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the portents are not good
every now and again, certain things don't look so good, and you find yourself hoping that if you think really negative thoughts, it just won't happen. that someone will wake up the following morning and say 'what was i thinking?' however, i am rapidly coming to the conclusion that such things only happen in movies like disney's 'enchanted' and definitely not in the cycle industry. i'm afraid we're now back to the bb30 standard.
while europe may be the ancestral home of the road bike, from where most new machines and developments emanate; north america has pretty much retained its position as mountain bike heaven. and this past weekend saw the sea otter classic in monterey, california - not only an excuse for a bit of off-road racing, but a chance for the major players to show off their early season wares. and unfortunately, many of these wares featured the bb30 in spades.
if you allow me to re-cap briefly, bb30 is a system designed by cannondale around the turn of this century and now made open source. in the interests of rigidity, the bottom bracket axle has increased to a diameter of 30mm (think drainpipe), while the recently adopted external bearing system has been discarded - the bearings are now a press fit into the bottom bracket shell. in adopting such a system, the so-called q-factor - distance between the crank inner faces - is reduced (this is apparently a good thing, as you will know if you've seen the flying scotsman). and because it has lost the bearing cups, the weight has gone down, though often by only a few grams. the only other biggie using it in quantity is specialized.
for the time being, this old new standard, has only really affected the off-road world, but we all know to our cost that it's only a matter of time, particularly since both cannondale and specialized make road bikes as well as mtbs. as you will perhaps have realised, adoption of this standard requires not only a frame with a bigger hole at the bottom, but an appropriate chainset to fit. at the sea otter, italian component supremos fsa had no less than seven varieties of suitable fabrications. perhaps the main saving grace is the ability to fit a threaded insert that will support the current variety of bottom brackets.
but is this not marketing masquerading as progress? even the current external bearing setup seems a bit on the unnecessary side, though we (i) have probably all learned to live with it. there was damn all wrong with the old cup and cone setup, or even similar with cartridge bearings. it seems that there may be two areas of so-called progress both heading in the same direction but from opposite ends of the track. many of today's carbon frames have massively overbuilt bottom bracket areas to promote stiffness and rigidity, while the component guys are making the bearings and axles correspondingly larger to do the same. and we can only stand by, with credit card in hand, and watch.
and lest you think i'm scare mongering as far as skinny wheels are concerned, notice that the picture above shows a chainset with only two rings, and i know that the chaps in vicenza are already paying a lot of attention, and they don't make off-road components.
when will someone decide that we don't need any more frame stiffness? think really negative thoughts in this direction before bed tonight.
posted on wednesday 23rd april
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................a prophet in my own land
i can't really blow my own trumpet, because i'm a drummer, but allow me, if you will, to type a few paragraphs relating to a recent publication produced by yours truly. granted, the existence of such will touch only those who find themselves either considering or already bound for a some pedalling miles near my abode. i am referring to the recently published cycling on islay - a guide to the dos and don'ts and the whys and wherefores, a co-operative effort between argyll and bute's road safety department (carl, and june) and the literary meanderings of thewashingmachinepost.
the need for such a publication has long been felt by cyclists domiciled on the island, but appears to have been brought into being at the behest of the four wheel brigade. there are an ever increasing number of cyclists visiting the western isles, not just islay, and at the risk of sounding a mite prejudiced, some of them are just not helping the cause at all. much of western scotland is linked by narrow, single track roads; with tourism to such places being on the rise, there are more vehicles of all descriptions using these for leisure purposes, without considering the few who still rely upon them as a means of day to day living. naturally enough, a largish group of cyclists with little prior experience of cycling these roads, and no comprehension as to why there are black and white poles positioned along the way, can be viewed by the local motoring public, as a bit of a nuisance. i can sometimes see why. and there's a degree of self-preservation here, since velo club d'ardbeg are here all year round.
and, in an effort to prevent repetition of my first island encounter with cattle on the road many years ago, i have included what has become a practical way to deal with such animals without acquiring a series of hoof marks along the way. much of it is common sense, but as someone once pointed out, if it truly were common, more of us would have it. on the other side of the leaflet are three suggested routes along with the inevitable commentary of what to see, perhaps what to do, and almost definitely what to avoid.
