CommuteTest,activateds…

Lung and I rode this morning, he on Loosey and me on Villain. This was the first official test ride for Villain, not that Critical Mass and the next day’s meanderings don’t count… but the commute is the real test. If I can ride this on my commute, I’ll be, as the kids say, stoker nuggeted! Now, the problem is the inch gear. It’s big. I just don’t KNOW what I can and can’t do on it. Thus, the test.

So far, awesome! The short climbs on the way in included Bay Street (where I had to hop off during Mass due to the densities and the inexperienced riders around me and going 3mph) and then again climbing up into the Presidio from Crissy Field. I won’t lie, that’s tough going. The last few meters of it are this weird little hop and it always tasks you, but on Villain, it was extra-tasking! Anyway, Lung peeled off at the bridge, and I continued on.

The Villain is a totally different fixed-gear riding experience. The thing I was hoping for has proven true: the big gear allows for not only a faster ride, but a comfortable optimal cadence… it feels a lot closer to my road riding normal speeds… it’s not as fast, mind you, but it’s far closer than my other fixie projects. This was especially evident on the descent into Sasualito. This was the first time I actually rode the descent not on my brake the whole way down. I tapped it here and there to make sure I still had it, etc. but I pretty much bombed down the hill… still spinning very fast, but much more doable. On my 60-something inchgear fixies, you spin SO fast far before you reach your bike’s terminal velocity on a descent that it’s sort of wooly and out of control. On Villain, though the cadence on the descent was fast, it was manageable. I didn’t bring my bike computer so i don’t know WHAT I was doing, but far, far more than on any other fixed-gear I’ve ridden.

I was a little tired when i got to work, largely from my reduced calorie intake from my diet, but it felt GREAT even noodling up to the office. Fortunately, though the first ride back out of Marin was challenging, I was able to do it. That was a huge revelation.

:::

So Saturday I took on the task of refining my sweet sweet ride. Because two sweets are not brand aware.

The first item on the task list was the installation of these stoker levers, otherwise known by a certain cigaweed TL mechanic as stoker nuggets. They were the result of a ton of searching I did for a brakeless hood. See, I’m obsessed with the hood hand position when riding a road frame geometry, and while the Villain LOOKS ill with plain wrapped drops, I really wished I had something to hold onto when climbing. And, having a bar-mounted lever, I didn’t want redundant brake levers hanging around bloating me with their unwanted weight or aesthetics. So stoker levers are actually designed to be used on the drops in the back position on a modern tandem. Pretty ingenious!

As I feared, I was forced to unwrap the bars completely. The rings that bind the lever to the bars were not the adjustable type you see on some hood designs. They were a solid, fixed loop brazed to a nut. It was actually challenging getting them out of the stoker assembly without losing the bolt, because you can’t get into the hood if the bolt were to slip out and rattle around in there. I didn’t want to do that sort of surgery. So I was careful.

Anyway, I measured and test fitted, then mounted the levers one at a time, rewrapping the left, then the right, to make sure it worked. On the left, I left a bit of metal from the lever looping visible under the wrap, but I learned from the mistake, and covered it with black electrical tape on the right. Unfortunately, the tape I use is a soft perforated leather that frays when you undo it, so while I got through the unwrap and rewrap without issue, I didn’t want to unwrap AGAIN just to cover that tiny metal exposure. Further, rewrapping later this year will be inevitable because a) a tear formed on the underside of one side of the bars where I tried to correct a tape pinch, and 2) I’m going to want to put gem strips under here for really long rides to come, and d) for science.

The second item on the task list was to replace the 130mm stem with a 110mm version I picked up the other week. It’s not a huge difference when held side by side. But this, combined with the seat adjustments, made an INCREDIBLE difference. I’m using the stem at an upward angle this time, not a downward angle, and that improves the reach further. This pretty much equalizes for the extended reach the stokers require, actually, since you are kind of forward from where you’d be on the drops. The one thing less desirable about having the stokers on there is that they are wider in diameter than the bars, so they look clipped on. But the function, man. WOW.

I took the bike out for a few test loops int he neighborhood, but I really wanted to give it a whirl, so i did a SoMA/waterfront loop in the unfortunately biting wind, and I’m happy to report: 100% minimum awesome.

