Thursday, August 27, 2015

Where's my GOOD karma?

I know that this entry is overdue, but my bicycle biz hasn’t been going very smoothly lately, and I had just put off writing until my attitude improved a bit.

   Months ago I had ordered a Cinelli Alter stem from an eBay seller in Poland, and despite some issues with delivery of bicycles (most of which were eventually straightened out), I have seldom had problems with the shipping of parts. In this case the item seemed to have been lost, and I was eventually issued a refund. It turns out that the package was supposed to be delivered, but at the time we had put a hold on our mail during a week-long stay at the shore earlier this summer.
   The post office neglected to put the “signature required upon delivery” notice for that package in with our stack of mail given to us when we returned. After I received a similar notice in the stack of mail held during our trip to the Finger Lakes and went to pick up a package at the post office, the clerk emerged from the mysterious back room where packages are stored and said, “Here are two more for you – oh, we’ve had this one a while.” Ta-da, the Alter stem! 
   Because I would want someone to treat me the same way, I contacted the seller to see if he had received any compensation for the lost package, since he had a shipping receipt and tracking info (however “reliable” international tracking is). He had been given nothing and was very happy to hear from me, using the words “respect” and “honesty” over and over in his appreciative messages.
   David even gave me a discount when he found out the stem he had sent was slightly different from the photos of the new, old-stock version that had been incorrectly included in his original listing. It made me feel good to “do the right thing”, and one can’t help thinking some type of good fortune should come back in return.
   Yeah, whatever

   I had two people looking to buy bicycles from me recently, we negotiated a little, and I was very sure to be moving two projects out of my shop. Unfortunately, I received messages that both prospective buyers had found bicycles elsewhere. I actually had a third person as a "backup customer", only to have him nervously change his mind about how he wanted to spend his money.

   Circumstances did briefly turn positive, with a sale (I’ll get back to that later) and several eBay parts purchases where the sellers accepted my lower price in a “Make Me an Offer” transaction, but not for long. An online shop in Portland sold me a beautiful vintage Campagnolo headset a very good price. I thought I had filled one of my needs for the red Pinarello Treviso project, but unbelievably, the owners were in the process of relocating and somehow managed to lose the part!
   And finally, the one that really blew my top! A gentleman who lived nearby called me about finding a commuter bicycle for him, and I found exactly what he wanted at a very reasonable price, freshly posted one morning on craigslist. The seller was moving and expressed some desperation to reduce inventory, so after a couple exchanged emails, I had scheduled a pickup that evening. I had a physical therapy appointment, after which I withdrew the required cash from the bank nearby, then drove home for a bite to eat before heading to pick up the bicycle.
   I did a quick check of my email before leaving and found a message explaining that the seller was “sorry for the inconvenience” and had sold the bicycle because of his “tight schedule”. In the first-come, first-served world of craigslist, I thought that I had done everything necessary, but I suppose without any real consequences to poor customer service, people can do whatever they want. The stupid thing was that I had provided my phone number in one of the messages – a quick call, and someone from my family could have picked it up immediately. Ridiculous!

   Moving on to current business, it’s not quite Cinquebicicambio, but involving three bikes in a parts exchange project isn’t exactly simple, either! Someone had seen the green Colnago Sprint on craigslist and really wanted the frame as the base for a commuter bike with modern parts. I was a bit reluctant, but he offered a nice amount of money, and since this wasn’t one of my builds, only a bike on which I had done a bit of cleaning, polish and touch-up, I agreed to sell the frame.
   Since I was left with a complete Campagnolo Athena groupset, I decided that I will swap it out with the Shimano 105 group on the Colnago 1988 XL. This bike had a black Selle Italia Flite saddle, but I like the look of the white saddle and handlebars on the red frame, so I’m going to switch in those parts from the Sprint as well.
   I’ve had a Campagnolo wheelset sitting around in my shop, and now a few parts that won't be needed for the 1988 XL. I came across a beautiful cobalt blue Pinarello Vuelta frame from ’97 that looked like the perfect candidate for the remainder of my leftovers, plus the few necessary fill-ins. The great thing about this deal was that the seller lived within driving distance and was smart enough to realize that he could save some money by ending the eBay listing and making a cash transaction. He actually dropped the price $10 for me and still made $15 more than he would have, if he had to pay the eBay fees!



