Lotus Classique Update

Haven't had much going on in my bike life besides a few rides here and there, mostly solo, some with friends. So I forget that the Lotus exist and is still pretty cool despite all the awful things I've done to it.

This is more or less the final fate of this bike. I've had some stupid ideas that I have subjugated this bike to throughout the years and still it really isn't where I want it to be... But it functions well none the less.

I really need to reposition the front light... The fender isn't long enough to keep all the run-off water from hitting the back side of the light--right where all the wiring is. Some day I'll get off my ass and deal with it. Also metal fenders wound be nice.

The rear light wiring goes from rack > downtube > non-drive chainstay > lower fender stay > light. All held together with electrical tape. Keep in mind I never wanted this bike to be pretty as it gets locked up in some pretty shitty places. I'm trying to keep the attitude that people with a lot of tattoos from their youth have, where "each tattoo is a reminder of who you were at different times in your life" or something like that. In reality, I look at those canti post and shutter in my own little pool of shame. Not that cantis aren't cool, I just did such a bad [rushed] job on them. Oh yeah and when I got merged into by a car, one of the post snapped off.

Anyway, I like this bike despite my shit talking. Can't wait to get new tires...

The Prelude

The blog has been noticeably quiet for the past half year or so. Truth be told, I haven't really been doing anything bike-wise other than saving money and getting parts. But after 8 or so months, I have built the prelude to the dream machine. It started as...

This was the photo I saw in August on ebay. I can't remember how much I bought it for, but I was so excited to find a touringish frame above 63cm that I just couldn't resist. Problem was that it pretty much emptied my bank account out, and then I got in a bike accident which left me jobless for a month and in debt. Luckily my bosses are kind of the greatest and were super supportive during that time, so I was back on the parts hunt again. Fast foward from November to now (April) and we have a a complete bike.

Though dressed up as a fancy randonneuringish bike, it's simply a large touring frame with a small amount of rake added to the fork. It's a 67cm c-t-c Takara Challenge--mid 80's Japanese touring frame. The paint was in bad shape when I got it as the original owner tried to remove it. Soooo I sandblasted the who thing (didn't want it looking too shiny) and then spray painted it. Nothing fancy, but didn't cut any corner either.

Despite have an almost cohesive aesthetic, there are a lot of weirdo things going on. In fact, I change my plans for what I originally wanted from this bike multiple times, but the end results are satisfying. I call it the 'Prelude' because I wanted to test out a number of things on this bike that would later inform a custom project that I have down the road.

One of the most important aspects of this bike is lighting. All I really have to say is that I'm so tired of battery-powered light systems. Suitable for rear, totally unreasonable for the front. Also the Grand Bois front rack means I will be able to have luggage in the future.

The Edelux light is wired to the SONdelux generator hub. This guy is laced 2 cross to those shiny new Pacenti  PL23 rims--though the 700c version.

The Grand Bois 'Extra Leger' tires are filled with Stan's No Tubes. Probably the smallest possible tire you can tubeless safely. Seriously, these 30mm tubelessed tires are more supple and comfortable than my tubed 38mm Pari Motos. And those things are a dream. It doesn't make any sense really... I will say the 40psi limit on these things are not ideal--heavier folks beware.

This is the first bike that I've built where I had someone else build the wheels for me. Though I built over 50 of them at this point, I can say that my work is below what I come to expect from the wheels I ride. This NOS 36h XT hub is race-laced 1 cross drive, 3 cross non-drive. Different gauge spokes on each side. Black and silver mish-mash because I dgaf. Bracing angle and torsional load, that's all I'll say.

Despite being exotic, this derailer was merely a piece of nostalgia for me, and a nod to my days of MTBing where I worshiped anything CNCed and made in the USA. Aside from all the pretty looks, it's Shimano 8 speedish stuff. The real weirdo part?

Thanks to John Speare and Elephant bicycles, I thought that it would be cool to try the 10 speed Campy, 8 speed Shimano hack. It totally works and I love it. Though I have had multiple comments telling me how out of place these brake levers are...

