I had another solid weekend with the cycling. 3.5 hours of good endurance riding on Saturday and another 2.5 or so yesterday.
Sunday was also my first long ride on the Colnago. I have to say that I'm really loving this bike. You can really feel the difference that a well designed frame geometry makes. The suppleness of good old steel as it rolls over the bumps is very nice. I'm also getting a lot out of the extra effort I have to make up the hills as I slog my way in the 42/23.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Colnago Arabesque
Here are some pictures of the new Colnago.
I took it out for my first ride yesterday afternoon. A few thoughts:
1. It corners like it's on rails. Definitely a whole lot better than my aluminum Specialized E5.
2. As you'd expect from a steel bike, it's a very smooth ride.
3. This bike gives me a whole new appreciation for the guys who raced on these sorts of drive trains. With only 12 gears and when you take the cross chaining scenarios into account, effectively 8 gears; plus the fact that it's got a 53/41 chain ring on the front, hills are a really big deal. I've always thought of it as sacrilege when people get their 126mm rear spacing stretched out to 130mm so that they can put a modern drive train on a classic like this one. Now I have a much better appreciation for why they do it.
4. I've never spent a lot of time on a bike with down tube shifters. Running these things isn't so simple. A lot of times when you shift the rear you find yourself also needing to trim the front. For someone who is so used to the ergonomics of having your shifting right at your fingertips at all times, the down tube shifters are a significant amount of extra effort.
5. When you take the shortage of gears and extra time required to shift into account, you quickly realize that it is often easier or necessary to make due with the gear you're already in, rather than going through the pain of shifting. i.e. you have to get used to spinning at very different rpm.
I took it out for my first ride yesterday afternoon. A few thoughts:
1. It corners like it's on rails. Definitely a whole lot better than my aluminum Specialized E5.
2. As you'd expect from a steel bike, it's a very smooth ride.
3. This bike gives me a whole new appreciation for the guys who raced on these sorts of drive trains. With only 12 gears and when you take the cross chaining scenarios into account, effectively 8 gears; plus the fact that it's got a 53/41 chain ring on the front, hills are a really big deal. I've always thought of it as sacrilege when people get their 126mm rear spacing stretched out to 130mm so that they can put a modern drive train on a classic like this one. Now I have a much better appreciation for why they do it.
4. I've never spent a lot of time on a bike with down tube shifters. Running these things isn't so simple. A lot of times when you shift the rear you find yourself also needing to trim the front. For someone who is so used to the ergonomics of having your shifting right at your fingertips at all times, the down tube shifters are a significant amount of extra effort.
5. When you take the shortage of gears and extra time required to shift into account, you quickly realize that it is often easier or necessary to make due with the gear you're already in, rather than going through the pain of shifting. i.e. you have to get used to spinning at very different rpm.
Matt Marshall Made me Cry
I'm not sure why he likes to do it, maybe he can't help himself, but Matt Marshall layed the boots to me today.
We rode from his place in San Marcos up to the Storm the Beach cyclocross race in Camp Pendleton (north of Oceanside); watched a couple of my SDBC team-mates race; rode up to San Clemente for lunch; rode back to the race to watch the start of the pro race; then headed back to Matt's place. We left at 9am, put in 75+ miles of riding, and got back around 5pm; a full day's work.
For the most part I felt pretty good, especially for a guy who has rarely ridden his bike over the past 4 or 5 months. Where it kinda fell apart for me was on the ride back from the race. We left the race at about 3:30 and didn't realize that we couldn't get back onto the base after 3pm. So, we had the privelege of riding 8 or 9 miles on the side of the I5 to get back to Oceanside. We rode pretty hard along the I5, at least hard for me. By the time we got off the I5 I was starting to really run low on steam. The ride from the Coast Hwy back up to San Marcos was a pretty tough affair for me. Matt was nice enough to take it easy on me as we headed up the hills on our way back to base.
This was a great day; a chance to spend some time with Matt, perfect weather, 75+ miles of riding, and my first chance to watch cyclocross live.
