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 ...
@Routier
I am inspired by this rig !! Post all the specs if you will. Red tape says ‘unconformity’.
@Mikael Liddy
Belated congrats on the new ride and the awesome icon you get for the next year.
@Nate
Cheers, all in all it’s been a pretty sweet week!
@Marcus
Believe it or not I’m shorter than him. The only Pro I know that is my height is Eggtimer and he weights significantly less than I do anyways.
Seems like to me that black and red are still as popular as ever. Especially with red cables.
@Mikael Liddy
At least your reason for a high bar height is easily fixed. If I lean over to far my spare tire gets in the way of my stroke, and I have some lower back problems. Chiropractor for the lower back and of course I’m making strides with the weight. All in time. But congrats on the new bike!
It just goes to show that pygmys can be giants of the road.
@brett
The incredible thing about Gerro is he only took up cycling when he busted his knee riding motorcross and his neighbor, the Phil Anderson, encouraged him to get on a road bike to help his rehabilitation.
@Vin’cenza
Force group, Ultegra wheels (will be upgraded at some point), Ergosum bars, ARX Pro stem, Toupe Expert, Pro Race 3 SCs. I went with red tape just to lighten up the cockpit, the front end would have looked too dark with black.
RIP 2011-2012
Flowers and donations only
Nicked by bolt cutter wielding fucktards today from back of my clinic where it was chained to a 4 inch section of steel with the biggest chain and lock I could buy…..
@Dr C
Brutal. sorry to hear.
@Dr C
And I bet the bastards didn’t even spare a moment to think “Look how the valves are perfectly aligned with the tyre labels.”
:-(
@Dr C
Damn, that sucks! I can’t keep track of everyone’s rides around here these days, I hope that was #2 or #3, and not your most prized velocipede?
@Dr C
Mother Fucker! You just got that bike. Condolences.
This may help
@Marko
Agreed! And @Marko beat me to the Pulp Fiction link.
I once had a Litespeed with Zipps locked to my roof rack. Went into the store to get some post ride recovery beverages, came out to find the fuckers had taken the entire roof rack and all. Sad, sad, sad. Sorry @Dr C……….
@Dr C
Well, son of a bitch, that sucks.
How did you like the Crux, though? How was the ride? I’m looking at acquiring a Cross bike, and I like the idea of internal cable routing. Did you have the same size as your road bike or did you go down a size?
@Dr C
Damn! Our facility management (1500+ employee complex) here at work has denied me access to a normal door through which to enter the office and store my bike in an adjacent empty cube. They cite policy that I am to use the very plain bike rack outside while I work and that bikes indoors are prohibited. F that! I stand it on end and crab it through the security badge controlled revolving doors. I may look funny going through that door, but at least the bike is next to me all day.
@Dr C
Condolences…this may make you feel better.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6092230/bike-thief-gets-destroyed
@Dr C
Shit, that fucking sucks. We’ll raise a beer to it in the velodrome next weekend.
Were you insured and if so was the lock/chain sufficiently hefty to meet the insurance requirements?
Next time keep it in your clinic, justify it as a way to make it easier to explain the concept of exercise to your patients.
At least it wasn’t your green tyred Roubaix.
@Dr C
Motherless feckers. Keep an eye on ebay/gumtree etc. There’s no respect for the medical profession these days. Have you denied any methadone scripts lately? There’s always someone with an axe to grind…
@Dr C
Damn, damn, damn.
And that’s why I park mine in my office. I get questions, but explain Rule #25 (with the coworkers cars).
We will hoist a Trappist in remembrance.
@Dr C
Doc, condolences. It’s like losing a member of the family. Besutoful machine, no less. At least the number one is still waiting in the shed for Keepers Tour.
Commiserations.
@Dr C
That makes me so angry… And sick to my stomach.
Luckily, you have excellent pictures of it, so it should be covered under your homeowner’s policy. If there is anything you’d like to change about it, now is your chance. I had a Mini Cooper stolen out of my driveway a couple of years ago, while I watched TV in my living room not more than ten feet away. That feeling is disgusting, and I hope the little bitches get exactly what they deserve. In my case, the kids that did it drove another car that they stole right into a brick wall as they fled the police… and died. I’m not saying they deserved that, though.
@Dr C
Sorry to hear about the loss. I’d be so pissed. I used to visit an old office I worked in and took the bike inside. For a “laugh” they’d hide it. I ended up going all Malcolm Tucker on them. When I was at Glasgow Uni I wangled a locked janitorial room to stash the bike. No way as I leaving it outside. Sounds like you need to pull some MD rank and say “the bike comes inside.”
@Dr C
Man, that sucks. My condolences.
When I was a kid, I had my very first “real” mountain bike (a Crack n’Fail m300) stolen out of my parent’s garage the night after I brought it home. Insurance covered it, but what a crappy feeling.
@wiscot
That all sounds familiar. I’ve been an active member of the university’s cycling community and advocating all manner of bike lanes, etc., but have been conspicuously silent on bike racks, because my bike lives in my office. No room for students, but room for the bike…
@Dr C
…and, of course, heartfelt condolences.
@Calmante
So, you would say your stomach is full of anger, yes?
@all
Truly I am touched by your kindness Veople – what other phenomenon exists where one’s grief can so rapidly be dispelled by a bunch of people one has never met, but with whom one feels such a sense of community!