I've got some more things I wanna change, particularly putting my TA cranks on and getting a bag, but I will keep this updated as I get there. Hopefully that means more post???

My Road Bicycle

Though I've eluded to my primary whip is a few times, I haven't gone into depth about its build/development. So here is a post devoted to it.

The frame is an 88' Lotus 'Classique'. The name seems fairly inappropriate give the flamboyant paint job, and doubly given that it was advertised as their 'triathlon' model. It's a fairly traditional late 8O's road frame, with 7OOc wheels, down tube shifters, 6 spd freewheel, high gearing, and 26mm tires. There were only three very compelling reasons why I bought it: 1. it was cheap, 2. it had fender eyelets still, and 3. it was a 65cm frame c-t-c. The last reason was the selling point.

Based on the stickers that were scattered on the frame, the original owner, though not much of a wrencher, frequented long distance group rides in Texas similar to what the STP is here. The saddle was this chunky gel contraption and the bar position too aggressive for my taste. At some point, the rear wheel was trashed, and some generic hybrid wheel with too wide of a rim was installed, probably due to budgeting. The whole thing was outfitted with some impressive early 1O5 components, most notable were Sheldon's favorite short reach 1O5 side pulls. I rode it around like this for a short period; hunching over to grab the bars and shit skinny tires are not my calling.

After debating whether to make a 'true' racing machine or match my riding style, I eventually went former route first and then the latter. Back then, I was a pretty die-hard Grant Petersen follower and thought highly of fat kevlar belted tires and high and wide bars. Since then, I've change a few of my philosophies but retain a lot of those roots. After some exposure to Bicycle Quarterly, I decided to turn this bike into a bit of an experiment.

After doing some measurements with brake reach and bottom bracket drop, I determined that the bike would be a good candidate for a 65Ob conversion. I used Wheelsmith double-butted [swagged] spokes, Velocity Dyad rims, Ultegra rear hub, and a Chris King Classic front I had lying around. I didn't want to push the tire/fender clearance envelop, so I stuck with 32mm Grand Bois instead of 38 or 42mm tires. I threw on a 1O spd drive terrain and called it good.

The current set up features centerpull brakes [Dura Ace front and Dia Compe rear] 8 spd el cheapo SRAM wide-range cassette, 44-22 Deore LX cranks, Silver bar end shifters, SKS Long Board fenders and Shimano aero levers. Embarrassingly, I have a Sora long cage rear derailer that works fine with a Dura Ace front derailer... Dura Ace cartridge headset and nitto bars and stem. Handlebar bag from Rivendell.

 Though this set up has been optimized so far, there are still a number of small problems. The q-factor on the LX cranks is crazy wide, and I think I would be happier with some of those retro TA or Stronglight small BCD cranks. The handlebar bag is too high and far away from the head tube, detracting from the handling. I'm pretty displeased with the high trail fork, which feels weird both with and without the bar bag. I have wide 45cm bars to compensate for wheel flop. If I were to keep the fork, I would like to invest in a largish saddle bag. A new fork would use Imperial Oval fork blades, Grand Bois fork crown, brake post mounts for center pulls, mounts for a rack, and maybe a True Temper Platinum steerer. The Surly rear brake cable hanger is bent due to the weird shape of the binder bolt... a brazed on hanger would be cool, as well as brazed-on brake post. All of these steps would significantly improve handling, braking power, and shit hauling capacity. Metal fenders would keep water from splashing around the cleanly cut curves of the plastic fenders.

The frame is made of Ishiwata EXO 'quadruple' butted tubing. It isn't the lightest thing in the world, yet the shear size of the frame still causes a fair amount of frame flex. After this trip to Seattle and doing some reading, I've concluded that the large size of the frame enables good planing for me, as it flexes to my pedal strokes. If this was more of a touringish/load carrying build, I think the result would be less than optimal. I would install a 'diagnatube' through the main triangle if that were the case, and maybe additional stays for rear loads.

 This photo was taken at 9PM, still so much light though...