Mainstream niche?

I've been looking through some 2007 catalogs and it seems if there's a new trend to be had it has to be the growing number of niche bikes being offered by mainstreram companies. More and more companies seem to be finding room for such oddball categories as single speed cross bike, fixed gear road bikes (not track bikes), fully loaded commuter bikes, and other breeds that previously one had to go to a resourceful mechanic or custom frame builder to acquire.

Some brands have always been known for flying their freak flags. I mean seriously, if you were actually surprised that Bianchi produced a single speed cyclocross bike then you clearly haven't been paying much attention to the industry. On the other hand you have mainstream companies like Raleigh making a nice fixed gear road bike and 29" single speed MTB, Schwinn making electric bikes, and Trek making a high-end commuter bike. I have to wonder what is driving such bikes. Is it that people are tired of yet another carbon fiber road bike or dual suspension MTB? Is it because today's avid cyclists are not as mechanically competent as cyclists of previous generations and therefore can't cobble together such Frankenbikes on their own? Or is it simply a way for brands to try and distinguish themselves in an era where so many bikes seem to be generically plucked from the Big Book O' Asian Bike Parts?

Sales of such bikes do seem to be doing well. I've chatted with a few people in the business about some of their more niche models and was surprised to hear things like "amazing sales" in the same sentence as "29" MTB. This is a refreshing change from 10 years ago when I remember such daring bikes as the Bridgetone XO-1 and Bianchi Project series dying on the vine in stores.

Finally, amidst all of this you have Redline. Redline has long been a company that only built niche bikes starting with the now ubiquitous cyclocross bike and later extending to include the 925 fixed gear bike and a series of single speed MTBs in both 26" and 29" flavors. So what new niches are they going into? Road bikes and hybrids! When everyone else starts going niche they start going mainstream. Gotta love it!

A modern Herse for the common man?

I've been thinking about a new bike recently. Specifically, I've been thinking about the Kogswell P/R. The P/R is an inexpensive, TIG welded, steel frame/fork with geometry borrowed from the Herse frames of yore. It retails for $540 and that includes fenders. It also is designed around 650b wheels. It's a go anywhere and carry anything kind of bike.

That said, it's a pretty hefty frame. Bikes built up typically weigh 25 pounds or more. Now I'm hardly a gram counter but at the same time I have to squawk at that kind of weight. Don't try to tell me weight doesn't count. Anyone who says this probably hasn't had the pleasure of riding a nice, light bike. Most of the people who claim weight doesn't matter tend to be steel riding luddites and hearing them say weight doesn't matter is pretty hard to buy into. I guess ignorance is bliss.

The reality is there's no reason you can't build a reasonably durable (5-10 year lifespan for an average, active rider) bike with generator lights, fenders, and rack that weighs under 20 pounds. 50 years ago Herse and Singer made bikes that weighed less than this. Of course their bikes featured extensively modified components and cost a fortune. Modern builders have a few advantages. For starters we now have different materials such as composites, stronger aluminum alloys, titanium, and stronger steel alloys. Using mostly stock parts from Shimano, Campagnolo, Ritchey, and FSA one should have no problem getting a bike down under 20 pounds.

Starting with the frame the first thing I'd change is the tubing. Titanium would be the best choice as it's durable, comfortable, and light. However it's not cheap and is a real chore to work with. If cost were no object this would be the material of choice. My choice of material would be Easton Ultralite. It's been around for many years so its durability and traits are well established, it's easy to work with, and it's not very expensive. As for ride quality, it's not oversized to the degree of a Cannondale or Klein and aluminum is more flexible than steel. In real world terms, my Easton Ultralite cross bike is probably a tad more comfortable than my SOMA Smoothie ES made from Reynolds steel. Why not simply make it from a lighter steel tubeset? Well you could and it would be a great frame. However it would likely cost more than an alloy frame and I'm not sure if an ultralight steel is really anymore durable than a midweight aluminum. One of the goals here is to achieve the functionality and weight of the bikes used in the technical trials while taking advantage of modern manufacturing technology. With that objective in mind, doing the bike in steel would be a challenge.

Geometry is a no-brainer: copy the Kogswell P/R. The P/R is an incredibly well executed bike based on the works of Herse and Singer. Of course with a frame made from lighter steel or alloy the bike wouldn't really be a P/R - more likely just the R part. Of course the R part in this case could stand for "randonneur", "racy", or "rain bike". In a nutshell, it would be a zippier version of the P/R. A perfect bike for:
1) Timed randonneur events.
2) Commuters who want a bike with some zip and don't want a high BB cyclocross bike.
3) Road racers wanting a rain bike.
4) Go fast credit card tourers.
5) Century riders.

Now I just have to find someone to make it! Sadly, I don't have $20,000 to spare.

Ostrich Bag, Velo Orange decaleur and Nashbar front rack

I've been wanting a large front bag for a long time. They make great sense for long day rides where you want to have a shell, food, camera, map all handy so you don't have to stop. Problem is they tended to be very expensive and very hard to come by. For the longest time your only real choice was the Berthoud bags. While very nice they tend to be extremely expensive with a bag, rack, and decaleur combination easily topping $425.00!! People try to justify this price by claiming they're durable. I'm sure they are durable but let's keep in mind this is a handlebar bag on a touring bike - not a backpack being dragged through the muck by a Navy SEAL (whose bags incidentally cost less than a Berthoud even though they see far more abuse!!)

Fortunately for big bag fans the unlikely combination of Velo Orange and Bike Nashbar have come to the rescue! For less than $175 you can have a system with all the functionality of the Berthoud set-up that will work on almost any bike (unlike the Berthoud system!)

Let's start with the bag. It's a nice olive color, canvas, and generally looks like something from an Army surplus store. It's a good size though I find it too small for commuting. It'll carry my clothes but not a pair of shoes. For day riding it's plenty large. I took mine out on one of those sketchy Seattle days where the skies look like they could open up at any moment. My bag easily handled my camera, rain pants, rain jacket, cap, gloves, and food. You can see the size of the bag compared to my helmet.

