Crosswrench

Where I've been...

2007-09-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, busy Summer. P-B-P didn't happen for me in part because I bit off way more than I could chew. In the past year I've:
1) Become a dad
2) Worked on restoring a badly neglected 80+ year old house
3) Started a new job

All major life events and all demand a lot of my scarce weekend time. This meant I didn't train nearly enough and was completely unprepared for P-B-P. Despite receiving tons of great advice from vets like Kent Peterson, Jan Heine, and Peter Beeson I failed to follow that simplest piece of training advice offered up by Eddy Merckx: "Ride lots"

All was not a total loss as the trip to France for P-B-P instead became the first overseas vacation for my wife and I. Actually it was a our first real (no relatives) vacation in a couple of years. It was great spending 10 days in Paris with my wife and baby and fortunately for us the French adore babies.

I have had some bike related happenings to report and I'll get to that in the coming days. Lots to catch up on.

Feeling the love

2007-05-25T07:58:00.001-07:00

I've been commuting to work most of this week on my new Raleigh Rush Hour. The ride into work only takes 3-5 minutes more than driving since it's downhill for pretty much the entire route. Of course that's downhill on a fixed gear which can get tiring. Heading home is a different story - 3.2 miles almost all of it uphill and with the steepest parts at the end. This definitely takes me longer to get home when compared to driving, especially considering I'm dripping sweat and need a shower. I did swap out the 15 tooth stock cog for an 18 tooth Surly cog. 48 x 18 gives me 72 gear inches. Since I'm old, fat, and prefer to spin at a high cadence I'll probably swap the chainring out for something smaller, probably a 46 (giving 69 gear inches)

My Nitto pursuit bars arrived earlier this week and I like them a lot. Pursuit bars don't give as many hand positions as drop bars but then again this bike is mostly going to be ridden on flatter, shorter rides so that's not an issue. The bars reach further forward than drops so I do need to put on a slightly shorter stem to compensate.

I decided not to run a brake lever and instead modified an old SunTour power ratchet thumb shifter. The first step was to remove the power ratchet feature and restore the shifter to pure friction mode. This was easily done by removing the pawl and spring. Next I had to make the 25.4 MTB bar mount fit a 26.0 road bar. This was a little more tricky. Simply using a road brake lever clamp wouldn't work. I tried both Shimano and DiaCompe models to no avail. So I fired up the RotoZip and installed the grinder tool. I carefully thinned down the tabs that hook into the band and the also thinned down the inner side of the mounting piece. This gave me the 0.6mm of clearance I needed. Note to bike industry: why can't you morons make all handlebars the same diameter?!?!?! What advantage is to be had from having 2 standards within .6mm of each other? This is just yet another prime example of proof that the bicycling industry clearly fails to attract the best and brightest when it comes to product design! Still, the combined stupidity of the bike industry wasn't going to deter me from creating a super stealthy emergency brake lever! The final step was to clamp the lever to the drill press and carefully expand the hole originally meant for the button at the end of shifter cable to accept the wider button at the end of a road brake cable. Even though this will be primarly an emergency brake lever it's still not a bright idea to use a shift cable as a brake cable! Later I'll post some pictures and more complete instructions.

First fixie ride

2007-05-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

Today I got to do something I haven't been able to do in a long time: ride my bike to work. It's a funny thing really. When I worked at REI HQ (~30 miles from my house) I commuted by bike on a pretty regular basis. Of course it helped that we had a bike room, showers, and a cafeteria and my job didn't really involve having to meet people face-to-face. My new job is less than 5 miles from home (almost all of it downhill no less!) and yet after 7 months today is my first day of riding to work. Of course the new job lacks showers, convenient bike storage, and requires me to meet people for interviews which means having to look nice. This makes the whole bike to work thing a little more complicated.

I also got to take my fixed gear bike for a spin. The bike is a Raleigh Rush Hour. Pretty simple stuff: Reynolds 520 frame, uber beefy steel fork, and nice albeit generic components. I immediately ditched the dropbars and ordered some Nitto bullhorns (I'm using an old MTB flat bar in the interim). I also eliminated the rear brake and both brake levers. The front brake is operated with a modified SunTour power ratchet thumbshifter. It provides just enough braking power to keep the speed from getting out of hand on long descents and also as an emergency brake should the chain snap or derail. It's been a year since I last rode a fixie so my skid stop technique was a little rusty. On the flat section around Greenlake I was immediately reminded of why I love riding a fixie. There' s just something about tapping out a constant tempo that you can't replicate on a geared bike.

Long term I plan to highly modify the bike after being inspired by the Trackstar/DQM bikes. I've already picked up some chrome - not silver but actual chrome - handlebar tape and am also debating what color of Velocity deep-V rims to get. Pink? Green? Orange? Purple? So many possibilities....

T-minus one and counting....

2007-05-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

Only one more day until I pick up my new ghetto sled. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. I've been living without a fixed gear for a year now and it's killing me. Already debating various changes such as Nitto steel drops versus cowhorns or maybe even a flat bar. Also planning to lace up some wheels with Velocity deep V rims and trying to decide on the color. In general I prefer my bikes to have natural silver parts but after seeing the DQM/Trackstar bikes I'm going to do something decidedly more colorful.

Change in plans

2007-05-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

It's looking like Paris-Brest-Paris is going to be a no-go for me. I'm learning the hard way that at about the 300km mark my back begins to give out. 3ookm is only 1/4 of P-B-P so I can't imagine my back holding up to that. I still plan to do the rest of the shorter brevets this season and am thinking about new challenges. Perhaps I'll do the STP single day on my soon to arrive fixed gear? I'm not crazy about the crowd at STP so perhaps I'll do the ride solo on another date? Also thinking about a tour from Vancouver to Astoria on the Adventure Cycling route. That could be a good 4 day tour. There's also riding from Seattle to Vancouver on the fixed gear. The nice thing about a new bike is that it opens up new challenges.

The 80's Live!

2007-04-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

Found these on the Razor Apple site (http://tinyurl.com/359ear) and absolutely love them! Never before has something so very wrong seemed so very right! Apparently the store that put them together is selling them for $2500 a pop (they're build off Bianchi Pista Concept track frames - not cheap).

Traditionalists and "steel is real" types will cringe in horror which is all the more reason I love them. Something about the combination of fixed gear minimalism and flashy color just appeals to me. I could never go for a geared road bike looking like this but for some reason fixies seem to a blank cavas that screams for adornment. Time for me to get a beater fixie frame and fire up the spray gun!

Customer Service (?)

2007-04-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Got my latest flyer from Performance. A lot of people really hate Performance/Nashbar but having worked at REI I know many of these people simply hate any big company. For what it's worth, Performance does a good job of offering products at good prices. The two stores of theirs I've been in were also well merchandised and well staffed. As I skimmed through the latest flyer I saw a pair of touring shoes that actually looked nice. They appeared to be honest to goodness touring shoes and not just mountainbike shoes. The soles were fairly thin and had a simple, toe clip friendly herringbone tread.

I went on-line to see if they had any in my size. Here's where things went wrong. The catalog lists the price as $34.99 but on-line the price is $49.99. Pricing mistakes such as this happen for a number of legitimate reasons - it's not a case of the shop trying to screw the consumer as some ranting lunatics always seem to insist (BTW, if you're one of those people let me be the first to congratulate you on being so damn perfect that YOU apparently never make a mistake!) I sent the following e-mail to their customer service addy:
"I received the flyer that lists the Forte Kingston shoe for $34.99 but the price on-line is $49.99. Is the flyer a typo?"

Less than 24 hours later I got my response:

"Dear Mr. Kingston,

What is on the cover of the flyer?

Regards,

Amber

Customer Service"

Not quite sure what to make of this response. For starters they confused my name with the name of the shoe. OK, we all have our moments. But the rest of the response is baffling. Am I supposed to be seeing some fine print? A secret code? Waldo? Am I missing something?

I decided to try their instant chat feature hoping for a less puzzling customer experience. Here's the transcript:
Josh Tech: On the website it is $49.99
Chris Lowe: But in the print flyer it's $34.99
Josh Tech: For the catalog price call the order in
Josh Tech: 800-727-2453
Chris Lowe: OK but the flyer says "Web & Phone orders only"
Josh Tech: Yup, the price was $29.99 on the web when that flyer was printed 2 months ago
Josh Tech: so to get the lower price on the flyer, call the order in
Josh Tech: err, $34.99 when it was printed
Chris Lowe: Uh-huh. Just kind of odd since I got the flyer last night. Professionally speaking, things like this create a negative customer experience. Someone higher up the food chain there should probably know.
Josh Tech: Yup. If it was up to use here in Technical Support, the catalogs would not have prices on them

First, kudos to Josh for his candor and honesty. Having worked for REI I understand all too well how decisions made in cubicles can often make life difficult for the people down at the pointy end of the spear who actually have to deal with the customers. Hopefully Josh will run this up the flagpole so Performance can get their various sales channels all on the same pricing plan.

Overall, the issue got resolved but the question is how many customers wouldn't make the effort? I bet most customers would simply walk away after seeing the pricing error. Worse yet, some of them would call customer service and berate some poor CS rep for an error they had nothing to do with it. Either way, it's likely to be a bad outcome for Performance.

Comedy of Errors

2007-04-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the 300k qualifier for P-B-P. The ride started before dawn as we gathered for the 6:10am ferry crossing to Bainbridge Island. By the time we reached Bainbridge it was starting to rain. This was in stark contrast to the weather just 24 hours earlier when Seattle enjoyed a long over due and much needed Spring day. As I took my bike out of the truck and attached my front wheel I realized that I'd forgotten to attach a magnet to the wheel making my Cateye Mity 8 useless save for the clock feature. This was to be the first of many comical errors.