We rode from his place in San Marcos up to the Storm the Beach cyclocross race in Camp Pendleton (north of Oceanside); watched a couple of my SDBC team-mates race; rode up to San Clemente for lunch; rode back to the race to watch the start of the pro race; then headed back to Matt's place. We left at 9am, put in 75+ miles of riding, and got back around 5pm; a full day's work.
For the most part I felt pretty good, especially for a guy who has rarely ridden his bike over the past 4 or 5 months. Where it kinda fell apart for me was on the ride back from the race. We left the race at about 3:30 and didn't realize that we couldn't get back onto the base after 3pm. So, we had the privelege of riding 8 or 9 miles on the side of the I5 to get back to Oceanside. We rode pretty hard along the I5, at least hard for me. By the time we got off the I5 I was starting to really run low on steam. The ride from the Coast Hwy back up to San Marcos was a pretty tough affair for me. Matt was nice enough to take it easy on me as we headed up the hills on our way back to base.
This was a great day; a chance to spend some time with Matt, perfect weather, 75+ miles of riding, and my first chance to watch cyclocross live.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
A Whole New World
I've been busily working away at the new Colnago Arabesque. In owning this bike for less than a week, it has taken me to places around San Diego County that I never new existed and I really regret I didn't know about sooner. I'll get into some of this new world later on in this post.
I had the guys at Nytro assemble it for me and picked it up Friday. When I dropped it off at Nytro on Wednesday I had my first chance to get all the packing material off of it and take a good look. Over all, I wasn't too impressed with the state of the bike. The guy who listed it on eBay described it as having "a couple scratches on the left of the seat tube". I'm not too sure what sort of drugs he's on, but there aren't any big scratches on the left of the seat tube. There are various dings all over the bike and a few well pitted areas of chrome (or at least were). I wasn't expecting the bike to be perfect. More so, I never wanted to buy a mint condition bike. My fear all along has been that if I buy a mint 80s bike, I'll never ride it because I'd be too afraid of doing damage to it. My hope however was that the bike would be closer to mint than it was when it came out of the box.
The good news is that there are no dents anywhere on the bike. It also has all the original parts and they're in amazingly good condition. When you look at the cogs of the freewheel they don't show any wear whatsoever. The bike is definitely a head turner. Everyone who sees it wants to take a closer look and talk about it.
The mechanic at Nytro had a couple pieces of advice for me that have since expanded into interesting experiences for me as a San Diego County cyclist. The first piece of advice was that if I ever wanted to restore the bike to brand new condition, that there is a place in Vista, CyclArt, that does top class restorations of bikes. The second piece of advice was that the freewheel on the Colnago might need to be replaced. Being that bike shops aren't putting a lot of 6-speed freewheels on bikes any more, Nytro didn't have one. They suggested that Pacific Coast Cycles might.
So, Thursday afternoon I checked out the CyclArt website and ended up giving them a call to get a better idea of what they were all about and maybe get some advice for how they would see things going with the Colnago. Jim answered the phone (I later found out that he is the owner). I was really amazed at just how much time Jim was willing to spend on the phone with me talking about the bike, sharing his experiences of what he's seen need work on 80s Colnagos, what to look out for, what to do from a maintenance perspective, etc. In the end, it all boiled down to:
1. Try to clean up the chrome with some chrome polish. Whatever corrosion doesn't come out is only going to expand in the chrome, so try to get as much pitting out as possible. Areas that do have some chrome corrosion (the only place with rust on the bike) are rusting from the outside, so there's not too much to be concerned about long term.
2. Put a good coat of wax on the paint.
3. Maybe bring the bike by, take a tour of the facility (which I'm definitely going to do) and we'll take a closer look and see what might be appropriate.
By the time I picked up the bike on Friday I still had it in my mind that I might just pack it back up again, return it to the guy I bought it from, and get my money back. On the way home I picked up some chrome polish and figured I'd at least give it a go and see where I could get things. I ended up spending about 3 hours Friday night, slowly working my way around the fork, head lugs, chain and seat stays. In the end I'd say that I got about 90% of the pitting out of the fork and head lugs. There's probably only one more session required on these guys. The chain stays are pretty much perfect. The one area that is still going to need a few sessions is the right seat stay. Bottom line here is that I'm really optimistic that the chrome is going to come out looking really good, maybe even to the point that if I do get 'er restored one day, the chrome won't need to be re-done, just the paint. The bike is definitely not going back to the seller.
