Fuji Otaku

Fun Bicycle Song

2012-01-02T11:05:00.000-05:00

A little late, but better than never:

Japanese Tire Irons

2011-12-18T20:23:00.001-05:00

My son got a flat on his bike the other day, a first for us here in Japan. So yesterday, on our way back from the Katayama Municipal Pool, we stopped at a bike shop to get the fixins for flat fixing.

The first joint had a patch kit, which we purchased, but no levers. We then stopped at another shop, they also didn't have any levers. At this point, I'm detecting a trend & I ask my wife to query the shop proprietor about "WTF is w/the no tire irons in Japanese bike shops?" as this sort of interchange is still a little beyond my Japanese abilities.

The proprietor said he just uses screw drivers, like apparently most bike shops in Japan do and I did on my first bike when I was in second or third grade.

Berthoud Aravis Saddle

2011-09-04T20:57:00.003-04:00

Finally got an official ride in on the 1985 Trek 620. I've been on about some 30/40 miles, but they were just pottering around. Today I rode about 50 miles, only stopping for a couple of water breaks.

Overall, the bike performs well. The 35mm tires do slow one down, no doubt about that.

On my previous rides, I had observed that the Berthoud Aravis saddle is absolutely rock hard. In addition to this, it is very flat longitudinally along the top, not having any sag.

By about mile 35, this was starting to severely bother me. In addition to general discomfort, the flat along the top was making it impossibly painful to ride the drops.

You do the geometry.

I pedalled along thinking about this, in the way that saddle discomfort demands attention and thinking about all the Brooks B17 saddles that were comfortable right out of the box. I was also thinking pessimistically about how long it would take to break in a saddle with leather as thick as that of the Berthouds.

Finally, I remembered observing that the saddle had come w/some built in tension, not fully loosened the way Brooks customarily are when new. So I stopped, pulled out the 5mm allen wrench and backed off the tension a full turn.

This had a pretty dramatic effect. I'm not going to say everything was immediately sunshine and lollipops but it was a lot better. After another 5 miles, I gave it another half turn of loosening which further improved things.

On this ride, it was a little hard to tell if this will yield an acceptable comfort level, as I was pretty beat up and sore by the time I got around to detensioning the saddle a bit. But I am a lot more optimistic about it than I was midway through the ride.

The Grizzly Roars To Life

2011-09-03T18:40:00.002-04:00

Regular readers of this blog may be wondering what ever happened to my 1988 Bianchi Grizzly that was nearly completed back in July.

The short answer is nothing at all happened, the bike has just been sitting in a corner.

Until today when I resolved to do the 30 minutes of work necessary (cable fitting mostly) to get this thing on the road. And my resolve was undaunted as I was then able to take this out for a short hop on some errands:

The biggest unknown for me was how would the drop bars work. Periodically, I get tempted into making some sort of rugged duty, urban commuter/utility whatever out of a mountain bike. This is all well and good until it comes time to actually ride it and I rapidly lose interest because of the flat bars. I seem to be able to abide flat bars only in a true MTB situation.

So this time I decided to put on some drop bars and while it was only a short ride, I would give the geometry and feel a go at this point.

The stem shifters I installed are fun and quite convenient, but you have to be secure in your manhood (or just plain be in your senescence) to enjoy them:

This bike has bio-pace chain rings. I couldn't really tell any difference in the feel between these and normal chainrings. They still look utterly dorky, though.

Overall, I think the drop bars on this are a winner. I haven't done much else to the bike so far because I wanted to ensure that I was ok with the drop bars before doing much other work.

The Phoenix Project - MKS Custom Pro Pedals

2011-09-02T02:35:00.003-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

I love the looks of a classic road pedal. But the nib most of them have on the outboard edge of the cage interferes with using street shoes when necessary.

Fortunately for us, MKS (Mikishima = "Three Islands") has a fairly new, very high quality release with a subdued, almost vestigial nib, called the MKS Custom Pro:

These pedals share the same body with the MKS Custom Nuevo:

Here are the hints of a nib:

The cages are bolted on, just like in the good old days:

Incidentally, the MKS site (www.mkspedal.com) helpfully explains that in MKS-ese, sealed bearing indicates sealed cartridge bearing whereas sealed mechanism means good old fashioned loose cup and cone bearings with some sort of seal in the equation.

Street Cred

MKS has been making pedals for decades along the full spectrum from dirt cheap models up to very high end. All have a stellar reputation for toughness, serviceability, and reliability. I've never heard a complaint about them other than the cheap ones can be stingy on the grease when delivered from the factory.

Gizmo Lust

Other than the excellent finish, which includes much beloved chromed spindles, how excited can one get over pedals?

Well, when I unwrapped these and spun those precious chrome spindles, I was floored. They spin as smoothly and evenly as some precision machine tool, sort of the platonic ideal of a rotating axle. No resistance and no play detectable whatsoever, it is almost eerie.

They are also nicely, but not insanely, light at 293 grams.

Crimethink

With these pedals, it is official. The 1985 Trek 620 has no traditional, repackable, cup and cone bearings in any component.

Tweed Factor

Tweedies love MKS, but are traditionally much more likely to go in for cheapo MKS Sylvan variants.

In recent years, MKS has been an enabler of the increasing weirdness in this quarter with things like these "Grip Kings":

If the stock situation isn't enough for you, there are little aftermarket screws to put in all those holes to make them into a real bed of nails. This is just the thing for cruising around in the aftermath of an oil spill, I suppose.

Phony Accent

Racing pedals? Cycling vanity, thy name is slow middle aged guy.

Lily Gilding

There is no excuse at all for the price I paid for these.

Honorable Mention

I really like Specialized Touring Pedals produced by MKS back in the late 80's or so:

These have a traditional road pedal look but with the support of a platform pedal. Further, the rear cage and platform is slightly curved. This conforms to one's foot and is supremely comfortable.

However, they had sealed mechanisms instead of sealed bearings. Furthermore, they were a gross violation of the "no vintage parts" and I couldn't think of a reason to grant them a waiver.

I sure wish MKS would bring back a modern rendition of these. The guy I sold my last set to is actually contacting MKS (info@mkspedal.com) to inquire about this. Maybe if enough readers out there in Fuji Otaku-land join him in this, we may see it happen. It would be a great part to get back into production.

Another pedal I considered was the White Industries Platform Pedal:

I've been intriqued by these for a while. But the urban/commuter vibe didn't quite fit this project. Plus, I have some reservations about the durability of the extremely cantilevered flip tab when rendered in alloy. That is in a pretty exposed position and one good whack seems like it would break it off.

Running Tally

$3981 USD

We bring forward $3839 USD. The MKS Custom Pro pedals were a whopping $142 USD inclusive of shipping from benscycle.net.

The Sausage Factory

Always grease those pedal threads, always. Future generations of bike collectors will thank you.

The Phoenix Project - Final Concept Buzzwords

2011-09-01T15:43:00.011-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

Throughout the seemingly endless duration of The Phoenix Project, I have struggled with coining a term for what type of bike is the end product.

All-rounder seems distinctly vague and is sounds like somebody trying to tart up a cheap bike. Sensible cycle reminds me of platform pedals and oddballs with oddball gizmos while extreme cost of this project is anything but sensible.

Although the frame and gearing support touring, this is not a touring bike, as the rack space is limited and it is not fully ruggedized. The same goes for camping bike, not to mention I sort of hate camping.

The 35mm tires rule out randonneur bike, at least in the modern sense of the term.

The list goes on, but none of the pre-existing categories exactly seemed to express the combination of elements in what we've done with the 1985 Trek 620 in The Phoenix Project.

But this morning, the category, a new one of my creation, finally came to me in a flash. So after a meeting in Bethesda, I took the long way home to snap a few pictures to see if I could capture the essence of this category. Here is the best of the lot:

So here it is folks, an estate bike™. First and foremost, an estate bike™ is tasteful and refined, extremely high quality but not flashy. Stylistically, it carries on traditions and elements of its predecessors but is not a slavish or cartoonishly self-conscious reproduction.

As the pastoral name implies, it is comfortable and accomodating in all weather both on and off pavement but makes no pretenses about club racing or anything more daunting than gravel and moderate mud.

The parts on an estate bike™ are the products of established vendors at the pinnacle of their domain and are exquisite renditions of proven designs rather than the latest cycling marketing trends.

A perfunctory Googling shows that this is not a preexisting category, at least not a well-identified one - I'm glad that I thought of this term before Grant Petersen, who came up with country bike. Admittedly, estate bike™ is a similar concept, but a little less rowdy, a bit more elegant, and perhaps with a trust fund in the background somewhere.

Proceeding with dignity toward the local village on an estate bike™, one is supremely unperturbed by skinny tire racer boys whipping by except to the extent that it brings to mind fond memories of one's mint but very dusty full C Record Colnago hanging in the garage.

Oooh, I do love this picture, but it does mean I am going to have to lose the plastic water bottles and get some stainless ones.

The Phoenix Project - Dura Ace FD 7803 Front Triple Derailleur

2011-08-31T23:07:00.001-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

With the choice of a Dura Ace 7800 GS rear derailleur, it was simple to choose the Dura Ace FD 7803 front triple derailleur. Like the rear unit, it is a beautiful piece of work:

As is typical with Dura Ace gear, the finishing and attention to detail is exquisite:

The rear cage is highly sculpted:

This sculpting is designed specifically for the chainring jumps of a Dura Ace FC 7803 crankset with 53/39/30 rings. This is all part and parcel of the increasing specialization and consequent compatibility issues with cycling components.

It worked fine for the one or two test rides with the Sugino OX801D compact double. However, when I swapped that out for the final choice of a TA Carmina 48/38/28 triple, it took quite a while to find a satisfactory setup.

During the hour or so of futzing around with this, I found myself longing for the old days of more or less universally compatible front derailleurs with smooth inner and outer plates. When it came to ride time, I did find the shifts much quicker and more quiet than with an old style cage. However, I still have vague fears about incompatibility, as I am considering going to a 48-36-24 configuration on the front triple.

I'm going to skip the ratings, as they are identical to those of the Dura Ace RD 7800 rear derailleur.

Running Tally

$3839 USD

We bring forward $3730 USD. This unit was $109 USD with free shipping from Chain Reaction Cycles.

