assembled, the inaugural ride might be on rollers.
@Collin
Cant wait to see the final product. Its gonna be sexy as hell.
Oh wow these are gorgeous:
http://www.englishcycles.com/
@Gianni
Sorry. A bit late on the Bianchi love-in, but here’s my #1.
I SO NEED A NEW BIKE…much like @G’phant & the Keeper’s Tour thread I shall be steering clear of this for a while, it’s bloody depressing.
For the Cannondale owners:
I was working on the fit of my Super six and I discovered that the giant cone the sits above the headset can be removed. is that cone a integral part of the headset or does it just act as a giant spacer?
@Bianchi Denti
That is one mean looking bike .
@Collin
Are those forks sitting backwards?
@Blah
Yup
@RedRanger
Is it like these:
http://www.startfitness.co.uk/uploads/images_products_large/41479.jpg
If so, that is unnecessary and is only stopping you from slamming your stem. It is just a fancy spacer. I could be wrong though.
@Bianchi Denti
That thing is mean. Needs the stickers off the wheels and she’ll be even meaner. Is that going to Belgium, or the Pantani-sled?
Going off this exploded view, you should be good.
http://www.cannondaleexperts.com/assets/images/supersix-headset-exploded.jpg
@brett
Now don’t get angry, but neither the Bianchi, Wilier nor Denti is going to Flanders. I’m hiring one of the Cyfacs.
Carbon Bianchis have a bad enough rep for cracking (I’m on my 2nd frame) without riding over cobbles. The Wilier has a 90s technology Italian 1″ carbon steerer tube, which also does not fill me with confidence. And the Denti is just too ugly. All lame excuses for me seeing bike hire as the easy solution.
@Bianchi Denti
Fair enough. Don’t tell Frank though, he nearly had an anuerism when I suggested leaving Il Profetta at home. But it was made for the cobbles!
@DerHoggz
I had been wondering about that as well. My back is not up to it at the moment but hopefully now that I’ve got some back specific stuff going on in the training plan it’ll improve. The cone thing does rather detract from the aesthetics.
@Bianchi Denti
A guy I rode with back in Melbourne maybe 6 years ago brought his new pride and joy Bianchi 928 along to the bunch ride a couple of days after getting it. That was the only time I ever saw it, as he broke the frame after hitting a pothole later in the week. Not covered under warranty, as it was deemed a crash.
He now works with the state bicycle body, and certainly knew a thing or two about his rights back then, so managed to to get out Road and Traffic Authority to cough up for it, under the premise that the road was a fault and he was legitimately “just riding along” and ought to be able to assume the road wouldn’t smash is pretty carbon bits.
Once bitten, though, twice shy, as he used the payout to get something less pretty and more sturdy.
@RedRanger
You can buy different head sets with different sized top spacer bits but I think they are an integral part of the headset. You can’t just take it off and use a normal spacer instead as the cone sits on the bearing and it’s underneath is shaped for this task.
This is a bike I’m building for my VMH which as yet has not bars, wheels or brakes. I hope it helps, maybe your headset is different.
I’m not sure of the names of all the bits, the top cone spacer thing sits on the cone with the slit in it which compresses on to the forks when you tighten the stem cap on. Also, on this headset there is a rubber/silicone seal around the fork and another you can see at the bottom of the cone spacer thing, a normal spacer won’t have these.
Oh, I see on Chris’s exploded view the headset has one top cone spacer thing inside another. Just trying to help.
@snoov
Is that a Cannondale? I think my CAAD 8 105 has a Tange/Cane Creek Headset. I’ll pull it apart over the weekend and see what lies beneath. Seems fairly pointless to have an integrated headset if it sticks out over the top of the heads tube.
@snoov
That exploded view might be showing two different sized versions of the same thing.
@Bianchi Denti
Those Cyfacs are gorgeous bikes.
@Chris
@snoov
@DerHoggz
This it what it looks like without the cone/spacer, its actually exactly set up like that exploded view cause when you remove the cone there is a flat cover on top of the head tube that covers the bearings.
@RedRanger
Awesome, that cone was pretty fuggly, looked like it was some sort of hybrid leisure bike.
@snoov
You can’t go wrong with Conti GP4000’s, and I’m currently working on a reverence for latex tubes. The GP4000’s are super durable, and the rubber doesn’t nick as easiliy as Vittorias.
You have to be careful with the latex tubes, though – some of the really lightweight ones don’t last long. Go for the Vittorias.