After a the usual warnings we set off into the drizzle. Jan Heine (of Bicycle Quarterly fame) and a few others quickly soared off the front. Several of us decidedly slower riders formed a good sized group and began working our way to the Hood Canal bridge. Just after the bridge came the first real hill. I peeled off my shell and began climbing. I was feeling stronger than expected and was keeping pace with several riders who generally finish well ahead of me. We began to encounter some chip seal and my bike was making a terrific rattling racket. Something clearly was loose. I reached down and gave the bottle cages a wiggle but they both seemed solidly attached. I pulled out the multi-tool and reached down and began working my way around the chainring bolts. They were all snug. At this point I realized I'd have to pull over and stop and see what was wrong. I finally found the culprit: in my haste to swap out wheelsets I'd accidentally put in the wrong sized cassette spacer. As a result the cogs were sitting rather loosely on the hub and rattling. The lockring seemed tight so I hopped back on and kept going. There was quite a bit of chip seal which made for an annoying ride.

As we left Quilcene we began the ascent of Walker Pass. The more we climbed, the harder it seemed to rain. Part way up the hill I encountered a group of riders looking intently at the ground alongside the road. Naturally, I had to stop. Turns out a rider's crank had come detached from his bike and the bearing from the bottom bracket had fallen out. I helped look for a while but then got back on the bike and kept going. As I rode off I thought to myself "Well at least my loose cassette isn't keeping me from riding!" The cycling gods apparently didn't appreciate this and soon after my pedal body detached itself from the spindle. Fortunately, I was able to more or less fix it.

The descent down Walker Pass had me seriously regretting not bringing my rain shell. I had my Novara Conversion jacket. It's a splendid jacket but by no means a real rain jacket. Light rain perhaps but not the full on downpour I encountered on the descent. By the time I got to the bottom I was so cold I couldn't feel my brake levers. I only knew I was squeezing them because the bike was slowing. As the road leveled off so did the rain. At this point I began noticing my posterior wasn't as comfy as it could be. I hopped off the bike and noticed my Sella Anatomica saddle now resembled a hammock. Sadly, this saddle was proving to be only slightly more water resistant than a Brooks. I tightened the tension bolt as far as I could without having it come undone but clearly this was the end of the road for the saddle. It felt like I was sitting on just the metal frame the leather was bolted to - not comfortable! Too bad since prior to this the SA was the most comfortable saddle I'd ever ridden.

We soon rolled into the secret control. I was surprised to see Kent Peterson roll up after me. Kent is a super strong rider and I'm a really weak climber. This actually made me a bit nervous because Kent had warned me earlier in the week that the real climbing was in the final third of this ride and the key was to start conservatively. I was feeling pretty good (back and butt aside) but was now worrying that I'd gone out too hard. Kent offered me some Gummi worms and hit the road. The worms provided a much needed sugar boost and I was again reminded that Kent is a nutritional genius.

I headed out and began making my way to the next control in Hoodsport. I had no idea just how far I'd gone but I know we were past Walker Pass but not yet at Hoodsport which meant I'd covered somewhere between 98 and 148KM. I rolled past a country store and decided it was time for some Kent Peterson inspired nutrition in the form of a Starbuck's DoubleShot and some Gummi Worms. The sugar and caffeine did wonders for me but soon my back was starting to spasm. Soon even short hills were causing terrible shooting pains. I knew I was in serious trouble. I limped my way into Hoodsport and the local coffee shop. A couple other riders said they were heading into Bremerton and catching an early ferry home. That sounded like a very good idea. After some food the three of us set off. Within a couple of kilometers they were soon out of site and I began the long and lonely haul towards Belfair. Fortunately, the rain had stopped and I was treated to fantastic views of the Hood Canal. I stopped in Belfair and grabbed another DoubleShot and headed out down SR3 towards Bremerton.

I rolled into Bremerton and made my way along the waterfront. Apparently Bremerton is the final stop for decommissioned aircraft carriers as there were several anchored waiting their final out come. Joining them were a pair of Perry class frigates which looked like lifeboats alongside the hulking carriers. Up over one short hill and I was at the ferry terminal. I arrived just in time to see the ferry depart! Doh! At this point I began a quest for food. Eventually I found a place that carried Belgian inspired frites and beer. I ordered a big cone of fries with curry ketchup and a Chimay. The grease, curry, potato and alcohol worked wonders and I was once again a happy camper. I found the two other riders who took the Bremerton option and they said we'd covered over 150 miles. All setbacks aside it was still a good ride. I'd seen parts of Washington I'd never seen before, persevered through new levels of adversity, and ended the ride eating fried food and drinking good beer. How can this be considered anything less than a great day?

Lessons Learned

2007-04-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

I went for a 9 hour training ride on Saturday. It was a mostly flat spin along the Inter-Urban and Centennial trails here in the Seattle area. I love the fact that here in Seattle I can ride 200km with less than a quarter of that being on regular roads. Weather was chilly and overcast so I saw very few other riders and this gave me some time to think about what I've learned so far on my trek to PBP. A few observations:

I have the best wife in the world. Between a 6 month old daughter and an 80 year old house it's a miracle I have the time to ride around the block let alone go out for 8+ hour rides. She's also been very tolerant of the numerous bike bits, entry fees, and mountains of junk food purchased at the various gas stations of Washington state.
The Starbuck's DoubleShot is an almost magical elixir. When you only have 30-40km left to go this little can of sugar, cream and caffeine is just the ticket to get you carcass across the line. Many thanks to Kent Peterson for introducing me to this lifesaver.
Clif Bars don't seem to work any better than Payday bars, Twix bars, fig newtons, etc. They just cost a lot more.
The longer you're on the bike, the weirder your tastes get. Towards the end of my ride on Saturday I was riding a section of the Inter-Urban trail which passes behing numerous fast food joints. Eventually I caved to the pressure and ate 2 cheeseburgers that I normally wouldn't wish upon my enemies.
When you get far enough into a ride you'll tell yourself the most amazing lies. Example: "It's not a hill....it's just flat in a different direction"
If your cold you're not pedaling hard enough.
It's not raining, it's just VERY humid.
Cyclists who blow through red lights/stop signs also seem to be the same cyclists who bitch the most about how bad motorists are. Go figure.
The littlest creak can become extremely annoying after a few hours. My Sella Anatomica is on its way out for this very reason. It might be comfortable but I can't handle 90 hours of creaking on P-B-P.

SIR 200K ride report

2007-03-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday was St. Pat's day as well as the SIR 200K brevet. This was the first brevet to count towards my qualifying for PBP. Gathered in the pre-dawn darkness were roughly 100 riders. Myself and a few others were in the mood for St. Pat's and dressed accordingly. The forecast called for 80% chance of rain so we were prepared for the worse.

The ride started out heading west up Reith Rdd a stiff hill with which to start the day. We hauled ourselves up over the ridge before heading down towards the water. After the first control we headed back up over the ride and descended into the valley. A group of nearly a dozen of us had gathered as we headed inland towards Auburn. At the base of the ridge I spotted a sign which I found grimly amusing: it was a sign marking a volcano evacuation route. The amusing part is that the arrow pointed across the street at a funeral home. If (when?) Rainier does blow that's probably a realistic outcome.

As we neared Auburn we'd already complete 50km. The ride was a quarter over and I was feeling great. Our group plowed through Auburn and began heading out into the country side. A yellow Davidson tandem spearheaded our train as we blasted our way past farms and ranches. An ugly hill quickly broke apart our group and well ascended at our own pace. In my case this meant very slowly. I've been plagues by knee problems and installed a 30 tooth granny ring on my cranks the night before. The 30x27 gearing allowed me to get up the hill without blowing out my knees and soon we found ourselves at the Black Diamond Bakery. A local Team In Training ride had also descended upon the bakery and I suspect the owners were making a killing from all these lycra clad eating machines. I grabbed some water and peanut butter cookies and headed back out on the course. At this point I was on my own. Occasionally I'd hook up with a group but would usually find myself drifting off the back whenever the road pitched upwards.

Just past the 100K point we began heading out on Highway 410 towards Greenway. The road had a couple of climbs and some false flats and my body began to protest. The last 10km into Greenway became a bitter deathmarch. I staggered into the general store and immediately pulled a Kent Peterson: 1 Starbuck's Double Shot, a pack of chocolate Zingers, a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and a Twix bar. With only 60km left to go I knew I needed fast burning fuel. The temperature also dipped sharply and so I piled on my rain jacket for warmth. Not long after departing Greenway the rain began. Since it was St. Pat's day I began to channel my inner Sean Kelly and reached for the drops and began tapping out a steady tempo with a grim determination. The false flats that plagues me heading into Greenway were now propelling me out of it (that or it was the Double Shot!) We turned off 410 and headed down Mud Mountain Road. The descents were twisty, bumpy and wet. The sluggishness of the 650b tires had been bugging me at times during this ride but now I was happy I had them. I found another rider - Allison on a blue Romulus - and we began rolling our way through Enumclaw and farm country. We had one last major hill to climb and then found ourselves in Kent.

My odometer read 201km but the cue sheet said I still had 10km to go. Unfortunately, my legs had decided that since this was supposed to be a 200km ride they were only going to last 200km. The final 10km were a surprisingly hard slog. I finally arrived at the finish with my computer giving a ride time of 9:31:32 and a distance of 212.13km. My time for the 100k was 5:40 so I was quite happy to have done better despite doubling the distance. Of course the computer shows only riding time - not total time. Will need to wait for the official result to post. The ride finished at Greg Cox's house and he had several pots of homemade chili waiting for us. Overall, it was a good ride. I felt much stronger on all of the climbs. My right knee hurt at points but nothing like the pain I had on the 100k. My shoulders also fared better though they were also still sore. I'll raise the stem up a couple of cm and see if that helps. I tried rotating the bars up at the secret control but that quickly caused my hands to go numb - not a good trade off. Also my Sella Anatomica saddle was creaking like an old rocking chair comfortable as it might be I can't live with that kind of racket so it's getting replaced by my Fizik Rondine.

Thanks again to everyone who manned the controls, Kent Peterson for the photo, and Greg Cox for hosting the ride.