The Sausage Factory

The Phoenix Project - TA Specialites Carmina Crankset and SKF Bottom Bracket

2011-08-29T22:34:00.005-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

Other than important lifestyle items like straddle wire hangers and handlebar wrap, choosing a crankset has been the biggest dilemma of The Phoenix Project.

Going into this, I really, really wanted to embrace the trendy wide range compact double and actually purchased a Sugino OX801D crankset in a 46/30 combination. But this posed some problems with my planned rear cluster of 12/27.

The first was that the lowest gear on the outer chain ring was about 46 gear inches. This is a little more than I prefer for starting from a standing start especially when carrying a load or pulling a trailer. Sure, it is doable, but it is nice to options for laziness, fatigue, and so forth. So who wants to do a series of both front and rear derailleur shifts for every stop, particularly in urban riding.

The second was that the lowest gear was only going to be 30 gear inches. Again, for a lot of bikes, this is ok, but I want the 1985 Trek 620 to be configured for pulling heavy loads where need be.

The first option to address this was to drop the 12/27 rear cluster and go with a Shimano HG61 12/36. This would give me a low gear on the big chainring of 34.5 gear inches and a low gear on the small chainring of 22.5. Problem solved, right?

Well, that would solve the low gear problem but it introduces a few of its own. The Shimano HG61 is a beast of a cassette, weighing in at about a pound vice the half pound of the 12/27 Ultegra CS-6500. This alone isn't too much of a problem - I'm not a hard core weight weenie and the Sugino OX801D is a real lightweight at 745 grams including bottom bracket.

However, there were two other issues. To get that 12/36 spread, the HG61 has some pretty big tooth jumps. And even worse, I wouldn't be able to use a Dura Ace long cage rear derailleur as these only accommodate a max cog of 27, although some claim this can be pushed a tooth or two.

The alternative choice would have been a Shimano T661 rear derailleur, a fine product, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't bring myself to love this unit with the same unbridled passion I have for Dura Ace rear derailleurs. Were it any other project than this one, which is an exercise in extravagance and self-indulgence, I would have made the accommodation but in this case I put my foot down.

So, reinventing the wheel, I finally concluded that the only way to get overall wide range but with closely spaced gears on a single chainring with a 12/27 cassette was with a traditional triple.

This then presents problems as the bicycle industry is rapidly deprecating traditional triples for road bikes and even mountain bikes. I considered such choices as the Ultegra and Dura Ace triples, but with a large BDC of 130, the minimum middle ring can only be 39 or 38. Again, this is doable, but generally I avoid configurations that are at the limit of a piece of hardware as it eliminates flexibility in that direction.

I then briefly considered the newly reissued TA Specialites Cyclotouriste 50.4 BCD cranks (or some of their clones from Velo Orange and Electra), but, despite claims to the contrary, these still have issues with chainring flexibility and compatibility with modern sculpted outer cages on front derailleurs. Maybe the issues aren't as bad as they were on previous editions, but they've only been mitigated, not eliminated.

Even worse, though, is the spindly, Gothic look of the things. I've always thought that one of these:

Would be right at home on this lady's bike:

I'm sorry, it is an inescapable mental image I have of the TA Cyclotouriste cranks. I hope that by sharing this I haven't infected any readers.

Ultimately, and again reinventing the wheel, the obvious choice is the ever flexible 110/74mm BCD triple that reigned supreme for several decades on touring, utility, and mountain bikes.

Going into the marketplace for new 110/74mm triple cranksets, I was astonished at how few are still in production. The Sugino XD series of cranksets seems to satisfy about 90% of the remaining market for new production items. This is a fine, economical offering but is distinctly bland and not in the spirit of flagrant, willful violations of cycling sumptuary laws wherever possible.

Velo Orange has their own branded 110/74, which is also distinctly meh and furthemore devoid of provenance or snob appeal. Stronglight sells a 110/74 unit sometimes in Europe, but these are just rebranded Sugino XD units.

IRD and Velo Orange both now have nifty 110/74 clones of the Sugino Mighty Tour. Here is the IRD version:

Having been a huge fan of the original Sugino Mighty Tour, I was initially pretty excited by this. But then I discovered that the 74mm granny is mounted on a triplizer middle chainring, which is epic fail in my estimation, particularly since no one seems to sell exactly this style of triplizer ring, much less in a variety of tooth counts.

Then I got even more excited when I found out that Sugino itself had reissued the Mighty Tour and it was available in a triple version:

But I was again crestfallen to find that the granny was attached to a triplizer ring.

I then found a couple of other obscure offerings, none of which seemed satisfactory and at this point the reader is screaming, "What about the TA Specialites Carmina"?

Ha! I actually considered this from the start and it was always in play. However, the go-to guy for these in the U.S., Peter White, claims that he can only get these with a black spider, which I find hideous. Plus they were French, putting me at high Phony Accent risk. And on top of that, they just aren't the easiest things to find as well as being extremely expensive.

But after doing the above research, I thought, ok, they are a sweet item and if I can find one with a silver spider, I'll cough up the dough for one of these.

Enter Bilenky Cycles, who just happened to have these on sale and claimed to have silver 110/74 BCD spiders. For readers that are unfamiliar with the TA Carmina, the arms and spider are separate units and for a given set of arms, there are a range of spiders, from triples to singles in various BCDs that can be attached. Sort of the tinker-toy of cranksets.

Anyhow, this is what I ended up with in 48/38/28 rings:

Pretty luscious units, they are. The next problem was what bottom bracket? They take a traditional square spindle, but there is a little bit of mystery surrounding the bottom brackets for these, at least according to the Peter White site. Therein lies a complicated tale about whether or not the spider has a rough or smooth inner surface, I had a hard time following it all. The Internet is similarly indecisive.

Bilenky, though, was reassuringly unequivocal, said use a 113mm for a road bike on the triple Carmina and you will be fine.

It turns out I already had a new 110mm SKF square taper bottom bracket in the parts locker that I was itching to try. These are still a bit of an unknown but are starting to make a great impression. They have roller bearings on the left side to counteract the cross product twisting customary to that side and they are giving a 10 year warranty on the units.

While they are still a minor player in the bottom bracket market, SKF is the biggest manufacturer of bearings in the world. Turns out that they thought that would be enough to roll into the bottom bracket market but their initial attempt was less than overwhelmingly successful. So they backed up and gave that master of bike snob PR, Jan Heine, some sort of exclusive distributorship and he seems to be working his magic.

So I figured if Bilenky is right, and my spidey senses were affirming this, that I could slip a 1.5mm spacer on the drive side and get a good chainline. These bottom brackets are designed to have up to 5mm of this type of adjustability, so this was all according to Hoyle.

Turns out Bilenky (and me!) were right, as the 110mm bottom bracket with 1.5mm drive side spacer gave a Sheldon-perfect 45mm chainline.

Yay!

Street Cred

SKF is still largely an unknown without a lot of operating history behind their cycling products. There was some carping on forums about their original ISIS bottom brackets but I've seen nothing but praise for their current offerings. However, their current offerings are all pretty new, it remains to be seen how happy everyone is halfway through that 10 year warranty.

TA Specialites is a legendary cycling firm and usually of very high quality products. Their chainrings in particular are said by many to be some of the longest wearing ones available. Even if not, they sure are shiny:

Gizmo Lust

The SKF bottom bracket has German ball bearings. That is pretty neat.

Here is the fixing bolt for the famous detachable spider on the TA Carmina:

Looks postively surgical. And how about the finish on the pedal mounting insets - Bilenky thoughtfully threw in some pedal washers so I wouldn't ruin this:

Crimethink

The circle really turns. Back in the day, a 110/74 triple was plain as dirt. But now one must furtively search to the ends of the world to find a few options in this regard.

Tweed Factor

While there is no data on the SKF, the Tweed Factor is pretty high on the TA Carmina. Generally, Tweedy guys (and gals!) avoid expensive components, the largest exceptions being expensive stuff manufactured by Nitto or distributed by Peter White Cycles.

Phony Accent

X

As with the Berthoud Aravis saddle, one would expect a coronary inducing Phony Accent rating for a French part. But as with the saddle, that is only for fake copies of 1950's French parts spec'ed by American guys to Taiwanese factories.

But again, this is a real French part made by a real French company staffed by real Frenchmen (and Frenchwomen). And it doesn't look like anything made by Rene Herse or drawn by Daniel Rebour.

Just in case you couldn't read it:

Lily Gilding

This has lily gilding all over it. It is doubtful there is much functional difference between the TA Carmina and an infinitely cheaper Sugino XD crankset. And for the price of the SKF bottom bracket, I could have bought 4 or so cheaper bottom brackets.

Running Tally

$3730 USD

We bring forward $3628 USD. We subtract the $484 USD price of the Sugino OX801D crankset. The TA Carmina was $449 USD inclusive of shipping while the SKF bottom bracket was $137 USD inclusive of shifting.

The Sausage Factory

Everyone who sells the SKF bottom bracket recommends getting the Park BBT-18 tool to install this rather than attempting to install with a 1 prong locking ring wrench. I decided to go with the herd wisdom:

It turned out that the hex nut on this thing is huge, bigger than my biggest wrench or socket or even my gorilla crescent wrench. But then I had a brainstorm:

That is the right size.

The 110mm SKF bottom bracket is separable as shown, the red ring being the non-drive side:

Per the instructions, I first installed the drive side unit with 1.5mm spacer, this went in pretty easily and was torqued down to "lots":

When I got to the red non-drive side ring, I understood why everyone recommended the special tool, as it took a fair amount of grunt to get this fully tightened. I'm pretty sure I would have damaged the red ring trying to do this with a single prong bottom bracket tool:

I then installed the cranks (I'm an inveterate taper greaser....), torquing to 350 inch-lbs:

I was very pleased with the 45mm chainline on the first try.

The Phoenix Project - Dura Ace RD 7800 GS Rear Derailleur

2011-08-29T00:03:00.000-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

There was never a whole lot of question about what rear derailleur I would get. It had to have enough capacity for a triple and be rock solid reliable. I had been very pleased with the durability and smooth shifting of my Dura Ace RD 7700 GS. Alas, these are only infrequently available new, so I moved on to the RD 7800 GS:

The specs on it are max rear cog of 27 teeth and chain wrap of 37 teeth. This model, incidentally, is the last of the triple Dura Ace rear derailleurs. And even if it wasn't, I would prefer the shiny silver-titanium finish and smooth styling to the angular/matte styling of the 7900 series.

Street Cred

Dura Ace rear derailleurs are the best in the world in my book and in lots of other ones.

