Man, fall is here with a vengeance. When Dennis the Menace and Dr. Schenkenstein popped round this morning at the start of a cyclo-cross ride, The Menace was sporting ear warmers and a jacket while the good Herr Doktor was in full winter kit, complete with tights.
I was supposed to join them, but there were Saturday-night leftovers to be posted on VeloNews.com and nobody around to post them other than Your Humble Narrator. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I get to ride when it’s 60-something instead of 40-something.
And the question of which ’cross bike to choose for a bracing fall outing gets easier to answer every day, thanks to evil spirits and my neglect of basic maintenance.
The Jamis Supernova has been outfitted with road rubber and press-ganged into temporary pavement duty while the road bike languishes at Old Town, thanks to Ritchey’s inability to provide a properly built fork.
The Nobilette’s Michelins are balder than I am, the red Steelman looks like a dusty relic from some pharaoh’s tomb and the mango Steelman needs brake pads that don’t go skreeeeeeeeeeeeeek when I hit the binders.
The Soma Double Cross is in fine condition, but remains in a loaded-tourer configuration. And the Voodoo Wazoo is still a foul-weather townie, with straight bars and fenders.
So my choices are buy some tires, wash a bike or endure bad noise.
Right. A road ride it is.
Mad Blog Media 
Is that a kick stand???
Holy cow…it is a kickstand! Haha…so every bike in Patrick’s garage laughs at it.
On the subject of multi-use bikes from several posts back, I humbly submit my lowly Fuji Touring rig still sporting Suntour 6spd freewheel in back and triple up front. It still has the spare spokes clipped to the non-drive chainstay! Admittedly, it’s only really served one purpose: general purpose Point A to Point B; but I have used it for a couple pleasure rides over the years as well as some light grocery shopping with it.
The best part? I bought it from a former co-worker who bought it from the pawn shop before I could (a year or two prior) for the cool price of $150- give or take.
Gotta love those Ultra Gatorskins! 2 years so far on my 1991 Trek 2300 and no flats yet.
Got the 700-28 ultragators on our Co-Motion and they are fast and sweet.
Ok, next question. Who can suggest some brake pads that don’t shriek? The Avids on our co-Motion, even when properly toed-in, sound like something that went on in the dark side of an Iraq prison before they blew the whistle on Dick Cheney. Someone suggested Kool-stop grey. Any suggestions?
In PO’Gs defense, I do believe that is not so much a ‘kickstand’ but some sort of “inexpensive repair stand” that allows one to prop the bike up to be maintained. However since the humble narrator admits to not even doing maintenance on his steeds, I may be wrong. Also, it does not appear to have the mount for a kickstand. The one thing that caught my eye about it though is that it appears to have some kind of seatpost mounted fender attachment in the thumbnail photo – upon closer inspection it is the neighbor’s roofline. Nevertheless – a fender on a cross bike? What are you scared of getting wet?
Gents, I have never flatted a 700×28 Gatorskin. Of course, now that I’ve said that, I’ll double-flat on my next ride and have to walk home.
And no, that is not a kickstand — it’s a Click-Stand. I saw a couple using Click-Stands on my Arizona tour and bought one for myself. It’s basically a shock-corded tent pole with a cradle for the top tube and intended for the touring bike, but I used it for this photo op’.
You have to lock a brake to make the thing work — or stick a rock under the rear wheel as I did — but it’s a damn’ sight lighter than an actual kickstand, and you can use it to cane your enemies when it’s not holding your bike upright.
As to non-squeaky canti’ pads, now, it seems to be a hit-or-miss deal. I’ve used Kool-Stop Thin-Line Threaded pads for years with Paul’s Neo-Retro and Touring brakes, and sometimes they squeak and sometimes they don’t. Right now I have one bike that howls and another that doesn’t, and they’re both using the same brakes, pads and rims.
I’m thinking about trying some SwissStop Vikings, but damn, are they ever pricey muthas.
A Click Stand? What’s next, a subscription to Bicycling, a Rhode Gear Stop Block hanging off your brake lever and a tutu? Oh, say it ain’t so.
