Drop Some Wisdom

17 Sunday Mar 2013

Tags

200k, cork tape, cotton bar tape, drop bars, hand comfort, nitto, Nitto B-115, nitto noodles, noodles, Olympiade, populaire, porteur, randonneur, ride comfort, rivendell, VO

When I started riding road bikes again around 2009, I read a lot of opinion on the “internets”, and a few things were spoken of as gospel. One of these was:

Drop bars, in particular Noodle bars are great for long term comfort (Discussion Thread from ’09)

I’m a dedicated experimenter/tweaker when it comes to building and riding bikes. I had been on road bikes with drop bars for a short period of my life from about 1983-1991, but mainly as a part-time commuter. I never raced, and only did one 2-day 150 mile ride in high school.

My old road bike – Raleigh Reliant

When I moved to Seattle in 1991, I rode a friend’s mountain bike down some fire trails in Whistler, BC, and was totally smitten. From then until 2009, I had various mountain bikes with flat bars. When I bought my first Rivendell, I tried 46cm Noodles, but found them uncomfortable. Specifically, when I was in the drops, they felt really deep/extreme, and my forearms hit the tops disconcertingly. There was something off.

Cupcake and Homer with 46cm Noodles

I found VO Porteur bars to be a better fit for me initially, as they had a nice stretched-out thin position on the flat fronts, and I could also get very upright on the swept back part of the bars. I went through a few iterations with these bars until I started riding in longer Randonneur events. On one Populaire, I developed a bit of numbness in one hand at the 50-mile mark, even with soft cork tape. I was definitely the only rider using upright bars of any kind, and most of the folks were using drop bars of some sort.

Porteur with Cork and Cotton

I decided that I would have to try some drops for the longer 200k ride I had planned. I had an older pair of Nitto B-115 Olympiade bars from the 80s, and the width was a tiny 39cm (compared to the 46cm). I set these guys up, and found them comfortable on my commute (7-12 miles each way). I also found that my forearms didn’t hit the tops of the bars when I was in the drops. The next test was the Bellingham 200k.

Olympiades

At the end of the event, I had no hand discomfort, and felt that the bars were close to ideal. They just needed more width, and a bit of curve back like the old noodles had on the tops. This led me back to the beginning (almost) and the Noodle style I started out with. I went with the next bigger size of Noodles and have not gone back to uprights.

Sometimes it is best to listen to the wisdom/opinion of experienced riders in the first place. At least cheaper…

Faves! Nitto Noodle 42cm with SRAM S500 Levers

Spring 200k

11 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

a. homer hilsen, Biologic, cyclemeter, Escape from Seattle 200k, garmin, Hahn Rossman, iphone, jan heine, rando, rivendell, Seattle Randonneurs, Selle Anatomica, SIR, son 28, SON Delux, Titanico X, Wool

Randos!

I started my rando season yesterday with a 200k that conveniently began and ended within a mile of my house. There were probably 100 folks that started this ride. It was a great day with temperatures ranging from 38-65 F resulting in little need for more than a couple wool jerseys and a vest. No rain – just a bit of fog for the first few hours with sun breaks at the tops of any hill over 300 ft.

Jan and Friends

Jan Heine was at the start with his lovely chrome rando bike, and was the first one out of the gate with his friends and riding partners including Hahn Rossman who was test riding a Mad Fiber bike. I rode the whole ride with my new pal Bruce, and was grouped up for a while with Asta and a friend who had ridden up from Portland the day before. Wow – 200 miles up, and 200k for the ride. Solid!

Cockpit

This was a test for me in a couple of ways. The most mileage I have put into a ride in the past 8 months was a 38 mile training ride. I have been commuting over 200 miles a month for the past few years with 3-4 days per week the norm. I also end up doing a lot of climbing on my commute, so this definitely helped. I also benefited from a few longer rides last year, as well as a bike fit. I found a few things that didn’t work once the mileage got over 50 (plain B17, lack of consistent nutrition and water). On this ride, I started eating and drinking right away, and never really stopped. My riding app (cyclemeter) said I burned 7500 calories on the ride, and I’ll bet I only had a slight deficit by the end, although 2 bowls of chili and a beer definitely went down with no problems!

Pit Stop

I also got to put some miles on a Selle Anatomica Titanico X which I’ll write up later. Verdict? No saddle soreness with my Ibex wool knicker/tights. The iPhone Biologic rig worked, but it took finessing to keep it charged. I ended up having to turn off the display and lights to keep a charge going to the battery. Verdict? Use the SON28 (more output) on these rides, and leave the Delux on the other bike for now. That or look into a smaller battery powered GPS, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to jump back to the Garmin without giving the larger SON a try first.

Beautiful Day!

Overall, at the end of the ride, I felt tired, but great. My right knee was a bit sore, but the pain was gone by Sunday night. I think a 300k is actually in my sights. It was a great start to the season!