Gizmo Lust

Gosh, where do we start? Sealed bearing pulleys, cold forged Dura-Luminum body? Or how about the flourine coated link pins for lower friction shifting? And we shouldn't forget the polymer push plate for smoother shifting.

But all that functional nonsense aside, the fit and finish on this derailleur is exquisite, reminiscent of the good old days of Campagnolo C-Record cycling jewelry:

Crimethink

The combination of this derailleur with the Ultegra CS-6500 12/27 cassette and the Dura Ace SL-7700 downtube shifters is putting the 1985 Trek 620 dangerously close to Total Shimano Integration.

Tweed Factor

If I were going to throw down for a Rivendell frame (and be patient, I will someday, especially if they go back to level top tubes), this is exactly the rear mech I would put on it.

I suspect I'm not in the minority on this. Searching around the web, there are lots more occurrences of Dura Ace rear derailleurs on older models, i.e, level top tube frames like Rambouillet, than on their more recent offerings.

So come on Rivendell, enough with the 650b, double top tube, hyper expensive frames adorned with cheap component drill.

Phony Accent

X

This is good old Dura Ace, not a copy of anything.

Lily Gilding

Tough call on the lily gilding. This was expensive, no doubt. However, it was cheaper than for what I've recently sold a few NOS Suntour 1st Generation Cyclone rear derailleurs.

Plus, you get a lot of value beyond the Dura Ace name on the part. Here is an interesting comparison of various Ultegra and Dura Ace components specifically trying to determine whether the price differential is worth it.

Honorable Mention

I really wanted to love the Shimano T661 rear derailleur. It supposedly handles rear clusters up to 36 teeth with a 43 tooth chain wrap capacity:

The 36 tooth max cog capacity on this one is very appealing, especially when I was considering running a wide range compact double. But as we shall see in a future post, I've moved on from that concept and regressed to a traditional triple with a closer range rear cluster so that I can have some really low gears and tight gear spacing without having a bunch of front derailleur shifting.

This wasn't before I picked up a couple of these derailleurs and some HG61 12/36 cassettes, though, so if I'm ever pulling logging trucks up a mountain somewhere I can just slap one of these on and be good to go.

Running Tally

$3628 USD

We bring forward $3499. I paid $129 USD inclusive of shipping from some obscure bike shop that was blowing out their remaining stock on Ebay. This was a bit of a bargain, as these seem to be going for around $160 USD these days. I recommend picking up one or two of these while they are still available from retail joints as, again, they are the last of the Dura Ace long cage derailleurs.

Organ Sales

$259 USD

Geez, been a while for the Organ Sales section. We bring forward $103 USD. I sold the Shimano FC-6206 crankset for $110 and the Shimano BR-MC70 cantilever brakes for $46.

The Sausage Factory

There are a lot of horror stories about threading the derailleur cable through the inside of the chain stay on bikes with this configuration. The Internet abounds with tales of an afternoon spent fishing around trying to feed it through so that it meets the outgoing hole, using magnets and other schemes. However, it was simple and direct on this bike.

I do need a tighter fitting step-down ferrule. An unstepped 5mm is too large for the inset at the end of the chainstay and the 5mm to 3mm step down ferrule that accompanied the derailleur is a bit loose fitting.

The Phoenix Project - First Sea Trials

2011-08-22T22:39:00.001-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

We're getting a little ahead of ourselves here since we still have some componentry to discuss, dissect, and in at least on case, totally flame. But today The Phoenix Project 1985 Trek 620 went on a first ride.

I've been slowly wrenching this together in between blog posts and the wrenching has gotten a bit ahead of the posts. Today, I decided I saw daylight and could take a first ride before my wife and son return to Japan. So I hitched up the trailer and little Otaku Jr. and I rode to Bethesda and back, about a 10 mile ride.

Here is the 1985 Trek 620 as it stands today, I didn't have toe clips and straps for the ride:

You can see I've gone with mustardy yellow brake cable housings.

Little Otaku Jr. is not so little anymore at 7 years old, but he still fits into the trailer. We stopped at the Rock Creek Trestle, a traditional bike photography point. The late afternoon light was a little harsh:

No issues on the ride other than having to tighten the seatpost clamp a smidge.

The Berthoud Aravis saddle is very firm but seems agreable. The Dura Ace SL-7700 shifters are buttery smooth in friction mode, I'm very impressed with these.

The Sugino OX801D crankset deserves a bit of discussion. First is what I didn't notice. Regular readers may recall that I ordered these in 160mm arm length. I had ridden several miles before I remembered this fact and that I should be taking notice of the difference. That alone is a testament to how little effect I noticed from the short arm length.

Between the crank construction and the external bottom bracket bearings, these babies are very stiff. The low Q-Factor of 145mm is noticeable by my knees occasionally brushing the seatpost water bottle. And all the shift assist gimcrackery on the rings makes the shifting from the 30 to the 46 ring very simple and flawless.

As for that 30 ring, in combination with a 27 tooth max cog in the rear the lowest gear is about 30 gear inches. This was ok for pulling a 7 year old in a trailer on not too hilly ground, but it is clear that hillier loaded riding is going to need a lower gear. But it is fine for lightly loaded riding around Washington DC.

The Royce Titan Venus hubs roll smoothly. At first, the freehub was nearly silent but after a few miles of working itself in, it developed a rather louder click when freewheeling. I actually prefer this as it notifies pedestrians of my approach.

Overall, everything worked flawlessly. Following this ride, I puttered around the bike making some minor adjustments. The course was mostly unpaved gravel, an effective stress relieving exercise, but the rims are still perfectly true so I gave myself an attaboy for my wheelbuilding.

In any event, there are still some major components to be reviewed, so stay tuned.

The Phoenix Project - Sugino OX801D Compact Plus Crankset

2011-08-20T02:09:00.001-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

As alluded to in a previous post, I have a Sugino OX801D currently installed on the 1985 Trek 620 project bike.

The most novel feature of this crank extends the conventional compact double paradigm by offering a 74mm BCD drilling in addition to the typical 110mm BCD arms found on most conventional compact doubles. This allows a truly wide range compact double.

Interestingly enough, the U.S. based retailers only offer it with both rings as 110 BCD. I had to order from Japan to get one with a 110mm outer ring and a 74mm inner ring - I got this in 46/30.

As you can see, this is a external bearing bottom bracket type. The Sugino OX801D does come with a Sugino bottom bracket, but is compatible with recent Shimano 105/Ultegra/Dura Ace external bottom brackets:

And as a nice touch, the non-drive side cap has an allen head fitting rather than some special tool.

Another interesting feature of this crank is that the spider is outboard of the large ring, much like the old Mavic Starfish cranks:

Another very unconventional aspect of this crank is that I ordered it in 160mm crank arm length.

I had been rolling around with 165mm cranks on my Fuji America and I was pleased with that plus various online crank length calculators suggested that the universe would not implode if I tried some 160mm cranks. And finally, the 1985 Trek 620 is a bit tight on the toe clip overlap situation so some shorter cranks may help in this department.

Overall, this crankset is an experiment - wide range compact double, external bottom bracket, and short crankarms. Ultimately, this crankset will likely end up on my wife's bike - she is rather petite, I carry all the baggage, and navigating a triple is irksome for her, so a wide range compact double with short arms is just the thing for her. I've already ordered a conventional triple crank, but for now The Phoenix Project will be rolling with the Sugino OX801D.

Street Cred

Sugino has sterling credentials for making high quality products.

Gizmo Lust

The Sugino is a unique piece of work with the external spider and 110/74 options on a compact double. The claimed Q-factor is a very low 145mm and the claimed weight, including bottom bracket, is a very low 787 grams. Beyond all that, the fit and finish are excellent:

And let's not forget all the extravagant shift assist engravings:

Crimethink

There is a whole pile of unconventionality here, again the aforementioned external spider, external bottom bracket, and simply the fact of being a compact double, although this is becoming much less controversial.

Tweed Factor

X

Way too expensive and flashy and externally bottom bracketed for the Riv set.

Phony Accent

X

The only thing this crank remotely resembles is a Mavic Starfish and the similarity is very slight. This is definitely a Sugino original.

Lily Gilding

When the Sugino OX801D first hit the streets, there was a huge amount of bellyaching about the price. But that was simply because in recent years the Sugino offerings encountered stateside tended to be lower rung offerings, such as the wonderful and economical XD series of triples. But compared against high end cranksets, which the Sugino OX801D assuredly is, the price is not nearly so astronomical.

Running Tally

$3499 USD

We bring forward $3015 USD. U.S. retailers are selling the Sugino OX801D for around $550 USD. However, I managed to purchase mine before the latest lurch downward of the dollar against the yen for $484 USD inclusive of shipping from Alex's Cycles in Osaka, Japan. The shipping got it here in 2 days, if you can believe that.

The Sausage Factory

The Phoenix Project - Shimano Ultegra 12/27 CS 6500 9 Speed Cassette

2011-08-19T22:38:00.003-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

Having long ago selected a Shimano compatible freehub for the rear hub, it is about time to get a cassette on it.

I actually spent quite some time dithering around with this as selection of the cassette is completely intertwined with crankset selection.

The number of speeds is also a factor. In the case of The Phoenix Project, we opt for 9 speeds. There are a couple of reasons for this selection.

First, 9 speeds is about the highest number of cogs that average riders can use in the the friction mode without excessively fine motions needed for rear derailleur trimming. Some riders report no problems with 10 and even 11 speeds, but the curve starts breaking sharply at 9 or even 8 speeds.

The shifters for The Phoenix Project have friction and 9 speed indexing modes, so a 9 speed cassette keeps options open for using in index mode.

9 speed cassettes are still supported by the cycle industry in a wide range of quality and tooth counts.

Finally, 9 speed chains, unlike 10 or 11 speed chains, are as robust and long lived as 8/7 (and less) speed chains.

The Ultegra level is the sweet spot, in my opinion, for overall value in terms of quality, price, and durability. Although I have several new Ultegra 12/27 9 speed cassettes in stock, I also happened to have one that only got used for about 3 rides, so I went with that:

I can't think of a whole bunch of cute things to say about cassettes, so rather than bore readers with a bunch of gratuitous ratings snarkery, lets talk turkey about the 12/27.

As noted above, the choice of crankset informs cassette choice and since the beginning of The Phoenix Project I have been wrestling with this issue. More specifically, the issue has been whether to go with compact double or a traditional triple.