In the meantime real snark is being passed by. The Rider Formerly Known as Alexi Grewal is talking comeback. Realistic? Dreamer? Crazy? Who cares? At 50 he’s probably capable of wiping the pavement with the likes of me, and I hope he shows the current pro peleton that 50 isn’t old. How about a Dream Team of him, Steve Tilford, Ned Overend, and a couple of others that I can’t think of? Old Guys all.
With all due respect to those geezers like me who fill out their Old Guys jerseys ever so well and who consider beer and wine more important than race trophies…
If 50 is old, someone needs to inform Jeannie Longo. I watched her race at the Tour de Los Alamos in 2008 (I was a course marshal at the LANL entrance) and it was one of those “holy shit, what was that blue streak” moments.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/06/news/longo-wins-french-national-time-trial_122899
Suggestion for break squeak problems: my Cross Check has Avid linear pull brakes (V-Brakes to most, but Shimano patented that name and I don’t want to get on their bad side) with Avid pads and I always need to “reverse-toe” the front pads or else they howl like a stuck pig. Once toed so that there’s about a 2mm gap facing forward, they work great and are are quiet. So before dropping big bucks on pricey new parts (unless you really want to), you might want to try this trick.
Back when I was wrenching full time I ran into more than a few bikes that needed this treatment too.
Patrick, if it works for Mountain Bike Action it will work for you too. And John is right, you need to toe those cantis in (or out as the case might be). Even for the letter brakes you need a little bit of toe-in. Also, a little bit of sandpaper (or nail file) to rough them up a bit might help in keeping the “oh crap I’m going to auger into the bramble bushes next to the singletrack ‘jungle section’ of this course” at bay. Unless you like that sound as opposed to a bell to warn unsuspecting persons of your approach.
Winter kit in the Springs this morning? I guess I’m just not skinny enough.
When I wrenched, I used the reverse toe-in trick as necessary. It worked each time–and without such side effects as nausea, ocular hemorrhaging, wheezing, hair loss, reduced libido, toe fungus, stuttering, or mania. Or maybe it did. It just took awhile. Damn.
As for the PetroMetro, it is 62 degrees as I type. The high should be around 82. All hail the mighty Zeus.
Thanks for the reverse-toe suggestion. I’ll try that before I do anything weirder, since I am flush with Avid brake pads. It is the front pads that are shrieking and they are presently normal-toed about 1.5 mm.
Khal, you’re describing the situation with my Cross Check. Avid pads (not the type with the replacable cartridge, but the complete pad) on the front, and when I had them normal-toed the howl they made caused me to look around and see it I had shattered any windows nearby (or far away, for that matter). It was amazing! I’ve heard some loud break squeak in my day, but geez! My ears are still ringing. Pretty impressive, and it’s nice to know that I can recreate this noise after just a couple minutes with an allen wrench . Just yet another reason why my neighbors should be concerned about me.
Forecast in Grand Junction is highs in the upper 80s, with low 90s on tap for the beginning of October. It’s enough to make me think that Al Gore might have been on to something after all. I may have to reconsider voting for Ken Buck and Tommy Tancredo this November.
The really good news is that I actually got in a 30 mile ride yesterday; which may not be much for you all but it was the first decent ride I’ve done since my crash and head injury back in July (concussion, brain hemorrhage, nothing serious for a Republican). Apparently I can still ride just so long as the primitive portions of my brain still work, with, I’m guessing, the part that controls balance being particularly important. Who knows? Lack of brain power and imagination may just improve my descending.
John, I’m glad you are back on your bike and from the tone of your post, it appears that your brain is recovered. Your bike sounds like our tandem. My wife said to fix it or she will punch me in the kidneys. On the other hand, its hard to miss that we are approaching an intersection.
