Equipment - Black Tsunami, 2.1

(2.1 because it was 2.0 and then I fiddled with it)

Over the winter I experimented a bit with my bike. I raced it Tuesday May 31, my first race of the year and my first ride outside. I'll go into the race in a different post but I was on the black bike for the first time in a couple years. The main reason? I wanted to experiment with reach, and the red bike's custom stem makes it impossible for me to fiddle with reach. On the black bike, with a normal 12 cm stem as "default" I have room to go further out.

Longer stem with 26.0->31.8 adapter for bar/stem

My 26.0 bars, dating back from about 1997 or so, didn't fit the only 14 cm stem I had that would fit the black bike. Luckily I got some Wheels Manufacturing adapters. Made with aluminum, they allow the 3T stem to hold the 3ttt bars. And yes, the company changed names between the 1990s and now. Old was 3ttt, now it's 3T.

The rear triangle. 39 cm stays make it super compact.

I love the short stays for out of saddle sprinting. The black bike is marginally shorter than the red bike. It might be my imagination but the black bike feels a bit better out of the saddle.

The cranks are 170s. I tried them but I think I'd need a lot of outdoor time to get used to sprinting on them again. I used to do 10-15 sprints once a week for 2-3 months (plus race virtually every week) before I felt good sprinting on 167.5s and 170s. Nowadays I don't have that kind of time/energy. The 175s feel good out of the box even if on paper they're slower. I'm about 20% slower in my sprint than back in the day. I'm sure part of it is that I no longer do so many sprints, but I'm sure my age has a lot to do with it. I've given up on trying to regain that lost speed.

Using these saddles now, they are great for me.

Another thing I'll post on but the Adamo ISM saddles are great for me. They're very heavy, such that it's pretty noticeable when rocking the bike, but otherwise they're great. I didn't have problems before but after I tried the saddle I couldn't go back to the SLR that I had on the bike.

Detail on some cable management stuff.

With the longer stem I had to re-anchor all the cable housing. It worked out well, very compact, full range of motion for turning the bars. The random computer wire is for the SRM.

Front/wind view of cables.

The "aero" appearance of the cables. My bike is so short that the cables realistically don't play a big part of aero. Someone said somewhere that a foot of exposed cable is about 1 watt at some higher speed, 25 or 30 mph. My total exposed housing is probably a foot, if that. So not a big concern objectively speaking. Subjectively though I like clean housing and, my preference, internal routed housing.

Exustar pedals keep my foot in much better than the Keo Max 2 that I bought.

Another future post topic. I've been riding some old Keo Carbon pedals for forever, I think since 2007 or so. I bought more Keo pedals, the Keo 2 Max specifically, to replace the pretty worn Keo Carbons, but I unclipped out of them regularly, seated and standing. It was pretty disconcerting. The Exustars retain my foot better.

Detail on the dual speed pick ups and clearance to crank.

Because I ride Zwift on the trainer, and because I ride the trainer most of the time, I want an Ant+ speed sensor. The SRM uses its own proprietary speed sensor. I didn't want two magnets on the wheel so I set up the two pick ups on either side of the chainstay. The SRM is under or inward, the Ant+ is the big squarish one up top.

The SRM hangs down for the clinchers, points inward for the race wheels. Those have much more inboard spokes due to rim height, and all my wheels have basically the same hub, all HEDs.

The Ant+ points up and is set for my regular clincher wheel. I don't use Ant+ for racing so I don't have to adjust it.

The same pair of zip-ties holds both mounts tightly. I can rotate one or both mounts around the chainstay.

Although I like this bike I prefer the FSA Compact bars. I'll need to get a second custom stem for this frame so I can use those bars. Ultimately I'd like the newer Campy shifter shape as I much prefer them, but these work.

Equipment - FSA Energy Handlebars

Over the last month or two I've been thinking about trying to fix my bar position. I mean, okay, I've been thinking about it since the winter, but I finally got another bar that might work - the FSA Energy handlebar. I was running an FSA Wing, a "compact" bar. It has 12 cm drop and 8 cm reach, instead of the 15 cm drop and 11 cm reach of the crit bend bars.