I really want to love wide range compact doubles, but I keep getting back to a couple of issues. For this bike, intended as a versatile all-rounder, I want a very wide range and especially so on the bottom end for pulling loads up steep inclines.

Most compact doubles go no lower than a 34 tooth small ring. With a 27 or 28 big cog in the rear, the limit of typical road derailleurs, that translates to a low of 32 or 33 gear inches, clearly inadequate for loaded hill climbing.

If we decide to go to MTB/Trekking derailleurs, we can consider something like the Shimano HG61 12/36 cassette. With a 34 small front ring, that starts getting into acceptable hilly/loaded low range of 25 gear inches. But for the type of loads I sometimes pull along with my advancing age, it is still a little borderline.

This got me interested in the new Sugino OX801D Compact+ crankset, which allows a choice of either a 110 or 74 bcd inner ring. I got so interested in this that I actually ordered one in a 46/30 configuration and mounted it on the Trek 620:

The Sugino crankset is a beautiful piece of work and is quite flexible with the 110 or 74 mm inner ring options. With a 30 tooth inner ring and a 36 large cog, one gets a stump-pulling low gear of 22 gear inches.

The problem, though, is that the 12/36 cassette has a lot of big jumps between the gears and the large jump between the front rings inhibits a lot of back and forth between the front rings. Plus, the 36, or anything larger in the rear than 27 or 28, then rules out a lot of fine derailleur choices. So all of a sudden the compact double is still imposing various compromises. None of these compromises are fatal, but it just seems like there are a lot of nagging issues, the sum of which seem like lots more downside than having to trim a front derailleur when shifting from the big ring to the middle on a triple.

Thus, at this point, I've finally decided to go with a traditional 110/74 triple. Despite all the compact double hype, and they do have many virtues, they still don't completely replace a traditional triple for heavily loaded riding.

One could counter that I could fit a 24 or so small chainring in the front on the Sugino and still keep the 12/27 in the rear and get a good low gear and tight ratios. That is true, but then the front shifting becomes dicey with a jump of of 20 or more teeth.

I may ride this Sugino for a bit on the Trek 620, but it will likely end up on my wife's bike, as she lets me carry all the heavy gear and a compact double makes more sense for her as she also finds triples a bit vexatious.

Running Tally

$3015 USD

We carry forward $2955 USD. Although this particular cassette was slightly used, new ones can be had as low as about $60 USD.

The Sausage Factory

Taking a Breath

2011-08-17T21:05:00.002-04:00

Things will be slow for a week or two here. My family just arrived here from Japan for a visit for a couple of weeks. I hope everyone stays tuned...

The Phoenix Project - Paul Components Moon Unit Extra Fancy Cable Hangers

2011-08-13T23:02:00.002-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

The Shimano M732 Cantilever Brakes selected for this project include a rather odd straddle wire/cable hanger contraption:

The straddle wire is actually half of a straddle wire. One end has two nibs for securing it to the brake arm, one is labeled "front", the other "rear". On the other end is a circular device through which the brake cable runs so that it may be secured to the other brake arm and thereby becoming the other half of the straddle wire.

I could probably think of about 10 reasons why this is a bad idea. However, I didn't bother because the fact that such a thing hasn't been seen for 20 years means it is obviously an evolutionary dead end.

It also meant that I had to select a new cable hanger, a decision of much consequence. Virtually all cable hangers, along with other small items such as bar plugs, toe clip straps, water bottle cages, etc., get the job done. So decisions about such items are lifestyle choices, essentially, that reflect the tastes and preferences of the bike's owner.

In the past, I've been enamored of the Velo Orange cable hanger. Generally, I'm lukewarm about VO's component offerings, but they tend to excel in this type of small item.

I had a set on my Fuji Gran Tourer SE:

Overall, they are a wonderfully clever little item but they are found a bit wanting on the survivability front. To set them up, the cable must be clipped at most about 1/4" longer than the position of their anchor bolt. So if for some reason the carrier needs to be moved lower on the cable, you are pretty much out of luck with these.

Also, once the cable is clipped and the strands slightly frayed, it can be extremely difficult to reinsert the cable into the hangers top hole if the cable is removed from the the hanger.

I am also fond of the vintage Dia Compe units with an integrated quick release:

Unfortunately, I have only one of these. And, as with the Velo Orange hanger, the small radius of the hanger can complicate brake setup, leaving some brakes feeling rather mushy.

The Tektro cable hangers, as seen here on my wife's 1985 Trek 720, have a much larger radius, nice machining, and a whole slew of cable clamp bolts that all add up to a nice bit of cycling kit:

I nearly went with the Tektro hangers. However, since a set is already in the fleet, I wanted to try something new. Plus, I felt bad about Paul Components having whiffed on the seatpost and brakes and this was about the last chance for something from this fine manufacturer (not to be confused with vendor) to be included in The Phoenix Project.

So I ordered up a set of Paul Components Moon Unit Extra Fancy Cable Hangers:

These are well made, no-nonsense hangers. And they even come with a decal that I can stick on my truing stand to show the love.

Street Cred

Paul Components always puts excellent function and supreme durability first on all their products. Were I building a bike for a Tierra del Fuego expedition, it would have lots of Paul Components stuff on it.

Gizmo Lust

Unlike the offerings from Tektro, Velo Orange, and Dia Compe, and despite their "Extra Fancy" moniker, the Moon Units are remarkably plain and don't cause a detectable increase in my heartbeat. But Paul Components claims, "the Moon Unit is the fanciest straddle cable holder you can get", so they get a couple of points for that.

Crimethink

X

Despite a struggle to think of anything controversial about these, or even most other, cable hangers, I come up with nothing.

Tweed Factor

The Tweed Factor comes in quite low, as these are crazy expensive for cable hangers. But BOBish types sometimes go for Paul Components stuff, so we award 2 rain ponchos for that.

Phony Accent

These are a Paul Components original, so why do they rate 1 Beret-ness of Phony Accent. Well, they are a reissue and any reissue has a taint of Phony Accent. The fact that Paul Component produced the original of which these are a reissue keeps it down to only 1 Beret.

Lily Gilding

These were far and away the most expensive option, the spendy Velo Orange offering a distant second. And for that money, they add little true value beyond what is contained in the typical cheap stamped model.

But I really wanted to get at least one Paul Component item included in The Phoenix Project.

Running Tally

$2955 USD

We bring forward $2917 USD. The Paul Components Moon Unit Extra Fancy Cable Hangers adds $38 USD.

The Phoenix Project - Dura Ace BL-7400 Brake Levers

2011-08-13T14:45:00.001-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

I'm not a big fan of aero brake levers. Their need to route cables under handlebar tape adds a degree of complication without providing any offsetting benefit. Sure, they typically provide additional leverage but I am able to stop to my satisfaction with non-aero levers.

Those who share this point of view are evidently in the minority, as current production non-aero brake levers are shockingly scarce. The Dia Compe 204 brake levers are one of the very few offerings available so I ponied up $24 USD for a set:

These levers do have an integrated quick release, a feature I ever adore:

However, the quick release was not enough to redeem them from the unmistakable tinny cheapness they exude. I'll find some use for them, just not on the The Phoenix Project. The nicely done hoods are Campagnolo NR pattern, so those alone may be worth the $24 as this pattern fits a wide variety of vintage levers.

At this point, I was pretty much out of luck for new production non-aero levers. I could have abandoned non-aero levers but that would also mean abandoning the Toshi Stitch-on Leather Handlebar Wrap as that product will definitely not stretch over cable housings.

At this point, it is worth some discussion about the goals and guidelines of The Phoenix Project. Regular readers may recall that the thesis of the project is that it is possible to assemble a neo-classic bike using current production parts save the frame.

Actually, the purpose of The Phoenix Project is to test that thesis. One finding so far is that while it is strictly possible in the case of non-aero brake levers, the currently available levers are found to wanting in the area of high-end quality or at least the perception thereof.

So now we know and I moved on to vintage levers. I had in my possession a NOS set of Modolo Speedy levers:

In addition to being high quality, these are really fun levers with the nice countersunk drillium and engraving on the levers and the anatomic, reptile pattern hoods.

Their only flaw is that the Modolo logo is simply printed on the levers with no engraving. In such a prominent location, this will surely scratch off in time and the lack of engraving makes it difficult, if not impossible, to retouch. The prominent location will also ensure that these scratched logos will be highly visible to all.

The logo is a serious deficiency but by itself is not reason to reject these levers. Ultimately though, I decided that the Modolo levers were a bit too much fun and, uh, boisterous? Like the Dia Compe 204, they have their place, but didn't quite match the quiet dignity we are striving for on The Phoenix Project.

I'm glad I was so picky about the Dia Compe and Modolo levers because I finally found the perfect solution, Dura Ace 7400 brake levers:

Being the last non-aero Dura Ace brake levers, the 7400 model has to be in the running as the finest non-aero levers ever produced. Beyond that, like much Dura Ace stuff, they have the quiet dignity we desire, the logo is engraved and filled, and the hoods are Campagnolo NR pattern, ensuring some availability of replacements downstream. The hood pattern is a little bit of a surprise for Shimano levers which usually seem to have different hoods for virtually every different lever model.

Street Cred

Dura Ace is generally great stuff. However, Shimano breeds some well deserved resentment for all their non-compatibility tricks to foil third party vendors.

For instance, I long considered a Dura Ace 7803 triple crankset for this project. These are the last of the the Dura Ace triples and despite the OEM contoured chain rings, look pretty sharp with aftermarket, flat rings.

But the granny has a unique BCD of 92mm and I just couldn't abide that.

Gizmo Lust

These are quite well made, but it is pretty hard to get very excited about brake levers, especially ones without a quick release.

Crimethink

The world has moved so far into the aero mode even many vintage enthusiasts have drunk the kool aid or at least decided that further resistance is futile. So touting non-aero levers for something other than a period correct build is dangerous territory.

But I will stand my ground. Non aero levers are simpler to set up. Once set up, the configuration is easier to alter because the cable slack is more readily available for, say, changing some of the brake hardware or the brakes themselves. Replacing cable housing doesn't necessitate new handlebar wrap and sometimes different levers themselves can be mounted on the existing clamps without having to rewrap bars.

They look better as well, typically having a more petite profile. The handlebars themselves look and feel better without the cables glommed underneath the wrap.