650B Conversion Project

2007-03-07T13:22:00.000-08:00

I finished (finally) the conversion of the SOMA into a 650B machine. For those of you not in the know, 650B is an obscure tire size once most popular among French touring bikes. Lately it's been seeing a resurgence in popularity in large part thanks to Rivendell Bicycle Works and Kogswell Cycles who both produce affordable frames made for 650B wheels. The wheels themselves are slightly larger than the 26" MTB standard and slightly smaller than the 700C standard. Those who have been around for a while might wonder if this doesn't sound a lot like GT's failed 700D experiment from the 90's. It is except that 650B was once popular among numerous builders. Even Raleigh USA made a 650B bike back in the 80's. The size has also maintained life in Japan and France unlike GT's effort which was largely proprietary.

The supposed advantages are a fatter tire running at lower air pressures. This results in a smoother ride and better handling. To listen to some people you'd think 650B will turn a Huffy into a magic carpet. You can put fatter 700C tires on a bike but few frames outside of touring and 'cross can handle much more than 28mm. 26" is often seen as too small a wheel size. 650B is according to the faithful a perfect mid point.

650B is also a nice way to take an old road frame and make it into a more versatile machine sporting fenders and cushy tires. This is the appeal for me and I decided to see if the hype was for real by converting my 700Cx28 SOMA Smoothie ES into a 650Bx38 SOMA Smoothie ESS (Extra Super Smooth!) Beyond the new wheels and tires I also needed new brakes. I've always been a fan of how centerpulls look and a fan of Paul Components so picking up a pair of their Racer brakes was a no brainer (other than the cost!) Everything went together pretty easily. The Pauls just barely had the reach for my new wheels and the existing Berthoud fenders just barely contain the 38mm tires.

My first ride on the new machine was a leisurely 1 hour shakedown ride. At first I really didn't notice much difference except on a short patch of dirt trail. The first real test would come with the 100k Populaire put on by the Seattle International Randonneurs. This ride featured a couple of climbs and some generally craptacular weather (light rain, temp in the 40's, snow slush on the roads). Starting out on the ride it was hard to discern much difference between the new wheels and the old ones. The ride was a bit smoother but that was about it. When we hit the first climb - a short but steep 1/2 miler - I rose up out of the saddle and could definitely feel the difference between the 650B and 700C wheels. The new wheels were noticeably slower to respond. My normal 700C wheels are Mavic Cosmos shod with 700x28 Conti GP folding bead tires. The Cosmos is Mavic's day-in, day-out workhorse riding wheel. By today's standards it hardly qualifies as lightweight though technophobic luddites would call it scary light since it was less than 36 spokes. By comparison, the 650B wheels are 32 spoke affairs laced to rims that are the same as MTB rims and shod with wire bead tires. Bottom line is they weigh quite a bit more and it was pretty noticeable on the ascent particularly when you try to change tempo. To be fair, the biggest shortcoming on that climb was still the rider.

On the downhill the extra traction provided by the 38mm tires was much appreciated, especially on the slick, wet roads. The Col de Vie tires cornered very nicely without any noticeable edge or squirming. The tires did make noticeably more noise than my usually slicks. Not the annoying chased-by-a-swarm-of-hornets noise one gets when riding a MTB on pavement but more of a soft whizzing sound. It didn't annoy me but it could drive other riders crazy.

In terms of handling the bike did feel a little more stable. While it's not as good as a bike with dedicated low trail geometry I did find it easier to stay in a straight line while fishing through my front bag. Low speed stability also seemed better.

So far I'm not convinced that 650B is the wave of the future. It seems to be better in certain niche applications (loaded touring, for example) but for normal day to day riding over average roads I don't see it offering any huge advantages over 700C. As for conversion projects, 650B is a great way to make an old road frame more versatile.

Paul Racer review

2007-02-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

I've been toying with the idea of converting my SOMA Smoothie ES into a 650b wheeled machine. The biggest challenge is brakes. I needed a pair that would have a longer reach than the 57m offered by my current Interloc models. Adding cantilever posts was out due to the placement of the stays. Really, I had 3 choices: old school centerpulls, the new Tektro ultra long reach sidepull, and the Paul Racer. My current Tektros were plenty adequate though not great. I worried that even longer arms would make them spongy. Traditional centerpulls use smooth post pads which are needlessly difficult to set up. That left me with the Paul Racer.

The Racer is a CNC update of the classic Racer. It's available in both braze-on and bolt on versions. It features the same easy to adjust and beefy springs that have made the Paul cantilevers such great brakes. The arms use now standard v-brake pads making adjustment a breeze. The brakes came with some stock pads though I upgraded mine to cartridge pads.

Installation wasn't without some issues. On the rear brake the bolts that hold the arms and springs extended out past the rear of the mounting plate. When I went to mount them on the frame these protrusions hit the seat stays. I added a couple of washers and that along with the fender mount gave the unit just enough clearance. Also the recessed brake bolt was too long for my seat stay bridge so I wound up using a slightly shorter bolt in my spares bin. I contacted Paul about this and they said it was news to them. Perhaps it's my frame that's off but I'd be sure to have some washers and a spare bolt (or file) handy when you go to install these.

Clearance on these brakes is great. No problem swallowing a 38mm Col de Vie tire and 40mm Berthoud fender. Brake reach was fine with 700c wheels. For the 650b conversion I had the pads at the very bottom of the slot and even then had to ever so sligthly angle them downward to avoid hitting the tire. Ideally, the slot could be another 1-2mm longer and I may make the change on my brakes with a rat tail file. Again, this could be unique to my frame.

So far I've got about 600km on these brakes with 700c wheels. Overall, they work better in all facets than the Tektro/Interloc B-57 dual pivots they replaced. All out power is abundant and modulation feels good. My first real ride on these brakes was a SIR training ride that featured a couple of steep, twisty and wet descents. Probably not the smartest move to try out new brakes on unfamiliar wet roads but the Racers did the job and I always felt like I was in control. These brakes do a good job of combining some of the better features of the classic centerpull (such as greater clearance) with some more modern elements that make them easier to live with (such as easier pad mounting).

They're not the cheapest brakes out there but if you're looking for a brake that has plenty of power AND plenty of clearance these should be on your short list of options.

SIR Training Ride #2

2007-02-05T07:16:00.000-08:00

Ride 2 in the Seattle International Randonneurs training series was a brisk jaunt around Camano Island. Camano Island is north of Seattle and just east of Whidbey Island. It was a chilly morning and I knew I was going to be in for a cold one when I pulled the bike out of the back of the truck and the saddle and brake levers were covered in ice from the drive. Fortunately, I was well prepared with my Descente Wombat gloves, wool jersey with Craft base layer, REI Conversion jacket, and Sugoi tights. We headed west out of Stanwood and quickly found ourself riding along the waterfront. It was a clear day and we could easily see across the water to the other islands. The roads were mostly very smooth and rolling. As we headed down the west side of the island we pulled off the road and descended down to Camano Island State Park. I think the sole purpose of this detour was to make us climb back up out of the park. It was a crazy steep hill but fortunately it was the only one of the day. On the east side of the island we foudn a small market and when I spied several bikes in front of the store I decided I too needed to stop. Of course at this point I'm pretty much looking for an excuse for a break. Anything would have worked - grocery store, road kill, yard sale, etc. One of my fellow riders was generously picking up the tab for riders and I grabbed myself some beef jerky since I was feeling a bit protein deprived (Yeah, I know - meat is murder....tasty, tasty murder!!!) The final stretch was along the busy highway 532 before finally hitting Stanwood. The total ride distance according to my computer was 81.2 kilometers.

Descente Wombat gloves review

2007-01-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

Descente is a name familiar to anyone who was a cycling fan in the 80's. Many of the top teams of the era including the powerhouse Panasonic team and the American upstart 7-Eleven team rode in Descente. In the 90's Descente pretty much disappeared from the American market proving just how volatile the bike business can be. Well Descente is back and if the Wombat glove is any indicator they're as good as they were back in the 80's.

The Wombat is a pretty heavy glove for the dark days of Winter. I've ridden mine on several rides where temps never went above 40 degrees and they kept my mitts warm. One unique feature of the Wombat is a rubberized wind cover that can be pulled over the 4 main fingers to make them into faux mittens. The weather hasn't quite been cold enough for me to justify using them but I imagine they might add a few degrees of warmth. When not needed the cover tucks into a slot on the back of the glove.

The palms are well textured with plenty of grip. While thick enough to keep you warm I never had any dexterity issues like I've had with thick gloves. I was able to shift gears, rummage around in my jersey pockets, adjust my glasses, etc. The fit on these gloves was also nice. I have pretty big claws and usually have a hard time finding large enough gloves. The tips of my fingers had plenty of room. The cuff on the gloves is elastic which I find makes them easier to take on and off than gloves with velcro cuffs. This was handy when going up steep climbs where the gloves proved to be a little too toasty. The only thing I found lacking on these gloves was a terry cloth snot patch. The material on the back of these gloves is pretty coarse - not somthing you want to wipe your nose on.

SIR Training Ride #1

2007-01-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

Did my first training ride with the Seattle International Randonneurs. Officially this was the second ride since the first one got canceled due to a snow storm. The weather was good with temps in the 30's and no rain. We met in a parking lot in Tukwila and after signing in I realized I'd forgotten a critical piece of kit: my helmet! Fortunately, REI was right across the street so I dashed over and picked up the cheapest Bell I could find. Peter Beeson gave a rundown of basic safety and a welcome speech. There was a pretty good crowd, probably 40-50 riders.

