Mercury264... I use the notches in my belt to remind me that I need to pedal more, eat less! which remionds me, I'm up a notch over the winter :eek1 Now that is a dream job, riding motorcycles for a living, at a bicycle race no less! I ride moto at our clubs race up here in Orrville and have at a couple other races just for the ride. This past summer we had an official moto-ref who was such an asshole to our registration girls, I felt we had no choice to write a letter of reprimand to USAC. When the insignificant disfunctionary was ready to leave he asked the best road home. I gave him my opinion and he replied with "I ain't riding no F*ing gravel roads". So I told him to point his KLR south until he hit the Ohio River and don't ever come back. In all my years of racing moto or pedal, I have never met a bigger imperonator of the male member. Hopefully he's been nutered and can't reproduce! (sorry about that rant) Just got an invite this afternoon to another pedaling movie playing downtown here in Massillon.. Breaking Away (1979) "A small-town teen obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl." - The Greatest Bicycling Movie of All Time. - Hilarious, Heartwarming, Inspiring April 8-10 The Lions Lincoln Theater 156 Lincoln Way East, Massillon, OH Friday & Saturday, April 8 & 9 at 7:00pm Sunday, April 10 at 6:00pm Sponsored by Ernie's Bicycle Shop http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078902/ http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3787129113/
No living involved. Working as a ref/marshal cost me about my a good bit every year. The writer of both films lived in Denver, may still We would run into each other every once in a great while out riding. when we rode along together he would stop once in a while and fire up a cigarette. :huh Gave me a chance to talk bikes instead of just pounding out miles with my voices in my head as company. "Breaking Away" is the story of the little 500 race at Indiana University. Little 500 I quit riding motorcycles as an USCF official after several races and officials got sued over incidents. Usually some spectator walking out into the peleton. There is a load of exposure financially when working these things. I decided I didn't need that much adventure. And besides my daughters were up to an age where I was spending all my time with them and their activities, something of mine had to go.Bicycle racing got the call. That left work and family. While I was in college, (late bloomer/third career), I used motorcycles from our shop and added some lettering for advertising. It worked I got the front page of the sports section a few times. We usually found the biggest jerks drove Saab 9000's for some reason, though one golfer in a 3-series BMW did attempt to vie for the lead. While not able to push some tough contenders from the lead, I think the Sheriff, gave him an award for his effort. A few bikes we used, We also had an R100 RTPD, an R80/GS, K100, K100LT, K100RS, K75, an R80 with an S fairing, and my old silver R100S. The best gigs by far were as a photographer's platform. Much better viewing of the actual racing and these gigs paid well. I worked Triathlons, marathons, 5 and 10K's as well as bicycle races. These are loads of fun compared to the pre-dawn to past dusk work of a marshal or official. As a marshal you are so far away from the race to do a good job, you never should see the race. And we rarely did. One one occasion we were hastily drafted to be the lead into town since the car was not going to make the several 90 degree corners. We had two leading police bikes, (Harley Davidsons), they stuck to the posted speed limit of 35 mph while ourselves and the peleton sprinted past at about 50 up main into Estes Park. The cops wanted to ticket us for blaring our horns, and there was a lot of yelling. Later the state patrol got caught in a patrol car by the peleton coming off a pass at about 55 or better. The commander in the car was really pissed the bicycles were passing him. They were under the mistaken impression a bicycle race was similar to a parade. A stately and orderly procession. I guess the word "race" only meant one thing to them. Oh, there are hazards to riding with photographers... They sometimes lose track of reality and do some dumb things. I had a big TV cameraman sitting backwards on the RTPD, and as we rounded a downhill corner during filming a circuit race he wanted a different angle so hooked his massive arm around my neck and leaned way off the bike, nearly tearing my head off and choking me to tunnel vision before I could get stopped at a pullout and explain how choke-holding the driver of the motorcycle was bad for both of us. :eek1 During the Coors Classic in 1981, a Video guy jumped off a Goldwing, (Beta-Cam) with his tape deck strapped to the top of the top box, he hops off on the left and runs around to the right side and then decided to run down the slope for a shot of the peleton rising out of the pavement between the mountain Spring flowers. Well, remember that tapedeck tied to the top box? He didn't. he gets to the end of the tether, and is jerked off is feet, onto his back, (camera is at his shoulder), and these Beta-Cam guys all looked like NFL-sized people. The poor motorcycle pilot is a not too tall semi-round retired guy wearing shorts and a beanie-type hat. The bike is jerked by the tethered camera and deck much more than his short and bare little legs can handle. Motorcycle, rider, cameraman and camera all tumble down the rocky slope to the edge of the river. I seem to recall the networks spent a good sum buying the pilot a new bike and is bodily repair bill. The camera exploded into something over $50,000 of trash. We had a great view of this action, but no pictures since our job was to keep cars out of the bike race not take pictures. That and a few other small incidents kept me away from camera work for a good bit. I got into it as a platform for a few small female photographers who seemed to understand that motorcycles could be both a great vantage point to shoot from and dangerous. They would tell me what they were going to do before doing it and we would discuss what was not a good idea before firing up bike and camera. The sidecar worked really well for the big Beta-Cam guys. Gave them a nice stable platform with plenty of handholds so they didn't have to crawl all over me.