the leaflet can be had free of charge from a number of outlets (including debbie's cafe) on islay - jura too, when i get some sent over - but if you'd like one in advance of an impending trip, drop me an e-mail with a postal address, and i'll send you one. (even the mighty dave t is featured in one of the photos).
cycle-leaflet@thewashingmachinepost.net
posted on tuesday 22nd april
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................david harmon interview
hark back to july 1st 2007. i, along with almost two hundred others, have just cycled from hampton court golf club, london to versailles, france, and have just witnessed eurosport commentator david harmon provide a very light-hearted and entertaining prize-giving. since a number of us have decided to move en masse to an un-named and un-located restaurant for a post race feed, i nip through from the function room to see what's happening.
perhaps not unsurprisingly for a disorganised bunch of cyclists, not a lot would seem to be an accurate description; then all of a sudden there is mass movement and the peloton is shifting. this time on feet. i pop back to the function room to grab two new found friends from the past three days, to make sure they don't miss the rapid egress from the hotel, only to find them deep in conversation with mr harmon. being one of those snivellingly polite chaps, rather than butt in straight-away (it's not every day you meet david harmon), i sidle in between james and tanya, pretending that the conversation actually includes me too.
david is a very generous conversationalist; we finished riding over 200km several hours earlier, none of us have had anything substantial to eat, and david's the only one that was riding in the 'front teeth on the bars' group, so his need is probably greater than ours. despite this, and the fact that he has also spent an hour or so on the prizegiving, we still continue chatting for another half an hour. during this time, i have managed to convince all that i am indeed a part of the mini-throng, and much like the reluctant autograph hunter, i hand david a washingmachinepost business card - i'm sure similar instances happen to him every day, and i'm sure he has a whole rucksack of such profferred contact details.
we eventually disperse, david to join his dinner partners, james, tanya and i in the hope that the hotel has a table vacant, since the peloton has long since disappeared. a chance meeting perhaps.
fast forward to late october. loudoun academy, galston in ayrshire: the 2007 braveheart ride, and while i'm standing talking to brian smith and anthony mccrossan, surrounded by scott sunderland, allan peiper and sean yates, and trying very hard to look as if chatting to cycling's upper echelon were an everyday occurrence, a voice from behind wearing a braveheart tartan cycling kit says hello mate. how're you doing? seriously impressed doesn't even begin to describe it.
david harmon is in a position where he must meet hundreds of blokes like me in a month. yet here we were over four months later and several thousand miles from our first encounter, and david harmon had recognised me from the back. there are few others i have met who can converse with, essentially, a complete stranger, and make it feel like we went to school with each other. i'm sure the epithet, a really nice bloke is bandied about indiscriminately, but in this case, i can't think of a better introduction.
posted on monday 21st april
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................clueless
earlier last week, i was asked to predict my top three for this year's tour de france. thankfully not something i am in the habit of being asked, particularly this early in the season, and i don't mind admitting that i'd to go look up the roster of uci registered teams to remind myself of the names of those who just might be in contention come july. however, if you watch any cycling on tv or on the web, you can't have failed to notice that the commentators or pundits quite often state who they figure will win whichever race happens to be under consideration at the time. the alarming part is just how often some of them hit the nail right on the head - mr smith of cycing.tv is frighteningly on the money on more occasions than not. heck, these guys even know which ds is sitting in the first and second team cars.
and it's often a part of the day's proceedings for the commentators to invite the prognostications of those watching, from whatever part of the world they're watching. i'm sure that if you wrote down all the options sent, you'd have covered at least half the field involved in the race, so obviously some viewers are pretty crap at this sort of thing. i, on the other hand, abstain totally from this peloton lottery, because i happen to know i'm crap at it, and i fully expect my top three for this year's tour to be so wide of the mark, that it might as well be for a different race.