These may seem like minor points, but apart from the additional leverage, which I don't feel I need, I see no advantage to aero levers at all. Some may be bothered by the housing clutter over the bars but that has never troubled me. After all, we don't insist on aero routing for flat bars, do we?

Tweed Factor

X

Too vintage, too expensive, too unconventionally non-aero, and too Dura Ace for the Riv-stricken.

Phony Accent

The levers themselves are just typical Dura Ace, no Phony Accent there. However, my intransigent, unreconstructed insistence on non-aero levers leaves this aspect of The Phoenix Project open to charges of studied and flamboyant retrogrouchery.

Lily Gilding

Gadzooks, these things were expensive! I could have just gone with the Dia Compe 204 for a fifth of the price and they would have worked just as well and had a quick release. But no, I had to have that warm, comforting Dura Ace aura.

Running Tally

$2917 USD

We bring forward $2788 USD. There isn't much chance of finding a set of NOS Dura Ace BL-7400 levers on a retailer's shelf, so I shelled out an astronomical $129 USD to some guy on ebay.

The Sausage Factory

I want to test my choice and setup of stem, handlebar, and levers before installing the Toshi Stitch-on Leather Handlebar Wrap. You only get one shot with that, as holes must be cut to accommodate the lever clamps. So I installed some Deda tan cork tape I had around. It was a quick and dirty job, kind of messy, but I didn't expose too much of this sloppiness in these pics:

These levers definitely are the right ones:

The Phoenix Project - Shimano M732 Cantilever Brakes

2011-08-12T17:14:00.003-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

Cantilever brakes for a 1985 Trek 620 or 720 is a tricky issue. On modern bikes, cantilever posts are spaced at about 80mm, whereas on older road bikes the spacing is narrower, particularly so in the front. On the 1985 Trek 620, the posts are space at around 65mm.

This narrower spacing was abandoned in the late 80's on cantilever equipped road bikes as the then new-fangled mountain bikes used a wider spacing. This was a much larger market and the brake manufacturers began designing cantilever brakes to this wider spacing.

This situation is further complicated by converting to 700c wheels as is being done in The Phoenix Project.

Sifting through which brakes may work is a chancy undertaking as it is nearly impossible to determine from photographs and published specifications. I've been through this drill on my previous Trek 620 and on my wife's 1985 Trek 720.

Fortunately, the Shimano BR-MC70 brakes that came stock on the 1985 Trek 620 will work for such conversions. These brakes were included in the Deore XT and M700 "Deerhead" groups. This is the set that came on the Trek 620 that is the subject of The Phoenix Project:

These are very nice cantilever brakes and are sought after by collectors. They have quite a bit of up and down adjustment in addition to the radial adjustment of the post arm. They also have an integral toe-in adjuster, the black rings seen in the picture above.

As this set was in very good condition, I closely considered just rolling with them and avoiding a cantilever compatibility quagmire. However, they have no provision for balancing the spring tension between the arms. The cantilever brazeons on the Trek 620 only have one hole for the spring unlike others that have several for adjusting tension. That left only the unappetizing workaround of bending springs to balance tension.

Fortunately, the follow-on model, the Shimano M732 cantilever brakes, included in the Deore XT group, is nearly identical in geometry and features and also includes a tension adjustment. They have a slightly different look:

Here you can see the up and down adjustment:

They also have two spring settings, one for normal brake levers and one for SLR (Shimano Linear Response) levers. They also have a tension adjustment on one arm per pair:

Otherwise they are nearly identical other than form to their Shimano BR-MC70 predecessors.

They do have a beefier look, especially around the cantilever mounting posts:

Selecting these brakes did infringe upon the "no vintage components" guideline of this project. However, the dire situation posed by the Trek 620 setup issues more than warranted a waiver. The fact that I was also able to purchase a new bike's worth from benscycle.net, a regular bike part vendor, made me feel a little better about this deviation.

Street Cred

Shimano Deore XT has decades worth of a well-deserved reputation great reputation for good operation and reliability under the toughest of situations.

Gizmo Lust

These are very versatile brakes with their integrated toe-in adjusters, up and down adjustibility, and tension balancing. Furthermore, these features are incorporated in a shiny, elegant, uncluttered form.

Crimethink

Nobody has ever done time for selecting Deore XT.

Tweed Factor

We come up with a pretty low Tweed Factor of one rain poncho. Generally, these type of folk avoid NOS parts, especially somewhat expensive ones. Much more likely choices would include Paul Neo-Retro cantis on the high end, a choice I considered but didn't want to take the compatibility chance:

Even more likely, as these sorts of riders like to adorn their $2000 USD (or more) frames with cheap components that discreetly underscores their superior wisdom about cheapo components, is the Shimano CT91:

Phony Accent

X

These don't look like anything to me but a pair of late-80's Deore XT brakes. If that has become a fashionable pose, it is news to me.

Lily Gilding

These were not too expensive for a set of quality cantilever brakes. However, it could be argued that it is a high price to pay simply for tension balancing, as that is all I gained over the existing set of brakes.

Running Tally

$2788 USD

We carry forward $2698 USD. These brakes, a bike's worth, were $89.99 USD, call it $90 USD, from benscycle.net inclusive of shipping.

The Sausage Factory

The Phoenix Project - Nitto M12 Front Rack

2011-08-12T02:48:00.001-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

The front rack I select for this project is the Nitto M12:

I've been getting so much Nitto on the 1985 Trek 620 frame the Nitto fairy finally stopped by and left me a cap:

There really was never much question which front rack I was going to buy, given that I wanted to avail myself of the cantilever post mount feature, seen here with the adapter bolts that replace standard cantilever brake arm mounting bolts:

I did go through a long flirtation with the idea of the Nitto Campee:

Even though the low riders are removable, I decided that I preferred the more minimalistic M12 and that if I did need low riders from time to time, I would get a set of Tubus Duos that I could also install and remove with about the same amount of effort:

Regular readers may recall that I was surprised to discover that the fork crown holes on my 1985 Trek 620 and that it posed some complications for the installation of a Nitto M12 rack:

I did some research into this. Skip Echert, the creator of vintage-trek.com, had never heard of this but was rather interested. Some queries to vintage bike enthusiasts on the forums revealed a smattering of mid-80's Treks with this feature, but no clear pattern. Eventually, we determined it was just one of those things. Skip hypothesized that perhaps a few fork crowns for a special order for a custom framebuilder got mixed into a larger Trek order.

I pondered my options for a while, whether to drill the holes, modify the rack or go back to the Nitto Campee, which has no fork crown strut, just cantilever mounts.

Eventually, I got brave, cleaned and lubricated both threaded holes, and found that I could actually screw the rack all the way through both holes simultaneously:

That was one problem out of the way. The second was that once screwed in, would there be enough space to use the brake mount adapter bolts or would I have to create my own solution. As it turned out, there appeared to be enough:

With these problems out of the way, the M12 was a clear go:

Street Cred

Nitto? And threaded through both fork crown holes? You couldn't pull this rack off this bike with Jaws of Life.

Gizmo Lust

For not having any moving parts, the M12 does ok. The brazings are nicely executed amidst the typical Nitto quality. The cantilever mounting is super clean:

Crimethink

This rack is utterly conventional.

Tweed Factor

The M12 is off the charts for Tweedies. Nitto attracts them like a pork chop does to pit bulls and the clean cantilever mounting just throws gas on the fire.

Phony Accent

Any mini-front rack incites deep longing in euro-cyclotouriste wannabes and suspicions of the owner being such a wannabe by observers. But the extreme utility and elegance of mini-racks overrides this drawback. The same cannot be said for things like leather mudflaps.

Lily Gilding

Penny pinchers take note. A less expensive, virtually identical rack (coincidence?), but without the delicious aura of timeless Nitto goodness, can be had from Velo Orange. Euro-cyclotouriste aura is their pork chop. Anyhow, it is on sale at the time of this writing for about 20% less than the M12.

Running Tally

$2698 USD

We bring forward an even $2600 USD. The Nitto M12 rack was $79.99 USD and the adapter bolts $17.99 USD, but we'll just call it $80 USD and $18 USD, both from benscycle.net.

The Sausage Factory

Mounted on the 1985 Trek 620, the rack sits a bit higher than I expected. This does mitigate the cyclotouriste look a bit, as a rack directly atop the fender is the most desirable in that paradigm:

The Phoenix Project - Fenders Finis

2011-08-11T18:26:00.001-04:00

Got done with my last fender tweakage. I may go back and swap the single eyelets per stay for double eyelets later on, but for now I'm satisfied with the stiffness with this arrangement using backing plates.

These are really long fenders. I'd have to cut them back in order to add mudflaps:

I was so sick of fender tweakagery that I almost blew off the front fender mount at the Nitto M12 mini rack. It seemed pretty stable without it. But I soldiered on and I'm glad I did:

The spacer is M6 sized, I didn't have anything appropriate for an M5 bolt. Maybe I'll replace it someday, although it works and looks fine as it is. Note the faucet washer vibration dampener. This connection, like all on these fenders, has a homemade backing plate like this:

Overall, I'm pleased with these Civia fenders. Very high quality and a heck of a deal at around $40 USD.

The Phoenix Project - Further Fender Follies

2011-08-10T23:16:00.003-04:00

I finished up with the rear fender this evening.

My exquisite little hand-crafted fender mount worked like a champ. I used a faucet washer between the bracket and the chainstay bridge for vibration dampening:

It doesn't even look too bad, although next time I'm in there I may polish up some of the file marks a little more.

I fit this mount first and satisfied myself with its location and adjustment. The rear wheel was in the frame providing support for the fender.

I then held the fender up against the seat stay bridge and marked the back of the seatstay bridge on the fender. This was used as a reference point to position the Honjo L bracket:

To drill the holes for this L bracket, first I removed the fender from the bike. Then I taped the L bracket on the fender with quasi-sticky blue masking tape according to the reference mark taken from the seatstay bridge. With a 1/8" drill bit, I used the taped on bracket as a template. Following drilling, the resulting burrs are smoothed with a bid of sandpaper.

It is difficult to see, but again, there is a faucet washer between the bracket and the seatstay bridge for vibration dampening.

With these two brackets in place, mounting the fender stays is a snap:

Right now, I used the configuration of one eyelet per stay as provided by Civia.

