thewashingmachinepost




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ultimate pro-ultralight repair stand

ultimate workstand

real mechanics have workstands; they also know how to use them properly. everyone else turns the bike upside down in the back garden, and uses a selection of spanners that just happened to be in the shed/garage, whether they fit or not. happily, not many of the latter own carbon fibre.

i bought a workstand from muddy fox way back at the start of the nineties as part of their dealer programme, and though it was a lot better than the kitchen table, it never quite did what i'd hoped - the clamp wasn't strong enough to hold a bicycle comfortably by the seatpost, and if it eventually did, stability wasn't its strong point. and since the height was only adjustable in stages of about four inches, practicality was virtually an alien concept. however, it had its uses, few of which had anything to do with grasping those full suspension kids' bikes so much in favour currently (purely as an aside, considering i have strained my back at least twice trying to lift those things, it's no wonder children don't enjoy cycling).

since tubing shapes and diameters have changed over the last decade, while my workstand hasn't, it has all but been relegated to supporting a wheel-less colnago on a sunday while the soap suds fly.

but as we head towards the end of the decade, ironically as the cheap supermarket bike has almost negated the need for cycle repair on the island (cheaper to throw them away and buy a new one), the realisation that a replacement was necessary had been dawning for a while. hence the arrival, in thewashingmachinepost bike shed of an ultimate support pro-ultralight workstand. it would seem that, in much the same way as it ousted steel as a bicycle frame material, the same has happened in the workstand arena. the upright and tripod of the pro-light are in red anodised aluminium, making this a portable reality. the legs fold in tight to the centre pole, while the clamp assemble can be folded in a similar fashion. should it be necessary to become an itinerant bicycle repair man, travel and portability are aided by the availability of a tote-bag. since i'm not in the habit of taking my trade to the customer, principal benefit of this portable nature is likely to be confined to taking the stand out of doors when the weather's fine.

the tripod base section can be adjusted across a wide range of widths by means of a quick release type lever, allowing it to fit in confined spaces, or to accommodate the need for greater stability. the clamp is affixed to the upper stanchion which is also height fixed by means of a second quick release clamp. according to ultimate, the maximum height extension is just under 1.5 metres (57 inches) while maximum weight is rated at 29kg (65lbs); fortunately i have yet to come across a bicycle that weighs anything like that.

while the clamp is rotatable through a full 360 degrees by loosening a large, hand tightened knob, the assembly cleverly contains a friction clutch mechanism, allowing sufficient pressure on the frame to adjust the angle without separately loosening the stanchion clamp. a brilliant idea if you didn't get it right, or need to alter things mid-repair. the frame clamp redefines ease of use: turning a large rubberised knob at the front anti-clockwise allows the front part to slide in or out. once roughly in place, the knob can be turned clockwise to tighten up against the frame tube. so unless you're schwarnold arzenegger with a penchant with overdoing it, it would be rather difficult to harm those fragile aluminium or carbon tubes. current advice and practice by the professionals, would suggest clamping by the seatpost, particularly on carbon frames.

all in all, a very fine construction, with more than enough areas of adjustment to earn itself a user friendly badge, and in a rather fetching colour to boot. the ultimate pro-ultralight repair stand costs a perfectly acceptable $170 (£87) in the usa. somewhat inexplicably, the cost in the uk (from wiggle.co.uk) is £132. it is possible to order at the usa price from aspirevelotech.com but be aware that you are responsible for any customs duties at this side of the atlantic.

posted on friday 9th may

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the eagle of the canavese - franco balmamion and the giro d'italia. herbie sykes. published by mousehold press 197pp illus. £13.95

eagle of the canavese

how come a twenty-two year old can win the giro d'italia, then one year later do it again, yet no-one seems to have heard of him? and by no-one, i don't just mean me; i asked a number of folks in the cycling world who know far more than i, and they were just as ignorant of franco balmamion and his success. granted, in those two years of 1962 and '63, balmamion didn't win a single stage on his way to the maglia rosa, but i doubt there are many that win one of the three major stage races by accident.

