Return of the Roadie

Regular readers would possibly be surprised to hear that I do still occasionally ride a bike. When I do it is at best a very relaxed affair, but I'm also lucky enough to be friends with a number of people who take their riding a lot more seriously than I do. One of those people is Rach, a lady who is making waves on the local road-racing circuit and has also competed in 24 hr solo mountain biking events at an international level. She manages to be both an awesome bike rider and a very nice lady (assuming you don't steal her Chomps on race day), and she occasionally drops into this blog to make comments.

She is also generous enough to this blog from her own. The format she uses posts up not only the title of my blog entry but also the first picture that I show. It always makes me laugh to think that her blog, mainly frequented by uber-fit hyper-competitive road racer or triathlete types, regularly shows pictures of cheese, beer, pork scratchings or a short chubby bloke beaming awkwardly at a camera whilst pointing at something food related.

Anyway - this post has a road bike in it so will fit right in. I've recently rebuilt my Abeni with some quality parts sourced from racer mates for remarkably low prices (in some cases measured in bottles of homebrew).

Steel frame, hand built in Sydney in probably the mid 80's and paired up with a half-chromed fork of unknown origin. Built up with Reynolds wheels (thanks Rach) which roll beautifully, 10 speed 105 'brifters' (sic) and an Ultegra rear mech. The lightweight rear skewer wasn't strong enough to hold the wheel in the semi-sloping dropouts and snapped when I tried to cinch it up, 3km from home, so has been replaced with an old Suntour steel skewer which has the strength to withstand the awesome power of my mighty thighs (and poor gear choices).  

Carbon FSA K-lite cranks with 53/39 gearing (no compact weakness for me), running on a Miche bottom bracket (Miche components in cross-compatibility shocker!). The chain was a pain in the arse as you can't split a 10 speed chain and rejoin it in the usual way - I found that out the hard way as my first chain lasted about 10km and then gently slid off the bike and lay out flat on the road like a dozing snake.

The cable routing for old steel road frames is a bit rudimentary and I found that the cable was snagging slightly. This threw out the precise indexing required for the rear mech. Fortunately Gordy came to my aid with some cable inner which smooths everything out.

So it was a bit of a battle but after sorting out a few teething problems it rides really nicely. Perfect for my entry to the crit-racing circuit this year*. Until then, here it is in its natural environment. After all it is a cafe racer.

*Only kidding Miff :)