Categories: Defining MomentsLa Vie Velominatus

Support Your Local Framebuilder

The Walker Hour Bike

I won’t hold liking cats against you, but if you don’t like dogs, you’re dead to me. Some things aren’t left to opinions, like whether Star Wars is good or not. You’re free to be an outlier – and I loves me some outliers and I loves me a rebel – but in some cases, being an outlier doesn’t make you clever. It just makes you wrong. Also, the Laws of Physics show that the more lightsabers you have in a movie, the better the movie. Except for Episode I and The Matrix, two anomalies which balance each other out.

Similarly, loving carbon bikes is no crime. They are light, they are stiff, and many (most) are beautiful. My stable is filled with them. But a bike handbuilt by an artisan in a small workshop is something different altogether, and each one’s singular beauty is not a matter of opinion, unless you’re comfortable being wrong. I only have one so far, and it’s the custom steel I had made by NAHBS founder, Don Walker for my failed Hour ride last summer. (I’m planning a rematch with Weather this coming June.)

At this point every bike I own is custom, if only the paintwork. But even then, having a hand in how the bike is finished bonds you to the machine in a way that off-the-peg bikes simply can’t. And my Walker, even though I don’t ride it as much as a practical bike (you know, one with gears and brakes) every time I climb on it, I can feel its magic. There is something about custom in general and steel in particular that feels uniquely magnificent.

We’re in a crisis, my fellow Velominati. The North American Handmade Bicycle Show is only a few weeks away and I just heard from Don that many of the builders who have been stalwarts of the event are struggling to the point that they can’t afford to attend, much less keep a booth there. People aren’t buying bikes as much as they were, apparently, and the bikes that are being bought aren’t custom, handmade ones. We’re buying kittens, not dogs. Cyclists are watching Star Trek, not Star Wars. It’s a fucking disaster.

This isn’t a call to go buy a custom frame, we aren’t made of money. But it is a reminder that there are giant corporations behind some bikes, and there are individuals behind others. And if you’re in the market for a bike, I’m asking you to remember that. And if you aren’t in the market for a bike but love looking at them, I’ll be at NAHBS this year (in godforsaken Salt Lake fucking City no less) and I’ll look forward to seeing you there.

Vive la Vie Velominatus.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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Teocalli says:

Jan 10 2017 at 4:43 am

@chris

@ChrisO

I agree simplicity and reliability is your better option, although TBF that is one of the advantages of steel over carbon.

Having just watched the Pedaled film of last years race I’d be inclined to agree about steel. I’d want something a Romanian farmer could weld well enough to carry on with.

Probably not 753 then.
Teocalli says:

Jan 10 2017 at 4:45 am

@asyax

@fignons barber

25mm Vittoria G+ on std HED Belgiums (not Plus), with latex tubes – they sound fantastic!

I have a pair of 28’s I will try and fit once this set wear out – I am hoping they will fit but will be tight.

Whilst the frame wasn’t exactly “local”, the wheelset was – Melody Wheels in Fremantle – White Ind T11’s on HED Belgiums 32R/28F.

I love the damping effect the steel has on the road surface, as opposed to my carbon bike, plus the thing corners scarily well – I’m very happy with it.

Apparently the G+ 25mm measure up closer to 27mm. I run them too and really like them.
Cycle72 says:

Jan 10 2017 at 4:54 am

I really agree we buy far too much from global companies and by that loose contact to the the products we buy. They don`t have a story to tell. Currently I own a Specialized Diverge. My first and last carbon bike. I just bought a steel frame not from a local frame builder, we have none near by from which I could afford to buy a frame right now ( I have 3 kids and a dog ). But it is not off the peg, I am completing it, it will definitely be no mass product.

Support your local bike shop, frame builder before it is gone.

In my business many small shop were shut down because bigger companies made lower prices. Don´t let that happen in the bike business !!!!
fignons barber says:

Jan 10 2017 at 5:26 am

@Teocalli

Apparently the G+ 25mm measure up closer to 27mm. I run them too and really like them.

