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Thursday, July 9

I need a squirrel

I'm giving myself a headache.  I'm trying to figure out why I love the way my tarck bike handles, if it would translate well into my "road bike" dreams, and if it's even possible.

I think I want a bike that feels like my track bike, but places my hands something slightly less than level with my saddle when I'm in the drops of a Salsa Cowbell 2 Drop Bar (without 100mm of spacers or an ugly boner stem), but also parties like it's 1999.

I have no idea what that means, but I think it sounds a good thing to look for in a road bike.

Of course, if I really wanted to pursue this, I should sit down with an experienced frame builder and sort out the details, but with such a low probability that this could happen (< 37%), I'm not wasting anyone's time.  After all, who would really know what I'm talking about when I say I want a bike that "parties like it's 1999?"  I would expect to get hung up on or at least blocked on FaceBook.

Here is my 1992 tarck frame geometry:

Mine's a 56cm.  I should mention that I have no idea if it truly "fits" me.  I walked into Bicycles South (R.I.P.), saw it, rode it around the parking lot, fell in love, bought it, and have been riding it since 2006 (I think).

Let's say I like the fork's offset... well good luck finding a tarck bike fork with clearance for 40s and disc brake mounts.  And yeth, I want disc brakes... because I do.  They're my reasons.  Maybe you like getting black brake residue on your hands when you change flats or blowing out rim sidewalls when your brake pads eat through them or one of those other advantages I can't think of...  Whatever.

I haven't even ran the HTA and offsets in a trail calculator and compared anything I come up with to anything that will work... because... effort... and burrito.

That Alfine Di2 dream?  I think it's sunk.

Damn thing weighs close to four pounds and costs one arm and half a leg.  I know the weight/costs will be slightly offset by the absence of two derailleurs and one shifter... but still.  And don't forget that battery.

Or the cable actuated version?

Still and arm and still half a leg... and silver?   Unnghhh.  Mojo killer.

So all this time and energy for nothing or suck it up and go Alfine or use normal things like normal people or have FattiMagic build up a SS bike with my stupid geometry ideas or just rent/borrow a road bike when I need it (like this weekend) and save so much money that it sounds sensible.

Or just wait until I see a squirrel outside my window and forget about all this.

Fuck it, I'm hopping on my mountain bike now to ride pavement and mixed use trails and greenways.  Who needs dreams anyways?

13 comments:

Road name Daisy said...

My newest whip is a Karate Monkey set up 8sp alfine (black). Full stiffy. Disc brakes. Simple,strong and has the right spacing for the hub.comes with dropout kit for different configuration. Happy me!

Anonymous said...

http://theradavist.com/2014/01/beautiful-bicycle-eriks-di2-alfine-11-peacock-nuke-specialized-awol/#33 could be cool..is cool

dicky said...

Yeah, McKeegan tipped me off on the (no longer available) AWOL Special Edition bikes. Meh.

Anonymous said...

Just get a used road bike off of eBay. It's not going to be an everyday bike anyways so I wouldn't worry too much about it having to be the perfect setup.... RIP = Rest In Pussy??? So saith Lil Wayne!

dicky said...

I had (many) used road bikes... and sold them all. They did not give me happies.

Anonymous said...

RLT9 (steel version). Buy the 56, so I can buy it when you put it up for sale later this year.

Anonymous said...

that looks too complicated... I like things simple.
I like my steal framed ride with my 8 speed shifter.

who the hell wants 11 speeds now a days, especially electronic shifters... arg...
having designed and worked on aircraft electronic devices, warfare devices that are fly by wire etc... I know how they can fail.

but, having said that - bring on the dodo brains who want to go that route - I'll make a fortune fixing stuff...

keep bikes simple.. complex sht breaks.

Tom Purvis said...

Internally geared hubs add friction. Planetary gears meshing with viscous grease. Nothing as efficient as chain and sprocket (well, maybe belt). But with internally geared hubs, you have the chain/sprocket or belt friction, plus the friction from all that stuff going on inside to actually give you gear choices.

Everybody I've ever known who got excited enough about internal gearing to spend the mucho dinero to get one no longer has it. The idea of internal gearing for bikes is captivating, but in practice it's less captivating.

Rob said...

Why not just a set of light i9s and skinnier tires on the misfit?

dicky said...

That's already a thought... but I have ridden my Misfit more than any other bike in my house lately. All these local paved/gravel/singletrack loops have been a blast, and I don't wanna burn up the tires/pads on the bike that I race.

Ben said...

Thought I'd chime in on the bike selection, but instead I'll just point out that you misspelled "tarck" in your second paragraph.

JP Coates said...

T6 Rando?

Doug M. said...

Seems like higher-than-normal trail for a road bike, closer to a cx or mtb. Perhaps why you feel the feels?

If you're still on this frequency, your mid atlantic neighbors in RVA have a sikk big clearance disc road bike: the Endpoint Coffee Grinder. New batch to be made by FBM in NY.