OK, I’m officially obsessed with cycling again. I actually felt guilty yesterday for doing a short run instead of a long ride. And I have the Adventure Cycling folks to thank for it (this note is for Herself, who will be looking for asses to kick once she sees this month’s credit-card bill).
So I’m rooting around in the garage yesterday, looking ruefully at all the two-wheelers that are going to need stem transplants, forks and bits of this and that to reflect my new position on the road bike, and it strikes me that instead of retro-fitting the entire fleet for the 21st century, I should simply launch a new flagship.
Mark Nobilette built a custom fillet-brazed Reynolds 853 cyclo-cross frameset for me a while back, but I’ve never built it up because I was hunting down stylish parts one at a time — a Race Face compact crankset and bottom bracket here, some Paul Component cantis there — and bike jewelry does not come cheap, even for a shameless beggar with generous friends in high places.
Glancing around the garage at the bikes hanging from the ceiling, surrounded by various boxes full of this and that, I decided it was time to quit looking for The Perfect Build Kit and get the damn’ rubber on the road.
So I snatched up some Time ATAC pedals from last century and an equally elderly Excel Sports Cirrus wheelset from my mango Steelman Eurocross (Mavic Open Pros, Dura-Ace hubs, DT spokes and Michelin Jet tires), Salsa Pro Road handlebars stripped from the now-straight-bar Voodoo, and a secondhand Selle Italia Flite saddle (traded a six-pack of New Belgium beer for it).
A box full of as-yet-unused parts included a cable hanger for a 1-inch steerer; an FSA front derailleur, Ultegra rear derailleur and Dura-Ace nine-speed bar-cons; Ritchey WCS seat post; Control Tech SCR-5 aero brake levers and top-mounted levers; and the aforementioned Race Face cranks and mismatched Paul cantis (black Neo-Retro, silver Touring). I’m still missing an 11-28 cassette, a stem and a chain, but the folks at Old Town Bike Shop have those a-plenty.
And that’s where this frameset just went, as I am qualified to build sentences and paragraphs, not custom bikes. A casually assembled paragraph can be painful, but is rarely fatal.
Mad Blog Media 
Damn. I so aspire to be like you. No not the wanky back or Irish temperament (JDL circa 1971 suits me just fine, thank you). But to have a garage or basement even full of bike stuff is one of my less unobtainable dreams.
Currently building a cross bike up for two friends to try out and shame, I had to acquire almost everything, but cassette, chain and seat post. Oh the shame. 40 years of riding derailleur bikes and no stash of storied parts.
Have fun.
Patrick:
That is one handsome frame. I hope you have one of Mark’s forks to go with that understatedly elegant frame. Your build kit sounds great, and is similar to that of my Steelman EC525 (bar-cons, compact crank, Paul’s cantis, big-ol’ cogset, etc.).
I am sure you climb much more quickly than I do these days, but having put a nice, big 11-32 SRAM cogset on my Steelman has only enhanced it’s off-roadiness, especially on our short-but-steep mid-Missouri dirt road climbs. You need an mtb rear derailleur to make that work, which is the only (very mild) downside. You might think of doing it someday if you happen to get old, fat, and slow like me.
All the best,
Dale
I’ve got that 11-32 on my commuter, a Salsa La Cruz with an XT Shadow derailleur and Ultegra brifters and a compact crank (46-34). Works great for this aged, half-fast cyclist. An 11-28 or 12-27 would be a nice closer ratio cogset for those mid-summer days when I am sans lights, reflectors, heavy clothing, and about five pounds of winter beer storage.
Ben, I’m finally starting to run low on stock; that I had to pull a wheelset from my favorite Steelman is appalling. I’m down to weirdo wheels now — a set of deep-section Zipp clinchers and another of original Dura-Ace aero wheels, both quite long in the tooth but still serviceable. I wanted a normal wheelset on this bike, however.
