Does this make it right?
I kind of like the fact that I still have to look up what number certain Rules are. Some stick in my mind, usually due to their relevance to my everyday riding and living situation. That’s how I could justify hairy legs over a ride-barren winter, loose-fitting (I refuse to call them baggy) shorts for gravé rides, and a frame pump on my road bike. I can hear the howls of derision now. And even after Gianni’s public flogging for using a saddle bag, I’m still gonna go there, girl.
It occurred to me while watching the Tour that the main reason we eschew the EPMS, like most things, is that they don’t look good. Fair enough. Yes, they are functional, and while that usually doesn’t sit high on our list of priorities, it has been making a bigger blip on my personal radar of late. I guess that’s what happens once the floodgates are opened by the likes of a frame pump; “shit, this works really well, and you know what, no-one else is running it, so I’m kinda unique. Maybe even a trendsetter.” OK, maybe not, but justification comes in many forms. Anyway, from watching the Tour and not being able to avoid the fact that every bike was running the electronic timing GPS device under the saddle, I had to ask the question: do they make the EPMS acceptable?
Probably not, and those howls of derision are hitting peak decibels now, I’m sure. But there is a new crop of bags out there which are swaying me to the dark side. Stop howling! Maybe not on my road bikes, but with a new gravé machine imminent, I’ve been looking at all manner of add-on carrying devices. Frame bags, TT bags, handlebar bags, and even the EPMS. My good friend the Bike Bag Dude has been commissioned to customise a camera bag for the bars that can handle an SLR, and a slim frame bag that can also accomodate my Silca Impero. And those purveyors of the pump that has its own Rule caveat may have just released another Rule-breaker with their new Seat Roll Premio. See, it even sounds cool. It uses the BOA system to secure it to the rails and looks more like a wallet than a small piece of carry-on luggage dangling under your arse.
Now that Frank has turned 40 and Gianni and I are well north of that, could there be a softening of the Rules going on? Shit no, we’re not completely senile just yet. But there are increasing ways to gently skirt some of them, while others are sacrosanct. And when our colostomy bags turn up, you know they are going to be Rule compliant. Otherwise, it’s just a shit time, and no-one wants that.
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I have one of their earlier model tool roll whatev they are called that I use when on long back country dirt road rides. It tucks in nice and tight, no dangle, and actually looks like a decent piece of kit. It's heavy duty and well, there ya go, I've admitted to it. Silca is in to some cool stuff. Excepting their "ultra premium" CO2 cartridges… that's really over the top if ya ask me. We're not talking 14-16 grams of gas here… we're talking 15.5 to 16 grams. No room for error. That must be critical to performance inflation? I wouldn't have guessed.
Don't worry too much about some of the rules that are created from bikes seen
in a race situation.
The pros ride with saddle bags when out on training rides at home.
Saying that though, I would NEVER do a frame or handlebar bag.
hey @Brett , Im running the "tiny" almost invisible ( insert smiley face ) Arundel Uno http://www.arundelbike.com/product/uno/
I justify this by telling myself that it matches my Arundel Bidon cages http://www.arundelbike.com/product/mandible/
SSShhhhh, if you dont tell anyone its not a violation. It's just between you and me, ok !
@Barracuda
Your secret is safe with me mate.
So Brett ... isn't there a law (and a Rule) against whacking off in public (to say nothing of starting a whole new Keeper thread on the subject)???
@Chipomarc
Shush. It's the dirty little secret that more or less 100% of pros take an EPMS and often a frame mounted mini pump on training rides. We ignore this, because of reasons.
" I can hear the howls of derision now." Spot on, yes
" they don’t look good." Spot on, yes
"do they make the EPMS acceptable?" Answer: no
"But there are increasing ways to gently skirt some of them, while others are sacrosanct." Come again? Care to elaborate which are to be skirted with and which are sacrosanct?
Nope.
@Barracuda
Yep, Uno's are cool and I use one of those on my CAAD to carry a tube and a CO2. Tucks up under the seat very nicely. No dangle. One tube in the Uno and one tube in a small little zip sack along with lever, inflator valve, CO2, Di2 wire tool, and spare contacts that tucks nicely in to the back pocket.
@Al__S
Next you'll tell us they're running clinchers too !?!
Anyway, from watching the Tour and not being able to avoid the fact that every bike was running the electronic timing GPS device under the saddle, I had to ask the question: do they make the EPMS acceptable?
I fail to see any logic in this statement.
The first rule of the Velominati is: Obey The Rules
The second rule of the Velominati is: Something else altogether........
According to Rule#3 : No matter how good you think your reason is to knowingly breach The Rules, it is never good enough.
If we justify EPMS by means of Tour riders being required to affix GPS sensors to their bikes, what is next? Do we ride with unmatched seat post and handlebar tape? Extra large bidons? Madness I say, anarchy will ensue.