Day 5

Finished the trim on the wall.  You can see how un-level the floor is.  The plan is to paint the base board and the wall white, leaving the rest of the wood unfinished.

Mark came by and helped me put the Kobila together.  This fit cycle (once I install the cranks, front wheel and computrainer) allows me to determine the perfect fitting bike.  It can also be adjusted to mimic the geometry of other bikes out there - say you want to see how a Medium Xenith T2 fits versus a 54 Cervelo P4.   No problem.

Beautifully machined to tight tolerances, the etched measurements let me know how a bike is configured in space in relation to the bottom bracket.

I'll be installing these on the bike to assist with fitting and so that people can use the bike as a training tool.  More on Powercranks here.

Lots left to do but the shop is definitely shaping up.

p.

4 days

Not too much building but lots of progress

So, we did a little moving around, a little more tearing down and settled on the location of the workshop.  Those tables probably weigh over 100 lbs each, are nearly 6 feet long and 2.5 feet deep.  Really ideal for working on (and I'll be renting the bench and tools out as well).

Still more fixtures to install and the lounge, which will give you a great view of your bike as I repair it.

The biggest find was this showcase from Recycled Displays.  Yes that is the 2008 cycling picture book and the latest edition of Rouleur under the glass..  Come by and have a read.

p.

Other Choices & Day 1 and 2 of rennovation

One of the things that I really wanted to be able to do was to start group rides from the front door of the shop.  And this includes the mother of all group rides that I organize, the Tour de Creemore 160.  A shop with a narrow front boulevard, a regular sidewalk or small doors just would not cut it.  I want to be able to collect 40-50 riders on a weekend and give everyone a chance to grab some water and get their chain lubed before the ride.  Of all the places that I saw over the last 8 months, this was the best one.

This is the entrance to the unit off Carlaw.

And the other side viewed from the unit. 

I made excellent progress over the last 2 days.  Took apart a wall, built another, installed the sink, counter and plumbing and built my 2 workbenches (which required a blow torch and a scraper - I'll tell you why when you come by the shop).

Tomorrow, finish the kitchen, the office wall, sign boards and pick up track lighting and a cash desk.

Lots of Choices

In November of 2007 I decided that it was time to go.  For very personal reasons, my seven year stint as a public servant was drawing to a close.  While my taste for working inside a bureaucracy had definitely faded, I can say that the people I worked with were both dedicated and a pleasure to spend 10 hours a day with. 

Finance, planning, budget work, human resources, large information system installs could all be rewarding work, but the core of that which I did was just not close enough to what I really loved to do.  Picture me winding myself up to work on a chart of accounts when I would rather be winding up the pedals on Scenic Caves Road in Collingwood.  So I made a choice and put in my notice.  First choice made and thousands more to go.  And here I am.  

Hello Velo will be located at 260 Carlaw Avenue, Unit 103.  The unit is just off Carlaw at the end of the loading bay entrance (this building was an old toy factory). If you zoom in on the map you can just about see the unit, just across from the white car.   

2 of the things I considered when choosing this location:

1) Location

It needed to be on the east side of Toronto, near the Lake.  There are a number of commuter oriented shops in the area but none dedicated to performance and training.  Proximity to Darkhorse Espresso Bar and home was also important.   I did not need a traditional retail location but it had to be close to other shops and services

2) Size and Amenities

I needed enough space for a full workshop, a training and instruction area and space for retail.  I also needed a bathroom with a shower and a full kitchen.  This space has all of this (although the Kitchen currently only consists of a drain and water hookups).  I also needed to keep things affordable and not have a mammoth location.  The unit works out to 1158 square feet - just right.

Here is what it looked like when I saw it for the first time.

Feel welcome to come by and say hello and watch it transform from the empty gray box it is right now to the shop and studio.  I am currently accepting tea and brownie (vegan) donations.

Riverdale Cross Championships

A cool but sunny day at the races for Edgars and Wes. 

Congrats on a great season!

Riverdale X

A WBI mechanic

The last few days were exhausting with topics ranging from shift tuning, hydraulic brake service to suspension fork maintenace.

This fork from a Trek 6500 and is a Manitou Axle Elite, a value oriented fork.  Don't worry I got it back together.  Anyone who has a fork on their bike would be smart to have their fork regularly overhauled and seals changed.

