30 Aug 2011

Having a ‘Not Quite Spring But Close Enough’ Clean Sale here at Thylacine HQ.

If you’re in the market for a unique frame, please be sure to check out the following eBay auctions. More to follow…..

Arete SL 29er, Medium size.

Tephra SL, 60cm (-ish).

Posted by warwick @ 12:21 am

29 Aug 2011

I’ll make no attempt to cover up the fact that I’m definitely one of those mechanics with a shit car, or plumber with leaky taps, if you prefer, type person. When you spend enough time on other peoples’ bikes, the thought of doing pretty much anything to your own just smacks of being forced to do your homework or wash the dishes, so it’s really only when the squeaks of the drivetrain din above the blaring of your headphones that you think “Maybe I should squirt some shit on the chain?”.

Earlier on in the week I finally got my Tephra XK, which is a KVA Stainless Steel based Cyclocross frame, so this was good motivation to strip the commuter and move the parts over that I was going to move, and add the new ones specific for this frame. My ‘daily driver’ for years now has been one of the very first Thylacines - a Tephra SL - built sometime back in 2004. It started off it’s life as a straight road bike, then converted to a flat-bar road bike, and finally to a drop bar commuter. I have no idea how many kilometers this thing has done, but suffice to say from a guy who doesn’t drive, it’s done a fair few.

The one thing I have to praise big-time, is Dura Ace 7700. I have absolutely smashed my 7700 gruppo, changed the chain, front small chainring, and cassette a few times, but it just keeps powering on. The rear derailleur after a swap of the pulleys looks brand new, and the shifters just keep on going, clack after clack. They’re sloppier now than when they first came out, but that’s probably fixable if I could be bothered. It’s the last of the classic Dura-Ace and I really can’t think of any reason to change it.

The only issue I have now is the cranks. Seriously, I put these things on half a decade ago and left them there, and when I pulled the non-drive side off, the neon green Shimano grease was still neon green. The drive side however, when I tried to back out the self-extracting crank bolt, the outer plate that it pushes against jumped it’s threads. Of course, as with all shit mechanics I don’t have that specific tool, so looks like another trip to Cyclic is on the cards.

Part of me wants these cranks to be toast, but another half doesn’t. I wouldn’t mind something a little stiffer, but they’ve been so bomber it seems a waste. The other problem is, as a lifetime Shimano user, I wouldn’t actually mind trying some Campag for a change, so if I go some Campag cranks, I’d have to change the drivetrain over. Dilemmas, dilemmas.

Okay, quick visit to Evan and Cyclic, a few bashes and scratches later and the cranks are off one frame ond onto the new one. Not so bad afterall.

Now, come brief comments on the new bits.

SDG Bell-Air saddle (brown/brown) / Fizik microtex bartape (brown).

• In case anyone cared, the colours of these two match perfectly, making the Fizik a great tape for those wanting an alternative to leather. I just wish it had a little more stretch to it. The Bell-Air saddle looks wicked - now I just have to hope the shape suits my butt, but after a quick tootle it seems pretty damn nice. Time will tell.

Posted by warwick @ 6:58 am

01 Aug 2011

There’s been an interesting tie-in or correlation at the moment, a convergence and dialogue over issues such as the paradigm shift in some societies towards an ‘economising’ of the consumer lifestyle, about sustainability, living within our collective means, and living appropriately post GFC.

There was an article in The Age over the weekend in which the author was reflecting back on 5 months in the US, and how he was shocked post financial crisis at what he saw as little if any change in the way people viewed the economy and the way they spent their money. He saw not even the GFC making any impact on the way people consumed and their dependance on credit to prop up their lifestyles, which was a stark contrast to what he viewed in the UK where he witnessed what he described as an almost ‘post-war’ (as in WWII) ‘Austerity’ in which the collective zeitgeist in the UK is being transformed into one of ’sensibility’ and ‘moderation’, where such things were viewed as virtues and a mark of intelligence and worldliness. In the US he declared, such ways of thought were laughable and defeatist and contrary to the Great American Dream, despite the GFC and huge tracts of the Mid-West abandoned as the property market went through the floor. More is still more, it seems.

Okay, so what has this to do with bikes, I hear you say. Well, there’s a couple of trains of thought I’ve been having recently. One is to do with carbon fiber. As everyone is aware (or maybe not) carbon is made from, well, carbon, which is for all intents and purposes a product fo the petro-chemical industry. For well over six months now (actually it’s probably 12) I’ve had most of everything I need to make a carbon fiber frame, but something was holding me back (I mean, aside from my laziness). The main reason I was looking into doing carbon bikes, is that there is a good wealth of local knowledge regarding it, and the barriers to entry are fairly low. Everything kinda points to carbon as being a good little project - however, there just isn’t the infrastructure to deal with the fall-out, and that bugs me.

