Pelotonof2

March is always a time of anticipation for me as the start of a new cycling gets into full swing. Just today, my lovely wife and I completed our first base-mile ride of the season; a short 50k ride that left us feeling drained yet hungry for more. A whole season of club rides and cycling vacations await us; some venturing into previously undiscovered territory and others taking us back over well familiar ground. With the cooler months in southern Germany waning, our long hiatus from the bikes, and months spent doing HIIT training, the winter has been a productive one. But we’re more than ready to take to the road once more.

As I write this article, streaming both the Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice on Eurosport, I love watching the Pro’s do battle. One of the things I always enjoy is admiring the bikes each team is riding; a Specialized Venge here, a Focus Izalco Max there, and my personal favorite of the pro peloton, the Cannondale SuperSix EVO. As a budding bike mechanic, I can only imagine how much fun it might be to turn a wrench for Slipstream Sports. For now, however, I build my own bikes.

Three seasons ago, I wrecked my carbon Cannondale Synapse after inadvertently connecting with a street pole at high speed. After discussing the issue with a friend of mine, he suggested switching to a platform that might withstand a bit more punishment. Thus began my love affair with Titanium. While I love and support my LBS and my favorite bike companies, I never liked the fact that can’t walk into a bike shop and walk out with the bike configuration of my choice. Since I was replacing my bike entirely, I took this as an opportunity to teach myself how to source components and build my own custom bicycle.

For those of you who appreciate the more technical aspects of bicycles I’d like to share my initial foray into world of mechanics:

For me, this has been a great setup and it has served me well for going on three seasons. The bike is nice and light, for a non-carbon platform, and demonstrates all the characteristics one might expect from titanium; stiff, responsive, and agile. I like the longer 177.5 crank arms; they’re a nice fit and offer a comfortable amount of leverage on climbs. Having ridden carbon and aluminum, I can honestly say nothing rides quite like titanium!

Having ridden for several seasons on just one bike, I have run into mechanical issues that have kept me off the road while repairs take place. Now I’m in the process of building yet another bike. This time, using a custom Habanero frame. Not only will this enable me to have a ‘spare’ at the ready, it also gives me the opportunity to try tailoring a configuration that is better suited to what I love most about road cycling; climbing. With that in mind, here is what I am building at the moment:

With this build, I’m trying a semi-compact crank set combined with a much lower range of gears. Additionally, I’ve switched from SRAM to Shimano in an effort to become familiar with the full range of group sets out there. (I’ll venture into Campagnolo as time and budget allow.) As a 6’4” rider who floats between 180-190 lbs., I opted for wheel sets a bit more stout than the average 20/24 spoke configuration. The 24/28 has served me well and I’ve carried that forward with this build. I may sacrifice a bit of weight, but now that I’m in my 40’s, I’m in no danger of being a competitive racer. Lastly, I’ve opted for a handlebar that’s 46cm wide. I’m hoping this will open up my posture on the bike while climbing and provide a bit more leverage than my current 44cm bars.

With two titanium rigs built to my own personal preferences, I like the idea of choosing the option best suited to that day’s elevation profile. It’s also a great learning experience as I attempt to broaden my horizons both in cycling and bike mechanics. In time, I hope to do other builds that I can share and I welcome any feedback or comments.

Thanks for reading!