With the Spingergys now transplanted to the Faggin I’ve re-Rolfed the LeMond, and each the bike and I are a lot happier for it:
In truth, I’m just a little too pleased–it’s like the Litespeed got here again even lighter and extra snug simply to taunt me–and regardless of my profitable fleet discount for 2024 I discover myself making an attempt to rationalize the addition of a tremendous Excessive Trendy street bicycle to my everlasting holdings. Even the crabon half has grown on me, as has the body’s resemblance to a half-unwrapped bar of chocolate, with the titanium being the foil and the crabon being the chocolate. So within the hope that somebody steps in and saves me from myself I’ll simply point out that the LeMond is actually on the market from Basic Cycle, and in case you’re you may drop me a line and I’ll facilitate. One everlasting shiny spot within the bicycle market is that for the value of a brand new “entry degree” bike at the moment you can even by the dream bikes of yesteryear.
Or you may skip each and get this:
And sure, I thought of including it to my Nishiki assortment, however I can’t preserve bringing house strays:
As I discussed final week, my time with the ‘Noner has been considerably fraught, however this previous weekend I lastly loved my first fully fuss-free trip on it, and like this river it’s glassy easy but additionally soiled on the identical time:
After all of the work I put into the ‘Noner the of entirety turned out to be this high-end seatpost:
So is it a keeper? Time will inform, however for now I’m notably having fun with the Campagnolo drivetrain. Being accustomed to the later 10-speed variant, I discover these to be functionally an identical for all intents and functions, the one main distinction being the vestigial factors:
Vestigial factors on brake levers are the coccyx bone of the street bicycle. As soon as upon a time, after all, brake levers spouted cables from the tops of their hoods:
The human hand developed accordingly, a lot in order that even when the cables burrowed beneath the handlebar tape and went “aero” within the Nineteen Eighties the factors remained:
By the late Nineteen Eighties Campagnolo levers could possibly be routed both historically or aero-ly (?), so the purpose retained some ostensible performance:
However actually by the Ergo Period they have been merely a holdover from the times of yore:
Arguably on the Italian facet they disappeared in 1998 when Campagnolo redesigned its Ergo levers:
Although one might make an argument that the rounded high is merely an eroded vestigial level, and that it was solely with the 11-speed redesign in 2009 that it totally reworked right into a pommel that as a substitute supplied one other hand place::
As for Shimano, Dura Ace 7700, launched in 1996 (and located on the LeMond), additionally retained the factors, regardless of being the second era of built-in shifter from Shimano:
With vestigial factors lastly disappearing with 10-speed in 2004, which I’d argue qualify as fully-evolved pommels:
Now all we’d like is for somebody to introduce an digital group with vestigial factors and we can have come full circle.
One bike that’s not on the market is the Homer:
It’s developed fairly a bit since I first bought it just a little over 4 years in the past:
And it might very effectively be my most “full” bicycle, when it comes to being prepared for something from road-type rides to gentle path rides to city forays:
Whether or not the the rounded nubs on the brake levers–Tektro approximations of post-’98 Campagnolo levers–high quality as vestigial factors is a matter of debate.
