100th Ronde

   This entry is a bit overdue, but as explained previously I’ve had a rather busy schedule, and it has subsequently taken me some time to get caught up with my “to do” list around the house. However, I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to mention this weekend’s coming of the 100th Ronde van Vlaaderen – the Tour of Flanders.

   Boasting a region rich in cycling history, the Flemish people see this race as a regional symbol for the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium. The race starts in the market square of Bruges and heads south over flatlands on mostly broad roads for about 55 kilometers. However, the flavor of the race truly unfolds as the route heads east and the landscape becomes more undulating.

   The race twists and turns through the Flemish Ardennes, seeking out a succession of hills (appropriately called hellingen) which are notoriously short, steep and (mostly) cobbled. These nasty climbs are usually the decisive points of the race, and powerful riders will use them as opportunities to attack.

   Previously I had provided an introduction to my next project bike, which was inspired by this Sunday’s historic event, but I am also excited about the race itself because two of the big favorites come into the event showing excellent form. Peter Sagan has been in the winning move in nearly every race he has entered this year, and even though he has had his share of disappointing runner-up finishes, including a one second loss in the Tirreno-Adriatico stage rage, the current World Champion came up with a big win last weekend at Gent-Wevelgem (photo below).

   Fabian Cancellara (photo below), himself a three-time Flanders winner, has won the Strade Bianche (also for the third time) and two stage race time trials this season. He also looked fantastic at Gent-Wevelgem, losing out in the final four-man break to the aforementioned Sagan, and the E3 Herebeke semi-classic last Friday, where a broken derailleur forced him to make an amazing chase on a replacement bike to close a two-minute gap and get back into contention. Unfortunately his efforts left him unable to respond to the winning move by Michal Kwiatkowski and (again) Sagan.

   It was just three years ago when Cancellara and Sagan were in the winning move together at Flanders, with the Swiss powerhouse breaking away during the final climb over the Paterberg and soloing to victory. Check out Cosmo Catalano’s humorous review of that race here. 

   Although I have managed to finish off a couple of repair jobs, I haven’t had a ton of time recently to devote to the Ridley “Flandrien”. I did clean up the wheelset a bit, put on the tires and assembled the new headset, stem and bars - at least to make it look like a bicycle, in time for the Ronde.

Bike Builds with Classics Flavor

   It’s that time of year in the professional cycling calendar when teams hit the cobbles and the punchy climbs of the one-day Classics that cross the roads of the European Low Countries. It’s not a total coincidence then that a couple of my recent projects spark thoughts of the heroes I watched and read about, like Belgians Johan Museeuw and Claude Criquielion, as well as Dutchman Adrie van der Poel and Steven Rooks.

  

   I was having trouble finding a reasonably-priced braze-on front derailleur to match up with the Centaur group on the Colnago Dream bicycle. After an exchange of messages with owner Frank, we decided to go with a “close enough” recent model and finish up this project. I think some of the warmer weather had him understandably a bit impatient to hit the roads with his wonderful new ride.

   The paint scheme on this Colnago replicates the colors of the Dutch Rabobank pro team of that time, and Frank supplied plenty of orange accessories to compliment the look of the bike.

   Ridley is probably not a name among bicycle builders that would be too familiar in American households, and because the Belgian brand has only been around since 1997, they certainly don’t have the reputation of companies such as Bianchi or Pinarello. However, Ridley is the market leader in its home country, which is no small feat in such a cycling-rich nation, and for the last few years they have been the supplier to the Lotto-Soudal pro team, whose sprinter Andrei Greipel won four stages in last season’s Tour de France!

   The bold Lion of Flanders graphic on this 2011 Icarus SLS “Flandrien” frameset drew my eye, and I immediately had visions of dressing the bike up in the black, yellow and red colors of the Belgian flag. I generally try to slow down the building side of my business and take my time putting together projects as the weather warms, mostly because I tend to have more repair customers during this time of year, but also because I like to devote more time to getting out on the road myself. However, collecting the necessary parts has gone surprisingly quickly for this bicycle, and if it wasn’t for a bunch of other commitments and repair work on my schedule, I could actually put it all together within the week!

   The Icarus SLS is essentially a workman’s version of the top-shelf Ridley Excalibur, with the same racing geometry. The benefit is not having to mortgage your home in order to buy the Icarus, and its durable 7005-series aluminum tubing will withstand the elements and trips in the trunk of your car while still looking great and performing reliably for years. Just be careful not to scratch up that fantastic silver lion!

   I looked online for the original specs as a starting point for possible parts with which to build my version of the Icarus. My frameset came with the original seatpost from Ridley’s in-house 4ZA (Forza) Stratos brand, and I found the rest of the “peripherals”, such as the stem, bars, and saddle, to be attractive, sensibly priced and worthy of some good reviews. Unfortunately the heart of the bike had been either Shimano Tiagra or SRAM Apex, both incredibly average component groups.