I hadn't bothered to make a map of the route beforehand and since this was a training ride in January I naturally assumed it would be what most people do for a January training ride: flat and in a low gear with no loads on the knees. Little did I know the SIR definition of a January training ride is "Let's cram in as many knee shattering climbs as we can!" There was one climb that had several riders - myself included - getting off and walking. Doing this sort of climbing so early in the season when termperatures are in the 30's borders on stupidity. Of coruse for every climb there is also a descent and some of these descents were pretty twisty and proved to be a great testing ground for my new Paul Racer brakes. About halfway up the climb on Northpoint road I came to my senses and eased off trying to put as little strain as possible on my knees. I wound up riding the rest of the ride solo though apparently a few other riders crawled in after I finished. The route itself was scenic and challenging and would be a great ride to do later in the season but as a January training ride it was a bit too much.

From here on out I plan to map out all the training rides in Topo to avoid any such surprises. At the end Peter did put my fears to rest by pointing out that there is nothing on PBP as tough as the climbs we did on this ride.

Baby steps to Paris

2007-01-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

I'm planning to do Paris-Brest-Paris this summer and I have admit my training has been a little less than disciplined so far. Between a new baby and an old house I haven't been on the bike much in recent months. Now that we're into 2007 and the event is less than 9 months away I've decided to buckle down and actually start training. The Seattle International Randonneurs start their training rides next week and I plan to start attending those. Also dedicating myself to spending some time on the trainer every night. Not the same as actually riding on the road but my current job lacks the facilities to enable bike commuting and riding at night in the rain probably isn't the safest thing for a new father to do. When (if?) the weather dries up I'll start logging some actual road miles at night.

Mainstream niche?

2006-12-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-12-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-02T19:50:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-10-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-10-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

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....

2006-09-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-08-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

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!!

2006-07-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-10T15:30:00.001-07:00

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

2006-05-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

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??

2006-04-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-24T14:00:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

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....

2006-02-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

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.

The Golden Age Of Handbuilt Bicycles

2005-12-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

I'm the kind of person who has an inverse relationship to hype: the more people say "you have to see this movie" or "this book is amazing" the more apt I am to avoid it. At a certain point a product becomes the victim of its own hype and the result is disappointment.

This said, let me be perfectly clear about something: if you have any interest in classic bicycles you absolutely must buy "The Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles". This book is simply stunning and is a wonderful tribute to classic bicycles, especially those made by French constructeurs who believed that a bike is far more than the sum of its parts. The book presents 50 bikes ranging from porteur bikes capable of carrying 100 pounds to ultralight randonneur bikes. Each bike is photographed in profile along with a selection of close-up shots. Text is provided by Jan Heine, publisher of Vintage Bicycle Quarterly. Jan's expertise is clearly evident as he takes the time to not only describe the details of each bike but in many cases writes about the builders and eventual owners of the bikes presented. This puts a very human touch on the book and saves it from simply being a collection of pretty photographs.

At the back of the book are detailed notes on each of the bikes presented including a list of any non-original equipment present. What is missing would be a listing of the equipment for each bike along with the size of the bike shown. This would make some of the weights listed far more impressive.

As it stands, the book is an invaluable resource for fans of the randonneur/constructeur style of bicycle and a nice departure from similar books that only seem to focus on racing bikes.

Numbers that count

2005-12-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

Has anyone looked at the geometry chart in the back of most bicycle catalogs and noticed some changes in recent years? No, I'm not talking about the much ballyhood lack of tire/fender clearance. Instead look at the column for fork rake - in many (most?) bike catalogs you'll see the same number for a 47cm frame as a 63cm frame. I looked at the specs for Cannondale, Trek, Bianchi USA, Novara, Merckx, Jamis, Pinarello, and Rivendell (Rambouillet/Atlantis) and only two of these brands had more than one rake dimension across their size ranges. As many of you might suspect, Rivendell was one of the two brands. The other brand was Trek - the company so many bike snobs like to pick on. Of course even these companies only offer two rake dimensions.

Am I the only one who finds this a bit odd? I mean maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt that a 47cm frame should have the same amount of rake as a 63cm frame. Call me kooky.

I've been thinking about this a lot while riding my Soma Smoothie ES. The bike is great but it still rides more like a racing bike than a bike suited for comfortable, all-day rides. A loaded handlebar bag really makes this apparent. Some people claim the bag is the culprit and maintain that heavily loaded handlebar bags are a bad idea because they put too much weight at too high of a height. Having seen plenty of French built randonneur bikes with downright huge front bags I am inclined to doubt this. I suspect instead that too many product managers are simply ordering cookie cutter frames from Taiwanese factories and/or are simply not thinking about geometry. Jan Heine wrote what is probably the single best article I've ever read on front end geometry and anyone with an interest in this subject should read the article published in Vintage Bike Quarterly (Vol. 3/No. 3)

Later in the new year I plan to have the steel fork on my Soma re-raked and will compare how it rides to the "standard" rake carbon fork I'm currently on.

SOMA Smoothie ES update

2005-12-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

I've passed the 2000km mark on the SOMA Smoothie ES which is remarkable considering it feels like I barely have time to ride these days. Here's an updated review:

The good:
The bike handles great unloaded and while carrying a large saddlebag. Stability is excellent and I can easily ride no-hands down to 10-15kmh. At higher speeds (50+ kmh) the bike remanins shimmy free. Ride quality is quite nice. It would be easy to say the smooth ride is due to the forgiving nature of steel tubing or the result of the carbon fork. Of course then I'd be spouting the same garbage as the big bike magazines. The bike does glide over rough asphalt but that has much, MUCH more to do with 28mm tires at 95psi than anything else. The frame fits and the handling is such that you can just hop on it and ride without having to pay attention to the bike. Really this is about as good as it gets. With a retail price of under $600 it's a hard bike not to like. It's a blue collar bike: rugged, cheap, and dependable.

The bad:
Mounting fenders on this bike isn't as easy as it should be. The bike is designed around standard (57mm) reach brakes and is sold as having fender clearance. However the frame/fork only include fender mounts at the dropouts. There are no fender mounts at the brake and chainstay bridges forcing me to use clips or zip ties. Problem with this is that it results in rattling over rough roads. Very annoying. I'm contemplating adding a riv-nut to the chainstay bridge. Not sure if I can safely drill and tap the brake bridge. I can't imagine it would cost that much more for them to make this change in future production runs.

Fender clearance when using the carbon fork is pretty scant. I'm running 28mm SOMA tires and they barely clear under the crown and brake. The fenders I'm using are SKS plastic fenders and when I hit a hard bump or jump out of the saddle the tire buzzes the underside of the fender. A fender boss on the underside of the fork would probably help as it would allow the fender to be pulled up closer to the crown. Plan to replace the SKS fenders with more solid Berthoud models in the new year. Hopefully that will solve some of the problems. Also plan to switch to slightly narrower tires.

Handling is fine when the bike is unloaded but suffers (as most bikes do) when the bike is fitted with a loaded handlebar bag. I suspect more offset/less trail in the fork would help and early in the new year I plan to have the steel fork re-raked.

Safety in numbers

2005-12-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

So as some of you know, I work for a certain 800 pound gorilla of the outdoor recreation industry. We recently published the catalog for our in house bike brand and while it's not in the same league as the classic Bridgestone catalogs of the early 90's (what is??) it was an improvement over previous catalogs and a nicely done production. It showed our bikes in action and delivered our message - pretty much exactly what you want a catalog to do. Overall, I think they did a dandy job with what they had to work with. The catalogs were printed and shipped to our stores and all appeared to be in good order.

Well apparently someone in the company had WAY too much time on their hands because they pointed out that one tiny little picture on the back cover showed a hand gesture that could possibly be interpreted as a gang sign and also wasn't the correct sign language symbol for the letter N. Now I don't know who this employee is or where they're from but I'm willing to be my paycheck they're not from Watts, the Bronx or Cabrini Green. The closest they've probably come to seeing gang signs was a car load of teenagers in a Honda blasting Eminem.

Still, the company did what any sane, rational person would do: they recalled thousands of already printed catalogs and reprinted and shipped new catalogs all at a cost of several thousand dollars. Oh wait, that's not what a sane and rational person would do. That's what a knee-jerk reactionary, politically-correct pod-person would do. A sane, rational person would have simply responded "Get a life" and would have followed this up by pointing out that Shimano ran a campaign featuring a nearly identical hand gesture.

Unfortunately, where I work being politically correct and not rocking the boat is far more important than being creative. The company decided to spend thousands of dollars reprinting the entire catalog in order to avoid offending deaf gang bangers who apparently were a target demographic we've been trying to go after (and here I was thinking we were only aiming towards white, upper income, NPR listening, thirty-something Subaru drivers - silly me!) Were this not comical enough, the head of marketing has defended this insult to sensibility by simultaneously trying to convice people that on the one hand our brand is "fun, exuberant, hip and witty" but at the same time saying we need to be "respectful of all communities". Seriously folks, I couldn't make this stuff up in a million years. This is what happens when you work for the 800 pound gorilla.

So sue me....

2005-12-07T09:10:00.001-08:00

These are probably NOT the words to say around a certain 7 time Tour winner because he will, in all likelihood, do just that. Such is the fate of Skidstrong. Skidstrong, now Fisso, was the brainchild of Gary Boulanger the owner of Cycles Gaansari in Dayton, Ohio. I met Gary when he was in town for the Seattle bike expo and have exchanged e-mails with him over the years. He is without a doubt one of the nicest people in the bike business. Cycles Gaansari produce some stunning looking frames and his site is a thing of beauty. He started Skidstrong as a way to promote fixed gear riding while also giving money to the Bicycle Messenger Emergency Fund. The BMEF was established to help bike messengers - who typically make less than your average burger flipper - with medical bills that frequently come with the job. All was good for a few brief weeks and then Lance's legal team apparently thought that the general public might somehow actually think an obscure bike brand in Ohio might get confused with a 7 time Tour winner. Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I respect the need to protect copyrights and frequently find myself in the position of protecting the copyrights of the company I work for. That said, Lance's people should have taken a step back and thought twice about what they were doing. I suspect the damage done to Lance's reputation is now greater than any damage that would have been the result of copyright infringement.

Welcome back...