As a little side project I decided to take a look inside a very popular wheel set, the Bontrager Select.  This is the model of wheel on many Treks and Lemonds.  I replaced the poor quality factory grease with some quality gunk and adjusted the hubs for free spinning with no axle play.  A little maintenance will keep this wheelset on the road as long as many other higher quality wheels.

The final practical exam was to assemble a bike that would be sent this weekend to a local shop for sale.  I squeaked by with 91%, loosing marks for being over time (first finished in the class though) and having rub on the front rotor.  The trick with hydraulics is to allow them to self centre by loosening the mounting bolts and then torque them down once they are centred.

A very nice bike - The Devinci Desperado SL2

My reward, a smapler pack from Wellington County Brewery.

Shimano Electronic Shifting

Yeah, but can it transform into an espresso machine?

At WBI, we had a chance to take a close look at the Shimano Electronic Indexing System (SEIS) or model 7970 tonight.  Right off the top: we could not derail the chain and it shifts very fast.  I think that you may be able to beat it shifting from the bottom of the cog set to the top but not with the same accuracy.  I'm going to focus on the shifters, as these have been subject to significant changes in order to make them work with the electronics and to improve ergonomics.

The shifter is shorter making it easier to reach, and is made out of sparkly moulded carbon.  Those are the shift buttons on the side of the levers.

On the left of the shifter head is a small plastic screw that you can use to adjust the reach of the levers, making it even  easier to adjust for people who have a difficult time reaching the levers.

Remember that you don't need to push the arms in order to shift, but Shimano built in a little swing so that the rider still receives feedback, in addition to an audible click.

Another improvement is the placement of the brake cable head seat.  It has moved to the side of the pivot to improve cable routing.  This pivot is also in a different position, supposedly to make braking on the hoods more effective, however it may not work very well with previous series brake calipers.

Exposed under the shifter hood is where you mount the cable that connects to the computer and power pack.  These cables are small, seem strong and are pretty unobtrusive.  The computer and battery mount in a unit just below the down tube water bottle.

There are 2 cable mounts on the shift levers so that the rider can position an extra set of controls at a different part of the bike.  You read correctly.  Cyclocross riders rejoice; no more cable splitters!  Think of the benefits for recumbent and tandem bikes; no ridiculously long cables!

The rest of the groupo continues with Shimano's focus on dark anodized metals and appears to rely on heavy machining of aluminum rather than carbon and plastic to reduce weight.  The derailleur is a work of art and even has a mechanism to protect the motor in the event of a crash.  

Here is what I think Shimano is looking to solve with this system: rider error and cable actuation issues.  Riders shift incorrectly and skip 1/2 gears sometimes (admit it) and cables are prone to wear, housing to stretch and ferrules will seat all throwing off performance (unless your bike sits in the garage all year-round and all you do is tune it).  Are these big issues in my book?  Nope, but I am not afraid of a little innovation and I think this is a pretty good system.  The computer takes care of all chain alignment and front derailleur trim, it is lightweight and the ergonomic upgrades are excellent.  The precision of it is simply excellent. Am I interested in rushing out and picking this up?  Nope, and here is why:

My Sram setup shifts wonderfully when the cables and derailleurs are adjusted properly.  Yes the front derailleur operation on a mechanical system is often clunky (admit it, all brands are clunky here) and I sometimes shift improperly and setup and tuning takes time, but I really don't mind these aspects of a mechanical system.  And ergonomically I think that the Shimano 7970 is really just a catch up to better fitting systems.  Yes they've built a better front derailleur but everything has stayed the same at the back end: a swinging derailleur with a chain and cogs exposed to the elements.  Electronic shifting at the back of the bike is just a shuffle forward in my books, not a great leap that would stir me to drop $12Gs.  What do I have to suggest?  Nothing really, but if someone could build on the Truvativ Hammershmidt and port that technology to the rear in a race ready application AND have it all electronic, I'd be selling my right kidney tomorrow. 

Estimated cost: 4X the amount of the mechanical version - around $12,000.

More:

http://www.testrider.com/fly.aspx?layout=player&video=2

http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content/global_cycle/en/us/index/news_and_info/news/dura-ace_di2_for_time.html

http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content/global_cycle/en/us/index/news_and_info/news/shimano_turns_on_the.html

http://www.velonews.com/article/81107

Winterborne Bicycle Institute

It has been a gruelling 5 days at the Winterborne Bicycle Institute's Pro Bike Mechanic course.

