Okay, so a while ago I decided I needed a real road-bike-ish kind of thing because I was having too much fun riding organized century rides and such, but I've never been in the position to divert funds from maintaining my mountain bike to get a real road bike. So, the first roadie I put together was in reality a mountain bike, it was a Cannondale Beast of the East frameset that I had retrofitted drop-bars, 7-speed STI levers, and a 56 tooth chainring to accompany the 1" slicks on the 26" rims.
This worked okay for a while, I had fun, had some good times, but it still wasn't really a road bike.
A couple years later I managed to get a 3rd hand Cannondale R400 frame, a local some-time riding friend had a wheelset that was too heavy for them, and bling I had all the bits for a real road bike - just probably about eight sizes too small. But it was cheap, under 400 bucks total, and was better than what I had before. The drivetrain was cobbled together from various bits and recycled MTB stuff - deore-xt rapid-rise rear-d, sora 2-ring 8-speed crankset, tiagra 7-speed shifters, and a cassette made of a mix of 7- and 8- speed cogs with 7-speed spacers in a totally custom 12x27 cogset.
This worked for a couple more years, and worked much better than the previous frankebike. I managed in fall of 2005 to turn a sub-six hour century (english, not metric, including rest stops) riding solo for the entire time.
Then, a few months ago (summer 2006) this bike was stolen off my car in the parking garage at work. Very frustrating and disappointing. Since the value of the bike was less than the deductable from my insurance, it was particularly unsatisfying as there was no purpose in making a claim as it would only hurt our position.
This caused my wonderful wife to admit her incredible plans for a 2006 Christmas present to me. She had been working with and planning with our friend David (who this year had opened a bike shop here in Austin) to buy me a new road bike this year. Taking pity on my plight, she admitted this to me and accellerated the purchase plans with David.
DISCLAIMER: Okay, first off I need to state that I'm not impartial to the shop as the proprietor is someone I consider a close personal friend.
The shop that I was working with for this new custom bike was Music City Cycles (MCC) in Austin, Texas. The owner/operator is one David Hartley, an experienced bike wrench, racer, rider of both dirt and pavement, and person of bike obsession for many a year. MCC was founded to be one of "those" bike shops that is cool to come and hang out and and chat and figure things out. MCC has focus on middle-/high-end road bikes, but also carries unicycles (and David can teach you how to ride them, after you buy one of course) and some very cool folding bikes from Dahon and Ritchey.
There is limited floor stock, some Ritchey titanium bikes to do test rides and sixing, a variety of Masi bikes, and some miscellaneous other stuff. There are also frames on display from the shops that David works with for custom bike builds - Waterford Precision Bicyles for that total custom-built frame (steel only), Origin 8 and of course Isaac Bicycles for carbon-fibre framesets.
MCC is not a super-market type bike store, and don't expect to be catered to every type of bike sales. David will cheerfully try to figure out the best match bike for a given person, and sometimes that match is not something he sells and he will make appropriate suggestions of alternative locations. Kind of like Santa Clause in the original Miracle on 34th Street, with a gear-head type of overlay. David will happily service any bike, and of course help anyone with special parts orders. Having the suppliers he does makes it easy to get pretty much any part, and most of them within a day or two, but at most within a week. That said there is a wide breadth of price points that he can match to for a bike, which is nice because I can safely suggest his shop to pretty much anyone looking for a road bike. This isn't something I can do with my primary mountain-bike shop ( Hammerhead Bikes ) as they have a pretty specific focuson on the type of bikes they want to sell - high end.
There were two primary things that I was counting on David for - proper sizing (using the Fit Kit System along with the Waterford FitMaster adjustable bike and some cool adjustable cranks that David found somewhere else) and good knowledge of the road bike frame and parts market as that is not something I traditionally track closely. I trusted him to give me a fair price and help me put together both a good and appropriate deal, all within my budget.
Sorry to say I'm writing this almost two months after the actual fitting, but it was a cool thing and a great thing to finally have done. The fit process took a couple hours, but I attribute most of that to David and I BS-ing (we ARE friends) and me being very inquisitive about the process. I think if you boiled it down to the minimum time he could get it done in under an hour with the same quality level. David was very exacting in the fit proccess, this is not blind adherence to Fit system standards, which are used as the baseline. Once the numbers are crunched from the measurement phase David configures the FitMaster to comply with the settings, and you get on it and "ride" it a bit so that David can see how the fit applies in reality. It is of course at this point that David's years of experience in a variety of cycling conditions comes to play, in combination with the desires of the person being fitted, and he makes adjustments to accomodate both the physiology and needs of the cyclist.
