In Your Travels

Cross/Commuter Bike upgrade

So I'm going to sit here and listen to Pearl Jam Live at Benaroya Hall and blog about my bike. A couple of years ago I bought a Lemond Poprad, because I wanted to get into cyclocross. My friend and then teammate Joe Kotun was spreading the good news about cross bike riding. My introduction had been the Iron Cross, a 60 mile offroad oddessy in Pennsylvania with 10,000 feet of climbing. It took 5.5 hours for me on Joe's Bontrager Mountain Bike. Typical unto his style, he was into building frankenbikes out of ebay scores and parts he had in the bin. At the time he had an Empella. I'm not against that (or Empellas) by any means (please no controversy) but I had no mountain bike so I didn't really have this vast bin to draw from, and I didn't really know s#@% from shinolah when it came to that sort of thing. So I went to the shop I was friendly with at the time, College Park Bikes, and bought that rig. It is the one with the blue graphics and Shimano 105 Brifters, Avid Shorty 4 brakes and Bontrager Select parts.

Right away there were some bad parts spec to fix. It had a Bontrager Select crankset with 53/39 rings. WTF effington the third? 53 chainring on a cross bike? Not usable at all. And cross was so hot at the time that you couldn't put your hand to a 130mm 40-something tooth ring to save your life. Finally we found some Salsa rings, and I stuck a 48/38 on there. I got rid of the 12-25 or whatever 9 speed cassette it came with in favor of a 12-27 Ultegra. I think that that pretty much did it for me for a year. I did Reston and a couple of other cross races and had some fun.

The next year out on the road I bought a compact crankset, an FSA. I used it for half a season or so on the road, then bought a new complete bike on ebay, a Calfee Dragonfly, which had 10 speed record on it. So the bike that had the crank; I tore it apart and put the compact on the cross bike. I got 46/36 Race Face MTB rings for it and sold the Salsas for a profit. Ebay is stupid. Somewhere in there I took apart the bar-top lever and stripped a bolt putting it back on so those got replaced with some Tektros. I built up some race wheels which I just sold to Bryan Butts a couple months ago. I did a few more races but got kind of disgusted when some dweeb crashed me up in Hagerstown. I bashed my shin so hard I couldn't move for like 3 minutes. He got back up and won the race. I was stomping that day and I would have ripped him apart. I'm still ticked about that, but that's racing. It was just a C race anyway, what am I gonna do, crow about that from the rooftops? Still, a bit frustrating you have to admit.

The former road bike (a Flyte/Airborne Manhattan Project) was further stripped and the frame sold, so it's Chris King headset became part of the cross rig, replacing a Cane Creek. I bought a lot of stems on ebay and a new school Salsa Moto Ace replaced the Bontrager Select. Looks like hell but fits nice. Likewise, the Ultegra brifters from that bike replaced the 105 stuff that was on there. But I never did love that stuff, so I dreamt of Campy.

The dreams got better and better when Steve DonTigney sold me a pair of 32H/Open Pro/Record hubs wheels last December. Those wheels would suit that bike so well, I thought. But sticker shock kept me away. Finally, joyously, I made my the elite team of my club, Evolution. That brings with it a healthy discount at the LBS (local bike shop), The Bike Lane in Burke. So I dropped the money on some Campy Centaur brake/shifters, and a front and rear mechanism. I've got a Chorus cassette on those wheels, for a 13-26. That gives me some righteous mid-range gears. I've got a 16, I've got a 17, I've got an 18 and 19. What else could you ask for? I mean it just kicks tail. I can't wait to get it out there tomorrow towing my son to his day care and then off to work for me.

AND, I got a Light and Motion ARC light. The thing is like running a car headlight. It is that pure white beam that you see on newer cars, especially German ones. It throws a crazy bright beam hundreds of feet. Cars waiting to turn left in front of you think you're a motorcycle or a car with only one headlight or something and they ALWAYS wait. Stunning.

I am so ready for the night time bike commuting season and that just makes my day. It is like going from being a mouse to a lion. Instead of meekly passing through the night, hoping not to get stepped on, I'm roaring around, clearing a path. It is so inspiring and makes me want to keep riding. Bike Lane has them in stock...so worth it.

I'll get some pictures of the rig and put it up soon. It has a blackburn rack on it now too. Couple that with an Ortleib pannier and I don't have to put up with any junk on my back. I know that lots of people will probably be like "Aw man you should race that thing not put a rack on it," but I have to do what I'm called to do. Respect to the cross racers though. Respect.

So the only original parts left on the bike are the 48cm Ritchey cross bar and the Avid brakes. And believe me, those brakes aren't long for this world. The bike currently shares a saddle and seatpost with my fixie, it is a Dean Ti with a Specialized Toupe. Oh, and the bottom bracket is, I believe, a Race Face signature ti, which they don't make any more. So you can see why Joe Kotun was into the frankenbike thing. That is what I ended up with anyway!

I tell you, I feel like a friggin king riding this bike with its weird mix of parts. And by the way the Campy C-10 chain works just great with the Race Pace 9 speed chainrings. It is the older 6.1 mm chain, as compared to the new Campy chains that are 5.9mm (which is what Shimano has been using for awhile).

And BTW I don't have anything in particular against Shimano, but all my other stuff is Campy so it just feels normal for it to all work the same.

posted by Mark @ 6:47 PM