mrs washingmachinepost and i have just returned from our summer holiday, the annual withdrawal from island society, offering the opportunity to spend the better part of a week doing as little as humanly possible. no computer, no bicycle, just a book that will entertainingly fill those hours of lethargy, as others manfully and womanfully involve themselves in the various activities available for the more intrepid. and rather than remain ensconced in our accommodation to partake of such laziness, we would daily amble to the nearby sports complex and occupy a faux leather sofa while that part of civilisation continued all around.
remarkably few of our fellow vacationers seemed overly keen on our demonstrable lack of activity, and for whom there were many distractions to curate an ostensibly busier time. should one have been of a more intrepid constitution, it was possible to play badminton, table tennis, wall climbing, squash, or, perchance, ride aboard one of those ubiquitous exercise bicycles, specifically left lying about for the purpose. additionally, for the brief moments of rest and relaxation midst such fervent activity, one wall of the complex featured two large-screen televisions placed each side of a larger amalagamation of several similarly sized screens that had been cleverly combined to show one large image.
the latter seemed mostly to be reserved for cricket, motorsport, football or rugby, while the former, smaller, individual screens displayed what the apparent hierarchy had decided would be american football, rugby league, soccer from the lower leagues and on one particular afternoon, uci track racing from milton in canada. though events such as the points race and madison are hardly the most straightforward to follow, individual sprint heats, women's sprint finals and team pursuit offered a more transparent way to enjoy an hour's worth of frenetic track cycling in which britain's women appeared to be doing remarkably well.
going by the results i viewed, the british male of the species seemed to fare far less favourably.
in my guise as relaxed civilian, bereft of cycling paraphernalia and/or apparel, i felt no compunction to proselytise amongst the downtrodden. after all, we were all on our holidays of whatever flavour, during which the rules surely demand a policy of non-interference? however, it did seem to be the accepted norm that the higher profile sports, such as a four-hour race car series, cricket (which i still don't understand, despite continually trying to figure it out) and soccer would be shown on the bigger array of television screens.
i, and many other cycle fans across the country/world, are well aware of our place in the pecking order. to have been presented with any cycling coverage at all is a substantial improvement on years gone by, when the entire panoply of viewing hardware would frequently be given over to live soccer and the often loud, inebriated revelry that would accompany such events. on a visit to a similar establishment many years ago, my request that they present the broadcast of the men's world road race championship was greeted with smiling incredulity. perhaps life would be different nowadays?
however, though mrs washingmachinepost and i are now returned safely to the croft, allegedly refreshed ahead of a busy christmas season, the question nagging at the back of my mind is how much longer we must wait until each sunday afternoon when that big screen is filled with live cyclocross (at this time of year), or daily live coverage of one of the season's grand tours during the summer months? surely 'tis only a matter of time?
monday 3 december 2018
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................it's hard to deny that bicycles, in the grand scheme of things, are rather attractive machines. and though i harbour the occasional misgiving over the continual technological advancement, when much of it seems somewhat unnecessary, even those continue to provide intriguing nooks and crannies that are worthy of exploration. but, in the manner that cars like the citroen 2cv or the original porsche 911 have a marvellous gestalt about their person, with the exception of one or two less notable time-trial machines, the bicycle is surely modern transport's poster boy for the golden ratio. (as one who is admittedly mathematically challenged, that might not be technically true).
it is, however, something of a challenge to capture on paper or canvas.
my years at art college were, i'm sad to say, utterly devoid of bicycles. though i rode a bicycle almost daily, from the age of nine until leaving for academia at the age of 17, movement from a to b during the intervening years was accomplished mostly by bus and shanks's pony (a scots term for on foot and no, i don't know why). in retrospect, i may have progressed more easily through the years of drawing and painting classes, had i opted to more closely investigate the aforementioned nooks and crannies in paint and/or charcoal
but i didn't.
and it occurs to me now that it would have been something of an uphill struggle. for while the concept of the double-diamond is one of strident simplicity, no matter from which angle the bicycle is viewed, there is a geometric precision to which lip service must be paid. this involves accurate proportions at all points, otherwise there's an inherent danger that fork-legs might appear at odds with each other, or chainstays could conceivably fail to meet the bottom bracket. either of the foregoing mishaps would undoubtedly compromise that which we think of as 'the bicycle'.
