I absolutely love that the Wabi can fit Strada Biancas! Well done.

I love that it's perfectly camouflaged, so the frame disappears when you park it in front of that door.

On Sunday 10/23 I will be riding the Buck County Covered Bridge metric century on my Cesare track bike. It will have 5700' of climbing and some if it will be steep. I have installed 63" gears to help with the hills. I rode a Lancaster county century earlier this year with 6700' of climbing on 70" gears, but they were not as steep. I have been riding all week on the short gears. I never thought my 58 year old legs could spin 180+ down the hills. I am looking forward to the ride.
http://home.jtan.com/%7Ejoe/matt_bike/white_tape_6.jpg

I'd like to see a pic of this bike with a less busy background. :)

Nice tires! I bought some Paris-Roubaix 27s for my road bike but they didn't fit - they seem a lot wider than 27mm. I put them on my FG commuter under the fenders.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/V4...=w1268-h951-no

I'm 58 as well. I bought my first SS bike, a Wabi Classic, a couple months back and recently installed a set of Jones Loop Bars. What an excellent addition. I've never felt comfortable using drops, and the risers didn't work for me either. These bars offer various hand positions and are extremely comfortable. For anyone experiencing hand fatigue or numbness, give these a look.

This bike is gorgeous to me.

Simple, elegant... Normally the colored wheels would be a turn off but even that is done tastefully.

I'd like to know more about this - make, model, history, upgrades, etc. .

Is that a light mounted above the rear brake caliper or is it a reflector?


-Tim-

To all of those that don't like my "busy" or "camouflaged" background, hey, that's called stealth parking, ok! You see, in my town most people use a bike lock to secure their bike. Why would I do that when my bike blends in to and disappears in to the background? I avoid theft with an invisible bike!!

Truth be told, I saw that door and just took a snapshot. Pure and simple. I did align the bike, saddle and top-tube as best I could to gain as much blending as I could with the background though. You see how that black line curves with the saddle and the other black line parallels the top tube? The curve of the handlebars blends well with the shadows....Worked quite well as can be attested to reactions here.

That's a lie to. I just parked it and took a shot.

Next time I'll be more conscious about composing a "proper" bike porn shot.

This is all tongue-in-cheek folks; besides, my Wabi doesn't have an inferiority complex nor is she vain enough to need a good selfie to get her motivated.


Actually, there is a REALLY horrendous spot that I thought about taking that photo. I think I'll do that this weekend and post a photo. Hey, maybe we can start a trend on how bad the background can be!!

ROFLMAO

-

Tim,

Here is all you ever need to about my bike:

Memorial to Matthew R. Dille
The thing in the back is a light. It is a Cygolite Hot Shot. I like it a lot. It is mounted on an old Cateye reflector mount. I commute on this bike all year so I need to have lights on it. It looks better when it is stripped bare, but I like to have the safety and comfort stuff on it since it allows me to ride it more.

Ride Safe,

Joe

I am 55 and started riding fixed gear on a 1980 Fuji Grand Tour SE conversion with just a fixed cog and BB lockring on the freewheel about 2 year ago. I finally got a pair of Vuelta track wheelset with flip flop rear hubs. People say touring frames are usually not good candidates for fixed gear but my 23" frame has almost an 11" BB height and I never have pedal strike with the original 170 mm cranks (52/20 ratio). The 700x32c tire is about as big as the 27x1-1/4 in outside diameter.

I read your memorial. Props.

Three things. (I love fix gears and could say a lot more!) First, how do you scan a very long multi year thread to see if/what you posted there already?

Second, on the Wabi above, can you take the wheel off and flip it (if it were a flip-flop) without too much fuss? It looks like it would be a challenge to get enough slack on the chain to get it off the cog.

And third, that same issue reminds me why I had my custom fixie built with custom road drops, not track ends. Those dropouts open down at the front, not to the front so you can slide the wheel all the way forward and bolt it with the tire very close to the seattube. The slot is "L" shaped with the bottom, short leg of the L forward and down. Slot is angled 11 degrees, a compromise between horizontal to maintain uniform BB height and classic road drop to maintain brake position on the rim as the wheel is moved on the dropout. I use Velocity Aero rims on my rear wheels for their very deep usable braking surface. Seattube has a 75 degree angle to allow the wheel to come well forward and allow bigger tires and/or fender. Also keep the wheel from being too far back when I swap out to a very small cog so the rear end doesn't get squirrelly. (I can run anything between 12 teeth and 24 on the same chain length. Anyone know where I can find that 24? I hear they exist.)