so my great fear is being invited onto the pre-race programme on eurosplot or cycling.tv and have either rebecca charlton, or the bloke with the beard, quiz me as to who's on form, who's leading each team, who i think could win the race - i'm sure you know what i mean. it's one thing to have a less than decent notion as to the state of play at any given point of the season (purely as an aside, at this point, i tend to go for someone from milram or rabobank, because they're on colnagos. or maybe tinkoff or landbouwkrediet if it's one of the minor classics. the riders are almost of secondary importance. and yes, it is very wrong of me), but it's a whole 'nuther basket of geese to demonstrate it on tv.
this is why, should you have ever questioned it, that thewashingmachinepost rarey deals with the world of cycle racing in the way that cyclingnews.com or pez cycling news does. aside from lacking the resources or geographical location to achieve a great deal in this direction, i'm happier to remain on the periphery - cycling culture, i believe it was once referred to.
of course, now i'll worry all week that when the phone rings, it'll be rebecca charlton or the bearded chap.
posted on sunday 20th april
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................where it's at
were this coming week not one of those where i have a full five days work ahead of me, i could fly or ferry myself to glasgow airport, and catch the 09:05 northwest flight from glasgow international to amsterdam, changing to alaska airlines flight 2635 for an atlantic crossing to seattle and then on to portland, oregon; pdx. at this time of year, for the pleasure of spending 15 and a quarter hours on a couple of wide-bodies, my bank balance would be lighter to the tune of £749.10 (about $1500). why, you may ask, would i want to do this? a good question, to which i am now about to provide the customary, long-winded answer.
in concourse e of portland international airport, (all airports are identified by a three letter apellation; portland's is pdx), from april 3, the artobjects showcase will contain ten custom bicycles provided by portland frame builders. while the exhibits are from such notables as chris king, ahearne cycles, vanilla bikes, sweetpea et al, the facility to show off one of portland's finest micro industries to the travelling world, is down to the portland development commission - amost like our local enterprise companies in scotland, but seemingly with a higher degree of perspicacity. unable to achieve the skill of framebuilding, i occasionally venture into wheelbuilding (have i mentioned this before?), but much like portland craftsman, joseph ahearne, i am somewhat devoid of business acumen; the portand development commission pulled a collection of local frame builders into one room, and pertinently asked what they could do for them. that perspicacity again.
with the artobjects display running until early october this year, it is expected that over three million airline passengers will be exposed to some of the city's finest, including one by natalie ramsland at the briliantly named sweetpea bicycles - nice bikes for the fairer sex, and apparently one of only two women building frames in north america. of course, the slight downside is that you would need to be a ticket carrying passenger to gain access to concourse e, which hopefully helps explain why i would require to take a lengthy flight to pdx. however, mindful of this very shortcoming, the pdc have videoed the installation and posted photographs to save me (at least) from troubling my bank manager.
in keeping with current trends and youth culture, the video can be seen on youtube, along with several other highly enlightening videos demonstrating just how much effort and dollars portland has spent on diminishing the car culture in their corner of north america. it just shows what can be achieved when a portion of local government has its head screwed on properly. (i shall be sending the necessary links to argyll and bute council, but i'm not holding my breath.)
unfortunately, thewashingmachinepost overseas travel budget doesn't quite stretch to the sum mentioned at the head of the article, though one of these days it will have to, because i'm very keen to see and experience all this for myself. and if you count yourself as a real cyclist then you will probably want to do the same. in the extremely rare chance that somebody from local government anywhere in the world is reading this, check out the videos, then book your ticket. even i'd support that as a legitimate council expense.
watch the video
watch the slide show
pdc was created by portland voters in 1958 to serve as the city's urban renewal agency as laid out in chapter 15 of the city's charter. pdc provides comprehensive housing, development and economic development programs within the portland region.
posted on saturday 19th april
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................it's a bit tight under the elbows
at the start of this season, the rapha condor team became the rapha condor recycling team. or, if you prefer, the recycling.co.uk team became the rapha condor recycling team - either way, the less than decorus lime green and white disappeared from the uk peloton, to be replaced by altogether more palatable white on black with pink trim; sartorially sorted.