   I love all the engraved logos (or pantographia, as the Italians say), but again, the dang faulty Pinarello decals! I’m doing some research into better methods to remove them without damaging the paint. It seems as though my airbrush connection has gone AWOL, so I don’t want to have to rely on him for help, should I damage the blue finish. I’m already searching for a pro to take care of the paint touch-ups for my other two projects.

More soon…


Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Are you a cycling dork?

   August started out so pleasantly this year, with an unexpected string of sunny and dry days. Unfortunately that stinkin’ hot and humid Pennsylvania summer we’ve all come to expect has returned. In any case, to “celebrate” our eighth month, I’ve selected (in no particular order) a list of 8 ways to know you are a cycling dork. This is not intended to belittle anyone or discourage someone from getting out on his or her bicycle – anything is better than sitting around watching the slop that is on television, or even worse , crawling into your personal hole of mindlessly staring at the screen of your (whatever brand) phone.
   That said, if you find that you are an offender to more than one of the items on this list, maybe you should consider taking up less challenging activities like croquet or Tiddly-Winks!

Reflectors: When I see someone on a really nice road bike with the reflectors still on the wheels and frame, I am reminded of motor boats speeding over the waves with the big white bumpers still hanging down over the sides. “Have you ever been on a boat before?” In this case, just substitute the word “bike” into that phrase.
   Unless you use your bike to commute to work and/or ride often at dusk, dawn or any of the hours in between, you have absolutely no need for reflectors on your bicycle. If you are looking to be more visible, there is certainly nothing wrong with wearing something reflective or brightly colored. My neighbor avoided having clunky reflectors on his Specialized Roubaix by placing a few reflective strips to his frame in strategic locations.

Aero bars on mountain bike: You do know that you are still in an upright position with the wind smacking you in the chest, right? And that doing something about your big, knobby tires on the smooth pavement would result in a bigger performance improvement than your new “aero” riding position? Ohhhh, you just wanted different hand/arm position(s) - well, I have the answer for you…
Leaving the visor attached to your cycling helmet: Despite what some “roadies” think, the visor on bike helmets was not intended to keep sun out of the eyes. It was devised by mountain bikers, specifically downhillers, to help keep branches from coming down into the face and smacking glasses/goggles down onto the nose. Then some marketing whiz realized there were a lot of suckers who thought the visor actually provided shaded vision and you couldn’t keep the dorks off of the trails!
   It should be immediately apparent that not only do you look like a smacked-ass with the visor attached, but that it catches wind when you are riding at the comparatively higher speed of a road bike. In fact, with the flatter back/head downward position on drop bars, the visor could be an obstruction to your sightlines.
   Besides, it’s not like you have a full-sized, baseball cap-like visor on the helmet! Any experienced cyclist (and I mean those that have the sense to remove the dorky visor) with a decent pair of sunglasses will tell you that the small overhang on any helmet, in conjunction with the glasses, completely keeps the sun from one’s field of vision!

Splash bar tape: As it has been covered previously in this blog, I won’t go into the subject much further, except to say that it stands to be the worst accessory ever to enter the cycling world. If you have some on your bike, go out RIGHT NOW and remove it! I will repeat (from my son Carrick’s eternal words of wisdom), “It looks like a clown threw up on your handlebars.”

Saddle too low: This one is a personal favorite of my wife, as she often encounters triathletes with this problem. She loves to mimic the legs-awkwardly-bent-out-to-the-sides pedaling style of the people tucked low in the aero position with their saddle height improperly set up. Of course, it’s hard to tell when the poor rider buzzes by in the opposite direction, but I’m sure that in some cases he/she is on a time trial bicycle that is completely too small!
   However, the problem is common to many cyclists we encounter - those who just grab a bike and go. Having the correct saddle height not only influences comfort on the bicycle, but it completely affects the efficiency of your pedaling stroke and how much of your power is put directly into the pedals. If your legs are flailing out to the sides of your body and are not aligned in a reasonable up and down motion, much of your effort is simply wasted.
   The alignment of the pedal stroke isn’t the only consideration, as saddle height also involves range of motion and whether you are getting the mechanical advantage from the complete length of those pistons attached to your hips. A final note needs to be made of the potential knee and back pain from continued riding in a “crunched” position.