I’m happy to report the Villain is now sweet, sweet, sweet ridery!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Hangery

So Saturday was the big build day. I was very excited. Unlike conversion projects based on old bikes being re-used, this was a simpler process as it didn’t involve stripping down and reconditioning anything. It was a bolt-on affair, which is much simpler. But it involved new technologies for this bot, and was fraught with it’s own little challenges.

All my remaining parts had arrived over the past week, and all that remained were some various small items, which I picked up on our Saturday FixCrawl, so by noonish I was home and ready to go. Brief one hour interlude to assist wifebot(tm) with some stuff, and off to the wrongRoom(tm) I went, caffee thermos in hand, to attack my project. The way build days usually go for me is that i get about an hour in and find a critical failure in my plot, which forces a delay while i solve. Didn’t happen until the end, this time, and it was OK.

This is my semi-traditional pre-build extrusion. Please note about 33 parts containing 100% minimum awesome.

:::

Stage 01: Front End

I started with the headset, as this was my least familiar territory. The Look frame came complete with a Cane Creek integrated headset, which was awesome, but I wasn’t familiar with how to use the compression bolt. I read up on it online, and learned about the star nut, how the compression bolt expands it in the steerer tube to hold the fork in place before you secure the stem. Sure, OK. Dutifully following instructions as provided by the stem manufacturer (I’m like that) I dug out my file, rounded the edges of the steerer tube, sanded for burrs on the tube itself, then dropped my 18mm worth of carbon spacers onto it, loosely set the stem in place, and then regarded my headset pieces parts, which, as had confounded me initially, did not at all look like the star nut and compression bolt I had read about.

Lung loaned me a star nut installation tool and explained it’s use, and i was prepared for an installation that required the bolt to be removed, and the installation tool using the threaded hole in the star nut to get it up IN there, or down there as it were. However, as you can see, not the same. It’s a special Look system, and confounded me until I realized it was assembled out of order. I couldn’t figure out how to expand the flanged ring, as if it had started to expand, it couldn’t get into the tube, and if it hadn’t, it got lost in the hole and didn’t work. However, I experimented until I figured it out:

The expander piece was cone-shaped, and when I reversed it, and put the flanged ring between it and the cap above, the tightening of the integrated compression bolt would force the expansion as desired. So, armed with this theory, I executed same, and it worked very well. I got the front end set up as described in my literature: tight enough to hold things in place, loose enough to allow the fork to rotate without binding, spacers just loose enough to be able to be finger rotated.

Excellent! Stem secured thereafter, my sweet, sweet Thomson X2.

Here’s a shot of the special Look top cap holding it all together. Nice!

Stage 02: Cranks

Working out the bottom bracket and cranks was kind of interesting, because again, it differed in technology some from what i was used to. For one thing, the crank bolts are integrated and are not greased.

For another, while I did have a Shimano compatible cartridge bottom bracket installer tool, it didn’t QUITE fit the same teeth as the splining on the Miche bottom bracket cups. It was close, but like a millimeter too big in diameter. But as I was technically capable of screwing the cups in farther than flush, it wasn’t a problem. On the drive side, I hand screwed a liberally greased cup to flush, then inserted the cartridge tight against it from the opposite side, then spun the non-drive cup on. As it got close, it was time to use my tool gently, but a second challenge: my tool has a long rod coming out of the center of it, which is inserted into the hollow core of the square taper spindle… however, the Miche spindle is hollow only to a point, where it’s plugged. So, the teeth of my tool didn’t even reach the splines of the cup. So, I improvised with a small screwdriver and some leverage, and got it into place.

The Miche Piste Advanced crankset is a beautiful thing, I say. I have no remorse whatsoever on this little carbon-spent gem.

I have to say, using a frame from 2003 that was well cared-for, it was a refreshing change not to have any threading issues on the bottom bracket cups whatsoever. On they went, correct orientation of course, and no issues! What’s even MORE unusual, in my experience? I had no problems with the pedals either, despite being used. On they went, no threading mishaps, well greased, good to go.

