bicycle adventures

the bikes

Handlebar Swaps

1984 Centurion Elite R/S

2000 Litespeed Tuscany

1998 Litespeed Classic

1976 Windsor Carrera Sport

2015 Fuji rebuild

2014 Ibis tandem project

2019 Ibis Rohloff conversion

2013 Rincon project

the new tandem

the tandem

the fixed gear

route descriptions

trail descriptions

520 Bridge routes

BNSF Eastside Corridor

2021 Lummi Island

2019 Corsica

2018 Andalucia

2018 Tibet

2018 Mazama

2018 Provence

2017 RAMROD

2017 France

2017 British Columbia

2016 Karakorum

2016 France

2015 Wallowas

2015 Ladakh

2014 Klondike

2013 Mazama Ride

2012 Scotland

2011 RSVP

2011 BC Tour

2010 RSVP

2009 Ramrod

2009 STP

2008 STP

2006 STP

2002 STP

other trips

Other Years

2025

1/23 – Interurban to 92^nd to College to NSCC bridge / 100^th to 5^th to 105^th to 8^th to Northgate to Pinehurst / 15^th to135^th to 25^th to 147^th to 27^th to 155^th to 33^rd to 156^th to 37^th to 165^th to the Burke Gilman Trail / Lake Washington Loop to 153^rd / 155^th  to Simonds to Juanita Drive to Burke Gilman  to Ravenna to 58^th to 20^th to 62^nd to Brooklyn to Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (anti-clockwise) to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st Ave. NW. Here’s the map. 30 miles on the Rodriguez

1/22 – 1^st NW to 83^rd to Dayton to 107^th to Fremont to Interurban trail to Lakeview Trail to 236^th to 56^th to 19^th to Lago / 23^rd to Perkins / Brookside to Burke Gilman to Ravenna to 58^th to 20^th to 62^nd to Brooklyn to Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (anti-clockwise) X-1 to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^stNW.  Here’s the map.  30 miles on the Fuji

1/21 – Fremont to Burke Gilman to University Bridge to Harvard to Interlaken to 19^th to the I-90 bridge to Mercer Island to East Channel Bridge to 108^th to 106^th to 30^th to 105^th to 28^th to 104^th to 25^th to 100^th / Kilarney to 101^st to Main to Lake Washington Blvd. to 12^th to 84^th to the 520 trail. Montlake to Burke Gilman to Fremont to 50^th to Phinney to 60^th and home on 1^st NW. here’s the map. 30 miles on the Rodriguez

1/20 – 1st Ave. NW to 83^rd to 8^th to 80^th to Loyal and down the hill in Golden Gardens. Burke Gilman to Brookside to 180^th to Perkins to 10^th to 195^th to Interurban trail to Fremont to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st NW. – Here’s the map. 32 Miles on the Centurion

1/19 – Fremont to Burke Gilman to Montlake to 520 trail to Sammamish River Trail to Marymoor Connector to East Lake Sammamish Trail / Parkway to 180^th / 178^th to Union Hill Rd. to 196^th to Novelty Hill Rd to Redmond Rd. to 116^th to SR 202 to 154^th to 116^th to Sammamish River Trail to 520 Trail. Montlake to Burke Gilman to Brooklyn to Campus Parkway / 40^th to 4^th to 42^nd to Latona to 44^th to Meridian to 50^th to Phinney to 60^th and home on 1^st NW. Here’s the map. 46 miles on the Litespeed

1/18 – Fremont to Dexter to Bell to Waterfront Trail to Spokane Street to West Marginal Way to Duwamish Trail to Cloverleaf to 14^th to West Marginal Way to 112^th to East Marginal Way to 115^th / 42^nd to 124^th to 50^th to 129^th to Langston. 3^rd to Shattuck to Lake Washington Loop Route (anti-clockwise) to Lake Washington Blvd to 60^th to Coal Creek Parkway to Factoria Blvd to Newport Way to Allen to 138^th to 136^th to I-90 Trail to 142^nd to Bellevue Community College to 145^th / 140^th to 520 Trail to Montlake to Burke Gilman to University to Campus Parkway / 40^th to 5^th to 42^nd to Latona to 44^th to Meridian to 50^th to Phinney to 60^th and home on 1^st NW. Here’s the map. 47 miles on the Litespeed

1/17  – Interurban to 92^nd to College to NSCC Bridge / 100^th to 5^th to 105^th to 8^th to Northgate to Roosevelt to  Pinehurst / 15^th to 135^th to 25^th to 147^th to 27^th to 155^th to 33^rd to 156^th to 37^th to 165^th to the Burke Gilman to Ravenna to 58^th to 20^th to 62^nd to Brooklyn to  Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (clockwise) X-2 to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st Ave. NW.  Here’s the map.  28 miles on the Rodriguez tandem with Odette

