twenty miles can take all day

 

I had more fun on this ride...

Harv M, manager of the New Brunswick Bike Exchange (NBBX), arranged a ride for the volunteers, starting in Atlantic Highlands near the twin lights, going up the Henry Hudson trail about ten miles to the end of Sandy Hook, and back. So, twenty miles.

Well, yeah, it WAS the NBBX volunteers... but there was also Harv's boss, and a number of associated family, and some from his wife, Rosa's, volleyball team (that's she, above, expressing a loud and undoubtedly thoroughly-researched and thought-out opinion)... so there were 23 of us, at all kinds of riding abilities. 

We started at 9:45 (or a bit later) in the morning, and got back to the cars at about 4:30 pm, after getting completely separated and rejoining again, stopping for many picture stops, stopping for ice cream, stopping for a sit-down lunch at a local seafood place...

It was great fun. The NBBX volunteers are just a delight in my old age, the other folks were all friendly to newcomers; we had a great time. There are already rumblings of another NBBX volunteers ride.

At the start:

At Sandy Hook:

Gathering again:

So many bikes!

At the lighthouse:

Above, we decided the pig on Dr H's bike needed some ornamentation. Below, Soni coaches Marcia into yet another athletic climbing-on-top-of-something pose. (There's a story in it; ask them.)

 

On the Atlantic Highlands bridge. After getting completely separated, we caught up with the rest of the gang again.

It was a great day. We're losing Harv and Rosa to the greater world. I will miss them. I'm glad I had this experience to share with them, and with all the folks who came along.

sensah installation

 Only a day or two after I'd ordered the Sensah Empire groupset, it arrived, which tell me that Sensah is making a point of having stock here in the US for quick delivery.

Instructions in Chinese (I think)...

... and English.

The goods. I popped for the 6-piece set, because I haven't had an 11-speed setup, and needed the cassette and chain, in addition to the controls and derailleurs.

You don't need to stick around for the whole post; I'm going into detail below for the bike nerds and my fellow volunteers at the New Brunswick Bike Exchange, one of whom asked for a how-to post (it will follow, Anna). Let's get the installation review out of the way right away:

The bad: The controls were difficult to install, because the clips that go around the bar were too small. I suspect that my 70's-era handlebar may be a little larger than the current specification, but I had to remove the clips from the controls, and drill out the mounting holes so they were wider, so I could get the clips around my bars and into position. I have not heard of anyone else having this problem, but it will be part of my product review when I post it (but I'll wait until I have more miles on the groupset to do that). Edit Sep 1 2020: I unwrapped the bar and got a diameter measurement. Standard drop bars are either 22.2 or 23.8mm diameter at the sections that don't go in the stem. My 80's-era Cinelli Campione del Mondo bars are almost 25mm diameter. For those of you who are using handlebars that are less than 40 years old, you should have no problem. For the rest of you, you can get these guys, chuck the nuts and bolts, replace the clampy bits that come with the Sensah set with the clampy bits you just got, and tighten 'em up. Even with the new parts, cost will only be just north of $200.

The good: First, I like the appearance and finish. I went for the all-aluminum set; there's a faux-carbon-fiber decal on the rear derailleur I could do without, but I like the techie look of the derailleur generally, and I like the brake/shifter controls. I had heard complaints about the quality of the hoods, but Sensah appears to have addressed that.

Second, this was the easiest install I've ever done. Once I'd set the high and low limit screws for the derailleurs, it went together like Legos, and the shifting worked the first time without the need for fussy adjustment (I ALWAYS have to adjust once I install the cables... but not this time). I had to pay attention to the B-screw, but that's expected: every bike is going to have a different clearance for the rear derailleur, and it was easy to set. I expect it will need adjustment in the morning after the housing beds in, but that's also usually unavoidable.

Third, the shifting is quick and crisp. I've rolled around the neighborhood, moving through the gears, and even cross-chained, I've had no problem with the shifts. I'm going to need to learn how to use these controls (they use the SRAM system of a short push to upshift, and a long push to downshift), and I miss the ability to "dump the cassette" (to shift across many gears in the back, like when a sudden, sharp uphill appears), but I'll have to get used to that.

So early indications are that this set is a good mechanical replacement for Shimano 105, if that goes all-electronic. (The set is also available with a 34 large cog, which is a boon to hill climbers.)

I had planned to put it on the monstercross bike, but the brake levers aren't compatible with the v-brakes... so I swallowed hard, and mounted it up on the titanium Yellow Maserati.

OK; bike-nerdy stuff:

The chain whip, that holds the cassette when you need to loosen (blue handle pointing to 1:00) and the beam torque wrench for installing and removing the cassette (pointing to about 7:30).

Bars, ready for installation. In the center are cross-top brake levers, so I can engage the brakes from the top of the bars, as well as from the controls (when installed).