Stage 03: Brake

Brakes aren’t the most glamorous thing, but I quite like this one. The SCR-3 is the same one that Lung uses on Loosey. I admit, I bought it for the ’3′ despite lighter models available from CC, but what the hell. Respect the brand! Please note the highly elusive brake pads I installed. I saw them on the Kool-Stop site but had some difficulty actually securing the dual compound road/wet design in Dura Type compatibility. But there they are, and brand aware for both the bike schema and the TRDL way. I have to admit, in this regard, as well as in a few others, it was nice to be able to refer to my road bike to check orientations and configurations. Though that bike uses Dura Ace, it was similar enough that I was able to answer some of my simple questions using the road bike as a case study.

Stage 04: Wheels

Things were going better than I anticipated, and I was getting superstitious. No headset problems? No crank problems? No PEDAL threading issues? I knew the wheels were going to bite me. You know, binding up the tube in the tyre, struggling with a pesky spoke protrusion or something, or even just the classic stubborn bead.

And yet, wow. rim tape, tube, tyre, air and cap went together in a snap, even with a social circle gathered around the garage for distraction.

Back wheel, same. Of course, until the drivetrain was connected, we still wouldn’t KNOW, dude.

Stage 05: Drivetrain

This was the moment of truth. I had calculated my magic gear, had my 46/15 good to go, pulled out my DED chain, and discovered a number of challenging issues, chief among them, no masterlink. OK, that’s not a deal breaker. However, I didn’t really note this until after I had begun the process of breaking links one at a time to get to the exact length I needed for this gearing. And by then, it was too late: I had popped the pins OUT, so they weren’t going back in. And I tried. For an hour. Screwed! Fortunately, Freewheel came through, having one 1/8" masterlink in stock. So I raced down there in the threatening light sprinkles, under a dubious sky, and grabbed it. For a sweet, sweet, appropriate three bucks I say! Lucky for me, and again, atypical, to have discovered this issue shortly before they closed, and not after.

So, the 1/8" masterlink took a little more effort than the 3/32" ones I’ve used on the other bikes, because it’s a three piece affair: a male, a female, and a locking plate that secures the one to the other. It took a little work with a screwdriver, greasy hands, greasy chain, etc. But soon enough, the success were mine!

And this was where, as was becoming clear as I assembled, I had too much chain slack. It was like I needed half of one link removed. But I wasn’t sweating it. After all, I had my ace in the hole:

Adjustable vertical drops. 5mm is a pretty big margin, when dealing with chain slack and already wielding a half-link. The drops, as you can see above, were set to the closest point by default (meaning the wheel would be as close to the center of the frame as possible, in the semi-aero design of this geometry that puts the rear tyre millimeters from the downtube.

Sweet! So, I moved these back and forth until settling on the middle dimension, which was what I test measured before I started all of this magic gear business.

This con-fused mish-mash shows the drivetrain complete! I was, as the kids say, stoked.

Stage 06: Wrap-up

Man, this was awesome. The one day build was finally coming together. My garage neighbor Redding came by and we talked economic policy and other probably boring topics while I wrapped one of my bar ends, then rewrapped it (I always wrap to tightly the first time and run out of tape, and have to go back and do it again to get it right); wrapped the other side, taped it up, installed these sweet new larger blinkie bar ends, and brought it down. I seated the Brooks saddle at the same dimensional increment on the Ergopost’s markers as with my Road Look, but since this frame is one size larger, I decided to bring the saddle down a bit more to even it out.

The moment of truth: Test ride! Not having the brake cable installed* I wasn’t going to bomb down the street to my villainous end, but I took some loops back and forth along the street and man, what a RIDE. Tight, responsive, and the gearing feels awesome. I was delighted. Enthused!

*The remaining tasks include brake and badging. I ran out of time to string the brake cable before being summoned to come in for the night, so I have to take care of that. Excluding these two remaining details, and including the Freewheel trip, lots of reading of my Zinn book, etc the build-up took 5 hours. Five thrilling hours.

:::

Here are a few other pics.

And this one’s for Joblue:

You can see all the pics, including some not posted here, in the [fu]Villain{(tm) gallery on Flickr.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Swappery

This is a gallery of Ironlung’s Loosey(tm) bike build project photos. Click any image to enlarge it and make clucking sounds of approval!

