My Randonneuring Bicycle, Part 5: Geometry

The first thing I discussed with my builder, Tony Pereira, was the geometry of my first custom made bicycle. Unfortunately, I didn't possess a broad perspective from owning a myriad of bicycles. My last new bicycle I bought in 1975. I only knew it had never felt quite right.

It was tall enough for my legs, but I felt too stretched out. My trips to my bike-fitting physical therapist confirmed that my old Fuji was too long. By combining an inappropriately short stem with an inappropriately forward saddle placement on the seatpost, I could get where I needed to be, but the bike was essentially too long for me.

That is to say, if I matched my top tube length to the norms in the industry given my seat tube length, then the top tube would be too long. Tony agreed after I took my Fuji to his shop. The result then was a truly custom geometry suited to my body.

I can see you now imagining this long-legged, short-torsoed guy typing this out on his keyboard, right? Well, I've concluded it is less about my actual body proportions and more about my inflexibility in my back. Some is due to a general inflexibility, but some might also be a result of my old bricklaying/marble masonry days. At any rate, geometry is crucial to my bike fit, and Tony got it right. I know this because it feels right, but my bike-fitting physical therapist confirms it too. Saddle sits where it ought. Stem is right. Over the pedals in way that is efficient.

So, here's where I get a little fuzzy. To accomplish this, Tony had to compress my top tube. Doing that while keeping my seat tube long enough means that the angles got steeper. This isn't ideal for a randonneuring or long-distance bicycle, but what to do? I think there is nothing else to do. Lower trail in the fork or longer chainstays matter some, but this is all a package. And for Tony, as a custom builder, he is always thinking about the whole. How does the bike fit together? Measurements, Angles, Tube Diameters, Wheel Size, Toe Overlap, Centering Over the Pedals, Handlebar Bag Placement Over the Front Geometry, Bottom Bracket Height, Crankarm Length, etc.

As I said, my perspective is limited, but this is how I view it today. I will post soon about the other features, quality of build, component choices, wheel size, etc. But geometry is fundamental even though all are integrated.

I am satisfied with the geometry, and if there were one thing here I'd change--and had unlimited resources--I'd be interested in another fork resulting in an even lower trail. I'd be intrigued to see how that affects the handling, and I'd learn from that broader perspective. Might be better, might be worse, but it would be good to see. If wishes were horses....

Keep it geometric,

CurioRando

Turning New Pages, Part 1

à Paris

I've added a new feature to The Curious Randonneur blog: pages. Under the banner, I have added ten labeled tabs, one for each new page. The pages are:

• à Paris!
• Stanzas
• Rantings
• Captured
• Ahhh!
• Scribblings
• Heartholds
• Vintage
• One World
• Sillinesses.

Each tab is a new page for this blog, and it is focused on a distinct idea. So, for example, if you are interested in my preparations as a newbie for entering the Paris Brest Paris Randonnée, then go to the à Paris! page and you'll find links to all the relevant posts plus a few pictures.

Stanzas

Stanzas is a page devoted to art. So far, it is my handful of cycling poems and information about the artist, Aaliyah Gupta, who created the banner for this blog. It will expand as I introduce other art or artistic endeavors.

Rantings

Rantings is just what it seems: a collection of links to my occasional rants. Who doesn't love a good rant?

Captured

Captured is a page with links devoted to my latest experiment--sound recorded during rides--and a few video links. I am digging the nighttime sounds especially. Tricky business as sound pollution permeates the night just as light pollution does.





Ahhh!

Ahh! is the page that folks have been asking for. It is designed as one place for links to all my observations about my new (now a year old) custom randonneuring bicycle and other observations on what makes a comfortable performance bicycle. I still have many posts to deliver here on my promise to document the new Pereira, and they are forthcoming. Promise.


The pages will grow over time as I post about relevant topics, so I hope you'll check them out. You can also search the entire blog for any topic by keyword by using the Search engine at the top left of the blog (above the banner). Or, you can search by Topics in the sidebar to the right of the main body text.

I hope you enjoy the new pages. I like them because they pull out some arenas that either are important to me or that I think others mind find useful, and it gives them a little more attention by putting it all in one place.

I've described the final five pages in Turning New Pages, Part 2.


Keep it archived,

CurioRando

Boy, Could I have used Cyclo-Mower!

Growing up, one of my chores was cutting the grass, and we had a big yard. I mostly used a push mower because even then I eschewed power tools when possible. My older brother had already got me leaning in that direction as we had every issue (from literally Volume 1, Number 1) of the Mother Earth News.

