Weeping guitars, creaking handlebars and Rotor Uno

I don't own a guitar, but if I did it would probably weep today. It's simply one of those days.




Maybe it's my bicycle that weeps? Actually it's not too bad. The latest rides my bicycle's handlebars were creaking and I couldn't figure out why. The creaking was heard almost all the time, it wasn't regular and it only ceased when I rode without my hands on the handlebars. But the handlebar clamp bolt was tight and so was the stem bolt. What should I do? I went online and searched for tips. The first tip that came up was to disassemble the whole steering - the headset, the stem and the handlebar - clean it, regrease any parts that needed regreasing and then reassemble it. So that's what I did. And today the noise is gone. What was causing the noise? I don't know, but as long as everything is working I'm satisfied. Thing is, riding with a creaking handlebar really limits you, since you don't want to riding down a steep hill with your handlebars loose or in separate parts. Perish the thought!

Well, when not fixing creaking handlebars I'm trying to find out info about Rotor's new Uno groupset. Not that I'm really thinking about changing my Campagnolo groupset. (For those of you who don't know I ride a Campagnolo Veloce groupset. I am slowly collecting a Campagnolo Athena groupset and when it is complete I will upgrade to that, but I'm not in a hurry.) My Campagnolo Veloce groupset works perfectly. And Rotor stuff is kind of expensive... I have to admit though, I like Rotor's thinking, coming in with that engineer's view on cycling. Those Q-rings look really cool, even if I'm not entirely convinced about the benefits of oval chainrings. (Which is probably just because I'm kind of conservative.) And the SABB - the Self Aligning Bottom Bracket... Wow!

Q-rings. (We borrowed this picture from Rotor's home page. Hope that's OK!)

The Self-Aligning Bottom Bracket. It's so good even cats dig it! (We borrowed this picture from this maki blog. Hope that's OK!)

Besides, isn't it great with more competition in the cycling components business? Campagnolo, Shimano, SRAM and now Rotor... I like Campagnolo and I like Shimano as well, but I want neither of them to have a monopoly position.

And I also don't want electronic shifting. I don't care what anyone else does, if they want to have electronic shifting it's all good. Really. Doowutchyalike, you know. But I think it's nice to have something, a means of transport, that requires no electricity at all. And since Rotor seems to be investigating hydraulic shifting... We at Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb are not fans of oil. Or OK, we like the oil that we lubricate our chains with and we like olive oil, but we don't like fossil fuel oil. But we do see the benefits of disc brakes, and if the benefits of those could be transferred to gear shifting... It really could be great.

So I am really curious about what Rotor is up to. These are the pictures that Rotor have released on their facebook page:

(We borrowed the pictures from Rotor's facebook page. Hope that's OK!)

I have to admit: They're really good-looking! And they wouldn't look out of place on some bikes! However, information is scarce this far, they will release it at the Eurobike show which starts today. And if you want to read more about it you can do it here, or here.

Ride safe!

A blue non-retro saddle? Selle Italia SLR?

Yesterday

When I was assembling my road bike a year ago, I was considering what colour or colours I should go for. I of course knew that the frame and the fork was silver, but what colour or colours should the saddle and the bar tape be? Should I go for a coloured bottle cage and coloured accessories as well? And should I opt for one colour or many? Today it is quite easy to add some colour to your bike. And it's also quite hard, actually.

When you start to search the web you can find all kinds of bicycle-related stuff, that you can accessorise your bike with. A pink bottle cage? Sure. Yellow bar tape? Absolutely. (Actually I found a pink bottle cage for my sister's road bike, by chance. And yellow bar tape for that vintage Peugeot Mont-Blanc that I sold earlier this year, by chance and at a discount too.) Well, I was just putting together my bike and one day when I was in a bicycle shop I found a blue Selle Italia SLR saddle in a clearance sale basket. Blue? Why not? Blue and silver might work really well together, won't they? And blue it was. My next step was to go for blue bar tape and when I found tires with a blue sides at a reduced price... Then, at a second hand market I found a metallic blue bottle cage for only 10 krona, about € 1. More blue it was.

Today

Anyway, I am happy with my choice. I think it looks really good. And since I took this photo I have changed that black chaincatcher, that you can see if you look closely, for a blue one...

Tomorrow

I actually doubt that I will buy them eventually, but I think that these chainring bolts are just awesome.

 (We borrowed this picture from Loaded Precision Inc. Hope that's OK!)

