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?
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View Comments
@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.