Our Own 300 km Brevet

Mark and I were signed up to do the Seattle Randonneur’s 300 km brevet last weekend. A few days before the brevet, it snowed, and the organizers decided to play it safe and cancel the brevet. Mark and I decided to ride 300 km on our own instead. If it was icy, we’d take a lowland route, but otherwise, we’d head into the mountains on our favorite roads.

We met at 6 in the morning, and by sunrise, we were already descending into the Snohomish River valley. It promised to be a gorgeous day.

We were riding our 650B randonneur bikes. Funny thing, we talked about a lot of things all day long, but not once about bikes. When you have a bike that is close to optimal, you no longer think about it and just enjoy the ride. The photo was taken while we stopped at a bakery, but this being a brevet, we got some pastries to go rather than sit down for a while. We also limited our photo stops, and most of the images you see in this post were taken while rolling along.

We headed into the mountains on familiar backroads, enjoying the beautiful, sunny day.

The recent dusting of snow made the scenery all the more spectacular. Fortunately, the roads were free of snow and ice.

Usually we turn around in Index, but today we continued to Skykomish. Mark was reluctant, as he dislikes Highway 2. I kept telling him of this beautiful backroad that winds its way into Skykomish. When we finally got there, the road was washed out after just a mile or two.

The Skykomish River had changed its course right through the former roadway. In the photo above, you can barely see the now useless bridge in the background. In the photo, the embankment on which Mark is standing hides much of the river, which was was too wide and deep to ford on a cold spring day. In late summer, when the flow is greatly reduced, it may be worth a try… as I hate to lose a wonderful specimen from my collection of backroads.

Neither of us had been to Skykomish in years. Skykomish used to be where the trains across the Cascades changed from steam to electric locomotives, and where locomotives themselves were maintained. This left behind heavy metals and other toxins that started to find their way into the river. Over five years, much of the town was moved, the contaminated soils excavated, and the town rebuilt. It was odd to see a town with older houses, all repainted, with new roofs, linked by brand-new streets. It looked like a model railroad that hadn’t been “weathered” to make it look realistic.

One building had more than enough “weathering.” Sadly, the grand old hotel remains closed and decaying. Presumably, it’s so old that the soil underneath never was contaminated.

The store in Skykomish provided generous portions of ice cream. Too generous even for famished cyclists. We lost about 15 minutes here…

We had been riding into headwinds all day, as cold air flowed out of the mountains. Just before we reached Skykomish, the wind turned as the warm air from the lowland began to rise up the valley. All the way home, we had to battle headwinds again, which increased in intensity as the day wore on. But we did not complain with weather and scenery like this!

We returned home at 7, after 13 hours on the road, glad to have ventured out on this gorgeous day.

Trouble with STI Triples

Triple cranks are a good choice for some riders. The most common shifting system for triple cranks, Shimano’s STI, only works with Shimano chainrings. Unfortunately, Shimano’s chainring combinations are of limited use to most riders. If you want to customize your chainring sizes, you will have to use downtube or bar-end shifters, plus a front derailleur with a smooth inner cage, to make more useful triple cranks work.

On current-production road bikes, triples have almost become obsolete, because 10- and 11-speed cassettes provide such a large gear range that a third chainring no longer is needed. SRAM doesn’t even make “road” triples, but Shimano still offers them from the Ultegra level down, and Campagnolo just re-introduced triple cranks and derailleurs.

Even with 10-speed cassettes, triples remain a good choice for loaded bikes and/or slower riders. These bikes and riders need a relatively small “base gear,” yet they still pedal at high speeds on slight downhills and with strong tailwinds, so they need reasonably large gears, too.

For these riders, it makes sense to have a large “top speed” chainring, a middle “cruising” chainring, and a small “climbing” chainring for steeper hills. (Stronger riders can combine the “top speed” and “cruising” chainrings into a single chainring and use a compact double.)