In theory, carbon frames should last a long time and be fairly easily repairable, but the consumerist mentality and the lack of ways to recycle and repair the stuff makes it pretty damn ugly at this juncture. The scale of it was brought into stark contrast for me this month, with both the winning of the Tour by Cadel Evans and how that will put more bums-on-seats, and how some people view the compulsory use of helmets as being an inherently bad thing and there was a planned protest in Melbourne this weekend. Both more carbon bikes on the market and being sold, and more foam helmets being bought and sold are both not great for the big picture.

There was also another project brought to light this week, and that being the Toyota-Parlee ‘electric’ bike that uses a hacked Shimano Di2 shifting system, an iPhone and some sort of headset to actuate hands free remote shifting. Sounds like SciFi but the thing just looked like yet another white carbon bike to me - albeit one that looks like a prop from iRobot. As I was watching the video, I was reminded of the conversations I’ve had with my wife regarding why I think Electric Hybrid cars are dumber than the current crop of cars because they have a whopping lump of landfill in the middle called the batteries, have more embodied energy than the existing technology, and in the case of the Prius actually use more energy and petrol than a similar output Diesel. Not to mention we get our electricity here in Australia from this lovely stuff called Brown Coal.

Added to the fact that I find any link between car companies and bike companies fairly ironic, I found myself being more interested in the moral dilemma of being asked by a car company to develop an electronic concept bike rather than interested in the bike itself.

Technology for technology’s sake, is surely little more than a novelty, isn’t it? It’s novel in a way that technology companies’ drip feed the masses just to get decent ROI, and only invest in new technology once the old technology has been milked for all it’s worth. You could argue that the cable actuated derailleur system is part of that same process, and that 100 years or whatever has been enough, thankyouverymuch, but for me at least, I actually don’t want technology to interfere with my bike and also my cycling experience. Heck, I haven’t even had a computer on my bike for the best part of 10 years.

Of course I’m not a luddite - for from it - but the beauty and simplicity of the bike for me is totally ruined by carbon fiber and batteries. There comes a point where the ‘improvements’ really only exist to feather the nests of companies trying to be different, to make money where there was none, the whole P.T. Barnum sideshow extravaganza. There is no measurable performance difference for 99% of the population with most of this stuff, and a lot of it will lose favour with the consumer once Cadel switches teams next season, so why bother?

I think one of the inherent problems is that technology is inextricably linked to the consumerist lifestyle. Moore’s Law and the cues outside the Apple store upon release of the latest iWhateva dictate that once you’re on the escalator, it’s hard to get off. I don’t want my cycling experience to be like that. I always stress to potential customers that custom bikes are investments and that I’d be disappointed if I didn’t design for them a bike that they were still using 10 years from now. My ‘Daily Driver’ bike is one of the first Thylacines and is approaching that sort of vintage, and is adorned with older trustworthy parts such as handbuilt X3/x2 wheels, steel forks, and 9 speed Dura-Ace. The 10 year old Tange Technoglide headset has only just crapped out it bearings. The Tune rear hub has been eyebrow raisingly’ robust. Being able to change gears on this bike just by thinking real hard seems, well, stupid.

My new frame has made me think about the current state of affairs as it’s Stainless Steel. I want low maintenance, bombproof parts, that can pound out the miles and all I want to think about is the traffic lights and fellow road users, and all I want to hear is the mechanical whirr of the chain and the road beneath my tires. I want to be riding this bike in 2022.

That’s given me a thought. Maybe every year I should offer Original Owners of 10 year old frames some sort of reward? A new frame at a significant discount sounds a bit counter productive, but it certainly is a novel though. A free repaint? A slab of beer?

Leave it with me….

One thing you don’t have to leave with me however, is the question of being asked by Toyota to make a concept bike using the Prius as inspiration. Not that it would ever happen, but the answer would be pretty much “You’ve got the wrong guy.” Ironically, if you think a bit harder about the Prius, how would you equate a bicycle to it? It would be made of steel, because the Prius is made of steel. It would have Di2, but it would be an automatic, not a manual. It would have something solar powered to keep you cool because the Prius has that. It wouldn’t be a racing bike because the Prius’ home ground is the inner city commute, not the race track. In the video, they mentioned the Prius having a number of ‘firsts’, but it’s not an especially groundbreaking car in the same way that the Honda Clarity is, for example. I’d almost go so far as to attach the label ‘greenwash’ to it.

So all you’re really left with at the end of the day, is a car company throwing money at a small bike company to create a publicity tool - use a car with more embodied energy than the current technology and more environmental impact than alternatives as inspiration, and create a bike that really has nothing to do with the original concept of the car.

Ironically, more of the same problems, and less of the solutions. Projects like this exhibit none of the post GFC ‘Austerity’ which should inform a new way to live our lives which is realistic and sustainable. You’d never think a joint project from an ‘alternative’ car and a bicycle company would leave us still here, plowing the same old (oil) fields, and yet here we are.

Posted by warwick @ 10:31 am