If you’ve ever wondered why so many Coloradans seem inexplicably insane, consider this: Last Sunday it was about 22 outside, with black ice coating every horizontal surface. Today, it was 81 and sunny. This sort of meteorological inconsistency tends to mess with a person’s mind.
I was on the job for VeloNews.com, but it was a slow news day, as in practically motionless, so I slipped out for a couple leisurely hours of rolling terrain on the red Steelman. What a pleasure to be riding sans undershirt, arm warmers, knee warmers, winter gloves, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Just the bibs and jersey, for modesty’s sake.
While out and about I happened upon Dennis the Menace, who was fresh from a running race at Bear Creek and cycling home. I kept him company and just short of arrival we noticed that Big Bill McBeef’s door was open, so we paused to harass him.
Imagine my surprise when the sonofabitch pops the garage open to display two brand-new bikes — a Giant full-susser mountain bike and a Douglas carbon road machine that weighs under 16 pounds, or just a few grams more than my left tit.
McBeef was one of the last of the Original Dogs still riding titanium DBR road and mountain machinery from the mid-Nineties, Usuck O’Neill and I being the other two. Now it’s just Usuck and me. I was tempted to raise my voice in righteous indignation until McBeef told me he had originally intended to buy a new car with the money.
This way, I figure, some of his money could find its way into my pocket, should increased ad buys from Giant and Colorado Cyclist lead to more paying work for Your Humble Narrator. Then maybe I can afford my own carbon wonderbike. Or breast-reduction surgery.
Mad Blog Media 
Does the man have no sense of rightouesness. How could he commit such. What he’s riden his bike what 4 times this year. That’s only 4 more than me.
Get out there and stimulate that economy by keeping those Chinese plastic bicycle factories humming! “Wonder-bike” is right, I can’t help but wonder why folks buy these things. I’ve yet to read a review from anyone claiming these things ride better than old-school bicycles made from steel tubes, at best they ride as well according to the reviewers. While they often weigh less and are “stiffer” (how that is such an advantage is lost on me)the average ‘Murican cyclist carries more than any weight difference around his middle section. But keeping a paycheck coming to our humble scribe at VeloNews “The Journal of Competitive Shopping” is a worthwhile endeavor and as you say, at least it ain’t another car!
But Larry, you see, carbon is better. No, really. I’m just on my steel SS because I’m a retrogrouch even before hitting 30.
So where are those Douglas bikes made? In the unmentionable country?
Speaking of Made in China. Tragic story this morning about the Chinese now having to evacuate some cities due to their lead smelters poisoning the local kids. Of course, they won’t clean up the smelters.
Given how little we care about educational excellence in this country, that perhaps is the only way to keep the USA competitive in the world market–root for the Chinese to poison their kids so they grow up mentally retarded. Of course, there is then the emergent danger that the Chinese will all become Republicans.
Whatta world….happy Monday, folks.
I have one partially carbon bike, a 2008 Jamis Supernova that I scored for free while VeloNews still had an arrangement with Jamis. Carbon seat stays, carbon fork, unobtainium elsewhere. Sucker has the worst fork chatter I’ve ever experienced, as in scary-bad, so I rarely ride it (got to run the sumbitch by Old Town one of these days for diagnosis and treatment).
IIRC, Joey, you did final assembly on it and mentioned that you disliked its Kore Cross Race brakeset (I notice that the ’09 model dumped ’em in favor of TRP Eurox). I’m thinking I may have to replace the stoppers before I go arse over teakettle on it.
Larry, I’m with you on the weight thing. Bill says the new bike saved him 6 pounds, but he’s a skinny dude who couldn’t shed that kind of weight without sawing off a limb. I could lose 10 pounds from my pudgy little cheeks alone (the upper cheeks, that is).
K, dunno where CC has its Douglas house-brand bikes made, but I suspect it is a nation where people eat noodles out of bowls but do not speak Italian.
Six pounds? That ain’t because the frame fork are plastic rather than metal — unless his old bike was a Schwinn Varsity. The difference between a good quality steel frame and one of the lightest plastic “wonder bikes” is about equal to the weight of two standard water bottles (filled with water of course) I have to admit (other than when hoisting a bike onto a roof rack) I can’t tell if my bottles are full or empty….but that’s just me. I kind of understand how guys who’ve pared all the excess weight off their bodies can get into doing the same for their bicycle though I can think of little sillier than yours truly riding my fat ass around on a 15 pound, Chinese plastic bicycle, going on about how light it is.