For triples to work well, you want to select your chainrings based on your riding style. However, Shimano offers only a single combination: 50-39-30. This is an odd combination: A rider who finds the relatively small 39-tooth “cruising” chainring useful will probably need a “climbing” chainring with fewer than 30 teeth.

More useful triple chainring combinations would be 46-40-26 or 44-38-24, with large rings small enough to be useful for normal riders, with middle rings sized for general riding, and small rings that allow climbing steep hills at low speeds.

One of the appeals of our René Herse cranks is the custom gearing. You can choose any ring combination from 24 to 50 teeth. The René Herse crank is designed to drop right into the clearances of a modern crank, so you can replace your existing crank with one that has more appropriate gearing. The René Herse cranks work great for most riders, with one exception: riders who use Shimano STI with a triple. It took us a while to figure out why STI triples are so troublesome.

After doing a lot of testing, we found that there are two separate problems. One concerns front derailleurs, the other is related to the way STI executes front shifts.

Many front derailleurs for triples have a channel pressed into the inner cage. This is designed to lift the chain onto the big chainring when you upshift. It works only if the channel matches the position of the chain on the middle ring. A derailleur like this works only with a very narrow range of chainring combinations.

If you use a differently-sized middle ring, the channel no longer lines up with the chain as you start the shift. In the photo above, the channel is above the chain. The chain gets stuck below the channel, and it’s almost impossible to shift to the large ring.

The solution to this problem is simple: Use a front derailleur for doubles, which has a smooth cage and no channels (above).

Won’t the lack of channels and other “shift aids” make it shift poorly? Front shifts are not  demanding: The derailleur only needs to push the chain into the rotating teeth of the larger chainring, which picks up the chain and executes the shift. A front derailleur does not need a complex shape to work well.

A good option is the Shimano CX-70 front derailleur (above). This derailleur is designed for cyclocross bikes with smaller chainrings, so its curve matches that of the smaller rings, and its cage is short enough that it doesn’t hit the chainstays, which can happen when you use standard derailleurs with small chainrings. The CX-70 derailleur is a great choice, whether you run a double or a triple.

Using a front derailleur with a smooth cage addresses one problem, but another problem remains: In order to make front shifts work silently even under moderate loads, STI delays the shift until the two chainrings are aligned for an optimal chain path from the smaller to the larger ring. At that point, a pin picks up the chain, and a ramp guides it onto the larger chainring.

There are only a few of these optimal chain paths for each chainring combination – where the distance between the “exit tooth” on the smaller ring and the “entry tooth” on the larger ring is a multiple of the length of a chain link. That is where the pins and ramps are located.

This is very different from traditional shifts (as well as SRAM and Campagnolo), where the derailleur pushes the chain sideways until it catches on any tooth of the larger chainring. The chain then is lifted up and threads itself onto the larger chainring, no matter how the teeth are aligned.

With a traditional system, it can happen that the rider does not move the derailleur cage far enough. Instead of shifting, the chain scrapes along the larger ring (arrow in the photo above). Enter pins and ramps: The chain is scraping along the larger ring, until a pin and ramp come along and pick up the chain. On most systems, the pins and ramps only serve as “insurance” against bad shifts. They also allow shifting under moderate loads, where the chain tension fights the bending of the chain toward the larger ring. With pins and ramps, you don’t have to let up as much on the pedals to release the chain tension as you shift.

Shimano designed its triple STI to shift only when the ramps and pins are perfectly aligned. Its triple shift levers only swing far enough to make the chain scrape along the larger chainring, but not far enough to engage on the teeth. The shift is delayed until a pin and ramp come along. In effect, every shift with triple STI is a “bad” shift, engaging the “insurance” of the pins and ramps to complete the shift.

The advantage of Shimano’s system is that the chain shifts only when the teeth of the chainrings are aligned optimally for a smooth shift. One downside is that it won’t shift immediately. Powerful riders will have to let up on the pedals longer than they would with a traditional system that shifts immediately. (Less powerful riders don’t have to let up on the pedals at all, since the system can handle upshifts under moderate loads.)