2005-11-28T10:29:00.000-08:00

Swobo is back! Oh hell yeah!!! Swobo is hands-down my favorite cycling clothing company. They were one of the only companies that seemed to know how to make wool jerseys that actually fit normal human beings. Most other companies seem to think wool jerseys should hang down around your knees with sleeves that end 3-4 inches from your wrist. Don't know why this is but I've had jerseys from numerous companies that fit this way. Odd thing is several of these companies also make plastic bike clothes that fit normally. Go figure. Anyhooo...Swobo are back in business under the ownership of founder Tim Parr. Right now the selection is kind of thin (short sleeve jerseys in November?) but hopefully that will change. Go to: http://www.swobo.com/ and commit acts of commerce NOW!!

Dynohub

2005-11-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

Finally got the chance to commute to work on the Smoothie. Nice rolling 30 mile ride early in the AM.

This was my first extended ride on my Shimano dynohub and Lumotec light. Conditions for the ride were probably ideal for testing a dynohub: several sections of streets without lights, sketchy pavement, and sporadic rain. Overall, this system doesn't put out nearly as much light as my old Niterider. At first, it took some getting used to but now I'm convinced that having less light is probably better. With the supernova light of some systems the contrast between what the beam illuminates and the surrounding environment is so great that all you can see is what the beam is shining on. With the toned down lighting of the Shimano/Lumotec system I was better able to see my surrounding environment. I think the battery powered systems still have a place - especially off-road - but for most road riding I think the dynohub system is the way to go. I think the only conditions under which the system might be inadequate would be high speed descents on unfamiliar roads.

Mounting the lights was a bit of an ordeal. I tried using the metal bracket that mounts the light above the brake caliper. Problem was the mount was too narrow. It's got a U shape to it and was too narrow to fit around the brake washer. I tried to modify it with a Dremel tool but wound up weakening it causing it to fail after just a few short rides. Finally, I was able to use a part of a plastic mount originally intended for mounting a blinky light to a seatpost. I used the part of the mount that attaches to the blink and mounted the Lumotec lamp to the top of my SKS fender. I was worried that the fender would be too flimsy and that the light would vibrate/shake too much. This turned out not to be a problem. For now it seems to be working.

It's all about the customer...or at least it should be!

2005-11-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

David Pogue has a great article in the Technology section of the NY Times last week. The article was titled "10 Ways to Please Us, the Customers" and it's aimed at electronics consumers. It got me to thinking about customer service (or the lack thereof) in the bicycle industry. This isn't going to be the most original entry but, as Oscar Wilde once said: "Talent borrows, genius steals!" Here's my list of ways our industry can better serve our customers:

1) Bike companies need to send bikes properly pre-assembled. If Sony and Samsung can ship 50" plasma TVs halfway across the planet Hodaka and Giant should be able to ship an assembled bike. Labor costs are killing the LBS and this in turn is ultimately bad for the consumer.

2) Create a real owner's manual. Most seem to have been written by lawyers and seem to be preoccupied with keeping the manufacturer from being sued. Seeing "...may result in serious injury or death" every other paragraph doesn't exactly instill confidence in the consumer. Terrifying your customers usually isn't good for business.

3) Create a real catalog. The 1993-1995 Bridgestone catalogs are considered collectors items for a reason. In addition to describing the bikes they contained a wealth of interesting information. Most catalogs are little more than a few race shots, some marketing hyperbole and a spreadsheet of statistics. While we're at it list the weight for your bikes. If your carboscandanium is really that light why not list the weight? True, it really doesn't matter but a lot of people want to know.

4) Return phone calls and e-mails. I'm amazed at the number of e-mails I've sent to various companies that have never been replied to. Whether it's a question about product availability or a technical issue it seems many vendors don't bother to reply. I guess it's because they don't want my money.

5) Sell bikes people actually will want to ride. Most people don't race so why do most road bikes come with the same gears as those used by professionals? Do you really think some 35 year old dentist is capable of pushing the same 53x12 as the pros? On the whole, tires need to have more air volume, saddles need to be wider, bars need to be higher, and gears need to be lower. You can do all of this and still have a slick looking bike. A few companies seem to have clued into this and hopefully more will follow.

6) Don't treat saddles as an afterthought. It's the primary point of contact with the bike. Be willing to spend more than $3 on it. While we're at it, stop speccing skinny ass-hatchet saddles. Those are great for skinny-assed racers but lousy for the remaining 99% of the riding public. Of course saddle makers may scream at the impact this will have on sales but that basically proves product managers are doing a terrible job when it comes to saddles.

7) Don't hire racers to drive your marketing. These people are used to getting gear for free so what in the world makes you think they understand the first thing about how consumers make purchasing decisions? Hire marketing professionals who know what they're doing.

8) Stop giving away your merchandise. Microsoft didn't give me an X-Box because I like playing Rallisport so why should Bike Company X give someone a bike to race on the weekends? It's shocking how many people are riding on stuff they got for free or at a steep discount. Bike racing for the vast majority of people is a hobby and hobbies are things you pay to do. I don't know of any other hobby that gives away so much product. This is especially true for Masters since most of them make more than enough money to afford to finance their hobby.

9) Drop the "dude" mentality. Could you imagine what it would be like if bankers, mortgage brokers, or car salesmen acted the way your typical bike shop employee acted? Yikes. Of course it doesn't help when the typical bike shop employee makes less than the typical Starbuck's barrista.

10) Think outside the box. Why do so many bikes end up looking the same? Every year it seems someone designates a hip color and all the companies come out with a bike in that color. One year it's orange, the next year it's flames. Stop playing "me too" in the graphics department. Again, it might help to hire people from outside the industry.

Riding lessons

2005-11-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

It seems like I'm seeing more and more cyclists failing to follow proper protocol while out on the road. In the interest of public service let me offer up the following lessons on how to be a proper cyclist:

1) Always make sure you wear matching shorts and jersey. Having a plain colored jersey devoid of logos and solid black shorts proves you don't know how to ride. Real riders wear the logos of their "sponsors". If you're not "sponsored" you're a nobody and shouldn't be riding on the road.

2) Make sure your bike is coordinated. Tire tread color must match handlebar color. Handlebar, stem, and seatpost must be of the same brand. Ideally these items will be of the same brand as the "sponsor" on your jersey. Also the bike must be spotless - bikes owned by real riders will show no signs of every having been ridden. Absolutely under no circumstance are you allowed to mix Campy and Shimano! Wheels may not have more than 24 spokes and must be aerodynamic so as not to slow you down. Finally, at least 5 parts on your bike MUST be carbon fiber.

3) No old parts. You're riding 9 speed?? That's OK only on your "retro" bike that you ride when it rains. Real riders are using 10 speed for their primary bike. And don't even think of riding unless your bars are made from carbon fiber and your saddle weighs less than 300 grams. Steel frames are only acceptable if they're made by a craftsman who studied for 50 years in Italy, then built frames for a Tour champion (who had to race them with sponsor decals) and now has a 30 year waiting list. Even then you must refer to this as your "retro bike" that you just ride "for fun".

4) Obsess about weight. Real riders need to have the lightest gear possible. A 14.96lb bike might be OK for the pros who are forced to ride whatever junk they're given but real riders will cherry pick only the best parts for their bike. It's especially important to cut weight on such vital components as bottle cages, handlebars, tires and saddles. Durability isn't important since you'll replace the parts with next year's new stuff (see rule #3)

5) Run a 53 tooth big ring and 12 tooth cog. Real riders are strong riders. So strong that they need to have the exact same gears as the professionals. 48 and 50 tooth rings are for freds. Real riders are turning over the same 53x12 as Hincapie, Boonen, etc. So what if Eddy Merckx never needed a 53 tooth ring - he was forced to ride a STEEL bike. Your carboscandalloy bike is so light, stiff and aerodynamic it'll be no problem for a real rider to push a bigger gear than Eddy.

6) Run 23mm tires at 120+ psi. Traction and comfort are not important. All that matters is speed. Besides, that carbon fiber seatpost will magically absorb all the road shock.

7) Always ride with a group and always make sure you dress the same. This is vital to team cohesion which will later prove critical during such epic non-races as the Around The Lake Loop, Annual Century, and Tour de Charity Ride. Also be sure to silently pass by pedestrians as fast as possible. By terrifying the shit out of them you'll be sure to impress them with you're riding prowess. Remember: bells are for freds!

8) Bring plenty of gels, energy bars and drinks with you. You're training and it's essential that your highly tuned Adonis-like body be fueled by equally highly refined chemicals. Regular food is entirely incapable of providing the energy needed for your high intensity 2 hour ride. You wouldn't put plain unleaded gas into a Formula One race car!

9) Where "technical" clothing even when you're off the bike. Regular wool and cotton will cause you to simultaneously overheat, freeze to death and suffocate. You need to keep your highly tuned engine cocooned in petro-chemical fabrics designed to breath, stretch, massage and caress your athletic physique.

10) Demand a discount for all of your bike gear. You're a serious rider and serious riders shouldn't have to pay retail. Only newbies pay retail. You're special and shops need to recognize this buy giving you a discount. Since they mark everything up 100% this won't hurt them plus when people see you riding with the gear it'll drive up the shop's sales so you're doing them a favor with all the free advertising you're giving them.

Of sheep and the French...

2005-10-31T15:46:00.000-08:00

OK, this won't be as sick as the tag line suggests (but it got you to look!)

First up, I picked up the new Novara wool sweater. About the only thing that's cycling specific about it is that it say "Novara Bicycles" across the back. It's a nice coffee brown stylish piece though not really something you'd wear riding. It's not cut for cycling, lacks pockets, and the fit is kind of funny. I got a medium and it's crazy long. OK, that seems to be pretty much par for the course with wool. Don't know why it is but every wool cycling top I try seems to be way too long in the torso and too short in the sleeves. I've tried tops from Swobo, Kucharik, Castelli, and a few others.