Inside the main compartment has a pair of flaps with an elastic cord to help keep the elements at bay during light rain. For heavier rain you'll need a rain cover (not included). The rear compartments are capable of holding 3 Clif bars each. They're ideal for storing food since they're easily reached. The front flat pocket is useful for small, flat items and the side pockets are a handy place to stash gloves, warmers or glasses. The flap covering the main compartment is secure with 2 elastic cords in the front. I first wondered about how hard this would be to open while riding. While it does require a reach is easier than fusing with the zippers on most bags and quite a bit easier than the old style buckles on the Berthoud and Carradice bags. It's also a very light and fool proof way to secure a bag.

The decaleur is a robust and shiny unit. I didn't place items on the scale but it wouldn't surprise me if the decaleur weighed more than the rack. It could probably be made from lighter tubing and Bicycle Quarterly reports the Velo Orange is doing just that. Weight aside, it's an elegant and simple device. I would strongly suggest gently bending the tubes that the prongs slide into so as to create a tighter fit. Once I did this I have no problems with the bag rattling or bouncing loose even when going over speed bumps.

The rack is a very generic welded alloy rod affair. Millions like them have been made. Some will insist steel racks are better but their arguments don't pan out very well. First they claim steel racks are repairable. True, but so are aluminum racks (my welding instructor confirmed this). More importantly, if you're in the middle of nowhere I pretty much guarantee you'll have an easier time getting a new rack FedEx'd to you than you will finding someone in an unfamiliar town to repair your steel rack. Chances are the new rack even with shipping will be cheaper. The next complaint is that steel racks are stiffer. While this might be a bonus for racks hauling panniers it's a non-issue for a handlebar bag rack that's never going to carry much more than 5-10 pounds, max. The Nashbar rack is only $10. At that price you could buy 15 of them for the price of one Berthoud rack. The only issue with this rack is that the lip on the back interferes with the rear facing pockets on the Ostrich bag. This was easily solved by hacksawing the lip off. If you look closely in the bottom photo you can see where I cut the rack.

Overall, the Ostrich, Velo Orange, Ostrich system works as well as the fancier Berthoud system but at a price affordable to people who don't have six figure incomes. Should also mention that I had no delivery/shipment/ordering problems with either Velo Orange or Nashbar.

Big changes

Well I've got two big changes that have been keeping me away from the bike lately. The biggest is a new daughter. We went the adoption route but were lucky enough to be there when our daughter was born. So far parenting isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Our daughter is being a good baby and staying pretty quiet throughout most of the night. Parenting is awesome and we're also very happy we adopted.

The other big change is that I'm leaving REI. I'm getting back into the recruiting business and will be hiring designers and game developers. I'll miss REI - as companies go, they do more things right than any other company I know of. This is especially true of the bike business - an industry known for low pay, meager benefits, and here-today-gone-tomorrow companies. REI runs a solid business, they give away a ton of money to great causes, and they treat their employees far better than the vast majority of mom and pop shops.

Leaving REI also means I'll no longer be in the bike industry. I'll merely be a consumer. Yikes. ;)

Good for the environment?

Lately I find myself pondering a somewhat heretical question: Is the outdoor recreation industry good for the environment?

The instinctual answer for most of us is "Duh, of course it is!" But when you think it through a little more I'm not so certain. Let's take my initial question and tweak it slightly:
What causes more pollution and environmental: sitting on your ass at home playing on the X-Box or spending 4 hours in a SUV driving to and from a mountain to go hiking or mountain biking?

Well we all know how bad auto emissions are for the environment. Even a Prius puts out more greenhouse gases than simply sitting in your living room. Now imagine what would happen if the millions of people playing X-Box all put down their controllers and hopped in their cars and motored off to the local trailhead. That's a lot of car exhaust being spewed into the air. It gets worse the more serious you are about the outdoors.

After a while climbing the same rock face or riding the same singletrack gets a bit stale and you find yourself seeking out new adventures. Thus is born the "adventure trip". This fulfills the desire to explore new lands and to get even further away from the imposing confines of civilization to seek out ever more pristine natural beauty. Of course the flipside of this is you create exponentially greater damage to the natural world. The simple act of hopping on an airliner involves spewing far, FAR more pollution in the air than any Land Rover. In the 30 minutes a typical 747 spends driving on the ground taxiing, taking off and landing it will spew out 190 pounds of nitrogen oxide - that's more than a car will burn in an entire year of driving! People who insist on flying halfway around the planet to go mountain biking or rock climbing are definitely not in a position to point fingers at people who commute to work in an SUV. These self-righteous adventurers (God help you if you call them tourists even though that's exactly what they are!) do more damage on vacation than the redneck in a pick-up truck does in an entire year of driving.

Of course the air isn't the only part of the environment to suffer. More people on the trails means even more wear and tear on the trails. It also would generate a need for more and wider trails. Narrow, sinewy trails that gracefully drape themselves through the forest suddenly become wide, gravel scars on the land. Anyone who has been to Yellowstone, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon has seen this first hand. It's no great secret that many of our best known National Parks are getting loved to death. Is this how we want all of our public lands to look? Probably not but by encouraging people to put down the X-Box and pick up the Leki pole that's exactly where we're heading.

Speaking of those Leki poles, have you looked at your outdoor gear lately and considered the cost to the environment it took to produce it? Time was many products were made with renewable resources such as wood and wool. Now most are made from synthetic materials and those materials are made with chemicals drawn from the same dinosaur mausoleums that power Hummers and line Dick Cheney's wallet.

While there is no doubt that getting outside is better for your personal health I do wonder if it's better for the health of the planet. The one saving grace of the outdoor industry is that most of the leading companies in the industry - REI, Patagonia, North Fave, etc. - are very actively involved in maintaining and preserving the outdoors for future generations. In this respect they are well ahead of the video game industry which routinely forces consumers to dispose of equipment in a landfill after just a couple of years use.