1/16 – Interurban to 92^nd to College to NSCC Bridge / 100^th to 5^th to 105^th to 8^th to Northgate to Pinehurst to 15^th to 135^th to 25^th to 47^th to 27^th to 155^th to 33^rd to 156^th to 37^th to 165^th to the Burke Gilman to Riverside to 175^th to Sammamish River Trail to 124^th to Avondale to 133^rd to Trilogy Ridge to Novelty Hill Rd. to Avondale to Bear Creek Trail to 520 trail to Montlake to Burke Gilman to  Brooklyn to Campus Parkway / 40^th to 5^th to 42^nd to Latona to 44^th to Meridian to 50^th  to Phinney to 60^th and home on 1^st NW.   Here’s the map.  47 miles on the Litespeed

1/15  – Interurban to 92^nd to College to NSCC Bridge / 100^th to 5^th to 105^th to 8^th to Northgate to Roosevelt to  Pinehurst / 15^th to 135^th to 25^th to 147^th to 27^th to 155^th to 33^rd to 156^th to 37^th to 165^th to the Burke Gilman to Ravenna to 58^th to 20^th to 62^nd to Brooklyn to  Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (clockwise) X-2 to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st Ave. NW.  Here’s the map.  28 miles on the Litespeed tandem with Odette

1/14 – Fremont to Burke Gilman to 520 trail to Sammamish River Trail to Marymoor Connector trail  to E. Lake Sammamish Trail  to Juniper to Newport Way to 153^rd to 138^th / 136^th to 142^nd to Bellevue Community College to 145^th / 140^th to the   520 trail.    Montlake to  Burke Gilman to Brooklyn to Campus Parkway / 40^th to 5^th to 42^nd to Latona to 44^th to Meridian to 50^th to Phinney to 60^th and home on 1^st NW.   Here’s the map.  52 miles on the Fuji

1/13  – Interurban to 92^nd to College to NSCC Bridge / 100^th to 5^th to 105^th to 8^th to Northgate to Roosevelt to  Pinehurst / 15^th to 135^th to 25^th to 147^th to 27^th to 155^th to 33^rd to 156^th to 37^th to 165^th to the Burke Gilman to Ravenna to 58^th to 20^th to 62^nd to Brooklyn to  Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (clockwise) X-2 to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st Ave. NW.  Here’s the map.  28 miles on the Ibis with Odette

1/12 – Fremont to Burke Gilman to 520 trail to 154^th / 152^nd to Old Redmond / 70^th to Lakeview to Lake Washington Loop Route (clockwise) to the 520 trail. Montlake to Burke Gilman to Brooklyn to Campus Parkway / 40th to 5th to 42nd to Latona to 44th to Meridian to 50th to Phinney to 60th and home on 1^st NW. Here’s the map. 31 miles on the Fuji

1/11 – Fremont to Burke Gilman to University Bridge to Harvard to Interlaken to 19^th to the I-90 bridge to Mercer Island to East Channel Bridge to 108^th to 106^th to 30^th to 105^th to 28^th to 104^th / Bellevue Way to 6^th to 102^nd to Main to Lake Washington Blvd. to 12^th to 84^th to the 520 trail. Montlake to Burke Gilman to Brooklyn to Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (counter clockwise) X-1 to Green Lake Drive N. to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st NW. here’s the map. 34 miles on the Fuji

1/10 – Fremont to Dexter to Bell to Waterfront Trail to Spokane Street Bridge to Duwamish Trail to 8^th to Cloverdale to South Park Bridge / 16^th to E. Marginal Way to Ellis / Albro to Airport Way S. to Alaska to 6^th to Lander to SODO †rail to 7^th to Dearborn to Hiawatha to I-90 trail to Judkins Park to 20^th to Fir to 19^th / Interlake to Delmar to Roanoke Park to Broadway to Shelby to Harvard / University Bridge to 11^th to Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (counter clockwise) to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62nd and home on 1^st Ave. NW. Here’s the map. 31 miles on the Fuji.

1/9 – 1^st NW to 73^rd to Winona to Stone Way to Green Lake PBL (counter Clockwise) X-3 to Wallingford to 92^nd to College / Meridian to 122^nd to Densmore to 128^th to Meriian to 200^th to Interurban Trail to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st Ave. NW. Here’s the map. 22 miles on the Ibis with Odette

1/8 – 1^st Ave. NW to 83^rd to 8^th to Burke Gilman to 77^th to 58^th / 57^th / 56^th / 55^th to 75^th to 15^th to 70^th / 71^st to Green Lake PBL (counter clockwise) X-2 to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home 1^st Ave. NW. here’s the map. 24 miles on the Rodriguez

1/7 – 1^st NW to 83^rd to Fremont to 92^nd to Wallingford to Green Lake PBL (Clockwise) X-3 to Green Lake /way to Stone Way to Burke Gilman to 57^th / 58^th to 8^th to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st NW. Here’s the map. 24 miles on the Centurion

