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. @graham d.m.

    Nice job mate, looks great.

    How to completely make it awesome; black it out. Decals off the rims, black tape and saddle. At least the rim decals.

  2. @Souleur

    Think you were directing your question on Baums to me? Below is a pretty ordinary photo (put it up before) of my Baum Espresso – its about 9 years old now – steel with carbon rear end (an experiment they tried) and X-Wound fork (which look so cool). Chorus gruppo.

    I love it and always will. The welds on these things are beautiful and you can ride ’em all day. The framebuilder, Darren Baum, is an absolute perfectionist – I took my bike back to him about 18 months ago to get my seatpost “unfrozen”. Didn’t really remember me, until he saw my bike. Then he remembered everything about the bike and me. Was quite revealing as to how his mind works! I dropped this thing going down a hill at 95kph and it got one small dent in the downtube. Other than that, I protected it with my body.

    I guess this would be similar to most people’s experience with a quality bespoke frame build – but the time they put into finding out about my riding and then customising the fit accordingly – was great.

  6. @brett thanks for the tips! I like the idea of murdering it out.  You’re right that the rim decals have got to go immediately.

  7. @brett hey, by the way, is there a trick to taking rim decals off or is it just a pick at it situation?

  10. Fit question: is ankling really that bad?  The fitter at the shop said flat foot is better.  Does anyone have experience with Jagwire cables?  With the stem lowered the cables up front are quite a mess, is it possible to recut the housings and reuse the wires?  They have a liner of some sort I believe.  Would this in white and blue look good?

  13. @DerHoggz

    No, ankling isn’t at all bad.  Critical in my opinion.

    Flat footing denies the dynamic that the lower leg muscles can and should contribute to your pedal stroke.  We did have a debate about this in the past, though I’m buggered if I can remember which thread, and can’t be arsed to look.  Flat footers will no doubt pipe up about………..

    Now.

    Jagwire, ok I suppose.  Never had a great deal of problem with them, though I don’t think they’re the caddilac of cables, if you know what I mean.

    Yes, you can recut the housing and use the same cables, so long as you use proper cutters for each, and clean up the housing ‘hole’ so you don’t get any burrs catching on the cable itself.  Obviously the cable will be that much longer after hthe housing cut, and it will have to be trimmed off.

    If you want to do it really well, get yourself a soldering iron and solder the cable ends.

  15. @Oli

    Ankling is neither good nor bad, it’s trying to fight your natural style that’s wrong.

    The nuns at school told me too much ankling would send me to Hell. In fact even thinking about ankling was a mortal sin.

  16. @frank

    @Marko

    @Dr C Probably his DeFeet UnDshirt.

    Yup. I just got an DeFeet UndLITE which is completely insanely awesome. I’ll be racing in it tomorrow for sure

    Now where could I get myself one of them there snazzy undershirts…..

  17. @DerHoggz On the Fizik Dual Tape – I tried it on mine and it looked too candy cane-ish.  I did reverse it, however, and now I have black tape with red stitching (no red stripe showing).  Turns out to be a very subtle detail that you don’t even notice until up close.  I must say I like it.

  18. @graham dm

    Some rim decals remove nicely if you warm the decal with a hair dryer.

  19. @Ron – It’s the Fi’zi:k Microfiber tape. Next batch will be the Microtex stuff. Also, I’ve not tried the blades as I’m perfectly happy with my Max2s. My Raleigh will probably get a set of the regular Keos in Red (to match the bike)…

    @Marcus – Sexy ride, sir!

    @brett – Cables & Stem are stock. I’m not happy with this seatpost, but it’s a replacement for the carbone one that came with the bike, which I broke a few months back. I got fitted with a straight post and this same stem about a year ago… I may take the bike to another LBS around here that does the full fit, etc., but it’s my first real road bike and thus still a work in progress. =) I have every intention of replacing the cable housings fairly quickly. I have my eyes on a set of Alligator iLink cable housings in silver or black anodized.