franco balmamian was born in 1940, in the village of nole canavese north of turin. his uncle ettore had placed fifth in the 1931 edition of the giro d'italia (the year, incidentally, that the maglia rosa was introduced) educating and encouraging the young balmamion in the ways of italian cycle sport. at 17, despite a lack of money in the family, he acquired a bicycle to enable him to get to work at the fiat factory in turin. having taken up racing, steady progress through the junior and amateur ranks saw franco sign with vincenzo giacotto's carpano, after one year with a rather poorly funded bianchi team.

the man who has brought this unknown to our attention is herbie sykes, a man so apparently obsessed with balmamion, the giro and italy that he moved lock, stock and barrel to the country, taught himself italian and proceeded to diligently research his subject. and what a particularly excellent job he has made of it too. the script is well thought out and well paced, using the stages of the 1962 giro as its framework, digressing every now and again to elaborate on team strategy, featured riders and those closely associated with italian cycle racing of the late fifties and early sixties. this not only saves the book from simply becoming a stage by stage, blow by blow account of a particular giro, but provides some quite fascinating diversities of italian cycling. cleverly, a social background pertaining to the italy of the day is woven throughout the storyline, never getting in the way, but putting the italian cycling profession in context.

and strangely, despite the prior knowledge of balmamion's success in the giro under consideration, i still found myself becoming really concerned that the guy just wasn't going to make it. because it wasn't really until the latter stages that franco's light began to shine a fetching shade of pink. it is also a particularly life-affirming story (does that sound really woossy?) since mr sykes met up with many of balmamion's contemporaries in the present tense and eked out almost conversational confessions from each, testifying to the joy they had, and in most cases still have, from riding a bike. it's a bit of a cliche to say that a book is un-put-downable but this one really is - i'd hate to tell you what time i went to bed on tuesday night/wednesday morning with tired eyes. it is that good.

there are one or two spelling errors that should probably have been caught at the proofing stage (peddle for pedal) but that's something that probably only irritates someone like me who proofreads quite a few books over the course of a year. i was beginning to wonder if reading with the knowledge that at the end, i'd have to write a review, coloured the way i was able to appreciate the content; making mental notes, remembering phrases, folding the corner of a page. but in fact, it's probably the lesser writing that allows time for such as the above. in this case, i was too immersed in its pages for any of that to get in the way. sykes' writing is a thing of beauty; you can tell he loves his subject and has the gift of impressing this upon the reader. a great testament to a forgotten man.

and the back cover is pink.

posted on thursday 8th may

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how come we race?

cycle racing

this is one of those bizarre notions that enters the helmet while trudging through 100km of a saturday afternoon in driving wind and showers. absolutely no idea why this should be; probably for the very same reason as fancying a bowl of porridge on the way home from the sunday ride, though that's perhaps a touch more comprehensible. it's true that there are far more cyclists who don't race than those who do, yet the grand heritage in which we are generally all in awe comes from those who drag themselves over the dolomites, pyrenees and alps intent on wearing pink or yellow. i can't actually remember the last time cycle sport ran a feature on someone who toured the cairngorms. (to be fair, however, cycling plus does this kind of thing all the time, but it doesn't have quite the same je ne sais quoi as paris roubaix or even the melton cicle classic)

this is not to devalue the non-racer - having never raced, i am certainly not in the habit of devaluing myself - quite the opposite. the bicycle is the force it is in contemporary transport circles, principally on the efforts of the committed commuter and leisure cyclists. so why do we idolise (if that's not too strong a word) those who do all in their power to be faster than their nearest rival? there's little doubt that racing has hastened the development of the bicycle, apart from possibly those folding jobbies, even though some of the developments have little bearing on the realities of day to day pedalling. tapered steerers, oversized headsets and high modulus carbon carry little clout in the bus lane on the way to work. a lightweight frame is not the be all and end all on the inner city run; and anyway, one of those d-locks probably weighs as much as one of saunier-duval's framesets.

but all that aside, what is it that brings us to divest the bicycle of all sensible accessories, put team and mavic cars in tow, then cycle as many kilometres as we can find, hoping to arrive first? should not the bicycle be able to be enjoyed in and of itself without the competitive element arriving unheralded?