I’ve got one Cannonball CAAD-5 with a carbon fork/aluminium steerer and then the Six-Thirteen with its mixture of carbon tubes and aluminum lugwork/stays. The Six-thirteen is a very nice riding bike and thankfully, should last me a while unless I crash it or have it stolen. The CAAD-5 is a size too small and I ended up putting a stem extender on to get it to more closely match my 52 cm Six-Thirteen. Looks ugly with the Delta extender on it, and one of these days I’ll probably give or sell it to someone who it actually fits.
Yeah, I said I’d never own a plastic bike either. I now have upwards of 15K miles on my Specialized Roubaix, which has been my only operative bike since breaking the derailleur off the Bridgestone MB-2 early last winter. The comments about weight are spot on, but that’s not the point. I don’t even know what it weighs, it’s amazingly comfortable and climbs far better than its overweight Yugo-class motor can exploit. You know the rules of frame design have been re-written if even Cannondale can build a carbon bike that doesn’t chip teeth. The downside is being regarded as eccentric, and possibly deranged, by my friends riding Surlys and Rivendells. That may not entirely be due to the bike, but hey, who are they to talk?
Downhill Bill brings up an interesting point. I’d guess pretty much any ROAD bike (plastic, steel or titanium, but probably not the Schwinn Varsity) would feel pretty darn good if the last bike you rode was a Bridgestone MB-2 – which to my recollection is a MOUNTAIN bike. It seems a whole bunch(warning–old fart ranting follows)of current road riders began riding on the road using MTB’s — so any discussion of ride quality based on this sort of comparison ends up being apples to oranges. While I’m ranting…no bike climbs better than another,they all just sit there until someone starts pedaling, which to me is the beauty of the sport/hobby — you can’t buy legs (though it seems more than a few can afford to buy dope or extra high-quality blood to get’em up the hill faster!)
As to weight vs performance, here’s an interesting essay http://www.bikeraceinfo.com/tech/weight.html (Since bloggers have to add FTC disclaimers now – I’m a friend of Bill McGann’s, but don’t hold it against him!)
I had a Bridgestone MB-2 back circa 1990. Was Bridgestone’s second-tier mountainbike. Blue frame with decent Suntour parts for that time period. My main complaint was the frame felt kinda heavy and dead compared to some other steel mountainbikes I rode at the time.
It was a great winter commuter in Honolulu, though, where I fitted it out with a dual Nightsun headlight system, rack, 1 inch slicks on lightweight wheels, bar-ends, and plastic fenders in order to deal with the inevitable rainy weather. The lower 26″ gearing made it easier to motor into stiff trade winds or climb some of those near-vertical Koolau ridge roads (Wilhemina Rise, Halekoa Drive) in East Oahu on those circuitous rides home from work.
Didn’t mean to imply a comparison between the Roubaix and the MB-2. The latter (still in its John Deere green/yellow, older than the blue ones) was always strictly for variety. I’m a roadie at heart, took a few years off from riding when the @#$%^&* burglars stole my beloved old mostly-Campy steel Fuji. Test road a lot of road bikes before I bought this one, didn’t like the ride of any of the ubiquitous Al bikes unless tempered with bits of carbon. They’re still not in the same ballpark as full carbon, though. Steel can definitely give a sweet ride, but not IMHO as good as plastic, and the price for a good steel bike with good components is about the same. Obviously, I’m not talking about the mega$ conspicuous-consumption-mobiles every bike mag & website loves to write up after every trade show. (Disclaimer: I’m too cheap to pay list anyway, and if I had those kind of bucks, I’d hire a domestique instead.)
I agree totally about the weight thing, but again, that’s not the only difference. And I still think some bikes climb better than others, given the same power input. Compare, say, a Cannondale to a Vitus (if you can still find one).
Vitus? I remember those. Just think of how many sprints and green jerseys at LeTour ol’ Sean Kelly would have won had he ridden something other than one of those flimsy things. Despite what the bike industry would have everyone believe,the bicycle by itself doesn’t do squat — it’s the rider. All this stiffness/efficiency claptrap is simply marketing BS. I still contend in any pro bike race, the first place finisher would have won even if he had to ride the bike used by the last place finisher and vice versa. These “discussions” always end up like a debate over who is the most beautiful woman on earth…everyone has their own opinion — Sofia Loren has as many fans as Pamela Anderson though everyone would agree they are very different.
