The Adventurebike Menace

   A while ago I started a series of blog entries on adventure bikes, machines that were good on- or off-road, which may have been labeled “gravel bikes”, if I didn’t dislike that term so much. These projects involved cyclocross or even modified road or mountain bikes, and just for fun, I titled the blog entries in line with the Star Wars movie series.

   Well, this adventure bike is indeed a bit of a prequel, as it has been in the works for over two years, pre-dating nearly all of the other bicycle builds to which I was referring. My friend Robert had brought this Marin MTB conversion to me back in the summer of 2020, and because of some complications and family circumstances, it took an extended period to bring its assembly to completion.

   Speaking of complications, this build was full of them! Luckily they were of the minor variety, requiring some adapters, etc. to make everything work, and Robert had a pretty good idea ahead of time that this might not all work perfectly, so he was very reasonable when hitches popped up in the process.
   The original plan was a custom paint job, but perhaps in a somewhat prescient move, since my buddy Bruce has become so busy that he has stopped taking on new work, Robert decided to take care of the paint himself. A powder coat of a nice sandy orange color was applied by someone in his neighborhood, and he added a simple set of black Marin decals that I had purchased for him a while ago.
   Robert had mentioned some lower back issues that would keep him from riding in an aggressive position, and the idea was to include stem with a longer quill and a set of bars with shallow drops so that he could remain more upright. I don't work with a lot of MTBs, and this was the first vintage steel MTB frame that I had ever worked with - I had no idea they had 1-1/8" headtubes!

   Luckily I was able to find a really nice vintage Ritchey MTB headset, and after installation I realized, of course, that a traditional 1" quill stem was not going to work, either. The long quill Nitto stem we had purchased was a real must to keep Robert in his desired riding position, so acquiring a shim for the stem would be a relatively simple solution.

   However, the real difficultly with this bicycle was that the bike was originally a single-speed MTB with "track ends" (see photo examples below), instead of the type of dropouts usually seen at the rear stays of bicycles.

   In lieu of installing a derailleur or tensioner pulley arm that would normally take up slack in a chain, track ends allow pulling back and locking down the rear wheel into the proper position to keep the chain taut. In this case, Robert wanted to have gears, and we had to turn to a hangar adapter (photo below) to solve the problem. It has a notch on the back which slides into the track end, and the upper hole is for the axle/quick release to poke through. The bolt and nutted end cap fit over the back of the track end to help keep everything in place.

   This worked well for shifting nine of the ten rear cogs, but we found that the thickness of the adapter created too much of a reach for the derailleur, and there was difficulty transitioning into the largest cog. It seemed sacrificing the "granny gear" would be a necessary concession with this setup.

   I really like the SRAM GX Type 2.1 rear derailleurs, which have a clutch to keep back tension for 1x setups. I've used them many times on projects with similar drivetrain setups, but the one thing that I just don't get is why SRAM didn't include a barrel adjuster at the cable anchor spot like almost every other manufacturer does.

   In order to achieve perfect shifting, the installation of a mid-cable inline barrel adjuster is absolutely necessary, indicated by the yellow arrow below:

   I'm not always happy with the way drop bar levers work with cantilever brakes, as the longer pull can feel mushy, but if you set the pads at the minimum distance from the rims and keep the wheels true, they function well enough for trail use. I wouldn't do aggressive downhill mountain runs in this setup, but the brakes will stop you safely in every other situation!

   Finally, this series of articles has come to a close, and we'll bid it farewell with images of Robert's completed Marin Eldridge Grade Adventurebike (he told me he wanted to experiment with bar tape, which explains its absence):

Bemoaning the British Bias

   I know not everyone is a pro cycling fan, and I try to avoid going into it too much anymore in the blog, but you might find a story in here a bit entertaining. This is, in a way, an apology to my wife, as she is tremendously patient with my venting against Team Sky (now Ineos), and really, most commentators on British Eurosport and the Global Cycling Network.

