Building team bikes.

Well as I have said the team is rolling ahead under the name Cinelli-Down Under and our first race is this weekend. Again there is a good mix on the team with nationalities as well as new and old riders. Coming back this year from Australia is Nick, Chris and Michael along with Matt and Tom from the UK and Sven and Peter from Belgium. The new guys we have from Belgium are Jerome Baugnies, Bert Roesems and of course Frank Vandenbroucke [also two more I think]. We have another Kiwi on the team in Logan Hutchings and from the States we have Wade Wolvenbarger. New on the team from Oz is Daniel Furmston, Mark Jamison, Nick Walker and fellow CCCC blogger Tommy Nankervis. So I think the team is strong this season and we should do well in the races we aim at which will be led by Belgian star DS Nico Mattan.

So now the bikes which are the top line Cinelli Best Of model. I have spent the first part of the week at the teamhouse just going flat out on the bikes. Lindsay took me over to the house Sunday night where all the equitment was there ready to go. My tidy workshop was now full of boxes. This year we are using Sram so that was exciting. In the shop you work on new and different stuff all the time but when your on a team you can work on the same equitment for number of years. Im not one of these mechanics that go crazy over tech thou, for me to like anything it has to be functional. I dont jump up and down if its got carbon this and titanium that, but for a team mechanic you have to work with what your given and its a bonus for me if its user friendly because you are working on it so much. So its good to have new stuff to work on but I hold my breath until I am actually working on it. I only had a quick look over the new equitment that night as the workshop is cold with no heating. The finish on the frame was very good, which is what I would expect for a bike from Italy. The frame joins are nice and smooth, the bracket and headtube are well finished and the paint is of high quality. One nice touch on the Best Of frame is that it has cable giudes that slide onto a sleeve that is rivoted on, so when the guide is on it hides the rivots which leaves a nice clean finish. There was some concerns about the seatpost arrangements whether the guys would get them high enough as the Best Of has a intergrated seat mast and uses a mini seatpost that works like an old quill stem, but the seat tubes on the frames were longer than I first thought so it was no problem at all. All round the Cinelli was looking good. I also took a quick look at the other things we had like the Red group which I have seen before and the FSA wheels, brakes and cranks we will be using. All of it looks good but we'll see how it all comes together.
Monday morning I was up early to get started and the first thing to do was sort out my work area, this is something I am particular about as everything has to have a place. I set out the boxes like an assembly line and as I build the bike I just take what I need from each box, you have to have a efficent system to work quickly.
Matt and Tom were first at the house but they had their own bikes there so their new bikes would come later. Nick had already been there 3 days without a bike so his was the first to be done. I build the bikes to a sit position which is the first phase. This is so they can sit on the bike and get a rough idea of how they want their bars and hoods set before the cables go on. Then I connect all the cables, tune the gears and brakes and then work with the rider doing the seat adjustment to complete the build.
To start the bike I install the fork after filing down the notches on the dropouts, this is for quicker wheel changes. Then its onto the bracket which the Cinelli frame comes with the new press fit BB30 bottom bracket, something I had never worked with before. A good read of the instructions can always be useful when working with new things. Once the first one was done and the right technique for installing the bearings sorted the other bikes were easy, but it was good to have my Park Tools bearing press otherwise it would have been a mission. Some of the FSA K-Force cranks were tight and some went in with a little more ease, but I will see how they go. The cranks are susposed to be some of the stiffest cranks on the market. The Sram Red goes together really well and works first time with just small derailleur adjustments. The only thing I found was the fixing bolt for the levers is in a awkard spot when mounting to the bars. With Nick's bar position set it was time to cut the steerer, connect up all the cables and then cut the seat tube. I was a little nervous about this thou, get it wrong and it could be a costly mistake but it seemed straight forward. First I measured the height and compared that to where his seat needed to be, then just cut the difference off the seat mast plus a tad more incase he needs it to go down a fraction. I installed the post with a 5mmm spacer and it turned out to be perfect. The post has about 30mm of adjustment in it but the idea is to use as less spacers as possible so more of the post sits in the frame. But its good to know if you cut the mast 10mm too much then you have room to move unless your measurements are way out, then you could have problems.
Then it was onto Wade's bike but his was a different model, a frame from last year that uses a standard post. Daniel was arriving that night and Chris was arriving the next morning so their bikes were next on the stand. By Tuesday afternoon I was on roll and onto Matt and Tom's and then finished off that night with Sven's. Wednesday I completed the first phase of the other guys bikes that haven't arrived yet. Jean Marrie is taking care of the other bikes because they all live over in Flanders near him, Belgium is not a big country but it takes a long time to go 150kms.
Wednesday the boys were on a group training session with Nico, so it was quiet at the house working with just Chris there recovering from jet lag and Sven dropping by to do his adjustments. We only have some of the FSA wheels but later that night Gil turned up with some Schwalbe Ultremo rubber, so I qucikly fitted those to get the wheels we have ready. Then the boys came back from their Flanders ride and there was some adjustments to be done has expected.
So 3 days, 7 complete bikes, 4 semi built bikes and 10 pairs of wheels ready to go, and Im stuffed. Its being too longer off season and I must be a little out of condition or something, but I will soon get int the swing of things as I look forward to the season ahead.

