A Fixie for Ti Designs

[Marburg]

Hey Ed,

Just a quick photo for you:

http://ur.notetofutureself.org:2080/albums/StanfordCyclingCage/IMGP2115.sized.jpg

I have seen it move a couple of times in the last month or so.

[sg8357]

Delta brake, shows lots of style.
700c wheels on such a small frame always makes me go wwtt.
Zero offset post, saddle slammed forward, stem ?
559s would seem to make more sense, a Moulton New Series fixed if she is
billionaire heiress.

Scott G.

[palincss]

Delta brake, shows lots of style.
700c wheels on such a small frame always makes me go wwtt.
Zero offset post, saddle slammed forward, stem ?
559s would seem to make more sense, a Moulton New Series fixed if she is
billionaire heiress.

Scott G.

Oh, come on -- you Ottrott and Meivici owners spend more on your frames & forks than the cost of an entire New Series. And I'll bet there aren't many billionaires here - nor heiresses, neither. But if the NS is a bit pricey, there are still other Moulton choices: the new TSR, the Bridgestone Moulton, the AM series, all dirt cheap by comparison, and every one guaranteed to not have "wheels are too big for the frame size" problems!

I agree about the wheels, although for a bike like this, doesn't it seem as though 650C is where the action is, rather than 559? Not sure I understand exactly why, but it does seem that way.

[manet]

is it camera foreshortening, or are the wheels 2 different sizes _ larger in the front?

[fiamme red]

.

[Ti Designs]

Marburg,

That's the one, can't be mistaken. I now know where my Campy 42T track chainring went. That's probably also my Suntour 18T 1/8" cog on the back. The next time you see the bike, could you leave a little note on it that just says "call Ed"???

As for those who would second guess the bike or the position, consider this. She's a cat 1. She finished 4th at the BMC championships, 4th at Somerville, right on the heels of riders like Sarah Uhl and Laura Vangilder. When they didn't have a women's 1/2 race she raced with the men's P/1/2 field and still made money. There may be one or two people on this forum who could beat her in a sprint, my guess is those people don't dwell on the bike.

The wheels are the same size. The wheels on the bike are training clinchers, if she raced it would be on a set of my track tubulars. The seat angle is 76 degrees, there's a zero offset post, a Terry fly saddle somewhere forward of the center of it's rails. The position was set up by Thom Norton (who is among the one or two people on this forum who probably could beat her in a sprint). The brake is a Delta, the other one of the set is on my track bike.

I don't really care that much about the bike - I bought it for her for reasons most people wouldn't understand. What bothers me is the rider, how someone who has invested that much time and effort into a sport could simply give it up. Something has gone very wrong somewhere along the way. It's significant to me because I'm coaching a whole team, a few of them are very much like Julia. I would like to think that cycling is something that sticks with them and changes their lives. If I thought that they would quit the sport as soon as they left school I would probably stop coaching the team. It's something that's gonna be going thru my mind the next time I have them doing intervals. Is all this effort really worth it?

[jerk]

there's something really creepy about this whole story.....but the jerk really likes those pedals. as for thom losing a sprint to a girl, its better than losing a campy 42t track chainring to one imho bro!

jerk

[e-RICHIE]

there's something really creepy about this whole story...


oh yeah

[Fixed]

bro no brakes if she's that good i.m.h.o. cheers :beer:

[Ti Designs]

bro no brakes if she's that good

That's a bike messenger thing that I've never gotten. Weight transfer if forward under braking, the rear brake has far less stopping power than a front brake and a fixed gear has far less braking power than a caliper - seems to be the worst of both worlds. This may explain why over 60 percent of bike messengers miss work on a yearly basis due to work related injury. That makes being part of the "in crowd" of bike messengers slightly more dangerous than ice climbing.

[Ti Designs]

there's something really creepy about this whole story.....

Which part? The fact that I bought one of my riders a bike or the idea that a girl on a pink bike could kick your a$$ in a sprint?

Thom was her coach in her last year of racing, he was the one who promised her the bike. I knew her season was going to be one of frustration, but there was nothing I could do about that. I could make sure she got the track bike she was promised. A salesman who stands behind a promise probably creeps you out worst of all...

[Fixed]

bro do you bros know each other? I like the bike I wish i had it .cheers :beer:

[Ti Designs]

bro do you bros know each other?

Same town, other side of the tracks. Jerk is the euro pro, I'm just the old fat guy who rides with girls.

[jerk]

Same town, other side of the tracks. Jerk is the euro pro, I'm just the old fat guy who rides with girls.


dude, the jerk wants to ride with the girls! can we swap?

[djg]

I don't really care that much about the bike - I bought it for her for reasons most people wouldn't understand. What bothers me is the rider, how someone who has invested that much time and effort into a sport could simply give it up. Something has gone very wrong somewhere along the way. It's significant to me because I'm coaching a whole team, a few of them are very much like Julia. I would like to think that cycling is something that sticks with them and changes their lives. If I thought that they would quit the sport as soon as they left school I would probably stop coaching the team. It's something that's gonna be going thru my mind the next time I have them doing intervals. Is all this effort really worth it?

I don't know any of the folks involved in this story. I have a sense that the effort is probably worth it for its own sake or just not worth it at all. Every sizeable grad school and professional school has a share of serious athletes--former olympic team members, national caliber competitors of one sort or another, and even folks, here and there, who had a season or two in a big money sport. It's hard as a coach or a teacher to see someone walk away from potential that's as yet unrealized, but the fact is that pro cycling doesn't offer much of a career to many cat 1 men, let alone women. If she's in graduate school at Stanford, she may be committed to something serious and worthwhile that can occupy her for a lifetime. Do I have it right that you coach at Harvard? Ya know, there are professional athletes who are Harvard grads, but not a ton of them. By and large, kids don't go to Harvard to become professional athletes. You know that.

Here's another thing: she may come back to it. There are times in grad school when it swallows you up and times when you contemplate activities outside the lab or the library that are more than mere diversions. We had a med student on our college team (early '80s) who had stopped racing for a bit--not a world-beater but he'd been a strong cat 2 and he came back and helped us. I was not at your protege's level--never was--but I was into it and then I wasn't. And then I raced again. I know that one of the cyclists who raced for my college in recent years went on to grad school at the University of Chicago and is still racing. People juggle things differently. It's not crazy to think she'll be back.

Last: this stranger thinks your commitment is cool, however it turns out.

[fiamme red]

That's a bike messenger thing that I've never gotten. Weight transfer if forward under braking, the rear brake has far less stopping power than a front brake and a fixed gear has far less braking power than a caliper - seems to be the worst of both worlds. This may explain why over 60 percent of bike messengers miss work on a yearly basis due to work related injury. That makes being part of the "in crowd" of bike messengers slightly more dangerous than ice climbing.I met a messenger with a nice Bilenky fixed-gear, without brakes. The fork didn't match the frame. He told me that he had run into the back of a van and bent the original fork. Still, he wasn't about to lose coolness points by putting on a brake.

If the fork is drilled (as in a converted road frame), why not put on a brake? Answer: looking cool is what it's all about.

[Fixed]

bro tradition ...stuff happens even on a road bike with brakes and if you ride 5 hrs a day more stuff happens. part of being a mess is lookin a for an out i.m.h.o. cheers :beer: .................... tradition is when someone has drop bars on their road bike but has never been in the drops . why have them ?...tradition