As someone who has a bicycle related blogging station in the interweb galactica, it only seems fitting that I should post pictures of my bikes. In pondering and researching this post, I spent countless hours viewing other bicycle related blog stations and found that self indulgence runs deep with every last one of us. We have an innate desire to show you “ordinary” folks what you are all missing by rubbing our over priced, under ridden bicycles in your face. Seeing that I take this blog very seriously, you will all now be subject to my self indulgence…
Bike #1 is my Raleigh Internationl. This is the only bike that has seen much action the past few weeks. I’ve been digging my early morning rides before work. Hop on, pedal, return, simple. The International is Reynolds 853 lugged steel with lugged fork. The accouterments are a full Dura Ace 7900 kit, all the way down to the pedals.
My favorite part of this bike is the wheels, Dura Ace 7900 tubeless. With all the chip seal roads in SG a little extra squish to smooth out all the bumps is requisite. The Reynolds frame does a pretty good job of that, but the attached wheels ran at about 85 psi makes this thing feel like Cadillac.
Oh, yes I do run a super short stem and a pink saddle bag. The bag was a gift from Scarf and the stem is due to my inflexibility.
Bike #2 is my Raleigh High Life. These were a limited run frame/fork only. There are no water bottle bosses and it is singlespeed specific. The bike that this replaced was a Specialized Singlecross. Going from that to the Raliegh was like a fat guy suddenly losing 50 pounds. This bike handles fast, loves to leave the ground and is not hesitant to be thrown into the steeps.
As a singlespeed there isn’t a whole lot to it. The brakes are the cheap Tektros that came on the singlecross. The wheels are Phil Wood High Flanges laced to Mavic Open Pros.
These hubs have seen a lot of years, not so many miles. They survived two winters in Logan and are still going strong without any service.
I originally built this frame up with a set of Fulcrum cranks that QBP had on sell. At the time the 40% off price tag made all other details less than important. Once the cranks showed up and I looked at the bb I had to rethink the whole thing. After one ride in the rain, it was obvious they had to go. Luckily, I had a Look at the time with a set of compact Ultegra cranks attached. I simply made the switch, sold the Look (it was super flexy) and scored some kick-ass cranks for my High Life.
Oh and if you haven’t figured it out by now, the High Life is due to the graphics mimicking a Miller High Life can…
Bike #3 is my S-Works SJ SS from 2010. This bike has been my baby for a few years now. Well, since 2010 at least. Even with the dropper seatpost she comes in just over 18 pounds. The build list; Roval Carbon Control SL wheels, XTR Cranks, Hope Race V2, Rock Shox Reba w/ S-Works carbon crown and Blacklight 75mm dropper post.
If you haven’t picked up on the Shimano motif yet, let me just say I love Shimano. It’s just built right. These XTR cranks have been on three different bikes now and are still going strong.
Bike #4 is my Enduro. I had an Enduro in 2005 that I loved and rode the shit out of. I sold it to send my cheating x-wife back to Chile. Ever since I would buy a 6″ travel bike, not ride it and sell it before it even got scratched. Until I picked this guy up. It came with a X0/X9 build kit. As you can see that shit had to go.
Those of you who are somewhat detail oriented will notice the X7 front derailleur. I had the XTR to install and then needed some cash and sold it. So for now, the X7 is doing alright. It will go soon… Oh, did you notice my XTR cranks?
I put XTR stoppers on here after the Avid ones were gone, but KB was complaining about her Formula brakes and someone gave me an extremely good deal on these bad boys (read, they were given to me). They are a little much for this bike, but who can’t appreciate too much braking power.
And I topped it off with a Kashima coated Talas. The plan is to put some Enve wheels laced to Shimano hubs, but those are expensive and these Rovals are holding their own.
Bike #5, at last the crazy blue bike that can carry a 24 pack of Red Sessions without even blinking. This bike is obviously my commuter. It has seen the most miles in the past year though she is a bit dusty right now. The Live is fully stock except for the stem and saddle.
8 speeds, all internal, you gotta love those Shimano bits.
My favorite part of this bike is the Ahern Flask Cage. It doesn’t get used very often but it’s always nice to know that the most important thing to all of us, has it’s own parking spot.
There you have it. I have fulfilled my patriotic duty to be self indulgent and you have all enjoyed seeing my shitty bikes. Now, turn your computer off and go ride somewhere…
P. L. and R.
We’ll start by defining some terms here about the Shimano Dura-Ace FC-7900 crankset. When you see “FC-7900”, that refers to the 53/39 chainring combo of this crankset, a.k.a. a “standard” crankset. When you see “FC-7950”, that refers to the 50/34 chainring combo, a.k.a. a “compact” crankset. This is the first-ever generation of Dura-Ace that offers both a standard and a compact option, and in our minds it is the final and authoritative piece of evidence we need to prove that triple cranksets are dead. Good riddance!