1/6 – 1^st NW to 73^rd to Winona to Stone Way to Green Lake PBL (counter Clockwise) X-3 to Wallingford to 92^nd to College / Meridian to 122^nd to Densmore to 125^th to Interurban Trail to 128^th to Fremont to 127^th to Evanston to 125^th to 1^st NW to 110^th to 3^rd to 100^th to 8^th to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 60^th and home on 1^st NW. Here’s the map. 19 miles on the Rodriguez

1/5 – Interurban to 92^nd to College to NSCC bridge / 100^th to 5^th to 105^th to 8^th to Northgate to Pinehurst / 15^th to 135^th to 25^th to 147^th to 27^th to 155^th to 33^rd to 156^th to 37^th to 165^th to the Burke Gilman Trail. Brookside / 180^th to 23^rd / Lago to 19^th to 236^th to Lake Ballinger trail to Interurban trail to 83^rd / Green Lake Drive N. to Green Lake PBL (clockwise) to Green Lake Way to 50^th to Phinney to 60^th and home on 1^st Ave. NW. Here’s the map. 26 miles on the Centurion

1/4  – Interurban to 92^nd to College to NSCC Bridge / 100^th to 5^th to 105^th to 8^th to Northgate to Roosevelt to  Pinehurst to 115^th to 28^th to 110^th to 39^th to 105^th to 45^th to 94^th to the Burke Gilman to Ravenna to 58^th to 20^th to 62^nd to Brooklyn to  Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (clockwise) X-1 to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st Ave. NW.  Here’s the map.  20 miles on the Centurion

1/3 – 1^st Ave. NW to 83^rd to 8^th to Burke Gilman to 34^th to Wallingford to 47^th to Meridian to Kenwood to Green Lake PBL (counter clockwise) X-2 to Green Lake Drive N to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home 1^st Ave. NW. here’s the map. 18 miles on the Fuji

1/2 – Fremont to Burke Gilman to University Bridge to Harvard to Interlaken to 19^th to the I-90 bridge to Mercer Island to East Channel Bridge to 108^th to 106^th to 30^th to 105^th to 28^th to 104^th to Killarney / 100^th to Main to Lake Washington Blvd. to 12^th to 84^th to the 520 trail. Montlake to Burke Gilman to Brooklyn to 41^st to 11^th to Ravenna to Green Lake PBL (counter clockwise) X-1 to Green Lake Drive N. to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st NW. here’s the map. 34 miles on the Rodriguez

1/1 – Interurban to 92^nd to College to NSCC bridge / 100^th to 5^th to 105^th to 8^th to Northgate to Pinehurst / 15^th to 135^th to 25^th to 147^th to 27^th to 155^th to 33^rd to 156^th to 37^th to 165^th to the Burke Gilman Trail / Lake Washington Loop to to 175^th to 73^rd / Lockwood to Locust to 200^th to 61^st / 23^rd to 236^th to Ballinger trail to Interurban Trail to 76^th / Meridian to 200^th to Interurban Trail to 83^rd to Greenwood / Phinney to 62^nd and home on 1^st Ave. NW. Here’s the map. 32 miles on the Ibis with Odette

Here’s my “made in USA” gallery:

CHATTANOOGA (TN)

SEATTLE (WA)

SEBASTOPOL (CA)

Tandem, Tandem, Tandem

 

1995 IBIS Forte Tandem (retrofitted with Rholoff and S&S)

 

Three Litespeeds:  a 1999 Taliani, a 1998 Classic and a 2000 Tuscany

Three Rodriguez bikes:  2011 Trillium Tandem, 2012 Adventure and 2003 Stellar.

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

(or how I ended up with three tandems in my garage)

Di2 Back story

After we got back from the Danube I focused on riding and didn’t spend a bunch of time or money on bike projects.  When the chain gauge said it was time, I took the Fuji and the Centurion in for seasonal tune-ups, without addressing the seized seat post on the Fuji.  I bought a pair of Paul Component Engineering Touring Cantilever brakes for Odette’s Stellar, but I kept procrastinating on installing them.  I kind of had this idea of a blog post poking fun at the MAGA / America First guys by describing my American-made bicycles – but somehow when I thought about it some more I realized that it wasn’t actually funny.  Mainly I was just waiting – for the weather to change, for Amazon to deliver, for the bike shop to finish up, for Odette to agree to a ride, for every day to bring one more card.

The fall shaped up to be pretty uneventful, a trip to Long Beach (memorable mainly for squirrel bridges) being the only excitement.  I went out to the garage on a Monday after lunch to put fenders on the Ibis.  Odette likes to ride on Tuesdays and the forecast was wet.  The fenders went on easily but at some point the bike fell over and although I caught it and it didn’t hit the floor, it did make contact with the stand.  I finished the installation (stripping out the socket on the head of one screw on the front fork) and went for a ride around the block to prove that there were no rubs.  And… the bike wouldn’t shift up.  I kept trying and it “gave” – the shifter moved further than it should and then had no resistance at all.  I got back to the garage and removed the hood – the cable was broken and the lever was no longer ratcheting.