Also, we didn't have our own mower, and I hated the feeling that the power mower that we borrowed was going to break down on me because well...it usually did. Truth is I eschewed power tools out of both my Mother Earthiness and my Power Tool Phobia.

When I spied this custom cycle just out of Walla Walla, I just had to capture it. It would have made grass cutting so much fun! Well, sort of.

I would have stopped to see whether I could buy this sucker, but Dartre wasn't thrilled as it was with my stopping to capture it photographically. Maybe if I plied her with Mother Earth News for a few years she'd make the connection?


Keep it sharpened!

CurioRando

Tour de France Heads to the Mountains...and so do I!

Mt. Rainier on the road to Sunrise Lodge.

I rode SIR Permanent 0243 Sunrise Climb last weekend, and what fun it was on my new bike! I love the 650B tires, and the geometry fits me. Ahh!

Here's the Mt. Rainier National Park entrance.

At the Summit.

Fig Newtons as alternative fuel source.

I love Fig Newtons, and I'm told they're not bad as fuel. That's all I needed to hear since I left my bottle of Perpetuem sitting in the refrigerator! So guess how many Fig Newtons I can eat at one time?

Well, back when I was (I'm guessing here) ten years old or so we tested this. My cousin/brother Jeff (yes, he is both my cousin and brother and it is a story for another day) and I were hangin' out with no adult supervision. so we had a contest and I believe I won with a grand total of TEN FIG NEWTONS in my mouth. All I remember was laughing so hard and spewing figgy crumbs all over the kitchen floor. God, that is a fond memory.

Greenwater Skis now carries bike stuff in the Summer months.

Being the sensible adult I am today, however, I stopped at Greenwater Skis hunting for biker calories like sport gels, and they had them. But that didn't stop me from eating all the Fig Newtons. Yum! Greenwater Skis' owner has a good dog, Bell, so that says alot about the owner. Worth stopping if you need something on the way.

Frying Pan Creek.

My new Pereira on the bridge overlooking the Green River.

Green River from the bridge, Summer version.

You can compare the above Green River Bridge/Bike photos to those we took in February for comparison.

Keep it heading up,

CurioRando

Pereira First Impressions & Weasel Confirmed on the Woodinville Permanent

First pic of my new Pereira Randonneuse.

A small farmer who supports unionized electrical workers. Nice to see.

Wiki photo of a weasel.  Remember my post about my Oregon Randonneurs 400k brevet last year wondering what it was I'd run over? In the subsequent post I hypothesized I'd run over a weasel in the middle of the night.

No, I didn't run this little fella over. I came upon him as roadkill. As soon as I saw him I remembered my pal from that 400k. It got me thinking: I'll bet it was a weasel.

Then I looked just off the road from the carcass, and spied this burrow. Aha! The habitat we were riding through at the time was tall grasses just like this, though not as hilly. I feel quite certain now it was a weasel, by gum! See how some of the soil is moist, but the carcass seemed not so moist? I wonder if the mate is still inhabiting that burrow? Poor mourning mate!

Here, my new ride is parked against the barbed wire fence at the top end of a long driveway into a place I used to fish for Steelhead along the Skykomish River.

It was called "Two Bits" for years since the farm owners had a heavy steel lockbox with a sign that said "25 Cents". The deal was you put your quarter in the box, opened the gate and drove your (hopefully, or you were likely to get stuck) four-wheel drive vehicle through, and closed the gate behind you. The owner sold the place and the new owner...you guessed it, raised the price to fifty cents or a buck. That was many years ago. I was tempted to inspect and see whether one could still get in, and if so at what cost, but the large, pit bullish dog put me off this trip. A little too exposed on my new one-wheel drive vehicle.

This is a view from the bridge crossing the Sky at Sultan, just upstream from Two Bits. I used to spend a lot of weekends crawling around these parts.

So how was the new Pereira? Fabulous. I'll be giving more reports soon, but it is a joy. Just one note for now. I really never was comfortable descending on my old Fuji. I'd always felt like I was riding on top of it rather than down in it. On the Pereira with the geometry matched to my rather odd body geometry (legs too long or torso too short), wide 650B tires, and a proper trail to match the tires, it was a delight to descend! I felt stuck to the road. Oh my, what a difference. But there is so much more to tell in future posts.