Interestingly, I went airborne over the hood of a VW Bug while riding to work back in grad school days and woke up tens of minutes later bleeding all over Mr. Pavement. The next few months were sheer Hell–one minute I was Dr. Jekyll, the next minute Mr. Hyde. That’s also when I became a Democrat…
Hey Khal…so Mr. Hyde won out, good for him! More good information that you passed along: I always assumed that were I to T-bone a VW bug that I’d do far more damage to the VW than to me, but it sounds as though those things are more solid than they look (or sound).
Back in the day when I was selling tandems I would always take the wife/girlfriend/stoker aside and tell her that “Y’know that cable on top of the frame there? If you don’t the way he’s driving, like if he’s driving too fast or being a jerk, just pull up on it real hard.” I’ve often wondered if I’ve contributed to a divorce or two.
It sounds like your stoker has an opinion or two about the bike and, I assume, your driving. How’s that working out for you two? As for me and my better half, we’ve long since decided that if we want to stay a better half/lesser half combination, then the tandem needs to stay in the bike shop where it belongs.
John, James, Jeff (thank God for Jeff, this was starting to sound like a recitation of books from the Bible),
I’ve tried the reverse toe-in before and it shuts off the noisemaker but also reduces braking power, in my humble opinion. But hey, who needs brakes anyway? I used mine Sunday and nearly got a helmetless mountain biker up the keister (I lost him on the run-up before he had a chance to chide me for my lack of mad skilz).
Also, John, welcome back to two wheels.
And K, was a Bug the best you could do? I did my over-the-hood on a Suburban. I could’ve used a chute for that descent.
Look, you want them to slow you down or do you want them to shut the fuck up. Pick one. Geez, some people…
Eh, who needs brakes anyway, they only make you slower. Except for Campy Deltas, now those were pretty much guaranteed to make you go quicker than you ever wanted to!
John: Ah, the Delta brakes. There is a coolness factor about those things. remember the Cobaltos that replaced the Deltas? Super Record calipers with a glued-on blue gem.
I wish I had a complete C-Record set from those days. I’d put it on a Rossin or a De Rosa or a Tommasini frame, Columbus SLX tubing, with 32-hole tubular rims and DT spokes, 3-cross front and back. Cinelli bar and stem. Selle San Marco Rolls saddle. Clips and Binda straps. Or those clipless pedals that Campy put out that looked (and weighed) like the Delta brakes.
Patrick….do you want MORE power in your front brakes?
Campy used to make gorgeous stuff. And of course, when brifters came along Campy’s quickly became the top choice of ’crossers everywhere.
Alas, I am and always have been an impoverished journo’ and thus made do with Suntour, Shimano and a host of small-bits manufacturers to fill in the gaps. You get a couple-three bikes going, all running the same system, and the last thing you want to do is gum up the works by introducing a weirdo to the family.
I think the last Dura-Ace bike I had was back in 1987 or thereabouts. That was some pretty stuff, IIRC. Not on the order of Campy Record, but still, not bad. And I still have a soft spot for Suntour Cyclone, which always just plain worked, for me, anyway.
John, we are now on our second twofer and have been riding them since 1994 so I guess that qualifies as success. The 1994 Trek T-50 was our ride till two years ago. I rebuilt it in the mid-90s as a drop-bar bike with bar ends and replaced the 7 spd. SunTour equipped wheelset with a custom pair of hoops in 9 speed built by Ray Brust, the perennial Hawaii road champion and a former wrench at Santana. When we moved to BombTown and were faced with serious descents, I replaced the original LX Cantis with LX linear-pull brakes and Dia Compe 287s since the original brakes, as some have said, just made us go faster.
Last summer we bought a Co-Motion Primera and its been pretty much all grins except for my attempts to break windows with the brakes. Weirdly, the LX linear pulls were brakes I pulled off of the Trek because the Avid-5s on the Primera were too spongy. The LX brakes, shod with Avid pads, worked fine with the Sun CR-18s rims on that bike. They scream like scalded cats on the Co-Motion’s Velocity Dyads.
