Friday, July 13, 2007

BSNYC ADD Time Capsule

I just excavated the time capsule I buried in the early 90s. Even though you should leave a time capsule in the ground long enough for a completely new generation to dig it up and appreciate it, I didn’t have the patience, hence the “ADD.” I pulled out some interesting stuff, including a Mavic Zap group, one of those stupid split-downtube Colnago Bititans, a Rock Shox Roubaix road suspension fork, and a whole slew of machined mountain bike components in an assortment of anodized rainbow colors.

So now it’s time to fill it back up and bury again, which I’ll do over the weekend. Here are some of the things I’m putting inside:

A Track Wheelset With Lime-Green Velocity Deep-V Rims
We should all have a good laugh when we pull these things out 10 years from now. “God, remember when people actually used to ride these things?” At least we’ll be able to unlace the wheels and re-use the hubs. Unless the whole thing boomerangs on us and they’ve gone retro-chic by then. I guess we won’t be laughing in that case.

A Picture of a Guy With a Beard

A lot of the guys who ride lime-green Velocitys also have beards. This picture will allow us to fondly recall a time when people wanted to look like the evil Russian guy in “American Flyers.”

A Set of Dura-Ace Triple Road Cranks

The compact revolution has allowed thousands of road cyclists to dispense with their ungainly triple cranksets. Sure, on the road you still need the wide range of the triple for applications like touring, but the days of the race-level triple are surely numbered. So it should be fun to see this thing in 10 years. We can reminisce about a time when heavyset riders made rationalizations like, “Well, Roberto Heras used one on the Angliru.”

Roberto Heras

Remember that guy?

A Whole Bunch of 10-Speed Road Cassettes

This is more of an investment than anything else. I figure I can sell these for a whole lot of money to the retrogrouches who refuse to upgrade to 14-speed.

A Whole Bunch of Chris King Headsets

Another financial investment. Regardless of whether they're worth the price, nothing inside our outside of cycling holds its value like these things. This is not an endorsement, it's just a fact. You can’t even get a used one cheap on eBay. I’ve tracked the retail price of these things over the years against the price of gold and the indices of all the world's stock markets and believe me when I say they offer a better return than any of them. As long as Mr. King successfully continues his anti-integrated headset scare tactics I’m putting all my money in his headsets.

A Mountain Bike With 26-Inch Wheels and Rim Brakes

It may be that when we wheel this thing out we’ll all ride around on our disc brake equipped 29ers or 650Bers or whatever other size they come up with, laughing at this primitive machine with its diminutive wheels. Or there may have been a nuclear apocalypse, in which case hopefully I’ll be alive to ride it over miles and miles of scorched earth, having a great time regardless of wheel size.

A Pair of Tubeless Road Wheels

“What’s that, Grandpa?”

“Why, it’s a set of tubeless road wheels.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, it means you don’t need to use an inner tube.”

“Oh. Well, why did they think that was a good idea on a road bike?”

“I don’t know, Grandson. I don’t know.”


Anonymous said...

Chris King headsets will be the standing currency in the post-apocalypse society…

Chris H said...

don't forget to dig up a photo of a multi-color anondized Gorilla Billet rear derailleur circa 1997. Why no one thought a $400 CNC machined mtn bike component was a good idea escapes me.

Anonymous said...

Eric & Ben, Are you reading this? Weren't we riding with someone Saturday on a Colnago Bititan? Steve

Niki said...

The guy with the beard is Mike D. Chances are in 10 years he'll look exactly the same.

Fritz said...

In ten years, Mr D will be balding, though still bearded.

In my area (northern California) are many aging, bald, bearded cyclists riding around on steel touring bikes with bar end shifters, fenders and racks. 30 years ago they were the hipsters of the day. Except we called them "hippies."

big jonny said...

Yeah, Mike D ain't gonna change. And I can respect that. I've met him. He's aight.

I kinda want a set of those lime green wheels. For my single speed cross bike. So I can beat the living shit out of them and enjoy every minute. Every rock, blam! Take that, bitches!

King headsets are damn nice. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Maybe. You can get a pretty good headset for $30 bucks. And it'll last years. That's one third the price...

What else? Triple cranksets. Just put a mountain bike cassette and derailleur on the back. You’ll end up with some low gears and keep the usability of two chainrings up front. Why did I type “usability”? Because triples suck it. What in the hell do you gain by having a dedicated bb, crankset, shiftlever, front & rear ders? You can get the same low gears by changing your 1) chain 2) cassette and 3) rear der. only.

Well, with nine speed bikes you can. Until Shimano drops ten speed xtr. Campy offers a cassette with a 29 that they claim works with a standard der. I’ve never tried it, but a 29 is damn low. Shimano goes down to a 27 tooth.

Also, why not just get a compact front set with a 34 ring? How much lower do you really need to go than a 34 x 27?

filtersweep said...

Mike D. will be riding a 'bent if he keeps up the beard. It is a law of nature.