More pushing the puddle...

Welding class has progressed to the point where we're actually welding things together using filler rod. It's starts simple enough: clamp to pieces of metal together on a jig in an L shape and weld them. Simple, right? Wrong. For starters, I quickly figure out that the heat from the torch warps the metal so by the time I'm halfway across your 6 inch strip of metal the two pieces no longer touch. Into the scrap heap with that one. Next up I realize I need to tack the metal at several points and then weld it. Duh. Did this several times over and eventually started cranking out some really nice tidy welds. Dare I say welds good enough looking to rival those found on bikes. Finally having some pride in my work I take it to the instructor for evaluation. He acknowledges it sure looks pretty from the outside. Then he flips it over and points out the lack of penetration. He has me hammer the piece flat along the weld and sure enough, when I hold it up to the light I see numerous pinholes. Drat. My problem is too little heat. It's tough developing the touch - too little heat yields a weak weld. Too much heat resutls in burning holes in the material. Seveal dozen L welds later I've finally got it down pat and cranking out tidy looking welds with solid penetration.

At this point the instructor has me reach higher up in the alphabet - instead of welding an L-shape now I'm going to weld an inverted T shape. Seems simple enough. I jig the work, fire up the torch and have at it. I quickly realize this is going to be MUCH more difficult. Simply changing the location of the material radically alters how the heat effects the metal. The vertical part of the T quickly heats up and begins to burn through while the base isn't even puddling. Many, many mangled pieces of metal later I finally figure out the right combination of torch angle, movement, filler rod, and oxygen/acetylene mixture.

All of this is giving me a new respect for framebuilders who have to weld numerous tubes together without distortion, too much heat, too little heat, too little filler, etc., etc. Just one bad weld can be the end of a frame. Realizing all of this I think it's something of a miracle that anyone can make a bike frame for under $500 with even the cheapest of tubing. Much as I respect the customer artisan builders I reserve even greater respect for the guys at Maxway and the other Taiwanese factories who can crank out thousands of frames in a year. It's one thing to create great welds in a small shop setting and a whole different thing to do it in a mass production capacity.

Pushing the puddle....

I've done just about everything there is to do in bike repair. Everything except actually pick up a torch. I've decided to change that by taking a welding class at the local community college and then hooking up with a framebuilder to go over the finer points.

The first night was spent learning about how not to blow each other up, burn down the building, and generally not cause mass destruction. At the end of the class we were given a list of materials we'd need for the rest of the semester. The instructor went down the list naming off what was needed for the next session. Someone noted he skipped over gloves and asked if they'd be needed for our first night of actual welding. The instructor gruffly snapped back "You don't need gloves! You'll burn yourself, rinse off, and get back to work! Burning is learning." Immediately I thought of that line from the film Dodgeball: "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!" Oh yeah, this is going to be loads o' fun.

Last night was our first official welding session. We were using oxy-acetylene torches and goal was to simply lay down and nice tidy bead with adequate penetration on strips of 1/16" steel plate. The idea was that we were to simply push the puddle from one end of the metal to the other. We quickly realized this is much easier said than done. A couple of hours - and many strips later - I was able to lay down a semi-tidy bead only to find out I wasn't getting good penetration. I quickly learned that just because a weld LOOKS neat doesn't mean it's a good quality weld. Something to think about when people say Brand X bikes are better because the welds look nicer. I also developed a whole new respect for guys who can weld thinwall steel, especially TIG welding. I had a tricky time getting adequate penetration without getting too much penetration. Can't imagine how hard this is with some of the super thin tubesets like True Temper S-3.

Overall, the oxy-acetylene tool is hands-down the coolest tool you can get your hands on without joining the military! Even more fun than the tablesaw I bought last year!

Cycles Tournsesol

This weekend I hopped across town to visit Steve Hampsten at Cycles Tournesol. Tournesol is a side project of Hampsten Cycles aimed at making bikes in the tradition of the French constructeurs.

In many ways I think they're closer to what Herse was doing in his day than anyone else in the small but growing constrcuteur market. What sets Tournesol apart is that they are technology/material agnostic. If carbon is the best material for a rider then they'll make the bike from carbon. If centerpulls work better they'll make the bike with centerpulls. He's built 650b titanium bikes with disc brakes as well as more traditional lugged steel bikes. During my visit I saw a fork built for 650b wheels with centerpull studs and even stainless guides for a dynamo wire. This was in the same shop as a titanium bike fitted with 35mm tires and a Wound-Up carbon/alloy fork with fender mounts.

This is very different from other builders who make constructeur bikes as if it were still the late 40's and ignore recent advances in components and materials. I'm no expert on the constructeurs but I'd wager good money if Herse were around today he'd be pretty excited to work with carbon or titanium. Many modern constructeur builders seem to think weight doesn't matter and this is different from Herse and his generation. Just look at the radical features of the sub 20 pound technical trials bike in the Golden Age book. Looking at those bikes and considering the weight savings to be had with more modern materials it's hard to justify paying top dollar for a bike with fenders and lights that weighs 24+ pounds. The Tournesol bikes are perhaps the best embodiement of the original constructeur ethos of maximizing the integration of the various parts of the bike in order to create a lighter and stronger overall bike.

Floyd - Hero to zero?

So unless you've been living under a stump - and with the news being what it is these days this may not be a bad thing - you're heard that our latest hero du jour, Floyd Landis, had a positive test at the Tour. Many people seemed stunned by this which I find somewhat amazing. Maybe it's because I spend most of my day dealing with crooks, cheaters, liars and criminals. If there's one thing I've learned in life it's that the higher the stakes are the more likely someone will cheat. Call me a cynic but history is full of examples showing I'm right: Ken Lay, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Michael Milken, Barry Bonds, etc., etc., etc. Needless to say I wasn't exactly surprised that Floyd tested positive. Does this mean I think he doped? Not neccesarily, it simply means I'm not surprised that someone in his position might dope - there's a big difference. I do think it's quite possible that he had something unwittingly administered to him by his team. The Phonak squad hasn't exactly been competing on hard training and mineral water judging by the number of riders suspended from the team in recent months.