Sheesh, Patrick. I still remember that crash in fucking slow-motion. That was in ’79 and the guy was sitting on the shoulder waiting to make a U-turn to score a place in a mile-long gas line on Long Island. He suddenly gunned the engine and went into a U-turn and I was absent-mindedly steering from the tops and just didn’t get my shit together in time to dive into a tight turn and slide inside his turning radius. Yeah, if it had been a Suburban, I probably would have put a dent in his fender with my skull instead of going over the top. Woulda helped if I was wearing a helmet, I suppose. My first wife and I had bought two bikes the paycheck before and were waiting till Stony Brook Payroll shit out another set of greenbacks to buy a pair of Bell Bikers. Well, waiting wasn’t a good idea, apparently.
Hey Jeff, you do realize you’re fantasizing about building up a 25+ pound road bike, right? Sheesh, these days you start talking that way at Interbike and they call the guys with the funny jacket that has sleeves that tie in the back.
And Khal, after hitting soft, flat ground recently at the death-defying speed of 12mph while wearing a helmet and getting carted off in a meat wagon and treated for a brain hemorrhage, I’m not so sure that helmets are all they’re all that they’re “cracked” up to be after all. Seriously, I’m all for them, I just wish mine had worked a whole lot better.
Regarding your tandem brakes, I’m assuming you aren’t washing the rims with soap and water or anything like that, right? That’s pretty much a guaranteed brake squeak, which is something to keep in mind if you have anyone you want to fuck with. After that, I’m running out of ideas on how to shut those things up other than to throw different bike parts at the thing. I’ve had some success tediously sanding the breaking surface to make the breaks vibrate less, have you tried that yet?
Glad to hear that you and your stoker have a good working relationship that has held up over many years and many more miles. Sounds like she’s reached her limit though; time to fix those breaks and spare your kidneys.
Just built up one of those 20+ lb steel bikes! The CycleItalia blog has photos posted of my TOMI just before yours truly went out to Hinterbike. I’m biased (especially as they’re an Official Supplier to CycleItalia) but Campagnolo still makes beautiful stuff — even more in their 2011 lineup in polished alloy for those who aren’t so wowed by carbon-fiber or basic black.
This TOMI bike, with so much chrome, just cried out for polished alloy so I dug up some trusty 9-speed bits and even a chromed Columbus steel stem and polished alloy seatpost. These bikes might be the peak of bike development for me — still gorgeous, handmade (Serafino Tomi did everything on this frame, including the pantographing and paint – only the chroming was done elsewhere) steel frame with semi-modern and wonderfully functional components. This is more or less where the pro teams were equipment-wise, around the mid-90’s I’d guess, before non-ferrous frames became the standard. Antonio Mondonico built bikes for Chiappucci while Pegoretti made bikes for BigMig and DeRosa’s were still made of steel. My Mondonico bikes with the just-a-bit-more modern and slightly oversized Columbus 7-4-7 tubes do have more of the springy, lively feel of steel than this SLX bike does. My guess is the new Columbus SPIRIT tubes are even nicer, anyone ridden a handmade bike made with this tubing?
John: Yeah, I know! Weren’t those days amazing? 22 lbs. was pretty normal. I was racing a Mercian, Reynolds 531, with a combo of very worn Campy Super Record, Record, and Chorus, Simplex friction shifters, white Look pedals, Cinelli bars and stem, Shimano 105 aero levers, training wheels were 36-hole Mavic box rims, 3-cross with DT spokes, and race wheels were Shimano 600 hubs with Campy tubular rims, 32-hole, and 3-cross with DT spokes. It’s still hanging in my garage with the old Super Record pedals (clips and straps) back on.
I went on a “recovery” ride about three years ago with some old racing friends, and I was a huge hit with the retro crowd, camped at the back, barely hanging on. I hadn’t turned a pedal in 17 years. Anyway, I sort of committed to riding again, and bought a Cervelo Soloist aluminum so I could get a bike that went click when I shifted. The new bike was a little under 17 lbs. and it was ready to go out of the box–no decisions, no tinkering, and I didn’t have to take out a line of credit to buy it. I’ve since stopped and started a riding regimen (started again recently) so I’m not quite a fred, but I’m not taking out a USCF license anytime soon, either. Besides, Joe Papp is in jail, so how could I keep up in a Masters peloton?