On the French front it appears the frogs took a dig at Lance during the presentation of the 2006 Tour route. Why is anyone surprised by this? While it's easy to write off as yet another example of the French being French I'm not show sure us Americans are any better. How do you think we'd react if a French team won the Super Bowl? Or a German team won the World Series? Of course we'll never know because the "World" Series is only open to American teams (Toronto doesn't count - I doubt anyone in their line-up is actually Candadian!) as is the Super Bowl. It's pretty easy to say you're the best in the world when you don't allow the rest of the world to play. Hell the good old US of A baseball team didn't even qualify for the Olympics! Probably just as well since chances are none of the top American players could pass an IOC drug test. Bitch all you want about the French ripping on Lance but face up to the fact that we're no better. Actually, we're probably worse - at least the French let foreign teams enter their race!

It's a material world

2005-10-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

Was in a bike shop the other day and heard a sales person tell a potential customer that they shouldn't buy a Cannondale because "aluminum is stiff and will beat you up."

You hear and read this a lot in the bike business. Too bad it's not true. It amazes me how much misinformation is propagated by ignorant bike shop employees and bike magazines. I guess this is what happens when companies are run by marketing people instead of engineers. Like "waterproof breathable rain gear" this is yet another example of where marketing people seem to act in complete defiance of the laws of physics and most consumers are too ignorant to know any better.

Didn't any of these people stay awake during science class in high school? Heck, let's put down the textbook for a second and just focus on the bike world and ask ourselves a couple of simple questions:
1) If aluminum is stiffer than steel why are track handlebars (where stiffness is of paramount importance) preferred over aluminum?
2) If aluminum is stiffer than steel why don't we have aluminum ball bearings, hub axles, BB axles, etc?
3) If aluminum is stiffer than steel why were the aluminum Alan and Vitus frames of the 90's criticized for being too flexible?

The reality is aluminum is softer and more flexible than steel (assuming same dimensions). That's not an opinion but rather a fact of science. This also explains why it's lighter. A lighter material has a lower density. A lower density means lower weight. You can see the pecking order by busting out the periodic table of the elements (yeah, the one from the high school chemistry class that most marketing people seem to have slept through):
Iron (the main component of steel) is # 26
Titanium is # 22
Aluminum is # 13
Carbon is # 6

The lower the number, the lighter and less dense the material. The lowest numbers on the periodic table are the gases hydrogen (# 1) and helium (#2) - which have both been used in balloons and blimps because they're actually lighter than air. At the other end of the scale you have tungsten (# 74) and uranium (# 92) which are used to make the armor piercing rounds fired by tank cannons. Anti-tank armor piercing rounds actually have no explosives in them, they're simply solid darts of tungsten or depleted uranium that rely on their high density and extreme velocity to penetrate the armor plating of their target (I spent several years as a M-60A3 and M1-A1 Abrams tank crewman). Gold, well know for its heft is also pretty low down on the list at # 79.

What makes most (though certainly not all) aluminum bikes so stiff isn't the aluminum at all. Rather it's the diameter of the tube. In a nutshell, the larger the diameter the more resistant to twisting. A great example of this is to ride a Klein or Cannondale and an old Vitus or Alan. All four are made from aluminum but the Klein and Cannondale feature massively oversized tubes while the Vitus and Alan feature tubes not much larger than conventional steel tubes. As a result the Klein and Cannondale are almost impervious to flex making them excellent bikes for climbing and sprinting at the expense of comfort. The Vitus and Alan on the other hand are notoriously flexible and were prized for their smooth ride and all day comfort.

The next time someone in a bike shop or bike magazine tries to tell you aluminum is stiffer than steel tell them to go back to school and learn some basic science.

Apple

2005-10-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

How does Apple do it? Unless you've been under a rock, you're no doubt aware that Apple has launched a version of the iPod that will allow for the playback of video. This isn't a new concept and several other vendors have had portable video devices on the market for sometime now. However, to look at the press you'd think the introduction of the new iPod was the second coming! How does Apple manage to get so much press? Apple fans will say it's because they deliver groundbreaking and well designed products. Unfortunately, history says otherwise. Apple was not the first to come to market with MP3 players, portable video devices, or all-in-one compact computers. Truth is many of their much-hyped products have been duds: the iPod Photo, the Power Mac G4 Cube, the Newton, etc., etc. This failure rate is probably no greater than that of most other consumer electronics companies. The difference was when was the last time a new MP3 player from Sony or Creative made front page news? I wonder how well the Mac Mini is selling. It sports a slow processor, weak video card and paltry hard drive. But who cares, it looks cool!

Don't get me wrong, I think Apple has the lead in design. I can't imagine living without my iPod and iTunes and I'd love to see Apple purchase Tivo (fat chance, I know). I just don't get how every time they introduce something it's treated as a groundbreaking event even though in most cases they're not the first to have come out with such a product.

Update: Two days after I posted this what should arrive in my mail box? The latest issue of Time magazine. The cover photo: Steve jobs holding an iPod Nano while standing in front of an iMac. Never mind devastating earthquakes, floods, storms, wars, political shenanigans or the economy. Apple coming out with revisions of two already existing products (both in categories Apple didn't invent) was apparently the most important story the editors at Time could come up with. Amazing.

Interloc B-57 brake review

2005-10-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

I chose the Interloc B-57 brake for my Soma for a couple of reasons. For starters, they're less expensive than the Shimano long-reach brake. Also I've always like Interloc - they're a smaller company doing some really nice parts at some really nice prices. My old shop had a good relationship with them and they took one of my ideas and made it happen (a long drop cable hanger for cross bikes)

Still, this doesn't give them a free ride. When I pulled the brakes out of the box the first thing that struck me was the finish. The calipers are very nicely polished. Much nicer than the finish on the Shimano long reach brake. These brakes wouldn't look at all out of place on an otherwise all DuraAce or Record bike. Even the caliper quick release is a faux chrome plastic.

The only glitch I had with installation was with the fork crown fixing bolt. Between the thick crown on the carbon/alloy fork, the fender tab, and the light mount the stock bolt was a tad too short. Fortunately, I had a spare longer bolt in my parts bin. Ideally, they should spec a longer bolt since many people choose to run 57mm reach brakes so they can also mount fenders which often attach to the brake. Brake pads are of the cartridge variety ensuring a long life of easy maintenance. The cable adjuster is a two piece design. The actual screw is the part you turn to make adjustments while the washer with the rubber o-ring is used as a locknut to hold the adjustment. This two step approach is a little different than the method used by Shimano but it works great and even allows for finer adjustments.

Out on the road the brakes worked just as well as anything from Shimano. That's pretty high praise. Plenty of power and plenty of modulation. Really not much more to say.

With a retail price of $85-90/pair (about $20-30 less than the Shimano brakes) the Interloc B-57 should be your first choice in 57mm brakes.

(Photo courtesy http://www.interlocracing.com)

First flight

2005-10-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well I finally took the Soma out for it's inaugural ride on Saturday morning. Nothing too fancy but a good 75 km shakedown ride. For Puget Sounders my route started at my place in Ravenna, along the Burke to Fremont, south to downtown, along Boeing Field to the Interurban, took the trail to Tukwila, over to Renton, up Rainier then MLK and finally to Montlake and back onto the Burke for the last leg home. The route had a couple of hills and some pretty bumpy roads at points. The new bike handled it all very nicely. Just a little rattling from the SKS fenders.

Conditions for the ride were pretty wet throughout and I was quite happy I had fenders mounted. On the final leg I saw some cyclists on racer/poser bikes who didn't have fenders and they looked pretty toasty wearing rain jackets to deal with the spray even though it had stopped raining and was quite sunny. Fenders and a saddlebag are really great for rides like this.

This ride also gave me a chance to wear my new REI Conversion jacket/vest and REI wool zip top. I wore the wool top as a base with a short sleeve D'Allesandro wool jersey over it and the Conversion jacket over that. This turned out to be pretty much perfect for light rain and temps in the 50's/60's. The zip off sleeve/shoulder panel on the Conversion jacket is especially nice.

Lost Wages

2005-09-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

So this week is Interbike and thanks to the glories of the internet and digital cameras there's little need to waste your time and money heading out to Las Vegas. I've been surfing around looking at what's on show and for the most part there's nothing really Earth shattering. More carbon, more suspension, more yawns. Have seen a few things that really caught my attention:

Park Tools: The boys in blue always come out with something nice and this year is no exception. My faves: a lighter repair stand, a Mavic truing tool that will fit the slots on most case pallets, and a backpack for carrying tools. All welcome new to race/event mechanics everywhere! Details already posted on the Park site.
Cannondale Lefty tool: Cannondale has come with a nifty multi-tool that slides into the empty headtube. Yeah, the French did this years ago but nobody has done it recently. It's a good idea and one I've already been tinkering with.
Rivendell/QBP Bleriot: An affordable 650b bike. Rivendell style, QBP availability. What's not to like? Hope it sells like hotcakes at lumberjack camp.
Jeff Jones: This guy makes the most fantastic titanium bikes out there and also the best off-road handlebar.
Reynolds 953: Steel's not dead! Yeah!
Wool: The marketing people are finally embracing it which means soon the sheep (consumers) will be wearing real sheep.
FSA: Finally someone has pulled their head out of their backside and realized that most people don't ride fast enough to gain any real benefit from aero wheels but could benefit from reduced bearing friction. VeloNews said it best: "Remember when we used to care about bearings and how freely our wheels and drivetrains spun?" Ahmen! Sealed bearings are great for mechanics - when they get cruchy you just punch 'em out and replace them. Unfortunately, all those seals create quite a bit of drag. FSA has gone ceramic and apparently the results are impressive.
LED lights: They're getting brigher and smaller. Who really needs a HID system on the road? Seriously, unless you're trying to signal the space shuttle it's overkill. It's also annoying as all get out on bike trails where you end up blinding anyone heading in the opposite direction. Also nice to see dynamo hubs coming back into fashion.
Surly Pugsley: If you thought the Karate Monkey was a niche frame just take a gander at this beast! 3.7" tires and as little as 5 psi could make this the ultimate winter trail bike. Kudos to the Surly crew!