On the freewheel front, I called up to Pacific Coast Cycles on Friday afternoon and ended up speaking to a guy named Chuck. Chuck definitely seemed to know his stuff and said he had some 6 speed freewheels if I did indeed need one. I said I'd come by on Saturday with the bike and we could take a look at whether or not it needed a freewheel and go from there. Before he hung up he asked me my name and said he was looking forward to meeting me.
So, today after my morning ride, I threw the Colnago onto the roof of the car and headed up to Oceanside to see Chuck's shop. All I can say is that this is easily the coolest bike shop I've ever been in. It's a tiny little shop on the corner of the 101 and Vista Way in Oceanside. If you're used to riding up the 101, it's a block north of the Angelo's Burgers that is just north of the lagoon between Carlsbad and Oceanside. What makes this place so cool is that when you go inside you don't see a wall of the newest carbon WhateverBrands. What you see is a wall of classic Masi's, many of which have been restored to beautiful condition. Chuck also has some classic Colnago's and the like floating around the shop. I arrived with two basic needs, a new seat binding bolt and freewheel for the Colnago. As soon as Chuck saw the Colnago heading his way he greeted me by name, came over and took a look and went about helping me with my "issues". After a quick ride around the block he was of the opinion that the freewheel was in perfect condition, suggesting that Regina freewheels just aren't that smooth. Chuck also did some quick modifications to my seat binding bolt. So, with my problems fixed in five minutes or so, I had plenty of time to talk to Chuck about his Masi collection.
Masi is a brand that I've heard a lot of conflicting stories about. Obviously it's much sought after brand of Italian bikes. What I'd read once was was that the guy behind Masi (Faliero Masi) had left Italy and settled in Carlsbad, continuing to make Masi's here in California. The notion being that at one point, folks were still making Masi's in Italy while they were also being made in California, and that if you wanted a "real" Masi from this time period, you really wanted the CA version, rather than the Italian one. It turns out that Chuck actually worked in the Carlsbad Masi manufacturing facility himself. The real deal here is that Masi sold the rights to sell Masi's in North America to some guys who wanted to build a plant in Carlsbad. So he came to Carlsbad to set up the plant, then returned back to Italy and merrily went about continuing to make bikes back in Italy.
The bottom line here is that Chuck's Masi collection is amazing. If you're a fan of classic bikes and you live in Southern California, you really owe it to yourself to stop by his shop and check things out. Chuck is even selling some of his Masi's at some really great prices.
Anyways, it's bed time for me. I hope to have some pictures of the Colnago up tomorrow. Stay tuned.
I had the guys at Nytro assemble it for me and picked it up Friday. When I dropped it off at Nytro on Wednesday I had my first chance to get all the packing material off of it and take a good look. Over all, I wasn't too impressed with the state of the bike. The guy who listed it on eBay described it as having "a couple scratches on the left of the seat tube". I'm not too sure what sort of drugs he's on, but there aren't any big scratches on the left of the seat tube. There are various dings all over the bike and a few well pitted areas of chrome (or at least were). I wasn't expecting the bike to be perfect. More so, I never wanted to buy a mint condition bike. My fear all along has been that if I buy a mint 80s bike, I'll never ride it because I'd be too afraid of doing damage to it. My hope however was that the bike would be closer to mint than it was when it came out of the box.
The good news is that there are no dents anywhere on the bike. It also has all the original parts and they're in amazingly good condition. When you look at the cogs of the freewheel they don't show any wear whatsoever. The bike is definitely a head turner. Everyone who sees it wants to take a closer look and talk about it.
The mechanic at Nytro had a couple pieces of advice for me that have since expanded into interesting experiences for me as a San Diego County cyclist. The first piece of advice was that if I ever wanted to restore the bike to brand new condition, that there is a place in Vista, CyclArt, that does top class restorations of bikes. The second piece of advice was that the freewheel on the Colnago might need to be replaced. Being that bike shops aren't putting a lot of 6-speed freewheels on bikes any more, Nytro didn't have one. They suggested that Pacific Coast Cycles might.