My point? I don’t remember. But, I do miss those days when an airline pilot or a lawyer or an engineer would come into the shop and we could just go nuts putting together a custom everything with C-Record–never talked expense, never talked weight–just dialed in fit. Bike probably left the shop weighing in around 23 lbs. and looking like a Rolex (and costing like a Rolex, too). If I had the money, I’d buy one of those late 80’s gems today, just to put it on my wall. Simply stunning.
Larry T: Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Saw the Tomi on your blog. Look at all that chrome and those polished shiny bits! What a paint job. A fork with rake! Spokes that cross! Rims that don’t descend to a point half-way to the hub!
Just fantastic. Congratulations.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s definitely a place in my lottery winning budget for the latest F1, carbon fiber, red SRAM or Dura-Ace, aero missle, but I haven’t won the lottery yet. And if I win the lottery, there’s also a place for an all Campy, all steel, shiny, raked, custom painted, all Italian sumpn’ sumpn’.
By the way, I ride a 57cm center-to-top in case anyone reading this wants to give away their all-steel, all Campy ride, or one of those carbon fiber rockets. I’ll pay for shipping.
Hey Khal. Wow! Airline pilots used to be able to afford to buy something without using food stamps? That’s amazing.
At the risk of sounding like Buycycling Magazine, so how does the Cervelo Soloist compare in terms of….well, everything. Ride quality, etc., etc., etc. The reason I ask is that I wonder if we all look back with rosy lenses. In the late 90s I acquired a 1989 Merckx Corsa (7-11 colors too) made with Columbus SLX and built it up with Dura Ace 7400. At the time I had a Litespeed Classic as well. Well, compared to the Litespeed, the Merckx was a total dog. It had fine ride quality, but it rode like it had two flat tires. Couldn’t tell you why, just that it felt slow, and this was in comparison to a Litespeed that wasn’t exactly the “cat’s meow” to begin with. I couldn’t believe that Hampsten won Alpe D’Huez on one of these things.
A couple years later I happened to hop on a Gunnar and discovered that modern, relatively inexpensive steel frames ($800) are indeed the cat’s meow (especially when I accidentally ride over my Maine Coon’s tail, whiny thing!). Made with a mix of 853 and OX Platinum, the thing is lively yet rides smooth. And no, I don’t work for Gunnar; in fact I’ve had a couple dealings with the owner, Richard Schwinn, and thought he was a jerk. I’m still riding a Gunnar but I’ve been keeping an eye open for something “nicer” the last couple years, but I’ll be damned if I can find anything I like any better, and I’ve been on a couple ridiculously expensive bikes. My point is that as much as we reminisce about old school steel, the new steel road frames sit there, ignored, unloved, and underrated.
Oops, meant to say “Hey Jeff” in the previous.
But to make up for it: Hey Jeff, I ain’t giving it away but I do have a 2001 Colnago Technos frameset that I might need to sell. It’s made from Columbus Technos tubing (coincidence?), 55cm c to c, 56 c to t, 55.5 top tube. It’s one of those really pretty frames, the type you want to hang on the wall. Chrome stays, chrome Colnago straight blade fork, etc.
I’d like to keep it but the bills from my recent “adventure” keep piling up, and I think I can sell this for just enough to pay for the meat wagon ride to the hospital. Don’t you just love the American medical system?
Patrick:
Sorry to have hijacked your website. I just really enjoy this back and forth bike yackin’ when I’ve got the time.
John:
Yeah, 80’s airline pilots actually got paid. I think it was before deregulation. Had a few of them as customers and they had some spare dinero. Come to think of it, they all worked for Southwest Airlines. Southwest treats its employees really well.
