All About Dee-Lilah

I'm waiting for the snow and ice to clear so I can take Dee-Lilah, my new Mercian Vincitore Special, out for another ride.  I'd also like the chance to take newly-painted Tosca, my Mercian fixed-gear out for a spin.

Meantime, though, I'll tell you a bit about Dee-Lilah.

She's made of Reynolds 853 tubing.  The geometry is just slightly different from that of Arielle, my Mercian Audax.  Both frames have 55.5 cm seat tubes and 53.5 cm top tubes.  But while Arielle has a very traditional sport-touring design of parallel 73 degree angles at the head and seat tubes, Dee-Lilah has a slightly steeper seat angle, at 74 degrees, and a slightly shallower head tube angle of 72.  This allows for the response I like in the rear combined with a bit more comfort in front. Also, it will make for better handling when I start using a bag on the front rack. 

If Arielle felt like a magic carpet, Dee-Lilah feels like a cloud with jet propulsion. I know, I've only ridden Dee-Lilah twice for a total of just under 100 miles.  But I definitely feel differences, however subtle, between her and my other Mercians.  And they are subtle differences I wanted when I ordered the frame.

Anyway, here is how Dee-Lilah is kitted out:

Wheels:  

• Phil Wood hubs, 36 hole rear, 32 hole front
• Mavic Open Pro Rims, Velox rim tape
• DT Competition Spokes, 14/15 ga.
• Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tires, 700X28

Drivetrain:  

•   Sugino Alpina Cranks, 110 BCD, 170mm length
•  Specialties TA Syrius chaninrings, 48/36
•  Phil Wood square-axle bottom bracket, 108 mm
•  SRAM PC-991 chain
•  Shimano Ultegra 9 speed cassette, 12-25
•  Shimano Dura-Ace rear derailleur, w/sealed pulleys
•  Shimano Dura-Ace front derailleur
•  Shimano Dura-Ace downtube shift levers
•  MKS Urban Platform pedals w/MKS "basket" toe clips and Velo Orange Grand Cru straps

Steering:

• Nitto Mod. 177 "Noodle" handlebars, 42 cm 
• Nitto NP (Pearl) stem, 11 cm
• Chris King 2Nut headset

Braking:

• Shimano R650 brakes w/Mathauser-Kool Stop salmon pads
• Cane Creek SCR-5 levers

Seating:

• Brooks Team Professional, Maroon (cordovan/oxblood)
• Nitto 65 ("Crystal Fellow") seat post, 27.2

Other items:

• Sugino chromed seat binder bolt
• Newbaum's Eggplant purple cloth handlebar tape
• Rustines handlebar plugs (like Velox)
• Nitto M18 front rack
• Andrew King "Iris" stainless steel water bottle cages
• Crane bell on Velo Orange spacer

Dee-Lilah is designed so that, if I like, I can add fenders and/or a rear rack if I decide to, say, take her on a tour. But I had her built mainly with day trips in mind, and my first such ride with her has been a joy. 

In all, I have tried to combine my color preferences and my love of traditional bike aesthetics with what is practical for me.  So far, it all seems to have balanced out nicely!

Speaking of aesthetics:  Dee-Lilah's main color is Lilac (hence her name) Polychromatic (#17 on the Mercian colour chart) set off with a head tube and seat panel in Deep Plum Pearl (#56).

                           

Slush On The Tracks

The sky I saw on my way to work the other day was exactly what I thought:  the harbinger of an early-spring snowstorm.

That, in and of itself, is not so unusual in this part of the world.  It closed schools--and the college in which I teach yesterday.  The brunt of the storm, though, bore down on us in the evening and through the night.

It was my least favorite kind of storm.  Instead of puffy mounds of white powder, we got piles of slush and sheets of ice.  The latter could make cycling to work hazardous, so I resorted to other forms of transport:

Oh well!

A Cycle Of Karma?

One of the most depressing things that can happen to us is the theft of our bikes.

Just as dispiriting as the loss of something we love and depend on is the realization that we probably won't see it again and, it seems, nobody who isn't a cyclist cares.  We report our losses to the police and other authorities and they tell us that we're not likely to get our wheels back--which is another way of saying they have other fish to fry.

Perhaps the best most cyclists can hope for is what Amanda Needham experienced.

The Brooklyn resident's bike, which she rode to work, was stolen from the front of her house on 3 March. After finding empty space where her machine had been, she took some cardboard and yellow paint to make a sign she would post in that spot.

It begins, "To the person who stole my bike:  I hope you need it more than me."  She follows with a lament about how she depended on it and what it cost her.  "Next time, steal. Or not steal," is how her plea ends.

That sign stood for five days before she heard a knock at her door. She thought it was a delivery. Indeed, it was, but not one she was expecting:  a stranger bearing a used kid's bike with a flat tire.  

A few days later, she got another knock on her door.  This time, an older woman greeted her with a hug and told her if she found another bicycle, she'd bring it to her.  

Not surprisingly, Ms. Needham was touched. "These people were visibly poor and giving from what they had," she said.  But they didn't prepare her for what--or, more specifically, who--came by later.  Steven Powers, an antiques dealer, was riding by and saw her sign.  He posted a photo of it on Instagram and, just as he was thinking of offering to buy her sign--for $200, what she paid for the used bike-- another dealer in the UK offered to split the cost.  "That was the little push I needed," he said.

The sign, he said, is "graphically interesting."  But most important, he believed, is that her message "wasn't angry."

Needham used that $200 to buy another bike.  Before she did that, though, she took the kids' bike to Court Cycles, a local repair shop owned by mechanic Ms. JoAnne Nicolosi.  She offered to repair the bike for free, and Amanda offered to set up her shop on social media.  They now plan to raffle the machine, dubbed #karmacycle, for free later this month.

While she isn't glad she lost her bike, Ms. Needham is happy to have met the people she's met.  Most important, though, is not that she lost her wheels or "got a secondhand bike for someone else."  Rather, she says, she just wants people to "remember that those tiny acts can really go a long way."