the Vitus/Alan frames were the small tube outer diameter that was standard at the time; i always wondered what they'd feel like if they would have used larger diameter tubes of the same material weight. they did seem to be pretty popular with the Paris-Roubaix guys, and others that valued comfort over efficiency. never heard that the Cannondales were post-weld heat-treated, but since they were basically copies of what Gary Klein originated, i suppose it's possible. (aside from the fact that i didn't like a marketing company that started out blatantly making what looked like copies of someone elses stuff, i saw far too many Cannondales fail to ever want to try one.) Klein was building out of 6061 that was T6 heat-treated post welding, and i remember him telling me about some of the experiences that went into figuring out how to get frames out of the heat-treating oven that were still straight. made for a stiff, light frame, and the fact that there are still so many around is a testament to how overbuilt even those early frames were. (i have a semi-custom Klein that i built thinking it was going to be a 'disposable' performance tool. it suffered through my learning Trials as well as lots of really stupid trail time, and it's still cruising along nicely.) as for CF; it's changed a lot since i took the risk on a semi-custom Kestrel (back when they were made locally), but that bike is also still plying the trails. also bought with the idea that it was going to be disposable,... it's proven to be anything but so far (and although i'm fairly smooth, i'm no featherweight). the old Columbus SP Pinarello of mine had a beautiful feel to it; stable, compliant, a springiness that felt like whatever it gave up on a power stroke could be gotten back further along in the stroke,... the modern Dedacciai 'Lees-than-Zero' steel Land Shark with its thin walls and shaped tubes that i've got now is better in all ways (but has a different geometry that's a little more aggressive and not as 'disappearing' underneath you). i tried a few different brands of CF forks on the Shark until i ended up settling back with the one that the builder had recommended originally, and found a big difference in the way they made the bike handle surface irregularities. i often wonder what the Land Shark would feel like if i'd had it built with the same materials, but with the exact geometry of the Pinarello,...
Now that was quite the race! If you didn't see it live, I'm sure it'll be uploaded somewhere. Me? I went and did 2.5hrs zone 1-2 in upper 20s on the Crosshairs with 28c Gatorskins on. I have GOT to get my saddle position the same between that bike and the FTB ASAP! M
True. I love my Tange Soma Juice 29er. Will never sell it. Just picked up a 1st gen Vassago Bandersnatch as a new, leftover that I'm going to build up as a geared 29er.
I was confused they aluminum frame I had experience with is the Klien. There is only one reason to build a bicycle freame from 6061; it's easy to weld. Then heat treating it to T6 does nothing for it's fatigue. In fact 6061 has none to speak of. That's why it is not used anywhere that may be an issue. We fly mostly 7075, and a few other high buck blends. There was a womens team that had Specialized Allez, that were aluminum. THey liked them a lot. I rode one, and it felt better than the Elan, but by then my heart had been stolen forever by that ugly Italian supermodel; Pinarello. A friend bought an Allez on sale. He liked it and I bet he still has it. The Elan I rode was spongy and it was a small from on my and I was light back then. My first Italian bike experience was on a 531 Reynolds I think. Maybe that was English though? It has been a while. My Ciocc was stiff and hard as a board. The super short wheelbase, steep head angle and 54CM frame would bring me to tears with my carpol tunnel wrists on washboard or gravel. I was almost glad when my wife drove the car into the garage with it on the roof. Mashed the bike, destroyed the rack. The "Honeybadger" of a beater Toyota Corona estate car didn't car. Not a scratch. Broke the wooden garage door as well. When I slipped aboard the new Pinarello I was in heaven. That thing was/is a 57cm couch. LIke butter over the rough roads cross Colorado. Climbed like a rocket too. Stable up to any speed I could get to.
The problem with 7000 series aluminum is that it gets very brittle very quick. Back when I was heavily into racing, my race bikes were always made out of 7000 series aluminum (Easton Elite) because at the level I was racing at, those 2 extra pounds in frame weight (vs steel) was crucial especially on the climbs. The ONLY aluminum frame I ever loved was my Spooky Darkside and I broke one just about every 6 months. I'm probably one of the reasons why they went out business (the 1st time). I've had 5 of them and they're all dead. My last one I stopped riding because I wanted to preserve it for prosperity but guess what I found at the headtube/toptube junction... One of these days I'm going to have a custom builder duplicate the frame geometry in steel. I've had carbon bikes, I've had titanium bikes, but the one that I always come back to... The chrome lugs and stays are a real attention getter nowadays!
Interesting. . . . I have an older klein quantum (1992-ish), and I think it rides quite nice. It's much more comfortable than the aluminum Trek that I had. I'm sure the carbon fork on the klein helps, and tire choice makes a big difference, but I think it's quite a nice bike.
