Disregard, or deference?
Going against the grain is something I think I’ve been doing with some degree of success for a good portion of my existence. A lot of people look at my life with a kind of disdain, mixed with a hint of envy and a dash of bemusement; how could I not have a wife/kids/mortgage and get to ride my bike whenever I want, and get paid to do it? Why am I the one flying around the world while they have to perform a daily drill that not-so-remotely mimics that of Winston Smith?
For one who has made a life of not conforming as much as the Illuminati would decree, and who was seen as a serial non-conformist, being a conspirator of a cult-like group based on a set of tenets and with a name that mirrors that of an elite ruling class seems almost bizzare. “Rules are meant to be broken” was a mantra of my youth which now is the antithesis of what I espouse here. And being that guy, means that one or two of the very creeds I’ve coined are routinely broken. And if you think others don’t pick up on that and call me out for it, you’d be well mistaken.
My usual response to such examples is “I make the Rules, I can break them”. Sounds a little authoritarian, I know, but it also demonstrates that I, and you, can do whatever the fuck we want. Listening and learning and drawing inspiration is fine, and recommended, but blindly doing as you’re told (especially by those in extreme positions of power and through mediums we use every day) equates to nothing more than rolling over while you’re being repeatedly poked with a sharp stick and asking “please can I have some more”.
In some cases, there are caveats and post-scripts to virtually every Rule written, and circumstances are varied enough to warrant them. Which is why I’m running a frame pump on the $5 MBK that my father procured recently. A classic bike from the 80s that bears little resemblance to a modern bike (ie it looks way cooler), with components that definitely speak of the era from which they are borne. We weren’t rocking C02 or mini-pumps back then, and we didn’t piss around when it came to road-side inflation. In fact, I was rocking the frame pump until the early 2000s, when my frame tubes were still straight enough to accomodate the long pump without a bowed gap between alloy and plastic. It was the advent of carbon that killed the aesthetic, and then the application, and finally the whole concept.
On this bike though, it’s almost as if it’s mandatory. It looks right, and goddamn if using it isn’t the most liberating experience in my recent Cycling history. What a pleasure to feel significant gulps of air being moved into the tube with long, satisfying strokes, the positive resistance at the bottom of each stroke as the spring gives way to the rubber bumper, the way your whole hand can wrap around the grip and you don’t look like you’re stabbing your other hand with a toy knife. It makes fixing a flat an almost enjoyable, curse-free and, most importantly, brief experience.
It reminds you that in many cases, the past had it right and while we think that everything now has to be smaller and lighter and gives the impression of enhancing our lives, sometimes the tried and true is exactly that.
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@1860
Quill heavy? What are you fitting? How would you propose extending the fork and what material? If you extend with steel with a A-Head type stem it would likely end up heavier than a alu quill.
Ian Boswell is riding around on Gran Canaria with the same kind of setup
@ErikdR
You are much more stubborn than I am. Same steel peugeot (1978) with tent, stove, gas, sleeping bag, food. So fucking heavy I could barely right it when it fell over. I had to get off and walk it up over the coast range in California, made one day south to Santa Cruz, said fuck this, I hate this, and canceled the rest of the trip. Never toured again.
@Teocalli
I think he's asking about quill adaptors, like this thing, to put a threadless stem on. Between the adaptor and the stem they end up heavier than a decent alloy quill stem. Not to mention bulkier and uglier.
@1860
A framebuilder could replace the whole steerer tube with an unthreaded one, which would also require changing the headset.
Personally, I think a threadless setup on a classic steel bike is an abomination. A stem fatter than the top tube just throws off the aesthetic proportions.
@1860
I am using a 1" threadless chrome Colnago straight fork. Around $280.00 from a Colnago dealer. I use a modern Stem with a 1" shim you can pick up at any LBS.
@Chipomarc
What an abomination!! That awful looking pump, PLUS an EPMS.
Gaimon on twitter earlier today.
Maybe this is why Boswell is taking a frame pump with him
@EBruner
agreed, at least this Pinarello isn't as retina scaring like the last one, (please consider others when posting, some things can't be unseen), the same way money can't buy you class, being a pro don't make it so.
@pistard
Yup. Just that as a percentage on a steel frame that's not going to make a great difference vs a longer steel steerer.
I agree re style on a classic bike. I fitted one on my Bianchi when A-Head was just coming in and subsequently wished I had not (but not as much as I wish I had not sold that bike!).
@Gianni
Stubborn, perhaps - but it was actually tons of fun, too, as I recall. But I guess we were lucky that we were able to start the journey in the pancake-flat Netherlands. We had done hundreds of km. of training prior to 'the big ride' (some with luggage, as a test - and all in flat terrain), but it also really helped that we could build things up slowly, as it were, during the actual trip itself. By the time we hit some real mountains, we'd been riding anywhere between 100 and 150 km every single day for nearly two weeks - the first week almost-flat, and the second in the rollers of central and southern France. We were ready when the roads started pointing up for real
And yes, if the bike fell over - as it sometimes did - it was really hard work getting that thing back on its wheels.