Gianni really took it in the shorts after trying to sneak his way along with a stealth EPMS. Like an alcoholic falling off the wagon, the poor fellow can’t quite come to grips with the comfort of his old friend, the saddle bag. The solution lies in finding a light toolkit to carry along with him on his rides, one that fits in one pocket in totality.
There is an elegance in minimalism; a small multi tool with just the right combination of appliances is a beautiful thing. Latex inner tubes are a nice way to keep the spare tube package small and light. As are some compact tire levers. Certainly luck favors the prepared, but if you follow that to its logical conclusion, you will need something more than a saddle bag to carry your workstand, grease gun, and headset press. The Velominatus maintains their bike, and takes every reasonable precaution to replace those parts that might fail during a ride. It is what we do; the bicycle is our lifeblood – care for it, and it will care for you.
An equipment failure is, however, always surprising – in particular to the rider. Take, for example, my pedal which unwound itself from the spindle this week. Normally, when you push, the pedal follows a nice arch and the bicycle goes forward. Not so, should the body no longer be affixed to the axel.Should this occur, the pedal will move outwardly rudly and inflect an unpredictable union of top tube and groin. It is remarkable how little forward momentum is associated with pushing on a pedal which is no longer attached to the bicycle. It is also, I surmise, not a particularly elegant thing to watch.
Speaking of inelegance and no momentum, I also once broke a chain link climbing a steep grade in the rain, while carrying with a heavy back pack. Should you encounter such an incident yourself, you will take note of the remarkably short amount of time it takes to stop moving forward and fall in a confused and cursing heap at the roadside.
The point is, accidents happen, and no matter how much care you take of your equipment. They will happen while out on the road, possibly while far from home. We learn from them, and we take the necessary measures to reduce the likelihood of it happening again. Take my pedal failure; I don’t plan to carry a pedal wrench in reaction to this incident; I instead have now added the pedal to my list of items to periodically check over. As for the chain, it had incurred some corrosion because I was experimenting with a lighter oil. I now take care to check for (and take seriously) signs of rust on a chain.
Be sensible, be careful. Take care of your machine. Kneel and flash the sign of the Merckx in your V-Kit before submitting to the road, and get a nice light toolkit with the right tools for the incidents that are most likely to happen. Maybe you’ll have a ride ruined through an unlucky event, but learn from it and improve your maintenance program rather than endeavoring to carry every tool known to the Velominatus.*
Vive La Vie Velominatus.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Failures/”/]
*This does not apply to cases where an incident can be life threatening such as in remote mountain regions or New York City.
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View Comments
@frank
Is it just me, or does your RD look way too stretched out? It's like the chain is on the top cog. Probably just the angle and light. (sexy as fuck though).
@Ron
This - BB86 UT Integrated Cups. Two little pieces of plastic and aluminium which have cost me slightly over US$100. Made in Italy, bought from the US and used in the UAE. Globalisation at its finest. Without them everything else is useless.
The good news is that the rest of the stuff is here. I ordered the chainset elsewhere and it has already arrived (imagine that Wiggle !) so as soon as the frame arrives it can be built up.
On the shipping idea, yes that would be nice but I believe UPS or someone does a similar service called Ship and Shop or something like that. For a relatively small fee you get an address in the country or countries of your choice so stuff can be shipped there and it is actually a UPS address so they get it and then ship it onwards at normal rates.
@scaler911
I reckon his chain is a link too short.
(it's fun poking the bear, isn't it?)
@scaler911
Agree it looks funny in that shot, but the length is fine; if anything its longer than I like because I ride 25T cassettes even though I run the chain to accept a 26T.
After a few rides this week, the chainset is rad, BB30 seems rad too. Sure, the smaller bearing may mean shorter life but bearings are cheap, and service is easy, so that's preferable to me to another option without knowing if there are other downsides.
The bigger axel and possibly stiffer crank arms over the Record UT system is noticeable in the fist pedal rev - everything is just very tight.
Not that I'm going faster or anything, or that the Record crank was soggy, but this setup just feels...tighter. Less slop, very direct. Totally stoked. I also have Q rings for it that I may try out, but I'm scared that if I like them I'll want them on all bikes.
@ChrisO
What I like about that system is there is no screwing in of the UT cups on top of that system. It works great; holding onto mine in case I don't like the BB30.
Starting point or template for avoiding "The Unexpected";
Found this here.
Best done the day before the ride, with a quick check of the tyres before heading out the door.
@frank : looks like an alloy Cervelo S1 you have there? Or had? Sorry, am a bit late to this party. Either way, one of my all-time favourite bikes, even though I've not owned one yet. I had its TT sister , the alloy 3SL - also with Campy Record gruppo, and am permanently on the lookout for a 58cm S1 now. Arguably a modern classic of the racing bicycle artform?