Now you see why STI triples have to remain a complete system: if you replace the original Shimano chainrings with rings that don’t have properly designed ramps and pins, then the chain will continue to rub against the larger ring, waiting for a pin and ramp that will never come! Many aftermarket chainrings with “cosmetic” pins and ramps that are not aligned in the optimal chain path also will not work well with STI. (Sometimes, careful setup can make it sort of work, but the shifting won’t be as reliable.)

Conclusions:

• If you want to use STI and triple cranks, you have to stick with Shimano’s stock cranks and chainrings, whether the gear ratios work for you or not.
• If you want to use a triple with custom gearing, you can switch to downtube or bar-end shifters. Make sure you use a smooth-cage front derailleur no matter which shifting system you use.
• If you don’t want to give up STI, maybe an ultra-compact double will work better for you. A 44-28 may give you more useful gears than Shimano’s triple chainring combinations.

What about STI for double cranks?
Shimano’s STI for double chainrings is a bit more forgiving. The shifters swing further at the end of their travel, and they usually shift fine with chainrings that don’t have pins and ramps.

Generally, the René Herse cranks have worked flawlessly with all other shifting systems, whether STI doubles, Ergopower, SRAM, as well as downtube and bar-end shifter (index or friction).

As far as Campagnolo’s new triple Ergopower goes, we don’t have any experience with it yet.

Further reading:
- Blog post on How to select your chainrings.
- How Ramped Chainrings Work. Bicycle Quarterly Vol. 11, No. 2.

The Fleche and Decoding Its Rules

The Flèche 24-hour team ride is my favorite highlight of the early randonneuring season. We are planning our ride right now – the event usually is held around Easter. We hope to inspire you to join a Flèche team as well, so you can experience the best randonneuring has to offer: challenge, beautiful scenery and great camaraderie.

The Flèche is a unique event, because you plan your route, you determine your speed, and then you ride it as a team. It is closely related to the challenges that were popular among the early randonneurs. (Vélocio challenged his readers to see how far they could ride in 40 hours, and report back after completing their rides.)

When I first learned about the Flèche 24-hour team ride, people told me: “It’s a neat ride, but there are a lot of complicated rules you need to follow.” At first sight, there do seem to be a lot of rules, but in fact, the rules exist only to reinforce the spirit of the Flèche:

1. Ride as a team.
2. Ride continuously for 24 hours.
3. Cover as much distance as possible.
4. Arrive at a gathering of cyclotourists.

(Click here for the official Flèche rules of the Audax Club Parisien.)

Once you accept these goals, the Flèche rules not only make sense, but also are easy to follow.

• No stops over 2 hours: Some teams used take a long sleep break during the Flèche. That violated the “continuous” part of the Flèche, and so the Audax Club Parisien added this rule. Two hours are long enough even for a sit-down meal, and then it’s time to get on the road again!
• At least three riders must finish together: It’s a team event, not a race.
• At least 25 km must be ridden in the last two hours: Some teams might be tempted to end their ride after 22 hours, and count the last two hours as a break. The Flèche is a 24-hour ride. Keep riding!
• 22-hour control: There is a lot of confusion regarding the “22-hour” control. Some organizers ask teams to specify their 22-hour control in advance. However, the 22-hour control simply is the place where the team happens to be after 22 hours. At that point, the team stops and notes the place where they are on their cards. That way, the organizers can check that the team has ridden at least 25 km in the last two hours.

As  you can see, if your team covers as much ground as you comfortably can during those 24 hours, while keeping your stops relatively short, you will have no trouble to follow these rules.

When you design your Flèche course, make sure to include a little additional distance beyond what you think you will ride in 24 hours. Otherwise, if you find yourself going faster than anticipated, you’ll approach the finish too early. Then you will have to slow down to avoid arriving before 24 hours are over! (You cannot change your course or add mileage mid-ride.)

For example, if you plan to ride 440 km in 24 hours, map out a course that is about 470 km long, so that you don’t “run out of road” at the end of the event. However, you also don’t want to be overly ambitious, and find yourself hundreds of kilometers from the finish after the 24 hours have elapsed.

