As you possibly can think about, since receiving the Vinershiki I’ve had Italian Metal on the mind, so yesterday I commuted on the Pink Faggin:
The Homer is significantly extra comfy over the course of a 30-plus mile round-trip commute, however typically it feels good to skip the pannier and get on one thing gentle and nimble:
Additionally, someway the Faggin has the quietest drivetrain I’ve ever skilled:
I don’t know if it’s the close-ratio chainrings which are so shut in ratio they’re successfully pointless:
The 12-25 cassette I used to assume was for “coaching” and “climbing” however now makes me surprise the place the hell my low gears went:
Or the truth that the derailleur pulley tooth are worn to nice factors:
Then right this moment I acquired proper again on the Vinershiki. I’m off Strava now and there’s no laptop on the bike…
…however luckily I had ample alternative to see how quick gradual I used to be going:
Although nonetheless largely in dirtbag mode, I mitigated the impact considerably with a Vulpine merino pullover:
I additionally figured I’d see how the Pearl Izumi Canyon footwear did with the toe clips and straps:
The Vans clown footwear I’d worn on my first trip slot in there nicely, although the only is slightly comfortable for an old-timey pedal meant for a slotted cleat, which you’ll be able to form of really feel digging into your foot slightly bit on climbs. As I suspected, the firmer sole of the Canyon was higher on this regard, however as I additionally suspected the bulkier higher wasn’t nice for getting out and in of the clips. (It’s a shoe meant for flat pedals, in any case.) Relaxation assured I’m making preparations for extra applicable footwear as I sort this, however till then I believe the clown footwear are the best way to go.
Footwear apart, up to now it’s laborious to search out fault with the bike. Actually laborious. Like, it’s nearly the Platonic superb of a street bike. But when I needed to choose one thing, I assume it will be…what, the aero-mounted shifters perhaps?
Objectively talking, it’s simply higher to have slightly extra distance between them. Within the regular place there’s extra room to seize one with out hitting the opposite, particularly on rear downshifts whenever you form of palm the lever for, uh, lever-age. However after all there’s nothing goal about classic bikes, and the aero shifters additionally make the bike much more cool and fascinating, which arguably outweighs the (extraordinarily tiny) inconvenience of the shifters being slightly too shut collectively.
Additionally, it’s very easy to shift the appropriate lever along with your left hand or vice-versa if you happen to ever want to try this, in order that’s one thing.
In the meantime, the shifters on the Vengeance Bike have been separated by an incredible wall of plastic, which is just about the precise reverse of the set-up on the Vinershiki, although paradoxically in each instances the aim was aerodynamics:
Humorous how that works.
Oh, I did must cosy up the bolt on the shifter mount only a tiny bit:
I don’t know if that’s one thing that often works its means free, or if I’m the primary one who’s needed to contact it in 41 years.
Aside from that, what’s to not love?
If I have been a author for “Bicycling” in 1982, I’d after all rhapsodize the Italian-made Nishiki Cervino by describing it as a “Guido wrapped in a kimono,” a stereotype-laden description which might by no means fly right this moment. However simply think about opening this:
And studying all about how driving the Cervino is like opening this:
Solely to disclose this:
By the best way, talking of hiding stuff, for these of you who have been questioning in regards to the cable routing…
…they disappear right here:
Then the entrance derailleur cable reappears down within the bike’s crotchal area:
Whereas the rear derailleur cable doesn’t emerge till the very finish of the chainstay:
Whereas we’re again right here, let’s admire the Tremendous File derailleur:
It seems like one thing you’d use to offer a tattoo, and it’s as mechanical and purposeful because the C-File derailleur is bulbous and clean:
And but I’d argue that each are equally compelling.
Think about additionally the brake calipers…
…and what adopted just a few years later:
The Delta is much-maligned for its supposed lack of stopping energy, however I discovered the alternative to be true, and if you’d like proof, contemplate that I took the Vengeance Bike to Switzerland, rode it by way of the mountains, and by no means launched myself off an Alp. It’s definitely a extra highly effective brake than the one on the Vinershiki–which may even cease you simply nice–although this comes on the expense of a extra difficult design that eats up just about each final millimeter of tire clearance.
Talking of tires, the tubulars triggered my long-dormant tire-wiping impulse:
I think it does about as a lot as throwing a pinch of salt over your shoulder.
Perhaps I ought to carry some salt.
