Anatomy of a Photo: Bike Love
I got new wheels last week and got them mounted with tires by the weekend. Then @Haldy had to help me with a clearance problem on Sunday (27mm FMB Paris-Roubaix’s get to be more like 29mm tires after Francois finishes his lunchtime bottle of wine). When I wasn’t looking, @Haldy put orange cable ends on all the cables. A Velominatus can’t resist doing that sort of thing, you see.
Between the new wheels and orange bits, I feel like I have a new bike. I brought her up into the dining room and have spent yesterday evening and today morning working from the dining room table so I can gaze at her while “thinking”.
I’m tempted to bring her to work today, but I’ve got a few client meetings and I’m afraid my customers might think it a bit strange if I walk into the conference room wheeling my bike. The key thing that separates us from the rest of the world is that we think its normal to stare lovingly at an inanimate object.
We are Cyclists; the rest of the world merely rides a bike. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
@frank– you know, we can always get some orange cable housing too….
@Haldy
I want to see that. I have been wondering about that.
My bike spent two days in the living room after I put new bar tape on…
@PeakInTwoYears
When @frank gets back from the Keeper’s Tour we will have to wrestle his baby away from him and make that orange housing happen. I am sure it will need another thorough cleaning after crushing some souls across the fields of Flanders and Northern France.
I once asked a coworker who also rides if he ever went out to the garage at night to look at his bike. He laughed and said no. I didn’t get the joke.
My bikes live in the living room. I spend a lot of time looking at them.
I’ve got a new wheelset in the works, rims coming from Italian. Having never waited very long for bike stuff, this is a long, slow spring. Oh well, I can still stare at my other bikes, all the more reason for n+1s.
Replaced the FSA BB on my commuter last night. Good lord, external bearing BBs are quite a bit easier to work on than loose bearing ones. I didn’t even have time to finish my Recovery Ale during the work.
In college my dad and I worked together to build a rack/display stand for the two bikes I had at the time — a candy-apple red Paramount and a white Ritchey mountain bike. It was build out of slats of 1×2 that nested together and adjusted the height so that it ran from floor to ceiling. Not only was it one of the last pieces of woodworking that we did together, the thing was just downright pretty, in an almost craftsman style.
But then, hanging two bikes on it…
That stand and those bikes were the center of attention in many apartments for the years afterward. It almost made having the bikes in the living room socially acceptable to the public at large.
Not that I cared about the general public opinion. The bikes were staying in the living room one way or another. But it helped my roommates tolerate them, and the (few) girls that came over didn’t look at me like quite so much of a nutjob.
Cleaned up my spring/fair weather training wheelset last night, replaced the tubes, and installed the wheels on road bike, La Velominatrix, last night. Spent some time checking out how the Easton decals complemented the rest of the paint job on the Giant TCR Advanced 1. Next up I’m replacing the stock bars with nice new Zipp SSC flattops with Zipp CX Service Course tape (black, of course). Freaked out my 9-month-old Golden Retriever puppy, but the bike looks awesome sitting on the Park stand in y kitchen nook. Looking forward to an awesome ride today.
As a young teen I kept my first road bike in my room. I was fully immersed. As time passed, the bike was relegated to the garage with the riff-raff of family bikes, and my interest waned. Now, in middle age, I keep the #1 in my room again. I am immersed.
I generally follow Jerry Seinfeld’s advice when it comes to staring at things, except for the bike. Given my usual habit of anthropomizing items, I suspect my bike secretly likes it.
You mean you can’t stare at it too long, it’s like the sun?
Seinfeld and the Kids in the Hall have provided lessons that are now internalized. I’ll find myself replying to someone, or muttering something to myself, and I’m not sure where it came from, then I’ll remember.
“Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls.”
I do understand, and often explain to others that since I love my bike, a symptom is that I end up riding it. The MX-Leader sits with me daily next to my desk and usually works its own magic to prepare me for upcoming rides — it expects me to measure up. I get ideas from staring at the bike. And with that, I plan to move my saddle height and position today.
Oogling my bikes? Guilty as charged. Put some new tires on #3 last night and cleaned and tweaked #1 and #4. The latter got a new saddle too. Bikes can never be too clean and/or tweaked. #1 and #2 are basically all black, save for the 5mm spacer atop the steerer. That is painted orange and works beautifully with the black and orange cuff links.
I also got new wheels and tires for the #1 but I’m saving that treat for the first 70 degree-plus day we get here in SE WI. A man has to ration his treats to himself.
My bike lives in my office. I work from home and spend most of the day staring at it, waiting for the workday to wind down. Just a couple more hours…
Never mind the bike love – just look at Gimondi in that picture. Flawlessly dressed – flawlessly. Feast your eyes and try and forget Paolini’s transgressions at the weekend. If Luca goes to confession, he had plenty to talk to the priest about.
It would be funny to imagine if Frank was in the confessional opposite Paolini. “Father, I have sinned,” says Luca, “No shit.” says Frank.
@wiscot
That is a lot of work right there! I have the habit of thinking to myself, “Okay, just one more small alteration and the bike will be complete, perfect.” And then a year or two passes and I’m still making minor changes.
I only ride my Tommasini on the nicest of days, putting together a new wheelset for it, should be ready post-Classics, pre-Giro, just in time for some warm sunny days.
@Ron
But isn’t this the essence of a true Velominatus – to never be satisfied with the state of your stable? Always primping and polishing, cleaning and adjusting, upgrading and switching parts? A ride can be ruined by a squeak or a position or part that needs adjusting. Total harmony is our nirvana: look fantastic and feel good on a bike that is in tip-top condition. It is our holy grail and when we find it, all is right with the world.
wiscot – Very nicely put. And yes, of course a Follower should never be satisfied, always something to change slightly. I guess the myth that I’ll find Bike Harmony is the reason I keep on tinkering! With a new job the Budgetatus has spiked, but mulling over new updates has continued. What fun would it be if you could just buy everything you wanted?