The French Flèche rules require riding within 20% of your proposed distance, which is a generous margin. For the aforementioned 440 km Flèche, you can ride anywhere between 360 km (the minimum distance for any Flèche) and 528 km.

On our Flèche, we usually get within 60 km of the finish. When the 24 hours are over, we sign our cards, find a restaurant for dinner, and then ride to the finish line at a leisurely pace. The next morning, all the teams have breakfast together and then share the stories of their rides. It’s great to see fellow club-members, and everybody seems to have a good time.

If that sounds enticing, click here to check out the different Flèche rides in the U.S. (select “ACP flèche” under “Type” and click “Search”). Hopefully, there is a Flèche in your region!

For more information, also read our other posts on the Flèche.

Bicycle Quarterly: Spring Issue

Our readers eagerly anticipate each issue of Bicycle Quarterly. The wait is almost over: The Spring 2013 issue will be mailed this week.

Many of us want to know: What makes your bike significantly faster? Perhaps the most influential research in over ten years of Bicycle Quarterly has been on tire performance. Six years after that ground-breaking research, we focus once again on the performance of tires. We use a new methodology to test tires on a smooth track surface. We answer (almost) every question you may have about tires.

Which tire rolls fastest, which rolls slowest? How does tire pressure influence tire performance on smooth and rough roads?

Are tubular tires faster than clinchers? What is the optimum inflation pressure for your tires? How does the tread pattern of your tire influence its cornering traction? We also provide a large table that compares every tire model we have tested.

Professional racing bikes have changed a lot in recent decades: Virtually no part of a 2013 racer remains interchangeable with a machine from 1963, with one exception: Then as now, most professionals ride on hand-made tubular tires. We visited FMB to learn why the pros still prefer tires that are made the traditional way. We also bring you a photo feature that shows step-by-step how FMB makes tires entirely by hand.

Bicycle Quarterly is as much about inspiration as it is about research and technology. In the Spring issue, Tim Bird takes us on another wonderful adventure in Yorkshire.

We test a custom-built randonneur bike from Johnny Coast with beautiful “bi-laminate” half-lugs.

In our Builders Speak series, Mike Kone of Boulder Bicycles examines when superlight frame tubing is appropriate, and which riders should select stiffer frame tubing. He discusses shimmy, riding no-hands (photo above) and other important considerations.

We test a number of products, including leather handlebar tape from Brooks and Grand Bois, a CNC-machined taillight and Tire Savers (above).

As always, there is the Readers’ Forum and My Favorite Bike. Click here for a full table of contents.

To get your issue without delay, subscribe today.

Springtime: A Time to Rediscover

Every spring as we head into the mountains again, it is exciting to rediscover the roads that we love. For us, each season has its particular routes. The spring rides are some of our favorites.

Heading to Index for the first time of the year is special. Index lies deep in the mountains, but its elevation is low enough that it is snow-free most of the year.

We head out on roads that we know well, but haven’t ridden in almost a year. It’s wonderful to rediscover these old friends.

After the relatively flat base miles, it’s fun to stretch our climbing legs again.

We usually have the little backroad to Index to ourselves, but on this day, we met a train on its way up Stevens Pass.

Index itself is a little town offset from the highway. It is surrounded by mountains and seems worlds away from the big city of Seattle.

On this day, we had planned to arrive in Index by noon, and we were pleased that our randonneuring skills survived the winter break intact.

When you rediscover favorite places, you always wonder what has changed. This time, things are changing for the better: The long-abandoned Bush House hotel and restaurant is being remodeled. I look forward to being one of the first guests here. I plan to take my family here, so they can experience my favorite roads as well.

Currently, we get our lunch at a small convenience store. The beautiful setting makes up for the lack of food choices.

As we head home through sun-dappled forests, it’s hard to believe that it’s still winter. We enjoy every minute of this ride, since quite a few more rainy months are ahead before it will be summer again.