To try and make up for part of this I got a 2 cm longer stem (14 cm long) which moved the drops out 2 cm and therefore reclaimed 2 of the 3 cm lost. I'd be running 1 cm shorter reach.

I got the stem in a Deda Pista (track). Unfortunately instead of the normal 65 degree angle the Deda came with just a 70 degree angle, a whopping 3 degrees downward angle from horizontal, not the 8 degrees I wanted.

Ultimately the stem got me another half centimeter of drop, netting me a 1.5 cm raise, versus the 2 cm raise before. I knew it affected my sprint negatively but I decided that it would be acceptable. After all, 2013 was the year of no goals, just to ride and race as possible. Sprinting on the drops felt awkward, kind of like doing curls but just the top 25% of the motion. I want to get into the meaty part of the curl, the middle 90 degrees, not the top 45 degrees. The shallow drop bars kept me from really being able to push/pull the bars.

The big benefit to me was that the tops of the bars were 2 cm further out. I really liked that for the JRA type training I do out on the road - tops or drops for me.

Since the higher drops grated on my nerves every time I rode I decided to look for a deeper drop 8 cm reach bar, so a deep drop compact if you will. I saw the FSA Energy fit the bill, so when I could I bought one.

Then I let it sit around for a month or two. Or three even.

The other day, reluctantly getting on the bike for a hot trainer session, I decided that, okay, I'll try the doggone bars. I'd gotten a 73 degree 14 cm 3T stem as well so I bolted the two together, making it a Road/Energy combo, and stuck it in place of the Pista/Compact bar set up. I didn't bother transferring anything over to the new bars - if it didn't seem right I'd just put the complete Pista/Compact cockpit back on the bike.

Road/Energy stem/bar combo, bare.

Note the regular Pista/Compact assembly dangling below it.

Another view which clearly shows how I simply put a different bar/stem on the bike.

I rode the trainer like this. Shifting was awkward at best. Trying to check ride time on the SRM involved moving the dangling bar a bit so I could see the SRM.

A sideways view (left is down), showing the Pista label on the original stem.

I did the trainer ride with the Road/Energy set up, no cables, no tape, and even though the skinny unwrapped bar felt incomplete the overall setup felt better. Shifting the other sets of bars inconvenienced me, of course, but, more significantly, I noticed the 2 cm drop immediately. It felt better, it let me drop down lower while on the drops, and it felt like it ought to work. I even rode with gloves because the bar bars slipped too much. The drops themselves felt weird so after a not-too-intense ride, tired in a sleepy way, I decided to deal with it later.

The next day, when I looked at the bike with a clear mind, I realized that I never properly tightened the handlebar clamp bolts so the bars tilted up when I pedaled while holding the drops. The ends of the bars were pointing comically at the rear hub.

I had ridden a clown bike.

This is why the bars felt so weird on the drops, and in the dimly lit room (it was late at night), a hazy brain, I just didn't see it. I tilted the bars to a more reasonable angle, pointing to just above the rear brake, and sat on the bike. It felt okay so I spent some time moving the cable housing and levers over. I even moved the SRM mount over.

With no tape I did another trainer ride, again with gloves. Unfortunately I bonked on this one so I ended it quickly. Even in the short 35 minutes I realized that the right lever sat just a bit higher than the left and that otherwise the bars were great.

The next day, with the Missus's encouragement, I adjusted that lever just a touch lower in preparation for wrapping the bars. The cable housing seemed just a touch too short, just enough to make me feel slightly uncomfortable. I thought about lengthening the housing, something that you can do with the Nokons, but then I realized that maybe the Pista stem, with its 3 degree downward slope, would help. I quickly switched out the 73 degree 3T road stem for the 70 degree Deda Pista and lo and behold the housing looked okay. Amazing what a few millimeters of drop can do.

A final check of the lever level and the bar angle and I wrapped the bars. I bought some Fizik tape for its grip in the wet, to replace the set on the Compact bars. I'm not keen on how it doesn't really stretch but that's okay. I think I need to get cheaper tape in quantity so I can keep fresh tape on the bars.

