Thin steel, fat rubber

• I am a hard-core cyclocross elitist type. Is the Fisticuff for me?
  No.
• I am a homeless guy with pigeons in my beard and crazy eyes, is the Fisticuff for me?
  Yes.
  http://www.vassagocycles.com/fisticuff/

Airframe

No, not the fantastically suspenseful Michael Chrichton novel, but this thing:



Certainly an audacious design. One asks - how can thin axle possibly resist the torque created by the upwards forces of the wheel and the downward forces of the seat post? Well, it doesn't. Look carefully at other pictures in the article and the frame is suddenly not so elegant. There's a rear fender (not shown at first) which is welded into the frame, acting as a stressed member and and a de-facto seat tube.
As the title of the article suggests... almost genius.

Photos pillaged from fastcodesign.com: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662064/almost-genius-a-beautiful-bike-frame-that-requires-less-metal

Schwinn Montague = Ritchey Breakaway - 20 years - lots of class

Saw this locked to a lamp post near the train station today. Apparently the Schwinn Montague had a two joint seat tube based break-apart mechanism which was functionally the same as the modern Ritchey BreakAway but, from the looks of it, less secure. I say less secure because the seat post joint uses more or less a bathroom stall hasp which can probably rotate and creak and contributes little to frame strength or stiffness. Anyway, someone still makes the Montague, albeit with a different, novel break-apart mechanism.

Floppy chopper got no stopper

Ok, so it can wrap around a pole (not terribly useful) and can fold (pretty useful) and goes from flaccid to rigid with a ratchet system hanging from the tube (has he taken out a patent on that?) but what interests me is that he has absolutely no brakes. No rim brakes front or back and a single speed conversion kit out back that eliminates the possibility of a coaster brake or fixed gear. Easily resolved with a front caliper or a fixed rear hub, but I suppose he was so intent on making his bike floppy that he's forgotten the one component that will keep him from wrapping it around a pole on accident.

Photo swiped from http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/kevin_scotts_bike_design_gets_around_the_theft_problem_16903.asp

Crazy mountain people

And their crazy welded bicycle fences with headsets for hinges...

Habanero Ti

Custom geometry, Ti frames, 8-10 weeks delivery, low prices. Habanero.

Made in China, , straight gage tubing, that's how. Still, no one seems to complain about them.

Blue Frames - Trigon Made

This craigslist post answers a question asked by this blog some time ago - who is Trigon making frames for? Turns out, Blue of Norcross, Georgia.

There you go, if you think Blue bikes are nice, go straight to the factory and cut out the middle man.

Lugged Cyclocross Frame Creation

It's nice to see a craftsman at work, even if just via digital photos:

http://www.kirkframeworks.com/jk_cross.htm

Mongoose Cyclocross Bike Dropouts

Mongoose has a somewhat elegant, neat looking aluminum dropout on the rear of their cyclocross frame which allows for both a disc brake (it's coming, oh yes, mark my words) and a rack + fender mount. If only I could read Hungarian.

Many companies have tried this with varying levels of slick-ness. For example, here's Voodoo's attempt at making the rear dropout that is all things to all people:

My take on putting a disc brake braze-on on a non mountain bike is that you want to localize the stresses of braking in the forged, stamped or CNC'd dropout part instead of transfering them onto the slender, flexible seat stays. Niner places theirs there, but then has to beef up the joint with a welded-in gusset.

I particularly like the Mongoose approach because it keeps the disc brake out of the way of the fender or rack, which prevents this giant kluge:

Get the wrinkles out

Advanced International Multitech Co. Ltd. of Taiwan has just announced via Bike Europe that they have a new manufacturing method which reduces wrinkles on the inside of carbon bike frame tubes. How big a deal could that be? A look at this cutaway Specialized frame displayed at this year's Tour of California gives a clue:
Check out the variations in wall thickness and wrinkles inside that tube. Every wrinkle is a stress riser, decreasing fatigue life. That thin spot at the apex of the top tube - down tube junction is right in an area of tensile stress too. Although this frame no doubt surpasses strength requirements and would have served its rider for a long time had it not been band-sawed, a lighter frame could be manufactured if the wall thickness was better controlled. That way, they wouldn't have to err on the thick side so that even the thin spots weren't too thin. Looks like at least one company would benefit from this new technology.