Beyond whether Floyd knowingly took something or not is the greater question: why should I care? Not just care about Floyd but care about the whole sport of competitive cycling. I've been around bike racing for a number of years and it seems like the sport has gotten uglier at all levels in recent years. Whether it's junior racers insisting they need $70 tires to compete, Cat 4 racers blowing their stack because of something that happened in a race, sandbaggers, people competing at non-races (such as Seattle-To-Portland) or pros using drugs there's increasingly little about the sport that is appealing.

This all-consuming need for competition has even extended to what you wear and eat. Heaven forbid you go for a ride in regular clothes. No, you must wear "technical" garments or you'll have a miserable experience. Eat a banana? Absolutely not - instead you must consume a "performance product" (that's what we officially call them here at the Gorilla - I'm not making this up!) No longer is it enough to simply hop on a bike and go for a ride. Now you have to train with your heart rate monitor while wearing your technical garments and consuming your performance products. Sounds like fun, huh??

Is this all consuming need to compete really healthy? I'm inclined to think not. At this stage I really don't care too much about the future of the Tour de France or professional racing. I doubt Floyd being stripped of his title will change anything. So long as fame and millions of dollars are at stake someone will try to find an edge and it won't always be honest.

Sky lives!!

Appears Sky Yaeger is back in the saddle again. Having left Bianchi USA Sky has now joined - brace yourself - Swobo! Why would she join a clothing company? Is she going to design jerseys? No. She's going to design bikes. Swobo bikes. No details on what the Swobo bikes will be but you can rest assured it's not going to be some generic alloy/carbon job picked from the Big Book Of Taiwanese Frames that so many other companies seem to source from.

With the Swobo name it's likely to be far more than just a bike. It will be a lifestyle accesory. I'm hoping it will be similar in concept to the Puma/Biomega collaboration (http://www.puma.com/bike/)

More details from the Sky/Swobo press conference available here. Thanks to Steve Hampsten for sending this to me (check out the Hampsten site for some great new Tournesol pics!)

STP

Saturday was the start of the Seattle To Portland bike ride put on by the Cascade Bicycle Club. STP more or less follows I-5 and can be done as either a one or two day ride. I volunteered to work as a mechanic at the pit stop located outside my office window here at REI headquarters in Kent. A few highlights:

1) Ritchey Torque Key: This handle little widget is single use, single setting torque wrench. It's a little larger than a very large car or door key. The one I saw fetured a 5mm bit set to the proper torque for a stem bolt. Not sure if other sizes/settings exist. This is a great tool for race/event mechanics as it's very small and easy to carry in your box. Most torque wrenches tend to be quite bulky.

2) Urago road bike: A rider rode in on a nearly complete late 50s/early 60s Urago bike. The bike featured a Simplex rod activated front derailleur and was in great shape. Only parts that didn't appear to be original were the tires and Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow grooved saddle.

3) Vintage Merlin MTB: A rider came in with a vintage Merlin MTB. This bike was classic early 90's in every way. Thumbshifters, MRC brakes, and best of all a Steve Potts/WTB steel fork. Sweet!

4) Cateye Strada computer: Hadn't seen this one yet but it looks like a winner. It features a universal mount that works on bars or stems. It also has a button less interface - to switch features you simply tap any where on the computer. It's quite small and unobtrusive looking. Has the usual standard features though these days the only ones I ever seem to use are the trip distance and clock. I'm too slow to worry about speed.

5) SRAM Force: We had a Novara with SRAM Force installed on it. While the double tap system of moving the same lever in the same direction for both up and down shifts seems perplexing it's actually suprisingly intuitive. Also have to like having the shift cable under the tape (similar to Campy). Will be interesting to see how this holds up and also if they decide to expand support to non-racing applications.

Summer brevet series

The second series of brevet rides sponsored by the Seattle International Randonneurs starts this Saturday. The first one is only 100k which I'm more than ready for. Have to skip the 200k which means my next one will be a 300k. There are two 300k rides in August and I'm not sure which to do. Unlikely I'll do both. Finally, I'll be spending my birthday in September riding the 600k.

For the most part everything on the bike is pretty dialed in. Only real issue I'm having is with the saddle. The Selle Anatomica is creaking a bit. Hopefully a little tension adjustment will solve it. The Selle Anatomica Titanico continues to be the most comfortable saddle I've ever ridden. Also seems to be holding up much better than my Brooks. Even with the creak the saddle is a real winner.

A house divided in Wisconsin

So this week has seen a rather public spat between Greg LeMond and Lance Armstrong, America's two Tour de France champions. This whole thing began 5 years ago when Michele Ferrari was being investigated for doping in Italy and LeMond publicly criticized Armstrong for his association with Ferrari. Ferrari was a controversial figure who later served a suspended sentence for sports fraud. While LeMond said his comments were taken out of context it appears the damage is done. Fast forward a few years and now LeMond is claiming that Armstrong threatened him and even said he could get 10 people to testify that LeMond had used EPO.

Beyond a public pissing match between the two biggest names in American cycling is that both athletes are still financially tied to Trek. LeMond has his line of bikes which are produced by Trek and Armstrong, though retired from racing, still has a lifetime sponsorship contract with Trek. One has to wonder what's going on in Waterloo. So far Trek has not posted any public statements on the war of words being conducted by their two most valuable public figures. Would be interesting to see them put a positive spin on this one.

