Equipment - Red Tsunami Thoughts

As I said before I seem to go through a cycle every year. At the beginning of the build up for the new season, typically Dec or Jan, I'll refresh everything. I'll check tires, wheels, tape, chain, cassette, whatever. Every year or three I'm building up a frame so everything gets refreshed automatically. Part of this refreshing is to check whatever computer I have on the bike. Since 2008 that's been an SRM, and in the ensuing years I've had to install (solder) batteries in the spiders and one in a headunit (the SRM PCV).

As the season progresses results come more from what I do in a race rather than training, fitness, and other stuff that happens outside of the race. In other words it's more about tactics (for me), especially in the last few laps. Whatever numbers I put down is kind of irrelevant. This means that stuff like SRMs take on less importance.

Therefore, as the season goes on, as I get that accumulated fatigue, as I start to have equipment run down, I tend to lose something relating to the SRM. It might be a battery in the HR strap, losing the strap after a race, maybe a magnet dropping off a wheel, a wire failing on the harness, or even a battery failing in the spider or the computer head. Depending on my fatigue level I'll just let it slide.

This results in, at the end of the year, absolutely no data. I think for a couple months in 2010? I ran with just speed. I had no cadence, no power, no HR.

Still, though, I like looking at what I did in a race. In 2012 I didn't ride as much so I never experienced the big equipment wear drop - in fact all the equipment had remained the same since the beginning of 2011 which was my last refresh period.

I hope that at some point I'll have seasons where I'm racing and riding enough where I start accumulating that fatigue again.

Even without that equipment fatigue I have one big project in place for 2013: put together my now-red Tsunami.

I have the black bike and it's basically all together. I mean I can go and ride it right now if I wanted to, and I ride it on the trainer. Okay, it has crunchy BB30 bearings and a less than nicely aligned headset (it steers very stiffly) so I want to get those surfaces redone. I'll refresh the chain, cassette, and tape. I may do the cables but I did them last winter and barely rode this whole year.

Generally speaking the black Tsunami is usable.

But the other bike... now we're talking. The frame is a lot lighter at 1200 grams, over 450 grams lighter than the black frame and 200 grams lighter than it was before, and the new ENVE 2.0 fork is about 100 grams lighter than the original fork. This should cut about a pound off my race bike weight compared to the black bike and about two thirds of a pound off the weight of the then-orange Tsunami.

Since I'll be building it up with virtually the same parts the rest of it should be the same. I have a few bits and pieces to cut some weight but the majority of the parts will be the same as before.

Of course this means I have to build the thing.

The only things I have installed on the bike are the bottom bracket bearings, bottom bracket spindle, and the headset. The rest of it is still sitting in boxes and such, waiting to come together. I made a last minute decision to put new Nokons on so I ordered them the other day. When they arrive I'll start assembling the bike.

Although it won't come in at any world shattering weight, it should hit about 16 pounds with race wheels on it, about a pound lighter than before.

If it comes in lower than that I'll be totally psyched but I don't see that happening. I'll see how it goes.

Equipment - Tsunami 1.1 (Ream/face)

As you may know I've gotten my original Tsunami Bikes frame back with shortened chainstays, smoothed out the welds a bit, and had it painted a basic (Hyundai) red.

The only real issue I've had with my frames has been the BB30 shell. It's a press-fit bottom bracket shell, and as such it needs to be exactly right. The spec states it should be 41.96mm in diameter on the inside (internal diameter or ID). This allows the 42 mm bearing to squeeze in there with a perfect balance of snugness and looseness. If it's too loose it'll creak (most likely) or move a bit. If it's too tight the bearings get squeezed. You may not think a BB30 can be squeezed but trust me, they can.

In the old days of steel and aluminum all frames had to be prepped before they were built. The brazing and welding would warp and distort the metal, leaving behind imperfect frames. Okay, they might have been pretty or whatever but you had no way of knowing if the bottom bracket shell's outside faces were parallel or if the threads were any good. Likewise the head tube surfaces were suspect, both in the inside roundness as well as the flat edges the headset cups sat against.

