Today was the Tierra Bella Century and I rode the 35 mile ride with the Bombadil. You can check out some pictures here: http://tinyurl.com/y6nuxy2.
I taped my handlebars and shellacked them. I think the result is outstanding, my first ever experience with cloth and shellac. I also taped, twined and shellacked the stand. The day was great, I'm out of shape but working on it. I get bad hot spots on my left foot, seems I have a Morton's Neuroma on that foot. At least with the platform pedals I was able to move my foot around. It seems worse when I'm putting pressure to climb, subsides when I can pedal without applying so much pressure on the foot. Amazingly, my bike seemed to be invisible to all the crabonites and aluminites passing me on the left all morning long. The only guy who said "Nice bike!" was a young guy riding a Bianchi single speed, wearing a beard like Sheldon's and carrying his stuff in a messenger Timbuktu bag. Not even at rest stops did anyone approach me to ask what kind of bike was I riding. I guess that in their world, carbon is the ultimate and nothing else exists. I followed the tire pressure guidelines from the chart, and the bike felt wonderful. I did, however, note the following problems and would like feedback to solve them: - Going a bit fast on downhill slopes, about 16 mph, removing the hands from the bars caused a shimmy. It was kind of a low frequency shimmy, gentle but steady. The bike kept going straight, but with the shimmy. I have a Chris King headset; is it perhaps a little tight? Read somewhere that someone fixed that problem by loosening their headset a bit. - The bike creaks constantly; there is some creaking when coasting, but I cannot associate it with anything in particular. Perhaps the Berthoud fenders, perhaps the BB. Then, when pedaling with my hands on the hoods, there was a regular loud creak that towards the end I could replicate when stopped by twisting on the handlebars. Both of my stem bolts are as tight as I can tighten them by hand. This creaking superimposed on the rolling creaks as well and created a cacophony (in my ears) that seemed to get worse towards the end of the ride. Specially if I was pedaling harder or uphill. Any help with suggestions on how to fix these problems will be appreciated as always! Thanks again! René -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.