Sunday, September 30, 2007

Selling my Singlespeed



Note: this bike sold on eBay in 2007 for $405 plus $100 shipping.

I have decided to sell my Singlespeed Nishiki Cyclocross bike.

This bike is one of a kind. Nishiki never intended this bike to be a cross bike, it started its life as a Nishiki Sport. I soon realized that this bike had more tire clearance than my... Specialized M4 2001 cross bike. The Nishiki frame is made with 4130, the same steel used on Surly bikes.

I had a frame builder braze on the rear cantilever brake mounts. Next, I bought a steel Surly cyclocross fork that matched the original fork identically in styling, except it had way more clearance and canti posts already on it. Next I had the frame powder coated, its called Dahlia Yellow (RAL 1033, powdercoating code). The powdercoating was done by Sycip.



Then came the fun part of building the bike up. It has a silver 1" Chris King Headset, Dura Ace 7400 cranks, Crank Brothers Candy SL pedals, Selle italia white saddle, Empella Frogglegg cantilever brakes and Cinelli Grammo titanium stem. The wheels are Campagnolo Victory Crono tubular rims on Specialized hubs with Tufo Tubular Elite 32mm tires. These tires have been raced once.

The current gearing is 39x20. With the current chain you can run anything from 39x17 to 39x20 with the same chain. If you wanted to get a flip flop wheel, you could run it fixed. Fixed cross is a crazy thing, something I'm not strong enough to try, but it could be done on this bike, if you were so inclined. There is no derailleur mount, so this bike has to be fixed or singlespeed. Although, you could put on a front derailleur and run two or three chain rings up front and have a 3 speed.



I had two custom decals made up for this bike, the downtube "Nishiki" looks sweet in blue and the decals are over the powdercoat, so you could remove them if you wanted. The decals are in awesome shape and are not cracking or peeling from the frame.

The bike as pictured weighs 20.75 pounds on my digital Ultimate bike scale.

The bike was raced by me for one season last year up here in Portland Cross Crusade series. I like to think it has been race proven. Not that I did very well on it, but thats on account of lack of training and skills, not because the bike didnt handle the way it should. This bike is bomber and can handle a lot.

Some of the details: The Dura Ace cranks have been accented blue, blue crank bolts and blue pedals go right along with the blue Nishiki custom decals. Also, the white saddle and matching white brake cables are a nice touch. The bike has that retro feel to it, but also a very custom look. I got many compliments from complete strangers at cross races on how cool this bike looked. Many commented, "I didnt know Nishiki made a cross bike." They didnt.

The bike looks even better in person that the pictures show.

So whats wrong with it? There is a ding in the seat tube about 6 inchs from the BB, shown in a picture taken. This was here when I bought the frame, and it has not gotten worse, and I have ridden this thing as hard as I could and it has not affected the performance of the ride. It is purely cosmetic, being that this is a steel bike. If it was aluminum, that'd be a different story.

One other point, is that the rear wheel is out of true and will need to be trued. I dont feel like doing it sorry.





Monday, September 17, 2007

Sucker Brook Cross barrier video

This video link was just sent to me, and I thought you all might want to have a look to see how some pros get over barriers...

Sucker Brook Cross Barrier Video 2007

Lightweight Cyclocross Bike #32: Kevin's Trek



Kevin sent in a picture of his Trek XO2 cyclocross bike. I like the attention to detail on the matching red components. Red pedals would look sick on this bike

"Here is my cross bike for racing here in England this autumn. It weighs right on 17 pounds as it sits with pedals and all. I have been commuting on it for a few weeks with a different wheelset and it is a great bike! It will be doing it's first race this weekend."

Here is a breakdown of the bits:

Frame: 2007 Trek XO2, 58cm
Fork: Easton EC90X
Headset: Hope
Stem: Ritchey WCS 110mm (not in pic)
Handlebar: Ritchey WCS 44cm
Seatpost: Controltech Carbon
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR
Brakes: Empella froglegs w/ koolstop carbon pads (not
in pic)
Wheels: Planet X carbon 50mm rims
Tyres: Tufo cross 30 tubular
Cassette: American Classic Conversion, 12-25
Shifters: Campag Chorus
Rear Mech: Campag Chorus
Front Mech: Ultegra
Chain: Campag Chorus
Chainset: Bontrager GXP 38-46
BB: Truvativ external gigapipe
Pedals: Crank Bros Candy SL

If you want any more details, just let me know.

Thanks!
Kev

If you have a sub 18 pound cyclocross bike or a handmade cyclocross bike, email it to me at plusonelap at gmail dot com.

Lightweight Cyclocross Bike #31: Terry's Redline



The first Sram grouped cyclocross bike to the Plus One Lap galleries. Thanks for the pics and info Terry.

"Nothing too exotic on this sweet looking ride. Hopefully my fitness can
match the excellent riding bike by the end of Cross season."

SRAM Rival Drivetrain
FSA SLK Crankset
Easton EA70 Stem and Bars
Easton EC70 Seat Post
Easton EA90 Wheels with Michelin Mud II's
Fizik Arione Saddle
Paul Neo Retro Brakes

If you have a sub 18 pound cyclocross bike, or a cyclocross from a handmade builder, email it to me at plusonelap at gmail dot com.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

The season is almost here



Just a little video to get you extra pumped about the season quickly approaching.