Shaking Things Up

   The past couple weeks have seen some major changes to my shop and to my collection of bicycles. First of all, I have much more room, as I’ve moved a couple of bicycles out, most recently my friend Brendan’s Vitus 992. Back in December we had to put his bike build on hold when we ran into a strange top tube problem, but he came by last weekend to install the cables and housings, make brake and derailleur adjustments and apply the bar tape.

   Here are some quick photos I took before he packed it in the back of his car and headed home:

   Another project just shifted positions from the rack of bare framesets to rafter hooks of finished bicycles, as I was finally able to put the final touches on the Masi Nuova Strada. Its completion was delayed by my holiday building hiatus, but the bike has been assembled with a complete Campagnolo C-Record group. I substituted in Cobalto brakes, just as the company eventually did among their C-Record component catalog. The Cobaltos, which are essentially Super Record brakes with the logos painted in blue and a blue jewel on the center pivot bolt, were Campagnolo’s response to customer complaints about the quirky Delta brakes.

   The Cinelli cockpit, including stem, bars and tape, accents the machine perfectly - a true classic!

    

   An interesting detail about the quality C-Record parts was discovered when I noticed the chain was moving rather stiffly through the rear derailleur. I removed the sluggish bottom pulley wheel to clean/lubricate the part and found that the side plates had a hex shape and were threaded onto the pulley. Cheaper pulley wheels (photo below) usually have flat side plates that are loose, only held together when the derailleur cage axle bolts are screwed into the derailleur cage.

 

   The lower-quality wheels feature a metal sleeve in the center into which a hollow metal cylinder fits – this then rotates around the axle bolt when installed in the derailleur. To my surprise, when I unscrewed the C-Record pulley, I found it had a slot around the center hole, into which tiny bearings fit. The side plates held together two halves of a race that kept the bearings in place and pivoted around the axle bolt. I cleaned everything, applied a little grease, reassembled the pulley wheel and re-installed it in the derailleur to find it working perfectly!

   I also cleared out clutter and re-organized some things to make room for a “new” workbench. My mother-in-law recently moved into a senior living facility, and the extended family has been doing a lengthy clean-out of her home. My late father-in-law Dave had an impressive workshop in the basement, including a sturdy steel-topped workbench, which also had a handy vise mounted on one side.

   The bench I had in my shop served me well for years, but it was a store-bought, self-assembled job with molded plastic side panels/legs and particle board. It was warping a bit and becoming wobbly, so I staked a claim on Dave’s bench, knowing that the larger work surfaces in his shop and the many table saws, drills, sanders, etc. would probably get more attention from family and (down-the-line) prospective buyers.

   My brother-in-law Todd and I hauled the table out to our van Saturday afternoon, with many breaks along the way, and swore (probably for the 9th or 10th time during this clean-out process) it was the last heavy object we were ever going to move! I recruited my sons for moving the bench into our house.

The flimsy bench, moved out of the way

A MAJOR improvement!

   A few months ago, in a blog entry entitled “I’ll Take One of Each”, I listed my top ten dream bicycles. Among them I mentioned a Colnago Extreme Power in a similar paint scheme to my Master X-Light. Well, I found an EP bicycle in the Saronni red paint scheme at a great price and decided to make a move. The frameset is a bit different for me, as it has a contemporary sloping top tube, but I’ll attempt to offset that feature by creating a modern/retro build, using primarily the Campagnolo parts from my MX-L.

   I don’t like the current trend of companies producing component groups with only gray or black finishes, so I will opt for the polished aluminum of my slightly older parts. I wish I could use the quill stem and bars as well, but there is a modern threadless headset on the EP, so I will be incorporating the appropriate stem and bars up front – and this Cinelli fan is doing things a bit differently by going with the Italian 3T brand this time around.

   I was briefly considering a set of carbon wheels, but I loved my silver Campagnolo Vento wheels (leaving them on the the MX-L when I rebuild and sell it), which had never caused me any issues or been out of true, so I am looking for a set of black Ventos for the EP. I will be putting on a set of tan wall tires to help the vintage look.

   The frame has a few nicks, which should be easily touched up, and the downtube decal is incorrect, as the original was damaged – the scratch on the tube is evidence of what had happened, but it will be covered over by the appropriate replacement. I’ve turned to my buddies at VeloCals for some help, and I’ve sent in the correct dimensions to match up the blank space perfectly.

More to come...

Just got back - been a long, long time!

(I enjoy using music references in my titles - this is a Cheap Trick lyric.)

   My return to writing the blog has taken longer than originally planned, mostly because there hasn’t been a whole lot of subject matter, due to my self-imposed building hiatus. I had previously mentioned space and budget limitations, and I was determined to make a sale on at least one of the completed bicycles I had in stock before finishing one of the other projects I’ve had lined up.

   I have to admit that I was quite simply lacking motivation to write, as some other commitments were requiring my attention, and I was finding some other interests more attractive when I had free time. I’ve also been dealing with a nagging health issue that has been wrecking my sleep, and there are days that I just felt “off”.

   It had also been difficult to motivate myself to exercise, particularly during dreary December. The day after Christmas I visited my friend Ryan, who has a Zwift indoor trainer setup, since he had been encouraging me to drop by and give one of the races a try. If you aren’t familiar with the product, Zwift is essentially an online video racing game that uses interaction with other cyclists on their trainers for a competitive and fun way to do normally monotonous indoor training sessions.

