Renovo R1 wooden bike project, part 12: Finally finished!

Since the Marmotte GranFondo I have hardly been on the bike, which gave me some time to gradually change some parts on the bike.

Before the Marmotte I already changed the saddle. The Fizik Arione was giving my saddle sores, so I took a chance and got myself a Gilles Berthoud instead. The GB has been great from day one and I can recommend it to anyone. I can even ride it without my cycling shorts. After the Marmotte I switched the stem for a Genetic AQ to achieve a relaxed position. I also switched the U.S.E. seatpost shim for a cheap aluminium one, because with the U.S.E. shim the seatpost kept slipping. The most important cosmetic change has been the Whisky fork. The Easton fork had always been bugging me and with the Whisky I think I've finally found a fork that looks good with the frame. Other minor changes are the polished Salsa seatpost clamp, a Ritchey Classic handelbar and I also removed the decals from the H Plus Son rims.

So.., well,.....eeeh, I guess the bike is finished. Finally!

Winter bike project, part 1: the frame

 I have always had a crappy steel bike (Columbus SLX) to ride through the winter months. It costs me around EUR 200 to put together, so I decided a while back that if I could build another winter bike on the same budget, I would allow myself to build a new winter bike.

On Monday I came across a cheap second hand vintage steel bike with Columbus MAX tubing. Except for the forks and the top tube that is. I have been intrigued by Columbus MAX tubing and the hype surrounding it for some time now. I have sold quite a few Merckx MX-leader frames, so I know what it looks like. Up until now I never took the time nor did I have the money though to get myself a MAX frame. Seeing as this bike was exactly the price of my current winter bike, I went for it.

I picked up the bike yesterday near Brussels and took it for a quick spin today. The difference with my Duell SLX frame is really noticeable. The frame is much stiffer, especially near the bottom bracket. The top tube is a little bit on the short side for me, but you can't be picky if you can get a bike at this price.

I plan to sell off the parts that are currently on the bike (Shimano 600) and build it up with an even cheaper Shimano 105 7-spd groupset with down tube shifters. With the money I will save, I plan to get the frame resprayed in a single color. The chrome is pretty rusty, so I hope that won't be an issue. I am thinking of going for light blue or green. The guy who is going to do the paint job is on a vacation for the next couple of weeks, so I have some time to think about it.

Renovo R1 wooden bike project, part 11: Marmotte GranFondo

Since my last update I have done some serious mileage on the Renovo. The best miles were during the Marmotte GranFondo last weekend. For those of you who don't know the Marmotte: it involves riding over the Col du Glandon, Col du Télégraphe, Col du Galibier and the Alpe d'Huez, which is saying something.

Climbs during the Marmotte were pretty tough, mostly because I did not want to change the original DA crankset for a compact or triple. That is why I ended up climbing every mountain on a 39 up front and a 27 in the back. Descending on the other hand was great. The bike just seems to want to accelelarate all the time, which led to some tricky situations in a couple of hair pins. Fortunately I was on aluminium rims, which provided perfect braking performance.

Here is a nice picture of me on the bike climbing the Col du Galiber.

Woody's Custom Wood Bicycle Fenders

Even if you are not in to wooden bikes (or frames for that matter), you are bound to like these fenders from Woody's Fenders. They are made from 100% wood, of course in Oregon.

 

Wilier Cento 1 wood look paint

This Wilier Cento has hands down the best wood look paint job I have ever seen.

Renovo R1 wooden bike project, part 10: new wheels

The damaged Cerchi Ghisallo rims were sent back to Italy a while back and are currently being repaired.

I decided to replace the wooden rims for a more durable solution: H Plus Son Archetype polished rims. I had the rims laced in a snowflake pattern.

 

Renovo R1 wooden bike project, part 9: shiny stem

This week I could finally pick up the new stem for my bike. I really needed a new one, since the old one was a bit to long for my back. However, because I wanted something special it took a while to get it the way I wanted.


The new stem is a Spin Monolithic titanium stem. I my opinion the stem itself looks great and is just about the cheapest titanium stem available. I was not a fan of the bulky faceplate though and of course it had to be polished to match the look of the other components on the bike.


The company I asked to do the polishing for me, was also able to drill a hole in the faceplate the size of the Spin logo. In my opinion the end result looks great.