All of this took place on the Woodinville-Granite Falls-Woodinville Permanent, RUSA #0359, a Permanent organized by Geoff Swarts. Great route, Geoff. Thanks much!

Here is the route.

Here is the elevation profile. See those descents? I passed one cyclist who was coming up as I was descending and he yelled out "Yippee" as I passed because it must have been obvious how much fun I was having! I was yelling "Weeeeeeee" myself.

Keep it carving,

CurioRando

Custom Framebuilding by Tony Pereira

Detachable Low Rider Front Rack.

What I like about Tony's framebuilding is the combining of imagination with clean lines and execution.

I may have to ride it without panniers just to display the low rider rack lines.

Light mount for battery headlight.

Detail showing generator-powered light mount.

For the full collection of Tony's photos of my new Randonnneuring Bicycle, please check out his Flickr site. For more on how my new bicycle got to this point, please check out "custom bicycle" in the "Topics" sidebar to the right.

Keep it elegant,

CurioRando

Get the Skyhook for a Spatially Aligned Randonneur Front Rack

Tony Pereira designed and built this adjustable Front Rack Jig so he could place the rack in spatial relationship to my bike prior to building/affixing the stays for my front rack. He said the time it took to build the jig was saved just in building my rack.

See the pear logo?

The Jig fits onto quill or threadless steerers.

Curvy chainstay.

Back in my marble mason/bricklaying days, we used to joke about getting the skyhook to come lift up something we were stuggling with. Tony built his own skyhook! I just looked it up, and I'll be doggone if Wiki doesn't have a definition.

For comments from other builders on Tony's jig and other work, go to Tony's Flickr site.

For more posts about this buildup, choose the "custom bicycle" topic in the right sidebar.


Keep it spatially aligned,

CurioRando

Custom Frame Build, More Photos

Extension being ground clean, I think.

Unfinished fillets.

All photos courtesy of builder, Tony Pereira of Pereira Cycles. His Flickr site is here.

For earlier build-up photos and my reaction, see Frame takes form...beautiful, curvaceous form.

For an earlier visit to Tony's shop for a fit and such, see My randonneuring Bicycle, Part 4, Let the Build Begin!

For more posts about this buildup, choose the "custom bicycle" topic in the right sidebar.


Keep it recorded,

CurioRando

Frame takes form...beautiful, curvaceous form!

What is it about a certain bend or curve?

Of a bicycle lug or along the flanks of your lover? Why do we sigh at the gracefulness of a glance, a purse of the lips, the sway of those hips?

To be sure, I didn't need lugs. One could argue that yes, theoretically a tube could be replaced on a lugged bicycle, but that's just not the answer. Choosing lugs was a flourish that cries out: we need beauty--of curves, of a cut-out piece of elegant fruit, of a glint of chrome--in our lives. For while bicycles are near the epitome of practicality in their workhorse, straight-line propulsion, they are also a canvas on which to display our dreams.

It's also true that grace is an indulgence. I am blessed to be able to indulge my curvaceous desires, and I know it. My rationale is I haven't bought a new bicycle for 35 years, so my pent up demand is honestly come by.

And what of the builder, Tony Pereira? Poor Tony is stuck with matching my desire for curves while satisfying my demand for randonneuring practicality. I have fairly badgered him about this dimension or that application.

And Tony is doing it. Even while fussing with 650B tire clearance, he is bringing to reality those curves, those sways.

This is why I went for a custom bicycle. Tony is brazing together proper fit (he is very knowledgable in this, I've never had it, and I'm a bit of an unusual build), randonneuring specs, and artistic sensibilities. And Tony is also a cyclist's builder. He rides hard and clearly loves the act of cycling even as he's got a tinkerer's mind.

Simply put, Tony's job is the alchemy of transforming my persnicketyness into function formed from often conflicting notions.

I took my first lesson on bicycle maintenance this week (all to be told in a future post), and each in our class is working on clunky, mass-produced, plastic-rimmed, tassled children's bikes. And yes these fat-tired, funky-saddled, little bicycles are beautiful too! Every bicycle is a beauty for all that it represents and does.

But hand craftmanship is too rare today. Thanks, Tony.

For more photos of the actual lugged frame, see Custom Frame Build, More Photos.

For my visit to Tony's shop for fitting and such, see My Randonneuring Bicycle, Part 4, Let the Build Begin!.

For Tony's Flickr site, go here.

For more posts about this buildup, choose the "custom bicycle" topic in the right sidebar.

Keep it curvaceous,

CurioRando