Ibis Tranny

I snapped this pic wondering what was going on with the new Ibis rigid carbon MTB, the Tranny. Does that rear triangle come off for repair, maintenance, swap out with a full suspension rear traingle?  No, no and no.  Apparently, his bike attempts to be all things to all people.  According to Ibis it is:

-A geared bike

-A single speed

-A travel bike

-A bottle opener

Now, when you see how it works as a bottle opener, you will say "what the hell, I have to take the rear wheel off to open my beer?"  Yes.  Once you have done something catastrophic like ripped off your rear derailler on a stump, or taco'd your front wheel, go ahead and lay the bike on its side just off the trail, sit down, remove the wheel and open the glass bottle you've been carrying around in your camel-back.  I have to say, Swobo's seat rail bottle opener seems more practical.

The geared/single features of the bike are modular cable stops and an adjustble rear triangle to take up extra chain length.  How does it adjust?  Watch the tranny hump itself* in this short animation:

http://www.ibiscycles.com/images/full/tranny_anim_1.gif

What interests me the most is that the rear triangle is removable for travel.  Up until now, I felt that the slickest travel system was the Ritchey Break Away.  Of course, that works best on my kind of bikes - metal ones with tubular members.  If you go to crazy box-section carbon tubes.  Go tranny.  I wonder if they will bring this travel modality to a road frame?  I'm sure there are some folks out there who would like to take their sporty carbon road frame to Europe and avoid paying through the nose to get a big bike box on the plane.  How about it Ibis, travel carbon road frame?

*I'll do anything to boost blog traffic.

Delta 7 Isotruss Bike

The Delta 7 Sports people were out at Sea Otter in force.  Demo'ing thier Isotruss frame bike, racing it, and generally getting attention.   They even put it in one of the press packet brochures, advertising a complete bike price of over $9000.  You can read more about the technology here:

http://delta7sports.com/

That's a trophy for a MTB race.  I'm sure it's a competetive bike.  How much more competetive than any other carbon hardtail?  Probably not much after the bike collects a few pounds of earth:

Convenient for cable routing though.  You may be able to see a cable housing through the mud lattice in the above picture.

Calfee - Hemptastic 29er

I stopped by the Calfee booth drawn by the alluring sight of what looked from a distance like burled wood lugs on a bamboo 29" mountain bike. How did they do this I asked? No secret but hard work. Hemp fibers were run through resin, wrapped around the joint then polished, polished, polished until the tube connection looked like a piece of fine furniture. Few people can afford this sort of thing, but it's fantastic to look at and may induce larger companies to inject a bit of craftsmanship into their mass produced products like the Bianchi Dolomiti (bringing chromed lugs back in a factory built bike).

My 'Roubaix' bike

In the wake of Sunday's Paris-Roubaix, much has been made in the popular cycling press about the equipment used to carry the riders over the very long and very rough course. In addition to travelling over many kilometers of cobbled road, the race can be wet, muddy and very hard on equipment and riders. James Huang and the gang at cyclingnews.com have published at least two reviews of Roubaix bikes. One before and one after the race. By the way, the manner in which the pro mechanics are setting up the race bikes totally validates my comments on equipment for the Boulder Roubaix (back in August of '08).

Anyway, on Sunday morning, I went out for a ride of my own on my custom steel creation and thought I'd share the technical specs with readers hungry to know what a local club pack rider is sporting this year.

Nothing but the best shock absorbing 25mm tires on box section, hand-laced aluminum rims.

Top tube cable routing - keeps cables clean and shifting performance high. If that finish gets nicked by a rock - just add more clear coat.