probably yes and probably no; even though i am just a bit too quick to protest my disinterest in the competitive urge, if it looks like i might have a better than evens chance of reaching the 30mph sign at bruichladdich before the ardbeg peloton, you can bet your bottom bracket i'll be emulating chris hoy with the best of them. and making it to the top of storakaig hill, well need i say more? and if we return to the mini-post of a few days ago, cycle manufacturers are quite content to take advantage of this proclivity in their advertising by selling us acres of carbon on which we can while away the sedentary kilometres, while our helmets think otherwise. why would the prominent forerunners in cycling apparel be so keen to encourage the racing heritage and sell us current team strips, if we weren't all so receptive to the idea in the first place.

the london-paris ride at the end of next month, in which i shall partake for the second year, allows the really fast chappies to race for green, red and yellow while being cossetted in the road closure, technical and vittles departments. those of us of lesser ability have the same benefits without chewing the handlebars for three days. it's racing jim, but not as we know it. so, having provided no competent answers to my very own ruminations, it may take another windy 100km epiphany to provide an educated solution.

if it happens, i promise i'll keep it to myself.

posted on wednesday 7th may

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i'm saying nothing

well, apart from how lifelike those caricatures are...

i don't normally go for youtube stuff, and probably won't do it again, but this was too good to miss.

posted on wednesday 7th may

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deep thought

cycle adverts adverts again

i'm probably going to get myself into bother here, and i've likely given the game away with the six adverts above, but there's either a lack of imagination when it comes to advertising bicycles, or there's a lack of imagination when it comes to advertising bicycles. the six ads above are all from completely different manufacturers and, for all i know, from differing ad agencies, and they all appeared in this month's procycling and cyclesport magazines, while the trek ad is from the current issue of cycling weekly. i'm not saying that these advertisements don't show the respective bicycles/frames to their best advantage but...

when you consider how much money is spent by at least a few of these manufacturers on sponsoring high profile professional teams containing high profile professional riders, is this really the best way to get value from such sponsorship deals? very basically these, and to be honest, pretty much every other bicycle advertisement - with one or two notable exceptions - are simply saying we make/import this bike; buy one. so other than brand loyalty, in which case someone is preaching to the converted, what is there to differentiate between them all? certainly there is a price difference, so budget could be a factor, but since few mention the cost, we're right back at the beginning.

i'm sort of assuming that there is the cycling equivalent of market research, and maybe all the focus groups suggested that a rear view on a black background is just where it's at. meanwhile, back in the real world... of course, the progenitors of the above would likely be well within their rights to say if you're so smart, let's see how good you are, but that's not really the point, is it?

of course, the mark of a good advert is how effective it is at being noticed, and not only did i notice the six above, but now i've brought them all to your attention. job done.

i'd buy the colnago.

boardmanbikes.com | vinerbikes.com | orbea.com | colnago.com | isaac-carbon.com | trekbikes.com

posted on tuesday 6th may

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polaris neo shirt

polaris neo jersey

this really has to be the steal of the day, week, month, year or whatever; if they made this jersey in black with white stitching and an embroidered logo, you'd be beating a path to your nearest polaris dealer as we speak. i say this because it retails at a rather astonishing £29.99 despite comparing very favourably with others costing up to twice as much.

luckily for me, and probably for polaris too, the neo jersey arrived just at a time when islay's weather allowed for jacket free testing. of course it was still windy, and yes, i needed armwarmers, but the temperature of that wind is now verging on cosy, opening up a whole realm of clothing opportunities. constructed from airbase material, the jersey provides a slightly more textured open weave than the more regular 'lycra' offering. while this hardly aids any windproofing, that's not really the point. in much the same way as many of today's technical fabrics, airbase is a quick dry wicking material, and worn with a merino baselayer seemed happy to do what it says on the tin.

the ykk front zip is longer than most, running to half-way down the jersey front, the hem is well elasticated and featuring a drop tail to cover the lower back when chasing spartacus in the prologue time trial. the only desirable component missing in this department is some sort of grippy gel stuff to keep it all in place. admittedly there was no appreciable movement of an upward direction, but with so many of today's jersey offerings now providing this as standard, it's a point worth noting. still, at this price...