Cheers
Funky

Cycling as a junior.

Time for an update on the team situation but i first want to reply to a comment Graham left me about the junior riders which inspired me to write this quick story of what it was like for me when i was a junior.

When I started cycling back in 1983 there was no where near the choice what kids have these days. I had two older brothers that raced, so up until I was about 17 it was hand me downs. Although my first bike was bought for me as everything my brothers had was too big. It was a red Record road frame that I would use as a track and road bike for my first few years. The road conversion didn't consist of much for a sub juvenile rider then, it was more of just adding a rear brake and a freewheel instead of a fixed gear, which is what my friend Steve rode with for a number of years. But as the years went on I enjoyed my cycling, I trained hard on the roads around Warrnambool and was getting some results. With this came better stuff and by the time I was in the Juvenile [U15] ranks I had a 5 speed cluster with a rear derailleur along with front and rear brakes, a proper looking road bike. It was around this time my friend Steve and I were busting to ride the senior ranks with our local clubs Sunday racing. I thought if I could prove myself there I should one day deserve a better bike.
By the time I hit the juvenile 1 [U17] ranks I had being handed down first my brother Peter's yellow Daccordi frame as he was on a new bike before heading to Belgium to race. It was a massive upgrade with its Columbus areo tubing but I was still using my old mix match/left over parts groupset that consisted of Dia-Compe brakes with the cables out the top, hidden cables were the new big thing then. The bike turned out to be a touch big so I then got my other brothers bike. Chris had purchased a PDM Concorde through working at Hillmans, so I was handed his red Daccordi. But I was growing quick and it was already a tad on the small side but would get me through the season. I did though get a upgrade of groupset with this bike from the Dia-Compe to the very common and must have Campagnolo, it was the stuff for racers.
By the start of the 90's I was in the junior [U19] ranks and the hand me downs was ending as I was able to buy my own bike. I was a high school drop out [something I wouldn't encourage kids to do] and had been working fulltime since the age of 16, so after the first 12 months it was time to buy my own custom built bike. I even was able to start buying my own cycling kits like PDM, Tulip and Panasonic. Chris sized me up and we made the trip to Hillmans to order my frame built from the latest Columbus tubing. Back then I handed over 800 hard earned big ones just for the frame. It was about that price again when I purchased the top of the line Suntour Superb Pro groupset. Now this was a groupset way above everything else at the time, and just before Shimano had released STI which there was no way I could afford.
In 1993 I made the move to Melbourne, rode for 12 months racing A grade with the Northern clubs then gave it away to race mountain bikes for 2 years. Then I got into fast cars and gave the sport away for about 2 years. But I soon missed it and wanted to get back into it but all I had was the mountain bike, so I saved up and started all over again.
I started with a Cro-mo Viner frame, purchased a mix of bits and pieces and trained on that for over 6 months until I got my fitness back. Once I started racing It wasn't long before I purchased another bike in the way of an alloy Norco with 105, I now had STI. This was the bike I pretty much stuck with racing in C grade with CCCC and eventually raced my way up to A grade where I then rewarded myself with a De Rosa purchased from a friend. My first carbon bike wouldn't come until I had the offer to ride for O'Mara cycles where we were given a deal to purchase a Alex C1 frame with the new 10 speed Dura-Ace. Finally a bike that was of high spec, but most importantly one that I had worked for and earned.