and yet, it's often the case that simplicity itself becomes one of the hardest things to accomplish well. i'm not here talking about cartoon-style bicycles, but graphic renditions of any bicycle set in front of a searching artistic eye. since those art school days, i have occasionally attempted to describe even portions of a bicycle in pen and ink, or soft pencil on paper; believe me, it's nowhere near as simple as it looks. i doubt it not that the majority of you are content to ride bicycles as opposed to creating realistic bicycle portraiture, but i would maintain that a well-crafted bicycle drawing or painting is almost as desirable as the machine itself.
it's also a delightful means of capturing the soul of a well-loved, vintage bicycle that supersedes, in my opinion, a quick and ready snapshot. always assuming, of course, that said portrait has been crafted by a practised artist. like brooklyn resident, the inimitable taliah lempert for example.
she has made it her life's work to capture the essence of the bicycle in all its many guises, though even a quick flick through her online gallery will show that steel predominates in both finished works and studio sketches. and though i can think of one or two artists who have emulated status quo, in finding a successful formula and exploiting it for all it's worth. taliah continues to push the boundaries of her art, where even sketches for works in progress are highly attractive in and of themselves. this is particularly true of those illustrated here, which depict a 1937 velox ace, owned by track racer, alfred zaffini.
when the bike shed is filled with velocipedinal delight, but there is still earnest desire to surround yourself with cycling in illustrative form, or are searching for a christmas present with a difference, you should probably drop taliah an e-mail sooner, rather than later.
all images © 2018 taliah lempert | bicycle paintings
sunday 2 december 2018
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................we are a discriminating lot, not always perfectly in tune with our immediate needs. we are terminally guilty of drooling over the very latest in nano carbon fibre frames, whether produced in-house by the manufacturer, or expertly constructed in the far east, along with the bulk of the world's bicycle frames. and should your affections lie not with the black stuff, but more closely align with real steel, lugged or otherwise, to be honest, the sentiments are the same, but simply of a different flavour.
yet the avowed aim of many, particularly the former carbon obsessed category, is a quest for speed, egged on by a desire to race at the highest level possible, or the desire to emulate those who have chosen bicycle racing as their true vocation. therefore, those with what i believe is referred to as a large disposable income, have no compunction in augmenting those nano-fibres with carbon-rimmed wheels that would scarcely trouble a set of digital scales, carbon-railed saddles and many another trinket that offers perhaps more bling than velocity.
the groupset seems almost an afterthought, on occasion.
purchasers of complete bicycles usually have very little option over the level or brand of groupset affixed to the frame. in an increasingly competitive market, the whole package is subject to the nitpicking enforced by a strictured accounts department. many years ago, i was contacted by a visitor riding a brand new bicycle, sourced from a reputable brand. a matter of days old, the bottom bracket had failed and on dismantling the edifice, it was found to be a simple cup-and-cone masquerading as a more expensive cartridge version. i can but assume that the manufacturer had decided this was the very item that ought to cost pennies rather than pounds.
the days of the individual choosing both frame and components, after a long and considered period of procrastination, have all but gone. even the upper price brackets are populated by complete bicycles, few of which arrive festooned with the finest that vicenza has to offer. i am insufficiently well-acquainted with the intricacies of international commerce as related to bicycle manufacturing to fully understand why campagnolo have fared less well in this respect than their principal competition, but it effectively means that those who choose to fit italian could reasonably be described as true aficonados.
narcissistic or otherwise, i am inclined to describe myself in this fashion. thus, the opportunity to review a record twelve-speed groupset was a particularly welcome one.
on release of an eleven-speed groupset some years ago, there were many accusations of simple one-upmanship; an attempt to take a lead in the world of the bicycle groupset, allegedly more numerical than technical. it also led to the almost inevitable spinal tap jibes to which i must also answer guilty as charged. however, though both eleven sprockets and now twelve were effectively the 'headlining acts' there's a lot more to it than that. the secret here, is one of subtlety; a seemingly minor alteration in the angle at which the brake levers sit relative to the bars is hardly the meat and potatoes of the caption writer.
undoubtedly, the question that we've all been asking ourselves, is whether there's a real need for twelve rear sprockets? many of us will easily recall the days of the archetypal 'ten speed racer', when the two front rings were invariably 52/42 and the freewheel featured a mere five sprockets. though an increase in race speeds over the intervening years has been explained in oh, so many ways, i do not recall anyone pointing the finger at more sprockets as an intrinsic part of the equation. but though we often erroneously refer to the number of sprockets as 'speeds', in truth that only becomes pertinent under the thigh muscles of a bona-fide sprinter. which neatly brings me back to my original query; do we really need twelve sprockets?
