Greetings from the land of ravaged Citi Bikes:
Musta been utilizing these hookless rims.
One look on the entrance web page of your newspaper of alternative will verify that there’s tons and many vital stuff taking place right here in America and world wide. However I don’t care about any of that crap. All I care about is my new Roaduno:
By the best way, it appears like the entire Roadunos are presently offered out…BUT they nonetheless have scuffed ones out there, and at a reduction. In reality mine is a scuffed one, although you’ll be able to hardly discover:
In case you’re utilizing the bike proper it needs to be at the least that scuffed after your first experience… Plus in case you’re as incompetent as I’m you’ll handle to scratch any new bike up fairly good throughout meeting earlier than you even get it out the door. And in case you don’t like scuffs or another person selecting your elements for you, it’s also possible to get the Roaduno as only a body.
Anyway, if it actually begins to trouble me I’ll simply apply some touch-up paint:
I spent plenty of time with the Roaduno over the weekend, not solely driving it but additionally making the same old changes and tweaks. For instance, the very first thing it wanted was some tape on the handlebar bends:
That is the place you seize the bar if you’re climbing out of the saddle, and because it’s a singlespeed you need some further grip because you’re cranking on it fairly a bit more durable than you’d on a geared bike. Please observe I stay deeply Newbaum’s-challenged and the taped portion on the left is longer than the one on the appropriate, which makes no sensible distinction however psychologically is basically annoying when you discover it. Additionally, I used electrical tape as an alternative of twine, which is in direct contravenance to the Rivendell type guide. Nonetheless, I anticipate I’ll be experimenting with the bike fairly a bit within the coming months (swapping cockpits and so forth) so fussing over the bar tape at this early stage appears particularly pointless.
I’ve additionally modified the tires. The bike comes with Panaracer Gravel Kings, that are an ideal match:
Nonetheless, on my first actual experience I might really feel just a little hop within the rear wheel. It clearly wasn’t a problem with rimm trueness or roundness, so I eliminated the tire and checked the rim strip and tube; all that was high-quality too. Then I remounted the tire, figuring possibly it hadn’t been seated correctly, however nonetheless the hop remained. Because it occurred, I had a pair of Bruce Gordon Rock n’ Highway tires within the tire pile, which had been nonetheless in fine condition and had been shut in each dimension and spirit to the Gravel Kings. So I put these on, and whaddya know, the hope was gone:
Did I get a faulty Gravel King? I suppose it’s potential, although it’s additionally potential I simply didn’t spend sufficient time attempting to the tire. (In my expertise Panaracers will be fussy that manner…and sure, I do know the Rock n’ Roads are additionally Panaracers.) Both manner, the Rock n’ Roads additionally swimsuit the bike completely–just a little heavier than the Gravel Kings, but additionally just a little fatter–so for now I’ll simply maintain them on and maintain the Gravel Kings in reserve:
Talking of fatter tires, the lengthy attain calipers afford the bike loads of clearance, although I seen the opposite day that one or two folks commented negatively on their look and prompt the bike can be higher served with cantilevers, V-brakes, and even discs:
In fact all of that is extremely subjective, and if somebody doesn’t like the best way one thing appears or prefers a unique system I’d by no means presume to vary their minds, even when I do assume they’re CRAZY AND WRONG.
On the similar time, we’re all bike dorks initially, so let’s take a second to discover the topic and nerd out on brakes. First, let’s think about the looks of the brake:
[How the hell did only the pedal wind up in focus? I continue to amaze myself.]