Designing this bike was fun challenge. Riding it is a blast. Doing on-the-road wheel flips takes two minutes and keeps my hands clean. (I pick the chain up with the spanner of my Pedro's Trixie wrench and drop it on a chain peg that is just a M5 screw into the dropout. I can lay the bike down on it's right side to unscrew the cog and the chain will still be on the hanger when I pick it up. I can unscrew cogs and swap in about 5 minutes.) I have done Cycle Oregon days with up to 9800' of climbing and 10 gear changes. (I am sure I have bettered the 10 gear changes, but not the 9800'. That was one long day! Went around the rim using 23 and 12 teeth. 42 chainring.) The next day got to descend down the 15 miles of Dead Indian Memorial Road into Ashland, a glorious, winding, open road in the 42-12, a 95" gear. In heaven! Two days later, it was back up on the 23. Hard!

And finally, a huge heads up for TiCycles and Dave Levy for building exactly what I wanted.

Ben

Love to hear a report on this ride. I'm originally from Lancaster County, so I'm familiar with the terrain.

Covered Bridge Ride
 

I am looking forward to the ride tomorrow. They just sent out the GPS route and none of the climbs are over 10%, so I should be fine with my 63" gears.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/17287514

Earlier this week I went up Hurricane Mountain Road in New Hampshire on my geared bike.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/11597569
I feel ready.

Hi Joe.

I recall reading your write up on that bike some time in the past but didn't recognize it as the same bike.

Sorry about your son. I lost a daughter to Leukemia in 1996. She was 4 1/2 years old so I know what you went through.

Congrats on the bike. Well done. I hope you are at peace.


-Tim-

Covered Bridge Ride
 

Here is the gps trace from yesterday's Covered Bridge Ride.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/11631296
It was very nice. I was kinda worried about if I selected the right gear, but 63" was about right. I went for the short gear because of the hills, but it turned out to be a bit of a blessing for the wind which was about 20 mph. It always seemed to be a headwind when we were on a ridge :-/ The short gearing made for some serious spinning on the descents. I got over 190 rpm in several places.

The fall colors were just OK, but I was glad that the roads were mostly clear of leaves. The leaves did cover some of the route markers. 5 of the 6 covered bridges were an easy ride with the boards either being tight, or laid across the road. One bridge had the boards going the long way with 1" gaps that could have swallowed my 23c tire. I rode with caution on this one. The food at the rest stops was great. Lots of home baked goodies.

I am very happy for making this hilly 63 miles in just under 4 hours. I am sure I was the only fixed gear bike. I may have been the only single speed. I did have fun spanking some of the geared bikes on the climbs.

This summer I rode the Farm to Fork Fondo in Lancaster county. It was a great ride. I rode this one on the same bike with 70" gears. The hills were very hard.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12537388
It was a fun ride with great food at every stop. Homemade bacon!

49 in a few weeks:
On One Pompino (48x16)
Blacksheep Highlight (32/20)

That is a sweet trail blazer.

Love the Blacksheep. Truly interesting stuff from them.

I dont recommend their frames TBH.
I broke the chainstay on it 3 years ago.
It took him 2 years to fix it after I harassed him, started a thread about it on MTBR which I updated every week showing that he had not fixed it, and ultimately managed to get him to act by contacting another nearby framebuilder who went and took it up with him face to face.

Then a couple of weeks ago I cracked the downtube.

I am not even going to bother trying to get it fixed again.

Sorry to hear that. I guess I will likely go with a local builder for custom Ti.

TBH, I am not convinced about ti for MTB.
Seen far too many broken ti MTB frames (Form, Blacksheep, Ellsworth to name a few).
Road ti I am comfortable with.

Mine will be a city everyday ride, with room for fenders, etc.

I'm old now. I guess I can post in this thread. Not that I've posted anything here in, like, forever. I was too busy riding my bike.

Yeah, I would stick to steel for that myself.
My On-One does all of the things you are suggesting for a quarter the price.