Category Archives: Bike

Went to drop in to Europa Cycles to get the BB out of my Paino (I threw out a lot of my tools in the move as they were rusted up) and almost got a heart attack when I saw that the shop was completely empty. Turns out they’ve moved just down the road!

Thank fuck for that!

These guys have been around since 1973 and whilst I’ve not seen John Abeni in many years now the shop is being run by his son Alan. I have so many great memories related to Europa as I visited Europa a LOT as a kid, both the huge store on Anzac Parade in Kingsford as well as their CBD store (where I used to drool over Colnago frames). I also did my year 10 work experience at the Europa (bike hire) shop in Randwick.

Nick’s Malvern Star Oppy on the scales.

It’s not a bike night without some bloodshed.

Eugene getting straight into replacing all gear cable outers and inners.

Nick putting on a new ZTTO cassette.

Old chain had to go.

New chain + cassette + gear cables = life.

Here’s cheers!

Final weight with KCNC seatpost clamp and QR skewers + carbon saddle.

The Oppy lives to fight another day.

Last night Nick and Eugene came over to work on Nick’s Oppy which was in much need of some TLC. BMU (Bikes Move Us) Bike Nights were a regular bike maintenance night that I used to host where anyone who needed anything done to their bikes would come over to get shit done. Add tunes, beers and pizza (and most of the time a post ride) and it’s a recipe for a rad night!

It’s it. What is it?

When I bought my SL8 from Pedalheads Cycles I was given the option to choose my bar width and stem length. The Roval Rapide cockpit only gets as narrow as 380mm so that was locked in, but the 380mm only comes in either a 90mm stem length or 115mm (quite odd that there is no 100mm option).

Of-course, for looks alone I went for the 115mm, but the 115mm stem plus the extra long SRAM Red E1 levers has had me at 20mm longer from saddle tip to centre of bars measurement than all my other bikes (partially due to me asking the shop to also clam my stem, again, for looks!).

I’ve put up with the stretched out position for the past 3 months, and on every ride I do I find myself moving my hands down the hoods (away from the brake levers) a few centimetres, but I’ve finally caved in and made the ridiculously expensive move to buy a 380/90 cockpit (RRP: $850 AUD).

It comes in at 299g, and I had Sam and Victor at CCACHE install it for me. Good news is that I managed to sell my 380/115 bars for $650 on Marketplace within minutes of listing them, and better news yet is that the 90mm stem whilst looking way less aggressive fits me SO much better.

It’s been raining for a week, but first ride out this morning with the new cockpit and I’ve broken all my PB’s at the park. What everyone else says is right; if you’re more comfortable you can ride faster for longer. I had to learn this for myself though because I’m a stubborn fuck that still prefers to learn things through experience (in this case, trial and error).

Holy grail!

I found a dude (Mark) on Marketplace selling a HUGE vintage Clamont race bike. Lovely frame but it was WAY too big for me. What caught my eye though was he had a full 9-Speed Dura-Ace groupset on it with indexed downtube shifters! I really want to keep the downtube shifters on the Paino, and I do love the quirkiness of the Campagnolo friction shifters, but indexed shifting would be a serious upgrade.

I made him an offer on the groupset, not the lot as all I needed was the front and rear derailleurs, chain, cassette, BB, shifters and crank, so over the week he was on a mission to find a buyer for the frame and hey, we got there! Mark’s a rad dude, he dropped off not only the parts I needed, but also threw in everything else; Mavic Open Pro wheelset with new GP4000 tyres and Dura-Ace hubs, Cinelli stem, bars, Shimano brake levers, SPD pedals, seatpost and Turbo saddle.

Stuff I’ve got, ready to go on:
Brake Calipers: Cane Creek eeBrakes Gen 3 (199g)
Brake Levers: TRP RRL-SR (286g)
Crankset: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 Cranks 53/39 172.5 (604g)
Front Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7800 (111g)
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Dura Ace 7800 (183g)
Shifters: Shimano Dura Ace 7700 indexed 9-Speed downtube shifters (78g)

Still not sure about the stem setup. I bought a 120mm NITTO UI-12 SSB quill stem that’ll take a 31.8 bar. It looks rad but it’s super heavy at 359g. I found another quill stem for 31.8 bars and still waiting for that to come in. Also got a lightweight quill adapter so I could run a spare Extralite stem I have. Waiting on a carbon seatpost and carbon bars from Ali, still not sure what saddle to run.

The 8-Speed cassette finally came in the mail today so I got it on, new chain too. Can’t wait to take the old girl for a ride!

Last weekend the boys and I did the CP to Lapa ride and instead of riding my SL8 I thought I’d ride my gravel bike this time. Why? Well I was looking for a disadvantage to push myself a little harder, but conceptually I always thought that the perfect road bike for bad roads would be a gravel bike; tougher, less punctures and more comfortable.

Not having clipless pedals was mindless bliss and made for quick starts off the lights and the playful nature of the Grizl made riding across footpaths to bike paths to road and jumping off gutters really fun.

I managed to keep up with the boys AOK (I was dropped on the climbs though!) and even managed to get some nice comments on the bike from other roadies out there. I really loved how relaxed and and fun the Grizl was to ride so I started looking into 650B tyres with less knobby tread (project no drop). As expected, there’s not much out there for 650B wheels, but what was out there all seemed to be pretty damn good quality.

I settled on a set of Japanese made René Herse Babyshoe Pass in 42C and opted for the tougher more durable endurance model which come with the dark tan sidewalls. I found these tyres in stock at Off Course in Melbourne. They did have a much lighter Extralight version, but I’m trying my best to not go weight weenie on this bike as I’ve managed to literally leave it untouched with no modifications since I’ve bought it. They also had a super fat version, but I figure these at 42C are only a little narrower than the 45C knobby tyres that came on the bike and from all reviews they seem to be a great choice for mixed road and light gravel use.

Of-course I still couldn’t help but weigh the bike. Now down from 9.03kg’s to 8.71kg’s (for the love of God please do not mod the Grizl!).

Didn’t need the extra comfort so I decided to take off the 30C rear tyre which ballooned out past the rear rim, and replace it with a 28C which now not only complies with the 105 rule it’s also a decent weight savings.

Down from 6.50kg.