Friday 10 May 2013

Week 16 Maiden voyage of the "RANDONNEUR"


Can it be that different to "Scotty"


Until this point everything had been about building the bike, from the cutting of tubes, welding them up, selecting the parts, getting it painted, the assembly and finally the showing off.
Throughout this journey in the back of my mind has been the little doubt that what if it rides like a dogs dinner or even will it ride the same as my current workhorse. How different can it be? given that my current bike is fitted to me and the contact points of my new bike have been measured and positioned to replicate exactly the same fit...how different can it be?????
I am asked many times, usually whilst Mrs 'O' is complaining about my bikes to someone else, Why do you need so many different bikes? of course there are many justifiable reasons to cover up the real answer...i want more! but when asked about buying bikes i always recommend sitting on a bike before buying it remotely via the web or eBay etc as from my experience sometimes a bike just feels like a bike and sometimes it feels special, even better, sometimes it feels really special, naturally of course sometimes it feels like putting on a pair of shoes 2 sizes too small and on the wrong feet.
So what about the RANDONNEUR, i have spent a shed load of money, significantly more time, pouring over every detail of every aspect, what if it feels like a pair of shoes 2 sizes too small and on the wrong feet?????

Monday
The weather looked fine enough but to be honest i couldn't care less, it might be a new bike but it will be ridden in all the weather that this little island of ours sees, so no matter what, I'm going riding.
My plan was to go for a "shakedown" run at lunchtime, my old 15 mile route then if all was OK and perhaps with some adjustment i would commute home and back in the next day.
My new saddle felt minimalist! the bars soft and wide, the pedals new, the gear shift slick......It rode like a dream, i flew along, quite emotional, I was riding a bike I had made and it was very cool, this thought went over and over and as i went past the occasional pedestrian i felt like a peacock showing off his feathers, always ready for someone to stop me and "Wow, that's a cool bike, where can i get one?" shallow i know, but hey anyone can dream. The weather stayed cool and cloudy and before i knew it was back at work with a surprisingly sore butt, not a good sign given i had only gone 15 miles!
The journey home was equally smooth and sadly equally if not more so.....SORE!
It occurred to me on both at lunchtime and on my home that riding my new bike was at times a strange experience, i felt like i was almost flying, that the bike wasn't there, i was totally unaware of the machine i straddled and i was just travelling, progressing along the lanes as if i were hovering but not lazily, this thing was quick.
My conclusions........YES, 2 bikes set up for the same person, really can be that different, did it feel like a pair of shoes 2 sizes too small on the wrong feet, NO it felt like your favourite slippers with running spikes underneath them, albeit perhaps with a small stone in one of them, until i get used to the saddle!
I was so chuffed

Tuesday
i was looking forward to my trip into work and to getting to work as so many people were keen to know how the bike went, equally interested to know if it could be that different to any other bike. The journey went by trauma free and both my commute journeys were recorded pretty much in as quick a time as i had ever done.

With time on the bike there was much opportunity for thought and reflection, for planning and deciding. What to do next?
Reflecting on my above statements about bikes feeling different it became very clear that never again would i need to ride "Scotty" it wouldn't e needed as a winter hack as my new bike had disc brakes to make winter riding safer, additionally this would help fund tools, parts, FRAME BUILDING JIGS, mmmmmm Jiiggssss, but not enough! so attention then turned to my other bikes. Again in the same vein my "posh" mountain bike the Orange Elite had always felt like an ok bike but only ok, it certainly looked cooler than any other mountain bike i had ever seen and it rode ok but it was only ever OK
By comparison my old Evo felt like the best mountain bike in the world, every time i got on it, no matter what i changed or did to it, it felt fantastic and made me smile every single time. Decision made, Scotty and Elite were going on eBay with new enthusiasm to clear other stuff out too.
I had signed up to do the heart of England 300k on the Saturday but having missed so much time from the family exercising my obsession i bailed, this reducing the number of distractions allowed me time to think on my future cycle(ing) related exploits and of course spend some quality time with the kiddie winks.
By Saturday i had both bikes and my old Sub3 full sus frames prepped and ready to be posted on eBay, little did i realise the previous week that those would be the last rides i would do on them, anyway, switch flicked in my head, they are going.



Another decision this week was to not pursue my entry into LEL (London Edinburgh London 1400K audax)
Much thinking about what makes me tick, reflecting on the buzz i have got from building my bike, from making something with my hands, something i used to do, being creative.
I have never been competitive from a sport perspective and it came to me that LEL was more like ticking a box to me, it was going to take a huge amount of sacrifice, particularly time wise, then for a week of pain that i may not complete and for what, so i can tick a box. Nope, that ain't fun in my eyes, so with a heavy heart i withdrew my entry, the heavy heart was because i would be letting my buddy Tim down. I had encouraged him to enter, we had talked so much about doing the event together, we were entered as a team too, but i lack his mental strength and determination as well as cycling strength, instead i will provide a supporting role, anyway i can.