One of my good friends in Honolulu, Steve Spengler, used to show up at USCF races wearing tattered shoes and bike duds and riding a bike that looked on the surface like it was bought at a police auction. He would then proceed to thrash the field. He was simply a superb athlete, and disguised it with the “homeless shelter” gitup. I knew what was going to happen and laughed like hell. Of course, that scam only worked a couple times.
Steve now has a real job instead of a grad student stipend. Wonder if he still rides incongnito.
As far as framesets? Hmmm. I’d still go with Halle Berry if I had the opportunity. Hands down, so to speak.
Steel, aluminum, carbon-fiber. I’m okay with any of it. However, I do miss well done lugs and things like chromed fork crowns and drop-outs. Oh, and curved fork blades are cool. Miss those, too.
My current old road bike is from the late 80’s, when I used to race slowly and badly (more like sit in the pack and hang on for dear life). It’s a Mercian of Reynolds 531 and a mish-mash of Campy Super-Record, Record, Chorus, Look, and Simplex friction shifters. The Sella Rolls saddle itself weighs almost as much as my 30-gallon fishtank. Two years ago, I got the itch to get back in shape and get on a bike again. I wanted a bike that went click (since I’d never owned one before), but I didn’t want to spend more than $2,000 complete. I got a Cervelo Soloist, the aluminum one–the one they call the S1 now. Tax, title, license, new pedals, new shoes, new helmet, new Mad Dog Media jersey, new shorts–I got away for about $2500. It’s pretty good. Ultegra for the shifters and derailleurs and a hodge-podge of other stuff I didn’t recognize for everything else. I don’t race anymore, but I’d be good with diving into corners on this bike as is.
Yes, it’s Canadian/Chinese. But I’ve stopped worrying about national borders anymore. Now I’m more concerned about poorly educated religious nutjobs who listen to AM talk radio.
“…in any pro bike race, the first place finisher would have won even if he had to ride the bike used by the last place finisher and vice versa”
See LeMond vs. Fignon, 1989 Tour de France final stage time trial. The aero bars made the difference. I rest my case.
And Loren is still more beautiful, even in her 70’s.
“…in any pro bike race, the first place finisher would have won even if he had to ride the bike used by the last place finisher and vice versa”
See LeMond vs. Fignon, 1989 Tour de France final stage time trial. The aero bars made the difference. I rest my case.
And Loren is still more beautiful, even in her 70’s.
Sorry about the double click. Gotten impatient in my old age.
Bill, we figured it was your fingers getting nervous thinking about Sophia Loren.
I’ll agree with you about Sofia Loren but I wouldn’t “rest my case” on the example of LeMond vs Fignon in 1989. Fignon’s teammate, Thierry Marie set a time that day (using a bike similar to Fignon’s) that was 25 seconds better than Laurent’s. That time would have been more than enough for Fignon to keep the jersey. LeMond had nothing to lose by going all out, asking not to be given any time checks. He could have blown up spectacularly and still saved his 2nd place on GC as he was almost 2 and half minutes ahead of Delgado. The aero bar and pointy helmet marketers claimed this a victory due to the use of their products but I was there that day and am convinced Greg would have beaten Fignon, who was suffering from a nasty saddle sore (and in my opinion a bit of hubris as few thought LeMond could make up 50 seconds in only 24.5 kms) on that day, aero bars or not.
You’re not the only one with two Ti DBR’s still in the stable. I ride my road version in the winter, or when I do a long ride on crappy roads as it still is the most supple. My old hardtail has been a single speed for the last few years thanks to a White Bro’s ENO hub with an excentric cam on the hub. I ride that all fall and winter, too.
Aha, the infamous and deadly Doc Dog rears his head. Glad to hear there’s one more of us rolling around on ancient DBR ti’, if only in evil weather or on crappy roads.
K, Doc Dog is like your pal Spengler, one of those perma-fit guys who can thrash you on a borrowed big-box bike with a flowered handlebar basket full of beer and two flats.
Another one was multiple national cyclo-cross champ Laurence Malone, a monster I raced with a couple times, mostly on the road. He’d toe the line on some godawful steel garbage wagon with toeclips and straps, wearing anonymous kit, and just lay down the pain.
I saw him riding a sketchy descent to a pit before the start of a New Mexico ‘cross race with his spare bike slung over one shoulder like a messenger bag. It looked so cool that I taught myself how to do it, albeit with a lot more fear and a good deal less panache.