The problem with having unfinished surfaces is that the different halves of the bottom bracket or headset may not be in line with each other. The frame's owner will always have weird wear or adjustment problems with both areas.

Shimano addressed the bottom bracket issue a long time ago by selling a bottom bracket cartridge, a one piece insert that had its own "shell" if you will. The problem was that these things were heavy, and the current crop of bottom brackets returned to the "left side - right side" construction type of days past. This, of course, means that frame prep counts again.

It's easier for most shops than it used to be. With the advent of mass produced aluminum and carbon frames shops and suppliers have slowly lost the art of frame prepping. The big aluminum manufacturers will get a whole frame, sit it on a jig, and using a monster machine, quickly ream the insides of the bottom bracket shell and the head tube, then face the outside edges. This assures that the bottom bracket and headset will work smoothly on the assembled bike.

With carbon it's even easier - the frame molds are so precise that the manufacturers pull out a frame that's already "finished". They don't need to do anything else because it's all done.

Finally component manufacturers have done their best to enable their bits to work on roughly finished frames. I think of the Soviet approach to military machines compared to the American one. An old joke goes something like this:

An American pilot makes fun of his Soviet counterpart's coarse jet fighter. The Soviet responds, "Well, your planes are like fine ladies' watches. They are beautiful and work well but they are very delicate. Our watches are like Mickey Mouse watches. They tell time and if something happens and they stop you just shake the watch and it works again."

I really identified with this since at the time my mom had a precious watch that seemed very fragile, and 12 year old me had a yellow Mickey Mouse watch that was basically indestructible, even when I dragged the watch face along the sidewalk.

Nowadays there's a lot less adjustment (i.e. fine stuff) and a lot more "just replace the cartridge" (i.e. coarse stuff).

I say all this because a small aluminum frame builder (and steel too I suppose) needs to finish the bearing interface surfaces - the head tube and, if applicable, the BB30 bottom bracket shell.

(Regular bottom brackets get screwed into the bottom bracket shell, and many shops still have the tools necessary to chase/cut such threads. BB30 is nice because it allows a wider diameter bottom bracket axle and ultimately a very light crank/BB unit, but the problem is that very few shops are prepared to service the frame part of a BB30 bike.)

When I built my (then orange) Tsunami, I didn't have the luxury of a bike shop or even the big tools of a shop. I built it in a hurry before I headed out to California for a training camp and I took every shortcut possible. Therefore I never dealt with finishing the frame, either the bottom bracket or even the headset. Because of this I've had to deal with the resulting issues since - a headset that always had to be a bit too tight and a bottom bracket that was very, very tight.

In fact, in that SoCal training camp, I coasted down one of the numerous short but reasonably steep downhills at about 40 mph, shifted into the 39x23 or so, and spun the pedals. Since I wasn't pedaling fast enough to engage the freehub body I was still coasting even though I was pedaling. This meant that any resistance in the drivetrain (chain, derailleur pulleys, pedal bearings, and BB bearings) would result in a power reading on the SRM.

Unlike 99% of my riding time, I stared intently at the SRM as I spun down the hill. I varied the pedal speed, from about 60 to 90 to about 150 rpm. I saw about a watt of resistance for every 10 rpm (which I just realized now, since my benchmark numbers were 6, 9, and 15 watts).

Although it takes only 20 extra watts to see me off the back of a crit, I really focused on the sprint. And 15 watts (at most - if I was pedaling 150 rpm I was doing something wrong) is a very, very small part of the 1500+ watts I could hit at the time.

Therefore I ignored it.

The bearings got crunchy quickly, and I went through a few sets in the year I rode the orange frame. I got the black frame next and spent some time filing the shell by hand. Hopefully I didn't ruin it but on this frame I only saw about 4 watts, at most, doing the same kind of test. This seemed acceptable to me, even if my cranks don't turn more than a half revolution at a time if I try to spin it as hard as I can.