BikeSnobNYC said...


If he did would the entire messenger subculture follow suit? Our urban landscape would change considerably. Has anybody ever heard of a fixed-gear recumbent? I think that might have to replace the pie plate on a fixed-gear as my new Holy Grail...

I kind of regret using the "Red Light Go" image for the beard bit. It's not exactly the look I'm referring to, though it's probably the inspiration behind it. I was thinking more of the legions of guys in Williamsburg on new Pistas wearing skateboard helmets and sporting bushy beards. It's a very definite type. I may have to take some spy shots one day.


Anonymous said...

There was a guy doing skids at outside this party in Brooklyn tonight. He had lime green rims. I wanted to shoot him with... I don't know... is it really necessary to do skids outside a party? Like, want attention? Oh yeah, you have lime green rims of course you do! And came home and saw your post, just thought I would share.

big jonny said...

Skidding your fixie with lime green rims out in front of a party is the IROC of the new millenia.

IROC = Italian retard out cruising.

T-tops, wife beater, acid washed Lee jeans, shitty, thin little $200 gold necklace, pathetic excuse for a mustache and high top Nikes. Or worse, the Reeboks with the fucking velco straps.

Or even worse – fucking wrestling boots worn unlaced.

Oh God, the memories….

Tim Jackson- Masi Guy said...

Hey now... don't go too hard on the anodized stuff. Anybody else remember Topline cranks? I had the black, the purple and the silver... each was a warranty replacement for the previous one after I cracked them all.

I love King stuff. I'd spend my daughter's college fund on King parts, but she doesn't have one yet. Might not ever. However... Stronglight Delta headsets have to go on the list of "best bang for the buck" headsets. I've got one that I got in high school in 1986 and it still spins smooth as ever. Gotta love those needle bearings.

When are we gonna bring back the Helicomatic hubs and freewheels? Those things were dope! I lost my freewheel tool/ spoke wrench/ bottle opener a couple years ago and have mourned the loss ever since. My Ibis Handjob bottle opener helps to ease the pain... but it still hurts.

Fritz said...

"Has anybody ever heard of a fixed-gear recumbent?"

That would be something like this, right?

charlie said...

Recumbents (are) bicycles and I enjoy mine along with several uprights in various configurations. Not only are they fast and comfortable but there is more innovation going on in the bent world than in "safety bike" road bike designs. Still like my old retro iron and my single speed so I guess I am bi-cyclical!

Kerry said...

I had a "time capsule" experience today: you could've literally just sealed the entire bike rack
(three fixies!!) as a lesson of how not to look like a douche bag.

First bike: poo-brown, riser bars, cutesy baby-blue Michelins andmatching grips but to top it off: a fucking Burberry patterned top tube pad!! I actually threw up in my mouth a little when I saw that.

2nd bike: navy-blue supposed trackie, complete with Deda Pista bars, and Mavic Ellipse wheels. BUT....Flats w/straps, NOT track pedals. Oh, and he was using quick releases, 'cause that's track style.

3rd bike: the Girlfriend's ride: baby-blue chop/flop nightmare, but at least her bike had a brake.

To top it all off, the jackass had the balls to wear a nice new Campy cycling cap, despite no Campy bits on any of the bikes.

The Campy hat/Burberry deserved a swift kick in the balls, but I had my daughter with me so I opted to just seeth internally until I could post this.

Austin said...

growing bike popularity means that people are going to bring to bikes surprising new things like burberry top pads. i am enthusiastic about it. there are unprecedented and exciting things happening to the activity and sport i have loved since my teens and something like this is just one sign of that.

fads happen, but i think mountain bikes are a good example of a fad that took off. i think the single speed/track bike trend will do the same. it's so cool to have manufacturers building bikes that are suited to a city environment, instead of cheap and crappy replicas of race bikes.

things like burbery pads support a cottage industry of local individuals making gear for bikes. 'hip' items like this reward these
people and encourage them to develop more cool stuff, maybe something you'll be excited to use one day.

High fives for bikers! Let's not be distracted from the real enemy in our midst, tri-geeks.

Dr. Logan said...

Throw a pair of capris in the capsule too. And power-bars too. Sooner or later someone is going to figure out that they're just crappy tasting candy bars.

Aaron said...

Can I score some of those anodized MTB parts you dug up? That aqua stem will look rad on my fix.

john said...

Earlier this year I had a steel frame repainted, and there was so much corrosion inside that I broke the lower headset bearing cartridge when I removed the cups. I sent it back to King, they replaced both cups and the lower bearing, and rebuilt the upper bearing, all at no charge. The headset is around 9 years old.

Their stuff is expensive, but they're one of the few companies that really support their products, so I'm inclined to say they're worth it.

Grey said...

Perhaps another one for the capsule: a high end road frame like the TCR Advanced with the integrated seat post.

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Unknown said...

It's been 10 years, is this time capsule really worth opening?