I am, though, looking for a new saddle. As much as I do love my saddle... OK, to be honest, after my first race with it, last year, my buttocks were so sore that I could barely walk properly. Every step I took was accompanied by a "Ow!" But now I love it. I don't know if the saddle somehow needed to be broken in or if I have adjusted to the saddle, but it's comfortable. (As much as a really hard racing saddle can be comfortable...) I realise, though, that even though I take good care of it eventually I will have to replace it. So to be all set I have started to keep my eyes open, have a look around every now and then. But try finding a blue non-retro saddle!

(We borrowed this picture from Euro-Asia Imports. Hope that's OK!)

This is the saddle I've got, and ideally this is also the saddle I would get. Because I know that it works and that I like it. Finding, or trying out, a new saddle can be really hard. Also, it is a Selle Italia saddle, which means that my bike is almost completely Finnish-Italian. (It's also a little bit American, French and Japanese.) But it's out of stock. And there are no examples on ebay either. I could go for a retro saddle, but I'm not into that on my road bike. I'm using it to race! Or I could go for a new colour... I mean, I could simply go for a black saddle, but I think that's boring.

Well, it's not a big problem. Absolutely not. But if I could, I would wish for more colour options.

Ride safe!

Obstacles, part 6

We took a bicycle ride today. It was really nice, the weather was sunny and warm and on the way to the centre we managed to ride away from a mamil who was chasing us for a bit. Then, after running our errands we rode home. And until we see a change we guess we just have to keep repeating it: Bicycle lanes are not alternative parking places!

What we don't understand is what was wrong with parking the car on the sidewalk, which is about twice as wide as the bicycle lane. Sure, they would have had to walk two extra metres, but...But come on! If you're that lazy, get an office job instead.

How would motorists react to a bicyclist parking her or his bike and blahblahblah... This is just tedious. And again: It's the pattern.

Ride safe, all nice bicyclists out there!

Kalmar Grand Prix (Elite)

We don't want to end the working week and go into the weekend with calling people idiots, so...

On the 1st of August there was a bicycle race in Kalmar, Sweden: Kalmar Grand Prix. Or actually there were two bicycle races: Kalmar Grand Prix Open and Kalmar Grand Prix Elit. The open version was open for anyone who wanted to pay the entrance fee and ride either 70 or 140 kilometres. Parts of Ensliga Bergens cykelklubb entered the 70 kilometre race, but... Well, to be honest our results were nothing to brag about. Our aim was to end up in the top half of the results, but even though our average speed was over 31 kilometres per hour we ended up in the bottom half. To be in the top half you had to ride at least 33.8 kilometres per hour. So there's our goal for next year! Hopefully also next year the distance will actually be closer to 70 kilometres - this year it was 66.489 kilometres, according to the organiser, when we asked him.

That being said, we thought the race was great! The weather was perfect, the countryside outside Kalmar is beautiful and even in the smallest villages there were people out, applauding, cheering and supporting all the riders. It was great, and very well organised.

The open version was ridden during the day and then, in the evening, was Kalmar Grand Prix Elit. There were 38 riders entering the race (we think) and even that might not sound like much it was quite impressive! The set-up was that the contestants rode one lap around the centre of the town - about 1,66 kilometre - then as many laps as they could for one hour and finally two finishing laps. In first, second and third were... Umm... Sori, we don't remember their names! But they looked happy afterwards, up on a stage receiving their prizes. So let us just show some photos that we took.

 (The starting line)

 (Notice the castle in the background. Nice, isn't it?)

 (The riders entering the town centre, through the one of the town gates.)

 (The compère, former elite cyclist Roberto Vacchi. He's still good, though! He won the 70 kilometre race, in 1 hour 38 minutes!)

 (The organiser Jan Hammarkvist)

 (Third place (right?) cyclist,

 second place cyclist

 and first place cyclist

who had some difficulties opening his champagne bottle, to shower.)

Ride safe!

Seriously. You idiot.

Gothenburg Rock City?

We're back! And we didn't go to Helsinki this summer. Unfortunately. We love Helsinki. So if someone wants to sponsor us with tickets to go to Helsinki we're completely up for it! Yeah, like that's gonna happen... Seriously, though, we spotted some familiar bike stands here in Gothenburg a couple of days ago.

We wrote about these bike stands, in Helsinki, here. And no, we're not going to take credit for them being introduced in Gothenburg. We're simply glad to see them here. They are fun, stylish, functional and in a simple and very pedagogic way they show how much space cars take up. And they are bike stands, for crying out loud! Of course we like bike stands.

So well done there, city of Gothenburg!

Ride safe!