End of an era at Bianchi

Today is Sky Yaeger's last day at Bianchi. To many outside the industry this means nothing. To anyone in the industry this is the end of an era. Sky Yaeger was unique in many ways. For starters, she's one of the few women in the bike industry and one of the only product managers. In recent years Bianchi even boasted of this by adorning their bikes with stickers proclaiming "100% Chick Designed". Almost all the Bianchi bikes sold in the USA were designed by Sky. Her 17 years at Bianchi saw the company go from being simply an importer of Italian road bikes to being one of the most innovative and risk taking major companies in the industry. I challenge anyone to name a major bike company that created more unique bikes in recent years than Bianchi USA. Here's a short list:
1) Project series. These were the original 29" MTBs back before anyone called them 29" MTBs. The flagship model came with top end SunTour parts and a custom suspension fork. The bikes were a full decade ahead of Gary Fisher's push for 29" wheels.
2) xxSS series. The first single speed MTB offered by a major company. It start with the orange BOSS and continued for a decade. The current Bianchi range includes two single speed models (MUSS & WUSS) and a frameset (PUSS).
3) Pista series. Bianchi was off the front in bringing fixed gear fun to the masses. In recent years the line has expanded to include a high-end, superlight alloy model that would fit in nicely at the Worlds.
4) The Axis. Again leading the way in trends, this time in cyclocross.
5) San Jose. Proving no niche is too small, Sky gave us the San Jose in 2006. Here's a bike that combines two great things into one: 'cross and single speed. Sort of like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! Mmmmm......
6) Milano. One of the first of the modern "cafe racers". Not a terribly original concept - Europeans have been all over this style of bike for decades. Still, it took some vision to introduce them to the US market.
7) Veloce. A steel frame with Campy parts - no big deal, right? Well, 15-20 years ago you'd be correct. Sadly, these days steel frames have all but disappeared from production road bikes and Campy owns just a small sliver of the OEM market. Sky knows when not to meddle with a good thing and the Veloce has changed little in the past few years. It's a refreshing change from companies that feel the need to "innovate" year after year (you have to wonder if they'll ever get it right!!)

All of these bikes are fairly exceptional. Few are truly unique and many of the concepts were pioneered by custom builders and shop mechanics. What makes Sky so special is that she was able to convince the corporate masters at Bianchi to let her fly her freak flag and actually put these bikes into production. As many in the industry can attest, it's easy to spec a unique and novel bike - the hard part is convincing the bean counters to let you produce it. In this respect Sky has few peers. Perhaps the last product manager given such a high degree of freedom was Grant Petersen at Bridgestone USA. Most product managers are lucky if they get to put even one oddball, category breaking model into production.

It sounds like Sky is leaving the bike business to pursue other interests. It's a terrible loss for the industry and I hope she will come back to the industry in some capacity in the future. As someone who sold and rode bikes which she designed I wish her all the best.

Selle Anatomica Titanico early review

I've got a little over 400 miles on this saddle so far and am happy to report no discomfort or numbness. Granted none of my rides have been over 3 hours so the jury is still out on long term comfort. Have noticed a few potential issues:

• The front sides of the saddle tend to flare out a bit and this combined with the rough edge of the leather is quickly wearing holes in my cycling shorts. I admit some of this might be due to my knees inward pedaling style but I really think the saddle could use a connector piece - similar to that found on the Brooks Swallow - to keep the front sides from doing this.
• The saddle developed a creaking noise last night. This could be mildly annoying or extremely disconcerting. Need to try and get to the bottom of this.

Cannondale bike build

A co-worker recently pro-dealed a shiny new Cannondale Six-13 Pro 1 bike and asked me to put it together in time for Bike To Work Day. This was my first time putting together a Cannondale straight out of the box and I have to say compared to many other brands I've worked on - including several considered to be more prestigious than Cannondale - I was mighty impressed. Granted, this bike isn't the sort of bike I'd ever purchase since I'm an out of shape non-racer aiming to do P-B-P but in terms of actual manufacturing quality and attention to detail it's a great bike. You can take issue all you want with the design of Cannondale's bikes but anyone who questions the actual quality of workmanship doesn't know what they're talking about.

The first thing I noticed is that the bars and shifters came separately. Most production bikes are shipped with the levers mounted and the bars taped. This can be a good or bad thing. If you're a shop with little concern for quality it's a good thing as it saves a lot of time in assembly. Time is money and any shop that forgets this (and that's many of them) is doomed for the dustbin. If you're a fanatic for details it's a blessing as you can position the levers where you want them, cut the cable housing to the correct length, and do a clean job on taping the bars. In many ways this makes everything go faster. Much less frustrating than getting a 50cm bike with the bars already taped only to realize they used the same length of brake housing that you'd find on a 64cm bike!

Next came the seat tube. This is always a good place to check for quality. With more and more carbon seatposts coming on the market having a perfectly smooth, clean seat tube is vital. If I'm putting a carbon post on a bike I always take a cotton ball and rub it along the inside of the seat tube. This will help me located any minor burrs. When I did this with the Cannondale there was nothing left in the seat tube. My fine grit sanding paper stayed in the tool box. This is a big improvement over bikes from some of the most renown European builders that had seat tubes so filled with paint that you couldn't get a seatpost in them with a hammer. I've even seen some where the seat tube wasn't even round due to overheating.

The FSA crankset and MegaExo bottom bracket came pre-installed as did the FSA headset and stem. Both were perfectly adjusted right out of the box. Tires were already mounted to the Ksyrium wheels and they even took the time to align the Hutchinson label with the valve stem. Again, not the sort of detail you see on most production bikes.

The only part that was pre-installed and required any actual adjustment was the outer limit screw of the rear derailleur which required a 3/4 turn to get the pulley perfectly in alignment with the cog. Beyond that everything else was perfectly dialed in.

For those unaware, Cannondale is the only bike company that still does almost all of their work in the US (the Synapse being the one exception). While the Taiwanese are phenomenal when it comes to manufacturing, their assembly jobs often display a workman-like competency. Everything works, but the little visual touches are absent. The Cannondale by comparison was clearly assembled by people who truly take pride in their work. I don't think the Asians will ever reach that level and for that reason I hope companies like Cannondale continue to maintain operations in the US.

Creature Comforts

Recently received a sample of a Selle Anatomica Titanico saddle. It's pretty much a somewhat updated Brooks. Modern touches include a pressure relieving cutout, weatherproof leather, rails more compatible with modern bikes, and an allen head adjustment bolt.