as with pretty much every roadie jersey, there are three rear pockets, but surprisingly, and extremely welcome, is the presence of a greatly favoured zipped security pocket. the collar and inside of the zip are both lined for comfort and strength, the fit is relaxed without being flappy (you can take my word for this bit - it might have warmed up over here, but first ride in this jersey was into a 60kph headwind). the jersey on test is described in the polaris catalogue as available in ocean blue or pewter, while the website, describes the choices as dazzling blue and ebony; hmmmmm. i'm also a bit confused as to why it's referred to as a shirt, rather than a jersey. semantics, i suppose.

covering the safety aspect is reflective print on the side panels, and the polaris name/logo on the left breast. all the stitching on the blue version is in mid grey, and this is really my only, slightly superficial criticism; there are so many jerseys offered in reds and blues, that here is the perfect opportunity to stand out from the crowd, even if it's only by way of a seriously contrasting thread. time to be a bit more adventurous methinks. or just a bit more chic. i've no idea how much an embroidered logo would add to the jersey's cost, but if polaris were willing to look at these relatively minor details...

the neo shirt is only a small part of a particularly large range of cycle clothing at rather advantageous prices. much of the range is aimed at the off-road department, but there are still some very useful items for those of us on skinny wheels. one of those seemingly well kept secrets.

very impressive.

polaris.in

posted on monday 5th may

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brian smith interview

brian smith

i can't honestly believe it's taken me this long to feature an interview with one of scotland's finest cyclists. hero time would be robert millar, and that probably goes for brian too, but as someone who has ridden alongside andy hampsten and lance armstrong, plus worn the british champion's jersey on two separate occasions, brian deserves his own level of respect amongst scottish and british cyclists. add to this his continuing work on behalf of scotland's rising cycling talent, as founder of the braveheart fund, and you really have to start wondering why i have been so derelict in my duty.

currently one half of possibly the finest (certainly the most humorous) commentary pairing (with anthony mccrossan) in cycling today, his insights and predictions regarding racing form and tactics, help us make more sense of the modern peloton. aside from that, brian is a genuinely nice guy - someone i am proud to call a friend.

read more...

posted on sunday 4th may

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jef mallett interview

frazz

apparently, a picture is worth a thousand words - undoubtedly a statement made by an artist or photographer rather than an author or wordsmith. however, in certain cases this is a truism, and none more so than in jef mallett's accompanying illustrations in jamie smith's roadie (see review below). of course, it helps greatly if you have a certain sympathy with the subject you have been asked to draw - while not quite a fully paid up member of the road scene, jef is at least part the way there by his exploits as a triathlete.

add to that his notoriety as progenitor of one of america's most popular syndicated cartoon strips (frazz; a cycling janitor), and the level of intrigue rises by the kilometre. so having reviewed the book, it seemed like a natural progression to interview the man himself. apart from anything else, it makes it look as if the post is all about joined up writing.

read more...

posted on saturday 3rd may

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roadie by jamie smith. illustrated by jef mallett. velopress $21.95

roadie by jamie smith

'what's with the funky shorts?', 'why do you wear the funny shoes?', 'why do you shave your legs?'. don't tell me you've never been asked these questions before, or some variation thereof? at the risk of alienation by a large proportion of the population, i'm willing to bet that no soccer player has ever been asked 'why the studs on the soles of your shoes?' and i'm certainly not man enough to ask an american football player why he has black marks painted on his face.

but that's because those are mainstream sports in their respective countries. unless you're a belgian, basque or italian, cycling probably isn't even close to mainstream. in fact, it's probably struggling to reach obscure. while it is often said that britain and america are two nations divided by a common language, ironically some of us may be joined by our common obsession with riding or racing skinny wheels.

i interviewed jamie smith earlier this year when publishers velopress informed me of roadie's impending publication, and having read several of his postings on riders ready, it seemed too good an opportunity to miss; i like humour with my cycling. the book is subtitled 'the misunderstood world of a bike racer' and there are many of us who can identify with that. ironically, smith started writing to get cycling out of his system, and allow moving on to other things such as 'golf, tennis and a social life', but the more he wrote, the more he realised how much of a hold it had. and we should be very grateful for this epiphany; members of my family had to ask me to stop laughing so much while i was carrying out the perfectly respectable and serious task of reviewing the book. usually if i'm in cycling mode, it's the other way round.