    @DerHoggz  – my LBS sells JagWire cables. I’ve used one for the front derailleur and so far like it. Haven’t used them for the brakes or rear derailleur yet, so the jury’s still out.

  20. @mouse thanks, I’ve been picking at glue residue all over the bike. It’s appalling how many crap stickers they put on a bike.

    @Nate I’ll have to try that, for sure.  I can use all the help I can get and the careful peeling has only been going so-so. Thanks to you. 

    @all  with removing rim decals it appears my front rim isn’t decal at all but painted (?) on.  My back wheel is definitely decals. I am currently running mismatched rims due to my other back wheel crapping out and not yet determining what to buy next/budget timing. Any tips to get the front rim logos off? Am I crazy that they seem painted/printed directly onto the rim?

  23. @Oli

    @wiscot Keep up, Wiscot! We have already established that it’s Frank’s undershirt.

    Sorry, I was way from computer access for a few days.

  25. @Oli

    I sure can’t. I have no clue what’s going on here anymore. You’ve gotten nice, I’ve started agreeing with you, and @brett is giving helpful advice. I’m lost completely.

    @wiscot And I sure hope I don’t have the Vancouver Party Line in my pants. I’m not that kind of fellow.

  29. The English (or British or whatever they call themselves depending on what suits their sporting needs) have had their fun for the last few days. If I wasnt before, I am now officially over these Jolly Gents giving each other mutual handjobs whilst waxing lyrical on Wiggins achieving their nation’s “greatest ever sporting achievement”. On thinking about this I realised this might be very close to the truth. What a very sad state of affairs for them.

    Nasty shit-stirring article by Paul Kimmage in the Daily Mail. Just what the brits need. Oh, he is a piece of work.

    @frank @Oli – Can you two start a fight so we can move on from the Tour? I think Lance was great to watch and good for cycling. Discuss.

    @Minion – happy to start one with you but I have run out of insults.

  30. @Marcus

    How about we discuss (sorry, continue to discuss) your glaring lack of imagination.

    Or, Melbourne’s just a shit imitation of a real city like Hamilton, NZ. Or Hamilton, Canada. Or Queenbeyan.

    But in reality we don’t need to discuss any of these things, because with the Olympics approaching, the cup of Australian fail is about to runneth over in every possible direction.

    Fuck me if that doesn’t kick things off I’m quitting the internet.

  31. @minion classic Kiwi performance. Your Olympic experience (in fact your whole world) is based more on Australia’s sporting performance, rather than New Zealand’s.

    Or then again, I haven’t heard. Maybe we are all you have got. Can you guys afford to send a team over this year?

    Australia’s Olympics are going to be very very good. For a start, it will be good to see one of the regular local riders from around here pick up his fourth gold medal.

  32. Chris Hoy’s local?

    I’m looking forward to three weeks of sports no-one gives a shit about being touted as the greatest Aussie achievement since Phar Lap, an Aussie icon that is a) a Kiwi and b) a horse. I suppose I could wait till Straya runs out of Bogans and you have to start importing kiwis to play AFL, but I don’t care and don’t really think you’ll run out.

  33. @il ciclista medio killing two birds, with one stone – nasals and decals -is an excellent idea.  My wife asked me as I was peeling decals why companies put so much crap on a bike that no should/would want….it’s a good question. 

    @snoov

    @graham d.m.

    Mine are pained on too, just go fast and make them as blurry as possible.

    Once again faster is the answer.  It’s too bad I’m slow!

  34. @minion

    No – Drew Ginn – not a bad TTer on the road who toyed with turning pro after Beijing. But for a back injury in 2000, he would be about to achieve for Australia what Steve Redgrave did for GB. But then again, if my auntie had balls she would be my uncle. He has a very good blog that goes into a lot of detail about training, the philosophy behind it, etc. Quite un-Australian really.

    Olympic sports that matter are set out below. This is based on my own criteria of them being worldwide/mainstream (or close enough to) sports with objective measurement (no gymnastics or diving) which have the Olympics as their pinnacle.