Lugged steal construction. Really absorbs the shock as I speed over the cobbles (or more likely, poorly paved mountain roads).

All new high tech Campagnolo Mirage 3x9 drive train. I've got more gears than Texas has steers.

Custom badging indicates that this is a special build.

Plenty of mud clearance between the Tektro brakes and Nashbar carbon cyclocross fork. The combo of the carbon fork and steel frame makes it pretty supple.

More clearance out back. I could suck a small animal through my spokes and keep on rocking.

There you have it folks. Don't tell the pro tour mechanics what I'm doing. Got to keep that competitive edge.

No crying allowed

We here at nippleworks love April Fools as much as the next guy. A solid April Fools post would have been awesome, but this year, we just didn't have it in us. Instead, we offer you this:


On a totally unrelated note, there was a little anti-rust activity lately. Taking Jobst Brandt's advice (which, it should be pointed out is copious and sometimes eyebrow raising), I plugged up the weep holes on my steel commuter bike. Hence, no more crying allowed.

All I did was mix up a thimble-full of Devcon epoxy and dab it in the holes. Totally reversible with a small drill bit, but also pretty easy and bomb proof. The theory here is that these holes are only necessary for gases to escape during the welding or brazing process. Without an escape route for heated air or gas, bubbles will form in the weld or brazing compound, weakening the joint. Jobst's theory goes on to state that once the frame is welded and as long as the inside of the tube is dry, these holes can be plugged. In fact, to plug them is to prevent water incursion increasing the corrosion resistance of the frame. Other people claim that they allow the frame to dry out, but honestly, if they're plugged, how's water going to get in in the first place? Oh, and he's also got some advice about greasing up your seat post slit.

What'd I tell you, eyebrow raising.

Custom frame is now known as custom bike

Way back in October, I wrote about commissioning a custom lugged steel frame. Tonight was its maiden voyage. It's been a long road with a few building delays, some technical challenges and just plain finding the time, but I eventually got it built up with a carbon CX fork and the components off my Surly Pacer frame (which is for sale wink wink). The frame is just clear coated with Rustoleum Painters Touch Clear which I can't recommend because it creates a finish that is far too delicate for use on a bicycle. Sanding and polishing wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and as a result, it doesn't exactly look like a steel gem. There are also tiny spots of corrosion below the finish, the sort of thing you'd never see if it were painted. The inside of the frame is also coated for rust prevention.

There's only two colors for bike components as far as I'm concerned, black and silver. My black Campy Mirage gruppo made that easy. The front derailer was a bit of a challenge to adjust as the seat tube is a 74 deg, which isn't exactly compatible with the angling of the derailer cage. The first ride went pretty smoothly, and there may be a few small things to adjust (up with the handlebar, down with the seat post, rubbing rear brake pad, etc). The combo of the steel frame, carbon fork and 25mm tires made it feel like really smooth. There are also more handlebar spacers on it than I would like. Maybe for my next custom frame I'll go with a slanted top tube. That will probably be a while off though since I've got more bikes than I need right now in the mean time, maybe this one will take me up the hill to watch Stage 2 of the Tour of California this weekend.

OG Carbon Frame

How many of you were riding monocoque carbon frames in the age of downtube shifters? This guy was. Follow up question: how many of you would ride a carbon frame this old?

Carbon is not the only bike material to fail over time. It doesn't take much research on the web to read stories of failed steel, titanium and aluminum frames. In fact, even good lugged steel bikes (which use a manufacturing technique that really gets the most out of the material strength) fail after enough use. So why do I suggest that this older carbon bike is not trustworthy? UV degradation and catastrophic failure. Although steel rusts, you can see that form on a bike. UV degradation of plastics (not the carbon, just the resin) isn't something that most people can gauge by looking. Also, ductile metals usually give way a bit (deform) before failing completely (fracturing). Carbon fiber tends to fail catastrophically, which is to say it fails all at once without much warning.

