Frame Job

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• @Gianni

  @the Engine

  I have two bikes - a steel Giordana and a Ridley Damocles Carbone. They live together in the garage and although they are both ridden by the same rider their frame sizes are very different and thus they treat me in different ways vying for my affections. One day I know I will open a garage containing two machines lying on their sides (drive sides up), I'll know what happened and (obviously) I'll write a play about it that will start like this:

  Two frames, both alike in dignity,

  In fair Callander, where we lay our scene,

  From ancient steel bike to new Carbone,

  Where oily chain makes civil hands unclean.

  Upon the fatal saddles of these two foes

  A pair of star-cross'd testes take their rest;

  Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows

  Doth with their sensations bury their owners' zest.

  The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

  And the continuance of their owners' rage,

  Which, but their bicycles end, naught could remove,

  Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;

  The which if you with patient ears attend,

  What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

  Give this man a badge. Some kind of badge. Sensational start to the play. Keep writing during the winter of your bicycle's discontent.

  This sounds familiar to me, I am sure I read similar prose scrawled on a bus shelter in Stratford this one time....

• After spending my first five years on a road bike that was definitely too big, all my other bikes have felt great.

  I recall that maybe last year Cadel was riding a 140mm stem. I wonder how the handling felt. I know if my stems on different bikes are more than 10mm different, things feel very, very weird when I ride them. I try to keep my reach pretty darn close on all my road bikes, which requires some tinkering.

• @frank

  @artman

  Look at this guy. He was pretty fast. Little bit o' quill stem showing there.

  And look at this guy who was faster than that guy. Slammed.

  This photo reminds me that most of Indurain, Delgado, and LeMond's bikes were actually built by Gueugneaud, who launched TVT after leaving LOOK and which eventually became Time. Most iconic carbon frames ever, if you ask me.

  Let's be fair here Frank. The Boyer pic is from 1977/78; the Lemond from 1990. There was a huge world of difference in frame materials and geometry in that time. The height differential for Boyer between saddle and bars was likely a couple of inches, more for Lemond. Also, look at the difference in clothing/technology: Buyer is dressed (and riding a bike) that is virtually the same as riders from the 50s and 60s. Lemond has modern fabrics, cycling specific glasses, clipless pedals. Belive me, I'm not pickinbg favorites, but Lemond was a pioneer of all aspects of the sport, Boyer wasn't. That being said, personal issues/incidents aside, Boyer was a true pioneer for US riders in the European peloton and does sterling work in Rwanda today.

• @strathlubnaig

  @Gianni

  @the Engine

  I have two bikes - a steel Giordana and a Ridley Damocles Carbone. They live together in the garage and although they are both ridden by the same rider their frame sizes are very different and thus they treat me in different ways vying for my affections. One day I know I will open a garage containing two machines lying on their sides (drive sides up), I'll know what happened and (obviously) I'll write a play about it that will start like this:

  Two frames, both alike in dignity,

  In fair Callander, where we lay our scene,

  From ancient steel bike to new Carbone,

  Where oily chain makes civil hands unclean.

  Upon the fatal saddles of these two foes

  A pair of star-cross'd testes take their rest;

  Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows

  Doth with their sensations bury their owners' zest.

  The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

  And the continuance of their owners' rage,

  Which, but their bicycles end, naught could remove,

  Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;

  The which if you with patient ears attend,

  What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

  Give this man a badge. Some kind of badge. Sensational start to the play. Keep writing during the winter of your bicycle's discontent.

  This sounds familiar to me, I am sure I read similar prose scrawled on a bus shelter in Stratford this one time....

  Wasn't in the lavatory, was it?

• @wiscot

  Blah blah blah. How about this one then?

  Sidenote: I had no idea Roger was so funny. This photo says, "Stephen Hawking might well be clever, but I can ride him off my wheel no problem."

• @ScottyCycles62

  Damn. I'm 6'2 and ride a 63cm frame with a 100mm stem. If I tried to ride a 60 I'd be balled up and my knees would get in the way when pedaling in a turn.

  Really? I'm 6'2" also, but ride a 58, slammed 90mm -13 deg stem...

• @ridebikesdrinkbeer

  FFS stop talking about seat tube sizing like it matters. YOU'RE PART OF The V. TELL ME OF YOUR EFFECTIVE TOP TUBE. No fitter or frame builder worth their shit gives a damn about your current seat tube.

  Fair enough.

  6'2" - 582mm. I suppose the 565mm size one down would have worked too. That would have given me 120mm stem.

• @artman @scaler911 @Dan_R was really cool getting a chance to chat to Darren Baum over pizza & beers last week when he was in town for the TDU.

  Told a story about Cuddles in his Lotto days when Canyon couldn't build a bike that gave him the fit he wanted. Cadel came back to Geelong & got Darren to put a couple of frames together for him & have them painted white, tucked them under his arm and flew back to Europe. He marched in to the Canyon offices and basically told them to make something to match, otherwise he'd get them painted up to look like Canyons & would ride them instead.

• I still believe that proper fit still comes down to each athlete having his or her own needs based upon his or her own unique physiology.

  A good example being the 10 or 11 cm stem, stack of headset spacer under the threaded locknut, and tall head tube on Big Mig's bike in the post above versus the obviously long and low stem on Ullrich's bike.

  Frank,  That LeMond picture is one of the coolest high speed descent shots I've seen. Good stuff.  He's one of the most skilled descenders of all time.

  Liddy, That is a cool story. I love to read stuff like that. Cadel is definitely one of the best.

• @PeakInTwoYears

  @strathlubnaig

  @Gianni

  @the Engine

  I have two bikes - a steel Giordana and a Ridley Damocles Carbone. They live together in the garage and although they are both ridden by the same rider their frame sizes are very different and thus they treat me in different ways vying for my affections. One day I know I will open a garage containing two machines lying on their sides (drive sides up), I'll know what happened and (obviously) I'll write a play about it that will start like this:

  Two frames, both alike in dignity,

  In fair Callander, where we lay our scene,

  From ancient steel bike to new Carbone,

  Where oily chain makes civil hands unclean.

  Upon the fatal saddles of these two foes

  A pair of star-cross'd testes take their rest;

  Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows

  Doth with their sensations bury their owners' zest.

  The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

  And the continuance of their owners' rage,

  Which, but their bicycles end, naught could remove,

  Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;

  The which if you with patient ears attend,

  What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

  Give this man a badge. Some kind of badge. Sensational start to the play. Keep writing during the winter of your bicycle's discontent.

  This sounds familiar to me, I am sure I read similar prose scrawled on a bus shelter in Stratford this one time....

  Wasn't in the lavatory, was it?

  Found it: "Ride more than thou goest" - whatever else he was up to, Shakespeare was riding a bike