David now has a profile on his computer, which he also prints out and gives a copy of to the customer, that specifies every element to a high degree of precision. In my case the fit sizing was specific down to 5mm of precision (55cm almost right ... 60cm allmost right ... 55.5 cm JUST right). The other things of wacky note that were found out about me is that my physiology is very uniform with both arms equal length, both legs equal length, and the ideal seat-tube / top-tube measurments matching ( 55.5cm ).
Now comes a short time of research on David's part where he will determine from which of his suppliers can be had the best matching option for the rider. Naturally, Waterford is always on that list as the purchase of one of their frames will result in a completely custom built frame that 100&pct; matches the ideal measurements (but that is the most costly path). In many cases, one of the other vendors he works with will have a good match, in my case Isaac Bicycles produces a frameset (the Pascal Carbon) which was a 99.9% match for my ideal - the angles and everything were precisely correct, and the top- and seath-tubes were both within 5mm of ideal.
The first step is to decide which frameset to use, from the researched options.
Once the frameset is selected, there is another test fitting where David configures the FitMaster to comply with how the selected frameset will actually be once built up. This allows David to verify that the frameset will actually work, or if there are any other adjustments in component selection that can accomodate the difference (from ideal), or determine if the selected frame just will not work out. In my case this was a very short visit as the fitting to the Isaac geometry was just peachy.
After the frameset has been selected, the rest of the components can be selected, to balance the cost-vs-performance equation. This can be done in person, over the phone, via email, I think it is all up to the customer. Ideally I believe that in-person is the best way though. I think David would agree with me.
Once the complete bike specification is determined, David can order the bits and start assembling the bike. In most cases he will be able to get the frame and components within days. In some cases things can take up to a week to arrive (supplier QBP always appears to deliver in a week regardless of anything).
Once all the parts have arrived, it only takes a day or so for the bike to be built up. I am sure there could be causes to make a build take longer, but I do not know why.
In the case of my bike we had an additional hold-up in that the 2007 model year of various components were getting ready to become available, and I decided that I wanted to wait for the new Campagnolo Veloce grouppo owing somewhat to the changes in the drivetrain but specifically for the new generation of crankset and bottom bracket. This could have become a long wait as the rumors had the groupsets becoming available "sometime in October" - but that was not official word. In the end David managed to get a groupset from one of his distributors the same week as the Interbike 2006 show, and the build was off and running! I believe that all parts were on hand within seven days of the orders being placed, with some arriving two days later. On the day the final parts showed up (the wheelset, handlebars, and stem) David had the bike finished - much to my pleasant surprise as I had experienced a pretty poor and stressfull day at work, and ended up cruising past MCC to "visit" with my new bike parts. Instead, I arrived just as David was finishing the final tweaks and taking the bike off the workstand. Weeee....
First Ride - Thursday morning, October 5th, 2006 - extended Bakery Loop - riding from downtown Austin. Solo ride so if I want to stop and tweak things I do not irritate anybody.
Initial ride impressions are mind-bogglingly sweet. I have not had this much fun with a new bike since I got my Quasi-Moto.
To say that having a bike that properly fits (vs my old road bike) is nice is such and understatement it's ridiculous. Cruising is simply smooth and comforatble, climbing is such a joy I've been seeking out hills to ascend.
Not that I'm any kind of world class climber or anything, no polka-dot jersey in my future for sure (yuk yuk), but it is still just wonderful, I literally cruised up all the rolling hills on the ride, and on the one significant climb (Mt. Bonnell) the bike fairly flew up.
It is amazing to me how stiff (as in out of the saddle cranking up a 6&pct; hill with no notiable side-2-side sway stiff) the bike is, while still muting the vibs off the road dramatically better than my old aluminum bike, and it does this yet with narrower tires running at a higher pressure than I used on my previous bike!
Now I am itching for a big ride, like a century of some sort, to really spend some quality time.
Second Ride - Friday morning, October 6th, 2006 - traditional Bakery Loop - riding from the Upper Crust Bakery with my friend Mark B.