But latex tubes make a monstrous difference in ride quality; they’re expensive but ride amazingly well.
@Bianchi Denti
That is a stunner and a half.
@Blah
NICE!!
No worries – I wouldn’t take my Ev2 on the cobbles, either. Those Bianchis are made for climbing, not this kind of riding.
@brett
Your Merckx, on the other hand…I’ve still not forgiven you for waffling on it!
@Chris
This.
@RedRanger
That SuperSix top cap looks great, all flat like that. Lovely.
@frank
thanks, I was messing with it last night before I hit the trainer. it took me a while to get used the the sudden jump from the fat head tube to the much narrower stearer tube. but I indeed like it and it allows me to get a lower position.
@snoov
Like Frank said, cant go wrong with the Conti GP4000S. I run 23’s and they ride nice and are durable. They are also nice and grippy in a turn.
@RedRanger,@snoov
I think you both mean the volcano cap.However the headsets you discuss are different.Cannondale uses integration system.
RedRanger there’s no problem with your set up.In fact like Frank said it looks awesome.Here’s Vinnie’s machine to compare
@RedRanger
I like how it looks, it is obviously a different headset.
@Chris
No it’s not a Cannon d’Allez (I can only say it like that now) it’s a Planet X which it got free but it’s a 48 so I’m building it up with the old parts from my bike so that the VMH can come out for a spin.
@frank
@RedRanger
Ah too late I took Nate’s advice as I’m super excited to try out the wheels and the Rubinos arrived today with Michelin latex tubes. If they don’t last I’ll try the Contis.
@TommyTubolare
AH HA the “volcano cap” thank you sensei.
@Blah
Hah yeah. Oops.
@Collin
Don’t get me wrong here, not trying to catch you out or critique the photo.
Just curious if Look had made a fork with negative rake.
@Collin
Oh crap, I forgot:
Congrats on the new ride.
Interested to hear what the build-up will entail.
I was stripping my #1 down for Ebay sale clean up – took everything off (looks amazing again), but was amazed how much friction there was in the crankset/chainset – I think I never spun it with the chain off completely before, but there seems to be more resistance than I would have expected
Should it spin completely freely, like for a couple of minutes (mine will stop after about 20 secs) – and do I need to be regularly servicing this?, as I am nervous about taking the crankset off (and will need to buy some tools if I do)
@Dr C
Hard to answer from where I’m sitting but I’d ask if you can feel a slight resistance or even hear something. When cranks are on properly they spin very freely but as far as the length of time goes I suppose it depends. A couple minutes seems long though as they’re such a small diameter arc, my front Zipp on the other hand I once got to spin for upwards of 8 minutes on the stand.
@Blah
can’t wait to see that made up – especially if you forget to turn the head round!
Bet you don’t normally let anyone lean anything against your HiFi unit….
Soooo beautiful – I think that may have to be my bike #1 (2014 lineage)
@Marko
that area known as the OSBB, whilst a rather sexy area, resembles, in terms of my understanding, the metal box that lives beneath the bonnet of my Beemer, I’m embarrassed to admit
The boy in me says, go on, by some tools, take it apart and see what lies inside there, to better understand, and then fork out big mullah to the LBS to replace it after you have fucked it, remaining none the wiser, if you know what I’m saying….
….maybe I should just buy some Zipp wheels…..think I’d have to trade one of the kids in though for that…
@Dr C
Dr C… I got a set of the new Zipp 303 Firecrests (Tubular) last month and they are sick, sick, sick! Aero, light, and relatively stiff- a really good all around wheelset. My Cervelo S2 with a Red/Force group and some K-Force components comes in a 6.5 kgs. Spring for the wheels- they rock!
@Anjin-san
pic of the aforementioned wheels and ride…
so this is my new #1 just arrived, though it has not yet been made up
am I being a complete tosser when I say this is a beautiful bike, spoiled by the crankset….???
Much as I appreciate the functionality of the Ultegra crankset, I just can’t stand it’s appearance – it’s like a saggy arse
Would I be a knob if I flogged it on Ebay, and stuck something beautiful like a SRAM rival or force on it (Red is a bit too flash/expensive) or Campy, in black, without that goddamnawful shimano spider crank – and best to sell before I scratch it with my white ladies/ chain drop
Pathetic, but it just looks all wrong to me – or do I go with functionality over form??
HELP!!!