With the UsedToBeOrangeAndNowRed frame back, I decided that I'd invest in the tools necessary to ream and face the two bearing surfaces. With the help of the Expo Wheelmen's shop sponsor Manchester Cycle I went ahead and bought the business end of the BB30 reamer and headset cutting tools. (The cutting edges are what cost money - they sit in handles and Manchester Cycle has the appropriate handles for the cutters.)

I should point out the the FSA BB30 reamer alone lists for $400 (and that's without the handles!). The headset cutting tools were a bit more reasonable, but still, it's not a small thing. Neither are big sellers since most shops work on those aforementioned "fit and finished" carbon or aluminum frames.

All this took some time and I have to thank Bob at Manchester Cycle for all his patient work. Luckily he's a car nut too and used his 20 ton press to finish off the job (I'll explain below). Suffice it to say that I'm looking forward to building up this frame.

 BB30 shell, reamed, left side.

Bob reported that significant material came out of both sides.

 The headtube with the Crank Bros cups pressed in.

This is a simple result for a nightmare process.

 Seat tube - honed in prep for the seat post.

This is the cheapest of the tools needed for prepping a frame.

 Another BB30 shot, of the right side.

I mentioned a nightmare process? Well, I didn't know this, but when I jury rigged the headset press and jammed the cups into the frame, I was really, really lucky. The headset has an incredibly low stack height (i.e. it's not tall), the main reason for me purchasing it. It's also very light, a bonus (I'd have bought it even if it was heavier - I was only concerned with getting the shortest height headset within my budget.)

Well the reason the headset is so light is that the cups are extremely thin. They're so thin that if you try and press them in without a special thing holding the outside of the cup, the cup breaks.

 Special tool that surrounds the headset cup to prevent it from breaking.

Bob used a 20 ton press to press in the cups -  Press means lots of pressure, very easy to modulate.

This is an oops. Crank Bros sent a replacement. Thank you.

Now that the frame has its main bearing points finished, the seat tube honed, it's ready for the detail prep and then assembly.

Detail prep in this case means mounting the replaceable rear derailleur, cleaning out the cable housing anchor stops, and chasing the threads on the downtube barrel adjuster mounts (they got painted over/through).

I'll need to put the headset crown race on the new fork, make sure everything seems right, then proceed with the assembly. I won't be using new parts except for consumables, I'll just be rebuilding with basically the same stuff (which is currently sitting around my bike workshop). It'll be the Record/Chorus 10s stuff, a Cannondale SI SRM (my backup crankset will go on this frame), and a few experimental replacement parts.

Once the red frame is up and running I'm going to have Bob do the black frame - the reaming, facing, and honing. Yes, I already asked him if he'd do it all again (the black frame has the same headset). Yes, he agreed.

Equipment - Dream World (Custom Frames)

For the longest time I've wanted a custom frame. At first it was because I wanted to get a frame that was especially designed for me, for my needs. I had no idea what that meant, but I wanted a frame that was, well, unique.

As I learned more and more about bikes, I started dreaming of some of the extreme bikes I saw in bike magazines. The one that really caught my eye was a specialty crit bike. This thing was insane, with super steep angles, high bottom bracket, and, get this, such a short chainstay that the tire wouldn't clear a normal seat tube.

In fact, it wouldn't even clear a grooved or indented seat tube.

Therefore, in order to make the thing work, the builder put two chainstays in place of the seat tube and stuck the rear wheel through the opening between them.

(To my ultimate badness, I cannot remember the name of the framebuilder of this dream bike. He was featured in Bicycling and one or two other magazines in the early 80s... Anyone?)

Back then that was the absolute schnizzle, the top of the heap when it came to US style bikes. No laid back positions here, no mid-foot cleats (or so they appeared), no traditional lower saddle heights. This was an era of change, inspired by wind tunnels and such.

At that time Lemond rode on his tippy-toes on his bike (and won the '83 Worlds like that), his teammate Marc Madiot rode 180s to a stage win (and he rode a 55 cm frame), and "aero" became the new catch-phrase.

So in this age of change, of innovation, and in my time of "exploration", I dreamed about land speed records and crit bikes in alternate fashion.