@Ccos
JK Jerome – “Work fascinates me. I can sit an look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me, the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.”
He should have been a Velominati.
#1 lives in the hall, beneath the Venetian mirror. My wife says the bike dilutes the effect of the mirror; like the mirror, I see the reverse view. I seem to spend a lot of time in the hall… New visitors who visit the house and don’t mention my bike rarely become friends. I have a shed and a garage!
All my bikes live in the basement. My wife thinks that Josef Fritzel spentless time “down there” than I do…. I don’t understand why she feels that this is odd?
@gilly
What mirror? (Mind you,. that’s a pretty stately hallway you have there!)
@Ron
But if you could buy what you wanted, when you wanted it, what fun would that be? The pleasure is in the planning and longing and acquiring and installing and riding. It would be like having July/August/September fitness in January and February – where’s the effort, the sacrifice, the meetings with the man with the hammer? True fulfillment shouldn’t come easily. It’s like people who won’t ride until the temperature is over 60 degrees. How can you truly enjoy the good days unless you’ve slogged through single digit wind chills, snowy/icy roads, and other weather that most folks wouldn’t walk the dog in. We deserve our summer riding pleasures because we earned them.
@wiscot What a gent, Mrs G will be pleased. Mind you, the hall looked pretty average until #1 moved in!
In my mind, here is the conversation:
Gimondi to Bike: Damn you look good
Bike to Gimondi: #1 plate is on there for a reason, you ready for this?
Gimondi to Bike: Let’s blow this pop stand
Bike to Gimondi: One step ahead of you, let’s boogie
Nothing wrong with this picture;
@wiscot
That mirror reminded me of these for some reason… blurring the bike/art boundary rather nicely.
@cognition
Sounds very special, was it anything like this…
@mcgroup53
Careful with that Zipp tape, can be a bit of a pain to change out later…
https://instagram.com/p/0zQNPWHecA
Ogling the bike doesn’t seem so odd if I’m not the only one doing it. Maybe it’s odd to ogle the commuter, but when I sit next to her all day it’s hard not to. So sexy with the fenders, flat bars, and 32 tires.
@Flatlander
More info on the red Colnago wall hanger !?!?!?
These little hunies have had my mind spinning all week.
@Haldy
Too much orange? Is that even possible? I’m willing to try; its only cables for fucks sake!
Last week’s bingle has had me on the commuter much more in the last few days, I forgot how pretty she is…
@frank
I’ve been thinking that my orange tape is too much orange and that orange cable housing with proper black tape might be exactly the ticket.
@Mikael Liddy
Thats art!
@PeakInTwoYears
That^
@frank
Too much orange..oh no, I don’t think so! I think it would look spectacular. I will order the appropriate supplies while you are laying down the V in the Holy Land.
Orange is what pulled the trigger on my current road bike back in 2008. Orange Glow over Sterling Silver rotated into Gunnar’s standard price color set for a few months. The perfect orange tint, and with such depth. I have tried to extend the orange theme with tape, jersey, and other bits, but none of them are the right orange.
@Mikael Liddy
There is nothing that i dont like about that !! Treadly build?
@Haldy
I’d be grateful to know where you source the housing. I found one source of orange housing, but I’m just an ignorant git.
@RedRanger Cheers, the VMW did pretty good without much input from yours truly.
@Barracuda yup, with a small cameo from East End Cellars plugging the bars…
@PeakInTwoYears
Are you referring to the brand of housing or which vendor? I have 3 or 4 different vendors to get orange housing from.
@Haldy
Fortunately I have no soul – I don’t cast a shadow either.
Also mirrors don’t work for me which makes shaving a bitch.
Before my TT a month ago I was keeping my bike in the house as I was doing a lot of turbo sessions. Since then it’s gone back in the shed and I realised I haven’t cleaned it since!
I feel bad. I mean, it’s not dirty, dirty. But I know it’s not clean and that’s just as bad.
Taking it down to the in-laws this weekend so I can give it a full clean and polish and be able to pass it off to the VMW as ‘packing’.
@Barracuda
https://www.amara.com/products/trophy-bull-bicycle-holder-lux-finish-copper?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&amss=22h&pdg=50500048950__77807288310_c_1o1&gclid=CjwKEAjwru6oBRDDp4jRj4bL_xASJADJ2oby-hmHAq9mhEVnOmlye1Up0kaEyd_wJcMhyaxGEuQcURoCeZzw_wcB
I have NO IDEA where to post this… PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS SOME KIND OF APRIL FOOLS JOKE. Early this am I receive an email from Trek saying they’ve teamed up with Fabian to create Monument, a grand show of olfactory prestige, with top notes of Arenberg cobblestone. Years of development. A new fragrance for champions. I’ve waited all week for right time to use the word of the week: FUCKBALLS. If this is a real deal then wha la, Spartacus, he just jumped the shark ! If it’s an April Fools thing? Friggen classic. >>> Whether you’re laying down the hammer in the boardroom or on the Paterberg, Monument is the way to ensure your decisive victory <<< Oh man, please, please, please let this be an April Fools joke. It could be a really good one.
@wilburrox
Obviously.
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/april-fools-day-cycling-round-up-43963/
Fortunately I have a picture of my bike as desktop wallpaper, so I can still stare at it while at work.
Btw: does anyone know where to get orange spacers to match the black V-cuffs? I tried a couple of LBS’s but none of them have them (not even in the Netherlands!). Any online site?