Road Bicycle - Reality Check

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Sarc

Here's another beauty I've had my eye on...

Sweet!

[Ed Bighi]

For me, no sloping and nothing other than steel with lugs. And, like my 911s, old school and stripped to the bare basics. Here is my daily driver, beer getter and all around short distance transportation. It's a custom framed, used japanese keirin professional circuit ride. They still build them like this in Japan. No two alike, all custom made, all lugged, all strong as hell, all built by one man for one man in a tiny shop and none sold to mass foreign market. Sort of like Japanese sword making. To buy one, you figure out your size, go here and wait for your perfect used custom frame to appear after some pro decided to get something new built. All are built to perfection since it takes years to become an NJS approved builder. Just one failure during a race will end up with that builder losing his approved status. They are ridiculously cheap considering the decades old craftsmanship which one has to search for even in Italy today.

http://www.njs-keirin.blogspot.com/

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Ed Bighi

Freakin' gorgeous - what's the weight on that feather?

[dd74]

I just converted my Peugeot carbon bike to a fixie. No one wanted to buy one of the first carbon fiber bikes brought into America, so I thought what the hell; try something different.

It cost me nothing to do it, and the bike is now much lighter w/o gears and derailleurs. It'd be even lighter if I were to replace the old-school Mavic 36-spoke wheels.

It's my first time with that type of bicycle. I left the brakes as I haven't yet figured out how to skip skid to a stop (or whatever it's called in the fixie world).

[Ed Bighi]

Not that light actually. But it feels a hell of a lot lighter than it is since everything is so fluid, no noise, no flex, only what is needed for shock absorption which is the result of a nice, lugged steel frame. What brings the weight up on this bike are the parts. Keep in mind, this is complete keirin bike. Ridden by guys with legs twice as big as your average road rider and with upper body strength. These suckers are monsters who race in a series where contact IS allowed so long as one has two hands on the bars. So, lightness isn't the ultimate goal as much as precision, ride quality and strength. Again, every part on the bike must have an NJS stamp. Sort of like FIA. It means that the part just will not break under any circumstances. So, other than tires and seat (has to be approved as well) nothing on the bike is made out of anything but metal. The bars are chrome-moly and ridiculously stiff. If one needs brakes for street riding, they now make special ones for retired keirin circuit bikes that bolt on to the forks instead of requiring drilling and take into account the tiny tire gaps. Once one understands the mystique of keirin, like rules that require only the rider to work on his own bike, riding the same frame for years, waiting in line to get that frame, the stresses involved, but most of all, riding something some rider made a living on for years instead of some assembly line frame that is some production copy of some tour rider's frame who uses that frame for only a couple of races, one sort of gets a real appreciation for the equipment. Sort of an old school, asian, martial arts style hierarachy translated into a cycling based gambling sport. And the best part is that the equipment mostly has it's roots on Japanese appreciation for classic era italian equipment and all for the best price value in cycling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keirin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ONY63vC1U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFRahWnA4YM

[dd74]

Yeah. Keirin are very bad ass.

[Ed Bighi]

Tanabe-san, owner of the Kalavinka "factory." Every frame by every builder like Yanagisawa, Watanabe, Level, Kiyo Myazawa, Makino, and a few more are made like this. In 2009, this sort of thing is literally like going back to the sixties and vistiting Faliero Masi under the Vigorelli velodrome to get a tailored frame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AkdHSoSGhI

[TimT]

Found this thread on a photography forum I look at..

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=129466

[landrover88]

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Ed Bighi

Tanabe-san, owner of the Kalavinka "factory." Every frame by every builder like Yanagisawa, Watanabe, Level, Kiyo Myazawa, Makino, and a few more are made like this. In 2009, this sort of thing is literally like going back to the sixties and vistiting Faliero Masi under the Vigorelli velodrome to get a tailored frame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AkdHSoSGhI

His son is still there when I visited his shop under the Vigorelli velodrome in Milan 6-7 years ago. That and Casati were must see places for me and drove my grl friend nuts. Masi is truly a master. I wanted a custom frame build by him so bad but just didn't have the time to wait for it. shipping was crazy money.

[landrover88]

Just finished RAAM and some of the bikes were north of 30K. Also under 4#s...

[JavaBrewer]

A bit over my budget but damn wow!

[Rob G]

I too just got back into riding. Ive been riding MTB's for about a year or too. (KONA) I just bought my 1st road bike. A FELT AR4. Great ride. I also was shocked at what some people will pay for a bike. I started working with POLAR HRM about 3 years ago, and when discussing bikes with my clients i had no idea that someone could put 10 to 15 grand in to a bike. What ever you do test ride as many as you can. Best of luck and ENJOY your ride.


Rob G

[Rory Mckenna]

The steel is nice, but you'll love the carbon.. it is simply the better of the materials for the road. I have a TREK Madone SSL it's a great rig.

[dd74]

Nice Litespeed. Though it looks as if those cages might have trouble holding water bottles.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Rory Mckenna

The steel is nice, but you'll love the carbon.. it is simply the better of the materials for the road.

ok - what is the cheapest CF frame bike??

I don't care about the "look at me" graphics - I'll just wrap it in tape and slap ona Huffy sticker...

[dd74]

Originally Posted by RWebb

ok - what is the cheapest CF frame bike??

I don't care about the "look at me" graphics - I'll just wrap it in tape and slap ona Huffy sticker...

$1400 with all Ultegra components. It's probably the best deal out there.

Look up Bikes Direct.com

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by Ed Bighi

Once one understands the mystique of keirin, like rules that require only the rider to work on his own bike, riding the same frame for years, waiting in line to get that frame, the stresses involved, but most of all, riding something some rider made a living on for years instead of some assembly line frame that is some production copy of some tour rider's frame who uses that frame for only a couple of races, one sort of gets a real appreciation for the equipment. Sort of an old school, asian, martial arts style hierarachy translated into a cycling based gambling sport.

I don't deserve a bike like that! I'll stick with my mass-produced Bianchi.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Freakin' gorgeous - what's the weight on that feather?

I so don't get this. It looks like any other 10 speed to me...

Would you take $50.00 for it?