The Weapon of Weep

14 Monday Apr 2014

Tags

Brooks Pro, canti, compass, CX70, diamond bar wrap, dirt drop, harlequin wrap, Miyata, RidgeRunner Team, scrambler, thumbie, u-brake, v-brake

I plan to become a stronger rider. That much is for sure. One way to do it is stop eating big fat lunches with the workmates, and go out on my bus/carpool/motorcycle days to ride intervals. I don’t really have a great bike for that, however. Wait… Maybe I do? The old Miyata RidgeRunner Team that was my Bosco’d lazy bike might fit? I’ve always sort of loved this mutt – it has a great fast, low feel to it. Awesome Compass tires that feel like 26″ Hetres!

But, there is that high bottom bracket which was made to fly over fallen logs and various obstacles on the ’88 downhill circuit. That’s the achilles heel for this bike, I fear. Then there is the obnoxious U-Brake. Hmmm – I guess this may still work for a 1-hour lunch ride slash torture session. Better than sitting barless and sad in the basement bike heap. OK – first things first. Put on an old dirt drop cockpit setup I have laying around. I hope the reach isn’t too short.

Nice! Even has the diamond tape! Not really a match, but I’ll add a little blue to the drops. There. Much better… Now about shifters. Hmmm – I could do the stem setup like I had on the clown bike?

Nope. Too much hand movement – can’t deal with that while I’m cranking up a hill at top speed, right? How about something more ergo – perhaps thumbie style?

Awww yeah – that’s more like it… Now is this a scramblin’ interval machine or what?

This sucker looks fast just standing there. Like it’s going to jump the start and kill the field. Those lugs! Those fenders! That raked cockpit! Damnnnnn. Better put some clipless pedals on this beast. Need maximum torque. Let’s put a Ti Brooks Pro on there, too. Keep the weight and comfort down – no sense getting complacent and sitting down on the ride…

Hmmm – that old V-Brake’s gotta go. No problem solver rig this time. This bike was built in the golden era of cantis. Hey – I just got a pair of CX70s for the rando bike that I didn’t need (had centerpulls). How about we try one out on the front? Crap – gotta put a cable hanger on there somewhere… Hmmm… I know I have one lying around somewhere. There we go. Got it. OK – now comes the fun part! Get it to work. It’s raining tomorrow – perfect day for a transport stage. There’s life in this old steed yet!

Bosco Bars

02 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

albatross, bosco, dirt drop, Grant Petersen, Miyata, nitto, rivendell

Bosco, a set on Flickr.

I’ve added a new bar to the mix. This went on a bike it was seemingly designed for. I have an ’88 Miyata mountain bike that is long and low, and was built as a downhill racing bike for the mighty Greg Herbold. I had used Nitto Albatross bars on it for a few years, and they were almost perfect, but I felt that I couldn’t get low enough as I used a “dirt drop” stem to get them up high enough for upright commute duty. The Grant Petersen designed Boscos do a great job of giving two extreme positions that is really the beauty of a good drop bar. If I hold the flat center position, I get a stretched out, low profile, and If I want upright, the swept back portion is high and mighty long. So far, so good.

Two considerations in going with this bar. I put a 13 cm stem on it to get it far enough forward so the back of the bars don’t impale my legs. It also helps stretch me out. I also had to really crank the stem down on the bar to keep it from moving. This bar has some serious leverage!

New Bars, New Wrap

13 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

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Tags

a. homer hilsen, B115, Bar Wrap, dirt drop, drop bars, harlequin, nitto, noodles, Olympiade, randonneur, rivendell, Simichrome

I’m starting to do randonneuring this year, and had some hand numbness with the Porteur bars on my last Populaire 100k. While I could probably tweak the angle a bit and suck it up, I sense that I may be in the minority with these bars on the longer rides, and there may be logic behind everyone else using drops. That said, I’ve had my problems with drops in the past, having tried 46cm Nitto Noodles, and 45cm Nitto Randonneurs with little love.

Old setup with Nitto Noodles and Dirt Drop

As I have a bit of bike ADD, I had an old Nitto bar that came off my mom’s 80’s Soma (old Japanese brand, not new San Fran brand) road bike. I cleaned them up with a bit of the Simichrome, and they looked so nice, I just had to try them. They are significantly thinner than the other drops, at 39cm.

Nitto B115 Olympiade from the 1980's

I did a bit of comparing the feel of these bars with the Randonneurs I still had on hand, and I liked the way they felt. Hard to describe, but smaller, better fit with my smallish hands, and shorter reach. The drop is similar, but without the flare out. I figured I had to try it out on a longer ride. I am partial to traditional stems, but I knew that one of the issues I have had with drops is the lack of a “sit up” position. This made a short stem critical. As these bars are 25.4mm centers, my Nitto Periscopa stem gave me both a short reach, and sufficient rise to get a 2cm positive height above my saddle without looking like I have 8 feet of stem. It definitely still looks a bit odd, but less so than my past experiment with Noodles on a 10cm Dirt Drop stem.

Bars on Periscopa stem

I also wanted a more subtle wrap that would still match my saddle, have the harlequin diamond pattern I love, but not stand out. The copper and silver on this bike already makes it look a bit on the showy side, so a nice green was what I was aiming for. I used blue and green Newbaums cloth tape with two coats of amber shellac. This matches the seat well, and should come out a bit over time as the shellac wears off.

Harlequin blue/green diamonds barely visible on top

A few long rides scheduled over the next few weeks will tell me if this is the setup for the year. My 17 mile round trip commute test passed the bars with flying colors. I love the narrower feel that makes me seem a bit more aerodynamic. I also like the upright fit of the bar height, but the deep drop lets me get into the power zone when I need to push. I had to lock up the brakes as I was following someone who had to do a quick stop on a downhill when a car pulled out in front of her. Did this easily from the hoods. It gave me tons of trust in the Suntour Superbe and Silver Sidepull with salmon pads I’ve been using. Who says old stuff doesn’t perform? Idjits…

New Rando Setup

Comments on Bars

01 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

albatross, cockpit version, dirt drop, local bike shop, moustache bars, nitto, noodles, porteur, randonneur, road bike

I always come back to the Porteur and basket setup. It seems to be the most consistently comfortable and useful cockpit I’ve had on my commuter/road bike yet. I’ve had about 6 revisions including:

Nitto Noodle 46cm – 11cm Nitto Technomic stem
Porteur (VO) – same stem
Nitto Noodles – 10cm Dirt Drop stem

Porteur (VO) – 8cm Nitto Technomic stem
Nitto Randonneur 45cm – same stem
Porteur (VO) – back to the 11cm original

Cockpit version 6.0

I also have tried the Nitto Albatross and Moustache bars on another bicycle. I enjoyed both, and I am slowly learning how the stem, bar height, and angles need to be adjusted differently to get a comfortable setup. It makes me realize that I am lucky to enjoy working on my own bikes. If I had to go through the trial and error of getting to this point through a local bike shop, the process would have been a bit longer, and more spendy…