So, Thursday afternoon I checked out the CyclArt website and ended up giving them a call to get a better idea of what they were all about and maybe get some advice for how they would see things going with the Colnago. Jim answered the phone (I later found out that he is the owner). I was really amazed at just how much time Jim was willing to spend on the phone with me talking about the bike, sharing his experiences of what he's seen need work on 80s Colnagos, what to look out for, what to do from a maintenance perspective, etc. In the end, it all boiled down to:
1. Try to clean up the chrome with some chrome polish. Whatever corrosion doesn't come out is only going to expand in the chrome, so try to get as much pitting out as possible. Areas that do have some chrome corrosion (the only place with rust on the bike) are rusting from the outside, so there's not too much to be concerned about long term.
2. Put a good coat of wax on the paint.
3. Maybe bring the bike by, take a tour of the facility (which I'm definitely going to do) and we'll take a closer look and see what might be appropriate.
By the time I picked up the bike on Friday I still had it in my mind that I might just pack it back up again, return it to the guy I bought it from, and get my money back. On the way home I picked up some chrome polish and figured I'd at least give it a go and see where I could get things. I ended up spending about 3 hours Friday night, slowly working my way around the fork, head lugs, chain and seat stays. In the end I'd say that I got about 90% of the pitting out of the fork and head lugs. There's probably only one more session required on these guys. The chain stays are pretty much perfect. The one area that is still going to need a few sessions is the right seat stay. Bottom line here is that I'm really optimistic that the chrome is going to come out looking really good, maybe even to the point that if I do get 'er restored one day, the chrome won't need to be re-done, just the paint. The bike is definitely not going back to the seller.
On the freewheel front, I called up to Pacific Coast Cycles on Friday afternoon and ended up speaking to a guy named Chuck. Chuck definitely seemed to know his stuff and said he had some 6 speed freewheels if I did indeed need one. I said I'd come by on Saturday with the bike and we could take a look at whether or not it needed a freewheel and go from there. Before he hung up he asked me my name and said he was looking forward to meeting me.
So, today after my morning ride, I threw the Colnago onto the roof of the car and headed up to Oceanside to see Chuck's shop. All I can say is that this is easily the coolest bike shop I've ever been in. It's a tiny little shop on the corner of the 101 and Vista Way in Oceanside. If you're used to riding up the 101, it's a block north of the Angelo's Burgers that is just north of the lagoon between Carlsbad and Oceanside. What makes this place so cool is that when you go inside you don't see a wall of the newest carbon WhateverBrands. What you see is a wall of classic Masi's, many of which have been restored to beautiful condition. Chuck also has some classic Colnago's and the like floating around the shop. I arrived with two basic needs, a new seat binding bolt and freewheel for the Colnago. As soon as Chuck saw the Colnago heading his way he greeted me by name, came over and took a look and went about helping me with my "issues". After a quick ride around the block he was of the opinion that the freewheel was in perfect condition, suggesting that Regina freewheels just aren't that smooth. Chuck also did some quick modifications to my seat binding bolt. So, with my problems fixed in five minutes or so, I had plenty of time to talk to Chuck about his Masi collection.
Masi is a brand that I've heard a lot of conflicting stories about. Obviously it's much sought after brand of Italian bikes. What I'd read once was was that the guy behind Masi (Faliero Masi) had left Italy and settled in Carlsbad, continuing to make Masi's here in California. The notion being that at one point, folks were still making Masi's in Italy while they were also being made in California, and that if you wanted a "real" Masi from this time period, you really wanted the CA version, rather than the Italian one. It turns out that Chuck actually worked in the Carlsbad Masi manufacturing facility himself. The real deal here is that Masi sold the rights to sell Masi's in North America to some guys who wanted to build a plant in Carlsbad. So he came to Carlsbad to set up the plant, then returned back to Italy and merrily went about continuing to make bikes back in Italy.