Yes, I've been using the 25mm G+ with shamal C17 wheels (which aren't even as wide as the Belgiums), and mine measure 27mm. My guess is that those on the Belgiums are probably 28mm. They offer a nice comfy ride, but for racing I think I prefer a mounted tire to be 26mm max. I may try the 23mm Vittorias.
Buck Rogers says:

Jan 10 2017 at 5:50 am

@Teocalli

@chris

@ChrisO

I agree simplicity and reliability is your better option, although TBF that is one of the advantages of steel over carbon.

Having just watched the Pedaled film of last years race I’d be inclined to agree about steel. I’d want something a Romanian farmer could weld well enough to carry on with.

Probably not 753 then.

Ha! Brilliant! Made my day right there!
KogaLover says:

Jan 10 2017 at 8:04 am

@the Engine

Re discussiona about dyno hubs acceptable in this context?

Please rephrase your question?
KogaLover says:

Jan 10 2017 at 8:10 am

@Buck Rogers

I want, and will have, a custom steel made out of 753 Reynolds because that is my dream bike, an ACTUALLY built out of the real early 1980’s 753 Reynolds steel bike with all original bits from the early ’80’s for my Eroica La Vie Claire Hinault Eroica bike.

I know that I can get “better” steel but I cannot get “better” steel for the job that I will be using it for; i.e. riding a 1985 LVC Hinault bike at Eroica for the pure blissful feeling of knowing what it felt like to ride a 1985 LVC bike.

So thanks, but there really is NOT any better steel for the job that I want.

What's more important: waiting another couple of years until you finally have your bike and get the paint chipped off from riding your first Eroica (and hurt/cringe) or take the short cut, which is just get a cheap steel bike that you can use for this year's Eroica (or borrow one from @Teocalli).

Someone who posts a lot on this website, wrote "I ride as much as I can but when I ride, I ride for the open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at my wrist, and the wind in my hair. Not to crush my enemies, see them driven before me and to hear the lamentation of the women!" Now that's an example to follow...
the Engine says:

Jan 10 2017 at 8:42 am

@KogaLover

@the Engine

Re discussiona about dyno hubs acceptable in this context?

Please rephrase your question?

Are discussions about dyno hubs acceptable in this context?

(Sticky keyboard)
Teocalli says:

Jan 10 2017 at 11:27 am

@KogaLover

@Buck Rogers

I want, and will have, a custom steel made out of 753 Reynolds because that is my dream bike, an ACTUALLY built out of the real early 1980’s 753 Reynolds steel bike with all original bits from the early ’80’s for my Eroica La Vie Claire Hinault Eroica bike.

I know that I can get “better” steel but I cannot get “better” steel for the job that I will be using it for; i.e. riding a 1985 LVC Hinault bike at Eroica for the pure blissful feeling of knowing what it felt like to ride a 1985 LVC bike.

So thanks, but there really is NOT any better steel for the job that I want.

What’s more important: waiting another couple of years until you finally have your bike and get the paint chipped off from riding your first Eroica (and hurt/cringe) or take the short cut, which is just get a cheap steel bike that you can use for this year’s Eroica (or borrow one from @Teocalli).

Someone who posts a lot on this website, wrote “I ride as much as I can but when I ride, I ride for the open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at my wrist, and the wind in my hair. Not to crush my enemies, see them driven before me and to hear the lamentation of the women!” Now that’s an example to follow…

Coffe/Keyboard interface issue.............
Ron says:

Jan 10 2017 at 11:49 am

Good lord, who in the hell told everyone to show off such goddamn nice bikes!! I don't need this right now. My 8 month old is a money drain, nothin' left in the Budgetatus. Then again, no time for bike riding, much less planning.

Buck - I have dragged out my rollers for the first time since I left the Empire State. They're so much less fun than riding outdoors, but damn, I'd rather ride in my bike room in the dark in the morning for however much time I get before the little man wakes up than not ride at all.

I was about to ask, "Where is the NAHBS this year?" and then I read Frank's very, very unsettling sentence. Salt Lake. Don't forget to pack your flasks. I've been to two, one in VA, one in NC and met that Casati family at the second one.

Oh, and Frank. Superb new bike! I've been riding my track bike on my rollers, more fun than geared bikes, at least for me.