I headed out for a proper road ride, complete with out of saddle efforts and such. The deeper drops felt great, familiar, like getting back into the groove again. I tried to remember the different positions, the different efforts, spinning, sliding a bit forward on the saddle, sliding a bit back.

The forward position worked well, tilting the pelvis forward, flattening my back, allowing me to spin. I could hold the bars with little effort, no stress on my arms, no stress on my back, unlike trying to hold a low position with the shallower Compact bars.

Although I focused on the position, on making sure the bars were straight, the angle was good, and the levers were level, I got back home a bit quicker than normal. The Missus queried me on the loop since I was back a bit quicker than expected - I did the loop in a bit under 50 minutes (about 18 mph). That's better than an hour or so, not as good as the 43 or 44 minute lap I did one time (over 20 mph).

The drops felt better, the tops felt the same, and the hoods, for some reason, felt better when I was standing. With a slew of races coming up I'll have some time to see how the bars work for me. I have races scheduled for Tuesday Aug 6, Saturday Aug 10, Sunday Aug 18, Friday Aug 23, and then finally Sunday Sept 22.

I have more thoughts about the deep drop bar (or, really, the "normal drop" bar) but I'll post on that later. For now some pictures on the bike with the Energy handlebars and the Pista stem.

The bike pretty much as I rode it for the first time with the new bars.

Notice there's no bottle? No frame pump? Yeah, I forgot that stuff. Oops. I got on the bike after the first attempt at pulling Junior along in a trailer. That wasn't a great success. It took a while to figure things out though plus we waited through two short rain showers. When we finally got back from our 1 mile outing it was getting late. I basically jumped on the bike and left, sans bottle and pump. I did have my pockets full with my tools and stuff but yeah, brain scattered results there.

Slightly better view of angle of bars.

You can see the the drops are about level with the tire. This is where I'm used to having my drops, there or slightly below.

For comparison here's the Wing bar from an earlier post.

Note how the drops are above the tire? Not good for me.

Normally I cut the last couple inches of the bar off but I didn't have the wherewithall to do that so I just left it as it. Seems awfully long - on a normal top tube length bike I'd worry about hitting it with my knee. I'll cut it down the next time I wrap the bars, with the end of the bar a vertical line down from the back of the tops of the bars.

Slightly different angle of the Energy-based cockpit.

You can see the slight downward angle based on the garage door lines. It's a very slight angle. I'd prefer to have a 3 cm shorter head tube and an 80 degree stem but that's not possible. A downward angle stem is the only real option.

From above. The SRM is missing - I had that on when I rode.

Now to see how the bike works at the next race, either tomorrow at the Rent or Saturday at Rocky Hill.

Equipment - Aerodynamics and Frame Fit

The other day I saw this article on aerodynamics, a kind of "ramble in font" by Chris Boardman. He explains, in very layman terms, his very layman way of reaching his optimal position on his bikes.

I knew, from his GAN days, that he rode about a 53 cm frame, meaning a frame with a 53 cm seat tube length. Nowadays that doesn't mean much what with compact versus regular frame set ups, seat tubes measured in all sorts of different ways, and of course the fact that the seat tube has nothing to do with length/reach, very little to do with saddle to bar drop, or even very little to do with the saddle height. The basic 53 cm frame size immediately says a few things though - you can expect a top tube length of about 54 cm and a head tube length of maybe 14 cm.

What's surprising on Boardman's regular looking 53 cm track bike (with drop bars) are the other dimensions.

63 cm top tube?!
17 cm stem?!

To look at him on the bike he doesn't look wrong at all - in fact he broke the non-aero hour record astride the machine.

He came to the position using a couple basic principles plus an open mind. He wanted to keep frontal area to a minimum (although this is technically flawed it's better than nothing) and he had to be able to put down reasonable power (i.e. threshold, since, by definition, he'd be making a 60 minute effort).

(Which makes me realize that his threshold lets him ride at over 31 mph. His threshold! I'm so far into the red at 31 mph it's crazy. Jeepers creepers and holy canolies. Wow. Okay, fine, he was a great short distance time trialer, he broke the hour record, but he was, with all due respect, basically nowhere in the big races. Wowsers. Anyway, back to the post...)