'need' is somewhat of a subjective term; the real question ought surely to be 'will we enjoy a total of twelve sprockets?', to which my spoiler alert answer must be a resounding yes. aside from adding that twelfth gear in the same space occupied by the previous eleven, meaning no need to shop for a new set of wheels, the jump from one sprocket to the next has been minimised. there are two cassettes on offer: 11-29 and 11-32, of which i have the former, wedded to a 36/52 chainset upfront. in the days when eddy and the boys raced up and over everything on the 21 or 23 sprocket as part of a five or six-speed freewheel, the gap between each was actually smaller than has been the case with even campagnolo's eleven speed, wider ratio cassettes.
therefore, the most obvious result of riding twelve is both an actual and perceived smoothness. this is a feature also enhanced by the redesigned rear derailleur, now provided with larger jockey wheels and attached to the frame by means of a hanger. this allows the top jockey wheel to more closely follow the curve of the sprockets as it moves up and down the block (as us old-timers used to say). the chain has also been redesigned to accommodate thinner sprockets and chainrings, but which, thankfully, can still be joined by means of campagnolo's eleven-speed, proprietary chain tool.
vicenza has also taken particular note of the trend towards wider tyres, allowing the pinch bolt on the front derailleur (now bereft of that carbon outer plate) to be fitted fore or aft, to prevent the cable snagging on more substantial rubber. this general increase in tyre size did, however, cause the only hiccup in an otherwise superb groupset. at point of assembly, my ritchey logic wore mavic tubeless 700 x 28c tyres, a size that initially proved too much for the record brake calipers. when correctly fitted in the fork dropouts, the tyre rubbed noticeably on the underside of the record dual-pivot caliper.
those tyres do have rather a high profile relative to other brands, so i swapped it for a similar-width compass tyre on a different wheel, which, unfortunately suffered in the same way. this was not a problem at all with the chorus calipers previously fitted to the ritchey. i have managed to fit the wheel slightly lower in the dropouts by clamping the skewer tightly, but considering the cost of the brakes alone (£230), this seems a tad unfortunate. i contacted campagnolo expert mechanic, graeme freestone king, to enquire if anyone else had reported similar problems. apparently, the version of chorus calipers i had used previously, offers between 2-3mm greater clearance than that provided by the record/super-record variant. though the caliper arms have been increased in length to accommodate wider tyres, it seems that the underside clearance has not been similarly increased.
oddly, clearance under the brake bridge at the rear is substantially greater. i daresay the placement of the bolt hole on the fork has as much of an influence, so your own mileage may vary. perhaps better to check before you purchase. the stopping power on offer, however, is very impressive; if like me, you prefer rim brakes to discs, i doubt you'll have any cause for complaint.
apart from the latter glitch, the groupset has behaved impeccably. changing across all twelve sprockets is impressively smooth and precise, while changing several gears up or down at one throw in a hurry, is just ginger peachy. i have long been a fan of campagnolo's one lever for each function setup, of which this particular implementation is pretty much state-of-the-art. campagnolo produce only braze-on front derailleurs, so on bicycle frames such as the ritchey, which are devoid of the necessary brazing, there is need of acquiring a clamp-on version. vicenza's ever more precise technology means that the angle of the front derailleur is less forgiving than was once the case, but despite having been my own mechanic at time of fitting, everything continues to work exactly as designed.
the chainset has also been upgraded, particularly the right-side crank, which no longer sports a hole at the centre. rather obviously, the hirth-coupling bolt can only be inserted from the left. aside from crank length options, the record chainset can be purchased with 34/50, 36/52 or 39/53 chainrings, the middle option being currently regarded as the new compact, so that's the one i chose for the review.
i offer this as something of a brief overview of campagnolo's latest and greatest, one that will be augmented with an update or two as time goes by. i had thought of reverting to the chorus calipers in order to alleviate the front tyre clearance problem, but i've decided to persevere in the interest of science. meanwhile, latter tribulation excepted, it's probably the finest groupset i've had the pleasure of riding, even though i don't really need anything like twelve gears.
campagnolo record twelve-speed
friday 23 november 2018
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