A tale of two cranks

 

The busted non-drive side crank is now in the past for the Bianchi.  As usual Velocity Co-Op came through with a timely and appropriate part.  The original Campy Mirage crank set had 175mm arms and the available donor had 170mm... Luckily I was able to swap both side crank arms as the 'new' Campy Veloce crank was also set up as a triple.  One surprise to overcome was that the new set had a narrower 'tread', or 'q-factor' which resulted in the small chain ring rubbing the chain stay... a new, wider spindle. 

 

Not a completely smooth change out but successful in the end.  I got two excellent commutes in on the Bianchi last week and I'm looking forward to doing a longer trip, unloaded, in the future.



Busting your crank

...no literally... but more on that in a minute.  First please welcome a new member of the stable -

The 1995 Bianchi Eros.  The Eros comes via an unusual straight up trade via Craigslist where I unloaded an extra Nikon FM2N film camera for the bike which just happened to be close enough for my size.  To be fair here is a shot of the FM2N, one of the greatest film camera's of the 1980's and 90's at least at that price point - 

The FM2N was part of a larger lot of camera stuff I picked up late last year and while it is in excellent condition it was redundant next to my FM2, F3HP and others... putting me in the happy situation to get a great trade offer.  The thought occured to me that these two items could have been on the shelf brand new at the same time in 1995...  bikepedia says the Eros was a ~$950 bike and the FM2N had to be in the similar neighborhood, maybe a bit less.  Interesting.

Anyway, on to the ride.  The route was into Old Town Alexandria via Del Ray/Rosemont then out onto the Mt Vernon Trail about 7 miles and then home via the MV/4 Mile Run Trails.  16miles of mixed road and trail.  the bike handles pretty nicely and overall has a 'tight' feel to it, it accelerates wonderfully and climbs from the standing position better than any of my other recent rides.  The first gen 'brifter shifting' is excellent on the right side, the Campagnolo Mirage Groupset shifts very precisely and with a very satisfying click-click.  The brakes are a bit softer than I like, and the levers themselves sit out further than is comfortable and I ended up usually only getting 2 fingers on them to brake.  The handlebars are a bit to far out in front though I'm going to experiment with saddle position before I do anything drastic there.  The bar tape, while it looks great is minimally padded and I regretted not wearing gloves.  Either the crank arms are longer than I'm used to or the Bottom Bracket is lower because I scrapped my peddal or shoe half a dozen times in turns, definitely something to look out for.

Some of that may sound critical but I really enjoyed the ride, it has to be the fastest bike I've ridden lately... the 25mm tires take some getting used to coming from my lucious 42mm Hetres but I feel like that is a given and not a gripe.

There isn't a whole lot I've found on the bike but it does appear to have been a touring, or sport-touring bike in Bianchi's line as it does have front and rear braze-ons, a pump peg and two water bottle boss braze-ons.  The ironic thing is that I've been slowly (painfully slowly) building up my Univega Supra Sport frame to try out drop bars and STI shifters more thoroughly following my good experience with both during my San Diego bike rental.  Now I'm getting close on the Univega and have the Bianchi dropped in my lap... not a bad problem to have.  My plan is to finish the Univega, ride both and make a call based on size and comfort to get rid of one...

Ah yes but the title of the post... while the Eros looked to be in superb, if not mint condition... all was not completely right and as it so happens the left crank arm came loose on my ride today. I still need to investigate if it is just the arm or something bottom bracket related.  We'll see.  Looking like a wet ride tomorrow!

Front-Loaded

A couple of projects have come together lately including front fender, front rack, front basket and yes even a front dyno headlight!  This week I've been riding with my work clothes/rain gear up front as opposed to in my trunk bag/pannier setup.  The bike definitely feels different, I like the ride just fine but I'm having trouble getting used to how much attention the front wheel needs when I'm off the bike or moving it around to get it locked up.  I'm wondering if tightening up the headset would help me out any and I'm also considering trying one of those Velo-Orange front end 'dampener' setups.  More to follow.

Gorgeous ride in this morning, so much so that I had to dally on the SE waterfront and get a couple shots of the upgrades!