He pointed out that he avoided measuring things until after he set up a position that worked for him. He used a powermeter and pedaled at 50% of his threshold, give or take. By not measuring he let himself let go of any preconceived notions of what would or wouldn't work.

(Incidentally if I rode at 50% of my threshold I'd be doing about 100w, which, honestly, I could do in almost any position. I guess he just kept his pedals turning so anything they tried would be somewhat reasonable.)

One thing you'll notice is that if you look at Boardman on the hour record bike versus a road bike (even a TT bike) you'll see that the head tube on the road bike is much shorter. This is because the bottom bracket on a track bike is higher, by about 1.3 cm. Since frame "size", i.e. seat tube length, is measured from the bottom bracket, if you move the bottom bracket up 2 cm then the frame suddenly looks about 2 cm higher.

As an example look at my 50 cm track bike, which, I have to point out, can't do 31 mph for even 3 km:

Note head tube length.

I wonder if a 63 cm top tube would help.

This head tube looks shorter.

Saddle height is the same. 56.5 top tube.

The Riggio has a 16 cm total head tube height, with headset. The Tsunami is 11.5 cm with the headset too. With spare bars on the track bike, the same make/model as the bars on the Tsunami (Mavic 315 bars, crit bend, circa 1997), I need a slight rise to fit the Riggio properly.

I'm veering hard off my original thoughts though, that of Boardman's approach to fit. The most important thing was that he threw out any preconceived notions on what should or shouldn't work. He admits in the article that if he took measurements while changing stuff around he probably would have ended up with a more conservative set up.

That BikeRadar article made me go "hm." Boardman's had a good approach to his fit, unconcerned about staying within his comfort zone, open minded as far as possibilities.

How To - Clipless Pedal Shoe Fit

So you're looking for a new pair of shoes.

If you've bought them before, if you've been on clipless pedals for a while, it's not that complicated. You figure out if there are any quirks to a new shoe, check out fit, and you buy them.

I find it interesting that even the most fervent online buyer will go and try on (and buy) shoes of a new manufacturer in a bike shop. Granted, once you know a particular shoe fits then you can buy another one (same model/make) confident it'll fit the same.

Just like other shoes, if you're an experienced clipless pedal user buying a different manufacturer shoe, it is critical to try them on. Why do you think they have shoe size runs at Interbike? It's so the dealers can try on the shoes, see how they fit, and get an idea of what sizes to buy. If they don't fit the dealers will scream and the manufacturer will probably change them.

If you're new to the clipless scene how do you check fit?

Believe it or not it's best to have one helper. It could be the person in the shop or it could be a buddy of yours. Make sure they're not squeamish about touching your shoe while it's on your foot. Got it? Okay, head out to the shop.

The reason you need help with the fit is that your shoes perform under different circumstances than when you're standing around trying on the shoes. It's easy to check for fit when you're pressing down on the shoe. This is like when you're standing with that shoe on your foot. It replicates pushing down on the pedal on the downstroke.

HOWEVER...

With clipless pedals you also pull up on the shoe. You're pulling up against the upper of the shoe. Even the original "clipless compatible" shoes by certain manufacturers didn't take into account the pulling up factor - that's why you saw so many riders with either maxed out laces, extra straps or three, etc. The uppers at the time (mid 80s) were designed for toe clips and straps and to have a strap take the upward force, not the shoe's upper.

Nowadays pretty much all clipless type shoes have reasonable uppers that resist the upward motion well. If you're new to clipless you will not know how these shoes should fit or feel. They should be pretty snug on the upstroke, not just on the downstroke.

So how do you check? You have someone hold the toe and the heel of the shoe (on the outside, like grasping just the sole part of the shoe, not holding the uppers) and you lift your foot up flat footed.

 Since I took the pictures I took one side at a time.

This is how your helper should hold the front of the shoe.

Note that the fingers are not holding your foot down, just the shoe.

This is how your helper should hold the rear of the shoe.

Again, note that the fingers are not supporting the foot, just holding the shoe.