Wearing a Team Sky jersey: This is the equivalent of rooting for the New England Patriots when you have never lived anywhere near Boston. You are quite simply a front-runner fan.
   (A brief aside) Philadelphians lament the area presence of countless Steelers and, God forbid, Cowboys fans who had “jumped ship” during the 1970s when the Eagles were lousy. Hey, the other two teams were WINNING and were on national television often. Maybe most importantly, these teams had players with flair and personality (yes, the Cowboys had a couple).
   The Patriots however, have none of that - they just win, much like Team Sky. There is nothing very enjoyable about the way Team Sky competes in stage races - no risky escapes, no bold attacks, just grinding away on the front, wearing others down…and winning, of course.
   Identifying with a team only because of their success really makes it seem like you don’t know anything about the sport itself. Wow, you watched the Tour de France and have seen victories by Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins – who hasn’t? Can you tell me the name of any other pro cyclists? Thanks, I meant besides Lemond and Armstrong. Okay then, if you aren’t from Great Britain, I don’t want to see you wearing any Sky kit!
   And if it is a just matter of liking a black cycling jersey, you could instead don the kit of Giant-Alpecin or Cannondale-Garmin, or choose from tons of stylish options on the market.


Mismatched kit: In general, during the warmer months I wonder if folks have a mirror, but wearing the jersey of one cycling team with the shorts of another is just wrong. Sure the colors might not clash completely, but make up your mind already!
   There are some cyclists who don’t think anyone should wear team kit unless he or she is actually on a team, but let’s all relax and dream once in a while. I have my own rule that I will not wear the full kit of a team that still exists, but I don’t begrudge anyone’s enthusiasm to look like a pro, as long as you can “bring it”!
   In summary…Full kit - sure! Team jersey with black shorts - definitely! Team jersey with shorts of a solid color – passes, as long as you have a good sense of hue. Solid color top with team shorts - I suppose it could work. Toshiba/Look top with ADR shorts - please stay on the INDOOR trainer!

Having tons of stuff on your carbon bicycle: It mystifies me why someone would spend a couple thousand dollars on a super-light racing machine and then strap every accessory they can find onto the frame. Let’s see, the bike weighed 16 pounds when I bought it, and with that new carbon wheelset, I’ve got ‘er down to around 14.5 pounds. Now I’ll put on some aero bars (to change hand positions, of course), a mount for my Garmin, and a clamp for my hand pump and a CO2 cartridge. Okay, the little saddle bag for my tools, and I get dehydrated easily so I’ll add one of those behind-the-saddle bottle cages, too. Now the bike weighs 24 pounds – makes sense.
   I found the bicycle below listed on eBay – ignore the rather garish color choices on what would normally be a beautiful Wilier bicycle. I won’t knock the little bag beneath the saddle, but is that scuba equipment and a half gallon of milk on that $2500 lightweight bicycle?


   The photo below was also supposed to emphasize my point about loading unnecessary accessories on your bike, but I know a couple of cyclists who are at this moment pondering the bike cooler...or most likely what they would put in it!




Thursday, August 6, 2015

If you aren't a goose, I don't want to hear you!

You’ll get the point of my title later, I hope.

   I was looking for an opportunity to return to Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park – you know, the place I crashed and flatted twice EACH back in June. However, this time I intended to do a “road version”, using the same route from Lambertville to the Park and then use roads that parallel the canals/rivers on the way back. Someone was selling an inexpensive Colnago bicycle in Warminster, PA, which is pretty much on the way, so it seemed like a perfect arrangement. I could do the ride in the early afternoon and meet the seller when he returned from work.