As noted earlier, I'm a one eyelet per stay skeptic and my default inclination is to circle back later and convert to two eyelets per stay. In the interim, I decided to try an experiment with a backing plate on the fender stay eyelet:

You can see where I filed some flats on the fender washer so it fits in the channel on the fender. Just pushing the fender back and forth, it feels a lot stiffer than the floppy single eyelet fenders I got from Velo Orange before they went to two eyelets per stay, so I'm guardedly optimistic.

The Phoenix Project - Utter Fabrication, A DIY Fender Mount

2011-08-09T19:26:00.001-04:00

Mounting fenders is a source of frustration to many cyclists. Bicycle fenders, of necessity, are manufactured as generalities so that they may fit a wide range of bicycles. So for the last few yards of fitup, tweaking that is custom to a specific frame is often required and can pose unique problems on a per bike basis.

In the previous episode of The Phoenix Project, we examined a few issues with mounting a front fender. Today, we will turn our attention to the rear fender in the hope that some readers may gain some inspiration.

The 1985 Trek 620 and Trek 720 are renowned for their long 47mmm chainstays. On the 620 this poses a problem for mounting the fender chainstay bridge attachment point. Trek decided to economize a bit and integrate the chainstay bridge into the bottom bracket casting:

The 1985 Trek 720 doesn't pose this problem as it has a traditional brazed on chainstay bridge much further aft of the bottom bracket. Here is another view of the Trek 620's configuration:

That is a whole lot of space to bridge with a fender mount. Over the 10 years I owned my previous 1985 Trek 620, I tried several solutions. All were increasingly better than their predecessors, but none had ever proven entirely satisfactory in a combination of durability, adjustability, and stability.

When I purchased this 1985 Trek 620, I vowed to do better.

Over the past several weeks as The Phoenix Project has proceeded, this fender mount issue has been bubbling around in the back of my mind, keeping me awake at night on the lookout for the odd scraps that may be useful.

I had been keeping my eye on these mounting struts on a beat up old rack that has thus far escaped the trash man. This rack has led a hard life, as evidenced by the bent strut:

Initially, I rejected these as any sort of raw material because they were chromed steel. DIY mounts entail cutting, bending, drilling, etc., which would expose the rust prone steel substrate. However, not finding anything else promising around the shop, I returned to these and discovered, to my great joy, that they were stainless steel.

Complicating matters somewhat for this metalworking exercise is that I've sold of many, if not most, of my bigger, heavier, more expensive and sophisticated tools as my family has relocated to Japan and I'm just here part-time in the U.S.

However, this does work to the readers benefit. Too often in tech "how-to's", at a particularly critical juncture, the author pulls out a laser guided, ruby clad pneumatic torque wrench, the cost of which would pay the mortgage for several months, and saves the day but leaving the reader feeling hopeless if not a bit cheated.

There won't be any such trickery today on Fuji Otaku, as the most sophisticated tool we will resort to will be a common hand held power drill.

To the task we turn our attention to the undamaged strut. It has a 90 degree spiral bent into it. After determining that this feature could not be used to any advantage in the current situation, we straighten the spiral. First we clamp 2 C clamps as close to the spiral as possible:

We grab each C clamp and roughly twist out the spiral. This does leave some bow in the strut:

Using the bigger clamp, we flatten this further by adjusting the clamp position and clamping down very tight.

Following this, we tune it a little further with a few whacks of a hammer on a flat wood surface and end up with a pretty decent piece of flat stock:

The hole on the strut is sized for an M6 bolt and is consequently useless to us for a clean fit because the hole on the Trek 620's chainstay bridge is for a smaller M5 bolt.

So we grab a hacksaw and cut it off.

Please note that hacking through steel can generate significant heat, don't just grab the pieces right away.

Another thing to note is that bicycle parts never come with sharp edges so you don't gouge yourself while attempting a field repair in the driving rain on a muddy path thirty miles from home. So your bicycle parts shouldn't come with sharp edges either.

Following this dictum, we grab a file, remove burrs, sharp edges, and so forth until the hacksaw cut edge is so smooth and rounded one could leave it in the crib with the baby without any worry:

I'm not going to mention it again, but do this after each operation that leaves sharp edges and do it right away so it isn't forgotten.

Now we need a properly sized hole for a M5 bolt. With a (cheap) metal punch and a hammer we create a divot to start the drilling since we will be using a hand held drill. Otherwise the bit will skitter around all over the place. I just eyeballed this:

This is then C clamped to a flat wood scrap for drilling. C clamps are cheap and useful, as we are finding out.

Now keep in mind we are drilling steel. Steel is much, much tougher than aluminum - this works to our advantage on our old steel steeds but is a major pain for drilling at home. You need a sharp bit, some oil, and patience.

First, squirt a little oil on the area to be drilled. Then, get the point of the bit on the pilot divot created earlier with the punch. You should be able to feel it click into the hole through the drill. If you can't, enlarge the divot by whacking it again a few times with the punch and hammer combo.

Start drilling cautiously with firm pressure. In the USMC, they used to teach us not to go "full auto" with our M16's but rather do "three round bursts" (later models of M16's now have this feature built in).

Anyhow, don't go full auto, especially right off the bat when the hole is not formed. Again, if it skitters on your first tentative bursts, get out the hammer and punch again.

Now that the hole is formed, your bursts can become longer. The temptation is to just lay into now and finish the dang hole, but don't do that. First, the steel will become hot, so hot the wood block will start smoking. Second, you need to stop and add oil periodically to the whole.

This really isn't as much trouble as it sounds. Do a few heavily weighted bursts with the drill, ooze a little more oil onto the hole, slow down a little if things are getting too hot, rinse, repeat. It will all be over in a couple of minutes.

Well, it was for me. I know I said I wasn't going to mention it again, but file the burrs off the hole and then we have:

Now this needs a bend. I didn't take a picture of how I executed the bend, but later on there will be another picture of some homebrew bending rig:

Now we get out the hacksaw and cut again:

Note the cleanly filed edges. Oops, there I go again. Really, don't stint on the filing when doing this sort of thing, everyone will be a lot happier in the long run.

Now the flat piece needs a bend and we can see how to do this:

We secure the piece in a C clamp and use it as an anvil, beating it over with the hammer. Try to hit as close to the clamp as possible. Just in case anyone is wondering, this material was much too tough to bend with any accuracy by hand.

Note the ever vigilant file, ready at a moment's notice....

Now, at this point some readers may call foul because not everyone has a nice bench vise like shown above, but this wasn't strictly necessary, more of a convenience to end up now with two pieces as such:

I scrounge up some provisional hardware which will be augmented with washer and such in final assembly after I make a run to Hardware City and our creation begins taking final form:

Where this is heading should be pretty obvious at this point. Were we complacent, we could almost stop now. But since The Phoenix Project is emphasizing reliability and durability, we turn our attention to the bent strut:

Using a C clamp yet again, we press out the offensive bend:

We then cut the strut and prep the offcut:

So now we are ready for a first fit up to the fender:

We can see that the offcut is for a backing plate. This is always a really good idea with metal fenders, especially aluminum ones although I'd do it the same for steel fenders.

We can see the the backing plate is flat and the aluminum is rounded. We can deal with this by wrenching down hard on the attachment bolts and flattening this area of the fender. We could also lay the backing plate on a wood surface and beat on it some with a hammer to induce a bit of roundness along its length. Or we could do both, which is probably what I'll do in final fitup.

Here is another shot:

The use of two bolts at this point and then on the mount extension prevents twisting. One would probably be fine for most purposes, but this is more secure. Plus, if there is some repair necessary elsewhere on the bike in the field, one of these bolts is temporarily scavengable.

Here is yet one more picture:

The bolts on the top will probably be replaced with shorter ones in the final assembly.

I'd like to take this moment as an opportunity to pontificate about allen head sockets. Specifically, 3mm allen heads on M5 bolts. People put these all over their bikes for fender attachments, water bottle mounts, and so forth because they look sleeker than the standard 4mm head.

Me, I avoid them because the 3mm socket faces are delicate and easily stripped on a stubborn bolt. In this case, I'll make an exception for the bolts on the inside of the fender because the 3mm bolt heads are lower profile and, being rounded, are less likely to snag debris inside the fender.

With fenders, inside clearance is everything.

But the other ones I'll replace after a run to Hardware City. I do this with all 3mm allen bolt heads whereever possible. It looks a little clunkier but really helps on ruggedizing a bike.

Finally, we take this fender to the Trek 620 and see how it works:

Perfect. The final installation will have a rubber/plastic washer between the bridge and the clamp for vibration dampening. Faucet washers are a cheap, readily available solution and are much more durable and markedly less foo foo than leather washers.

This isn't quite perfect, looking at my handiwork I may extend the top slot a bit. It does look like the top piece could have been cut a bit longer, but the fender is actually hard up against the wheel.

All in all, a nice little project. If anyone is wondering, it took a lot longer to write this post than to make the fender mount.

Since I had the fender on the bike:

The Phoenix Project - Civia Sage Green Fenders

2011-08-08T20:24:00.003-04:00

I turned my attention to the Civia Sage Green fenders today. When we get to the pictures, the insane logic of choosing the olive color for the Toshi Leather Stitch-on Handlebar Wrap will be crystal clear.

But first a few words about fenders. Frankly, although I've been afflicted with the disease for many years, I'm sick of fender fetish. Metal fenders are fun, but they have significant downsides, the prime one being "stick" incidents and I've had plenty.

Unfortunately, although they've been getting longer in recent years, no plastic fenders are still long enough for my purposes. Some of them are getting close these days with a mud flap, maybe in a couple more years...

I'm also sick of oohing and aaahing over the shiny fenders. I want colored fenders. A couple of years ago I brought this up in a forum and almost got laughed out of the place. The idea of having a painted fender when you could have a shiny or hammered one was utterly preposterous to the peanut gallery.

Today I have my revenge.. But first, some installation notes.

The Civia model I chose was installed on the Civia Hyland model of a few years past. I remember seeing these in a bike shop and hoping that they would be for sale individually.

They are, but perhaps not for long, as there does not seem to be new production of this particular model. Civia seems to have moved on to more attorney-proof shorter fenders with the breakaway thin stays seen on Planet Bike, SKS and other plastic fenders.

But they are still metal, so you get all of the downsides of plastic and metal fenders. Way to go, Civia.

But a lot of these are still around. Overall, they are a heck of a fender deal - long, stout aluminum, nifty colors, quality hardware. I have just one or two gripes. Well, ok, more than one or two.