A "normal comfortable" shoe will immediately feel loose as you lift virtually your whole foot off the sole of the shoe. You'll be shocked at how easy it is to lift your foot right off the sole.

You should strive for maintaining some contact with the outside of your foot. The inside will lift or unweight and that's normal.

Cinch down on the straps/buckles/wire/whatever and make sure you can achieve a reasonably snug fit on the upstroke.

This is where you check for hot spots and shoe width/narrowness. You may disagree with a seam or something on the inside of the shoe, on the upper. Again, this is something you only feel when pulling up, not when you're walking around the bike shop floor.

Make sure you don't max out the straps just getting the shoe reasonably snug on the showroom floor. Your feet shrink quite a bit when you ride - I find myself clicking a good 2-4 clicks tighter in the first hour of riding and another click or three when I get ready for the sprint. That's maybe 2 cm of tightening - it's a lot. If you have narrow feet the shoe may not accommodate that kind of snugging up.

 You can see that it's possible to adjust the "base" of the strap.

I've clicked it a couple clicks tighter than "factory".

If you look carefully you can see some silver smudges on the ratchets - that's where the buckle engages.

It used to engage up to the last notch, now max is about the 3rd one.

Flex your ankle a bit. You'll do that naturally when pedaling. If you have a really pronounced Achilles tendon you may not like the heel area of the shoe. I personally like a really deep heel cup and I learned that similar models within the same line of shoes ended up with different heel cup depths (Sidi shoes).

The heel of the Sidi. It's not the deepest but it's deep enough. Cutout is for Achilles.

Finally you need to make sure that the shoe works with your pedals. Unless you have bizarre leg issues you won't need massive amounts of adjustment in the pedal, and even if you do there are ways to do it with virtually any shoe (you just have to "modify" the shoe). Therefore I recommend going with a very straight forward, very simple, very easy to deal with pedal - the Looks or the Shimanos.

The ubiquitous Look Keo cleat mounted to the shoe via the ubiquitous "3-bolt pattern".

It's hard to go wrong with a popular standard that works well and is readily available.

On my Sidis there's an adapter plate for different pedal mounting systems, but most shoes don't have that.

You can go into virtually any shop in the country and find cleats and maybe even pedals. You know, like if you fly to Las Vegas for a bike trade show and then realize you forgot your pedals back at your house.

They're easy to get into, they're reasonable to walk on, and they have a reasonable overall weight (some "lightweight" pedals have cleat assemblies that weigh as much or more than the pedal itself). Pretty much every single clipless road shoe out there works with the Look 3 bolt pattern (which Shimano uses too).

Equipment - Frame Fit Session

As planned I made it to the local shop just down the street. Of course, as usual, I was running really late, and instead of getting there at 10 AM, I got there at about 1 PM.

I set up the fit bike thing myself, puzzling over the different settings and such. I brought my pedals, bars, shoes, saddle, and a kit.

For the record, my current bike is a SystemSix Liquigas Replica, 52 cm, with its standard geometry. To save you from flipping back and forth to the geometry page, the important numbers are as follows:

Seat tube: 52 cm, 50 cm to the top of the top tube
Top tube: 53.5 cm
Seat tube angle: 74 degrees
Head tube angle: 73 degrees
Head tube length: 11.5 cm

I look something like this on the bike:

On the green/black Cannondale. My arms hang straight down.

Okay, once you get past my doughy build (perceived 175 lbs on my optimistic scale, which was actually 185 lbs), you may notice that the bike seems really, really short in length. My goal is to get my bike a bit longer.

That other night I took to my bike with a tape measure.

First, I want my saddle to be in the middle of its rail adjustment, not shoved all the way forward. I held my tape measure to the center of the rails, and the line went 2 centimeters further forward than the present seat tube. This meant I needed a substantially steeper seat tube angle.

How much steeper I didn't know, but that's what a builder is supposed to figure out.

The steeper seat tube would move the whole top tube forward by 2 cm. However, based on my current set up, I figured I need at least another 5 centimeters in length - I could put my hands a full Ergo lever in front of the actual Ergo lever.

