How To Make a Cycling Comeback Pt I...

This is how you dooz it, boys and girls-

I've been off the bike for quite a number of years and felt the time was right to join the ranks of the deluded pack jelly motherfuckers who think they're Chris Froome just because they can beat you up a hill.. When the weather was nice, I thought of those long mountain passages of the Tour de France and the snow-covered peaks of the Giro D'Italia. Every time the weather was cloudy and cool, I thought of the Ardennes Classics with their short, sharp and steeps climbs. I thought of the racers, who are insanely fit. I thought of the cutting edge equipment they use and how much I enjoyed researching the newest technology. Slowly but surely I began the process of re-joining the peloton. Here is the journey.

The heads of state, 1993 Tour de France-

I decided to purchase another road frame. Realistically I didn't need one. I just I said "Fuck It" and did so. I've found something to like about all of the frame materials (never rode steel), but there were limitations to consider. Today's carbon frames today are cost prohibitive. As for aluminum, I've always been annoyed at how North American frame builders don't bother to sand the welds. Those thick, industrial welds told me that the frame builder either couldn't be bothered or he figured no one cares so why go the extra mile. And they look absolutely hideous.

I have ridden titanium in the past, and felt if I could make a few  changes to the geometry I would be happy. Aesthetically, no one did titanium road frames like Litespeed back in the day. They shaped all the tubes of the frame to the point where it looked like you were riding a rocket ship. Alas, the company split into two different entities (Litespeed and Lynskey) and Litespeed no longer offers custom frames. So I decided on a custom Lynskey R480.

With Lynskey, there were details like tube shaping, bottom bracket size and internal cable routing that were not possible. That was fine with me because those types of changes were superfluous to the quality of the frame. Why would  I go through all this and not get exactly what I want? Well, no other titanium manufacturer come close in terms of quality and price. The bottom line is the price for the Lynskey was absolutely mind-blowing for what I was getting. So the trigger was pulled and the process started.

The infamous 1-2-3 finish of the Gewiss team at La Fleche Wallone, 1994-

As for the geometry, here are the basic specs-

1) 54cm seat tube, 55cm top tube.
2) 72.5 degree seat tube angle, 73 degree head tube angle.
3) 4.3 mm fork rake.
4) Seatstay length 41.5cm.

One can accuse me of being a retro grouch, as I firmly believe that the 1990's was the best time for cycling; both the racing and the technology. I do not like sloping top tubes, off the rack geometry or disc brakes. And the fragility of carbon doesn't interest me. One crack in the wrong place and you have to dismantle the frame, send it somewhere for repair, have it shipped back and build it back up. Not what I want to deal with unless I had another frame ready to go and would not miss any quality riding time. Even then it all sounds like a monumental pain in the ass. I'll do a carbon frame some other time.

I didn't care about the weight of the frame and never asked about it. It certainly wasn't going to compete with carbon, nor was it ever meant to be. I wanted a frame that fit my needs and was impervious to the latest fads; a frame that would not go out of style in three months. I looked into another aluminum frame from Cyfac, but alas communication issues rendered that moot.

The bare frame is pictured below. It is currently at Horse Cycles Paint Shop in Brooklyn, NY and will be back very soon if everything goes as planned. The only items missing is the seat and the handlebars. I took the measurements wrong and was sent a pair that were too big. Funny thing-I went to UPS, as they were the original shipper. The cost was $374 and loads of paperwork that I did not know tI had to fill out. I went to my local USPS and they charged me a little over $38 dollars. It may take a few weeks to get to Italy, but at least I didn't have to pay that much money (relatively speaking) to send it back. 

Here are a few pics of the Lynskey custom frame when it first arrived*-

*click on photos to enlarge

Notice the buttery smoothness of the welds-

This is not the finished product. I am waiting for the painter to do his thing, and then all I need to do is have a mechanic build it up. Next up will be the gadgets one needs to recover after a long, hard ride.