Le Mecanicien
Each of us remembers how they became a Velominatus. For me, it was at Grimpeur Wielersport, in Zevenaar, The Netherlands. Its the perfect place: a small shop, on a small street, in a small town, in a small country, run by a Giant of the Sport, Herman van Meegen. I haven’t been back in years, not since my mentor and original owner was forced to retire due to a nagging back injury.
Despite it’s diminutive appearance, inside this small shop existed a world vast beyond my wildest imagination. The owner spoke with the soft ‘G’ – typical of the Dutch dialect in the region. Former head mechanic at Helvetia – La Suisse, and later for Team 7-Eleven, he had previously wielded a wrench at the world’s major events including Le Tour before opening this shop. He knew everyone. Pros strolled into his shop on a regular basis. Imagine the awe of a thirteen-year-old Velominatus Novus as Erik Breukink wandered into the shop and dallied about for a bit.
But it was the tales and experience from many years on the Pro circuit that made those visits to special to me. He explained in detail the way Steve Bauer preferred to ride a smaller frame than his contemporaries or how Pascal Richard liked the tension of the spokes “just so” as he laced a set of wheels for my dad. He showed me how he filed out the holes in the hub flange to cradle the spokes better and reduce the chance of breaking one. He built wheels on a truing stand he built himself and to which he affixed a micrometer. He told me that a perfectly true wheel will never go out of true, not even on the cobbles. “Maar het moet werkelijk perfect zijn.” But it has to be absolutely perfect. Sounds like something you need a custom truing stand and micrometer for. (That bike is now something like 20 years old, and has never seen a spoke wrench; the wheels are still perfectly true.)
He was personal friends with Eddy Merckx and picked up a frame my dad had ordered after dinner with The Man at the factory in Belgium. A prototype Campagnolo saddle with titanium rails and air bladder that never made it to production somehow found its way atop my dad’s seat post. I can’t imagine how his insides churned as my dad insisted on having a set of Scott Drop-Ins installed on that bike. He never uttered a word about it, opting instead to teach me how to seamlessly splice two rolls of bar tape together to accommodate the long bars – a skill he picked up wrapping the bars of riders who wanted double-wrapped bars on the tops but not the drops at Paris-Roubaix. He taught me to cut my cables short and solder them before cutting for the perfect, sleek finishing touch. He taught me how to “feel” a bolt to get it just the right amount of tight – where it holds but the soft aluminum doesn’t strip. He taught me to trim soda cans and tuck them in between the bars and stem of a handlebar that persistently slips. But most importantly, he showed me the intricate beauty of our machines.
He also stocked a backpack called the “Body Bag” which I always felt could have used a more sensible name and whose marketers perhaps missed a nuance in the language.
Apart from his poor choice in backpacks, this was a man who understood the finer things about bicycles, and I’m grateful he took the time to teach me even a tiny little bit of what he knew.
So, I leave you today with this question: if you could ask a pro bike mechanic – perhaps even one on the ProTour circuit – one, single question, what would it be?
How does one go about getting a job as a pro team mechanic?
How come your hands are always clean?
How do you stop carbon fiber seat posts/tubes from creaking?
Velominatus Novus… I think I’ll take that title for a while :)
How do you wrap bar tape properly?
@Nathan Edwards
Funny you should ask. I just put some Fizik split bar tape on my bike last night and have never struggled so much taping bars. The problem stemmed from the thickness or lack of supleness of it compared to other tape I’ve used. I was humbled.
@Marko
I always think I’ve eventually got it right and then 30km later it slips
@david
You get some FSA Friction Paste. It helps you reduce the tension you have to set your seat binder to, and also stops creaking.
@Marko, @Nathan Edwards
We’ve had this discussion before, but wrapping the bars is perhaps the most subtle of the bike maintenance arts. The Fizik stuff is my favorite, and while Marko’s comment on it not stretching is totally true (and strange at first), stretch in bar wrap is not your friend as it makes for a lumpy taping job. You need to apply consistent pressure all the way around your bars and all along the length. It’s deceptively difficult, but with practice, you can become an expert.
And bar tape is like a bottle of wine; once you’ve wrapped the tape, you can’t take it off and re-use it. (In case that analogy is confusing, it’s like wine because you can’t re-seal a bottle after you open it. Best to just drink it all because it will not be as good the next day.)
Can I just sit in the corner?
@ frank: When I do make it out to a bike shop, the nearest is 100k away, I will look at the new stuff, browse around and without a doubt the first thing I look at is how the bars are wrapped. That in and of itself speaks volumes to the ‘attention’ the wrech took to detail.