So i think it is important for kids to learn how to achieve what they want. I dont agree with juniors riding carbon bikes specd with top end componets at say C grade level. Some kids may have all the good stuff and some don't, sometimes you have to make do with what your given or allowed to have. It is more that the kids learn how to achieve those items by working hard at their goals, and most importantly they should just enjoy cycling for what the sport gives them at a basic level. They will enjoy the Dura-Ace or Record much more when they know they have deserved it. Spend only what you need to for the level you are at and as you progress you can reward yourself with a new frame or faster wheels, whatever it may be. As much as its important to buy only what you need you have to reward yourself when you achieve set goals as it will give you that drive to do better each time your on the bike. But then you have the people where money is no object and what I have just said is ignored.

Good to hear Callum went OS and Im sure he enjoyed his time there. Its also good to read Grace doing well, you may well have a champion in the making there Graham. Keep up the good work with the kids and I hope what I've wrote will be of interest.

So now on the work front. In January I signed a deal with a proposed Pro Continental team but it all went sour and I am now sorting out the mess with Sporza Belgium. At this time the Fuga-Down Under team was going ahead with no title sponsor except that of the Fuga bike brand. But just recently a new sponsor has come in and the team will now be called Cinelli-Down Under as the bike and componets manufacture came in as title sponsor after their previous team management didn't get the team off the ground. We use the name Down Under as the team is Australian registered [we dont have a second title sponsor and with this name it promotes Australian cycling] and it is what the team was called when Gil first started out. The team has already had alot of coverage in Belgium papers with the signing of Frank Vandenbroucke, so Australia is in the news here and Aussie talent in the spotlight. We will have 5 of the guys return from last season as well as 4 new Aussies on the team along with a number of good Belgians. So it should be a strong team and the program looks good so far with it being close to the program the DFL team did in 2007.

So has the teamhouse starts to fill up this week, stay tuned for more stories and photos from this new team I will be working with.

Cheers
Funky

A Mechanics bike.

After a couple of years of riding spare team bikes it was time I got my own. I decided to do this because at the end of every season the bikes are sold off, and I have been left without a road bike each winter. Normally you could not ride your road bike here in winter as the roads are too dangerous to ride on because they can be very slippery when the tempatures have been below zero. But then there are some winter days when its a clear blue sky, the sun is shining and the roads are dry, its just very cold.


So i thought it was time to buy my own so I had a bike all year round. My budget wasn't big and you have to be realistic, buy what you can afford and the purpose you intend to use it. By this i mean, no point buying something top end if your not racing alot unless you have the money, then go for it. For me I plan on not racing too much this year as I hope to be too busy working, so I opted for something mid range that I could afford.
The frame is a Fuga [of course] alloy CRG [Custom Race Geometry] that was originaly a proto type frame. Lucky for me it was built to my specs and would more than do the job. It has a 55cm top tube [horizontal] and a 53cm [c-t] seat tube with an angle of 73.5 and a head angle of 73 with the head tube measuring 15cm. So its a standard sort of measurement for a race bike and suits me perfect. Now your proberly wondering why Im not running Dura-Ace. I wanted the new Dura-Ace but just couldn't afford it, so i thought maybe the 7800 will do. But this is when the being real comes in. I dont plan on racing much so the Ultegra SL is fine and I saved myself 300 euros, plus it has the same mechanics as the 7800 Dura-Ace anyway.

The frame has some radical shaped tubing to give it extra stiffness, along with the reminder that its from Belgium.


The curved top tube that is round at the seat junction and then forms a oval shape at the head tube junction. The signature is of ex pro Brian Holm, founder of the name Fuga [which is Italian for attack].