I'm just about at the point where I need to buy all new jeans. Problem is... my thighs. They're bigger than the next waist size down's legs. :eek1 So I live with the bunching, etc. M
At present I do not have this problem. Once upon a time that was the case. Now, I have been gaining weight as I have trained and change my eating habits. I'm hoping this trip home begins a real reduction. Smaller meals of lighter and lighter foods, and seriously work at not eating chips and cheese. Nuke TV, and get back to my three R's, (reading riding and running). Probably be forced to cut way down on the wine and song too. OK, maybe just the wine.
I have decided to treat myself to a new bike. I bought a 500 buck Motobecane from bikesdirect about 3 years ago - very basic (Sora groupset etc.) but it really has done me well and I have done 1,000's of miles on it but I really fancy a new bike if for no other reason than I can leave my current bike on the trainer/rollers and not have to keep swapping over. I have decided I'd like a steel bike mainly because I'm a fat git and I want the strength of steel and I don't need to shave grams, I'll just skip breakfast if needs be. I'd also like the best groupset I can reasonably afford and that, to my understanding and budget, means Ultegra. I have also decided to give bikesdirect another go - it seems you can't beat their prices and I could give a crap about the actual name on a bike, just that's it's a decent bike. So....with that in mind I have boiled it down to 2 choices: Motobecane Gran Premio PRO Road Bike Or Mercier Serpens I prefer the Motobecanse, and they are close in price but I have a couple questions: 1. Why no CF forks on the Motobecane ? 2. I have CF forks on my current bike, if I get the Motobecane can I transfer the forks to the new bike and if so how hard is that to do ? 3. Should I be concerned the Motobecane has only 20 gears - again, if I get this bike and I decide to change it, how easy would it be ? 4. I upgraded the rear wheel on my current bike, can I fit that to either of these bikes with no modification ? 5. What color should I get Any and all opinion welcomed. Cheers
The Motobecane is lugged, the steel fork will be fine. Carbon forks from a discount company put under stress would freak me out. The Motobecane also has what I believe are welded Mavic rims, if I remember correctly, the Ritcheys are pinned and glued. And last but not least, the Motobecane would look sweet with KTM stickers!!
The CF forks on my current bike seem to be fine after about 7k miles, I was just more curious as to why one bike had steel and one had CF - what does CF actually give you that steel does not ? I did like the wheels on the Motobecane also - they did seem a little chunkier than the other bike. As an avowed Husky fan, that just 'aint happening That said, I do like the orange one but the blue is pretty sweet also.
See if you can't hunt down something steel with SRAM on it. Mo bettah. AFA the # of gears: I like compact doubles better than triples. Coupla reasons: 1. easier to set up and keep that way 2. lighter 3. you get roughly the same gear ratios with the advantages of 1 & 2 AFA the 2 specific bikes you've listed: go with the Mercier and find someone that wants to trade triple for double. The frame's nicer. 853 is the shiznit. I've got a Gunnar made outta the stuff. M
Before I brought my current bike, I really took a hard look at the Scott Speedster S10. I know you like steel, but if you can find a dealer near you, you might want to take one out for a ride first. In your price range there are a lot of really good bikes out there. Joc
This dork was the moto ref! Saabs eh? In our neck of the woods it used to be the bike doubled or tripled the value of the car it was mounted to, now, I feel like a welfare redneck client pulling up in my truck and parking between a whole line of $40k to $60k cars and suv's. Sounds like you had some very interesting "incidents" happening around you. I have had to ward off would be passers in cars, usually those heading to church that aren't very Christian about us hogging up their roads. One old man attempted to run me down. I warned the pack there was a rogue car trying to get through. Then he threatened to call the police and was too stupid to realize there was a State Highway Patrol at the head of the pack! I told him the was a Patrol in front of the riders so go ahead and call He cooled down a little then took a side road. Tried to ride this evening but just wasn't feeling it, only lasted 10 miles before the toe were froze
Just sold my TE410 last Thanksgiving, Nice bike, a nice tractor, but I needed the money to help with a down payment, being the least ridden, only a couple times a year. I'm sure the Mercier is nice, Its just I'm a big fan of lugged steel and steel forks. That and my Ritchey wheels on my MTB lasted about 1.5 laps of a race before the front collapsed at the seam, then after a switch, the rear collapsed on the next lap. Our Tandem is spec'd with Ritchey bars and stems and they seem pretty good.