We swoop down into the valley as we head back toward Seattle. The joy of riding our favorite roads stays with us all week. These mini-vacations restore our spirits during the gray winter months. We try to take as many of them as we can fit into our schedule.

How Wide a Tire Can I Run?

Many cyclists want to ride on wider tires, but are limited by the clearances of their bikes. So they want to use the widest tires their bike can fit. How do you determine your bike’s maximum tire width?

You need a set of calipers (below). If you don’t have any, bike shops have them. Please leave a generous tip if you ask a shop mechanic to help you with this!

Measure the width of your current tires. Be careful not to pinch the tire. Instead, increase the opening of the calipers by 0.5 mm increments, and check whether the opening has play when it is slipped over the tire. (The calipers “rattle” when you move them.) When this happens, the calipers are set just a tad larger than the actual width of your tires. Use this measurement as your current tire width.

If you pinch the tire with the calipers, you may get a measurement that is up to 2 mm narrower. Also don’t us the width that is printed on the side of the tire. More likely than not, it’s inaccurate.

Then check all around how much clearance you have. Most important are:

• fork crown
• brake calipers (front and rear): squeeze your brakes to get the clearance when braking
• chainstays
• seatstays can limit the clearances on some bikes.
• fenders: often, you can adjust the fenders to get rid of a tight spot.

I recommend a minimum of 3 mm clearance between your tires and the closest part of your bike. Any less, and you run the risk of having your tire rub, under hard acceleration or if the wheel develops a slight wobble.

To calculate your maximum tire width, start with the smallest clearance between your existing tire and bike.

Then deduct the minimum clearance, 3 mm, to get the existing available clearance for your wider tire. Multiply this by 2 (you have that much room on both sides of the tire), add the current tire width, and you get the maximum tire width.

Example: Your current tires are 29 mm wide. You have 5 mm clearance at the tightest spot. That leaves 2 mm available clearance. You can run 4 mm wider tires than your current ones. You maximum tire width is 33 mm.

This assumes that your new tires have a similar height-to-width ratio as your existing ones. Some inexpensive tires can be much taller than they are wide, but high-end tires usually are relatively round, and this formula works well.

If you find yourself between two available tire sizes, I suggest you use the narrower tire. High-end tires tend to expand over time as the casing “relaxes,” and you don’t want your tire to rub every time you rise out of the saddle and flex your wheel. If you find that you still have extra clearance, you can go up one more size when the new tires wear out.

By the way, the bike in the photos does not appear to have extra clearance, so if your bike looks like that, you probably should stick with the tire width you have. You still can improve the ride and performance of your bike by using more supple tires with higher-quality casings.

Photo credit: Ernie Fong.

Damaged Books at a Discount

Occasionally we receive a shipment of books that got damaged in transit. (For some reason, most book publishers have a hard time figuring out how to package books so that they are well-protected.) Usually the damage is slight, like a bump on a corner, and most bookstores would still sell them as “new” books. We know that you value the cycling books you buy from us, and so we don’t send out these books, even if only lightly damaged.

The “bumped” books accumulate, however, until there is quite a stack of them. Not only do they start to get in the way, but they would do more good being read and treasured by someone. Right now we are selling four of these books at a significant discount, based on the amount of damage they have sustained:

• Alex Singer: a Japanese book with gorgeous photos of Alex Singer bicycles. (Text in Japanese.) Slightly bumped corners, 15% off.
• The Dancing Chain: The history and development of derailleurs. Bumped corners, 25% off.
• Copenhagen: City of Bicycles: An in-depth look at the most bike-friendly city on Earth. Slightly bumped corners. 15% off.
• Paris-Brest-Paris: 120 ans, 1200 kilomètres: Wonderful photos of this evocative event, plus text in French. One corner bumped. 20% off.

Quantities are limited to stock on hand. We have sorted all books by the amount of damage, and the first orders will get the books in better condition.

Order your copy here, and select the second entry (“Damaged Copy”) in the shopping basket when you order. If you prefer a pristine copy of these wonderful books, you can order at the same link.