Now I occur to assume that the single-bolt caliper brake is essentially the most elegant of all velocipedal retardation methods, and that’s no matter size. Definitely in case you really feel in a different way that’s completely legitimate, however I might implore you to at the least think about the likelihood that you just’ve been brainwashed. Highway bicycle brakes have been the sufferer of an insidious type of shrink-flation since just like the Eighties, when just about all street bikes no matter supposed use began coming with short-reach brakes, a dimension that had beforehand been reserved for racers. So pervasive was this shift that the splendidly versatile medium-reach brake began to change into often known as a lengthy-reach brake:
[A medium-reach brake]
As for precise brakes with lengthy attain, these had been quickly thought-about so gargantuan that they didn’t even trouble inventing a brand new title for them. Contemplate that Specialised likes to auto-fellate itself for inventing the comfy street bike with the Roubaix (HA!), and but even that bike got here with short-reach brakes:
As an alternative it had a “Zertz damping system:”
In some way this factor was thought-about aesthetically preferable to a barely longer brake. Then once they had been completed mind-fucking us they mentioned, “Oh, you need clearance? Now you want a motorcycle with discs!”
My level is that by step by step memory-holing sensibly-sized brake calipers, the bike business created the present state of affairs, which is {that a} sensibly-sized brake now appears comically big to folks. It’s like we’ve all been training foot-binding for the previous 40 years and so we now level and giggle at normal-sized sneakers.
As for cantilevers and V-brakes, as a rim brake apologist I naturally recognize each methods. Nonetheless, let’s think about why these methods exist within the first place, and it’s primarily to accommodate bigger tires and to ship extra braking energy. However keep in mind, this can be a Highwayuno, not a Mountainuno, and it doesn’t must accommodate mountain bike-sized tires. Moreover, I can attest that the stopping energy on the inventory barbecue tongs is greater than enough, and also you’re in all probability not going to load a motorcycle like this very closely. So why design the bike for cantis or v-brakes, which require extra materials on the body? Along with bosses, cantilever brakes additionally require stuff like cable hangers, and they are often difficult to arrange. (“Have you ever tried toeing them in?” is mostly the very last thing folks say to annoyed canti customers earlier than they get punched within the nostril.) In the meantime, v-brakes might not want hangers and are typically extra easy mechanically, however once more, it’s a Highwayuno, and if you wish to use drop bars (I’ll nearly definitely put drop bars on this factor in some unspecified time in the future) you’re restricted to particular levers or kludgy adapters or mini-vs that require you to set the pad like 1mm from the rim. However a street brake is idiot-proof (take it from me, a bona-fide fool) and requires nothing greater than a pair holes within the body, and thus appears to me to be the best brake for this type of bike. Additionally, if we’re going to make extremely subjective aesthetic observations, road-ish bikes with v-brakes scream “hybrid,” sorry:
By the best way, this simplicity extends to the 120mm spacing:
I admit that at the beginning even I used to be like, “Huh, why not simply go 130mm or 135mm? Looks like you’d have extra choices.” Then I spotted that the business is transferring away from non-thru-axle non-disc 130mm and 135mm hubs on the whole (to say nothing of singlespeed-specific hubs). Nonetheless, for the reason that fixie craze of the early aughts 120mm hubs have been each low-cost and ubiquitous, and naturally you’ve your deluxe choices too. Positive, it’s possible you’ll not have the ability to throw some spacers on the freehub of your outdated street wheel to single it up and apply it to the Roaduno, however so what? Additionally, since observe bikes don’t use brakes, you gained’t run out of hub choices as a result of business disc-ification, and since extremely folks proceed to experience fixies you’ll in all probability have the ability to get 120mm hubs till the tip of time. After I began this weblog in 2007 largely to ridicule hipsters on fixies, who knew I’d wind up owing the whole lot to them and so they’d find yourself saving us? Thanks brakeless fixie hipsters!
As for discs, with out moving into an entire “disc vs. rim” factor, suffice it to say that all the business has now moved to discs, and people of us who love rim brake bikes are deeply grateful to Rivendell for his or her ongoing dedication to them. We weirdos get our rim brakes, and the individuals who need discs can select from a couple of zillion different bikes, from boutiquey metal Crusts and Velo Oranges to the most recent plastic blob from Pon. All people wins! Particularly me, as a result of to date I like this factor:
Sorry about all of the brake speak, however simply wait till I get began on gearing…