   The 4ZA parts I found online matched up well with the look of the “Flandrien”, however, I decided an upgrade to an Ultegra group would be a wise investment, not only for the value of the bike, but for the level of performance it would provide to any prospective buyer. A nice set became available from an eBay-er in Lithuania, and it arrived in the mail yesterday.

I’m well on my way to a new “For Sale” item - that is, whenever I actually get around to building it.

Adding to My Bag of Tricks

   My brothers and I were really into magic when we were young, always reading books on the subject and collecting the props necessary to mystify our friends. Special birthday and Christmas gifts we received were boxed tricks and gimmicks given by family and friends, and we would practice over and over until the illusions would come off just right.

   I was reminded of these days long ago while attempting a couple of new skills that became necessary to learn while working on my friend Frank’s Colnago build. While the parts included in these procedures didn’t involve any deception, there was definitely a certain sleight of hand required to put everything together correctly.

   I have often pointed out to customers the advantage of Mavic wheelsets, as the freehub can be switched from one that is Shimano compatible to one which works with Campagnolo cassettes (and vice versa). However, I have never before had to take on the task myself.

   From what I had read on the subject, it didn’t seem too difficult of a prospect, mostly involving the insertion of an Allen wrench into the hollow axle and using a cone wrench to loosen the nut that holds everything together. Photos are borrowed from the Llave Inglesa (Spanish for “English key”’- in other words, a wrench) blog that had come to my aid with useful directions.

   I won’t go into the whole process, as if you are interested enough, you can read about it yourself, but the trickiest part was tucking the springy pawls (the ratchet-like wedges that grab when you pedal and clickety-click when you coast) into the Campagnolo freehub as I slid it down over the axle. One false move and SPROING, who knows where it will all end up on the shop floor!

   I had a good hold when things didn’t quite line up the first time, so nothing went flying, and on the second attempt, it all came together. Frank’s formerly Shimano-equipped Mavic Aksium wheelset is now compatible with the rest of the Campagnolo Centaur gruppo with which we are completing the build.

   The other new skill I worked on was rebuilding a Campagnolo brake/shift lever. You may recall that previously I had refurbished an early Shimano RSX lever, so I hoped the procedure would be similar. Well it turned out to be much more complicated, as all of the tiny Campagnolo parts included can all be replaced as they wear out – which is obviously a huge advantage to longtime owners of their products!

   The RSX model was Shimano’s only shift lever that could be rebuilt. I suppose the company has taken the attitude that theirs are less expensive, so customers should just buy a new one. Actually, after the initial shock of the up-front cost, Campagnolo’s “repairability” makes their levers the choice that’s easier on the wallet – that is, if you have the patience/skills to do the work yourself!

   The right shift lever on my Pinarello had some noticeable slipping at the end of last season, so I planned to use it for practice before working on Frank’s lever. Except for some roller bearings in the upscale Chorus Carbon version, my levers had practically identical inner workings to Frank’s Centaur levers. 

   I had a good idea what to look for as far as worn parts, and knew that at a minimum the G-shaped springs that control the ratcheting action should be replaced, and besides cleaning and lubing, that was the main functioned I performed on my shifters. Frank on the other hand had a few parts that needed to be swapped out, including (from left to right in the photo below) a broken coil spring, which provides the back tension in the shifter, a cracked G-spring carrier and a snapped G-spring. A “healthy” G-spring is on the right.

   The real complication to this work would be not having the cool Campagnolo mount on which to work, which, as shown in the video, nicely frees up both hands. I ended up using a couple makeshift jigs, and at one time even squeezed the whole assembly between my knees as I tightened everything.

   I would encourage you to click on the link below and watch the whole disassembly and rebuild, just to get a sense of what I had to do. The first time around took about 1 ½ hours, as I had trouble with a couple parts of the video, as far as understanding visually what was being accomplished. I had to turn to a text version of the operation a couple of times to review the techniques involved. The second time took just half an hour!

   By the way, I was trying to resurrect a set of Universal AER brakes that Frank had included among his boxes of stuff. I think they would have looked very cool on the Colnago, but they were missing some parts, most notably the distinctive quick release (circled in photo below). Despite about 20 emails I sent around the country and “across the pond” to various shops and collectors, I came up empty.

   We decided to sell the AERs and a set of vintage Dia Compe brakes that would definitely look out-of-place on this Colnago. We “settled” on a very reasonably priced Centaur set of calipers. I also found a very nice rear derailleur, now all I need is a front, braze-on mount derailleur, and I can wrap up this project as well.

   The Athena derailleur we needed for spare parts arrived last week, and I was finally able to finish off Ron’s Monteverde bicycle. The mounting washer was a bit thinner on this double derailleur than on Ron’s triple version, but I was able to remedy the problem effectively by inserting another thin washer I had among my miscellaneous supplies. Ron was understandably pleased with his “new’ ride...

   To wrap things up, I was also able to complete Chris’ Lemond Alpe d’Huez, as the last few small parts arrived, including a very affordable pair of Dura-Ace pedals in wonderful lightly-used condition!