Back In Black ... Or Something Else!

When the original leather cover on her Terry Butterfly saddle wore out, Marianne decided that it was time to move beyond basic black. Jason Moore at Recovered Saddle helped her pick out this auburn leather to be used for recovering the saddle, and he provided the matching leather bar tape. Jason did a great job restoring this saddle with new padding and finely tailored leather cover.  This custom frame is painted in House of Kolor chameleon green/blue, and this auburn leather also looks good when the bike's blue tone appears.

The opportunity to recycle that favorite, but well-worn, high end saddle is kind of a no-brainer ... why not?  Beyond that, this service from Recovered Saddle opens up a whole new world when it comes to selecting a bike's color scheme.  I've seen too many bikes with poorly matched colors on "not black" saddle and bar covering. I know that this is what happens when one is limited to off-the-shelf tape and saddles, but my eye is drawn to that mismatch, and it kind of detracts from the overall appearance of the bike. For my custom frame customers, selecting the paint typically is a big deal. Now they can extend that color scheme selection to include a complimentary - and matching - color for the saddle and bar cover.

 

 

  

Life, Reconfigured

In my introduction post on this blog, I wrote about how a thoughtfully designed bicycle could, by changing a few key components, evolve along with a rider's changing preferences and abilities. Once the designer has established a good fit between frame and rider, that frame may be usable for a variety of riding styles and venues, with little-to-no performance penalty for the built-in versatility. I just completed one such reconfiguration, on a once-favorite bike that just wasn't seeing much use.

Ten years ago, I built a Road/Sport frame designed to use a simple 1x9 drivetrain and a single shift lever. A few weeks after it came back from getting a durable powdercoat finish, that bike and I began a supported transcontinental ride from Seattle to Boston, with an improvised victory lap around Nova Scotia. I loved that bike. It climbed the Rockies, it turned South Dakota into a blur (well, maybe the heat helped that), it went fast when the big boys decided to play, and it was stable under 20# panniers at the end. Two years later, I used that bike to follow the Lewis and Clark route from St. Louis, MO to the Pacific Ocean, and, once again, it was just perfect - simple, reliable, and comfortable. Back home, it became my favorite bike for group social rides, centuries, and a variety of supported and credit-card tours.

Five years ago, I built a replacement frame, using the same geometry and tube set. But this time I carved a set of Pacenti Artisan lugs (not yet available the first time) and sprung for a gorgeous Joe Bell paint job. The first frame had been a plain workhorse, and, even though the components were all the same, there was something about the new frame's beauty that made the ride even sweeter. This was still going to be the lead dog on my sled.

Shortly after finishing the "beautified" 1x9, and without proper warning, my cycling preferences took a sharp turn toward fat tires, low-trail geometry, riding in "normal" clothing, and adapting to an aging body. I rode my 650B bike the most, and tried out (and liked) Albatross bars on it and on my low-trail 700C loaded touring bike. I bought clothing from Rivendell. I swapped my SPD pedals/shoes for naked cage pedals and sticky-soled Adidas flats, and re-discovered how pleasant it is to ride with free feet. I confirmed that the social riders at the back are laughing lots more than (and often about) the racer wannabes out front. Cycling life was good. In September, it dawned on me that I had not taken the 1x9 off the hook at all this year. Oh no! This called for a makeover.

The photo above shows my 1x9 in its reconfigured state. The component changes include a Nitto moustache handlebar on a shorter 8cm stem, light cage pedals, a lower tread-width classic Dura Ace crank, and a slightly smaller (38T) chainring. The frame was built for standard reach (47-57mm) caliper brakes at full slot, which easily accommodated the new wider (700c x 35) Panaracer Pasela tires. With the same old 9-sp 11x34 cassette, the gearing ranges from 31 to 95 inches.

Equipped as shown, weight is 21lb -12oz. I'll hang a candybar bag on the bar, and there's also a small custom rear rack if necessary.

Medium-trail steering geometry (originally built for 28m tires) seems OK with these new wider tires. The new "head up" body position tends to lighten up the front wheel, and the effect of some extra pneumatic trail seems to counteract that lightness.