I am humbled by your interest and sincerity
Particularly tickled by the video of the student hit team – definitely think I would flourish more with a change of career to a V-igilante
Otherwise, and as a veteran of three stolen cars, I’m resign to the process, it is back to the insurance form filling – I hope they don’t try to say the chain was too light, as the only proof I have only the fragment of chain they left behind, as they nicked the chain and closed lock too???
Roubaix now lives in house rather than garage as of today
We shall indeed toast it’s afterlife in Belgium – such a waste after such a short life – indeed, I wonder if the new owner will wonder what Dr C Velominati – Obey the Rules! Means….
Very sorry to hear that…
@Dr C
Condolences. We’ll help you drown your sorrows in Malteni in a few days.
@Dr C
I shall keep an eye out for a Specialized Dr C on ebay.
@Steampunk
You, sir, have your priorities just right!
By he way, it’s been freaking summer in WI this week – in the high 70s/low 80s the last few days. Hopefully it’ll last through next Friday and the WI Mini Cogal!
@niksch
I liked it thanks – stuck the Roubaix Pro road tyres on and did the job well for the commute – missed the Cx season by a full week, but did some MTB on it and it handled well
Not sure if I’ll replace like with like, as I now have a new full sus MTB to play with – need something for the shitty commute though, as #1 is a full sun loving machine
@Dr C
Sounds like we are very similar. My #1 is a Roubaix Comp (Compact). I don’t like riding it in the snow melt here in Colorado too much, but it’s all I’ve got. I thought a Cx bike with slicks might be a good alternative.
@niksch
great all round carbon bike – just need to give it a deep clean every week – the zertz get pretty manky, bit they pop out and allow you to clean it properly, which I only sussed when I came to sell mine!
I know I have only just buried it, but I am thinking for my crappy commute, that this might be the ticket for £300 – Vitus single speed 29er
I see we now have Fixie Hipsters in Belfast – thanks for sending them over
I shall wear my full lycra – will seem like a whacky antidote…?
@Dr C
No, at least get of of the drop handlebar bikes and maintain some sort of pretense that you’re not just another moving target for the traffic. Get your head down and chase buses for a spot of drafting/motorpacing.
@Dr C
1: Rule #58
2: If you must use teh interwebz, buy a fixed gear piece of classic Italian steel (they’re all over ebay) & perfect your stroke whilst commuting & show the resident Fixie Hipsters how to look Fucking Fantastic.
@Dr C
Sorry to hear, know how you feel. About 15 years ago I had just finished building a new #1 and bought a new off the shelf MTB which I only had one ride on it and got pinched from a locked shed. Still feel the loss today!
I saw this a while ago and it shares the feeling of loss;
Karma’s gonna get ya, ya low life’s!
@Vin’cenza
Sweet!
@Dr C
Not sweet – my deppest condolences. There is a special place in hell for bicycle thieves.
Presently on the repair stand, thanks to the TSA.
@Dr C
Sorry, just realised I hadn’t shared any condolences with you before pulling you up on rule violations. Shit luck, good doctor.
Hopefully the scum contract some malaise that requires medical attention & in their ill health forget that they’re riding the bike back to the surgery they stole it from. At this point it’s up to you as to whether you’d prefer to treat them (whilst also reporting them to the law) or just let them die a slow agonising death & take the bike back as they’ll no longer need it…
@Dr C
Shit luck mate, sorry to hear it. Keep yer eye on ebay and craigslist etc. Bike thieves are dumb as fuck.
@Mikael Liddy
No worries man, believe it or not, I live 5 miles from Chain Reaction Cycles – one of the greatest mysteries in the world, up there with evolution, sexual attraction and how a TV set works, is how on earth a small warehouse in Northern Ireland could possibly become Europe’s biggest bicycle retailer…
I am currently thinking of a Specialized Langster to replace my loss – should be a laugh doing cyclo cross on it
@sthilzy
Like the cut of that guy’s jib – would be tempted to do likewise on my surgery gate, but sadly, again, societal conformity forces me to take it on the chin – damn
Once again, heartfelt thanks for all the condolences – bet I won’t get this much sympathy when a family member dies!! Love you all
Oh, by the way – it is clear that indoors is the only safe place to keep a bike!
@Dr C
That sucks, sorry to hear. A thief would have to take my dead bloody stumpy legs with him if he was to get my bike.
And in that manner, I present my #1. Still replacing bits here and there but enjoy it like crazy as it is right now.
[dmalbum: path=”/velominati.com/wp-content/uploads/readers/roger/2012.03.22.19.10.33/”/]
2002 Seven Axiom recently resprayed in homage to Roger. King headset (what else?); Thomson stem and seat post; Deda Zero bars; SRAM Force group set (compact); Time Carbon iclic; Fizik Arione; Ambrosio 36 hole tubulars on Ambrosio hubs, shod with 27mm Vitt Paves; Salsa lip lock seat clamp; Planet X carbon cages. In a slightly different configuration, this bike has been over the Ventoux (6 times at last count), Alpe D’Huez, Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde, Hautacam, Izoard, Lauteret, Port de Bale; it has done P-R, Amstel and various other sportives. It is a better bike than I’ll ever be a rider. (Cross top is on for a purpose, will come off shortly.) It is a truly wonderful tool. Sorry for mediocre photography, it deserves better.
Bel mezzo!@Tubular Swells