My experience with cut out saddles has not been a good one, to put it charitably, so I'm a bit apprehensive about this. We'll find out how well it works tomorrow when I ride home from work.

Also new is the Fizik bar tape. I briefly had some shellaced cloth tape but that turned out to be one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever done to my bike. It looked fantastic but the lack of any cushioning was agony on the hands forcing me to wear gloves (which I prefer not to do). The Fizik tape looks and feels like leather and goes on as easily as cork. It's a little thinner than cork but provides a good amount of cushioning and grip. I really like this tape!

Training

Well I'm finally getting back on the bike. After a few months of house projects and with the Seattle International Randonneur brevet series approaching in July I realized I need to get some saddle time. Just so happens May is bike to work month so I've decided to ride my bike to work at least one way everyday. It's 25-35 miles one way and depending on how windy it is I can take a van pool home or double up on the miles. Since May 1 I've logged 303 miles. That's about 290 more miles than I've logged in the past 3 months. Sad but true. I've already dropped a couple of pounds and hope to drop another 10 before July.

Cranks

My quest for a nice silver 110 bcd crankset is finally over. Best part is it cost me less than $50! I found a pair of SunTour XC Pro cranks at Recycled Cycles. They'd been used and looked like they'd spent much of the last decade sitting in a bin with other bike parts - lots of scratches and nicks. I sat down in front of the TV, busted out several grades of wet/dry sandpaper and went to work. After a couple of hours I was left with a pair of crankarms with a mirror like finish. The rings that came with the cranks were toast but fortunately I had a set of 48x34 Ritchey rings from a Logic crank. That crank wound up on a single speed so the rings were unused. Mounted them with some FSA alloy Torx head chainring bolts and finished it off with some old Shimano 105 8mm crank bolts. I'm not sure how well the finish will hold up - cranks are anodized for a reason. They look great and the 34 is a big improvement over the 38 I was pushing.

My Sweet Seven

Still being somewhat tied to the industry I keep an eye on what others are doing. For the most part, the American bike industry seems to be hopelessly mired in a game of "me too" pursuit of trying to get people to buy either impractical racing bikes or tank like "comfort" bikes. There's precious little in the way of truly interesting or practical bikes. If your idea of fun is a nice, long ride in the country and you want to stay dry and be able to pack a lunch you're probably out of luck with most companies. Ditto if you want - GASP - to use your bike rather than your car to run errands. Fortunately, a few smart product managers still exist and more importantly they were somehow able to sneak the following bikes into their lines:

1) Breezer Citizen
If Joe Breeze has his way this is the bike that will save the world. Even if it doesn't, it's great to see bikes like this. Fenders, a rack, generator lights, internal gears, and a chain case make this bike WAY more interesting than any carbon racing bike. More companies need to make bikes like this. More importantly, they need to actually MARKET bikes like this!! See it here.

2) Novara Safari
I work for the 800 pound gorilla and I know that some in the industry take glee in pointing out that REI is typically a leader rather than an innovator. This is the bike I'd like to use to smack those people upside the head. Show me one other company cranking out an off-road touring bike! In many ways this bike is the spiritual descendant of the Bridgestone XO-1 - it even has the funny handlebars! It's about as unique a bike as you'll find anywhere - the perfect bike when you REALLY want to get away from it all. If I had the time I'd love to take this bike on a week long tour of the logging roads up in BC. See it here.

3) Kona Sutra
This bike has the best of both worlds. It's a traditional steel touring bike fitted with modern disc brakes. Having experienced the terrifying combination of cantilevers, pouring rain, steep mountain pass and 40 pounds of panniers I love this bike! Discs on touring bikes make soooo much sense. Can't believe someone didn't come up with this earlier. See it here.

4) Bianchi San Jose
It's a steel, single-speed cross bike. Seriously, what more do I need to say? If you can't have fun on this bike you have no right to call yourself a cyclist. See it here.

5) Redline 925
Pretty much an off the shelf messenger bike. Fixed gear, solid steel frame, moustache bars and fenders. People will be copying this bike next year, just you wait and see! See it here.

6) Gary Fisher Rig
The single speed MTB thing is old news so GF came out with a 29" single speed. In many ways it's a BMX bike for big boys. Cheap enough to own, light enough race. It's a hard bike not to like. See it here.

7) Bianchi Castro Valley
This is the bike many people eventually end up with. You start with your basic steel touring bike. Then you add fenders because who wants to show up with a skunk stripe? They you add a dynamo hub because it's dark in the winter and you eventually realize that rechargeable batteries are a pain. The Castro Valley is perfect for longer commutes and is ready to roll right out of the box. See it here.

I'm sure there are others out there. I no some people will say "What about Surly/Soma/Rivendell/Kogswell/etc.?" Well, I'm keeping this list strictly to complete bikes and not framesets. The frameset list will come later.

L'Enfer du Nord

Tomorrow is the 104th running of Paris - Roubaix. It is - in my not so humble opinion - hands-down the most exciting race of the year. Roubaix requires a unique blend of tactical smarts, teamwork, and toughness found in few other races. This year promises to be extra special due to the return of the Arenburg Trench - a 2.4km section of especially bad pave that was recently "restored" after being absent for a few years.

This race has always brought out cycling's hard men - guys who have an unbelievable tolerance for pain. Guys like Sean Kelly, Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, Johan Musseuw, Francesco Moser, Rick van Looy, and Eddy Merckx (naturally!) In recent years Tour contenders have shied away from this race and for good reason. Paris - Roubaix has one of the highest DNF rates of any race on the pro calendar (last year only 80 riders crawled across the line out of 248 starters) and many of those are due to injuries sustained in crashes on the pave. No Tour contender in their right mind is willing to take that risk.