I was really upset about this failure.  For one thing, it was the fourth or fifth time the right-hand shift cable had broken on me and I don’t feel like I can ride very far from home for fear it’s going to break on the road.  For another thing, we’d only ridden the bike two or three times since taking it in after the last failure.  I don’t really blame the Polkadot guys but I don’t feel like they fixed what I asked them to work on.  Finally, I was pretty close to getting the Di2 tandem and if I were to sell one of the three it would be the Ibis – only I can’t really sell it if it’s broken and I’m upset about spending money that I won’t recover on a bike I want to sell.

I spent a bunch of time thinking about options and preferences and decided that I’d take one of the handlebar sets from my bar-swap project and mount  Rohloff twist-shifters on them.  I kind of remembered getting a pair of twist-shifters in the process of converting either the Franklin or Ibis, but I wasn’t certain.   If I already had the bars and the shifters I could probably hook them up  myself, and if I needed to go to R+E or Polkadot it wouldn’t be for a big deal project.  I was suspicious that the bars wouldn’t be the right diameter but I knew that I had mounted thumbies on them, and those ought to be the same size as a twist grip.  I scoured my parts boxes and found some Rohloff parts, but no shifters.  I figured that I could go to eBay or Amazon for shifters, but I’d need to know what else I needed to switch back to Rohloff.  I spent some time online reading Rohloff installation guides and realized that it was probably beyond my level of competence.  I also realized that the Rohloff twist-shifter moved the gears both up and down so that you only had one shifter, not a pair.  I dug out those handlebars – butterfly bars and Velo Orange crazy bars – and remembered that I didn’t really like the way either of them looked when I had them on the Fuji.  I remained upset and continued to try to figure out a plan.

On Tuesday (10/28) R+E was open and I needed to drop off the brakes for the Di2 tandem that had arrived while I was focused on the ibis.  I stuck the brakes in my handlebar bag when I went for my daily ride and stopped at the shop on my way home. The Di2 bike looks great – they were done installing the Di2 hardware and said that they just needed the fork to finish it up.  The battery mounts to bottle cage rivnuts on the stiffener tube.  The wires are taped to the down tube and are almost invisible.  The 40-T big cog in the cassette is huge.  The BCD on the FSA crankset was too big to mount 50/34 chainrings so they went with 52/38 – and I’m guessing that a 38-40 granny gear will be fine.  They had already taken off the chunks of housing hung on the brake cable to protect the top tube, replacing it with cable doughnuts. That’s probably a better approach than the housing liner I was proposing.  They were familiar with the ProblemSolvers downtube shifter boss covers and offered to order them for me but I took them up on the offer to remove the barrel adjuster from the outriggers – I think that will be lighter and look just as good.  I got to see the Zipp bars with no tape.  Alder said that there was no need to update the belt drive until it broke.  I asked Alder about timing and he said “a couple of days – maybe a week” which was pretty exciting news.

As I got ready to leave I told Alder about my Ibis dilemma.  He told me that he had a box full of Rohloff / Gebla parts because the Gebla-modified shifters broke a lot and a bunch of people ended up deciding to remove the Gebla and go back to straight Rohloff. He said to bring the bike in and he’d see what they could do.   I told him that I was pretty sure I wanted to go back to the Rohloff twist-shifter that the hub was made for.  He offered to order a shifter for me and said that they could fix me up with a doohickey.  I said that I’d gone with Gebla to be able to keep the drop bars because I didn’t like the way the doohickey thing looked (that plus bad memories of twist shifters on cheap mountain bikes.)  I said that I had a couple of sets of handlebars at home from a previous project and that I was thinking about mounting the shifter on one of them – and I mentioned the butterfly bars.  Alder said that he also had a bunch of butterfly bars because people migrated to them when Gebla was an issue and then decided that they didn’t like that style of bars.  He said that they often ran into issues of cable clearance between the bar end and the stem.   I mentioned my other option and he pulled me over to see an extreme travel bike he was finishing up – S&S, Rohloff, heavy duty tubes – and a Jones bar.  I don’t exactly like the dimensions of the Jones bar but it validated my thinking about moving away from drop bars.  I told Alder that I needed to think about it some more but in fact I pretty much knew where I was headed and just had to figure out some details.