    Track & Field, Swimming, Rowing, Track cycling, Field Hockey, Triathlon (yes)

    Oh yes – and any sport which contains an Australian medallist temporarily falls within this category, regardless of the above criteria.

     

  35. @Marcus This is too informative for an argument. Have to agree with the list of sports that have the Olympics as their pinnacle, even though track cycling (hopelessly optimistic) I reckon could be on the edge of a boomer, since they clearly figured out at Melbourne how to schedule the events so you get a really, really entertaining session of racing for teh TV audiences. Those other sports are still cursed with long, tedious seeding and qualifying rounds, that no-one gives a crap about. Track qualifying = flying 200.

    Triathlon will interest the sponsors of the athletes more than the public. With Ironman not being in there, the Olympic distance isn’t really the pinnacle of that sport.

  36. @minion I think you have changed my mind on triathlon – I would rather win at Kona than win a gold. I just got some sick in my mouth.

  37. @minion

    @Marcus

    I believe you two have succeeded at agreeing, or failed at arguing as I see it.

    Interestingly enough my bike doesn’t have decals as far as I can tell, it is part of the powdercoat.

  38. @Marcus

    The English (or British or whatever they call themselves depending on what suits their sporting needs) have had their fun for the last few days. If I wasnt before, I am now officially over these Jolly Gents giving each other mutual handjobs whilst waxing lyrical on Wiggins achieving their nation’s “greatest ever sporting achievement”. On thinking about this I realised this might be very close to the truth. What a very sad state of affairs for them.

    Really? You’re cutting their slack after one fucking day? You didn’t stop giving yourself a hummer over Cadel’s win until three days ago when it finally dawned on you that he wasn’t going for a long one to reclaim the yellow jersey. That means 362 days straight of us having to put up with your moaning in self-delight over how great Evans is and what that means for Cycling the world over.

  39. @frank

    You don’t understand Brit-Aussie relations. 24 hours (plus the previous fortnight of the Tour) has been more than fucking generous on my part.

    And because you haven’t the experience of dealing with Poms in their very rare times of sporting superiority (I am still recovering from my childhood being dominated by Ian Botham), you don’t realise how quickly they suddenly transport themselves back in time to the peak of the British Empire in the 19th Century. You have been warned.

  41. @minion

    @Marcus

    Triathlon will interest the sponsors of the athletes more than the public. With Ironman not being in there, the Olympic distance isn’t really the pinnacle of that sport.

    Can’t say I agree with that. That’d be like saying the 100m sprint is useless because the marathon is the pinnacle of running.

    Triathletes in the US might see Ironman and the long- and half-distance as the pinnacle. Maybe in Oz they do, too. But Europeans don’t really subscribe to the notion that the Sprint and Olympic distances are inferior – and provide for some top-level racing at those distances. I witnessed the professionalism and seriousness of the British age-grouper system, that sent 300 athletes to the European Championships – even when they were held in Israel, far away from actual Europe. While local triathletes have a hard-on for big numbers (“If you’re good, don’t waste your time with Sprint”, “What, you’re buying a TT bike for Olympic, what a waste!”), the Brits came with disk-wheels, wetsuits, aero-helmets and all the seriousness of a guy who spent 15 years doing Sprints. Needless to say they owned the podium in every category – I was one of the very few non-Brits to get a top-3 placing.

    In a way, Ironman racing is “the easy way”. You get more respect for sucking at Ironman than you get for sucking at Sprints, because if you did a rather ho-hum 12-hour Ironman, you still did a fucking Ironman, but if you did a 1:30-hour Sprint then, well, you suck. Doing well in short-course triathlons also require you to operate deep within the red zone, while Ironman’s distance pretty much dictates that you stay out of it.

    I’m going to watch the Olympic Triathlon, and I’ll be hoping Gomez holds up against the Allistairs. Can’t say I’ll be following Kona that closely.