A good friend and riding buddy has several Nago's. Including a pursuit funny bike for TT's with Campy CF discs. He also has a few Master's. Those things are rolling art. We did some climbing back in the day. Mt Evans, Lots of Peak to Peak, and Rocky Mountain National Park. That head tube has two stress risers working against the design. Welding changes the alloy in not all that predictable ways. We end up relying on statistics in the analysis. I used to blow up a pair of skis from Head every weekend. After a couple of seasons Head decided to give me one last pair and told me to go away. So I bought Rossignols. Then only broke once. We like to design joints to be only loaded in pure shear. No bending loads. In practice that doesn't happen much. Look at the head joint that has combined loading working against it along with fatigue in bending. Very little shear in that joint. One of the reasons for going to the larger diameter steering tube is to combat this loading at the joint where the steering tube meets the fork. That larger tube forces a larger diameter frame to match this helps at the head tube joints at the top tube and down tube. Makes me wonder what an Aluminum frame from say a 1997 CBR900RR with a half million miles on it would look like. Or that Chromed frame BMW built for the 450 they had. I wonder what something like that looks like after a few seasons. I think brased, lugged steel is still the best value/performance/weight/endurance material and build technique available. In thirty years I wonder how my CF frame will feel. I'd sure like to be in condition to test it then.
for the uci link . watched a bunch including whole elite mens race. Feed was awesome as was the racing ! Great race for Katie Compton. got 1 1/2 hr in with friend late afternoon
Yesterday's Saguaro National Park 300k seemed...well... very difficult. Sure, I finished the event and my overall time was slightly better than last year. 30 or 40 miles of Highway 79 seemed tough - slight climb/slight headwind - it seemed to add up to misery. Traffic on 79 and coming into Tucson seemed to rejoice in close passes - no issues after that though. Gates Pass didn't seem as difficult and once over, my legs returned and I pushed nicely to the finish. I met and rode with some very nice people and that, as always, is what brings the joy to brevets. 300 km, 186 miles. 13 hours and change. Done. Edit: I used an Edge 810 for the first time. Had a few operator-error issues but it seemed to work well. Around 5 pm, I turned on the "Livetrack" feature so my wife could see my progress on-line.
Shoot - my time was 14:10. I think I'm officially mentally beat. That means it was tougher than last year after all!
Just got back from Louisville, where it was 2012 all over again (SPOILER): some amazing rides, some crushing moments of disappointment, some seriously good crashes (without injury), three golds for Holland and one for Belgium. I enjoyed L'ville. Nice waterfront--the venue is in a dedicated cyclocross park right on the water. Nearby, there's a fantastic bike/ped (was RR) bridge with an impressive spiral access ramp. There was some bourbon, if I remember correctly. Sporza TV estimated 8,000 fans in attendance. While that's a far cry from the 61,000 fans who attended last year's Worlds in Koksijde, Belgium, 2012 champ Niels Albert liked that U.S. fans cheer for everyone. And it was true. The crowd on the last hill was fantastic. The juniors and women had an icy course, but the sun came out in the afternoon and the mud was exquisite by the time the elite men raced. The course had some great technical sections. The stairs to the flyover were super steep to prevent anyone from taking them two at a time. They have a run-up made of huge granite blocks--Powers rode them in warm-up, right after Nys had failed to do so, as Nys watched from the top step after dismounting and walking up. Then Nys came back around and rode them. Then he rode them again. Can't say enough about the efforts to protect the course from inundation. City crews used temporary dams and large pumps to hold back the rising Ohio River long enough to get all the races in yesterday--this morning, the south end of the course was flooded. Outstanding job under extreme duress by the officials, race crew and city. As the world watched, they made the right calls when it mattered.
Target fixation! Do it right and all you see is the trail! Which is a loss in and of itself. Lotsa "Penalty Points" on that one.
You should an e-mail, to Louisville's mayor. That event and park will need all the support it can get, when the majority of residents will never understand "Why do we support cycling?". Louisville is a great city. I used to be down there, once a week.
email sent The couch monster got me yesterday. Big ole white flakes fell outta the sky till noon-1PM and with the (poor) level of driving skills around here, I didn't want to risk it. I DID go play UW Hockey last nite. Small practice for some bizarre reason. M
Someone in CO is thinking, and it ain't the town leaders of Blackhawk, CO: "We're not saying you can't enter town, you just have to dismount your bike and walk ... through it," said Mike Copp, Black Hawk City Manager, "We feel strongly about this." Seems they passed a law in 09 saying 'no bikes allowed.' ...which is OK according to CO law IF a bike trail is less than 450' away. Most recent news Stupid rule got overturned. Now, having been thru there, I can see where the town is coming from. The town itself is pretty farging small, with houses/buildings built right up onto the road itself (or vice versa) and lots of traffic 'cause of the casino(s). HOWever, if you feel that strongly about it, at least have the courtesy to follow the rules. I doubt too many people would object too strenuously to a bike path around the backside of the casino(s) there if it gets em away from the busses bringing gamblers in and out of Denver. I'm gonna say this one's likely to be a pyrrhic victory in the long run. M