I also look at cable routing and the like as that is another subtlety I look at.
Sadly the case is one of inconsistency. The journeymans work will evidence itself, the sophmores likewise.
I find it inconsistent that a wrench will pay attention to details such as proper drivetrain adjustments, shifting, chainlegth but ‘not’ the bar tape.
I was taught in order to take care of large details, one must master the small ones FIRST. Every one.
Great article Frank. I only wish I had a mentor and experience as yours.
@frank Thanks.
@Nathan Edwards Milram wrench wrapping tape: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXL7FY0N0ks
What are the Rules mechanics live by?
@davidProof that it’s a dark art. That looks just like how I do it.
@frank
your bar-tape probably split because you have silly handlebars.That said I completely agree with you about Fizik bar tape. Easiest to wrap, easiest to clean, good-looking and comfy.
I would ask a PRO mechanic to teach me how to build “perfect” wheels.
@Jarvis
Oh, good question.
I would want to know how picky the riders are about the Principle of Silence? Are they more picky than us, or do they stop caring?
Also, what’s the weirdest bit of componentry that has ever been broken through sheer power?
@Frank
I know it’s been brought up before and is a feature of Rule #44, but you seem to have about 3 metres of seatpost showing””far more than the minimum 4cm (after reading this for the first time, I actually went out and measured to make sure I was in compliance). Never mind the fact that I would fall over at that angle (and I therefore praise your athleticism and flexibility), but the angle of the pic makes it look as though your seat is in line with your chest. Can you even reach the pedals?
@Steampunk
Indeed. This picture is from the initial setup of this frame, and I had not yet measured the height of the saddle. In reality it is at least 3mm lower than that.
As a point of clarification, I’m 1.9 something meters tall (one stops counting at some point) and 82kg. I’m a twig. But, the photo distorts the whole bit and here is my current desktop wallpaper:
I commend you on your analysis of Rule #44. As a point of clarification (and perhaps the Rule needs to be updated to clarify) the 4cm refers to the delta between saddle height and bar height. In this case, the drop is like 11cm or something so I’m well within the limit.
That said, I’ve written a bit on how really lanky fools such as myself really can’t play by the same guides for frame fitting as the rest of you shorter folk.
Where do I find a cool bike shop that I can just hang around in?
@frank
I’m 1.78, but I’m not sure I’d be able to reach your top tube from that saddle position. That’s a fine pic, though, and clearly the template for all things rules-worthy. Bike porn, really.
Drivetrains – what’re the time saving tricks to keeping chains, mechs, cassettes really, really, really clean, and all the gears in true (so I can – heavy panting aside – try to adhere to the principal of silence)?
@Nathan Edwards
It’s a tough one. It involves first finding the right place with the right gear and the right people. Then it involves a big time investment as you work with them over time and get to know then.
My LBS, Speedy Reedy in Seattle is awesome. Great people, great products. I go there and hang out and talk to the guys in the shop. I’m surprised that at this point, the co-owner, Brooke, hasn’t started charging me an entry fee to compensate for lost productivity when I’m in the store.
@Steampunk
Thanks, man. I invested several hours into deciding whether to switch to the white strip of tape on the seat post from a red one. I’m feeling good about the white.
@frank
The white strip works; it’s hard to tell in the pic at the top, but the white strip and desktop photo are a more recent development?
@ frank: sweet ride. its absolutely right, good choices all the way around.
How do you like the cervelo, and is that the first R3?
And on a tangent, why did you choose the clincher 404’s??
Bloody hell Frank – that’s some saddle height. I’m 1.84m and 85kg, and mine’s at this on a 58cm frame:
Can’t embed an image again
@Guy
I dunno, Guy: that’s a pretty clean looking bike. I’m not sure what the Cognoscenti would think about a shiny MTB. My feeling is that even more than the road bike, the MTB needs to bristle dirt and mayhem. Nice bike, though…
Cock. That’s the wrong link. That is my Salsa. I waited 18 years for that bike and that was the day it arrived.
This is the link I meant to post. Sorry.
@roadslave
Spot on, mate. I’d like to know the answer to that as well. I spend more time than most maintaining my bike – minimum of 15 minutes before each ride of making sure everything is perfect. The pro Mechs must have a great time.
Herman (the guy in the article) actually swore by WD-40 of all things. He used it before every ride because if you use it that frequently, it lubricates well, and it cleans itself when you make the next application. I’ve moved away from it myself, but it’a an interesting approach.
