This thread is way more fun than I even imagined it might be! Everyone: I love your stories, reading about your conundrums, your solutions and your suggestions. And I love your photos!
Turns out, I’m not the only one who just wants to talk shop. I wish we were doing that in my garage with bikes in stands and coffee in hand, but this will do since we can’t have that.
I so appreciate both perspectives of “oh, just make this bike different” and “what are you even doing without a bag”.
I tried.
I really tried to let Charlie run around naked. But it was endlessly distracting to need the things I couldn’t have. The phone mount: I lasted a week without one. When I took my pull I couldn’t see our pace. You are expected to keep a pace on an advertised ride. I needed that phone mount the next week when I made a route for our women’s group for Ride with GPS turn-by-turn directions. You’re supposed to call out “car back” but I had no mirror, so I was bad at that. Ordered the mirror immediately after that ride.
I get mixed responses re: my “road bike.” N asked me, “What makes this a road bike?” And I really didn’t know what to tell her. “Rivendell says it is” came to mind. She walked over, lifted it up, put it down, seeming to decide no way is Charlie a road bike.
Turns out, the only thing I’ve conceded on Charlie is a rack. He’s got a Bananasax on back. N looked at that sack and said, “How are you gonna carry our stuff?”
Ben, I loved reading about that ride. Night ride with the moon and mountain = magic. But I wouldn’t have wanted to do it alone. I’ve never heard of a bike relay - so you did your segments all solo? When did you get to hang with your buddies? How does everyone get to their leg of the relay? Very interesting. Kinda wish I was doing one of these because it does sound like a party.
Jason, your bikes are All Adventure All the Time. Where are my spring flower photos? Shouldn’t be too long now!
L
Jason, nice bike! Looks like a great ride :)
Yeah, to quote Uncle Ronaldo Benedict Ultra Ronnie Romance, "Where are you even going without a bag?" Even Jan says a "performance" bike should be fully outfitted: "[It's] ironic: Even the most exotic sports cars are equipped for driving at night and in the rain." Even though he's focused on going fast on "performance" bicycles, he believes bikes should be equipped with fenders, lights and luggage.
I live in SF, where it rains infrequently, so I only have 1 bike that remains fully fender'ed. But all my bikes have luggage and lights. My Roadeo is my most road-only focused bike, with STI levers, higher gearing, and 38 mm slicks. It has always had a dynamo hub and a Swift Rando bag (which I don't even think they make anymore?!?), but I can go just as fast on it as I could with my carbon fiber "race" bike that it replaced. That bike would only fit 23 mm tyres and had a tiny little saddlebag from the bare minimum of tools/repairs.
A few years back, I did the Kokopelli Bicycle Relay Race with 3 friends. It was ~530 miles from Moab to St George (It's since been retired, but here is the link: https://kokopellirelay.com/moab-st-george/) I rode my Riv Rambouie for my segments, which was ~150 miles. You need to complete it in under 24 hours. We weren't there to win it, but it does mean you need to average >22 mph to finish, not a slow pace. When I showed up with my Ram, with its leather wrapped handlebars, downtube friction shifters, flat pedals, and (comparatively) giant handlebar bag, the other teams laughed and thought I wasn't serious. But as the race went on, and we showed we could hang, all the jokes stopped and they starting respecting us. Sure we did finish last (My team was the definite goofballs, the rag tag underdogs. But we had waaaay more fun than anyone else). But when we finished, the race organizers admitted they didn't think we would and were clearly impressed that we had. Which to me felt like a win!
Anyways, one of my segments during the Kokopelli ride was a nighttime ride up to the summit pass near Boulder Mt before descending into the town of Boulder, UT. The climb was ~1000 ft and the descent that followed was >3000 ft. It was 2 AM and the moon was nearly full on a cloudless sky at 7000 ft. The ride up was a decent gradient, so I was pretty warm, but the ride down was freezing. To have a bike that I could carry all those extra clothes, plus food and water, and have a dynamo hub meant I didn't need anything, I was on my own. But everyone else needed to have their team to meet them at the summit to provide clothes and a good number of them also had their support vehicle shadow them done the descent to provide additional lighting. I did the whole thing solo, and it was one of the most magical bicycle experiences I have ever had. Just me, my bike, the moon, and the mountain.