   I have to go back in time a bit and explain that my attitude now (just swap in U.K for USA) is so similar to that which was formed by the cycling scene during the early 2000s, when Lance Armstrong was winning the Tour every year, and American network commentators were waving the red, white and blue for a a guy who, despite all the good done by his Livestrong Foundation, seemed to be a rude and bullying individual. My sportswriter father covered some cycling events during the football offseason, and he had some inside scoop that he shared with me at the time which also bolstered my distaste for Lance, but I digress (as usual).
   Watching the Tour during those years was awful, not only because you knew who was going to win in the end (remember, SEVEN times in a row), but also because everything the commentators said was “Lance is great, his team is dominant, blah, blah blah”, and you know what it’s like to have to listen to people constantly praise people that annoy you (i.e. Tom Brady and the Patriots). I lost a lot of my enthusiasm for watching pro racing - well really, the Tour was the only thing getting TV coverage back then.
   A decade later, Lance was gone, and I was getting back into the sport, as it seemed to be cleaning up its act. Along comes Team Sky to wreck it all again – a robotic method of winning stage races, based on (zzzzz...) power meter reading and (zzzzz...) wattage output. The exciting, attacking way of pro bicycle racing was stamped out, and the Eurosport/GCN commentators didn’t care – their U.K.-based team was winning seven of eight consecutive Tours, and the fact that these events were mostly boring and predictable didn’t even cross their minds. What was worse, the unbalanced financial situation, with that team’s TV network sponsor bringing in loads of cash to draw the best talent, was crippling to other sponsors and teams throughout the sport. It looked like Team Sky was killing cycling, and again, the Brits didn’t care – they were winning!
   Luckily, a few teams have learned how to beat Sky/Ineos at their own game, but more importantly, a wave of young stars have come along to take body blows at the old tactics. Wout Van Aart, Mathieu van der Poel, Tadei Pogacar and Jonas Vingagaard have attacking flair and the physiology to wear down the best that the “power meter watchers” can throw at them.
   The current wave of international stars doesn’t stop the Eurosport/GCN announcers from constantly mentioning the Ineos team or gushing over the occasional success of a British rider. I’ll hear them compare one-off performances by one of their countrymen to those of legendary cyclists and put unrealistic expectations on young riders. Hey guys, not everyone is a Brad Wiggins or Chris Froome! I absolutely hate it when commentators act like fans, instead of giving an honest account of what is happening in the competition.
   As an aside, I also watch a good deal of BBC television, and it is a bit ridiculous how the English consistently take shots at Welsh and Scottish guests, as though they are low-class idiots, yet hypocritically welcome elite athletes from these nations as members of “Team G.B” (or U.K., depending on the event). Now, they’ll turn around and say, “Aw, that’s just good-natured ribbing”, but their jibes don’t seem all that different to me than making racist comments about blacks and then rooting for them rabidly when they star on your favorite NFL team!
   My snowball of anti-British sentiment became influenced by other things, such as commentators' mispronunciation of words and names. Some of the Eurosport/GCN hosts say words whatever way they want and make absolutely no effort to change, even when fellow commentators – or even the athletes themselves – offer guidance!
   I had a couple friendly internet exchanges with commentators, one which actually netted me a mention during the Tour de France a couple of years ago, when I pointed out to Carlton Kirby that he was consistently calling the Argon 18 bike manufacturer “Aragon” (which is a region of Spain). He then stated that he was glad to have stopped short of saying the Lord of the Rings character, Aragorn.
   However, I had a very annoying response from a person well-known in British racing, who is now an avid collector of vintage bicycles. I joked that I was grinding my teeth when I heard him say “Bee-yankee” and “Campagnolo” with a hard “G”. These companies have been around for 100 years, or close to it, and you’d think someone really into the sport would make the effort to pronounce the name correctly. His response was, “That’s the way we pronounce them over here.” No, wait a second, shouldn’t you be saying these names in the language they are intended? I’m sure you aren’t going to let someone from another country off easily if they say your English name incorrectly. Come on – this is just pure arrogance!
   All of this leads me to the latest situation that has me stirred up, plus a moment of pure joy that came at British expense. I watch a good deal of cyclocross racing during the winter, mostly because I’m a cycling junky, and it gives me more of an opportunity to see Wout van Aart and Mathieu van der Poel do amazing things. Many people (well. Brits) like to include Leeds native Tom Pidcock in a group they call “The Big Three”, when it comes to dominating the cyclocross scene. Early in the 'cross season announcers will downplay the victories of other riders, remarking on their opportunity to win races while the "Big Three" are taking a break from their road campaigns before throwing themselves into the big block of cyclocross events around Christmastime.
   Realistically though, Pidcock (who happens to ride for Ineos, of course) is a significant step behind van Aert and van der Poel, and is really only racing for third place when “The Big TWO” show up. In fact, Pidcock won last year’s ‘cross World Championship, mostly because road racing’s spring classics season was drawing near, and neither van Aert nor van der Poel chose to travel all the way to Arkansas to compete. However, you NEVER hear any British commentators mention that world title being a little hollow – no, all you hear is (said with my own sneery voice), “World Champion Tom Pidcock from Team Ineos/Grenadiers (which also irks me, like he's some battle-tested warrior) in the rainbow stripes,” over and over and over. I’d LOVE to hear someone say, “...of course that might have been different had van Aert or van der Poel shown up.” I know that’s not going to happen.