Another shot

2005-09-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

Here's what I'll be looking at as I ride. Makes me happy I spend the big bucks on the lugged stem.

Show and tell time!

2005-09-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a side shot of the bike. Specs:

DuraAce cranks w/ 48-38 rings
105 front derailleur and BB
Ultegra 10s rear derailleur and chain
DuraAce 10s downtube shifters
DuraAce seatpost with Rondine saddle
Rivendell stem, Nitto Noodle bars, bar-end lights, Specialized BarPhat tape/pads (I don't like wearing gloves)
Eggbeater pedals
Mavic Cosmos wheels with 28mm SOMA steel bead tires
Campy carbon brake levers
IRD B-57 brakes
FSA headset
Delta stainless bottle cages
SKS fenders
VDO computer

Weight is a hair under 20.5 pounds. Not bad considering it has steel bead tires and fenders!

Rivendell Reader #36

2005-09-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Got my first Reader since renewing my loooong lapsed membership. Highlights:

Photos of Nigel Smythe bags. Not sure how I feel about plaid bags.
Ritchey Breakaway review
A "the French invented it first" type article from Jan Heine with some great pictures of obscure parts.
Details of an inexpensive 650b bike. Availability is early next year, made in Taiwan, and lugged. Grant writes that it's "designed within half an inch of where I'm sitting now". He doesn't say where that's at but it kind of sounds like it might not be a Rivendell offering.
Richard Schwinn interview.

All in all, another fine reader.

What are we buying?

2005-09-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

I work for a major outdoor goods retailer. I'm not going to say who but suffice it to say we're best known for our initials. Today we were given the opportunity to purchase some of our house brand gear for next to nothing prices. They do this twice a year both as a thank-you to the employees and also because they know it's a great way to sell more gear (employees in any industry sell more of what they personally use)

I'm looking through the mini-catalog they sent out announcing this sale and one thing that stands out in regards to the clothing is the heavy use of words to describe clothing that I would not normally associate with clothing. Words like "technical", "performance", "laminate" and "welded". Just what am I buying: a jacket or a racing car?

Since when did a jacket need to "perform" and why does it need to be "technical"? Correct me if I'm wrong but we're still talking about fabric. Granted, the fibers are different as are the production techniques but at the end of the day it's still a series of strands woven together into a sheet that is then cut and assembled into a completed garment. It's certainly not technical on the same level as say an iPod, jet engine, or camera so why pretend it is? Maybe I'm getting old (highly unlikely) or way out of touch with the Average American (very likely) but when I'm looking at a jacket I'm more interested in words like "warm", "cozy", "dry", "comfortable". Have we become so dependent on technology and gadgets that these words are no longer appealing?

Fortunately, there is hope. Turn one page from the jacket with the subtitle "Technical fabrics combine for peak performance" is....WOOL! Nice, 18 micron Merino wool at that. The subtitle for the wool top reads "A natural way to add warmth, wick moisture" Now you tell me, which of those descriptions sounds more inviting?

Wish List

2005-09-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

First, let me start by saying I think the bike industry is, on the whole, doing a better job of serving a greater variety of cycling interests than at any time I can recall (and I've been at this since the early 80's)

That said, there are some things I'd love to see brought to market or resurrected. Here's a short list, in no particular order:

1) Hite-Rite.
Anyone remember these? A simple spring designed to help off-road riders quickly raise/lower their seats. Useless for fire road riding in Marin but mighty handy on twisty, up and down singletrack. I did see someone is offering a seatpost that can be adjusted with a remote switch. Same concept but way more expensive, complicated and heavier. I can't figure out why more trail riders haven't resurrected this one.

2) 110/74 bcd aluminum crankset for modern bottom brackets.
Interloc is working on this but no promises of when it will arrive. Rivendell is also trying to import the Sugino Alpino. Sugino already makes a great 110/74 crank - the XD - but it's square taper. Shimano is coming out with a 110 crank but it's a double only and uses their outboard bearings. Plus the current generation Shimano cranks look too much like spaceships and not enough like crankst, IMHO.

3) Cinelli Unicanitor.
A plastic shell attached to the rails. Like a Brooks, the comfort comes from the shell flexing rather than from padding. Simple and cheap. Also impervious to wet weather making it a winner for rainy day commuters and cyclocrossers alike. With titanium rails it would be very light.

4) A Brooks saddle that works.
Every Brooks saddle I've ever seen on a reasonably modern bike is shoved as far back as possible. Even then they're often still too far forward. Why Brooks has their saddle rails in a totally different configuration to the rest of the industry is a mystery. John at Rivendell says a solution is in the works but can't give a date. Keep your fingers crossed on this one.

5) Good looking yet affordable bags.
Cycling bags fall into two categories: handsome hand-made models that cost more than a set of wheels or affordable models that look like cheap plastic. Why can't someone take nice materials (canvas and leather) and have them made in Taiwan? How hard can this be? OK, it probably is hard.

6) Lightweight bags.
Why are all good quality panniers so overbuilt? Most cyclotourists are not traveling for months on end through third world countries but you'd never know it from their over built gear. People have hiked the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails using ultralight sil-nylon backpacks. Why can't someone make sil-nylon panniers for people to use for light and fast trips? While purists may sneer down on the credit card touring crowd there is no denying they exist.

7) Loops on saddles and saddle bags.
Every non-racing saddle should have saddle loops and every bike bag maker should make a saddlebag. Period. A large saddlebag easily beats a set of panniers for commuting, centuries and credit card touring while also allowing you to quickly strip the bike down for speedy, short weekend rides. With panniers you still have a big ugly rack on the bike when you remove them. Not a look.

8) Affordable aluminum fenders.
Honjo fenders are striking in both appearance and price. Much of this is probably due to the high labor costs in Japan. Why not make them in Taiwan? While we're at it, make them as easy to install as SKS and Zefal fenders.

9) A brake/shift lever in which the brake lever and shifter are separate parts.
True, Campy Ergo be rebuilt but realistically the number of man hours it takes makes it impractical. Instead I'm thinking of a shift pod that attaches to the brake lever. This would make upgrading from 9 to 10 to 11 speeds more affordable. Would also be great for cross racers. Modolo attempted this a few years back but didn't quite pull it off.

10) Wool jerseys that fit Americans.
Is it just me or does it seem like most wool jerseys are made for tall skinny guys with no shoulders?? I've got woolies from several makers and most of them are too long in back and have sleeves that are too short. Really odd thing is some of them come from companies that also make plastic jerseys that don't have these fit issues. What's up with that??

Yippeee....

2005-09-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

The last piece for my Soma arrived. Spent the night finishing the bike off. It's still not 100% where I want it to be and there are several parts I'm hoping to get such as Honjo fenders, different wheels, and Rolly-Polly tires. Still, it's together and can be ridden. Going to snap some pics tonight and try to post them on this page.

My beef with Brooks

2005-09-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

So my Soma Smoothie ES is coming together nicely. Went to mount the Brooks B-17 saddle only to discover that it won't work. I'm using a DuraAce seatpost which has a pretty fair amount of setback and yet even with the saddle slammed all the way back in the clamp it's still a good 10-15mm too close to the bottom bracket. Yes, I could simply use a longer stem but that's a really poor way to compensate. Rule 1 of bike fit is to not tinker with the relationship of the saddle to the bottom bracket. You don't compensate for reach by moving the saddle forward/backward which is basically what I'd be doing by mounting the Brooks. I took off the Brooks and put on my Fizik Rondine. The Rondine fit just fine with the seatpost clamping the rails more less smack dab in the middle. Tried a few other saddles and they all fit more or less in the center of the rails. It's definitely the Brooks. A seatpost with more setback might help but I'm not aware of any seatpost that has at least 10mm more setback than the DuraAce post.

So my question is this: why has Brooks chosen to ignore the changes in frame geometry that have occurred in the past several decades? The rails on the Brooks are perfect if your bike has a 70-72 degree seat tube angle. If your bike has a 74 degree seat tube angle (as most bikes do these days) it's more than likely you won't be able to achieve the proper amount of setback because of the peculiar design of the Brooks' rails.

There's really no excuse for this. Brooks has introduced new models in the past decade and also produced titanium rail saddles. This gave them ample opportunity to modify their design to better accommodate today's frame geometries. So why haven't they? I've e-mailed Brooks and hope they will respond.

Park PRS-15 Repair Stand Review

2005-09-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

So my 10+ year old Ultimate repair stand finally bit the dust. It had a long, hard life and served me well through more events/races than I can remember. It will be missed.

I searched around for a replacement and finally settled on the Park PRS-15. Really, it came down to two models: The Park PRS-15 Professional Race Stand and the Park PRS-20 Team Race Stand. The PRS-20 is a Euro-style stand the holds the frame by the front or rear dropout and bottom bracket. This is much more stable and also saves you from having to clamp around potentially fragile carbon seatposts. Downside is you have to remove a wheel to mount the bike. At a mass ride where you may perform dozens of repairs a day that extra step could get to be a real pain so I opted for the more conventional style Park PRS-15. Plus at 'cross races you can quickly hang the bike from the clamp arm by the saddle nose while you hose it down between laps - something you can't do with the PRS-20.

Overall, this stand weighs a fair bit more than my old Ultimate. Set-up was a bit more involved than with the Ultimate. With the Ultimate the three legs are connected together and spread out simultaneously. On the Park stand you have 4 legs that are not connected which makes it a tad more difficult to unfold and set up. Mind you, I'm not saying it's hard to set-up, just saying it's less easy. Once in place the Park stand does feel much more solid thanks to the 4 footed base. 4 feet are always more stable than 3 feet - this explains why goats, mountain lions, and other critters tend to be quadruped. Also the two rear feet have adjusting knobs to help maintain stability on uneven ground.