The clip, with the hole that needed widening. I used a power drill and ran the side of the drill bit up and down the side of the hole.

Sighting across the brake hoods to get 'em even. (I'm not great at this; I often need a second opinion.)

Sorry for the out-of-focus, but you can see the grey mushroom head of the brake cable installed on the lever, with the cable disappearing into the hood to the left.

 

 

 

For this setup, the cables and housing go under the bar tape: brake cable in front, derailleur cable in back. Tape the housings to the bars before wrapping them.

Titanium is known for "galling", fusing to other metals if they are in close contact under pressure (like when you tighten a bolt). In other applications, we might grease a bolt before installation to forestall sticking; for titanium (like my bike frame), we use a special preparation. You don't need a lot, but you'll be happier if it's there. This is the rear derailleur being mounted.

On initial installation, the derailleur needs adjustment; the wheel on the derailleur needs to point to the outermost gear; in this case it's pointing to the second gear (that thing pointing to the outermost gear is part of the cage). Loosen the high-gear limit screw until they line up.

Adjust the B-screw until the chain just barely goes between the cog on the cassette and the jockey wheel on the rear derailleur, but does not get hung up in the system.

Feel free to contact me with questions or comments.

groupset experiment

 Shimano is coming out with electronic shifting for the 105 component range. Rumor has it that availability of mechanical 105 will end; Shimano may expect entry-level bikes to be fitted with Tiagra (10-speed) or Sora (9-speed) road components. 

There's been a certain amount of angst on the bike websites and Youtube channels I frequent about whether this will drive people to SRAM Apex or Rival, or even Campagnolo Chorus, which are available as mechanical groupsets. Others are moving towards Microshift (a Taiwanese company) or Micronew (which basically robs Microshift technology and builds products in China).

I'm a fan of mechanical groupsets. First, they're cheaper, and the price of entry into road cycling is already high. Second, I love watching the levers pull the cables and do the mechanical stuff on the bike frame; I think internally-routed cables eliminate some of the wonder of the mechanically-shifted bike (I like to say that Leonardo could have figured it out). Third, I don't want to have to mess around with charging the bike. You can theoretically go a year or two without charging, and for me, that's even worse than the need for frequent charging. How am I supposed to remember the last time I charged the bike? Is that another thing I've got to track?

I've been following Luke over at Trace Velo, who's got a series of videos where he buys cheap Chinese components on Ali Express, and builds them up on his bikes (or into new bikes). He's been pretty happy with this 11-speed Sensah group, so I decided to give it a try. (Rumor is that a number of SRAM engineers were unhappy, and started Sensah; I've heard that Sensah shifters are compatible with SRAM derailleurs, but I cannot confirm, or find a citation right now.)

Ali Express is a bit of a wild-west of shopping, and I know there have been improvements to the Sensah setup (which may not have filtered out to all the other vendors), so I decided to go straight to the Sensah Store and buy from them.

I plan to try it out on the Krakow Monster, my monstercross bike (I am NOT messing with the friction-shifting Gevenalle set on the Yellow Maserati, my titanium bike). The Monster is currently set up with 9-speed, so, in addition to the shifters, I'll need rear derailleur, cassette, and chain (I could use the current front derailleur, as the chainrings are 11-speed-compatible, but I'll probably change that out too, to be complete and consistent). I ordered this six-component kit (I don't need brakes, and Sensah doesn't make them - the brakes in the groupsets that include them are from other vendors, with inconsistent levels of quality). At the time I ordered, it was about $175 US including shipping. (You can get carbon levers, for about $70 more, but nobody who knows me will be surprised that I didn't go with the carbon fiber - plastic bikes; hrmph.)

I expect it in about two weeks. When I build it up, I'll do another post, and when I've given it a reasonable trial, I'll do another (and I'll probably cross-post on the Ramblin' Wrench blog).

good ride despite the closed stop

 I knew I was going to have almost 70 miles yesterday, so I chose an easy route for today's ride. I got six takers.

Andrew A is back from Ithaca!

Rick W picked us up in Kingston.

My intention was to do a route down to Kingston, then back up to Millstone for a stop at the Sunrise Deli, then up to Schoolhouse Road, before heading straight back to Claremont School. The toilet at the Sunrise has always been a bit iffy, so we made a point of offering potty stops (Dave refers to it as "looking for his golf ball") at a number of places along the route.

It's a good thing we did; the Sunrise Deli is now closed on Sundays.

We stopped there anyway, and a couple of our number headed around to a local gas-station-with-convenience-store for some quick food. I didn't, and I felt it at the end; I was DFL heading into the parking lot.

But all the riders seemed to have enjoyed the ride, and we brought it in at the low-B pace that I've been aiming for. (It didn't hurt that many of the faster riders have found another, faster ride).

Since I've been home, though, I've been eating everything except the cabinet hinges. I've got to make a better plan.