A Somewhat Clean 2020: Retrospective

[Clean39T]

@rallizes put me up to it - the annual tradition of posting all of the bike builds and experiments from the prior year and making a completely pointless forecast of what's to come in the next..

Previous years: 2017, 2018, 2019

Rolling into 2020 my partner and I were gearing up to list our townhouse for sale with plans to make a move back into the city or over to the other side of the mountains - so my first moves in the bike stable were to clear things out and prepare for the downsizing that comes with a one-bedroom apartment in sky, the (we thought) temporary spot we were parking in while selling our place and buying the next..

That meant the Firefly #419 was moved along, as was the Rock Lobster Monster Gravel'r, and the Scott 29er that I was expecting at the end of the year showed up in bad shape (and went back) - which left me with the Kirk MRB and Ellis Rando.



So, we made the move, and then against my better judgement given the size of our place, I got tempted into buying a Dogma F10 Disk 59.5 on closeout (ridden once and returned due to some shipping damage and inaccuracies in the listing).



When that one went back I had a false start on a F8 X-Light 59.5 that showed up from the UK looking like it was run over by a truck.. So, that was a bust.



Right around there too I became convinced the Ellis wasn't going to fit me right and decided to post it up for sale - which led to meeting and getting to know Mr. Lavi, a highlight of the year for sure (cheers my friend )

At that point I was just down to my Kirk.

And then Covid started happening right after we closed on selling our townhouse. And upside down everything went - as far as searching for places to buy, coming and going from the apartment, etc.

That also meant more time to sit around surfing for bikes.

And that brought a Cannondale SuperSix Evo HM Team Disc in 63cm that was a blast to ride but didn't gel for me - didn't love the wheels and the proprietary stuff was irksome - so I sold it on to a 6'6" guy up in Seattle who was just graduating from med school and ready to get on his first real road bike - it was a lot of fun being able to pass the deal I got forward to him and hook him up with some other stuff to get out on the road (my hoard of size 50 shoes came in handy..).



Around the same time plus/minus I got fascinated with gravel stuff again and tried out an Orbea Terra - first an XL, then an L - and didn't feel great on either, so both moved on pretty quickly. Also moved along was a Ridley Fenix SL, picked up cheap and passed along cheap to another local Paceline'r after a couple rides.

From there the irrationality picked up again in earnest. I found a Dogma F10 59.5 with a nice build at the same time a Colnago C64 56S showed itself - for a minute I thought I'd keep both but balked at the investment and sold the Colnago before even building it up. The Dogma however was built up and started a multiple Pinarello adventure..

The F10 59.5:



Then the K8-S 59.5:



And the F8 57.5:



The F8 was so much fun to ride, despite definitely being on the smaller side of what works for me..or maybe because of that, that I became convinced the 59.5s were too big and let them go to some Paceline friends (one in Portland, one further south). Of course not long after that I realized the 57.5 was in fact a compromise - tons of toe overlap made city riding tough. So, I found it a home with another Paceline friend in CA.

Before really taking in that fitment situation though, I decided to grab and build up a diminutive Mxxxxxo. It was a blast to build, and gawk at, and ride, again suffering the massive toe overlap issues though (did I mention my size 49 feet and mid-foot cleat position?), so it too found a new home:



A Gaulzetti MAX with similar fit issues came and went around that time as well, another great bike, just not quite right for mw:



Which brings us up to around July, and the end of Part I.... to be cont'd.

[Clean39T]

Continuation...

Around the time I was deciding to let the Mxxxxxo go, I stumbled on a Seven 622 SLX that seemed in range for me - slightly larger than the Peg and Pina, but still pretty small. I built it up with a nice all-rounder kit and put quite a few miles on it, really getting used to that lots-of-drop and long-stem position:



The Seven was really brilliant. Handled great, did well on dirt roads and long road rides - and I was quite happy with it.

In hindsight though, it and the two smaller bikes before it are pretty clearly what lead me astray from feeling comfortable on my Kirk and put the bug in my ear that it didn't fit me quite right. I've figured out now that there was also an issue with running a Specialized Power ARC saddle, which I sit on differently in a way that shortens my comfortable reach - which made my Kirk feel too long. With a house purchase in the offing and an expected move coming up, I made the tough choice to let the Kirk go to Bici-Sonora, who I knew would treat it right (and has). With the fit knowledge I have now, I realize I was just a different saddle away from the Kirk continuing to fit as it should and as it did. Plus the house purchase fell through and the move got delayed anyway.....classic 2020.

Anyway, with the Kirk gone, and another month gone by, I took a flyer on Benc's Parlee Z0-XD - expecting to want a gravel'r in Bend, which we were headed to in early October. I had some false starts with the build and didn't actually get to ride it until after we'd moved. And a few rides in, it was super clear that the fit was not right - too small, too much drop, so it went as well, after a few fun rides.

After that, I figured trying a larger gravel'r might be the ticket and went for a 2020 Ritchey Outback - only to find it's stack was still less than optimal, so it went as well after a couple rides.

And from there, I tried a Kona Rove ST, which while much more comfortable than the Parlee off road due to the much taller stack and fatter tires, still didn't convince me that I actually want to ride gravel, so I just recently let that go as well:



Along the way I grabbed a 29er, two actually, one of which I still have - but won't bore the crowd with here (this is boring enough already).

But where things really got fun is when Kirk007 and I got to chatting about his repainted Sachs. I'd been wanting to get back onto something steel again and was not feeling great on the Seven - just didn't jive with it as much here in Bend with the windy descents. There wasn't anything wrong with the bike, it just didn't work right for me with the extreme amount of post showing and 130 stem - something with that and how I sat on it wasn't working, so I was open to trying something new. Oh, and I'd picked up a Felt F3 for a dedicated trainer even though it too was on the smaller side - I just needed something for in the house only and it was in great shape and very reasonable, low-risk pricing - and it was moved along shortly too.

So along came the '07 Sachs and out went the Seven while the Felt sat on the trainer for a bit.

The '07 Sachs was a revelation. It felt like coming home again. The BB drop, the handling - all of it just perfect.



On the second or third ride though, I mounted up a SMP Forma, and that's where we rejoin the fit story from further above. With the SMP, my hips rotate a bit further forward, my back flattens a bit, and my comfortable reach lengthens - all while adding stability and better muscle engagement. It's hard to explain but was a total aha moment out on the road.....combined with a "dammit, how did this happen" feeling that then lead me to start looking at longer TT bikes again, since at that point the Sachs started feeling just a bit shy in the reach even too.

Which is how I came to take a flyer on the lightly-used '17 Sachs that I've been posting about lately and am so thoroughly taken by:



This bike is just perfect. It combines everything I loved about the ride of my Kirk and previous steel frame/fork Ellis', with fit and handling that is somehow just spot on for me. I love the build on it too. In fact, it's so good I'm convinced it is really the only "performance" road bike I need.. which is why I've also now moved along the other two road bikes I had, gulp, the aforementioned '07 Sachs and the Dogma F8 I grabbed from Lavi and only rode a few times:



And that's where I sit now at the end of the year:

1. '17 Sachs, 63cm, early R11 build.
2. '20 Giant Anthem Advanced Pro 0 29er, XL, live-valve and XTR, still haven't ridden it, neither here nor there on keeping it.
3. And too many spare wheels and groups.

That's it - other than the inbound projects..........but we won't count those chickens just yet..

Forecast for 2021? Lots of riding. Mostly road. And some adventures in distance rigs and some classic lightweight action just for fun.

What an interesting year. Finished with just over 5,000mi in the bank, some very memorable rides, and my health intact - so, not a bad one.

[lavi]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

which led to meeting and getting to know Mr. Lavi, a highlight of the year for sure (cheers my friend )

Cheers back at 'cha bub! Meeting you and getting to be front row on some of these adventures was a definitive highlight to the craptastic year that 2020 was. Our adventures would have been a highlight even in the best of years.

Thanks again for sending me a thru-ax when I was all the way across the CONUS without one!

Here's to more bikes and more miles (hopefully sharing some together)!!!

[roguedog]

Wow. And for some reason I thought you had dialed back in 2020.

Thanks for taking time for the write up, Clean. Always interesting to follow along and hear your evaluations.

After going thru so many amazing bikes, what have you learned along the way? About bikes or even your preferences in bikes or.. anything?

Happy New Year. Look forward to seeing your 2021 adventures!

(thank goodness I am not your size!)

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by roguedog

Wow. And for some reason I thought you had dialed back in 2020.



Thanks for taking time for the write up, Clean. Always interesting to follow along and hear your evaluations.



After going thru so many amazing bikes, what have you learned along the way? About bikes or even your preferences in bikes or.. anything?



Happy New Year. Look forward to seeing your 2021 adventures!



(thank goodness I am not your size!)

Foremost: fit and balance on the bike is everything - and it's about more than just x,y coordinates between your saddle and bars.... just because it works for Pros doesn't mean you should try it at home.. and saddles are important, as are bars. Going back to a SMP and 42s has made a huge difference in my riding experience. I can ride a lot of different bikes and sizes but really only feel at home in all situations on a pretty narrow range.. which means learning to let some go that are great deals and interesting but just not fully right (the lesson that's kept recurring from 2017-2020 ha ha).

Second: any time spent with bikes and bike people is time well spent...... going through all of these was not only a welcome distraction from the difficulty of my year (much of which I only hinted at here) but also connected me to a brotherhood of fellow enthusiasts. I didn't make any money, didn't lose more than I would just depreciating a single higher-end bike, and for all my effort and time got to try some really near stuff, meet fun folks, give back w donations and bro-deals, learn some new wrenching skills, and further narrow in on what I most love about the cycling life..which brings me to.....

Lastly: I love road cycling and love steel bikes. As much as I try to convince myself that I need gravel and MTB in my life, because balance?, or that I need the latest and fanciest efficiency-gainz, given any amount of free time and fresh enough legs, I just want to be out climbing all the climbs and talking to cows, rolling at a good clip but not terribly concerned if I could be going 0.2-mph with a carbon aero frameset or lower bars.....and to me that just feels best on a steel frame and fork. At least in the season of riding I'm in right now and with my current funds/time/space.

Thanks for reading and cheers to a better year!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[barnabyjones]

Awesome observations. And it only took about 5 years and 139 bikes.

[reuben]

Good lord, man, when do you find time to ride?

[Tickdoc]

Change your name to "long stem larry"....or you could even go with something more dj oriented like "smp killa"?

Nah, what a great year and fun journey.

Thanks for sharing, clean. Your turnaround pace is legendary and I just love how you will buy the same (almost) bike not once, but twice, three times? What is the record for a single model?

All the best in 2021 to you.

[smontanaro]

Dang Clean39T, you don't mess around...

[tepextate]

Wow, what a year! Thanks for taking the time to write this up and share.

What intrigues me the most are your thoughts on how big of a difference the right saddle makes. I'm currently riding a Specialized Power Arc 143 and can feel that this saddle isn't perfect for me (numbness in the drops, don't feel totally planted when on the hoods). However, with all the different saddle shapes and sizes out there, I'm not sure where/how to even begin experimenting...

I too am in the queue for a Kirk (in no small part inspired by the stunning photos of your old bike). I had figured that I could design it around the Power Arc saddle and swap it out for something else in the future, but now it seems like I should try to get this sorted out before my number is called in the not-too-distant future...

[rallizes]

thanks for taking the time Clean

here's to 2021 and more bikes and more miles!

[jr59]

So, are you having Dave Wages build you a new one or not?

[R3awak3n]

always a great read ahha and I like how at the end of the year you ended up more or less with the same amount of bikes, actually maybe even less.

Happy new year!

[merckx]

That Peg!

[peanutgallery]

That's a lot of energy invested into bike purchases