@Guy wonderful bike! I have a Specialized Epic and the rear suspension is fantastic but she (her name is Scarlett…) will never be close to the beauty of a steel or titanium hardtail. Congratulations!
@frank Can have one of these bikes as a left over in the end of the season?
@Souleur
I love the R3. I did the 2003 L’Etape du Tour from Pau-Bayonne, the same stage that Hamilton later won. After he won the stage, Cervelo started working on a lighter and stiffer version of the frame he rode (R2.5) and they called the project the Bayonne Project. That work morphed into the R3. Ever since I learned of that whole deal, my dream was to grab an R3. It’s amazing. Light, stiff. Awesome. So comfortable. Climbs like a fucking angel. I absolutely love it. Bought my Velomihottie an R3SL which is even lighter.
As for the 404’s. I will admit that I ride the 404’s daily. (I’ve given up racing for the time being, until I become a Master.) As a wheelset that I enjoy every day, tubs just don’t seem practical to me, you have to lug more gear around (and I carry spares for me and the lady because I’m a fucking gentleman – but I carry it all in my jersey, so don’t worry).
I’ve also seen part of the rim come off when pulling a tub off the carbon rims – though never on a Zipp. That scares the shit out of me, and as someone who is not sponsored but pays for all my gear, that seems like a big risk.
On a side-note, the new 404 carbon clincher is too cool to comprehend.
@Guy
Beautiful. I can get past the Pharmstrong association and say that’s a beauty. Love that it’s the pre-compact model, as well. The Madone, I believe. Nice.
Love the schwalbe tires; I always thought that would be a good match to the Zipps. Get the labels spinning in sync. Excellent work with placement of the labels over the valve stem, but get rid of those fucking valve caps.
BTW, WordPress filters out any images unless you’re logged in, it seems. Still working on a hack to get around that. (A planned feature of this site will be letting registered users upload and embed photos directly.)
@Roberto Marques, @Guy
Classy mountain bike. Love a hard tail. Beauty.
@Roberto Marques
If I ever have a spare bike, you can have it. Spoiler alert: I will never have a “spare” bike. Man, you look great in that jersey!
@Roberto: When I was racing mountain bikes in the end of the 80’s/early 90’s I rode fairly standard stuff like Marin’s Eldridge Grade and early Rockhoppers. I LUSTED after the exotic US bikes like the Ibis Mojo, Fat Chance Yo Eddy and Breezers. The one I really,really wanted and could never afford) was the Salsa a la Carte . I remember Jason McRoy (RIP) riding a Jellybean a la Carte and that was it.
Well, yesterday, 18 years later, I finally got my Salsa.
It’s a 2009 frame, adjusted for front suspension and with disc mounts, but remains true to the ‘Steel is Real’ ethos. Whippy, compliant and beautifully welded from True Temper OX Platinum we’ve built it up from various components to give a light overall weight (sourcing some mint Rock Shox SID World Cups with a carbon steerer because they suit the look of the frame better than some of the newer forks. It’s XT throughout, with Hope Hoops built up on DT Swiss EX5.1’s, Carbonlite bars, FSA stem, carbon seatpost, Selle Italia XLR XC saddle.
I love it. Doesn’t get ridden much but I’ll be hanging on to it.
@frank. Thanks. I know that was tough to get past the Pharmstrong thing ;). It’s a Madone 5.2 frame, as with the Salsa built up from a frame. It’s a lovely ride but I’m getting itchy for that Pegoretti. Not this year though. I am logged in btw, and no joy.
Oh and i have a real hankering for an R3 as well. And a Dogma.
@roadslave Lennard Zinn’s practice is the best I know. After every ride, wipe the chain down, apply a drop of (oil-based, not wax) lub to every link roller. Wipe off the excess oil.
He claims the constantly supply of fresh oil flushes out the inner part of the roller. I don’t know, but, just cleaning the thing after every ride may be what’s really effective.
A friend of mine swear by a similar routine. After every ride spray drivetrain with GT85 and after every other ride relube.
Oh, level 3
@Guy
Gorgeous MTB. I haven’t got a MTB anymore myself, but as a Minnesota kid, I’d look seriously at a Salsa.
@Guy
Good work on Level 3! That was fast!
Love the Salsa; really old-school looking. I recently realized a similar dream on what I called Project Zero, which was when I got my hands on a Bridgestone MB-0 after about 20 years of waiting.
If you want to see SEATPOST, check out the completed bike rebuild.