Routine...

....a one word summary for what biking to work has become over the 2 short months I've been doing it. And I mean it in the very best sense of the word.  In large part because I started concurrant with moving homes it seems utterly natural to ride to work, and completely foreign to drive.  I pretty much average 4 days a week at this point with work travel and afterwork plans sometimes forcing a variance.  There's been alot of noteworthy things in the past several weeks that I would love to catch up on in the blog but I'm just  not sure I'll get to them individually.  So I'm just going to dump a bunch of photo's with captions from the past month or so on two wheels.... I also need to update on my gear projects particularly the 650B wheel build and some new acquisitions!

San Diego County Administration Building at night... my hotel was very close to this place and it made for a great landmark as I was riding around the city.

Sunset off of Point Loma in San Diego.

Erika's new mountain bike (I got one too), we made a short outing during our April campout in Winchester... fun but super-physical!

650B LIVES!  My new rim, taped up and showing the Shimano 105 road hub through the valve hole, this project was a long time in coming but totally worthwhile. More coming on this for sure!

The Trek wearing it's new 'shoes', 650B wheels with a front dyno hub and brand new 9 speed cassette, new rear derailleur too!

After years of driving past the IHRT headed to Dahlgren, VA I finally had the opportunity and equipment to stop and 'smell the roses', I had a lovely fast ride through about 10 miles of this park.

Just another day crossing S. Capitol St SE/SW...

Over the rainbow... wow, last thursday I got DRENCHED and finally stopped as the rain was hard enough to make seeing where I was going difficult. The stop was well worth it for this double rainbow over the Four-Mile Run mouth and Potomac River.

Another view of the deluge, check out that rain!

My first coffee stop with the new PDW coffe mug holder. I unfortunately have to report that if the lid isn't completely sealed you are in for a hot spill but it is still a fun addition. Also note the sneak preview of the new handlebar tape - GO HOKIES!

Catching Up

Something about being on travel, maybe it is the departure from the norm, I don't know... but I ended up getting lazy about my posts.  I missed the post about my 48 mile grand day on the bike, circling Mission Bay, hitting Pacific Beach, threading the needle back through Mission Bay and then on to Point Loma for sunset.  Also missed were my explorations in Balboa Park and a couple run's into the Broken Yoke restaurant for delicious breakfasts... I have some good pictures so those stories will be told, but they won't be as 'fresh' as they could have been.

Since I've been back I rode in Thurs and Fri, including into a seeming monsoon of rain Fri morning.  I've also done a fantastic photo-ride with my good friend Peter on Saturday morning which as it happens, mirrored my normal commute.

I'm braced for the chance of more rain tomorrow morning but looking forward to my ride, another flat tire again today though... my 650B project can't finish soon enough.

In honor of my Gran, who passed away early this morning here is a shot from sunrise yesterday.  I miss you and love you...

As promised, photos from last night's adventure...

Varmit Ride

Woooo-weee... what a cool ride.  Work has been pretty busy so I didn't get to depart on my ride till about 6:45PM last night.  I was racing the clock, granted with plenty of time but still, my goal was to ride around San Diego Harbor and into Coronado via the 'Bikeway' which takes you across the narrow strip of land connecting Coronado to the mainland and make it to the Ferry terminal in time for the 9:30PM last ferry of the night.... SUCCESS!

The ride ended up being about 25 miles and took me just under 2 hours with a couple photo stops. The carbon bike is definitely fast. I had plenty of time to ponder the bike weight - bike speed correlation on this ride, my conclusions today are that while the 'engine' (myself) certainly is the source of the overwhelming amount of total vehicle weight that taking about 10 lbs off the bike (which is about the difference between my Trek and this carbon bike) is noticeable in climbing and as you initially start out.

My photo uploading has suddenly become difficult so you'll have to wait for photographic proof.

Ohhhh, yes, the title... in honor of the dozens of little rabbits scurrying across the Bikeway Trail in front of my wheel last night... dozens!

25 Miles (467.9 miles annually)
15/18 (Bike Commute/Available Days)
8 Max consecutive work days commduting by bike