Dale, I do indeed have one of Mark’s forks, and like the frame it is a beauty. I thought about going with an MTB rear derailleur on this bike for the reasons you describe, but I didn’t have one handy — I could’ve (and probably should’ve) cherry-picked one off Herself’s MTB, since she never rides it, but I had two Ultegra road derailleurs hanging around doing nothing much, and so I went for the more traditional drivetrain.
A buddy runs an XT rear on his Surly Cross-Check and all I can do on a hill is watch him go bye-bye. So I might try that setup on my Soma Double Cross, which currently sports an ancient Shimano 600 rear derailleur that is bound to go to its reward one of these days. It has an XT crank with 46/34 chainrings and is tentatively designated to serve as a lightly loaded tourer.
And K, like you I’m a little heavily loaded these days for pushing a close-ratio cogset. But I’m trying to sweat some of it off (and out).
Interesting isn’t it? I find putting brand-new bikes together with brand-new components a wonderful task whether for myself or our clients. But scrounging around in my stash of old stuff and putting together a complete project in this fashion is in some ways more satisfying. I’m lusting now after an old frame/fork built completely (including painting and pantographing) by a man whose hand I can still shake here in Italy. If my “herself” lets me bring it home it will go together with a mish-mash of parts carefully selected from my stash of bits and the satisfaction of completing and riding will be immense. Anyone wishing to see more about this student of Cino Cinelli can go here —
http://cycleitalia.blogspot.com/
PS–Patrick, if you don’t like your blog being blogged in this way, feel free to delete whatever you like.
Patrick,
Kewl! (New Spelling, like New Math).
Post photos as the flagship comes along, please.
Larry,
Not to worry about the blog-blogging. In fact, I belatedly added CycleItalia to my list of bikey sites over in the widget pile at right. That way we can look over your shoulder, drooling, while you have more fun than us.
Jeff, will do. And here’s hoping your leap from the frying pan keeps you safe from the fire. It takes huevos to say, “Y’know what? I don’t think so. Adios.”
Herself did it several years ago after one too many holiday seasons working retail convinced her that she was made for better things. She went back to school, got her masters from DU — driving the Great Circle Route from Weirdcliffe to Pewblow to Mile High to Weirdcliffe, couch-surfing when possible — and now she’s as happy as a clam, working for the Colorado Library Consortium. May you land as lightly as she did.
Nice frame, but you don’t strike me as the type to be motivated by all the geeky stuff like custom frames, so I was surprised you went that route. You’re not getting soft on us, are you?
What event did Nobilette earn his world championship stripes from?
Pete,
Actually, Mark and I had talked about a custom frame for years before I finally pulled the trigger. I had been buying all my ’cross framesets from Brent Steelman, but strictly off the rack — Brent’s shop was in Redwood City, California, and since we’d both quit going to Interbike, I would have had to make a special trip out there for a custom fit.
I’ve always loved Brent’s work — I’ve bought three ’cross framesets and a time-trial frameset from him — but when he quit frame-building I decided to try one of Mark’s frames. I have a long torso for my height, plus back and neck issues, and I wanted to see whether a custom fit might make me more comfortable on the bike. Getting the fit was easy, since Mark is just up the road in Longmont. And like Brent, he’d offered me a very generous discount on his usual price (a price that is still extremely reasonable, BTW).
Brent’s back in the framebuilding business now, which is good news. I can understand why he took a hiatus — as a pro journo’ for 33 years and a published cartoonist since my teens, I could do with a long vacation myself. But not before I buy a custom road frame from Brent. …
Man ……. a guy’s gotta be losing it to somehow “forget” you’ve got a frame like that you haven’t built-up yet Mad Dog. I’d say you’ve been working too hard but you’d have a hard time proving me right on that. Nice frame. So where’s the photo of the finished steed? Or have you opted NOT to show that to the masses for fear of the Better Half having proof-positive of your dealings? Come on dude, Man-up and show us!