Related posts:

1. Bike Build Photo Gallery: Fix-e
2. Bike Build Photo Gallery: WrongBike
3. Bike Build Photo Gallery: Ghostal

CommuteTest, Part 01:

WR: Lung and I rode this morning, he on Loosey and me on Villain. This was the first official test ride for Villain, not that Critical Mass and the next day’s meanderings don’t count… but the commute is the real test. If I can ride this on my commute, I’ll be, as the kids say, stoker nuggeted! Now, the problem is the inch gear. It’s big. I just don’t KNOW what I can and can’t do on it. Thus, the test.

So far, awesome! The short climbs on the way in included Bay Street (where I had to hop off during Mass due to the densities and the inexperienced riders around me and going 3mph) and then again climbing up into the Presidio from Crissy Field. I won’t lie, that’s tough going. The last few meters of it are this weird little hop and it always tasks you, but on Villain, it was extra-tasking! Anyway, Lung peeled off at the bridge, and I continued on.

The Villain is a totally different fixed-gear riding experience. The thing I was hoping for has proven true: the big gear allows for not only a faster ride, but a comfortable optimal cadence… it feels a lot closer to my road riding normal speeds… it’s not as fast, mind you, but it’s far closer than my other fixie projects. This was especially evident on the descent into Sasualito. This was the first time I actually rode the descent not on my brake the whole way down. I tapped it here and there to make sure I still had it, etc. but I pretty much bombed down the hill… still spinning very fast, but much more doable. On my 60-something inchgear fixies, you spin SO fast far before you reach your bike’s terminal velocity on a descent that it’s sort of wooly and out of control. On Villain, though the cadence on the descent was fast, it was manageable. I didn’t bring my bike computer so i don’t know WHAT I was doing, but far, far more than on any other fixed-gear I’ve ridden.

I was a little tired when i got to work, largely from my reduced calorie intake from my diet, but it felt GREAT even noodling up to the office.

The real test would come tonight. When I would have to go BACK.

: : :

CommuteTest, Part 02:

IL: this brings us to my trip over to MV. for me, the work-MV-work trip is almost exactly 30 miles, and when it’s myApt-MV-myApt, closer to 35, so it’s actually a great little haul with climbs — in other words, a "real" ride.

anyway, the interesting thing here is that not only was it my first ride to MV on loos3y(tm), but it was my first ride of any real mileage since last year. i’ve been riding city only through the whole winter. as such, i didn’t have my climbing legs on me, and i had a twinge of the fears lurking in the back of my brain. that was alleviated to a small degree by the fact that loos3y(tm) is about 33 fucking pounds lighter than the last bike i hauled out of there, but she also has a slightly higher gearInch and an entirely different geometry. so, like with all things, i just had to wait and see.

the ride in was great. i cheated a bit on the city side and avoided the aquatic park hill, which is a short, steep climb between fisherman’s wharf and the marina/crissy field. since i was gonna be climbing like mad later, i thought i’d give myself a break. the hop up to the bridge from crissy, as well as the hop up just AFTER the bridge were both shitty, but the bridge itself was calm and bright, which was nice.

from there, it’s a mile-long bomb down into sausalito, and here’s where things got interesting. see, i’ve been riding "brakeless" for a few weeks now. i put that in quotes because i still HAVE a brake, and i still use it in emergencies, but i’ve been challenging myself to use the bike’s natural proclivity for increased control, and slowing/stopping by using only backTorque, skidStops, skipStops, and sheer force of will. thus, i bombed into sausalito without touching my brake. i left a LOT of rubber on that grade, skidding myself under control, but it felt AMAZING.

sausalito to MV is just a flat haul through wealth, so i tucked and mashed to WR’s office, rolling right in through his open front door and immediately admiring his new black dining room chairs, which were there waiting to be taken back to his home.

after our usual session of bullshitting and joking around, and before i cooled down too much, we got back on the road and headed home.