   Ryan and I of are very similar dimensions, though he is of much slighter build, and I was able to pretty much hop on his bike as it was set up for him. I was even able to wear a pair of his spare shoes, so we didn’t have to switch pedals for my shoe/cleat compatibility.

   I was scheduled to participate in a race with about 200 other cyclists looking to work off some of the guilt from the previous couple of days-worth of indulging. We were going to do a twelve-mile criterium, featuring a circuit around the streets of London! The rear dropouts on Ryan’s bike were hooked up to a flywheel that not only changed resistance to simulate the hill climbs on the undulating race route but also vibrated to replicate the feeling of riding over small sections of cobbled streets in the U.K. capital.

A Zwift screen capture, approaching Trafalgar Square

   Ryan had very smartly arranged a couple of fans, not only for a bit of realistic air movement but also to provide some much-needed evaporation when things would inevitably get sweaty. He then put me through a neat little pre-race intro, complete with personalizing my game character with a Cannondale bicycle and custom-colored team kit to match! I did a couple warmup laps to see the course then lined up at the start line when race time approached.

   In retrospect, I really wished I had tried Zwift a couple months earlier, when I was in close to peak form, as my fitness had dropped off considerably during a cold and very wet December. It had been decades since I had experienced the intensity of a race situation and the constant effort such a short event requires. The racing experience was fairly realistic, as you even draft behind other riders in the group and receive the benefit of less resistance, though slight.

   I was about three miles into the event when I worked my way up near the front of the peloton and noticed a small group moving away. I then made the huge mistake of trying to jump across on my own and blew up when failing to make it. Much like real cycling races, I was then spit out the back of the peloton when caught. Now I was fighting my way through other riders who were falling apart and losing contact with the main body of cyclists.

   I eventually found a group of about eight riders going at a comfortable pace, rotating through to share the work. Although we definitely weren’t going to catch the elite group, we were holding pretty steady behind the peloton, and we were near the middle number of total participants. Ryan provided plenty of encouragement and enjoyed seeing me outsprint my mates at the finish line. After a bit of a panicky catch of breath after the effort, I commented that Zwift is definitely an effective method of training. No doubt, it also helps to break up the otherwise boring indoor sessions!

   After such a lousy December, we have really been treated to some reasonable cycling weather in 2020. We’ve had almost no frozen precipitation, leaving the roads clear of dangerous cinders and frame-damaging salt. There hasn’t been very much rain either, and it seems to have only done so on days which I hadn’t planned to ride.

   Although I haven’t really done any routes about which I would write a whole article, I have been taking some of my regular routes and tweaking them a bit to include some new territory. I often do a loop from Harleysville out around to the east of Lansdale and use the Route 202 Parkway Trail to reach Doylestown. I would usually work my way back on relatively flat roads through Chalfont, Colmar and Hatfield.

   This time I headed northwest through the appropriately-named Hilltown Township and took on a couple of cripplingly steep climbs on my way to Sellersville. I then followed Route 152 back into Telford and weaved over to Reliance Road to head back to Harleysville.

   Last week I started a ride on the Chester Valley Trail just west of King of Prussia and pedaled out to the trail’s current terminus in Exton. I continued along Commerce Drive and Whitford Road to reach Clover Mill Road. I made a right turn towards Downingtown on Boot Road and the climbing began, although the first incline was an overpass for the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line.

   A couple blocks later I turned left on Southwind Lane and headed over the right-of-way for the PRR’s Thorndale Branch, which was a low-grade freight line. This railbed would make an excellent rail trail, as it eventually heads over the Brandywine Valley Viaduct near Downingtown.

   In my cycling dreams I'm riding this trail over to the huge truss bridge in Whitford (a flyover structure at the PRR main line) and somehow connecting to the Chester Valley Trail near the Main Street at Exton shops on Route 100.

   Back to reality, I was climbing (more of the long drag variety than super steep) over the South Valley Hills that parallel Route 30 and eventually coasted down into the Harmony Hill Nature Area. A steep descent led to Route 322, and I made a very cautious left at the stop sign onto this busy road.

   I made a very sharp left turn, almost doubling back, onto Valley Creek Road, which follows a beautiful route weaving through the woods along the (you guessed it) Valley Creek. I rode past a couple of horse farms and many early colonial homes along the way and eventually reached the Twin Tunnels that allow the road to pass under the previously-mentioned railroads. The tunnels are subject to many local legends, and I didn’t want to become one, so I allowed all of the traffic to clear before making my way through the spooky spot.

   The site actually includes three tunnels, as one redirects the creek and another is an abandoned road route.

   Valley Creek Road conveniently intersected Boot Road near Clover Mill Road, and I returned to the Chester Valley Trail from there.

   The weather yesterday featured bright sun and temperatures approaching sixty - I was quite comfortable in shorts and just a long sleeve cycling jersey! I set off on one of my favorite loops through the Oley Valley farmlands. Unfortunately, I didn't notice a constant 10 mph wind in forecast and found the experience to be a mix of pedaling bliss (with the wind) and torture (against). Still better than pedaling indoors, though!

   

   The best news during the past week was a bike sale, as a couple of really nice guys dropped by to check out the Casati Fibra I’ve had available since autumn. Frank was just getting into some serious riding and brought along his knowledgeable friend Scott for advice. I’m happy to have an empty slot up in the rafters so I can finally get back to the Masi Nuova Strada build I’ve been waiting for months to complete.