   A pattern has emerged in the races lately where either van Aert or van der Poel go out hard and attack the field, gaining 30 seconds or so, then the other one puts in a dig to catch up. Pidcock is better than anyone else in the field and gets stuck in no-man’s-land, riding by himself. If the “Big Two” kept pressing the pace, it wouldn’t be close, but inevitably, they back off to recover and maybe even plan the next move. At this point Pidcock will inch back up, and a Brit commentator will say something like, “Look at the fight in Tom Pidcock – he just won’t go away!” The realistic, non-biased observer would say, “Van Aert and van der Poel have slowed down and let Pidcock back in the race.”

   There have been a few occasions, particularly on the road, when the Brit has taken advantage of the battle between the more powerful Belgian and Dutch stars, and I suppose hanging on and hoping for a mistake is just part of the strategy. There are countless times in pro cycling history when lessor riders have outsmarted the bunch to win big races, but I actually like rooting for those underdogs!

   I was watching an event the other morning and was disappointed that Pidcock was the only one of the dominant trio entered. I knew this was probably his chance to win, and I begrudge anyone on the Ineos squad success. However, there is always the chance that a mechanical breakdown or just a flat-out bad day may occur, so I kept the race on in the background while I was eating breakfast, etc. Predictably, Pidcock had a comfortable lead of about 20 seconds as the race wound through its last lap.
   On this particular course there was a succession of little humps – cyclocross riders will sometimes call them “whoops”, kinda like the pump track that bmx-ers enjoy – on a slightly downhill section, creating enough speed where the riders could catch a bit of air. This is where the magic was about to happen.
   Pidcock decided to do a bit of showboating for the fans and attempted a moto whip-type move when airborne, kicking out the rear wheel to the side, while jerking the front wheel inward in order to bring everything back in line before landing. Well, Tom Terrific returned to Earth awkwardly, pulling one of his feet out of the pedal and ran into one of the posts holding the net barriers. (Don't get disoriented by the images below - the director just happened to change cameras/angles when Tom wiped out.)

   He launched over the barrier into the crowd of spectators there and by the time he gathered himself, he had lost the lead. Not that I really wanted him to be injured, but he was knocked around enough that he quickly dropped back and finished third. Amazingly, not one Eurosport commentator mentioned the idea that if he wouldn’t have been showing off, this wouldn’t have happened. Whatever, dudes, I still have a smile on my face because of that mishap.  

   By the way, you may be asking, “Why doesn’t he watch U.S. coverage of racing?” or simply “...mute the commentary?” Sometimes the U.S. coverage seems like they are teaching the sport to viewers who may be turning in for the first time, and that becomes a drag for knowledgeable folks like me. Eurosport assumes those tuning in have a clue what is going on and will make note of regional architecture, culture and food during the racing, bringing in a totally different dimension to the coverage. I also think that overall the Brit hosts have better personalities and a sense of humor, and although I know he has a vast knowledge of cycling, there is only so much of that doofus Bob Roll that I can take!