A brief moment in history: Valentino Zippicelli

Valentino Zippicelli in 1929 on his 110mm deep balsa wood rims. he won the 1929 TDF on them, but all of his victories were removed from history by the UCI, to "keep the sport pure", for his use of aerodynamic products. He shattered the old hour record with a 52 minute time, and even stopped midway for a glass of wine! Incredible!

(thanks Cooper)

An afternoon with WMD

I finally made some progress on the TimeTrialTall today. While WMD tore apart his place looking for stickers, I got to work in his shop.


Thats the steerer, lathed down 25.4mm BMX post, and 1-1/8" sleeve welded up. I made two little M shaped Jigs out of angle iron, and then used them along with the 1-1/8" tubing to rotate it around to make sure it was straight. (delicately adjusting it to perfect colinearity with a mallet)

So now the compression fit 25.4mm post is permanently in the steerer, and the 1-1/8" sleeve on the right is permanently attached to the 25.4 post. I ensured good weld penetration by notching the end of the 1-1/8" sleeve and filling them with weldment.

Now that just needs to all be compression fit into the oversize steerer and welded up. I'm not using any bolts, but I've figured out a way to get the welding strong enough throughout the steerer.

I also built a new rear wheel for it a while ago. Its an Easton Tempest 2, relaced to a NOS 28H Velocity 'Aerohead Deep V' (before they just started calling it a deepV). The crazy thing about the Tempest 2 is that its half radial, and has wildly butted spokes that are threaded on both ends. Thankfully it originally had a rim with a very similar ERD to the Deep V.

Here's what the yet to be mitered Fuji frame looks like against the Peugeot.


I should probably put the 26x1" tire I've got on that Spinergy Spox front wheel for better perspective next time I do a mock up shot.

Today I also figured out a much better way to sleeve the carbon fork's aluminum steerer into my oversize extended steerer too, and its going to be amazing. (hint: no bolts, no welding)

I'm still debating on how to set up the drivetrain. WMD and I were discussing the different methods of having it set up with dual chains, utilizing the fuji's bottom bracket. For now though, I think I'll just add a derailleur tab to the left stay of the Fuji, and run it 1x9. THat should give me the range I need, and suite the Time Trial aesthetic that I'm going for.

I absolutely cannot wait to take this bike on its first weekend trip up the 9W to Nyack!

New Wheel Day!

Gold medals for everyone!

I'm finally off that wobbly, S-bent, elliptical, spongey Ambrosio Excellence. Wow. What a misnomer. Thanks to Chombo for the Vee and Jam Pony bikes for hooking up the spokes.

Such a nice afternoon to build a wheel. I cued up the fittingly ridiculous 'Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' and grabbed one of my RatPack Hustle won beers, and set to work.

The first part, unwinding that damn Ambrosio was the hardest part. My hand hurt after this:



The old build was so tight that the spokes had practically fused together at the crossings.

I cleaned up my hub a bit and inspected the spoke holes. This would be the third wheel I've built with it. Some of the holes are stretched a bit in the direction of their spokes, but that's nothing to be concerned about. I think it was Jobst Brandt who said that if relacing a hub, you should always do it in the same direction, or the new stresses may be an issue and you would risk flange failure. I'm not gonna argue with Jobst.


One thing worth mentioning is how awesome it is to build a wheel while leaving your cogs on it! The spokes cleared the 14 and 15 tooth DA cogs with ease. I think the last time I built on this hub it had 15/16 cogs and was much more difficult.

The hot headed American gaijin kept getting himself into trouble with the young Yakuza hopefuls, as I relaxed, chuckled and brought the new rim into tension. Tonally, I knew this would be a clean build, without so much as glancing at the TS-2's caliper. It rings out beautifully.


..and here we are, all done. Bozoku style. I'm ready for some pedestrian clearing Dorifto chase scenes.