bike

For those of you who know me well, you know that I love bikes. You may, however, not know exactly how enamored I am, but be forewarned: this post will give you a glimpse into my cycle madness.

A quick primer for the uninitiated: Bikes come in many forms –
mountain,

road,


cyclocross,


tandem,

“fixie,”

29er,

and the list could go on. These types of bikes have their respective uses, and form most always follows function. Thus, mountain bikes allow the rider to sit more upright and are equipped with heavy-duty wheels clad in thick, knobby tires, and are commonly adorned with suspension forks to take the abuse of rocks and tree roots. The road bike, alternately, is built for speed and efficiency, and in its form lies utter beauty.

I have heard it said that the road bicycle is a piece of “ride-able” art, and I fully agree. There is something about the sharp lines created by the bike frame in contrast to the curves of the wheels and the drop of the handlebars that is captivating to me. The combination of mechanical advantage with the artistic sensibilities of a fine road bicycle is a divinely appointed marriage. To ride such a bicycle on an open road, to interact with art and machine in such a way, is a transcendent experience.

The heart of the bicycle is its frame. To some, a bicycle can have soul (or moxie, or mojo, or cache) and it is largely from the culmination of materials, methods, and heritage from which the frame is born that soul issues forth.

Frames are made from different materials to suit different purposes. Carbon is light, stiff, and compliant, and most carbon frames are made in a mold and popped out like an ice cube from an ice cube tray. Aluminum frames are welded together and make for a light, stiff, and bone-jarring ride. Titanium, too, is welded, and titanium frames are said to have a magic-carpet like ride quality. In my humble opinion, however, steel is the material of the bicycle gods. The first bikes were made of steel and the greats of the cycling world – Merckx, Anquetil, Coppi, LeMond – all rode steel bikes, which makes it a material steeped in tradition. And while steel may be welded, truly fine steel bicycles are brazed or constructed with lugs. That is, with brazed frames, the tubes are joined with a flowing river of melted silver or brass around the joints. On lugged frames, the tubes are inserted into lugs that span the gaps between tubes, and silver is flowed into the infinitely small gap between the lug and the tube to secure the two. Steel bikes have soul.

(Unpainted fillet brazed joint)















(Unpainted lugged joint)

There are dozens upon dozens of companies today like Trek, Cannondale, and Litespeed that make bikes in carbon, aluminum, and titanium. Those who work in steel are increasingly rare, and those who build bikes by brazing or with lugs are truly an elite bunch. Bike manufacturers fit into roughly three tiers:

1. Big manufacturers like Trek and Giant that make most, if not all, of their bikes overseas, and sell thousands of frames a year.
2. Smaller, independent shops like Seven and Independent Fabrication that make frames “in-house” with a small team of people working on each frame.
3. Artisan or “Craft” builders. These are individuals who craft each aspect of the frame. These are the bikes that inspire my passion.

For years I have wanted a bicycle with soul, and for years I saved, tucking a dollar or two at a time into an envelope labeled “bike fund,” as I obsessively investigated the world of the artisan builders. Finally the time arrived when I had the amount for such a bicycle saved, and I chose to work with a builder from Worcester, MA.

The process began in early February, when Mike Zanconato responded to one of my email inquires with a friendly phone call. I asked dozens of questions and made an appointment to visit him at his shop at the end of February. On one of the coldest days of the year, I dressed in layers and made my way to the subway, which would carry me to the commuter rail, which would bring me to Worcester about 3 hours later.

Mike picked me up from the train station and took me to the shop where I finally got a first-hand look into the framebuilding world. The shop was in an old woolen mill with creaky and uneven floorboards, and from the rafters hung bikes in various states of repair or production. I ogled the old mills, lathes, and frame-jig that he uses to produces his fine frames, and held in my hands a few frames that were in mid production. He let me dig around in boxes of lugs and look at individual steel tubes and ask a number of questions, and by the end of the day I was standing in my socks on the old floor, wearing my cycling shorts, while he took measurements of my reach, my flexibility, the length of my femurs, and a number of other details so that he could create a frame that “fit” my body like a custom tailored suit.

For the next three months while I awaited my name to reach the top of the production queue I looked at thousands of pictures of bikes, trying to decide exactly what details I wanted for my custom bicycle. Eventually I settled on a set of Henry James lugs, a steel fork, fastback seatstays, and a quill stem. Mike even found a way to get me a 1984 Cinelli “giro d'talia” handlebar, which, let me tell you, is full of soul.

The wait was agonizing, but the result is lithe, aggressive, and beautiful bike that makes me swoon. The lugs are hand-filed and sharp as a nail. On the back of the head tube is a smart little peg that allows me to carry a tire pump wedged into the frame. The drop-outs into which the wheels clamp are stainless steel and polished. The paint is smooth, and glossy, and rich. Sometimes, on my lunch hour, I sneak down into our storage locker beneath our apartment, and take a quick look before I head back to work…

A few pictures of the finished product!











































A few links to serious framebuilders and beautiful bikes if you're interested:

http://www.zanconato.com/
http://www.vanillabicycles.com/
http://www.jonnycycles.com/
http://www.kirkframeworks.com/
http://www.rebolledocycles.com/
http://www.richardsachs.com/