Based on that number, I figured a 58 cm top tube would work well. It would move me forward a total of 6.5 cm (2 cm from the steeper seat tube angle and 4.5 cm from the 53.5 current length to the new 58 length). This would let me play with a shorter stem, an 11 or a 12 cm stem, not always having to search for the longest possible stems out there.

I also want a short head tube, shorter than the current 11.5 cm, so that I can go buy an 80 degree stem. This would free me from just 73 (-17) degree stems. There are lots of 80 degree stems out there, not a lot of 73s.

And, finally, while I was at it, I wanted to get a short seat tube, something like the 44 cm seat tube (as I remember) on my size S Giant TCR aluminum frame.

Armed with this information, I emailed Joseph at Tsunami Bikes. His initial response seemed a bit hesitant - my ideal frame, after all, would resemble an oversized BMX bike.

We started talking and I described how I arrived at all the numbers. Again, he seemed a bit hesitant. He asked for some pictures of me on the bike, and ones of just the bike itself.

I sent pictures and called to follow up.

Now he seemed a bit more receptive to the whole "tiny frame" concept (as named by Hans). I told him that I'd want to do a sanity check, one where I actually have a regular bar to hold onto, not resting my hands on a plastic tote bin.

I strolled into the shop and got down to business. This new fangled gizmo was a new experience for me, so Hans would occasionally tell me "do this" or "do that".

Fit starts at the bottom bracket, goes up to the saddle, and then forward to the bars. Therefore I started with the seat tube at 75.5 degrees. I raised the saddle (that I brought into the store) to my right height, centered the saddle on the rails.

Then I got the top tube to a more reasonable 56.5 cm. I borrowed a 14 cm stem, a -5 degree stem and mounted a spare set of 3ttt crit bars (Gimondi bend, bars I got thanks to RTC's detective work).

Finally I put my Keos on, trotted off to the bathroom to change, and trotted back in my new kit. I even brought the long sleeve jersey because I didn't want to get cold in the shop.

I jumped on the bike and, BAM, it felt awesome.

I fiddled a bit with the stem height, played around, and realized that, hey, it's pretty much perfect.

On the tops. Left foot forward.

My arms are bent a bit, but outwards. I wanted to keep my arms out of the way of something, not sure what I was thinking. I'm sitting square on the saddle, and the saddle is square on the post. w00t!

On the "hoods". Foot at bottom.

My legs look bulky.

Reminds me of something. I made a comment at the track last summer - I was watching the As and watched as powerful looking racer rocketed off the front. He looked freakin' powerful - big legs, big arms, aero carbon frame, aero carbon wheels, and, man, he was flying.

"Holy smokes, look at that guy's legs."

The guy next to me looked at me and said something unusual.

"Don't underestimate yourself."

Hm.

Drops, and right foot sort of forward.

Imagine, my arms point forward. And my back is kinda sorta level. The position in the drops feels really secure, really good.

I thought I forgot my camera so Hans took a few pics and sent them to me.

I sent the pictures to Joseph and left him a message. An hour later he called back. He said the pictures really helped, and things looked good. He kind of laughed - I'm still not really forward, relatively speaking, and I'm sitting on a 75.5 seat tube angle.

We went over a few details, things like ride quality and such. I have no knowledge about tubing materials so I'm leaving it up to him. I just want a ride that's as rigid as the Cannondale - I'm good for 6 or 7 plus hours on the frame, and I don't want to have something more flexy.

Paint will be later, but I think some kind of a red. I haven't had a red bike since forever ago, and my first race bike, a Basso, was red. It would match the kit and it would look kinda cool.

The other choice would be a blue to match the blue car, but I don't have anything blue in my kit so that's out.

After our talk Joseph emailed one more question - one about seat tube length. I went and checked my two Giants, since I like the aluminum one a lot, and since the carbon one is "fine" (the Cannondale is a bit high for me).

Seems that I remembered wrong. The aluminum Giant has, get this, a 40 cm seat tube to the top of the top tube (44 to the top of the seat tube). The carbon Giant is 4 cm longer.

Whew. I sent my preferences (40 c-to-t, but 44 c-to-t is fine), along with payment.

And now it's up to them.