My hopes for tomorrow rest with George Hincapie. George is an all around nice guy who has made numerous sacrifices over the past few years in support of Lance Armstrong. Many would argue that the Postal/Discovery teams all-consuming focus on le Tour has cost George some major classics wins. Several times George found himself in the winning break with none of his team mates to be found while other teams had 3-4 riders in the break. This year things look very different for Discovery. This year the team looks pretty well stacked with classic specialists including British cyclocrosser Roger Hammond, Belgians Stijn Devolder and Leif Hoste (himself looking like a possible contender!), as well as Australian Matthew White. Piloting the team car will be '88 winner Dirk Demol. Safe to say this is probably the strongest classics squad fielded by Discovery/Postal.

Good luck George!

Win some, lose some

Recently it was announced that Cycles Gaansari in Ohio would be closing their doors and indefinitely shelving their Gaansari and Fisso brands. As someone who had a Gaansari on my wish list this is something of a bummer. Of course part of the reason great bike companies fold is because too many people have wish lists that never turn into actual purchases.

Normally when a shop folds the reasons are clear and the story usually goes something along the lines of: a well intentioned individual opens a bike shop because he loves cycling and then finds out the hard way that loving bikes and running a business are completely different things. This time the story takes a different route.

For starters, Gary Boulanger, the man behind Gaansari is a bona fide industry vet with stints at Rivendell and writing/PR work for a number of brands. The boy knows the industry. What really puts Gary apart from many others in the business are his personal beliefs. Gary is a pretty religious guy with some deeply held convictions. Now I'll be the first to admit that people with strongly held religious views tend to make me nervous. Really nervous. Think unarmed narc at a biker rally nervous. The number of people who have thumped the Bible in an effort to push all manner of agenda that are, at best, directly contradicted by the teachings of Christ is too long to go into. Gary is different. He's the kind of Bible thumper you wish the media would show more of.

Along those lines, he's partnered with fellow thumper and cycling genius Tom Ritchey to organize Wheels of Mercy. Wheels of Mercy (http://wheelsofmercy.blogspot.com/) is a project aimed at using the bicycle as a tool to improve the economic and social development of Rwanda. When he's not busy trying to save the world Gary will be helping Ritchey/Syncros with PR work.

I've only crossed paths with Gary on a few occasions but they were enough to convince me he's one of the nicest guys in the business. I wish all the best for Gary, Jean and their kids as they head out west to the Bay Area. The loss of Gaansari will almost certainly be a win for humanity and it's hard to be disappointed by that.

La vie bohemme??

Was checking the results of today’s running of Gent – Wevelgem to see how George Hincapie fared. As I scrolled down to the bottom I noticed something rather interesting in the Nations points listings: France is second to last for the season to date! They’re ranked lower than such traditional cycling powerhouses as Estonia (14th), Norway (7th), and Kazakhstan (13). I scrolled back up to the G-W results and sure enough in the top 30 there were only two Frenchmen. In the ProTour standings the highest ranked Frenchman is Sylvain Chavanal way down in 46th place. These are just the latest embarrassments in the 2 decade decline in French cycling that began with the retirement of Bernard Hinault.

It’s easy to point the finger at outside causes such as the demise of the Soviet Union and subsequent lifting of the Iron Curtain that as allowed a steady stream of Eastern European riders into the professional peloton. The French would like to pretend it’s all the cause of foreign teams who rely on doping to win – never mind the whole Cofidis and Festina scandals which both involved numerous high profile French riders.

In reality, I suspect the cause is more a malaise on the domestic front. I recently read an article in The Economist that cited a pole in which three quarters of French youth aspired to be civil servants! Can you imagine what would happen in the USA if the majority of our young people aspired to be postmen, DMV workers, or employed by the Social Security Administration? Don’t get me wrong, civil servants fill much needed roles in our society but it’s not exactly the sort of work that taxes ones ambitions. When the youth of a nation have become so risk-averse is it really any great surprise that they can’t turn out world class athletes? The drive and ambition required to be a contender in the Tour de France are completely at odds with quest for cradle–to–grave job security currently being demanded by French youth. The troubling news is that the French youth are protesting to keep this system in place ensuring future generations will be able to earn a comfortable living through minimal effort and without risk.

All of this is quite sad both for the youth of France and for cycling fans around the world. It is unlikely that we will see anytime in the next decade another rider with the aggression of Bernard Hinault or the style of Laurent Fignon. There’s something sad when a country that helped make a sport great struggles to compete in it. We Americans recently witnessed this in the World Baseball Classic in which the final two teams were Cuba and Japan and also in the last Summer Olympics when the US baseball squad didn’t even qualify. As happy as I am to see so many Americans riding at the front of the peloton I’m also a little sad to see so many Frenchman dropping off the back.

North American Handbuilt Bicycle show

This past weekend was the 2nd North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show in San Jose. I didn't get down there but thanks to digital cameras and the Internet I think I've seen every bike that was there. Here's my top nods:
1) Bruce Gordon: custom titanium racks, baskets, light mounts, cantilever brakes, toe clips, and frame pumps. This man is very talented and has a lot of time on his hands!!

2) Vanilla Bicycles: Sacha showed a custom tricycle. Sacha's bikes continue to amaze me. The attention to detail is phenomenal, especially for such a young builder.

3) J.P. Weigle: The randonneur bike featured in a recent issue of VBQ was shown. Weigle's bikes have a wonderful, understated elegance to them.

4) Roland Della Santa: Roland is perhaps most famous for being the builder to Greg LeMond throughout much of his career. I wasn't really sure if he was still building or not so it was nice to see some snapshots of his frames.

5) Racks: looks like custom mini-front racks are all the rage. Many appear to be more form than function but who cares when they look that nice! Certainly no worse than aero wheels on bikes that rarely go more than 20mph.

Berthoud stainless fenders review

I purchased these for one reason: the SKS plastic fenders I was running were too flimsy to support my Lumotec light. My unofficial second reason is they're mighty handsome!

The fenders are carried by the fine folks at Wallingford Bike in New Orleans. I ordered the fenders on a Friday morning and they arrived Monday morning. That's hurricane ravaged New Orleans to Kent, Washington over a weekend. All of my orders from Wallingford have arrived this quick and it goes to show how much they appreciate their customers. The fenders arrived in a big, well padded box and shipping was only $8.00 bringing the total cost to $60.00.