The bottom line here is that Chuck's Masi collection is amazing. If you're a fan of classic bikes and you live in Southern California, you really owe it to yourself to stop by his shop and check things out. Chuck is even selling some of his Masi's at some really great prices.
Anyways, it's bed time for me. I hope to have some pictures of the Colnago up tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Nice Trip Back Home
I spent the past 4 days back home in the Vancouver area visiting with family. Definitely a nice trip and time well spent.
I got to spend a couple days fishing with my dad. This time of year the salmon are returning home to spawn, so there is plenty of fishing in local streams. We spent an afternoon fishing on the Stave River, below the Hayward Dam. I had one good salmon, but it ended up getting away as I was landing it. Other than that, not too much to report on the first day.
The second day was a little more eventful as we first spent an hour or so trying to figure out where Inch Creek was, then after trekking through the forest, over fences, across the railroad tracks, etc. we finally found what we were looking for. We caught a couple fish on the day, so things ended up quite well.
I also got to spend some time with my sister and her family, visiting with my 16 month old nephew, Morgan. I've seen him a few times previously, but not since he's been up and walking/running. He's definitely growing up fast and it's not hard to understand why. For a guy who probably only weighs 1/4 of what I do, he eats pretty much as much food as I do. If my mom sends me any pictures I'll add them to this post.
I got to spend a couple days fishing with my dad. This time of year the salmon are returning home to spawn, so there is plenty of fishing in local streams. We spent an afternoon fishing on the Stave River, below the Hayward Dam. I had one good salmon, but it ended up getting away as I was landing it. Other than that, not too much to report on the first day.
The second day was a little more eventful as we first spent an hour or so trying to figure out where Inch Creek was, then after trekking through the forest, over fences, across the railroad tracks, etc. we finally found what we were looking for. We caught a couple fish on the day, so things ended up quite well.
I also got to spend some time with my sister and her family, visiting with my 16 month old nephew, Morgan. I've seen him a few times previously, but not since he's been up and walking/running. He's definitely growing up fast and it's not hard to understand why. For a guy who probably only weighs 1/4 of what I do, he eats pretty much as much food as I do. If my mom sends me any pictures I'll add them to this post.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Mail Order Bride
For a long while I've been looking to buy a mid to late 80s steel lugged road bike. Preferably a Colnago Master, Colnago Arabesque, Colnago Spiral Conic, De Rosa, Cinelli, or maybe Merckx.
I really blew it something like 6 months ago when a guy put a mint 80s Colnago Master on eBay with a buy it now of $1850 (the same price he paid for it 20 years ago!). I should have just bought it the moment I saw it. When I look back, one of the things that held me back was that the bike was so beautiful and perfect that I would have felt bad riding it. Every time I had it on the road I would have been thinking that it should be in a glass display case in my living room. I say this with the knowledge that I'm usually good for at least one good crash per year (knock on wood I haven't hit the ground since I nearly exploded myself at San Marcos a couple years ago). Instead I pulled my normal procrastination routine and by the time I was ready to act, it was gone. Some guy got what is probably worth at least $3,500 or $4,000 for half price.
This past week some really nice 55/56cm Colnago Arabesques made their way onto eBay. I'm not too sure why it works like it works, but for some reason when it rains it seems to pour on eBay. You'll see no instances of a given bike for months, then all of a sudden there are 3 or 4 listed all at the same time. Anyways, I ended up winning an auction for one of the Arabesques. Original paint, only a few minor scratches, beautiful arabesque lugs, looks to have pretty minimal use, looks to be original Campagnolo Record parts, etc. In the words of the seller (this after he'd taken the bike down to his local bike shop to be packed up for shipping); "Funny story at the bikeshop, they didn't want to give the bike back?! Instead they were offereing me more money for it but I refused!"
So my mail order bride (she'll be my 3rd wife) is on the way to San Diego. Once she's out of the box and assembled I'll post some pics. Definitely looking forward to the first ride.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Jim Lahey Explains It Like It Is
Whenever you're looking for a laugh you can always count on Jim Lahey to help things all make sense. Classic lines like "You know what a shit rope is Julian? It's a rope covered in shit":
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