WR: this would be an interesting experiment for both of us. Lung hadn’t ridden Loosey up those hills back to the bridge, and I obviously hadn’t on Villain, so we were both curious as to what would happen. i was personally cautiously optimistic, but I mentally prepared myself for a few points on the route that I’d have to stop. During Mass, attempting to turn up Bay St. I got three car lengths before having to stop (at slow speed, no ramp-up, lots of squirrelly riders around) so until this morning, I hadn’t even been sure I could get up THAT hill, let alone Sausalito. And since I had done so, I was feeling a little more confident. But I don’t have pride about it. I’m extremely stubborn on a bike: I don’t quit when I’m tired, and i don’t wimp out out of fears or laziness. But I also don’t beat myself up if I can’t complete a ride without stopping. Certainly, in the last several years, I’ve become a stronger rider with more discipline, and early on, I had to make stops, from Headlands to Alpine. There’s no shame in taking a break to get your heart rate down. Here, it was more about the gearing. Light bike, heavy gearing. If I couldn’t turn the cranks, I’d fall over. I prefer not to, so if I got to that point, I’d stop and walk it.

We set out around 630pm, which, thanks to Daylight Savings this past weekend, meant we still had light, the sun rapidly descending over the Pacific. The ride into Sausalito from Mill Valley was nice, as usual. Not too much bike path interference, and fortunately, not a lot of wind, like what was, and would continue to be, buffeting the City itself. As we approached the last stretch of Sausalito, though we had planned that Lung would ride ahead so as not to get stalled by me if I had to jump off, I noted that a relatively rare occurrence lay before me: that stretch along the water is usually filthy with slow moving tourist cars, and parking spot weavers, and meandering rental bikes, and spontaneous jaywalkers. But this time, pretty much a clear shit to the start of the climb. So I took advantage of the ramp-up, and accelerated. I knew it was a risk, because I was burning energy doing so (Lung likes to say my bike has no choice but to go fast, but in fact, while it CAN go fast, it does take work to push it forward on that gearing) so I hoped I wasn’t hamstringing myself (so to speak) later in the climb.

I got up the first few hops at a nice pitch, passing a few tourist bikes and avoiding vehicular deaths. This is the double-edged sword of big gears on hills… you can ramp up with greater speed, and maintain it with significant muscle effort… until the cadence winds down, and it becomes extremely laborious. The entire principle of multi-gear riding is maintaining cadence, through gear shifts, and therefore speed reduction. So, on climbs with my roadLook, I’d bomb the bottom of the climb for the first several rotations, but then downshift as my cadence would strain, so that I would end up in the gear necessary to maintain roughly the same cadence as on the flats (usually coming fown from 80rpm to 70-75rpm)… but here? Whatever’s the opposite of that. Certainly, the same problem occurred on the other fixed-gears, but there, the inchgears were more moderate, in the mid-60s. With Villain at an 81 inch gear, I was able to bomb my way up the first section, and then BAM! It was like I hit molasses. Now, I don’t know if it was adrenaline from setting my mind to this challenge, or the fixie-inertia combined with being in better form than I’m usually at this time of year, but I got to the first level off and my recovery was short. I mean, I didn’t RECOVER, but I wasn’t overwhelmed, and I didn’t need my inhaler, so I keep forging on to the first of the grades I feared: this short, tight winder that sets you up for the main grade to follow. It’s narrow, the cars graze you, and if one were to, say, be unable to turn the cranks, and have to bail out of road clips, one could fall the wrong direction.

Lung was right behind me and I could hear him hooting, and since I hadn’t seen us pass any EHPs, I assumed it was encouragement. And man, I hit that wall hard, and managed to get up over it, but it was some of the hardest mashing I’ve done. Once I got to the top, I started the long grade (broken into two hops with a short descent between them) with greater ease than I usually do. This is because fixed gear climbing is an anabolic muscle-burn effort, whereas proper climbing is a cardio effort. Spinning a consistent cadence pushes the heart, while physically mashing gears burns the legs, until you run out of steam. I mean, of course your heart is working there too, but being anabolic, you only have so much energy to burn and once you’ve tapped out the muscles, you’re done. When in good form, sustained cardio effort can be maintained at just below the anabolic level. Thats what pros do. I’m not there. But climbing with Villain was entirely the opposite experience for my body than the cardio workout of the roadLook, and it was really interesting to process what was going on. Basically, I pushed/pulled on those cranks, kept a rigid form where possible, and focused on not stopping. And somehow, I succeeded! By the last rise up to the freeway underpass and then up to the lookout by Headlands, I was really at my limit, but man, I never put a foot down. I was stoked. Not even there! Onward, over the bridge, and soaking in endorphins!