The first is that the stays are attached to the fender via a single eyelet per stay. This is known to be sub-optimal.

The second is that the fenders are actually a bit too long. In the front, this can make sliding down a curb a bit hazardous and in the rear it complicates wheel removal.

The third is that the pre-drilled holes for the inadequate number of eyelets are too close to the end of the fender. This is especially true of the rear fender where the stay runs out horizontally rather than rising about 15-20 degrees from the eyelet.

Finally, they choose to cut the rear of the fender ends to some modernistic, asymmetric pattern. Fortunately, somebody stopped them before they could do the same to the leading edge on the front fender. If that weren't enough, they decided to put their logo on each fender:

Sounds like I hate these, but I don't. All fenders come with issues and these ones are readily resolved by clipping a couple of inches off the offending end of each fender, installing a mudflap, and redrilling for two eyelets per stay.

I'll be doing this on the bye and bye, but today I wanted to get the front fender fitted up to the fork crown daruma.

These fenders were designed for the Hyland's forks, so there is no dimple or depression to closely fit a fork crown daruma although a hole is provided. To remedy this, we secure 2 aptly named fender washers per side to the pre-drilled fork crown hole:

We wrench this down pretty tight to start forming a flat as you can see above. Then the extra nuts are threaded onto the bolt, each tightened down in turn, to beef up this assembly for (sorry for fuzzy, real-time pic) clamping the nutted portion in a vise:

We then bend in the appropriate direction (careful with that..), roughly checking it against the frame:

Removing our clever little assembly, we see what we have wrought:

I hit the area where the paint cracked with some very fine sandpaper to mitigate any small cracks we may have induced.

Did I mention that the fender washers used are the same diameter as the thick rubber washer on the bottom of the fork crown daruma? This makes for a perfect fit.

Moving on, we mount the fender on the fork crown daruma. These fenders were a little wide for my forks, so I wrapped them with cloth and gave them a few ginger squeezes to neck them down in the fork area.

One of the fender washers serves as a backing plate now. Backing plates for fasteners are a good idea on any fenders but are especially so on aluminum fenders. This will significantly extend the fender's lifespan by distributing fatigue stresses over a much wider area:

Looking closely, one can see the two small pieces of handlebar tape in between the fender and the fork. This prevents rattles. I chose blue because, well, you had to look closely...

I then very loosely mounted up the stay and voila!

Stunning, no? Fender line needs work and so forth, this is just first fitup. But, I hereby declare shiny, hammered, fluted, sauteed, metallic fenders passe and that we are on the threshold of a new era, the matte finish, colored fender era. Remember, you heard it here first.

These really are slick and will be even slicker when finished:

The Nitto M12 rack sits pretty high, there is about a 1/2 inch gap between the rack's fender mount and the fender. I could just leave it be, but I really like 3 attachment points per fender to keep things from flopping around. This will just entail a little futzing around with spacers, files, and so forth.

One for the road (yeah, yeah, the fender line...):

Maybe I'm not so sick of fenders after all.

Running Tally

$2600 USD

We bring forward $2562 USD. The Civia Sage Green Fenders were a smokin' hot deal for $38 USD at Alfred E Bike.

The Phoenix Project - Toshi/Fujitoshi Stitch-On Leather Handlebar Wrap

2011-08-06T22:02:00.002-04:00

Having selected the stem and handlebars for The Phoenix Project, we now need to cover the bars with something.

Based on my past experience, this was an easy choice. Toshi, who can't make up their mind if that is their name or if it is Fujitoshi or even sometimes Toshikawa, makes an excellent choice with their stitch on bar wrap. This is offered in genuine leather and a synthetic suede called Ecsaine. Ecsaine is apparently a quality product as it has been used to grace the interiors of Lexuses, among other models.

I should perhaps note that Toshi used to make this bar wrap. I see no signs of current production available and Ben's Cycle just has the remnants of an order from several years ago.

Their last remaining example of this product in olive leather just arrived last Thursday:

As well as being finely crafted with stitched edges, several years of usage of my previous example has proven the durability and suitability of this product for daily cycling usage.

Here is another shot out of the plastic:

It is hard to get the exact color in an indoor picture, but it is really army olive drab. Some readers may question why olive bar wrap on a blue bike with a natural saddle. If so, they may want to stay tuned for further episodes where the stunning perfection of this choice of color becomes clear.

Flipping the package over reveals the two flaws in this otherwise fine product:

The first is that only one blunt needle is provided. This is very inconvenient for stitching the proper pattern for this type of wrap, two needles make it much more convenient.

For those curious about the proper pattern but don't want to wade through the my old entry on this product, here is a graphic illustration:

The second is that insufficient thread is provided for this proper pattern. I carped about this bitterly in a blog post. Shortly after that, Velo Orange started selling waxed thread for stitch on bar wrap, their own, they claim, in the length that I recommended. Coincidence? You be the judge.

So I ordered some of this up. I also followed up my order with an email asking them for a couple of the blunt needles, which they graciously threw in gratis:

They call this color macchiato, which means "stained" in Italian. まちあと, pronounced "ma-chi-a-to" and rendered in hiragana, means "after the city" in Japanese. マチアト, also pronounced "ma-chi-a-to", but rendered in katakana used for foreign loan words, unsurprisingly means "machiato" in Japanese, presumably a reference to the coffee drink.

I just think it is tan, though. I also think it matches the olive nicely:

It is worth noting that this choice of bar wrap renders moot the previous consideration of the Campagnolo Ergopower Shifters. There is not near enough slack in this wrap to stretch it over one aero-routed cable much less two. Some report that aero routing is doable with the Velo Orange elkhide wrap, so if you want the stitch on look and aero levers, that is the way to go.

Running Tally

$2562 USD

We bring forward $2505 USD. To that we add $55 USD for the Toshi Stitch On Leather Bar Wrap in mysterious olive. The stained, after the city Waxed Finishing Thread For Bar Wraps/Other Leathers was a mere $2 from Velo Orange. I didn't give them anything for the two blunt needles at the time of purchase but I'll give them mad props now for being so helpful.

The Phoenix Project - Nitto Crystem Stem And Nitto B-115 Handlebars

2011-08-06T15:30:00.007-04:00

For people choosing 1" traditional quill stems, the situation is vastly improved from, say, ten years ago. Back then, one had to look high and low to find much beyond the Nitto Technomic stem.

This is not to suggest that there is anything wrong with the Nitto Technomic - it is typical Nitto quality and has a completely conventional form. It is just nice to have more choices.

One option I considered long and hard was the Nitto Craft Stem:

This is a lovely new offering from Nitto. Despite its steel construction, it weighs about the same as a typical alloy stem. I was also concerned whether the clamp would fit around the bends on road bars. However, some discussions with vendors revealed that they have successfully installed this stem on such bars using the "dime in the slot" trick. Steel is pretty forgiving that way.

This Nitto goodness doesn't come cheap. Most retailers sell it for around $250 USD, although Track Supermarket in Osaka, Japan will get one to you for about $210 USD inclusive of shipping.

I actually had settled on this stem early on in this project. However, as the project as progressed, the brightwork is all turning out to be soft gloss rather than hard shiny. So I reluctantly decided that the chromed steel of the Nitto Craft, especially in such a prominent location as the stem, would be a bit of a jarring incongruence.

A Nitto Crystal Stem would have been nice:

Sadly, these are no longer in production and nowhere to be found on any retailer's site.

Finally, I settled on the Nitto Crystem. This example with 90mm extension and 25.4 clamp diameter arrived the other day:

The Nitto Crystem is a high quality cold-forged stem, variants of which have been in and out of production for years. One highly prized mutation is the Nitto Crystemblue, an early 80's aheadset type:

Given the blue clamp piece, I would have considered waiving the "no used components" rule for this project were one available, but they are quite scarce.

The current production crystems have a more subdued appearance and the clamp is not separable:

The clamp bolts screw directly into the alloy for a nice, clean look:

The Crystem is no exception to Nitto's habit of excellent finish and detailing:

For the bars, I selected Nitto B-115, a traditional bend, sleeved handlebar. This was easy since I have a set that I purchased new about 10 years ago. This set has been fitted up with a stem on occasion but never taped or ridden. There is a little bit of shopwear but not enough to prohibit finally getting this set on the road:

The Crystem can morph into a Muppety snake character if you use your imagination a bit:

One of the benefits of the Crystem two bolt design is that it adds survivability options to a bike. I typically ensure that unused eyelets, attachment points and such are filled with appropriate nuts, bolts, and washers. For instance, when complete, if the lowrider mounts on the fork are unused, they will have a nut and bolt on them.

This practice has saved my bacon a couple of times a long way from home when I needed to jury-rig a fix. In the case of the Crystem, if a M6 bolt was needed to proceed further, one could probably be cannibalized from the stem and the bike ridden carefully until a replacement could be found.

Running Tally

$2505 USD

We carry forward $2357 USD. The Crystem is a bargain compared to the Nitto Craft stem but still a rather expensive option at $105 USD from Ben's Cycle. As noted above, I already had a set of the Nitto B-115 handlebars, but they can be had for $43 USD, again from Ben's Cycle.

Shop Tip

I determined which stem extension to order by measuring the top tube on the frame. It turned out to be exactly the same length as on my Fuji America. On the America, I was running Nitto B-105 bars which are quite similar to the Nitto B-115 in geometry. Hence, I figured that the 90mm extension of the America's stem, which gave me a comfortable fit, would work on the Trek 620.

Countdown....

2011-08-05T16:47:00.006-04:00

Somewhere inside the Beltway in Our Nation's Capital, 8/4/2011:

17:53 Some Guy In Silver Spring (SGISS) puts up a Washington DC Craigslist ad for nice old road bike (NORB) for $150.

20:02 robatsu, also in Silver Spring, sees ad and is smitten with unbearable longing, especially since NORB is his size.

20:04 robatsu checks timestamp on ad, realizes that 2 hours and 11 minutes, three eternities on the Washington DC CL market, means this NORB is a goner, but a Hail Mary can't hurt. Sends email saying I want your NORB, gives full name and cell # like good Boy Scout.

20:10 After robatsu reflects on the email he wrote and CL dynamics, he concludes he should have been even more explicit and writes another response to ad, reiterating so long as NORB's frame has no dents or significant disfigurements, he will buy it and meet SGISS at his convenience.

But robatsu is realistically pessimistic about the time delay.

21:00 No mail from SGISS in inbox.

