I kind of want to/ have to / cut this a little short. I am heading out to ride soon. I still plan to post more about the weekend, but that is going to have to be when I have a little more spare time.
Yesterday I spent most of it on my bike trying to secure a new Di2 internal battery. It was a long process, but my bike shifts again. I’ll have to do a post on the whole ordeal when it is all said and done. It wasn’t pretty.
I had ridden up to Santa Monica and then decided to go explore the hills west of Beverly Hills. I’m not exactly sure what that area is called, maybe Brentwood, but the place is unreal. A spiderweb of meandering streets. Many were dead ends, but sometimes they kept going up and up. I finally ended up on dirt, west of the Getty Museum. The grade was getting pretty steep and I only had one spare, so I decided to turn around. Pretty great view though.
I got to catch up with my friend, Ed Bauman finally. Ed sort of got me into bike racing back in Topeka. He moved out here over 30 years ago. Ed is the same as always. He said he thought he might get on a train and head to Austin for the F1 this weekend, but hadn’t really thought about it. That is pretty much how he lives, one day at a time.
I’m riding north today with some guys. Over to Latigo to climb some. It is a lot of city riding before finally getting up to Malibu, but I don’t mind that so much. I like riding through new areas, exploring.
Did you see the World Cup results from yesterday? Mainly the US women’s results. Kaitlin Antonneau was 2nd and Amanda Miller was 5th. Pretty unreal. I’d bet they are both super stoked. The men didn’t fair so well, with Jeremy Powers finishing a lap down. It was nice seeing Brian Matter’s name there too. I hope he enjoyed the experience.
Okay, I’m back in Kansas tomorrow and then going to Berryman on Friday to race the Epic on Saturday morning. I’m a little worried that my thumb is still pretty valueless from crashing on Thursday. You pretty much need your thumbs for MTB shifting. I think that is way they call them thumb shifters. It’s only been 4 days, so I still have a few more for it to feel better.
Ed.
These trees were crazy. Maybe fig trees? I’m not sure.
What most people would considering a typical LA street. This is up by Santa Moncia.
Some of the canal area of Venice Beach.
Riding towards Venice yesterday.
Hey Steve,
Recently you had posted a picture of one of the first groups you started with, which contained Ed Bauman. I meant to write then, but now just seeing today’s post I had to drop you a line. In the early 80s, when I first started to race, I came across the most talented bike wrench the west coast has seen. I was riding for the South Bay Wheelman, so when I started hanging out at Celo Europa in Manhatten Beach, my teammates all questioned me as to why. It was because I had made friends with the most talented person I had ever met. Ed Bauman could have been something in the wrenching world, I’m sure in his own way he was and possibly still is. We’d stay up all night building bikes, ride them home, load them up and go race.
The years have gone by. I lost touch with Ed, then found him on your site. Trying to find him in El Segundo. He is one hell of a dude.like you said, he used to cramp up all the time.
Thanks alot for mentioning him.
Brentwood is west of Beverly (west of the 405). Pacific Palisades is west of there.
If you head back up that way, stop in at Topanga Creek Bicycles, about 7 miles up the Topanga Canyon road. Tell them you are a friend of mine and they will give you of their world famous banana bread and coffee. By far the neatest bike shop I’ve ever been to.
Oh..and look forward to seeing you at BT Epic in a few more days. Take care
I believe those may be Eucalyptus trees.
Not sure if you have SRAM or Shimano on your MTB, but SRAM makes a really nice twist shifter too . . . . although I kinda remember you writing about electronic shifting on your MTB a few years ago. Something to consider maybe?
In comparison to the disc brakes conversation and the concept of simplicity:
Think about how you’ve had to ride all over the damn place just to find a battery so you can shift gears.
What exact problem did Di2 solve?
Back when I rode 1980s Campy super-record, the only real problem was when you didn’t have a lot of time to fine-tune your shift. Then with Dura-Ace “indexed”, the only problem was keeping the tension nut adjusted right. Then with STI, there were very few problems whatsoever (although a ton of complexity inside those levers).
Looking back at everything I’ve ridden with… What was “best” overall (considering cost, ease of use, quality, precision, reliability, etc.)? I still have to say my Campy Super Record with friction shifters. Although I personally chose to use Simplex retro-friction levers (they held their ground).