IL : i was completely blown away by the climb i saw unfolding in front of me. managing to ignore WRs prolific amount of ass-sweat was a chore in itself, but the thing i was encouraged to see was that he was not stymied in the least by any of what he’d thought would crush him. in fact … it was ME who had the troubles on the first hops to the main grade.

the last time i climbed up out of sausalito, i was on riser bars and a smaller gearInch. in addition to the aforementioned larger gearInch, i’m also on road drops now. but road drops with neither road brake levers nor stoker nuggets. that means i have nothing really to hold on to when i get out of the saddle, which i have to do in order to crest these hops. so i found myself struggling to keep up with a guy in a gearInch 15 or so BIGGER than mine. i was totally confused. hahaha!!!

but like WR … i do NOT give up on no fucking bicycle, believe. so i muscled up through those hops to the main grade.

from there, i think it was much easier for me than for WR. that last part of the grade, the main part, is not as steep as the first hops, but it’s a billion times as long. and SUSTAINED climbing, any cyclist will tell you, is much harder than hopClimbing. so as i regulated my breathing and just turned em over, hovering a couple feet back from WR’s wheel, i chanted supporting things such as "you’re killing it!" and prepared to protect the both of us from cars if he went down.

by the time we got to the bridge, it was the same ole same ole … with one exception. my legs were completely blown. i hadn’t anticipated that i would be so mauled below the waist by this excursion, which i’ve done a bunch of times before. but as i said, this was my first big ride of the year and my legs were NOT ready for it. my lungs and heart were fine, barring the expected sucking of wind. but man, when i peeled off and WR carried on, it was all i could do to push loos3y(tm) up to the rack in front of taylor’s, where i saddled up to a bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, a cold PBR, and the skateboarding game i have on my mobile phone.

i stayed at taylor’s for a while, as (SG)f had tole me earlier in the day that she wanted to spend some time alone that evening, so i took the opportunity to play mobilePhone videoGames and enjoy greasy food, re-acquiring all the calories i’d just burned.

the ride home sucked ass in every conceivable way, because in addition to tired legs (thankfully not blown anymore after a rest), i now had a belly full of burger, beer, and onion rings. jesus. i got home just as the charge on my headlight died, took a hot shower, and sat the fuck DOWN.

all in all, a killer lopeRide!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report: Critical Mass, SF Feb 2009
2. Team Lope Ride Report: Saturday FixCrawl SF Feb 2009
3. Team Lope Ride Report: The Napa Ride Weekend of Destiny 07

This Friday, Ironlung and I had our first opportunity to ride a critical mass in 2009. What made it extra sweet, was that it was also the inaugural ride on the Villain and while I was fairly certain it wouldn’t explode, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. On the one hand, I had the concerns that not having properly worked all over the connections to manufacturer’s specifications, I was risking leaving a $200 crankset somewhere on market Street. But on the other hand, I was also expecting that it would be a sweet sweet ride. Well, we did have to do some last-minute chain tensioning, but overall there were no mechanical failures, and that includes my ass.

We actually got to the critical mass meeting point at Justin Herman Plaza earlier than usual and very few people were in attendance, so we feared that there would be a low turnout due to weather. However, over the next 45 minutes enough people arrived to make a mass out of it and so we did. The route this time was fortunately less hilly then they have been in the past, which was perfect, since I haven’t really tested what kinds of gradients I can handle with this new gearing.

It was nice to be there early for a spell. i got to gaze longingly at my new ride, and jaw about it with a few lookieloos that came by, and Lung rolled around practicing sweet sweet BMX moves on Loosey, including backrolls, bunny hops, and wheelies. He even gave Villain it’s first skidstop. Lucky for me he isn’t a RAMBOW yet, or those new Everwears would be more everworn…

We spent the obligatory half hour or so inching our way up market Street and trying to avoid the streetcar grates and avoiding inexperienced riders, drunks, and Muni buses, which are always inches from you along that stretch. But soon enough the ride turned up into the business district and we were on our way. I don’t enjoy the beginning of the mass as much as I do the rest of it only because we’re packed in too tightly and it can be dangerous. It’s hard to avoid obstacles, grates and cheeseburger meat and the like when there is a bike 3 inches from you in every direction. But I figure if you haven’t gone down by then it’s probably going to be a good night. In this case I was so hyper focused on how the Villain felt to ride relative to my other bikes that I frequently found myself in between streetcar tracks and tucked into wedges between cars and tricycles or whatever in ways I would normally try to avoid. But after about a mile I felt pretty comfortable on the bike.