Below is a photo from the Kokopelli ride, but during the day when it was pushing 95+ F :) The freezing temps would come later!
I hate bar shims more than any other component. I finally figured out that the best thing is a swept bar with a BMX stem. I run a steel copy opt of a Crust Ortho on my Gus with a 70mm Paul Stem. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing setup but the bars absolutely do not move. I just want to talk bikes for a little bit. Threads with subjects are great and all, but so is talking shop. And we are about to hit a spate of cold weather here in SW Michigan and I am a little morose after a few days of Pretend Spring. I did get 25 miles in today and Monday, but now I want to talk shop.
I don’t know what you all have been up to, but I have been fighting with and fidgeting with my bikes.
Recently, I went through a great stem swap where I changed over most of my bikes to Faceplater stems. I even put one on my college boys’ big old Clem with Bosco bars. I even used my new torque wrench, and…the bars slipped! So now I have new Albatross bars and stem and shims because Riv believes this 31.8 clamp will grip 25.4 bars better. I have little experience with shims. And what I have learned about them is that they will set you to cussing. You want the bars centered, but then the shims slink out of their spot. When you want to nudge them just a bit, they have bitten into the center of the Albatross bar and you must find a way to knock them loose. Then the whole bar moves and you have to re-center and line up the gaps in shim/clamp. When you knock the shims loose a few times you realize there are metal shavings on your fingers, which means you are damaging stuff. And every time you decide to adjust the position you have to fight with the shims AND loosen and re-tighten 4 bolts with your torque wrench. I have emailed 2 people about this, badgering them to check my work and say it’s safe. I made peace with the shims being a millimeter uneven because at least the bars are centered. Then I went to wash the metal shavings off my hands.
Shims. In short, I hate them.
During the Great Stem Swap of ‘25, I managed to drop a hex wrench. I heard the ping of it striking the top tube of my raspberry Platypus on its way down. Ah, my first real paint chip, and right in a place I’ll see every day. Tonight, I painted that chip with nail polish I found in a close color match. It’s passable, but sad.
I turned my attention to the mermaid Platypus, which I have no good excuse to have anymore, and noticed the rear tire is flat again. This is because on Monday, I decided I would top off the sealant, and could not be bothered to put the bike in the stand. The clamp on the stand needs more seatpost and I didn’t want to raise my saddle. So I did it with the bike on the kickstand and was never able to recover the seal between rim and tire. I have gotten by with this in the past. Got cocky and have now been brought low. Every week, and you can set your watch by it, I do the walk of shame into the shop. I fling open their door, the cowbell rings, and I announce, “Guys! A terrible thing has happened!” I will go there again tomorrow because a terrible thing has happened - that seal did not hold and we are back to flat tire and dripping sealant. They are sick of me at this point but they are Michiganders, good folk through and through, and they do not let on.
Meanwhile, Charlie. I’ve been running away with Charlie on club rides. High winds have really cramped our style. Charlie and I are on a learning curve. I try and find out if the sounds he’s making are benign or malignant. There was a screeching pedal (a terrible thing that happened!) that my shop addressed. But now there is ghost shifting and something whirring when I stand to climb and toss my weight on the drive side of the bike. Charlie had been denied his accoutrements because I tried to make him Pure Road Bike and keep his accessories minimal. We failed miserably and I’ve junked up the bars just like Charlie’s a Platypus. The final piece, his German mirror, arrived today. I still don’t know if Charlie is any faster than a Platypus. Nothing is fast in these winds. We are out there shredding our thighs, trying to brave winds and get fit for the season with Charlie and his junked-up non-aero bars.
What have you all been up to? Are you having the same struggles? Who else is wanting to throw up their hands and just talk shop? Leah
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