  43. @tessar

    That’s a fair point, although I still think I can name more Kona does split the attention triathlon gets, and it’s my admittedly lazy perception that one gets more attention than the other – NZ Ironman is a massive participation event, and the fields of short distance tris are filled with wanna be iron men using them for training.

    Not wanting to be provocative for the sake of it, but when you say,

    the British age-grouper system, that sent 300 athletes to the European Championships – even when they were held in Israel

    who the fuck paid for that? Why not just, you know, send racers who might win their category? 

    Dear lord look at what’s happening to me. I can’t start a fight with Marcus to help myself, I’m agreeing with him more often than not. I’m turning into some sort of Australian Brundlefly who will need to vomit Fosters onto his food to eat it. 

  45. @minion The age-groupers paid for the participation – but they had to race a series of qualifiers back home in order to be allowed to compete in the first place. It’s the mere fact that these guys went so far only to race an hour-long solo effort (AG Sprint winner was an Irishman with a 1’03) that amazes me. They don’t feel the need to prove anything with long-distance racing, because they can put us in a world of hurt if we try to keep up regardless of distance.

    And while it’s true that long-distance racers use short tris to hone their form or train aspects of the race, they’re usually not as competitive against the pure short-distance monsters. Again, it ends up the same as in running, where those who target a full marathon won’t think much of doing a half-marathon as a training event, while those specializing in half-marathons simply have more speed at the expense of endurance.

    @Marcus Us age-groupers (and the pros too, actually) have enough draft-illegal Olympic distance options. And while it does de-emphasize the bike leg, draft-legal pro races are far closer these days and demand a more rounded athlete. For age-groupers, it’s can also be tons of fun to do the different format once in a while, and a really challenges those who are stronger on the bike. As one of those, I’ve had great fun ripping the smaller pelotons apart, knowing I have to keep the stronger runners off my wheel.

  46. @tessar the discussion wasn’t about your racing – ’twas about the peak of the sport – specifically draft legal Olympic distance at the Olympics v Hawaii Ironman. An unprovable question as to what is superior – race to my mind the race that gave birth to the sport, has far more longevity and is the place where all of the legends have won – must be the winner.

    But we are sullying this site with such talk.

  47. @Marcus As long as we’re not calling it a bike-race…

    Hawai (not even the same island, actually) was the birthplace of Ironman. San Diego was the birthplace of triathlon – they still hold a WTS race there.

    If you look at the pros (the same pros) when they do both ITU and 5150 (draft-illegal Olympic), the 5150 races are often “decided” far earlier. Within the ITU peloton, somebody might not have the legs today, but we’ll only know that on the run – compare that to 5150, where within a few minutes uncloseable gaps form. The cycling equivalent would probably be a mountain time trial versus a real stage – before the road pointed upwards, none of us knew Bad Cadel was riding that day.

  48. I’m giving praise to Sram, they sent me a new wheel (S30 AL Race) after I sent them back mine with a broken nipple washer, they said the bit that the cassette goes on was a bit tight too.  Off for the club run , just managed to get it back on.

  49. @Xyverz

    @Ron – It’s the Fi’zi:k Microfiber tape. Next batch will be the Microtex stuff. Also, I’ve not tried the blades as I’m perfectly happy with my Max2s. My Raleigh will probably get a set of the regular Keos in Red (to match the bike)…

    I’m not known to be a great reviewer of equipment, but i’d recommend shying away from the glossy offerings.  I had the flat white on my #1, which was a real treat.  On #2, I wrapped her up with glossy red.  I do not wear gloves so things may differ for you.  The glossy is slippery as snot when wet, either from rain or perspiration.  If i’m not in the drops and hit some rough spots, my hands will likely slip right off the bars entirely.  This tape also cut my hands up pretty good on the 2much Cogal.  It might be my baby smooth hands, but my fingertips were rubbed raw and the area between thumb and pointer finger worn through a few layers of skin.  The non-glossy stuff is a dream, and perhaps I even wrapped it differently which is what caused the massive skin wear, but I wouldnt recommend it right off the bat.

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