While waiting to go on my ride on the red tandem on Wednesday I took the crazy bars and held them up against the rando bag I use on the Ibis.  They looked like they were made for each other and I knew I’d made my choice.  When i got back from the ride I removed the bar tape and bar-end shifters from the crazy bars.  (I dropped one of the bar-ends and didn’t get it back together right but it’s just going to sit in the parts bin for a while anyway.)   I had to change stems because the one on the bike wouldn’t clamp down tight enough for the crazy bars.  They are from the same manufacturer (Profile Design – the one from the crazy bars has a longer reach) and they’re supposed to have the same clamp dimensions, but only one of them works.  The straddle cable attached to the bars was for a narrow 700C wheel while the Ibis has a wide 26-inch wheel. I had to replace the straddle cable to hook up the front brake, otherwise that cable was ready to go.  The crazy bars were set up for a single bike and the cable for the rear brake wasn’t long enough.  I had trouble getting the stopper out of the reverse lever and had to remove the pivot screw and take the lever out to remove that cable.  The new one went in just fine and after some fiddling with the cable splitter I decided that it was good enough. I replaced the stripped fender screw and tried (without success) to manually shift the Rohloff into a higher gear.  In order to make sure the cables got split I wanted to attach both pieces of the cable splitter to both cables – but they split in different places so I had one long and one short cable under the keel tube.  I put a short cable end into the shorter splitter and then matched it with a very short cable end in the longer cable.  I wrapped a piece of velcro around the tube to hold both cables in place.)

My plan was to take the Ibis (now sporting crazy bars with no tape) with me when I went to pick up the Di2 tandem. Despite the fenders I figured I would put it on the car because without a shifter it isn’t rideable. (That’s actually not true, I’ve ridden it home with a broken shifter more than once – it would be rideable, just not shiftable.)   If Odette drove me over I could drop off the Ibis to get a doohickey and bar tape, have her take the parts that came off the Di2 bike and I could ride the new bike home.  If I rode the crippled Ibis to get there I would just need a knapsack to carry the redundant parts home on the Taliani.

I wanted a quick lesson on Di2 shifting (somehow I’ve got to learn about automatic progressions vs. the left-hand lever, etc)   and I needed to figure out charging and displays and probably ten other Di2 secrets, but I figured that  I could ride it home more easily than I could connect with Odette on Ravenna – and maybe I could  even sneak in a lap around Green Lake.

I ordered a Brooks Sprung Flyer for Odette and will hold off on a fitting.  Amazon shipped the wrong saddle – a sticker on the box said “flyer with suspension springs” but inside was something with a short nose and no springs –  so I filed for a return and waited for a replacement.  The replacement from Amazon was also the wrong saddle – the same error as the time before.  The leather on the side was stamped “B 68” so I assume that’s what got put in the flyer box.  I returned that one too, but this time I requested a refund not a replacement.

It cost almost $50 more, partly because of shipping, but I ordered a flyer with suspension springs from Rivendale.  After really unhelpful tracking information from USPS, the Rivendale saddle showed up two days earlier than expected – they got the right one and I’m confident that it will fit.  Odette thought that the saddle on the Tuscany (that she doesn’t like) was a Brooks and we had a conversation about that.  If she hates the Flyer there are several versions (carved, soft, etc.) that we can try which might make her happier. Meanwhile, it’s been over a week and Alder still hasn’t called to say the bike is ready.

I waited another week and then (11/11) called Alder to check in.  He reported that the bike was basically done and I said I’d be right over.  I grabbed a stuff sac / backpack and set off on the broken Ibis.   I walked up the hill at 73rd and rode down the other side and around Green Lake as if single speed was the new normal.   When I got to R+E I realized I still had the frame pump and the tool bag on the bike so I stowed them in the backpack and went on in.

The Ibis was dispensed with very quickly – “I want a doohickey and a Rohloff twist-shift and some kind of grips on the bar-ends.”  Alder noted that the bar-ends had been cut down.  I didn’t ask him to adjust the brakes, but they seemed to do just fine coming down the hill on 73rd.  (I had a bag of Rohloff parts from th original conversion in my pocket but I forgot to give them to Alder – I expect that he already has plenty of similar ones.) I also forgot to explain the cable splitter thing to Alder and I imagine he’ll think I clipped the two cables instead of opening the quick releases.  .Without shifters to worry about I’m thinking about experimenting with other bars:  (Rivendale Albatross or Choco or maybe Bullmoose would be interesting) or maybe going back to drops.

The Litespeed, however, was more complicated:

Taliani spec sheet: original vs. Di2

Here are some notes from after I picked up the Litespeed:

• Alder says not to worry about synchronized shifting – people always come back and have it removed because you have to shift all the time in very small increments.
• You need to charge about every 150 miles or once a month – there are lights on the battery to show that it’s charging and lights on the front stem that show how much battery you have left.  (Those are the only displays on the system.)
• The battery should have been about half way charged coming out of the shop.  I left it plugged in for three or four hours and the lights didn’t seem to change.
• I forgot where the charger port was (but figured it out the next  morning.)  I pushed the shift button to see the battery light, and learned that the shifters move even when the bike is hanging on the wall.  I never did figure out how to interpret the battery light.
• They installed a body float which I wasn’t expecting.  The thud buster on the red tandem was always set in the lowest position and it looks like the body float on this bike will similarly be as far down as it can go.  (If it doesn’t work I’ll put it on another bike and we’ll start the process of getting a version of the Brooks saddle that she likes.)
• The body float works with springs and R+E says it’s better than polymer discs.   I adjusted it down to the lowest possible position and the distance between the center of the crank bolt and the nose of the saddle is about the same as on Odette’s Stellar.  That means it can go up by at least the distance that it compresses. so there is a little room for adjustment.
• One of the cantis was stuck to the post when they went to replace it, so they replaced the post, too.  Evidently the posts screw in.
• I didn’t get the old free hub body back – oh well…
• The chainrings are Specialties TA rings (130 BCD) 52/38.  They couldn’t use the rings that were on the bike (FSA 53/39 because the big one was too big for the Di2 presets.)
• Alder warned me to be careful about shifting in the front until I’m experienced with it:  it will shift even under load and you may be in a situation where you don’t want to shift up.
• R+E felt that I needed wider brake pads than what came with the neo-retros.
• I needed to get the bike on a scale before we weighed it down with stuff  – Odette got me a new battery for my portable scale and the Taliani weighed between 30 and 31 lbs with saddles & pedals.  After I weighed the bike I removed the body float for a net weight reduction – maybe as much as a pound.  Cutting down the steerer would reduce weight a little and the charger and front wheel stabilizer strap were on the bike when I weighed it – so 30 lbs is probably about right.
• As I mounted the new pedals I noticed that the cranks are 172.5.
• R+E didn’t see a serial number (but they weren’t looking for one.)  I need to give it a good going over, maybe with a pencil to do some rubbings.   Then we’ll think about paint remover.
• The shifters have two narrow buttons – the lower one seems to shift up, the smaller upper one shifts down.  Left is front, right is rear, just like on a mechanical bike.
• Shifting too fast seems to cause the chain to grind.  It only happened once (while starting out across Aurora at 83rd) and I’m not really certain why it happened.
• I’m not sure what to do about the steerer tube – I either want to raise the bars or cut off the excess tube because the stump on top of the bars isn’t a good look.  First, it appears that putting the stem at the top of the stack would be about the same height as the red tandem; as they came from the shop they are about the same height as the litespeed classic.   Second, it appears that only the front brake is going to be an issue (i.e. it looks like  there is enough slack in the rear housing.)  There is likely enough extra inner cable on the front brake  so that I wouldn’t need to replace the cable, and with a double-ended ferule I ought to be able to add three or four inches of housing without unwrapping the bars.  (I would still have to undo the brake and reset them afterwards.)  I’ll probably live with it for a while and maybe wait for the first tuneup to fix the steerer.
• Alder asked what I intended to do with the parts that came off and I told him about the Tuscany.  (I’m not sure if he was just curious or if he was interested in some of them.)  My current plan is to do the cassette first (like, right away) and then the derailleur, followed by the brakes on the Stellar.  I’ll replace inner tubes (at least on the Tuscany) while I’m at it. I would like to have both bikes done before R+E finishes the Ibis.  Then I’ll take the Litespeed to Recycled Cycles for a seasonal tuneup and somewhere in the process I’ll need to clean and lube the bikes I’m riding in the rain.
• I shifted way down to climb the hill on 83rd (but I don’t think I went  all the way down) and it felt like I had lots of room.  We’ll have to see how it feels with Odette on the rear.
• Based on my ride home, triple vs. double won’t be an issue.  I want to lay out a traditional gearing chart comparing the blue and red tandems but that will mean taking the rear wheels off to count teeth on the cogs in the cassette and that will need to wait for a day when I’m not nursing road rash.
• Dan Toole recognized the Ibis (and said that he was just looking at a photo of it)  and then went to interview a cleaning service, saying that he had many fewer workers and that they didn’t have time to clean like they used to.
•  I need to experiment with the carbon saddle I mounted. Maybe we won’t do  a fitting, but I need to fiddle with saddle height both front and back.  I’ve got to figure out what saddle will work for Odette (probably not the Sprung Flyer) but after  discussing it with her we’ll start out with that raggedy padded Serfas.  I kind of hope she ends up liking the Flyer – if that happens I’ll get myself a B-17 or something (and a Brooks saddle bag,) and cosmetically the bike will look better.
• I wonder if we should move to different bars for Odette –  some kind of upgrade for the Prima TTT 220 bars on there now?  Maybe a Rivendale Wavie (or maybe those cut-off FSA Wing-pros?) or maybe some bullhorns would give her a more upright position than the drops do, and there’s no reason to carry around a handlebar section that she never uses.
• I wonder if hanging it up by the wheel is a good idea with the carbon spokes.  (It seems to make contact with the hook on the rim only and it doesn’t touch the spokes at all.)
• Eventually I will want to replace the blackburn bottle cages with something sexier.  I know that there are bottle cage mounts for mini-pumps that might make the battery look more symmetrical.