Now contrast that Ritchey story with my Ritchey Pro wheels on the road bike that've been going round in circles since 2003 or so. M
Personally I have some pretty bad experiences with the "El-Cheppo" Ritchey wheels working at bike shops, Yeah The expensive ones are okay but most of the lower end ones (90% of their wheels, MTB and/or road) don't hold tension well, The nipples tend to pop out of the rims (If they last that long, Read Not hold tension well) they taco under any side load, They are difficult to true, The cassette paws suck too and more than anything the seams come undone far to easily. If you ask me is kind of a shame, since the Ritchey name use to be a Benchmark of quality and good design even if everything was made by Sugino and/or diacompe
1. I think CF forks came into 'vogue' just around the same time aluminum frames did (although I'm sure I'm wrong and shall be summarily corrected). Steel forks and frames have been around for centuries and seem to work quite well. 2. Probably not too hard to do (the Park Tool has all sorts of useful instructions), but see how the bike rides before you attempt such a thing. 3. Not sure if you have the option of specifying a compact crank - but I find that the gears are a lot closer together, and I end up using more of them. No way I can push a 53/11, for example, but a 48/11 sees use every now and then (tailwinds or downhills). 4. Probably, yes - just make sure the cassettes are reasonably similar, lest ye have to change your chain length. 5. Orange. Hands down. End of discussion. Why? Because it's orange - that's why.
Gummee! - Glad to hear yours are rolling great. Everyone tell me how bad Bontrager wheels are but I have a pair that are 10 years old and still rolling well, although not very straight (mis-judged railroad bunny hop). They split life between a cross bike and my training wheels. Bomb proof for me also has been a welded Mavic rim like a CXP or Open Pro 32 hole laced to Shimano or Campy hubs. I like sticking with J-spokes due their availability at sometimes even the smallest bikes shops Don't know when carbon forks came out but I had an old 90's Trek 2300 3-tube carbon that I bought used and it had a Profile "Julie" carbon fork that lasted years. About 3 years ago I sold the fork with a different frame to a team mate as a beater without a heater and told him to beware and buy a new fork asap because it was old and I didn't trust it. 2 weeks later he called and said the drop out pulled loose from the fork leg. I'm glad he didn't go down. The bonded drop out also come out of our tandems wound-up fork. I noticed it when I was tightening down the quick release. The carbon fork on my 6/13 has held up to my antics. 2009 Rubber City Meltdown, Akron, Ohio If anyone ever wants, check out www.roadbikereview.com or www.mtbreview.com and remember to think about tossing out the most flamboyant bad review and review that give a 5 star after only one ride.
For what it's worth: Comparing my Specialized Tricross' carbon fork (32mm tire) ride to that of my '63 BSA (28mm tire), I much prefer the steel BSA fork. On the same road, I can visibly see more flex and bump absorption going on with the steel fork. It, also, seems that most steel forks have more leading curve to them, whereas carbon forks tend to be straighter. So, I'm sure there's more going on than just material makeup. The real negative of this realization is that the BSA has me wanting a modern steel bike for my everyday ride. This pic shows how much curve the steel fork has.
Do note, its somewhat deceptive. on the carbon fork, draw a line through the headset centerline down to the height of the axle, and measure the trail. now do that on the steel fork. truthfully, too, your 63 BSA 3-speed frame is not really representive of anything remotely modern. this is much closer to classic steel road bike geometry, albeit a rather tall frame (my son's 1976 Trek TX300)