In case you’re wondering what Simplex SLJ’s looked like:
http://www.bikerecyclery.com/mavic-ssc-downtube-shifters-friction-simplex-slj/
They were awesome. Easy to pull for a downshift, and a bit harder to push forward for an upshift. But wherever you put that lever, it STAYED PUT.
The original Record shifters had carbide friction places and didn’t suck so bad. These are the ones with “Vincenza” stamped on the lever body. Campy’s rationale for getting rid of the little plates was that they wanted some deliberate slop at the lever end to support the “overshift and then back off a little bit” shifting method that all straight parallogram rear derraileurs really demanded.
There is a similar distinction between the first Simplex shifters (very ornate) and the ones you pictured but in the French case it is purely cosmetic. In both marques you are more likely to find the original version in clamp-on.
Under the “Galli” brand, (and Steve probably heard about this pseudo-grupo and team riders being admonished not to bad-mouth a parts sponsor on Schwinn team bikes before he got there,) Bicycle Parts Pacific used to anodize the more modern braze-on retrofiction shifters. I still have them in blue and gold, sure wish that I hadn’t sold off the more common black ones on a cherry early 1970s Legnano on eBay.
Ultimately with pre-indexing C-Record in late 1984 Campy had to wave the white flag and copy the design. About a calander year before Shimano six speed SIS(Dura Ace 7400) came along. Any questions about what happened after that?
By thde way, in case anybody is still the least bit confused, the first generation of Campy downtube indexing (Synchro) was an unmitigated joke too. If you can get it to work for four shifts across a six speed freewheel, that is just about what the manufacturer intended.
Hey Cycling Fans and Mr. Tilford, Chris Froome here, tough guy and Tour De France Champion (at least 2 times, if you don’t include me sitting up for Wiggo). I guess you’ve figured out by now I will sue the shit out of Kevin, this lame Cat 4 from the States impersonating me on the internet! I’m nice, but I’m not “soft!” I’m not just some douchey doper you can push around. I’m the best! which is why my heart rate is 160bpm at 450 watts on Hors Catagorie climbs in Le Tour! If you troll me remember what I did to Vincenzo Nibali when he tried to say my “stiff riding style,” caused a crash- I faced him down in his own team bus but couldn’t think of any good insults in Italian, so I eventually had to just leave the Astana bus (which is junk compared to Richie’s Kustom Kraft.). And another thing more apropos about Shimano (one of Sky’s sponsors!) I’ll go on record now that I’m a Shimano man and will defend that with my fists, as well as my legs! AND DON’T GET ME STARTED ON RICHIE, PORT! Some say I’ll burn my mattress to catch a flea- so I’ll say this again to any comers AT ALL!!!- Sir Brailford and I have a very powerful Solicitor standing by, not to mention the power of the Queen and the Entire British Empire just waiting to crush you. To be more specific, I will crush you at a very high cadence, as sponsored by Shimano, Gatorade, Oakley, presented by Sky ™. Let’s just wait for the TV cameras to leave and I will show you my grit. I really was prepared to fight Nibali too (Queensberry Rules preferred).
Yo Chris, brevity is the soul of wit.
Those shifters were great … right up until the spring broke and you then had no friction at all — happened to me during the PA state road championships.
Biggest regret ever was selling my 80’s era Campy Super Record bikes …
Mine lasted 15 years. Sorry about Districts. That sucks!
Steve. Thanks for the pictures that really depict that part of CA.
Los Angeles, Palos Verdes and Venice Beach are great places to visit.
To live there? Not for me.
I have a pair of them in my parts bin but never used them at all. Really can’t remember how, or when, I got them.
Thanks for the photo of Ed! He has white hair now and I have none! I’ll be out that way in January – where can I find Ed to say CIAO? Battery-operated bicycles seem a big pain for not much gain? If your shift cable broke you could have easily and quickly bought a replacement and installed if you didn’t have a spare with you. But I’m biased of course – I’m a MECHANIC, not an electrician or computer expert.
I bought mine for five bucks off of Dave Grylls at the SD Velodrome swap meet! Many of the top amateurs of the time used to show up and sell-off their excess equipment and clothing swag.
Last February I was out there for a couple of weeks . Being from out of town and not knowing where to ride . The 26 mile long path along the beach was quite nice. After you get out of the tourist areas you can pick up the pace. Finding a reasonably priced place to stay near Santa Monica was impossible