Odette agreed to a short ride on Wednesday to try out the Taliani.  Then, after breakfast, it was raining and we blew it off.  This was the second time we bailed out on a ride around Green Lake on the new tandem – we talked about it the day before I first took the bike in to R+E but ended up deciding not to ride then, either.

After lunch on Thursday I swapped the rear derailleur and cassette on Odette’s Tuscany for the titanium parts that came off the Taliani.  The exchange was uneventful – the chain from the tandem needed a quick link so I kept the chain from the Tuscany and it seemed to work fine.  I needed to fiddle with the barrel adjuster to get it to go into the largest cog but no real problems.  The inner tubes I got have a 42mm valve stem which turns out not to be long enough for those deep-section rims.  I ordered some more with 60mm valves and will use the others on the Stellar.

I took a day off after hitting a pothole in the rain and messing up my face.  On Saturday it was still raining and I didn’t feel like riding so I installed the Paul Components Engineering touring cantis on Odette’s Stellar.  The install was easy and the brakes are much easier to set up than the Rodriguez “big squeeze” cantis that I’m used to.  (I don’t have the hang of the eccentric washers that you use to adjust the toe-in and pad angle, but trial and error got me close.)  I replaced the inner tubes on that bike with new Continental 650C tubes so the bike should be good to go. Those 42mm valve stems really don’t work very well with my floor pump.  (I exploded one tube probably by trapping it under the bead even though I manipulated it all the way around before pumping. )

Here are the details on Odette’s bikes:

I spent the afternoon cleaning and organizing the garage. and really didn’t make a dent.  I found some more Rohloff parts – including a shifter.  I discovered that I have a lot of old cantis.  I found some smaller outriggers and I may try to combine one of those with a light stub.  I didn’t find a side-loading mini pump bracket. I wasn’t able to rotate the right hand shift lever on the Centurion, but it still works despite the crash and actually may not have been twisted at all.  I still need to swap out the front derailleur on my Litespeed for the one from the Taliani and clean the three bikes with fenders.

Tuesday, I swapped the front derailleur on my Litespeed Classic for the one that came off of the Taliani.  I think that I need more tension in the cable but it shifts up and down and doesn’t make any chain noise while on the stand.  (I’m not certain that the old one was broken, but it was way   out of adjustment and I couldn’t seem to get it back in range.)  I found the springs for the body float and spent a little time trying to figure out how to replace them. I finally gave up and downloaded their instruction sheet.

Early in the morning before a ride I changed the body float springs to two purples.  The procedure was not as easy as I was led to expect and the instruction sheets were not exactly clear, but it seems to only go together in one way and it compresses like it is supposed to.  Odette can straddle the frame with both feet flat on the floor but if she sits on the saddle she can only touch with her toes – so as far as she is concerned it doesn’t work.  I mounted the sprung flyer and we took our maiden ride – a couple of laps around Green Lake.  We came back to the garage and adjusted the nose of her saddle so that it didn’t point down quite as much and we raised my saddle a couple of inches (and moved her handlebars up as far as they will go on my seat post. ) The second two laps felt a little more comfortable so we did two more. Climbing up the hill on 50th with Odette on the back feels remarkably like it does on the red tandem. I’ve got to get the saddles sorted out (that carbon Selle Anatomica isn’t going to work for me this time, either.)  I need to raise the front bars and I need to find a set of stoker bars with more rise.  I need to order bottle cages and set up a tool kit.  Otherwise, the Di2 bike is coming together.

After Odette got me more new batteries, I measured the clamping diameter on the rear stem on the Taliani and got numbers that didn’t make any sense at all.  I finally figured out that it helps to zero out the caliper before measuring and determined that I need 26mm bars.  I plan to order a set of flatish bullhorns and we’ll take it from there.   I finally got 650C inner tubes with a 60mm valve stem and I installed one in the front of Odette’s Tuscany and put the other one in her saddle bag.  I replaced the carbon Selle Anatomica saddle on the front of the Taliani with a beat-up old Selle Italia, (a Mundialita, I think.)  I don’t know where it came from but it must have been on some bike that I got used, probably the Centurion.  That will hold me until Odette figures out whether or not she can live with the Flyer.   Ordering the bottle cages means a call to Peter White and I’ll deal with that in the next few days.

I raised the front bars up to the top of the steerer tube and I’ll figure out where I want them before cutting housing or cable or the steerer.  I figured out that what determined the length of the housing was the position of the hanger, meaning that if I left the hanger the same distance below the clamp I wouldn’t have to add any housing.  I end up with a hanger that is really too high and a long exposed cable segment, but it will work for now.  The first time I have it serviced I’ll need to cut the tube or add some housing to the front brake cable.

