If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that ‘useful’ things like practicality and functionality can often take a back seat to more basic pursuit of aesthetics and taste. If you haven’t, then your name might just be Paul.
You may have also become aware that there is occasional flagrant flouting of certain guidelines by curators and purveyors alike. Long black socks, red bar tape and big bidons, facial and leg hair, some have even been known to experiment with the much-maligned and socially destructive drug EPMS. Some things shouldn’t be tampered with, while others are prone to some manipulation as seen fit by circumstance. And some things will always be ‘just the way it is’.
Take tyres for example. Rule #8 was one of the first decreed (it was the eighth, if memory serves) and is one of the more complex in its simplicity. To put it in layman’s terms, tyres are a simple thing to get right. Black. They match any bike regardless of colour and will always look good no matter how much abuse they receive. But look more closely and a myriad of options are offered; match this to that or that to the other bit, and the other bit back to that. Or just go black. See, told you it was simple.
So why should choosing a new set of rubber be a cause of consternation? I needed to replace my trusty Pavé CG’s as they’d seen better days, from the cobbles of Belgium and France in April through a winter of more off-road detours than any road bike should be subjected to. Punctures became a feature of almost every ride, two at a time on a couple of outings. The green tread was worn and cut up and my mates were getting sick of waiting and probably wanted to strangle me with a tube as I attempted to get aired up and mobile yet again. Hang on, green? Surely not compliant…
Well yeah, the hue that is ubiquitous with Pro bikes in the European spring is the one color of tread that gets an automatic pass due to that other great cornerstone of the dual pursuits of Cycling and Looking Fantastic: heritage. From Malteni orange to Lampre pink, green goes with anything and everything in Spring. Vittoria’s Pavés and FMB’s Paris Roubaixs have seen more action on more bikes on more cobbles than Mother Theresa has seen sick kids, and thus get almost as many blessings as she gives out on a mission to Africa. But go back further still, and the sidewall colour of choice to set off any steed is the gumwall. Or skinwall. Maybe tanwall, depending on your diocese.
It should’ve been easy to choose a new tyre due to my spate of flats. Thick, heavy rubber with all kinds of Kevlar reinforcement, varying TPI counts and tread patterns all were mulled over, for about five minutes. I wanted gumwalls. To hell with practicality and functionality, not to mention cost. I made the call to my rubber pusher Graeme and he administered the goods stat. Thinner, lighter, faster, probably less durable; my new Corsa SC’s may not solve any puncture issues, but damned if they don’t look the business. Fantastic, even.
The gumwall is back, and there’s no going black.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/brettok@velominati.com/gummy/”/]
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@ron calipers are Ciamillo Negative G. I've since swapped them out for some white TRPs as the Negative Gs stopped working once they got a bit old (3 years) - quite unnerving (the paint starts to 'ruck up' where the cam is, and the springs go). The guy following me was in hysterics, as I'd unclipped and was using my cleats to slow down - with speedplays that meant that sparks were streaming out behind me. I found the large bush I ended up in a more effective stopping mechanism than either a) my old Ciamillo's and b) my speedplay cleats on tarmac. I'm not enamoured by the TRPs, however and might consider switching to EE Cycleworks if I can find someone on ebay who wants to buy my liver. Bars are actually gloss - but I do so love them. Have spent much of this year trying to ride more in the drops, and with these bars it is getting quite comfortable.
@brett seatpost tumour has gone, you'll be glad to hear
@brett That is one seriously cool rig.
@brett Got your big boy pants on! When did you get rid of the compact?
@roadslave525 By the end of the summer I was getting to the point where I could spend considerable amounts of time in the drops. To the point where I stopped thinking about it. I was managing to get a good amount of time on the bike including 130k club rides on a weekly basis which obviously helped but I was also putting in a lot of work on my core which I think was the key.
Since then I've not ridden much and now that I'm getting back into it, my back is telling me to sit up a lot which is less than ideal as I can't remember the last time I rode without there being a serious headwind.
The Pearson looks stunning.
@Chris
You riding compact bars? I cannot really seem to spend much time at all in the drops but my new n+1 I've gone for compact wing bars from FSA and I have to say I like them. It also has a 3D headset (don't ask you are better off googling it) but essentially means you can put spacers under the headset race which brings the bars up to lessen the angle of attack and I guess therefore releasing some strain on the lower back obviously the bars are still lower than the saddle but every little helps I guess...
@Deakus It's a 3T Ergonova Team on a fairly short 3T ARX Pro stem. I also gradually moved all of the spacers onto the top of the stem as my back got more flexible. The bike is a Cannondale CAAD 8 so the head tube is a reasonable length as opposed to being ultra short.
@Chris
That should have read LTD stem.
@frank I cannot believe you posted one of those e-card memes on our site. You might as well type everything in emoticon from here on out.
@Dan_R It's been fun following your wheel building business via Frank's stoke for them and your updates here. What a fun project and I wish you all the success. And the new name - fantastic. The logo, all of it, sweet. Good choice.
@Chris
Beautiful bars, at the LBS I was thinking of the Rotundo bars which I know Frank has a soft spot for, but a sensible conversation with the guy who runs the place about my penchant for diaphramatic breathing persuaded me towars the compacts...but the git never showed me those beauties so I have the FSA wing bars, which I have to say are still verty nice and VERY shallow in the drops.....there is hope for me yet....and I went for the ARX Team stem which again is a beauty....I love the 3T stuff...
@frank
I seriously hope that MTB leaning on the other side of that fence wasn't racing cx that day. That should be a Rule.