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.
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Can't beat seeing this:-
Turn into your dream bike at the hands of a skilled craftsman...
@fignons barber
It seems that's me. This is certainly not meant as trolling, in any case trolling does not seem to work on this site which is part of the reason I keep reading it. The numbers for weight, how much the frame flexes under power and how much aerodynamic drag it produces matter a lot for how fast a given rider on a given day with a given effort will travel on the bike. That is not really up for debate. It is also not much of a stretch to point out that steel really struggles on these factors against a good carbon frame (again, I'm not talking about all carbon frames here, I'm talking about high quality ones). I'm sure the best steel frames can get close on weight and stiffness, and I'm sure they're great frames, but that still leaves out aero and at that point even top of the line carbon always seems to cost much less.
Opinions do not form in a vacuum of course, I only started really riding when I discovered Strava (if it's not on Strava it didn't happen!) and my primary motivation in everything, not just cycling, is competition. That is just who I've always been, say what you will about Strava and big Garmin computers but these things actually keep me riding a lot more than I otherwise would. Add to that a very limited budget and extremely limited time to ride and then bikes that are neither maxed for racing (within my budget) nor useful for commuting in the snow or on ice become something to ignore (I know, that's heresy on here!).
In any case I kind of felt the article needed a response from someone who genuinely disagreed with the bike related point and not just dogs or Star Wars...
@Quasar
Just one more thing to point out, and now I'm quoting myself (recursion for the win!), my point was not that steel bikes were crap (they're not, obviously) but that they don't interest me for the reasons that I mentioned. No more than that.
@Randy C
Holy crap, that could have been very bad. Were you OK after the crash?
@Teocalli
Seen a couple of Stache's set up for long range riding, both owners rated them highly, I bought this years Emonda, Ultegra 11 speed, Vision Metron 40 carbon wheelset, sold the Ultegra and replaced with DA9100, very pleased with the result at a reasonable price.
@Quasar
Ride an Merckx MX-Leader or keep your mind shut.
@Randy C
You're fortunate that those tubes are designed to bend on hard impact. And fortunate you experienced a bright moment of learning here { as pictured }.
@the Engine
Transcontinental Race - bloody hell! (Quite envious really!). Well I have the bike for it now...
@universo that wasn't my first lap thru the obstacle and plenty of racers were riding it. I'm not thinking same as you here. Something a little more solid might just plowed straight ahead and I'd have rode on out ?? But when the head tube angle instantly goes from 71 to 90+ as front wheel stops and rider keep going forward ?? No chance. Anywho… who knows?
@Major VVald I didn't deal directly with Ritchey and left that to my LBS (my team sponsor). They assigned rider error and offered small % crash replacement. I'm an engineer by training and specifically a metallurgist having had many years in steel failure analysis and claims and warranty before moving on to sales mngmt. We'd have to cross section the tube to see how far the butt extends in to tube and just where it folded. Ritchey apparently had no interest in checking it out/no interest in return according to my LBS. I did not replace and went with alloy CAADX to replace instead. I know what my gut tells me. The C fork sure was solid after all ! And levered all stress right in to down tube. And yes, go hvy duty steel w/cross bike. The Ritchey was very cool bike and gorgeous when built up but the whole skinny tube thing had me thinking… I had a 105 FD and was always fine tuning to prevent the chain rub when standing on pedals and under power. I'd put my daughter on one as she goes 100lbs. But I race at 168lbs and well…
@Quasar I was fine and had my mtn bike (w/C rigid fork and CX tires) in pits, not far from me, and completed race. I endo'd in to squishy mud ! And entirety of event was caught frame by frame. Was classic.
And like I said, the Ritchey sure was a gorgeous bike… how can ya not love the classic lines of steel framed bikes? When I first built it up I rode and raced a pile of dirt roads on it (pictured here) before swapping the front rings to smaller CX for season.