The main mast of the Park is a hefty chunk of airfoil shaped metal. This is much better than round mast on the Ultimate which could rotate under pressure. Like the Ultimate it can be raised or lowered by the flick of a quick release.

The clamp has nicely padded and narrow jaws that shouldn't have a problem clamping onto most seatposts even when a seatbag is fitted - no need to modifgy them with a hacksaw. One nice feature is the quick release mechanism. You unwind the main clamp handle a copuple turns and then hold down on the quick release and slide the clamps open. Very quick, very simple.

Overall, the Park is a professional level piece of equipment that no race mechanic should be without. It is an improvement over the Ultimate stand and I haven't seen any other stands on the market that feature this much stability and portability. There are other stands that are more stable (the Pedro's Rockstand being the current champ) but they're not nearly as portable. Many other stands are lighter and more portable but I wouldn't feel secure cranking on a bottom bracket cup with them. Is it expensive? Absolutely, but so is any piece of professional equipment. They're not throwing the word "Professional" into the name for nothing. Home mechanics should stick to a less expensive stand (like the PC-9). Park did everything right on this stand which is exactly what we've come to expect from them. My Ultimate stand lasted more than 10 years and I suspect this Park stand will last even longer than that.

Ripping on the Big S...

2005-09-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

So why do people so passionately dislike Shimano? I got to thinking about this while I was installing my DuraAce 10 speed downtube shifters. Sure they come out with new and improved products every 2-3 years and keep switching standards but Campy does the same thing. Yet people adore Campy and loathe Shimano.

Traditionalists seem especially hostile to Shimano which doesn't make much sense. Shimano is currently the only major component company producing downtube shifters. Campy has dropped theirs. Shimano also still producers bar-end shifters in both 9 and 10 speed models. Campy now only makes 10 speed. Furthermore, Shimano's bar-end and downtube shifters both still have a friction option which Campy lacks. If you're building a traditional style bike Shimano is the only major company still cranking out shifters.

Then there's the issue of spare parts. People like to claim that Campy is superior because you can rebuild their Ergo shifters. This is a hollow claim. Yes, technically it is possible to rebuild the shifters. However, as a practical matter it's so time consuming that having a shop do it would probably cost you more money in man hours than simply buying a new shifter. There's also the issue of spare parts availability. I was recently looking for some Cane Creek/Tektro brake levers and was calling several local shops to track them down. While I was at it I also decided to see which was easier to find spare parts for: Campy or Shimano. I asked stores if they had Shimano and Campy spare chains, chainrings, and cassettes. Of the 6 shops I called all had Shimano spares while only one had spare Campy parts (and they cost twice as much as Shimano!) Mind you, these are common spare parts that need to be replaced on a regular basis, assuming you actually ride your bike.

By no means am I picking on Campy. In many ways I still prefer many Campy items. The hoods on the Campy Ergo shifter are far more comfortable for my mitts than the STI levers. I also believe Campy has a much better range of cassettes and especially like their century-friendly 13x29 cassette. Shimano only goes down to a 27 tooth cog and there are times when us non-racing types could go for a lower gear. Campagnolo also beat Shimano in recognizing the validity of compact gearing in the front and even created a compact specific front derailleur.

I just don't understand the whole anti-Shimano mindset. I think much of it is simply because Shimano is the biggest kid on the block and there are certain people who will always hate the biggest kid on the block no matter what. I really don't get that mentality.

Rivendell Lugged Stem

2005-09-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

The Rivendell Lugged Stem arrived! This is easily the best way to class up your bike for under $100. When I pulled it out of the wrapper I actually thought it was the wrong size. I'm so used to looking at aluminum threadless stems that the thin walls of the steer clamp actually made the stem look like it was for a 1" steer. This stem just screams elegant (assuming something can scream while still being elegant!) I know some might think "Lugged steel? That must weigh a ton!" I put the stem on the scale and it clocked in at 180 grams for a 95mm. As $80 stems go that's considerably heavier but then again most $80 stems are made for racing and won't last nearly as long as this stem nor do they look nearly as nice. Basically, it weighs about 2 ounces more than a high-end aluminum stem. 2 ounces isn't a whole lot and you could probably save that much by chopping off excess seatpost length. Plus it's a real safe bet that this stem is considerably stiffer than any 120 gram aluminum stem and stiffness can be just as important in climbing as lightweight. There's no reason you couldn't mount this on a race bike. If anything it would probably be a good choice for cyclocross and criteriums where crashes and sprinting are more frequent.

There are some very minor quibbles that potential buyers might want to be aware of. First, some of the finish work around the lugs is just a teeny-tiny bit rough. It's on par with what you saw on Japanese lugged steel frames back in the 80's. If you're looking for or expecting the crisp lines of someone like Richard Sachs or Vanilla look elsewhere. Of course this stem costs less than 1/2-1/3 what many customer builders charge for a lugged stem so it's more than worth the tradeoff. Finally, the polished finish is almost too polished as finger prints readily show up when you handle the stem.

Overall, I'm so happy I popped the extra $40 and picked this stem. It's worth every penny. My day job allows me to order direct from Quality Bicycle Products and many other bike vendors. While a great perk it's also a bit of a necessity since people in the outdoor retail industry make substantially less money than people in other industries. Anytime you see someone in the industry pay full retail for a product you know it's got to be great.

My brake lever hunt has been a bust. Tried several local shops and nobody has the Cane Creek/Tektro levers in silver. QBP is out of the Tektro models but do have the Cane Creek version in "pewter" which sounds too grey for me. Rivendell is also out of stock. I could use some Shimano levers I have but I really don't like the way the Shimano levers feel in my hands. Looks like I'm going to have to "settle" for using the Campy Record carbon brake levers. They might be black but at least they're Campy. Plus I suppose they will nicely match the carbon blades on the fork.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2005-09-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Actually it's looking more like Hanukkah: new gifts everyday for a week!

Today saw the arrival of a 12x27 Ultegra 10 speed cassette, Ultegra 10 speed rear derailleur, Ultegra chain and DuraAce 10 speed shifters. I know what you're thinking: "I thought you were going the traditional route?" Well, I am. The DuraAce shifters are downtube shifters! Yes, Shimano still make downtube shifters. It's funny how people like to rip on Shimano because they keep changing things and yet Shimano is the only major company still doing downtube shifters. Campy appears to have dropped theirs from the lineup. Furthermore, Shimano downtube and bar-end shifters still feature a friction option. I chose them simply to be different and also to go old school. As crisp as DuraAce STI shifters are they don't come close to the precise, snappy feel of downtube shifters. The one odd thing is that the front shift lever doesn't rotate all the way forward. Tradtional downtube front shifters would lay flush with the downtube when you shifted into the small ring. The Shimano models stop about 30 degrees above the downtube. Shimano claims this improves operation of the lever. Odd thing is the right lever for the rear derailleur still lies flush with the downtube. Go figure.

Another day, another part

2005-09-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

One of my goals in building the bike was to maintain a relatively traditional appearance and a big part of that is using silver parts. As you may have noticed, these days it's getting really hard to find silver seatposts, stems and cranksets. While carbon fiber parts are naturally black aluminum parts are not. Companies paint aluminum parts black for one very simple reason: it's cheap! Polishing a crank arm, stem or post is time consuming and time is money. I was able to narrow down my stem choices to a few options:
1) Interloc. Interloc offers two silver stems. Both are reasonably priced and well made. The Prestige model is the more expensive ($80) but also the lightest at 120 grams. Normally I'd be leery of something that light but it's made by Tange and I trust them.
2) Oval Concepts. Biggest selling point on these stems is the reverse threading on the stem cap. The removable cap is threaded and the bolts go in backwards. Overtighten and strip some threads and all you have to do is replace a cheap cap instead of the whole stem. A very clever design and one of those "why didn't I think of that" things.
3) Rivendell lugged threadless. Heavy, wildly expensive ($80), and a single bolt clamp which makes it extremely difficult to change stems or bars. Also by far and away the best looking.
4) Nitto UI-5GX. Very rare but reasonably priced ($55). Weight is claimed at 170 grams which is in the light-but-sane category.

After much pondering I finally decided on the Rivendell. I can't believe I'm paying $80 for a stem! I work in the industry and can order direct from a number of vendors. People think this is a great perk but that's because they don't know how little the bike business pays! If it wasn't for pro-deals most industry folk could never afford bike parts. Also helps that Grant is one of the nicest people in the bike biz so I'm always happy to send my hard earned dollars his way.

It's here.....

2005-09-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

The SOMA Smoothie ES arrived today from my old shop in San Francisco (American Cyclery). Yeee-haaaaa!!! The frame clocked in at 4.6 pounds for a 56cm. While not light by today's standards that's still a very respectable weight. I doubt anything Eddy raced weighed much less!

Also included in the box were a pair of Interloc B-57 brakes and an Interloc headset. Brad was also kind enough to toss in some American Cyclery bottles and t-shirts for old times sake. The Interloc brakes are easily on par with Shimano's long reach brakes. Might actually be better finished. The headset is made by Tange for Interloc and it's hard not to like anything from Tange.

Also arriving was a set of 46cm Nitto Noodle bars and some yellow cloth tape. The Noodle bar bends just right in all the right places. Even off the bike I can see why people like this bar. The tape is a nice shade of yellow. Somewhere between mustard and Homer Simpson yellow. I plan to wrap it over some Specialized Bar Phat pads. This will give me the grip and looks of of cloth but with enough padding so I don't have to wear gloves. Plus I have big hands and like the way thicker tape feels.

Still waiting on parts from QBP. Tonight I need to measure the frame and figure out what size stem to order. Still have many decisions to make. Do I go for the sleek, light polished Interloc stem or the artistic boat anchor Rivendell stem? Hammerton Honjo fenders, carbon Berthoud fenders or stainless Berthoud fenders? Do I spurge and get the lighter Schmidt dynamo hub or do I save $150 and get the heavier and less expensive Shimano model that probably works just as well? Just happy these are the sort of tough questions I'm burdened with! Life could be a whole lot worse.