I've learned a lot, lost some bad habits and had the chance to interract with a diverse bunch of people in the cycling industry.

One of my goals of the course was to become proficient in wheel building and I am very pleased to say that my wheel today was 5/100th of a milimeter (that is 0.05 mm) BETTER than specficiations.

A beautiful fork crown that Jay at Winterborne may use to build you a custom bike.  Frame material options include steel, steel, steel and steel.

Some more lugs.

The perfect work bench.

Alan Medcalf, one of our patient instructors. 

Only 6 more days to go.  

Sunday Creemore Ride, Paul gives birth on the side of the road

The view from almost the top of Scenic Caves Rd.

"Mommy mommy, what is that man doing?  Is that where babies come from?"

Satruday Dunlap Ride - Last Chance to See

Crank the Shield

3 days of muddy mountain biking sound fun to you?  Parry and Raoul cranked out the kilometers and finished 35^th and 43^rd respectively out of 58.  250 kilometers in total!

www.cranktheshield.com

I think that is Parry on the right side.

I wonder if the jersey stayed white.

University Heights

Hello Velo dontaed some Rocket Science Rocket Bottles to the Youth Cup winners.

The last race of the year and three brave ones ventured up to the Jane and Finch area for the last road race of the season, an open criterium with a $1000 pursue.  The rain wasn't too hard but it ensured a good coating of water on the roads, plenty of rooster tails and lots of opportunity to wipe out.

From Quentin:

"The course was 2km, mostly single lane except for the back stretch, there were three corners, all requiring you to kill some speed given the conditions. The group took off at a good pace with no time to settle into some rythm. I think it was lap 2, when there was a three person crash on the first turn (although this turn is almost 1.4km into the route due to its crescent shape). This immediately separated out the group with me now in a chase group. over the course of the next several laps i had caught up to a couple of riders and suggested we work to try and pull back to the main group. there were 4 riders in total but there didnt seem to be a desire to push it."

Of course, there was a lot of "fun" further back in the pack.  After settling into a good working pace I grouped up with three other riders in the hopes of staying in the race as long as possible.  The roads were pretty bad and the police were not paying attention to everything that was going on - as soon as the main group passed them, they stopped tending to the race.

The course followed Driftwood to a short side street and then headed west to Jane.  On Jane, the race took over the 2 northbound lanes and the southbound lanes were divided for north and south traffic.  All that separated the race and traffic was a line of pylons.  

Coming around after 20 minutes I took to the front of my small group and the turn a little too tight.  The bike slid out from underneath me.  The police had not bothered to stop traffic and so as I slid, a mini van rolled slowly northbound.  I slid past the pylons, the bike went under the car and the car on top of the rear wheel and I stopped myself with my hands on the bumper.  I quickly got up, opened my brake and got back on to see if I still had a rideable machine.  A police officer made his way over to me to see if I was alright.  All I had were strong words for him, "Stop the traffic when we come around the corner!".

Back on the bike, I looked down and saw that my wheel was bent 2 inches to the left and the derrailleur was just as far off true.  I packed it in for the day, happy that I wasn't too badly damaged and that the bike wasn't toast.

Better a bent hanger than a broken leg.

I accepted the risk of racing and so will pay the cost the fix the bike, fortunately just a simple derrailleur hanger and a new rear wheel - good thing it was the $200 eBay special set!

Here's to the end of the year!! 

Part 2 - Expo Cycle

On the top end Jamis Xenith SL, the bottom bracket has been changed to the stiffer BB-30 standard and the head tube has a tapering 1.5" to 1.125" diameter also increasing stiffness.  The entire fork on the Xenith SL is hollow.  These features are shared throughout the Xenith line, however the grade of carbon changes as you slide down the pack.

Some of the cool things about the top three models of tri/TT bike from Jamis is that they all have their front brakes tucked behind the fork, feature internal cable routing and their rear brake is placed behind the bottom bracket.  That last innovation is also on Felt's bikes and my only observation is that it may make for difficult brake pad changes.

SRAM is also well featured throughout the Jamis line.

Felt's TT/Triathlon Line is pretty sweet looking, lots of non-traditional shapes.  I was hoping to see the AR, Felt's top of the line aero road bike, but it wasn't there.

Giant's top of the line has an integrated seat mast.  Perfect for people who don't travel or who have their own private jet.   I would love to ride a bike with this kind of seatpost just to see if it really makes a difference in ride quality.