In one of my early posts, I talked about a Romic Sport Touring bicycle I had in my youth. For a time, it was my only bike, so I did my "fast" riding, touring and even my errands on it.
"Fast" riding included everything from actual races to informal contests with riding buddies that ended with one of us buying the other beer and/or lunch. Sometimes the later were part of vigorous club rides; other times, they were training rides that turned into impromptu competitions. "Touring" could mean anything from a day or weekend ride to a longer trip with panniers and a handlebar bag.
The Romic had a geometry and build that made it suitable for many different kinds of riding: rather like Arielle, my Mercian Audax. I did my first European bike tour on it, with the first pair of wheels I had built for me: Campagnolo Nuovo Tipo hubs, Super Champion 58 clincher rims and Robergel Sport spokes. I also had a pair of tubular (sew-up) wheels with those same hubs and Super Champion Arc en Ciel tubular rims, which I used for racing and "fast" rides (the planned ones, anyway!).
In addition to switching wheels, I would move the adjustment screws on the dropouts:
If I wanted to ride faster, I would move the screws inward to bring the wheel closer to shorten the wheelbase.
Now, many new frames come with vertical dropouts
which don't allow for any adjustment. So, if you have a sport touring bike and want to shorten the wheelbase, you're "shitouttaluck" as we used to say in my old neighborhood.
Or are you? Apparently, someone came up with a way to shorten his wheelbase:
At least, that's how an e-Bay seller in described his 1978 Motobecane Grand Jubile's encounter with a sewer grate:
"Good condition for its age but frame suffered an impact (hitting a sewer grating) which caused the wheelbase to be shortened slightly."
Hmm...Maybe the next time someone steals a pedal or wheel or saddle from one of my parked bikes, I'll tell myself that the thief did me a favor by lightening my bike. I'm sure that will help the bike (and me) to go faster!
"Fast" riding included everything from actual races to informal contests with riding buddies that ended with one of us buying the other beer and/or lunch. Sometimes the later were part of vigorous club rides; other times, they were training rides that turned into impromptu competitions. "Touring" could mean anything from a day or weekend ride to a longer trip with panniers and a handlebar bag.
The Romic had a geometry and build that made it suitable for many different kinds of riding: rather like Arielle, my Mercian Audax. I did my first European bike tour on it, with the first pair of wheels I had built for me: Campagnolo Nuovo Tipo hubs, Super Champion 58 clincher rims and Robergel Sport spokes. I also had a pair of tubular (sew-up) wheels with those same hubs and Super Champion Arc en Ciel tubular rims, which I used for racing and "fast" rides (the planned ones, anyway!).
In addition to switching wheels, I would move the adjustment screws on the dropouts:
If I wanted to ride faster, I would move the screws inward to bring the wheel closer to shorten the wheelbase.
Now, many new frames come with vertical dropouts
which don't allow for any adjustment. So, if you have a sport touring bike and want to shorten the wheelbase, you're "shitouttaluck" as we used to say in my old neighborhood.
Or are you? Apparently, someone came up with a way to shorten his wheelbase:
At least, that's how an e-Bay seller in described his 1978 Motobecane Grand Jubile's encounter with a sewer grate:
"Good condition for its age but frame suffered an impact (hitting a sewer grating) which caused the wheelbase to be shortened slightly."
Hmm...Maybe the next time someone steals a pedal or wheel or saddle from one of my parked bikes, I'll tell myself that the thief did me a favor by lightening my bike. I'm sure that will help the bike (and me) to go faster!