As for the Soloist, I have nothing to compare it to, except the few carbon fibers I test road (felt horrible) and, of course, my old 80’s race bike. I picked it because it felt good to me and the price was right. I like a bike that has some feel of the road and doesn’t wear me out on a long ride. It’s gotta be stable. I hated crits (did a lot of them) when I raced, but I refused to get a frame that was all twitchy. The Soloist isn’t twitchy to me. It descends well (one of my strengths), climbs well (used to be one of my strengths), accelerates well (never been one of my strengths), corners well, and you can buy just the frame and hang on it what you want. I took the whole package ’cause I wanted newer technology without having to think about it. The weakness in this relationship was/is the rider, not the bike.
I think you gotta ride what feels good to you. I don’t weigh much (147 lbs. at 5’11” and getting lighter as I get fitter), so I’m not stressing the frame too much. I’m not hard on my equipment ’cause I can’t afford to replace anything. Only current downside: I am getting an annoying click which I think is from the front wheel (radially laced, bladed spokes built by a Taiwanese 12-year-old). I used to build Rovals back in the very early 90’s for the U.S. wholesaler/distributor. Those were very very similar to the wheels that come stock with the Soloist (now called the S1). They went click, too, if I didn’t tension the hell out of them, load ’em laterally really hard and true ’em about 20 times, then LokTite the nipples to the spokes. I doubt seriously that Taiwanese robots or 12-year-olds are stressing/truing stressing/truing stressing/truing wheels. I’ll admit, they haven’t gone out of true, but they do click.
As for the Colnago, I ain’t got no money, but thank you for the offer. I currently live on the kindness of a spouse who does quite well for us (very experienced corporate attorney in a very good job), but I’m in the midst of a mid-life crisis career change (unemployed) and couldn’t justify to my wife the purchase of anything other than groceries, stuff for our daughter, or a replacement for a worn out bike part. She is quite encouraging of my riding, but not encouraging of bike collecting.
BTW, I’ll take a contract writing gig if anyone wants to pay me (I was a writer for Governor Ann Richards in a past life and am looking for a writing job as a big part of my mid-life career change). There are lots of tech writer and proposal writer jobs here in Houston for the oil and gas industry, but I just can’t get my head around stuff like that. Maybe when my wife kicks me to the curb, I’ll quickly change my mind.
Larry T:
Changing subjects entirely, I’m driving to Bancroft, Iowa, from Houston, starting this Thursday afternoon, for my step-grandmother’s funeral (wake on Sunday, service on Monday). I’m picking up my dad and step-mom at the Des Moines airport on Saturday, then dropping them off there Monday evening. Where are you in Iowa?
I’ve been riding Cannondales since I bought my first real road bike in 1985. Back then, I scraped together everything I could save to get a Cannondale 300. It was that or an Italian steel bike that I never heard of. I test rode both and the Cannondale just felt a little quicker and was quite a bit cheaper, which mattered considerably on an overstretched grad student stipend. Plus, I had been riding a Motobecane Mirage (mild steel frame, slack touring geometry) before that and frankly, was pretty clueless as to what a really good race bike should feel like.
The Cannonball 300 was the basic, early vintage black boneshaker festooned with budget, early ’80s equipment that was obviously inferior to the real deal. I destroyed the first set of wheels in short order (cheap, zinc plated spokes and bonehead riding) and then wrecked the fork in a racing crash, so there was no real savings over a more expensive bike but no harm done either. But in those days, Cannondale had a frame trade-in policy so I kept getting newer frames and upgrading components little by little until in Hawaii, I bought a new 1996 Cannonball frame. Flush with an Associate Professor paycheck, I finally took in a deep breath and bought a Chorus gruppo to hang on the bike… and practically missed the mortgage payment…
Where I really notice the nice steel is in the Co-Motion and to some degree, even in the Salsa LaCruz. Our old Trek tandem has early, straight gauge Cr-Mo and rides like a truck while the Co-Motion rides like a Porsche. And, now that Cannondale has outsourced its production to 12 year old Chinese, I’ll be looking for my next road bike from someone who still issues paychecks to American craftsmen. Assuming I outlast the Six-Thirteen, that is.
you would not believe how much old campy stuff I have and I don’t how to get rid of it.