Of course, like slot cars and Lamborghini Countachs, things which I dreamed about literally for decades, the dreams remained dreams.

Then some surprising things happened. Over the course of 15 years, two friends invited me to sit in Countachs in their possession. I even got a ride in one. I have to tell you that no one could wipe the grin off my face after those magical moments. The drive, holy smokes, that was crazy insane.

Then reality sunk in.

Although it's all exotic and all that, I've realized that the Countach has the aerodynamics of a brick and a cobbled together engine. Seriously. They used layered cylinder head gaskets to increase displacement, and they regularly provided significantly up-powered cars to journalists so the cars would be fast "in print".

As it is, my blue car is faster than a Countach. Less powerful, yes, but faster. And it has almost-as-wide tires (the Countach had the widest production tires for a long time). But, still, as dreams go, if you offered me a chance to drive a Countach... Look, just count me in, okay? I'll work out my schedule and fit in a Countach drive.

Then, a couple years ago, the missus (and her mom) got me a beautiful slot car set, with F1 cars even.

And now I'm starting to think about the possibility of seeing through that custom frame dream.

To be frank, my frame dreams have evolved over the years. At first it had to do with short wheelbases and insanely short chainstays. Later, as I realized what I'd been missing on my smaller-sized frames, I started dreaming about more normal things, like a 73 degree head tube angle.

On a short frame like mine, my shoes (and toe clips) would hit the front tire when I turned the bars. In order to avoid such contact, manufacturers would use slack angles and lots of rake. This reduced foot overlap but resulted in lazy, pain-killer haze handling. Once I realized this I wanted to experience a more responsive front end. Steeper angles and a normal rake, in other words.

Those head tube angle dreams then morphed into top tube dreams. My ape-like stance, with short legs and long torso, made it necessary to use a short seat tube, but my torso forced me to go with long stems. On the 50 cm frames I rode forever, I typically used a 14 cm stem, then a 14.5, and just before quill stems withdrew from the spotlight, I briefly contemplated using a 15 cm stem.

For me, a 51 or 52 centimeter top tube seemed short. I could sit comfortably on friends' 54-56 cm bikes, with long stems and everything, and the reach felt reasonable, even comfortable. But my feet dangling a couple inches above the pedals, I couldn't fix that part of fitting myself to their bikes.

I thought maybe a 55.5 cm top tube would be the best I could do. I bought a size M Giant TCR, with its 55.5 cm top tube. As a bonus it had a 73 degree head tube angle, or something close to it.

The bike felt great, my arms finally doing something other than dangling downwards, with a reach about 3 or 4 cm longer than before. I could steer while hammering out of the saddle, thanks to the steeper head tube angle.

But the dream rapidly crumbed. The head tube was too long, the bars too high.

I experimented with bar positioning, now emphasizing height as well as length. After some convoluted calculations, along with a bunch of Sharpie marks on my bright yellow frame, I decided I could ride a size S Giant just as well.

I moved to the size S, happy with the lower bars. They made a huge difference in my sprint, but they felt too close.

In a fit of "fulfilling a bunch of other stuff", I bought my current steed, a Cannondale SystemSix. Now, if I was someone like a Bennati, I could just get a custom version of my frame. Talk about a dream bike for me - a 52 seat tube with a 58 (!!) top tube!

But I'm a lowly Cat 3, and even with some begging and pleading, I couldn't score the most blemished, unrideable Bennati frame.

I priced out and contemplated a lugged carbon tube kit, a Dedaccai-made "kit", but the bottom bracket-seat tube angle on my long, low frame wouldn't work with their stock sizes. Fortunately, as it turned out, because the lugs in these kits failed regularly. When I heard this I went to my now-unused "carbon frames" bookmark list and found that virtually all the bikes I'd bookmarked had disappeared.

No one wanted to admit to making such a frame.

Dedaccai ended their kit production, now making only full frames, or at least front triangles.

So, for the last year or so, I meandered aimlessly in the frame geometry jungle, looking for that perfect situation, that perfect scenario.

Let's see, exactly what would it be like?