Cables have to be cut the right length, too long and they look ugly, too short and they wont function properly. As you see I like to have my shift cables so they just almost touch, which has to be in the center of the stem. Make sure thou you have your bars and brake hoods all set first. My brakes I run the so called euro stlye, right rear left front. It all has to do with the side of the road we drive on and hand signals, but for me its the way the calipers are designed for the cable to run the smoothest way. And also if your in a crit for example and your on the limit, when your fatigued and need to up shift the rear, with Shimano you can sometimes grab a little brake as well. So if your front brake is on the right, well you can get the idea.
Here the front brake cable is cut the correct length, no sharp bends in the cable means less cable drag.


Its the same on the rear, no big bends so it flows nicely into the caliper.

It can be hard to find a good handlebar, but Im a big fan of the Bontrager stuff. Here i use their Race Lite VR bar which have a nice shaped drop and are flat on top for a good transition from bar to hoods. I always set up the bars so the flat section of the drop is at the same angle as the head tube, then adjust the brake hoods so they are flat across the top from the bars. They should be high enough so they relax the upper body. If they are too low they will take the wieght of your upper body giving you sore shoulders, arms and hands. My stem is at the lowest which makes the front end stiffer and a lower profile for racing. This can only be done if you are flexible enough in the back. My bar hieght is 89cm from the ground and i have ran the bars that hieght for a number of years now, but the length can also effect your back. I use a 120 Race Lite stem, but I can only use a 120 if my top tube measures 55cm across. My saddle is 6cm behind the center of the bracket which gives me a reach of 55cm [tip of seat to center of bars]. My set up is forward a bit more than most as thats how i like it, its a comfortable position when racing hard as you tend to move forward on the bike anyway.

My cranks are 172.5 which is a change for me as I used to use 170, but this was because Lindsay uses 172.5 and she will eventually get the groupset. I still use the old Dura-Ace pedals and have had these ones for like 4 years now, they are the best pedal but I will one day upgrade to the current version. The cassette on the back is a 11-23 but here i like to use sometimes a 11-21, the 18 can be sometimes just the gear you need when it goes slightly upwards.

Here is the bike in race mode, although the carbons can be a little too stiff for some races here and I prefer a shallow alloy rim thats a tubular, because if its wet you can use lower preasure without pinch flatting.

Bike Specs:
Frame: Fuga CRG 53cm [alloy with carbon rear seat stays].
Fork: Fuga carbon with alloy steerer.
Bars: Bontrager Race Lite VR 42cm
Stem: Bontrager Race Lite 120mm, 7 degree.
Seatpost: Ritchey [a Bontrager Race X Lite ACC is on order, those post are the best]
Saddle: San Marco Era.
Cranks: Ultegra SL 172.5, 53x39.
Derailleurs: Ultegra SL.
Brakes: Ultegra SL.
Shifters: Ultegra SL.
Wheels: Mavic Aksium Race, but i might get some Bontrager classics, great training wheels and are cheaper than building a set. Race wheels are not a piroity at this moment.
Bidon cages: Bontrager Race Lite.
Bar tape: Bontrager Gel.

So thats my bike up close, its nothing over the top but suits my needs. As you can see Im a big fan of Bontrager componets as throughout the range everything is engineered and designed well and have something to suit everyone. The bike weight is just on 8kg, which you could get much lighter with top end componets all round. But i dont have the money or the need to warrant something high end right now, maybe next year.

Cheers
Funky


Lindsay rugs up for a cold day in the saddle. The first sunny day 'warm' enough for a ride for quite some time.


I take the bike out for its first ride. Thanks for the kit Wezman.


One of the many bike paths you can ride on here. I did a loop of 94km last week and 80% of it was on paths through the forest, you just need a bell.


Or I sometimes find nice little back roads like this one on a training route.


This is the Dagje Strand ("Day Beach") in Brabant, which is basicly the closest thing to a beach. They have them all over this part of Netherlands. It is only about 10mins from our house and although it looks quiet now it will be full of people come summer time.