I saw this bike at the San Francisco bike swap this weekend and I hope the guy sold it because bikes should be used, not just looked at, but it's not a buy I wanted to make myself. On a related note, it was a good history lesson for me. I thought that carbon frames really began with tube-and-lug manufacturing (with metal lugs at first and carbon lugs later) so it's enlightening for me to see this early monocoque model.

Trigon Cross Frames

I saw this Trigon all carbon cyclocross frame hanging on a tent at the recent Pilarcitos night race in Brisbane, CA. See pictures here. I had never heard of the company before so I checked it out on the web. They're straight out of Taiwan, R.O.C. and someone in the SF Bay Area must be importing them. Check out their 'Copmany Profile' here. It looks like they've got a variety of frames including some carbon/aluminum bonded models as well as carbon cyclocross forks with disc brake mounts. They also appear to make a hardtail carbon/aluminum 26" MTB with a rigid carbon fork. I'm thinking that can't be too popular, at least in this country.

Anyway, if someone knows more, post a comment.

As seen at the velodrome

Clear anodized frame. The owner said that it was faster than paint.  True?  Cant say.  It may be lighter than paint because it only adds some oxygen atoms to the frame but it doesn't make the frame invisible to the wind (read about transparent aluminum for more on that).  This guy must be concerned with wind resistance and not weight though, as he's chosen a heavy disc wheel for the back.  An anodized frame has the same cross section as a painted frame, but a different surface finish.  NASA points out that skin friction (the component of aerodynamic drag contributed by surface finish) gets better as the surface gets smoother.  Therefore, a polished painted surface will be faster on a track bike than a rough anodized surface so don't let anyone tell you that anodizing makes something faster, there are other factors involved.

It does look mighty sweet though, and should be cheaper since all it takes is a big tank and an egg timer (and much less precision work than painting).  Bonus points - it is probably more durable than paint (and might be a good choice for a mountain bike like the hard-anodized Maverick).

Tips for using Frame Saver

All this fall weather may have you thinking about riding your bike in the cold and wet. If you have a carbon fiber or titanium bike frame, you should probably at least consider your components and bearings. Why not concern yourself with the frame? Well, your titanium frame will outlast you and probably the cockroaches that take over the planet after we're gone. Your carbon fiber frame is mostly plastic, and as we all know, that just doesn't break down in water. A decent set of fenders, or better yet, a classy pair of fenders, will do a lot to keep your bearings free of muck.

If you have a steel frame, you should consider rust. Any nicks in the paint can be touched up with color matched paint, or if you don't have that, some nail polish from the drug store is an inexpensive and durable option. The inside of a store-bought frame is probably not protected in any way. Water wicks down your seatpost, gets in the weld weep holes and generally finds a way inside. One thing you can do to protect your frame is spray JP Weigle frame saver inside. When doing this to your off the shelf bike, you'll need to remove your bottom bracket, seatpost and fork to keep those parts from getting gummed up and giving you access to the frame. You can spray the stuff into the frame through weep holes, welding holes and braze on holes (such as bottle bosses). In fact, spray from both ends of every tube. You don't necessarily need to de-cable the bike.

Spray frame saver into weep holes

You can stuff your bottom bracket with a rag to keep the frame saver out of the threads. You should lightly grease those anyway. The stuff will run out of the frame so you should do this over dirt or some newspaper. To protect the paint of your frame, you can tie a rag around any tubes, just below openings to catch drips. I left the rear derailler on my road bike and wrapped it in an old sock to keep it from getting covered in frame saver goo:

Notice the black rag used to keep drips off the frame and cable

Aluminum frames don't rust, per se, but do corrode. I don't live in a very salty environment, but I've got to believe that road salt will eventually mess with an aluminum frame, Perhaps Frame Saver should be used on aluminum frames in maritime / road salty environments. Any comments on that?

Good luck and enjoy your fall biking.