This is a little write-up on my new bike. It’s not an ordinary bike, so this isn’t an ordinary post. No porn yet, but be patient. There will be plenty. The process was long, very interesting, overly complicated, and of course, a lot of fun, so I wanted to share it with the group. I’ll be posting it in chapters over the next few days because it’s such a long story.
Several months ago, I found love. It wasn’t love outside the marriage; to the contrary, it was a love that was fostered, in part, by my wife. I found myself on a bike in the middle of Provence on a family trip, riding through vineyards stopping for the occasional meal. I knew, right then, that this was something I wanted to do more of.
Fast forward several weeks. I was riding on my trusty Yaqui DL, which I use as my road bike, when it occurred to me that the Yaqui was a great all around ride and could be ridden well aero or as a roadie, I really wanted something with a bit more relaxed, something that I could climb all day on without rubbing my thighs on my saddle bags – yes, I was slamming myself that far back. I also wanted to get something that would be comfortable all day long, and stiff enough for a bigger guy like me.
There were a few more things that I was looking for out of a bike. At the outset, I knew I wanted a road bike that was a true road bike – slack geometry and all. I also wanted something unique – something that you wouldn’t see many of on the road. Finally, because I happened to do pretty well as a result of my company being acquired, I figured I could afford something nice.
Now, I’m not going to pretend that I have a lot of love for the mass produced or highly engineered carbon bikes coming out of Asia, but in this case, I decided to see what I might be missing. I had ridden a Trek for a week in France, but I wanted to try one of the high end sub 1 kilo frames, so I zeroed in on the Specialized Tarmac SL. The owner of my LBS had one that he let me borrow for a couple days. It was super light, and gave up nothing in the BB, but was very harsh on the road – not what I was expecting from a carbon frame. I guess that’s what happens when you really optimize for stiffness and weight - the more subtle aspects of ride quality suffer.
The experience with the Tarmac SL turned me off to other bikes that were designed and manufactured in the same way – I simply had no interest in a bike that was designed on a computer, tested with a handful of prototypes, and then mass produced by workers in Asia who have no experience using the products they are manufacturing.
This led me back to where I felt comfortable – the smaller, custom manufacturers.
Part II – The Builders
Part III – Designing the Bike
Part IV – An Artist at work - Building the Bike
Part V – Paint
Part IV – The Finished Product.