last year's recycling team rode pinarellos with those squiggly forks, but you can't have rapha condor and still have pinarellos, so the squiggly bits disappeared and the frames too, became black, white and pink. from the point of view of thewashingmachinepost, the only outwardly backward step was the replacement of campagnolo with shimano - but in these days of bottom line accountancy, married to sporting and tailoring excellence, sponsorship must take precedence over componentry preference.
the chaps started the season wearing their colours fashioned out of lycra - the sportwool wasn't ready in time - but if you are a peruser of rapha's site, or a regular reader of thewashingmachinepost, it won't have escaped your attention that perren street proffered first a long sleeve team jersey and shorts, closely followed by a team stowaway then the short sleeve jersey with a tad more sponsors' logos (unfortunately, i'm still awaiting short sleeve weather). rounding it all off and allowing impersonation of chris newton at some of the country's smaller road races, or even just on the saturday training ride, came the team cap. so, short of embroidering the word recycling on a pair of merino socks, and maybe a team gilet (yes, why isn't there one of those?), that's about as far as you could see it going in the emulation stakes.
of course, what i hadn't counted on was the appearance of a bicycle on the rapha website. no, i don't mean in ben ingham's photographs - there really is a bicycle for sale on rapha's website - a team replica condor leggera made entirely of deddaciai high modulus carbon fibre tubes wrapped over at the joints. in keeping with sponsorship ideals, groupset is shimano dura ace, as are the carbon laminate clincher wheels shod with conti gp4000s. atop the seatpost is a custom team fizik arione saddle. rather surprisingly, given rapha's reputation for pricing in the overdraft stratosphere, all this can be had for only £2900 (circa $5800) - yes, under £3000 for the whole bike. with a sloping top tube, the frame is available in sizes from 46cm through to 61cm, which ought to cover the bulk (no pun intended) of human sizing.
of course, there is absolutely no way you could ride one of these without first acquiring the full rapha condor recycling kit - i can only imagine the disapproving stares to be had riding through port charlotte village, wearing a motorola jersey paired with liquigas shorts while on a rapha condor recycling team bike.
are we becoming a bit intense here?
posted on friday 18th april
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................those look like my wheels
in the current arena of professional cycling, it is not unheard of, or indeed, uncommon for sponsors and/or riders to have the bicycle(s) presented with a custom paint job. this either reflects some aspects of the team's corporate colours, or some aspect of the rider's personality. the latter usually refers to a nickname imposed upon, or adopted by the guy with the legs. doubtless you know exactly to whom i refer. in the case of the sponsor, it's bang for buck - in the case of a rider, it's probably ego.
and while there are other components eager for a similar touch, the one of the more important necessities of cycling often remains anonymous in the face of its adoring public: the wheel. granted, companies such as mavic and fulcrum have injected a modicum of colour into the spinny round things, often by way of a singe coloured spoke, or the whole lot, but other than coloured twin tread tyres, that's about as a far as it usually goes. not any more.
while i don't quite know who's idea it was in the first place, riders lucky enough to have a set of carbonsports lightweights attached have either caught, or been given the decorating bug. there are very few riders who do not have to pay for their lightweights, currently only veteran sprinter, erik zabel, and italian playboy pozzato - even cipollini has to speak to his bank manager before phoning germany. apparenty mario did exactly that during his brief tenure with rock racing, taking ful advantage of the fact that lightweights can now be painted in pretty much any way you want. the lesser known stefan behrens of carbonsports now rolls on the cipo specials, because the lion king, having decided not to rock and roll, found them surplus to requirements.
zabel and pippo, on the other hand are still delighted to display their graphically splendid carbon hoops, and as of now, you and i can join the club. any pair of lightweight carbon wheels, from the conservatively named standards up to the wonderful ventoux, can be airbrushed just the way you want them from a mere £200 ($400) per set, depending on the sophistication of your design. if you are bereft of any artistic sensibility, then you can simply suggest how you might like the wheel to look, and carbonsports' arty person will design something for you. of course, you still have to pay for the wheels themselves; similarly to other exotica, if you have to ask, you probably can't afford them.
contact the lightweight distributor in your country.
bespokecycling.com - uk
competitivecyclist.com - usa
carbonsports.com
posted on friday 18th april
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