We did a pretty decently paced ride, and riding with Mark usually pushes me a bit as he is pretty fit (although he would say I push him, I am not so sure about that - he has to keep up with his Triathalon-running wife after all). Again the rolling hills and Mt. Bonnell just flew by, it is truly wonderful how the Isaac just loves to GO. I am really starting to get the feel of the bike, the brakes and drivetrain. I am pleasantly surprised at how effective the brake system is, while not being "180mm" hydraulic disc brakes these stoppers from Campagnolo do a very nice job.
So far (all 30 miles of riding) there's nothing to nitpick, the build by David out at Music City Cycles has been just absolutely peachy.
Third Ride - Monday, October 9th, 2006 - extended Dam Loop - riding from home
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This turned out to be my first big ride on the bike. I started on the bike from home in Pflugervile, TX, rode to and through parts of Austin, Bee Cave, Lakeway, Four Points, Jollyville, back into Austin, and hooked up with my friend Elena C. for one of our Monday Night rides - a variation of the Bakery Loop in reality.
I was on the bike for a bit under seven hours (I did have to stop now and then for food after all) and ended up logging just at 82 miles and some 4500 ft of climbing (including some short and steep stuff like Shepherd Mountain, the City Park Road side, and Pascal Lane to Bee Cave).
If you are wondering why I was so slow, it is owed to a combination of being a Bear of a rider, and the fact that I had spent six hours the day before mountain-biking at the Barton Creek Greenbelt (4 hrs) and Walnut Creek Park (2 hrs). So I was not precisely fresh as a daisy, if you get my meaning.
I had two technical issues during this ride, I flatted the front tire while bombing down the shoulder on the bridge below Mansfield Dam. I was impressed how stable the bike was and how well it handled at 30 mph with a flat front tire, it was almost like it was not flat, but not quite. Ended up slowing gently and walking the last 100 yards to get to a good safe place to fix the flat at. The second technical was a dropped chain on a shift, not a big deal, and minor tweaking of the cable tension solved the problem.
I was amazed during the last stage of this ride, the Bakery Loop with Elena, that I still had enough "leg" to not only keep up with her but also to make a spirited climb up Mt. Bonnell. Quite cool.
Fourth Ride - Saturday, October 14th, 2006 - extended cruise from home
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What can I say, this was one wierdly magical ride. I did not really feel strong, and after only about 30 miles I had decided to cruise home, but every time I started getting close to home I kept hearing this little voice saying things like No, Ted, take the left turn here, not the right - with the "left" invariable not yet taking me home. On a day when I expected to ride only forty miles or so I ended up putting in over eighty (according to my cyclometer - the GPS disagrees) in just around five hours.
The bike just did not want to go home.
Crazy.
Total bike build ( minus water bottle or me ) weighs in at 19.56 lbs, considering that when we moved to Austin in '99 one of our cats was 21 lbs I'm more than a bit flabbergasted. I figure one day when I weigh closer to 200 lbs than 230 I'll reward myself (or get Maria to do it) with carbon-fiber handlebars and stem just for the heck of it. Maybe even get it close to 18 lbs, not sure that I care though.
No, the brakes are NOT the new "skeleton" style and while were were a little surprised at that in the beignning, since we probably aren't supposed to truly have the 2007 components yet I can not truly complain. To me the most important parts are the crankset and shifter/derailleurs and those are most definitely the new generation and work FABULOUSLY.
Bbased upon how well they work for me I'm very happy with them and don't think in the end I would want the "differentiated" style with less-powerful rear brake, I am a heavier rider and having more brake power for the descents, and for emergency situations, is great from my point of view.
| Item | Description | |
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Frameset 2006 Isaac Bicycles Pascal Carbon Size 56 |
Frame is bare carbon with red paint, includes Isaac carbon seat-post, Isaac carbon fork (with aluminum steerer), FSA headset, and seat-post collar |
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Grouppo Campagnolo Veloce |
Group is mixed 2006 and 2007 bits, 2007 Veloce compact crankset, 172.5mm, 34/50 rings 2007 Chorus bottom-bracket bearings, 2007 10s Veloce QS brake/shifter and derailleurs, 12x25 cassette 2006 Veloce brake calipers |
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Wheelset Campagnolo Veloce / Mavic |
2006 Veloce hubset, 32 hole Mavic CXP-22 rims DT double-butted spokes |
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| Contact Points / Cockpit | Ritchey Comp Handlebar (44 cm) Ritchey Comp Stem (90 mm), 31.8 mm clamp Cinelli red/black micro-splash pattern tape WTB Rocket V Team saddle TIME ATAC XS Carbon pedals Michelin Krylion Carbon tires (red stripe), 700x23c |
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