Extra pics from the ride on Flickr

Racers

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

a. homer hilsen, ahh, brake shudder, Funky Monkey, Paul, Paul Racer, rivendell, Silver Sidepull

Paul Racer Brakes

I’ve been upgrading the Homer for the past 3 years as the time and money becomes available. I have always admired Paul products from a distance, and recently realized I had a Riv dividend that would pay for a set of Paul Racers. I finally got the time to install them, so I’m all set.

A couple of notes/thoughts. The new brakes don’t feel stronger to me than the original Silver sidepulls. There is more modulation with these, but I’m guessing it’s just related to cable stretch. There is more exposed cable on both front and back. Both the Silvers and these Racers have great breaking power, so no net gain/loss there. Perhaps better feel. I do like the looks of the Pauls slightly more, but the Silvers were no slouch in that category either.

Brake Hanger

The cable hanger was interesting, and one downside to the center-pull brakes. I didn’t have much room for a fork crown mount as I have a rack and brakes mounted already, so I used a drop hanger, also a Paul (Funky Monkey), mounted to the stem. It leaves more exposed cable, and I’ve heard from a few sources (here is a good one) that this may cause shudder as the brakes may grab the rim, the fork flexes back as the tire grabs the road, and the cable tightens, until the pad breaks free, and the process starts again.

Front Racer

The good news is that this doesn’t seem to impact me with these brakes. It seems to be more of an issue with canti brakes on bikes with flexy forks.

Racer’d Out

Time for some real riding to break them in…

These

Green in the Front, Blue in the Back

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

a. homer hilsen, bike commute, commuting, cycling, cypres, dureme, flat tire, Gran Bois, Hunqapillar, jack brown, rivendell, schwalbe

I love Rivendell Jack Brown tires. They are a great combo of cush on a 700c wheel and low rolling resistance.

http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/t100-g.htm

Hilsen with Jacks

I have had Jack Brown’s on my A. Homer Hilsen for a few years, with a brief fling using the also sublime Gran Bois Cypres tires. For the past 6 months, I’ve been regularly riding a Hunqapillar with heavier Schwalbe Duremes on my work commute of 10-20 miles, and I have been gradually come to a conclusion. Heavy tires with tough sidewalls are great for avoiding flats, but I don’t like riding on them. They feel really sluggish – like I’m constantly pushing and fighting to keep the bike moving. Not fun to me. Biking should be fun.

Hunqa with Jacks

With that in mind, I swapped out the Duremes for my extra set of Jack Browns and rode in the other day with this configuration. Yes – it made a difference. I also noticed the difference in feel of the bike frame going from the more flexy AHH to the stiffer Hunqapillar. My normal cruising speed on the flats is 15-20 mph depending on the inclines/wind/legs on the AHH. With the heavy Schwalbe Duremes (50mm) on the Hunqa, I was typically struggling to keep it at 13 mph.

Now, I’m not trying to set speed records, but I’ve found that the beauty of “road” bikes is that they typically feel more effortless on the pavement. In my many years commuting with a mountain bike with roadish tires, I know that a lot of it has to do with geometry as well, but tires DO make a big difference. That said, it’s not the diameter, it’s the weight, and the sidewall. Big cushy tires can be AWESOME if they are light and have a supple sidewall.

Blue in Back

Green in Front

Yes, you will get more flats. Only you will be able to decide if the rest of the time riding is worth the few flats. I’m not in goathead country, so the biggest problem is road trash (glass, radial wires, nails). This will result in a flat every few months. I can live with this. To avoid it as much as possible, I use the Jack Brown Blue (kevlar belt) as my rear tire, and the lighter, suppler Green on the front. This keeps me pretty flat proof, as everyone knows that you always get flats on the tire that is hardest and messiest to change (rear).

Now I just need to move those fenders in a bit…

Night Ride

13 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

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Tags

a. homer hilsen, acorn bags, ahh, beer, bicycle, bike, burke gilman, jack brown, just ride, randonneur, Ride, rivendell, Rivet saddle, Seattle, sidi gtx

Night Ride, a set on Flickr.

This week’s WTS ride was called off due to icy conditions. I will miss next week’s due to a trip, so I put in a few miles tonight on the Burke Gilman Trail. It was about 30 degrees, but with little wind I stayed warm in 2 layers of merino and a soft shell top. My Sidi winter boots are not keeping my feet warm below 40 degrees, so I need to take some warmers with next time I’m out in this temp. The Hilsen made it over many an ice patch with no issues. Even with the nearly treadless Jack Browns. I had a nice comfy session on the Rivet saddle. This is the first time I’ve had it on this bike. It has some potential for longer rando rides. The Acorn bag continues to score highly. I put the tools in the bottom of the main compartment, and took the rear bag off the bike. It handles fine, and I even dropped in a 6-pack and a big bottle of beer for the final quarter mile. Utility rocks. All smiles when I got back. Love these clear cool Seattle nights!