I also milled the DT shift lever and its mounting base to change the lever's orientation on the bar-end mount, such that the lever points straight back (instead of 45* up) when the chain is on the largest cog. This gives a much nicer hand position on the shift lever when the bar-end is this high.

After 10 years of riding this drive train without a chain keeper for the single chainring, I finally installed a Paul unit. I need to fabricate a keeper that's not so bulky, and silver.

All together, this new configuration represents an amalgam of my evolving preferences and needs over the past five years. It remains a beautiful bike, and is once again a joy to ride. It has more competition than before, but it certainly is a contender once again for the Favorite Bike title.

Brakes: Act 2

When you find a truly great component, you want to keep using it forever. Sometimes, however, that requires a little creativity.

When Randy and I started discussing what he wanted in a new frameset, he was definite about wanting to modify a rare set of DiaCompe 700 centerpull brakes to mount via braze-on bosses. The photo below shows this brake model as it was originally produced, with the beautifully designed caliper arms mounted using a universal-fit yoke and center bolt.

In contrast to Mafac centerpulls which are readily convertable to braze-on bosses, the center-mount DiaCompe 700 uses a spring shape which doesn't allow the original spring to anchor to the boss as it should. In addition, the dimensions of the DiaCompe's pivot are sufficiently different from current brake standards that this brake doesn't mate with stock bosses. The solution was to fabricate a set of hand-wound stainless steel springs. After several prototypes, I arrived at the spring profile shown in the photo below.

This photo also shows the custom braze-on bosses that I made for this project. The dimensions on these bosses are optimized to mate with the DiaCompe 700 brakes' original pivot bushings. And, since bosses and springs were designed in concert, the single spring anchor hole is all that's needed.

The photo below shows the DiaCompe 700 brake arms mounted to the braze-on bosses. Those are 50mm fenders mounted with 13mm of clearance over 35mm Pasela tires. These brakes are both beautiful and well designed, and I'm happy to give them a second life on this new All-Road frameset that I know Randy is going to ride hard.

Update ... After updating these brakes with modern Kool Stop pads, pulley-style hangers and shorter straddle cables, Randy reports "I've never ridden with brakes that stop so well and modulate so nicely. All that work was well worth it."

My New Favorite Brake

Several years ago, Shimano’s introduction of a dual-pivot standard reach (47-57mm) brake was well received as a tidy solution for wide(er) tires and lots of clearance. In practice, however, there were some small, but nagging, deficiencies. The quick release didn’t pass tires wider than about 28mm, and the maximum usable brake reach was really about 55mm.

Now comes the Tektro R538 caliper (above), which is a near-perfect implementation of this brake format. The novel long-throw quick release design is wonderful. When adjusted to work with a 19mm wide Mavic Open Pro rim, this release opens up the pads to a generous 33mm of wheel removal clearance. Wider rims yield an even wider opening. This makes a world of difference for users of Shimano brake levers. Couple the R538 caliper with a Campy-style release in the brake levers, and you’ll have clearance to remove any tire that you’d reasonably run underneath this brake.

As a frame builder, I’m excited about the fact that the R538 actually reaches to a full 57mm. I know this may sound a bit silly, but those extra 2mm are meaningful. On a carefully handcrafted frameset intended for standard-reach calipers, I’ll design to use every last millimeter of functional brake reach, and let the owner benefit from the maximum clearance. The photo above shows the R538 over a 700C x 32 Pasela.

I’ve used the Tektro R538 calipers on three bikes recently, and I find that the orbital washers behind the cartridge-style shoes make pad alignment a cinch. The brake’s high quality, graceful styling and lustrous finish compliment a beautiful frame. It’s now my "standard" for standard-reach calipers.

The frame pictured with the brake is Maggie’s new low-trail All-Rounder, built mostly with light weight Dedacciai Zero tubing. The lugs are Nuovo Richie, which are cast with the styling seen below. Once again, color was personal and important, and Maggie selected a gorgeous Medium Iris pearl.