happily, roadie is not only a book for roadies, but a book for friends of roadies (there's a joke in there somewhere) and for roadie relatives. come christmas time, i shall probably be sending more than a few copies. jamie treats his subject with highly amusing irreverence, but it is nonetheless poignantly observed for all that; the book is about cycle racing, but it seems to me that those of us who don't actually race on our carbon fibre, possess similar traits, and are thus merely in a different category. in fact, it wouldn't be too bad an idea if we contacted our national cycling bodies and asked them to create a 'non-racing category'. in my mind, there's not much difference, because i recognise huge chunks of roadie behaviour in myself, even though i'm not fast enough to qualify.

jef mallet illustration

but as if the written word were not enough, we have the added joy of jef mallet's illustrations, which are so acutely observed, you'd think he too was a roadie (he is - sort of). the fact that these two gentlemen understand our every whim, pain and need for lycra almost makes me feel normal - and now it's in book form, that legitimises the whole affair. broken down into its constituent parts, the book describes the bike (or bikes, as seems more common), training, feeding and the lifestyle, before continuing to describe the various forms of racing open to the adventurous cyclist. make no mistake, this is an american book, so certain terminology may be at variance with this side of the pond: since few european cities seem to feature a grid system of roads, criterium racing is not quite so cut and dried, but the inference is the same. time trials, one day races and stage racing probably only differ in the names of the towns. somehow tulsa sounds more exciting than girvan, though jamie might say the opposite.

spread throughout the chapters are wee boxed asides, stories, and anecdotes; mr smith's enthusiasm knows no bounds, and we can all but hope it is as infectious to civilians as it is to roadies.

roadie is published by velopress and is currently available in the usa at a cost of $21.95. uk distributors cordee should have copies by the end of this month. i'll let you know when it arrives, because you will definitely want to buy a copy of this. a triumph on every level.

tomorrow, an interview with roadie illustrator, jef mallett.

posted on friday 2nd may

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rapha gazzetta gilet

rapha gazzetta gilet

the word gilet is apparently derived from the turkish word yelek a garment that resembled the modern day waistcoat, and traditionally embroidered. the latter feature might be taking just one step too far for an item of cycle apparel, but this limited edition gilet from rapha bears at least a modest degree of decoration by way of homage to the sponsor of italy's premier stage race, la gazzetta dello sport. their more regular gilets retail at twenty pounds less than the item under consideration, but then they have only either a black stripe on a white gilet, or white stripe on a black gilet. other than reflective rapha logos at the collar and vertically on the rear, the standard items bear no decoration at all. whether you feel it worth twenty pounds for decor is your decision alone - rumour has it that the perfectly legible black on pale pink is actually from rouleur, rather than from la gazzetta. since it's all in italian, i have no idea.

rapha's gilet is constructed from the same fabric as their stowaway jacket, translating to very light, windproof and substantially water resistant. during this uncharacteristically dry spell on islay, chances to get wet have been few and far between, however, we have wind by the truckload; none of it made it through the black and pink. i would have known, because i was there.

the central stripe on whichever model to which you aspire, cunningly disguises the fact that, also like the stowaway, the full length zip is offset to the right. somewhat of a rapha trademark, this prevents nipping the nape of the neck when zipping up quickly (been there, done that). as a further safety net, there's a small foldover into which the zip cuddles against the elements. the inside of the collar is lined with a nice, soft material mitigating against any form of chafing whether wet or dry. unlike the stowaway, the zip isn't taped against water ingress, but there is an internal overlap (yes, pink again) helping wind resistance - it's unlikely that anyone seriously puts on a gilet to fend off a downpour.

underlining my contention that all roadies are aesthetes, the tailoring is superb, a euphemism for slim fit. rapha's website does recommend that you move up a jersey size for a 'proper' fit but, rebel that i pretend to be, i stuck with medium, and wasn't disappointed. granted, it's unlikely that you could nip to the shops and stuff the guardian, a copy of the comic and a packet of cornflakes underneath, but i did manage to fill my team jersey's back pockets with all the usual suspects and team stowaway without constricting normal breathing. however, don't feel narcissistic enough to underestimate any girth that may be yours and not the mirror's - choose the right size. on the bike, it behaves like a second skin with italian writing down the front and back, and it makes you look like a real cyclist on repeated occasions.