Target for the week: 100k.......no more targets
Total distance achieved: 114K

Thursday 9 May 2013

Week 15 It's all about the bike

Not much ridin' but plenty of Buildin'

The focus this week without a doubt had to be completing my homebrew "Randonneur" road bike in time to exhibit it on the Downland Cycles stand at Bespoked the handbuilt bike show

Monday
Starting to look like a finished bike, i got the cable outers on the bars and the Specialized Bar Phat on and all wrapped with Spesh bar tape.
I had previously discovered that the rear brake cable outer wasn't long enough to reach the rear disc brake cable so after ringing round all the local bike shops i was pleased to discover that Mountain Trax had the Shimano SLR cable outer i needed.
Regarding cables, i have been through much deliberation over this often overlooked component. Originally my research had convince me that Gore sealed cables were the way to go, the choice of cyclocross racers for well protected accurate and consistent braking and shifting. Alas as usual this would not be a "No brainer" GORE have decided to pull out of the cable market and as such, supply is limited, so lots of price checking meant the only places still selling them were quite pricey. This would have meant an investment of around £80, for cables!!!!
I read more reviews and found that Shimano SLR cables were praised by all who used them, this is what was supplied with my drive train components, so very quickly the "no brainer" which was apparent to me was use the SLR cables i already had at no further expense.
Outers fitted, it became apparent that the inner rear brake cable wasn't long enough Doh!

Tuesday
Lunchtime ringing around for the right brake cable yielded some interesting information......relatively...if you get your bike serviced by a shop and need a cable change, don't expect cables befitting of your high end dura-ace or campag. All the bike shops i tried all use average cables. I wanted Shimano SLR as the inners are coated in PTFE making the action smoother and no need to lube. This was not to be and in the short term an Aztec cable was purchased only to find some days later that i had a Goodridge PTFE coated one in my toolbox Doh! again.
despite my brake cable whinging this was essentially final build day, cables fitted, chain on, gears indexed. Woo Hoo it's rideable.
I set everything up basically according to the bike fit numbers and spent much time observing my creation for the remainder of the evening.
One last finishing touch would be to add some nice stainless steel screws to all exposed bosses, these would be purchased local to my work and assembled prior to going to the show.

Wednesday
Respite from the new build cam in the form of a trip to the newly re-opened Swinley Forest, this time with a slightly different mix of reprobates.
Steve, bless him, hadn't been out on his bike much of late and did start to struggle as were the rest of us, we were just better at hiding it, managed to complete virtually the whole of the blue and red, just missing out a bit of the red at the end to get back at a sensible time.
IT was just as cool as the previous week and will be repeated many times over I'm sure.
Dave the tart, much to the admiration of Steve had a portable pressure washer, i looked on, partly in disgust and partly in envy.

Thursday
photo shoot required of my new bike in advance of the bike show. Took it to Dorney common, by my house to get some nice images to shamelessly post on facebook.
















Friday
Off to Bespoked
Straight from work, everything loaded the night before, excited and anxious, no idea what to expect.
I thought i would be there in time for the press opening but i got it all mixed up and was there for the main opening. Wheeled my bike in through the trade entrance and installed my steed.
It looked pretty insignificant, lined up with other course examples, hardly noticeable despite it's bright orange livery, no matter, i had arrived and all was set for an inspirational and immersive weekend.

Saturday
After a night at a local hotel and a hearty breakfast is was game on for lots of chatting and promoting.
So many people were so complementary of my bike, most surprised that it was made on the course, which gave further inspiration to those considering following the same path.
My plan had been to go home on the Saturday but i was loving it so much i decided to stay with family on the Saturday night and go back for more on the Sunday. It wasn't just the many compliments that made me want to continue, i was loving the atmosphere, talking non stop bikes and not having to apologise for it. Being able to expel my passion to the many that wanted to listen.
I would have a little wander every couple of hours to try and take in the other stands in some detail, photographing details for future inspiration.

Sunday
Sunday followed the same format as Saturday and I loved it, right through to kicking out time, i had been there for every minute that it was opened.
My last comment for the week will be to mention my favourite bike,there were some real corkers and my other favourites were all amongst the lesser known builders but the can be only one true favourite and here it is.



OK, it's a rubbish picture, i have many detailed ones of it, The attention to detail was exquisite, the colour matching to the leather grips and saddle was amazingly accurate, i could go on and on. and on.......

Target for the week: 0 (rest week)
Total distance achieved: 22.2K