22:00 No mail from SGISS in inbox. robatsu concludes that this was a lost opportunity and resolves to spend lots more time on CL.

22:42 Mail from SGISS in inbox. robatsu opens it in hopeful trepidation, but SSGIS sends word that wow, this NORB is popular and that SGISS has Some Other Guy (SOG) coming over tomorrow to look at it and that robatsu is about 5th or 6th in line and, well, sorry....

22:43 Sigh.....

23:11 robatsu, perhaps unrealistically and in denial, feels there is still a bit of daylight in "SOG coming over tomorrow to look at it". He sends email that says, in essence, "listen up pal, I don't want to look at your NORB, I want to buy your NORB" and restates conditions of meet at convenience and no dents/disfigurements. For good measure, robatsu ups the ante to $200.

23:22 SGISS responds in email, "Wow, this must be some NORB. Ok, I can meet you tonite" and suggests the fountain along Ellsworth Dr. in Downtown Silver Spring in 20 or 30 minutes. robatsu is thrilled beyond words.

23:27 robatsu sends email agreeing and asks SGISS to ring robatsu to confirm.

23:29 As robatsu is donning his shoes to leave - his house is Japanese Threaded - SGISS rings and confirms that he will be at the Ellsworth Fountain at midnite.

23:30 robatsu is underway in his truck, figures he can hit the BOA drive through ATM on Spring Street.

23:36 BOA Spring Street ATM is out of service. robatsu feels a tinge of uncertainty, heads for Citibank walk-up ATM at Georgia and Seminary which is in the opposite direction as Ellsworth Fountain.

23:41 Citibank ATM at Georgia and Seminary helpfully informs robatsu that he is trying to make a withdrawal with his old ATM card. robatsu, who almost never uses ATM cards, experiences full blown panic, heads back to truck wondering where in the heck in the pile of mail from last sojourn in Japan a new ATM card may be and excruciatingly aware of the ticking clock.

23:42 robatsu has bright idea sitting in truck, finds a shiny, new-looking red ATM card in wallet that says BOA and walks back to ATM.

23:44 robatsu is back in truck with necessary cash and proceeding with dispatch for Ellsworth Fountain.

23:49 robatsu arrives Ellsworth Fountain.

23:52 SGISS arrives Ellsworth Fountain. Looks like nice early middle aged fellow, somewhat perplexed at the frenzy his NORB has created. While robatsu does standard checks for dents/damage, he honestly & forthrightly explains the situation. SGISS seems satisfied with this solution to his NORB mystery. robatsu is satisfied with the condition of the NORB.

23:57 Money is exchanged, hands are shaken. robatsu proceeds to load NORB in truck, SGISS heads out for home seemingly a happy man that his NORB has gone to someone who appreciates it.

00:06 robatsu arrives back home, unloads NORB into garage, admires it a bit. A little more small scratchy and scattered small rust than on the pristine stuff he usually favors, but more than acceptable and certainly presentable as is. Decals are great. Looks again for dents, no dice.

00:32 robatsu sits down and begins reconstructing timeline for historical record.

The Phoenix Project - Berthoud Aravis Saddle

2011-08-03T03:36:00.010-04:00

Background on The Phoenix Project is available here and here.

There never was much question about which brand of saddle would be incorporated in The Phoenix Project. There really only are about 5 distinct leather bicycle saddle manufacturers in the world as far as I can discern.

The first is, of course, Brooks, the pride of Britain since they gave up on their navy. I've been riding these for years, they are great products. My only gripe is that they are sometimes a little too self-consciously retro. I could imagine Paul Bunyan riding a Brooks, with giant oversized copper rivets.

The second is U.S. based Selle Anatomica. They are a bit cultish with the cutouts. Beyond the fact that cutouts don't agree with me from my experience with a Brooks Imperial, the off-center Velocity Synergy rear rim included on this Trek 620 is enough Earth Shoe type eccentricity for one bike.

The third is Persons saddles, a subgrade, budget offering from the Indian subcontinent. These get horrible reviews from everyone except a few miserable cheapskates desperate to justify their parsimony.

The fourth is Generi-saddle, a shadowy operation from somewhere in the Pacific Rim. They make Brooks knockoffs for places like Gyes, Cardiff and Velo Orange to stamp their brands on them and try to undercut Brooks by 10% or so. Reviews on these are mixed. Anyplace talking up their "Australian cowhide" is probably selling you a Generi-saddle.

Finally, we have the relatively new offerings from Berthoud in France. Berthoud is taking the high end route with a new offering that breaks some new ground in the otherwise frozen in amber sector of leather saddle design.

For a premiere effort like The Phoenix Project, it was simply a choice between a snazzy Brooks or a Berthoud. The Berthoud had the advantage of being a novelty for me and my readers in addition to several other features.

So, I chose the Berthoud. Berthoud offers two basic profiles, the Aspin for touring and the Soulor for racing. They also offer otherwise identical titanium railed versions of these, the Aravis for touring and the Galibier for racing.

The racing profiles were clearly out for a Trek 620 and the mandate of The Phoenix Project is to spend the extra dough if there is any tangible benefit, so here is my new Berthoud Aravis, all 425 au natural grams of it

As we would expect of the French, the Berthoud is a bit more of a cosmopolitan, refined product than the Brooks, which, well let's face it, can look a little agricultural at times.

Street Cred

This is a tough one. I had always considered the leather trimmed bags from Berthoud a bit foppish although they are apparently very high quality.

However, their estimable stainless steel fenders, once a Berthoud exclusive, are now copied by several vendors. I had a set of these fenders that survived many stick incidents requiring improvised field metalworking and general commuting abuse and so forth until they expired after 9 years of hard duty.

9 years of regular, not-so-careful commuting/trekking riding is a heroic lifespan for fenders, they were a regular Galapagos tortoise.

Overall, Berthoud does seem committed to producing very high end products although I wish they wouldn't lay it on so thick with the leather trimmed bags.

Gizmo Lust

The Berthoud saddles have provoked quite a bit of controversy amongst the leather butt chatterati. The biggest point of contention is the inclusion of a plastic rear rail and a plastic nose piece. The second is the rather unconventionial profile when viewed from astern:

I'd be less than forthright if I didn't admit that pictures such as above did not give me pause when considering the Berthoud. However, since having it in hand, the rear profile and plastic rail doesn't disturb me a whit and is actually beginning to grow on me.

First, the plastic is evidently high quality and there are metal inserts for all the threaded fasteners. The plastic itself is quite massive and possible even longer lived than a metal rail subject to fatigue. I have no worries about this now.

Second, the rear profile ends up looking pretty refined and posh on the cycle. The battleship gray plastic sort of recedes into the background and becomes invisible, which is why battleships were painted gray. Additionally, you never will be sitting on a rivet.

Other nifty features of the saddle include leather a full 6.2mm thick. I don't have any of my Brooks around as they've all gone to that big ebay auction in the sky, but I'm pretty sure this is thicker than any of them.

They are also supposedly extremely waterproof. There are reports on the Internet by people about whom I know nothing that they've ridden these for miles in the driving rain with no ill effects. That's good enough for me, but apparently not for Berthoud as mine came with a rain cover just to be sure.

Finally, the leather top is easily removed by knuckleheads at home which no doubt is going to cause endless grief for Berthoud. This disassembly feature is talked about by Berthoud, vendors, and posters on all sorts of forums, but nobody is doing anything about it. So, Fuji Otaku, in a world exclusive, brings you a picture of a disassembled Berthoud Aravis saddle:

This really simplifies retreating the underside of the saddles as well as making them less of a throw away item when the leather top wears out. I'm also thinking of making a casting of the top before I ride it so I can later experiment around with snakeskin pattern leather and whatnot.

If you look closely at the photo above, there are several more things to note. The first Berthouds received scattered reports of top mounting screws loosening over time and the occasional corn-fed guy causing the saddle to twist a bit. The aluminum disk on the rails is a fix for the twisting and the screws now all have blue loctite on them.

Those same screws have Torx rather than allen heads. I'm not pleased with this, as I don't carry torx around but I suppose that deters saddle leather rustlers.

All in all, this is a really impressive product and is running neck and neck with the Royce Titan Venus hubs as the most interesting component so far included in The Phoenix Project.

Crimethink

We have to ding the Berthoud for the plastic saddle parts. But I'm willing to be a guinea pig.

Tweed Factor

Tweeds are attracted by the leather and Euro-ness of this saddle. But their innate cheapness for anything but lugged steel frames alternately repels them. Ultimately, they are waiting for some American guys to spec this out to a Pacific Rim. They also have to let a few years pass for the idea of the plastic rails to become boring, if not passe.

Phony Accent

X

Some regular readers may be surprised by the null Phony Accent rating for this French product. Here at Fuji Otaku we've taken quite a liking to bashing hammered fenders and baguette bags.

But those are typically products where nobody in the design, manufacture, and sale is within an ocean of France. Furthermore, they are self-conscious copies, often of iffy quality, of products where the originals were in use during the Truman administration.

This is actually a product designed by a French guy to be stylish top quality for his era and made in France. For good measure, I ended up buying it from a French-speaking vendor in Montreal.

With that, a single instance of this saddle has more kinship with Herse and Singer than a whole container load of decaleurs and mini-front racks specc'ed by Americans and manufactured in Taiwan.

This is truly a French original, if that is what you are looking for. Me, I just wanted an interesting, durable, good looking saddle and this fits the bill, it just happens to be French and could have been from Taiwan for all I care.

Lily Gilding

Looking at the price tag alone would seemingly justify a huge Lily Gilding factor. But the features noted above, i.e, super thick leather, very refined construction/finish, and the rebuildability, makes it clear that there is value for the dollar for the amount above a titanium-railed Brooks Professional saddle.

But wait, this saddle was about $40 USD cheaper than the going rate (~$300 USD) for a titanium railed Brooks Professional. So there...

Nonetheless, we can't let any titanium railed saddle completely off the hook.

Running Tally

$2357 USD

We bring forward $2093 USD from the Pasela Panaracer 28mm Black Tires episode. This Berthoud Aravis in natural set me back $264 USD inclusive of shipping from this French-speaking Quebecker.

Organ Sales

$104 USD

We bring forward $104 USD and have no new sales to report.

The Sausage Factory

That blasted, damnable, eternally vexatious plastic rail:

Real French artwork by real French artist on real French product packaging for real French saddle. Oh, the Francophilia...

Starting to look like a bike: