With the Spingergys now transplanted to the Faggin I’ve re-Rolfed the LeMond, and each the bike and I are a lot happier for it:
The truth is, I’m a bit of too comfortable–it’s like the Litespeed got here again even lighter and extra snug simply to taunt me–and regardless of my profitable fleet discount for 2024 I discover myself trying to rationalize the addition of a tremendous Excessive Trendy highway bicycle to my everlasting holdings. Even the crabon half has grown on me, as has the body’s resemblance to a half-unwrapped bar of chocolate, with the titanium being the foil and the crabon being the chocolate. So within the hope that somebody steps in and saves me from myself I’ll simply point out that the LeMond is in actual fact on the market from Basic Cycle, and should you’re you’ll be able to drop me a line and I’ll facilitate. One everlasting vibrant spot within the bicycle market is that for the value of a brand new “entry stage” bike as we speak you too can by the dream bikes of yesteryear.
Or you’ll be able to skip each and get this:
And sure, I considered including it to my Nishiki assortment, however I can’t hold bringing dwelling strays:
As I discussed final week, my time with the ‘Noner has been considerably fraught, however this previous weekend I lastly loved my first utterly fuss-free trip on it, and like this river it’s glassy clean but additionally soiled on the identical time:
After all of the work I put into the ‘Noner the completion turned out to be this high-end seatpost:
So is it a keeper? Time will inform, however for now I’m significantly having fun with the Campagnolo drivetrain. Being accustomed to the later 10-speed variant, I discover these to be functionally an identical for all intents and functions, the one main distinction being the vestigial factors:
Vestigial factors on brake levers are the coccyx bone of the highway bicycle. As soon as upon a time, in fact, brake levers spouted cables from the tops of their hoods:
The human hand advanced accordingly, a lot in order that even when the cables burrowed beneath the handlebar tape and went “aero” within the Nineteen Eighties the factors remained:
By the late Nineteen Eighties Campagnolo levers may very well be routed both historically or aero-ly (?), so the purpose retained some ostensible performance:
However actually by the Ergo Period they had been merely a holdover from the times of yore:
Arguably on the Italian facet they disappeared in 1998 when Campagnolo redesigned its Ergo levers:
Although one might make an argument that the rounded high is merely an eroded vestigial level, and that it was solely with the 11-speed redesign in 2009 that it totally remodeled right into a pommel that as a substitute provided one other hand place::
As for Shimano, Dura Ace 7700, launched in 1996 (and located on the LeMond), additionally retained the factors, regardless of being the second era of built-in shifter from Shimano:
With vestigial factors lastly disappearing with 10-speed in 2004, which I’d argue qualify as fully-evolved pommels:
Now all we’d like is for somebody to introduce an digital group with vestigial factors and we may have come full circle.
One bike that’s not on the market is the Homer:
It’s advanced fairly a bit since I first received it a bit of over 4 years in the past:
And it could very nicely be my most “full” bicycle, by way of being prepared for something from road-type rides to mild rail rides to city forays:
Whether or not the the rounded nubs on the brake levers–Tektro approximations of post-’98 Campagnolo levers–high quality as vestigial factors is a matter of debate.