@Jarvis
I would also ask this. Back when I was just a nipper, my dad used to get his wheels from a guy called Dave Russell, who had a tiny, incredibly cluttered shop about 15km down the road from where I lived at the time. From what I remember this guy was an ex-pro of some flavour who had owned a bike shops from the mid 60’s onwards. He was a quality wheel builder; I’ve still got a set of mavic open pros laced onto campag hubs that have never gone out of true. He also hand-built frames. My mam’s bike is one, as is my winter bike. We used to spend hours in this shop listening to him talk, a real friendly guy.
I just googled him to find his palmares and managed to find out he died a couple years ago, which has wrecked my day.
@frank: thanks for that info on the R3. I see one in my near future in my garage. I haven’t heard a bad thing about them. The only thing is the new paint schemes, I will have to go into NOS and find a plain white and black one.
And the zipp clinchers, very practical.
@andy
That’s a heartbreaking story. I went and googled Herman just to make sure he’s alive and didn’t come up with anything that makes me think he’s dead.
The shop you talk about is exactly what Grimpeur was like. Such a cool place. I wish Herman had built frames so I could have watched that, too.
Anyway, great story, and thanks for sharing.
@Souleur
I kinda like the new paint scheme, but the white should be easy enough to find; I think they still made it last year. I went to NOS as well for the red and black; I bought it the year they switched to white and absolutely had to have the black. I don’t know what size you need, but I’m sure Speedy Reedy in Seattle still has some – I saw a number of them still hanging on the wall the other day.
Just to add to the clean chain thing and this is not for every one – but I love blasting it with compressed air at 80-90 psi, hold a rag under the chain to catch the crud so it does not go on the tire and then lube and wipe down. Best is to take chain off and use a degreaser/cleaner first before the blow job but I save that for when it is extra dirty.
@Guy I love that ride but can you post a new image after the valve caps are off please??
Fantastic. That was a deliberate violation. Took ages for someone to spot that.
Sadly my LBS is run by cretins.
This is a shop that stocks Scott, Trek (inc. Project 1), Assos, Oakley et al. In the last 2 months I’ve stopped off twice on a ride to have a nose around. You’d think that a roadie walking in, riding a Madone, in full kit with shaved legs, would warrant a chat, a hello, a how’s the riding today?
You’d be wrong.
On both occasions I’ve had precisely FUCK all response from the 4 people working there at the time. Not even any acknowledgement that I was there. I checked in a mirror to make sure I hadn’t been knocked off and was actually dead. On both occasions I was the only ‘customer’. I really can’t work out why you’d bother running a shop when you’re that miserable to people coming in.
Naturally I didn’t buy anything on either visit.
@Guy
The key to a good LBS is the people. People people people. When I lived in Saint Paul, my number one was Grand Performance. They were awesome. Joined their team and raced for them. The owner, Dan, was #2 guy on the US Olympic team, second only to one Alexi Grewal (injury or illness kept him out of the race, can’t remember which). His store lieutenant, Andy, was also awesome, and all the other employees were great, too. I’d come in and just kick around for hours, usually without spending a dime. But they kept letting us in, Dan kept telling stories. A good shop is never snooty or condescending, no matter the skill level or how many months you are from peaking.
I really struggled to find another good shop like that after I moved. Two states and 4 cities later, I still hadn’t found one, and I kept calling GP every time I needed gear and ordered it from them.
Even moving to Seattle, where bike shops nearly outnumber pubs, I still couldn’t find one with the right feel until I strolled into Speed Reedy. It’s the people. From co-owners Brooke and Reed, the mechanics, down to the clerks, every single one of them is awesome without exception. And that’s why I keep coming back. I’ve since found a Campy-specialist at Branford Bikes in Seattle (thanks to John), which is also an awesome place, but I’ve only window shopped there and chatted about rebuilding ergo levers should I find the right set for my Bianchi rebuild project that I’ve been planning. They have lots of potential, but I feel like I’m cheating on Speedy Reedy every time I go in there, so I only stop in after I’m pretty sure I’ve dropped the Private Investigator who I’m pretty sure is tailing me.
@Guy
A big part of my opting for a Cannondale last summer stemmed from the folks at the LBS. We have a high-end shop not far from here, but I went in twice to look at the Cervelos and other bikes they carried. A third time I actually had to interrupt them at the desk to test ride a couple of the bikes. The Cannondale was the better fit for me and, frankly, I thought better value for money: fast as hell. But the people played a big role. Nice folks, friendly, laid back, but they know their stuff. Good people.
Oops. Second sentence was supposed to finish with my being ignored twice. Clearly they have no love for aspiring Cognoscenti…
Frank, what the fuck are those things on your feet?