Mimic those who are better than you; this is the underlying principle of nearly everything I do in life, whether in my work, in sport, or hobbies. The less I know about something, the more inclined I am towards this, and the more faithfully I mimic. As my skill and knowledge develope, I mime less and reason more, applying my own mistakes as well as those of others to the process we commonly refere to as becoming ‘experienced’. This process continues until I grow into an opinionated sponge; while I continue to mop up any and every piece of information and advice I can get my hands on, I follow the path that is influenced still by advice, but dictated largely by the unique journey that lays behind me and the lessons I’ve learned along it. But still the underlying premise remains: The Pros must be onto something.
So it was that I became obsessed with classic-bend bars; Gilbert, Hushovd, Basso, Potato, Cadelephant, the Brothers Grimpeur – many of my favorite riders cruised into my heart aboard classic-bend bars. Not to mention the likes of Coppi, De Vlaeminck, Merckx, and Maertens – none of whom had a choice but rode them nevertheless. Over time, the swooping curve of a classic, round drop has found its place alongside the Quick Release, Delta Brake, and Record Hub as some of the Most Beautiful Bits of Kit.
I love the way the bars sweep up from the drops and position the hoods at an elegant, upward pitch as the bar continues it’s journey upward to meet the stem. Each classic-bend bar does this, yet the particular sweep of the 3T Rotundo does it more elegantly than any other; the exact radius of its bend and the pitch of its rise is perfection. I have another set of classic 3T bars which predate the Rotundo whose radius of the bend is within a millimeter of that of the Rotundo and yet the aesthetics are not it’s equal. Like all things of sublime beauty, there is something intangible about its curve that sets it appart from others.
But aesthetics are only skin deep, and the real measure of the bar is how comfortable it is. Since getting ahold of my first Rotundo, I’ve moved to classic bend bars on all my machines. I was apprehensive about the move from an ergo bend, which I’d always ridden, to the round bend of the Rotundos. Whereas I had always assumed that a flat section of bar would be more comfortable to grab hold of, this turns out not to be the case. Evidently, my hand is not straight and is in fact quite good at bending and forming to various shapes. Riding in the drops, wrists pointed inwards towards the V-Locus, my fingers grip the curved surface of the drops perfectly. The classic bend also reduces the reach from the drop to the brake lever, which means that long descents with frequent use of the brakes are also much more comfortable.
The positioning of the hoods is a slightly different matter and depends somewhat on the groupo. Bikes Number 1 and 2 both wear 10 speed Campa Record, while Bike Number 3 wears Dura-Ace 7700. The design of the Campa hoods resemble the Power Triangles of Merckx, while the design of the Shimano hoods more closely resemble pegs. The transition from the bar to the hoods on my Campa bikes is smooth like Keith Stone, allowing you to choose multiple positions along where bar meets hood. The design of the Shimano levers, on the other hand, cause them to stand up from the bar more abruptly, meaning that there are fewer comfortable positions available. It’s not really a significant issue, but it does provide less positions which can play a factor on longer rides.
As an aside, the matching 3T ARX stem meets nearly every expectation one can have of a stem; it’s light, stiff and simple. My only complaint is that it is only available in a 6 or 17 degree version; those of us who pay careful attention to how low or how high our bars are find that these two combinations don’t provide enough flexibility to dial in the position; I’m running the bars on Bike Number 3 and am stuck riding my bars about 5mm higher than on my other bikes. To be fair, this is not a shortcoming of the ARX stem in particular; very few manufacturers offer choices outside 6 or 17 degrees. However, for perfect positioning, 3T and others should add an 8 or 10 degree stem to the mix.
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@marko
Your BMC is stunning!
I had a fun conversation with a racing friend a month or so ago. I went on a Saturday morning group ride. It started at a coffee shop. About 40 or so riders were there. I looked at the parking lot and commented about how much money all those bikes were worth. The bikes ranged from around $1500 to $10,000 retail. I stated that cycling in general and bike racing in particular was no longer a blue-collar or lower-middle-class sport. My friend disagreed. He pointed out that the barrier to entry into nice bikes can still be crossed even with the tightest of budgets, whereas the barrier to entry for the automobile equivalent is pretty much out of reach for 98% of those who would like to own a state-of-the-art racing car.
Your BMC is the perfect example. It's car equivalent might be a 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S--a mere $97,000.
My friend was right. I think I'll stick to bikes.
@scaler911
I jumped my first set of BIG doubles at the BMX track next to the Alpenrose Velodrome back in the 80's
@Dr C
You should see a doctor, Doctor. Sometimes an infection can wreak havoc on the inner-ear even though you don't feel sick. Worth having it checked out.
@Dr C
It's carbone with aluminium lugs. Thanks for the compliment.
Yikes, the thought of needing sealegs on a bike is haunting. I've experienced uncontrollable speed wobble in the rain on descents from being colder than a well digger's crotch. That's scary enough, but vertigo, whoah.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Interesting analogy. I typed in my bike last year on Wrench Science with the same build (although with my Zipps not OP's) just to see what it would cost me to buy complete. I can't remember exactly but it was just shy of $7 large. Fucking nuts. I've got a lot of cheddah in that bike but not that much. A few closeouts here and there, used demo wheels, and savvy ebaying pays off for the Velominatus Budgetatus.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Thanks for the advice JiPM - one of the few benefits of being a Doc is knowing what is wrong with yourself as it happens (though this sometimes goes wrong and you end up dead, but usually not) - I have tinnitus and hearing loss in my left ear, so I suspect it is Meniere's Disease, but nothing a dose if Rule 5 won't deal with
Thanks for the concern though - you'd make a great nurse
@Chris
you must have the same layout as I have in the bathroom, as I ended up in the shower tray once too, whilst having a pee - vertigo again, so I didn't even have the benefit of a good night out before it - must get a bigger bathroom
You make the differential diagnosis between vertigo and severe drunkenness, by the fact that you get back into bed after you fall into the showertray with simple vertigo
@Cyclops
It's a pretty cool facility; the 'drome, soccer fields, kids go-cart track. And the first race of the Cross Crusade, the biggest field of racers in the world (so we say).
That's the start of just one category there.
@marko
Potentially a problem if, god forbid, you ever had to make an insurance claim. Even if you had all the receipts to prove the componentry compared to the bike you started out with, you'd struggle to convince the insurer that they should pay you the replacement cost rather than the ebay/velomintus bugetatus price.
@marko
I'm going to sound like a bit of a wingnut here, but when you say Carbone, does that mean it makes you horny, or it's made of carbon? I'm guessing, with my don't-know-much-about-bikes-yet head on, that lugs are the cups that form the joints between the bars? In which case I'm guessing..... oh arse, wish I knew more about this sport!!!
@Dr C
Severe drunkenness had my lie there for a bit trying to work out why I was there. It then had me try and fix the shower door which had joined me in a heap in the tray. It's still not quite right, but has been classified as a "winter job". It was Mrs Chris who told me to get back into bed and stop 'rsing about.