First, the frame would be made by someone I could communicate with, a racer maybe, one that does crits, track, and doesn't climb that much. But he'd climb more than I did so he could tell me, "Oh, you really don't want to do that, it would climb horribly".

Second, the frame would be unlimited as far as geometry goes. 44 cm seat tube? Fine. 58 cm top tube? Fine. I'd forgive the lack of availability of weird things, like a split seat tube that allows a 35 cm chainstay, but for all round tube design possibilities, they ought to be available.

My fantasy numbers include the following (assuming a reasonable 73 degree head tube angle):

1. 44-46 cm seat tube, as short as possible and still fit in a tall bottle on the seat tube, with room for a pump or a Down Low Glow just above it. This would let me clamp my seat post in a workstand (a normal one). It also feels better in general, the shorter seat tube.

2. A seat tube angle that allows me to move the seat-tube-slash-top-tube junction point forward by 2 cm on my 52 cm frame. This would let me center the saddle on the post, not slam it all the way into the stops.

3. A 58 cm top tube, maybe a 56 based on the fact that the top tube will be 2 cm forward based on #2 above.

4. At most a 12 cm head tube, maybe an 11 cm one.

5. BB30, so I can keep my mega-expensive SRM cranks, and so I'd have a lighter, stiffer bike.

6. 1.5" lower headset race, so I can use a Cannondale fork (I think they rock the house).

7. A non-noodle frameset.

8. Shorty chainstays so my rear tire stays planted with the long front end.

Finally, price. I can't afford a $4000 frameset, and I seriously doubt I'd ever buy one anyway. It's my "low buck, high performance" mindset, the functional way of approaching things. I appreciate handmade things, like a 1955 Aston Martin. Things of beauty, incidentally, with gorgeous aluminum bodywork.

But compared to a modern sports car? Or even a modern "sporty" car?

Fuggitaboutit.

Give me parallel A-arm front suspensions, a sophisticated multi-link rear, independent on all corners, big honkin' brakes, and a smooth, efficient engine mated with a smooth shifting transmission. My car illustrates that point, at least the blue one does. It's a low-buck way of having fun driving a car. And it doesn't have very much of that "old fashioned craftsmanship" in it, just good design and proper procedures. The body may look sleek, but it was pounded out by robots, not artisans.

Heck, my car doesn't even have a throttle cable! It's got an electronic wire attached to a computer.

Anyway, my point is that I don't need the exquisite workmanship of the frame building "masters". Give me a frame with the right geometry and durable construction and I'll be happy.

And of course all that could never, ever happen. I felt safe in my little dreamworld.

Then, to my utter dismay, RTC let it slip that there's a framebuilder that offered something like that stuff above - Tsunami Bikes, out in the west somewhere. They make aluminum frames, from $600 to $1500+.

And they do custom geometry.

Okay, I can handle $600 framesets to start. I can handle the $50 upcharge for BB30. I'm good with aluminum tubing, because as I've written before, fit > material. Look, if it was good enough for Tom Boonen, it should certainly be good enough for me.

So I'm good with the basics. What's the custom geometry upcharge? I was figuring at least $300 or so, based on conversations with frame importers and such.

So I emailed the folks, half seriously. I don't want to waste their time, and if the frame ended up at even a paltry $1000, it'd be hard to justify in a cash-strapped environment.

I got a response. Things looked good, too good even. I called the guy up. We talked on the phone.

$600 is the frameset price, built to whatever geometry agreed upon by the builder and buyer, painted some normal range of colors.

NO upcharge for custom geometry.

Since I want to keep my BB30 SRM, and I like BB30 anyway, I'd want BB30. $50 upcharge.

Now we're looking at $650.

For a full custom, BB30, custom painted frame.

Well now.

Not only that, I could take delivery just before my California training camp. Now wouldn't that be the end all? 30 or 40 hours on a brand new frame, just enough time to really get used to it.

I spoke with the missus. She gave approval.

So next I'll be visiting the local shop, one that has a fit bike thing on the floor. I'll experiment with sizing and report back to the builder.

And we'll see what happens from there.