the tail is luxuriously longer than much of the competition, while the hem is elasticated and adjustable - how you use this depends on whether you've put the cornflakes in one of the jersey pockets. i spent years and years in the wilderness of not owning a gilet of any flavour, but now i'm a total convert; these are brilliant for those early morning rides before the ice has melted, and an excellent alternative to a full metal jacket on cold windy days. the added attraction of being able to scrunch it into a wee ball to join all the other stuff in those back pockets is just the icing on the gazzetta.

rapha's standard gilet is available in either black or white with contrasting stripe, and in sizes ranging from small through to xxl. cost is £95. the limited edition gazzetta gilet is only available in black with italian style newspaper print on pale pink front and back. same sizes and selling for £115.

rapha.cc

posted on thursday 1st may

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i should ruddy well hope not

glen road

lennard zinn, a highly respected bicycle engineer and technical author, writing on velonews.com has been hard at work predicting the next big thing in road cycling, presumably for the benefit of those with a considerable portion of their credit card limit yet to be spent. to be perfectly honest, i have no idea why we need a next big thing; despite admitting to being somewhat of a techie myself, there's enough going on these days to keep me satisfied - but then, i'm not lennard zinn.

lennard's predictions as to what we can all look forward to in the coming years are:- suspension for road bikes and (no, no, no and yet again, no) hydraulic disc brakes. while the former seems to have been rather predictably inspired around the time of paris-roubaix, at the moment we are thankfully saved from the latter by, believe it or not, the uci. and we might as well make use of them when it suits; the men in blazers have stopped bicycles becoming as light as they probably could be, and managed to ban one or two features for absolutely no good reason whatsoever (just ask graeme obree).

currently disc brakes cannot be affixed to a road or cyclo-cross bicycle for use in uci sanctioned racing, though fairly obviously they can be for mountain bike races. it doesn't take too much vision to figure out why a mountain biker may be particularly grateful for hydraulic discs - there's a deal of confidence to be inspired from being able to stop on the smallest silver coin in anyone's currency, when the road ahead turns out to be not exactly as presumed. conversely, many of the how to be a roadie type articles weigh a considerable emphasis on staying away from the brakes when descending (like you're going to need them on a climb). am i the only one with a question mark above my helmet?

mr zinn seems to figure that it would simply need a modest degree of leaning from one of the three majors in the component arena to persuade the blazers to relent. but it's just plain wrong; you know it and i know it, so why has the great lennard been seduced. road bikes very rarely need to physically stop in a great hurry - usually it's simply a case of scrubbing off a bit of speed. despite covering a considerable number of kilometres through agricultural surface dressing over the past five years, i've only just recently replaced the brake shoes on my chorus rear calipers - the front pads are still comfortably intact.

consider even the rotating force applied by even a small hydraulic rotor on a wheel with minimal spokes. such could leave it with even fewer minimal spokes if it's not careful. and i'm not aware of any mountain bike race, particularly those downhillers on farm gates, that has a following mavic car. quick release may begin to resemble the notion of the express checkout at bowmore co-op; slow, would not be too cruel a description. bluntly put, road bikes do not need disk brakes, however cool someone might think they look.

as to suspension, that's already been tried; paris-roubaix of several years ago, saw bianchi and trek (with their immediately outlawed y-frames) give it a shot. not one of the bianchi's finished the race, if i recall, and rock shox' subsequently released ruby suspension road fork, sank without trace. and not without good reason. sure, the spring classics are not billiard table flat, but it doesn't seem to have stopped anyone yet. my wednesday morning ride crossed five cattle grids and roads which see more cattle hooves, sileage and tractor tyres than most - but i can't say that the desire for suspension once crossed my mind. aside from all else, roadies are a bunch of aesthetes (if only we realised), and disturbing those elegant italian carbon fibre lines with springs and gas shocks, joined by braided hydraulic cables and disk rotors is enough to lose a serious amount of sleep over.

take a leaf out of the anti-drugs culture, and just say no. especially if you meet lennard zinn.

posted on wednesday 30th april

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