  I took my Colnago, just to maintain the theme for the day and was treated to some sunny, but low humidity, summer weather. I was enjoying the ride early, particularly since the road bike rolled along much more smoothly on the asphalt than my trail bike. Thinking ahead as I started to warm up and sweat, I recalled that spots to refill water bottles were sparse last time around and hoped that the higher speed and resulting reduced time in the saddle might prove a benefit on that count.
   When I moved onto some of the secondary roads, I didn’t recall them being so battered and/or riddled with bad repair jobs. It must have been a case of the trail bike providing a softer ride during my last trip. On a whole, the conditions really weren’t much different from the poorly paved surfaces that I frequent at home. The problem was that I was unfamiliar with these roads, and I really had to concentrate in order to avoid hitting anything to cause a flat tire! I was glad to have a tree-lined route, but heading in and out of the shade made spotting potholes even more difficult.
   I also didn’t remember the route profile being so undulating, and again this might have just been a case of a different bike, with the Bianchi having more “climb-worthy” gear ratios. I could feel a bit of weariness in my legs and was glad to reach the flat Canal Road, which (as you might guess by the name) follows the Raritan Canal on its way towards Trenton.
   You can imagine that I was disappointed when, just a few miles down the road, I saw signs stating that “Canal Road will be closed on or around 8/4”. I held out hope that the road work would be delayed, since I didn’t know an easy alternative route, but alas, no such luck. I also hoped the detour (shown in purple on map above) wouldn’t take me back towards Route 206, because I've used the road occasionally on the way to visit Colin at college, and I knew that would mean hills. Again, no such luck!
   I really started to miss the Bianchi’s easy gearing, but the one good result of that detour was passing a Wawa - two bottles refilled with cool water! Now I had to keep myself from guzzling it all as I made my way to Princeton.
   If you hadn’t heard, we just returned from a vacation in the Finger Lakes, during which I took a ride up (very much so) to Cornell’s campus in Ithaca, NY. The first thing I thought when grinding up Route 206 was “Is every Ivy League school up some nasty hill?”, but then I thought of pan-flat Penn. I then considered, with Philadelphia being an easy drive away, if I might try to get to the remaining five league schools all by the end of the week!
   Before I took on the hills, I had been travelling at a very good clip, but now I was entering more of an urban area and faced more and more traffic lights. By the time I reached Trenton, I was pretty much getting one every intersection, and except for the rare occasion when my pace linked up a few greens in a row, I was clicking in and out of the clipless pedals constantly.
   The canal route during my previous trip had taken me north of downtown, so I hadn’t seen the capital square. Now I was a bit disappointed to find how shabby the area is. It just seems the city hopes you are distracted by the capital’s handsome golden dome. Yes, you can joke that it’s New Jersey after all, but there really are some beautiful areas in the state, such as the diverse Delaware River region, the shore and the northern lake country, so that really wouldn’t be fair.
   You can imagine that I wasn’t happy to have the wind blowing into my face for the remaining twelve miles up Route 29 back to Lambertville, but I fought through it fairly well. I did not enjoy it when some fool decided to honk at me before he passed, and I yelled loudly at him with a “what are you doing?” open-armed shrug. Really, there is nothing good that is going to come from hitting the horn – even the most experienced rider is going to be startled and swerve a little bit!  Sure the road is a narrow there, but I was holding my line as close to the outside white stripe as possible. I’m not even sure if he was trying to warn me (cars are on the road – who knew?) or if he was just another one of those drivers who think cyclists shouldn’t be on “their” streets.
   The jerk even turned around and went by me the other direction with another toot, but I saw him coming and didn’t even acknowledge his presence. I was secretly hoping he’d turn around once more in order to pass me again, and I was ready to hurl my water bottle. By that point I was actually very close to where I had parked my car, so I was happy to just holster my weapon!

   A quick note on the Colnago, it’s a 1988 XL model with a super cool Colnago headset and dropouts. I’ve never seen this before - I’m so used to Campagnolo stamping on these parts! It also has a nice ITM Ernesto Colnago autographed stem. I’m not too happy about the Shimano 105 components, though that is an easy swap!  However, anyone who knows me will also know what the first thing was that had to go - and if you not sure, my son Carrick’s first words when he saw the bicycle was “Looks like a clown threw up on the handlebars!”





More later on this Colnago…