Upon removing the fenders the first thing I noticed were the directions: there are none! These are not fenders for the mechanically challenged. The folks at Wallingford have plenty of warnings to this effect and if you buy a set and get frustrated that you can't install them you really have no one to blame but yourself. Fortunately, fenders are pretty straightforward and anyone with any mechanical competence should be able to figure these out. You will definitely need a drill to install them. If you can't, Peter White has pretty detailed directions on his site at: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/berthoudinst.asp

My first problem came when I tried to fit the fenders into the fork. At 40mm wide the fenders are too wide to fit my Interloc alloy/carbon fork even though that fork is designed for 57mm reach brakes. Fortunately, I also have the Interloc Tange Prestige steel fork which easily had room for the fenders. Since I eventually plan to add a front rack mounted bag this is something I would eventually have done.

To install these fenders you will need a powerdrill as there is no hole for attaching the fender to
the brake bridge. Ideally, these fenders are designed to be used with a frame that has the brake bridge tapped for fenders. Unfortunately, most frames these days lack this feature. You'll need to improvise in this case. For me that meant using the L-bracket from my SKS front fender. Drilled two holes and used some stainless screws and nylock nuts to secure the clip to the fender. On the front end Berthoud include a special bolt that slides over the brake bolt and hangs down from the crown. The allows the front fender to be pulled up nice and snug into the fork for a rattle free fit. Why they include this for the front but don't include any sort of mount for the rear brake bridge is a bit baffling. The front mounting bolt proved to be much too long and I wound up using the Dremel tool to trim it.

The fender stays are one piece U shaped units that were a breeze to mount. They also appear to be stiffer than the stays on the SKS fenders. You will need a Dremel or bolt cutters to trim the stays once you've set them to the right length.

For the light mount I took a strip of stainless sheet and bent it into an L shape. I drilled a hole for the light and two smaller holes to bolt the mount to the fender. I also drilled two small holes to route the wire internally through the fenders. The edges of the fenders are rolled under to give them a smooth edge and this also provides a perfect channel for tucking in lighting wires. I secured mine with some silicone epoxy just to keep them from coming loose. The end result is a very clean looking light set-up.

So far I've only ridden the fenders around the block a few times. They are impressively stable with no rattles. The extra coverage in the front and back is also nice when plowing through puddles. The light mount seems to work great, I was worried about the light reflecting off the fenders (they're quite shiny) but it hasn't been an issue.

On the left you can see the wire from the light disappearing into the fender and reemerging just behind the fork blade. The mount is a simple strip piece of stainless steel I picked up at the local Ace Hardware. It was shaped with a Dremel tool and pliers. Hardware is all stainless. The right picture shows the non-drive side and the wingnut used to allow for easier tilt adjustment. In hindsight I probably should have put the light further forward on the fender to allow room for a future front rack. The Cateye strobe is attached to the fork with a Cronometro Nob. The big blue thing in the center picture is my Carradice Overlander bag. Yes, they made blue bags and this one is huge.

Seattle Bike Expo

The Seattle Bike Expo was this past weekend. For those of you outside the area, the Bike Expo is a public event featuring booths from dozens of shops/vendors, lectures by cycling luminaries, and a used parts swap meet. Thousands attended over the course of the two days and the number of manufacturer/vendor booths make it resemble a mini-Interbike. My highlights:

1) Sean Kelly. The Man was there and still looking fit. He spent time at several booths signing autographs and chatting up the glory days and earlier in the day went riding with some fans. The man exudes class.

2) Davis "Scarface" Phinney. The first American to win a stage in the Tour waaaaay back in 1986.

3) Youth Zone. A full hanger was converted into an indoor riding track where aspiring cyclists could learn safe riding habits. I providing mechanical support at this event and it seemed like we had a really good turnout. You gotta love anything that gets kids out on bikes!!

4) Bill Davidson's booth. Bill is a Seattle framebuilder and his booth was interesting not just for the stunning bikes but also for the contrasts. At one end was a Rivendell Saluki with Berthoud bags. At the opposite end was a Davidson titanium/carbon road racer with every imaginable weight weenie part. I overheard Bill talking about titanium frames with a visitor and when you hear the man talk you can see how can make such a diverse range make sense.

5) Wool!!! A distributor was selling leftover clothes. Most were gaudy team poser wear plastic stuff but there was a rounder full of DeMarchi wool jerseys for only $50. I scored a replica of the Irish team wool jersey - a gorgeous green number with white collar and cuffs, embroidered shamrock, and button pockets. Later got Kelly to sign it. Now I'm debating if I should wear it or display it! Knew I should have bought two jerseys!

6) REI booth. The corporate overlords got smart and realized it's called the BIKE Expo for a reason. This year the booth showed off several Novara models as well as a Scott and Cannondale. Last year the most prominent item in the booth was a canoe prompting several WTFs from friends.

What we really mean to say....

Sorry for the delay. Moved into a new house over the X-mas holidays so most of my time has been spent on home repair and rennovation projects. 2006 is barely underway and yet people are already talking about 2007. The way things are heading it's looking to be another snoozer of a year. Here's a primer to help you decipher the hype:

"Innovative composite construction"
Translation: there's a new factory in China!!!

"New compact drivetrain"
Translation: we finally pulled our head out of our ass and realized 99.9% of our customers don't race.

"Lightweight titanium railed saddle"
Translation: Ass hatchet.

"Carbon seatstay cuts vibration"
Translation: Not having to stock multiple sizes of seatstay tubing at the factory cuts our costs.

"Ridden by the XYZ professional team"
Translation: Completely unsuited for the riding most normal people do.

"Waterproof breathable"
Translation: We slept through Physics 101, especially the part about osmosis.

"Aluminum frame is stiffer than steel"
Translation: We also failed Engineering 101.

"Team Edition"
Translation: Poser edition.