I got a pair of Origin8 bullhorns and got Odette’s buy-in to try them on the blue tandem.  The weather turned wet and we weren’t going to be riding any time soon so there was no hurry to install them.  The bar tape came off the Prima bars intact, so I wrapped the bullhorns with the old tape just to have something to hang onto while we adjusted their position, figuring that I’d save the new tape until I was sure the bars were going to work.  The bullhorns were the occasion for a conversation about saddles – I read Peter White’s comments to her and we talked about cut-outs and shapes.  Here are the links I gave to her:

• https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/bersaddles.php
• https://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/flyer-carved.html
• https://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/b17-softned-short.html
• https://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/b67-softened-short.html
• https://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/b135.html
• https://selleanatomica.com/products/x1

Eventually we’ll select another saddle and give it a try.

Before riding on Black Friday, I had Odette sit on the bike and tell me if she was okay with the position of the bullhorns and to make sure that they weren’t bumping her knees.  She wasn’t really into it but said they were fine.  After lunch I replaced the bar tape on the bullhorns with a different  used tape – and I moved the posts a little further around the bend and tilted them back a bit.  It’s still a work in process but I think that they’ll be okay when we get done.  While I was in the garage I looked at cassettes and was able to find the number of teeth marked on most of the rings. Here is a basic gearing chart for the red and blue tandems.  As I expected, even with a 2-by setup, the range on the Litespeed is comparable to that on the Rodriguez (3.78 on the Litespeed vs 3.74 on the Rodriguez.)  At 0.95 the Litespeed granny gear is actually a little lower than the Rodriguez’ 1.07.

The Specialites TA bottle cages from Peter White came the weekend after Thanksgiving – I mounted all of them except the one that will fit over the battery.  I wanted to mount a Zefal side-loading mini-pump mount on there too, and even though it’s coming from California and even though I ordered it in mid-November, it’s not expected to get here until Christmas!  I hauled Odette’s Tuscany upstairs and put it on her trainer.  I’m not betting that it will get much use but I know she won’t ride it if it is out in the garage, and maybe it will help her decide on a saddle.  I’ve been taking short rides because of a couple of atmospheric rivers – which leaves me extra time for waiting.  I mounted clip-on fenders on the red tandem hoping that we’ll get out for a ride eventually.  There isn’t any clearance in the front with the current tires (30s) so I mounted a 23 on a spare rim and figured I’d ride with that until spring.  The front fender mounts with a single bolt through the fork crown and I’m not very confident that I’ll get away without rubbing, but there’s one way to find out.

The little mini pump bracket I ordered back in mid-November finally arrived – two weeks early.  The real story is that I didn’t realize it was actually coming from the UK, but  I wouldn’t have had to wait so long if it hadn’t gone in and out of the Seattle distribution center so many times.

Here’s what it looks like after mounting the bottle cage and the mini pump bracket on the same riv nuts as the battery:

 

The 15th of December was a Monday and R+E wasn’t open, so I planned to call that Tuesday, figuring that after a month I’d waited long enough that it didn’t look antsy and that I ought to check in to see if they could tell me when the bike would be done.  After a wet ride I was scanning email when the phone rang and it was R+E saying that the Ibis was ready for me to pick up.  Odette gave me a ride over and I rode home in almost dry  conditions.   The bike shifts really well.  It has always been geared too low and that is even more noticeable now, but with Odette on the back it likely won’t feel as light.   Its started to rain as I pulled into the driveway but I decided to take some photos anyway.

Now I need to take the Litespeed in to Recycled Cycles and take my trashed glasses in to Eyes on Fremont – two things I’ve been waiting to do until the Ibis process was over.

Here’s my “made in America” gallery:

 

Here’s a gallery of Di2 bike photos:

 

Small Steel-Framed Touring Bike

2003 Rodriguez Stellar.

48 cm frame

650C wheels with Sun Venus rims.

Son Delux dynamo hub, Bausch & Muller E-Delux headlight and Toplight Plus brake/tail light.

Paul Component Engineering Touring Cantilever brakes and cross levers.

Campagnolo drivetrain:

• Mirage levers and deraileurs
• Veloce crankset with 165 mm cranks
• Record rear hub

Set up as a 9-speed triple with 53/39/30 in the front and 13-28 in the rear

Gilles Berthoud stainless fenders

Currently configured with a stem extender and Panaracer Pascella – 28 tires.

 

Small Titanium-Framed Road Bike

2000 Litespeed Tuscany

47 cm frame

650C wheels with Mavic CXP-14 rims

Campagnolo drivetrain:

• Record-10 levers, brakes and deraileurs
• Long-cage Titanium rear derailleur and Ti cassette
• CX10 crankset with 170 mm cranks
• Veloce hubs

Set up as 10-speed double with 50/34 in front and 12-29 in the rear

Gilles Berthoud Marie Blanc saddle

Currently configured with a stem extender and Continental Grand Prix 4000 – 23 tires