Terrible mistake, L'Eroica edition
#76
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Many years ago I made Beryllium copper lapping wires for bleed jets in hydraulic aircraft pumps. I was young and still learning about grinding various types of tools. I had a vacuum close to the grinding wheel while I was working . When I found out the side effects of working with this material I was a bit scared and had a blood test and breathing test . I was OK but others , working at Rockwell got COPD from doing what I was doing. Of course now I just work with benign things like Carbide and Cobalt!! Joe , grinding precision cutting tools for over 50 years , testing the limits
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#77
My golf clubs are made of Beryllium Copper. I don't know why I love reading these Eroica rules threads, but as I've said before, as far as Eroica California, I never saw any bike police. Nobody was inspecting bikes, and I rode alongside someone on a 90's folding city bike with a basket on the back for part of the ride. The Italian version is much stricter.
Last edited by FrejusFlyer; 03-29-24 at 04:44 PM.
#78
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My golf clubs are made of Beryllium Copper. I don't know why I love reading these Eroica rules threads, but as I've said before, as far as Eroica California, I never saw any bike police. Nobody was inspecting bikes, and I rode alongside someone on a 90's folding city bike with a basket on the back for part of the ride. The Italian version is much stricter.
#79
I was only there the first two years. I should have said that. So Somebody was actually inspecting the bikes? Wow.
#80
Some sidepull single pivot brakes work better than others. having good caliper arm profile design results in stiffer calipers that are responsive and strong. The Spidel LS2s I have on my French C&V bikes have beefy caliper arms and they brake very well. But some sidepulls that look good at first glance have just mediocre to poor braking performance. The Modolo Speedy comes to mind as it's caliper arms are quite thin in profile, so they flex quite a bit when braking, so you get a mushy feeling at the levers.
#81
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Some sidepull single pivot brakes work better than others. having good caliper arm profile design results in stiffer calipers that are responsive and strong. The Spidel LS2s I have on my French C&V bikes have beefy caliper arms and they brake very well. But some sidepulls that look good at first glance have just mediocre to poor braking performance. The Modolo Speedy comes to mind as it's caliper arms are quite thin in profile, so they flex quite a bit when braking, so you get a mushy feeling at the levers.
#82
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I think "inspecting" is overstating it. More like "glancing and perhaps raising an eyebrow ever so slightly."
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#83
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Agreed , just a glance . I don't recall anyone getting bounced , even in the early Paso Robles days when Wes was there. I do remember critically looking at Luciano's old bike and wondering how the heck he was going to ride it . It was quite tattered . It WAS , however , period correct . (tacks hidden in his handlebars and all!). Now that is the spirit of Eroica! Joe
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#84
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I will be inspecting.
And I will be conspiring with others in our group to drop any scofflaws.
I also am proposing a new rule: Any rear derailleurs used must be short or medium cage and all chainrings must have no fewer than 40 teeth.
And I will be conspiring with others in our group to drop any scofflaws.
I also am proposing a new rule: Any rear derailleurs used must be short or medium cage and all chainrings must have no fewer than 40 teeth.
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#85
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#86
Crawlin' up, flyin' down
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And for overly-large, rapidly aging adults . . . .
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#87
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#88
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#89
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Imagine how they'd feel about the 1x drive trains with enormous cogs, and a dozen of them!
EDIT: I expect they'd say, "FINALLY!!! That 44 x 18 crap is for the birds!"
EDIT: I expect they'd say, "FINALLY!!! That 44 x 18 crap is for the birds!"
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#90
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52/40 Or Fight!
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"Don't take life so serious-it ain't nohow permanent."
"Everybody's gotta be somewhere." - Eccles
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#91
Newbie
George Mount has said that nothing smaller than a 42-19 was necessary for racing the Giro. Now he loves his 32 cogs.. Gears for pros are one thing, for average riders, quite another.
#92
For the sake of the historical record, Le Bici di Coppi by Amadori and Tullini references Coppi using 50/47x15-24 and Bartali 49/46x15-24 over the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde. I can’t translate the Italian but this would have been late 1940s or early 1950s.
Correspondence from 1954 references a 15-17-19-24-26 freewheel.
A comprehensive list of Coppi’s gear selection for the 1957 season shows gears as low as 51/47x14-24, and straight blocks to be the exception rather than the rule, saved for Paris-Roubaix and the Trofeo Barrachi (a glorious two-up time trial now consigned to history).
Photographs of the era show Merckx often using c. 24t climbing sprockets in the mountains, and Battaglin famously rode a triple crankset with 36x24 on Tre Cime de Lavaredo en route to winning the 1981 Giro.
These gears are not the 39/36x29/32/34 lows of today, but they are not the mythical corn cobs either. As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Correspondence from 1954 references a 15-17-19-24-26 freewheel.
A comprehensive list of Coppi’s gear selection for the 1957 season shows gears as low as 51/47x14-24, and straight blocks to be the exception rather than the rule, saved for Paris-Roubaix and the Trofeo Barrachi (a glorious two-up time trial now consigned to history).
Photographs of the era show Merckx often using c. 24t climbing sprockets in the mountains, and Battaglin famously rode a triple crankset with 36x24 on Tre Cime de Lavaredo en route to winning the 1981 Giro.
These gears are not the 39/36x29/32/34 lows of today, but they are not the mythical corn cobs either. As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
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#93
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If I ever find a 1950s road racing bike, I will ride it in EroicaCA with gears appropriate to its era of racing and with spare tubulars across my shoulders. My EroicaCA bikes have been from the 80s and sporting the 42x24. If I get my 73 Le Champion finished in time, it will also have the 42x24. The most fun I have at EroicaCA is trying to hang with the guys with smaller clusters than that. They look the part and let me think I'm there.
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#94
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Even if I had been riding bikes in the 60's, I wouldn't have been a professional at the time. So I don't try to pretend to be a pro. I pretend to be a club rider from the era, with the accompanying lower gears.