While we wait…

So what mischief have we been up to? First, there’s Turbo Tom. He went from one of the world’s most successful cyclists to one of the most totally wasted ones. Poor kid.

Definitely not the proudest moment of his career. (Source:http://www.cyclingnews.com/newsphotos.php?id=/photos/2008/news/jun08/jun11news2Boonen/bettiniphoto_0028259_1_full)

We were so concerned about EPO that we forgot about narcotics.

The Giro is in full swing and in good European fashion there have already been tragedies and protests. Poor Horillo. What a way to put a pause to a great cycling career. I think it’s a good time to stop here and wish him all the best in recovery. Imagine if that was you! How often do we go out riding thinking, “Hmm… I better be careful. I might end up in a coma.” We forget how soft and fragile our bodies are and just how fragile. I don’t consciously think about unless I am going downhill. There are so many risks involved and riders give up so much control at those speeds. Just ask Joseba Beloki when he crashed out on Stage 9 of the ‘03 TdF. There was absolutely nothing he could do to regain control. What if your tire flats and peels off the rim at 40+ MPH? Will you be the lucky contestant whose handlebars decide to fly off the bike like George Hincapie had happen to him in the ‘06 Paris Roubaix?

It kind of makes you shudder when you think about it, doesn’t it?

CyclArt received my Cannondale frame. I packed the frame in a box that could fit a small refrigerator and filled it with enough packing peanuts to drown a baby elephant. The box was of odd dimensions and the frame would only fit sideways.

The box is almost bigger than some homes.

It was the biggest box I could find at the local box store. FedEx took my box and delivered to CyclArt within two days. Not bad. I had some problems getting in touch with Jim and Susan at CyclArt. E-mails and phone messages asking to confirm the delivery of the frame went unanswered. “Oh great,” I thought. “The frame was mis-delivered and they must think I’m a nut case for harping on a package that they never received.”

Place an emphasis on ART in their company name and you may begin to understand them better. They seem like a small setup with a handful of employees. Nobody rushes through anything and they take their time to do everything right – even if that means others have to wait. It took a while for them to generate their first draft of a quote. They didn’t hold back and came up with a plan to recreate the original finish and even make it better. However, at $956.60, it’s a bit too much for what I am aiming for here. I asked Susan to remove the two-tone fade and the exact color matching. That brought the quote down to $781.60. It’s probably as low as we could go so I agreed to the work. Yikes! This isn’t turning out to be a cheap project and this is just the paint!

The work will be done by around the 1st week in July. So now… while we wait…

A little piece of Italy in America.

WTF? Where did this come from? You must think I’m a total bike whore and you’re probably right. What’s up with this?

I have wanted to recapture the feeling of a solid steel ride for a couple of years now. It’s like my own version of a two wheeled wet dream. I don’t care what advantages carbon and aluminum may have over steel in terms of weight and rigidity. There is something super smooth and luxurious about a well crafted steel frame. It will feel planted and stable but not cumbersome. You know that the steel will last a lifetime as long as you don’t let it sit in the rain and rust. It can be bent back if it is ever bent out of whack. Best of all, a good lugged steel frame is handmade – even if it is a standard size. You know that there was someone with an oxy-acetylene torch, smoking a cigarette, and drinking a beer or a glass of wine as they are putting together this frame. I think a lot of cyclists are missing out on the craft of the bike and simply go for the motion of the pedals.

Enter this steel Viner. Do a bit of a web search and you’ll find very few negative things about a Viner, if any at all. They are considered to be Italy’s best kept secret due to their good prices, quality build, and good design. Like most of my purchases, this came from eBay. The seller’s name was italtecno1. Read the description of the auction and you will see that this bike was built back in the 90s and sat unpainted in a warehouse for many years. The seller claims that they saw these raw frames, snapped them up, gave them a simple paint job, and now offer them to the world.

It takes a leap of faith to believe something like that. What if the frames are really made in China? What am I really getting? This is one of those instances where you are buying the seller more than the product. I guess I have no reason to not believe them. If they ever get found out then they will be in more trouble than the frames are worth. Besides, wouldn’t Viner step up to the plate and file a “cease and desist” edict against them? It’s not like italtecno1 is selling these under the table.

Greater money has been blown on smaller things so I picked up a 50cm frameset for the grand sum of $350 shipped. Heck, maybe I should have gotten a couple.

What kind of build am I going for here? Well, if the Cannondale is to be the most American bike possible then this Viner will be the most Italian build possible. Yes, that means Campagnolo, Deda, ITM, Selle Italia, and Cinelli components will be draped on this frame. Fans of Shimano and SRAM are probably cringing now! You must think I am bipolar or something like that. Maybe I am.

The frame is a beauty with a deep blue finish but you can see where corners were cut. Some of the lettering is not sharp. It bled.

A "fade to" effect of sorts. Shall we call it a feature?

The headbadge is plastic puffy sticker.

A simple sticker for a headbadge... how uncouth!

The chainstay guard, while spiffy looking with the carbon weave finish is a bit mismounted.

Just a little more forward...

And, it’s the only place that says it’s made in Italy.

Is this proof enogh of it's origins?

My biggest angst is the lack of a second water bottle cage mount even though ital-techno said that there were “2 sets” of them. For this reason, I had to give a neutral feedback on this auction. It’s not worth the effort to return the frame and demand a refund. Nor is it worth taking the frame to a framebuilder and ask for two more bosses to be brazed on. There are lots of different ways to neatly attach a second water bottle cage without resorting to hose clamps. I’ll figure something out.