It’s interesting: riding this bike is unlike any other that I have. On the one hand, it’s a very large each gear, so it’s slow to start and slow to stop and a little bit difficult to maneuver at slow speeds just because it takes so much extra torque to turn the cranks than I’m accustomed to on a fixed gear. But on the other hand it’s a very calm ride because you’re having to push less revolutions to go the same speed than you would on a more moderate inch gear. Reasonable!
Another thing that’s interesting for me is being in a road position but on a fixed gear bike. Ironlung has been riding what is essentially a fixed road bike for several months and makes it look effortless, but I found that it was a little bit confusing at first. Sometimes I felt that usual familiarity of being on my road bike path and i’d be stymied by the lack of freewheel or being in a heavier gear than I would normally be if I was riding my other Look around. But it was a short transition. Soon enough it felt like I had been riding it for weeks. Literally, because I hadn’t given my seat time to break in. These Brooks saddles require softening agents, which are basically fats, and a few hundred miles to conform to your sit bones after which they feel great. Best saddles I’ve ever used. But the first hundred miles are tough, and the first 15 miles or so on an untreated saddle can be a recipe for disaster, especially since I wasn’t even wearing bike shorts and had no protection for my business. I don’t know, maybe I was just so enthused by finally getting to ride the Villain that I was ignoring the shrieking of my central nervous system but I felt pretty great all night.

The real test came when, after descending a gentle grade on Columbus, and watching a few riders tumble on the wet light rail tracks, the mass turned left up Bay Street, which is pretty steep. Because of the density of the mass at that time, I couldn’t build momentum to rocket up the hill so after about three car lengths I ran out of juice and had to hop off. But that was actually the only time I had to walk it, the rest of the climbs being moderate enough for me, having enough momentum to keep the bike going. The real test will be trying to commute into Marin on this thing, or more specifically, on the way back.

Overall it was a great mass. After several days of rain it was pretty warm, lots of people were out and not just the regulars but many new riders on rental bikes or old beater ten-speeds or whatever having a great time, and we actually rode longer than we usually do. We ended up splitting off to grab a bite to eat at one of my old haunts in the mission / Noe Valley area, called Papalotes. It looked like we would have to wait for like three hours to eat but the line went faster than we thought and we actually got a great two-person table near the window in view of our bikes. Having that viewing angle was a blessing and a curse, because I got to not only see a small child flipping out at my blinking bar ends (which I left on for visual security) but also got to see a dope lock up his beater bike on TOP of mine which ultimately scratched the frame. That’s okay though, because after all, bikes are meant to be ridden, and you can’t be too precious about it.

What a great night!

The next morning we agreed to meet for breakfast because Lung wanted to give me some small gifts, and I wanted to give him some digital somethings, so we met at bugaboos and had a casual breakfast. I was surprised, actually, how much work it took to get there because while the grades are fairly gentle in my neighborhood and in the mission, grades are grades and I had to horf the bike more than I normally would Driving Miss Daisy style. Which was nice, actually; its fun to have a bike that you have no choice but to get a workout on anytime you ride it. And man, like Lung said elsewhere, it’s also pretty cool to be on a fixed gear that you can really put into overdrive. At any given cadence I’m going about 6 mph faster than I was on my other fixed gears so when I want to push it, I just mash a bit and boom, it’s off like a rocket. How long? Well, it depends on what I’ve eaten. But regardless it’s extremely pleasing, both aesthetically and functionally. And thorough.

Overall, the first of what I hope are many sweet sweet critical mass evenings on Villain in the year to come!

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Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report: Critical Mass, SF Jan 2009
2. Team Lope Ride Report: Fixie Comute SF/MV Mar 2009
3. Team Lope Ride Report: Critical Mass, Chicago September2008