Bike Stuff

Backstory:  A fun little project I finally got rolling last night. I picked up a 1986 'Trek 700 Tri Series' from the local bike exchange in an 'as is' condition. (Not the kind of bike to give someone as transportation, not exotic enough to be worth restoring to flip, so sell at a bargain). FWIW, getting to meet the folks over there had me volunteering as a mechanic for a few months before my schedules changed. It was in remarkably good mechanical condition but it was clearly 37 years old and perhaps not serviced in much of that time. So full teardown, clean, lubricate, new consumables etc. It would have been quick and simple except for personal injury, oh, and a hidden broken axle that was hard to source a replacement.  I say 'hidden' because if I hadn't taken it apart, I probably wouldn't have known and had probably been ridden for some time based on the way it was stuck in. The break was so clean, right at the bearing that at first it looked like a re...

This one was a really cool find on Craigslist. A beautiful Italian bike in chromed steel with a Campagnolo Chorus groupset. And in my size! I reached out to the seller for more information and learned he was the original owner who had it built up for him back in 1987 where he then used it to race in triathlons among other things. Guerciotti apparently had an interesting business model in those days of shipping the raw frames to the US distributor 10 Speed Drive who then painted them and sent them to shops. Apparently, it was thought that the paint work being done in Italy didn't match up with the quality of the Imron paintwork that could be done in the US. And I've got to say, it looks great and Imron holds up really well (see my Trek 7000 as well) It was well kept, in basically original condition. It had a minor frame repair due to a crack at the dropout that is effectively invisible (steel is nice that way). One notable modification was an upgrade to an 8-speed cassette up ...

Installation and first impressions Updates: 6/10/24, 7/4/24, 9/26/24, 10/3/24, 11/8/24, Spring 2025 Note: I've left the early text more or less as written. But there have been updates. So do scan through the updates below Background I was interested in the LTWOO eGR groupset to use on my 2019 Salsa Cutthroat . It was running SRAM Force 1 HRD (Mechanical shifting, hydraulic brakes) with a Garbaruk 10-50 cassette and their cage extender to allow for that range on Force.  The setup worked, but I never had the reliable, crisp shifting I would have liked. Usually ended up 'finessing' each shift with partial presses etc. It was nearly impossible to find the right tension setting to get perfect indexing.  As my first 11s rig, I tolerated it as semi-normal for a while. Some of this is understandable given that it was modified outside of OEM spec. So I'm not badmouthing the Force itself based on that (for the badmouth, see this YouTube: SRAM Force 1 HRD (any DoubleTap) Shift...

  As first built in winter guise with fenders Carbon fiber endurance road bike with 2x12 SRAM Force AXS One of the things about getting to ride a bunch of very different bikes of different eras is you start to get an idea of what improvements have evolved over the years. In particular, the idea that a ' road bike ' doesn't have to be a ' race bike ' to still be sporty.  This is where the current idea of an ' endurance bike' comes in. It is a bike that is designed to be nimble, light and fast, while having a slightly more upright and comfort-oriented position. Oh, and in the 2020s, accept wider tires. Wait, wide tires? Aren't they slow? Well... it turns out not so much. A bit wider, run at correspondingly lower pressures, they ride both more comfortably and actually faster in the real world (where roads are not smooth and hysteresis takes away energy). So a nimble, fast setup that is also comfortable on long rides. Winner concept. And not in my inventor...