Kevan
journeyman
Reged: 12/22/03
Posts: 70
|
|
Boy, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted here. To the old COG’rs I wish you all well and hope your travels have been fast and flat free. To the new folks, I hope you’re enjoying your ride here and on the road.
Anyway, to the post…
There is no doubt the Calfee is a bike like few others. But these days more and more manufacturers are turning out their plastic models, waging war with the likes of this bike. I suspect most will not match the character nor the quality that a Calfee steed has lived up to be. Every time I bring the bike off its wheel hooks, from the rafters, and lean it on the wall in preparation of a ride, I stand back for several seconds and just stare at this amazing work of art. It’s fast just leaning there. Weird perhaps, my staring, certainly my wife thinks so, and I can appreciate more people look at their bikes simply as tools, but I think they’re works of art, made by very talented craftsmen.
This is not the point to my thread, rather it’s to discuss the recent purchase of a steel-lugged Serotta Colorado II. As much as I wanted the Calfee, I’ve wanted to expand my stable too, but with kids entering the college years the challenge has been made even greater. Well, with the help and good timing of another Calfee owner looking to sell a bike, the purchase of a used steel bike became possible, and boy, am I enjoying it.
At nearly 3 lbs. heavier, the Serotta seemingly completes the spectrum of ride appreciation. The bike’s “steel is real” feel is spot on and despite the noticeable heft, the bike’s inherent talents serve as a complement to the Calfee. Neither bike competes for the other’s qualities. Rather, each bike has its own character and advantages as well as disadvantages, kind of like a fork versus a spoon.
I’ve recognized that the Serotta has to be left home for the “gun fight” group rides, but will likely be my preference when commuting alone to work, using it for its weight training and for the pure confidence it has in its steering. The steel fork is a heavy wonder. The feel of the road is a connection, not a distraction. The Calfee is luxury in feel, while the Serotta merely reports what is…
I had hoped the passion for other bikes would subside, but it hasn’t. I have a hankering for a cross-style bike which will allow for fat tires, fenders and shellacked cotton wrapped moustache bars with bar-end shifters. I guess I’ve got plenty of time still to lust.
Thanks for the box to stand on.
Kevan
|
superunleaded
captain
Reged: 12/22/03
Posts: 223
|
|
so......
you gonna stick around this time?  :):)
I haven't finished my Serotta steel project and that was many moons ago. Anyways... how have you been? still running around with "S". hehehe
Another one you might want to try is a single speed or a fixed one.
My TVT ss is taking most of my saddle time. When I ride it, there's nothing else to do but pedal. No shifter and computers to play around with.
--------------------
***Regular Unleaded - 4.99
***Special Unleaded - 7.99
***Superunleaded - Arm & a Leg
|
Insightdriver
captain
Reged: 03/07/04
Posts: 472
|
|
I'm one of the new guys here. Glad to make your aquaintence. I've only got two rides on my new Custom Tetra Pro under my belt since I took delivery. I am staring at it a lot at this point in time, that's for sure. 
|
Dave_Thompson
prophet
Reged: 12/19/03
Posts: 717
Loc: Spokane, Washington
|
|
<rasping voice, breathing heavy> Kevan, welcome to the dark side!
--------------------
Steel lover, but then I like Ti with carbon too.
Licensed bike geek.
|
1centaur
journeyman
Reged: 12/24/03
Posts: 126
Loc: Massachusetts
|
|
Kevan:
Didn't you ride bikes when you were a kid/teen? If so, presumably they were made of steel. Do you find the Serotta SO much different from what you remember, or is it a familiar feeling?
I rode a 29 pound steel bike in high school (Bridgestone Kabuki Submariner thank you very much, with silver decals to simulate chrome lug webs), and then barely rode until my early 40s when I rode - the exact same bike for a few weeks until I knew the bug had bitten me and I bought a Lemond Zurich - 853 steel and 10 pounds lighter and...about the same road feel once I stopped being amazed at the lightness.
My Tetra was the next bike and solved what did not appeal to me about steel - vibration. When I see folks who love steel these days I don't really understand it - feels so been there done that. Thus the question - does the Serotta feel like it's giving you something new in its steelness, or something familiar?
JB
--------------------
"You never make a gift of Ventoux"
Eddie Merckx to Lance Armstrong
|
vaxn8r
contributor
Reged: 12/19/03
Posts: 222
|
|
I could probably reply to that.
I ride a Tetra Pro and a Serotta Atlanta, classic lugged steel. I love 'em both. I love variety and these two bikes are on either end of a spectrum. The Calfee, ultra light, ultra efficient, smoooooth! The Serotta, pretty stiff, not as comfortable on long rides, but has that steel "feel" whatever that is. Also has those cool thin, swaged and shaped tubes, lugs, a classic look. The Serotta has a certain stability, a different vibration, a solidity in handling. The two are familiar, they both fit perfectly, but yet they are so different at the same time.
I find the Serotta comfy for about 50-60 miles. Then I start feeling more beat up. I'm not as fast in hammering group rides on the Serotta. I don't know why, maybe it's the extra 3 lbs but it really shouldn't be. Maybe its the weight and the efficiency. I don't really know. It's hard to compare anything performance-wise to the Calfee because I've never ridden a bike as efficient and fast as the Calfee. That's no joke.
But it isn't all about speed, at least all the time, and I do love the Serotta. If I had to choose only one....the Calfee, no question.
|
flythebike
captain
Reged: 08/26/04
Posts: 272
Loc: N. Virginia, USA
|
|
I had a fixed Pinnarelo steel conversion. Now I have a Calfee Luna dedicated fixie. I loathed to ride the Pin, it was just so heavy. But it did have a fine character if you set that aside. It brushed aside the bumps and road chatter, just went right over the stuff, while the Calfee can tend to bounce or get thrown around a little. Gravity works both ways you know.
Currently I still have a steel cross bike, and of course I'd rather have a Luna Cross. But I'm not really an avid crosser so it is not a priority. Just something that I dabble in. It is a nice bike, and with brazing rather than lugs it isn't even a tank at around 20 lbs. with race wheels.
The thing to remember is that you can have abundance in this world. You can have a house in the mountains and one at the beach. You like them for different reasons, but they're both great.
Like superunleaded, my fixie gets most of my saddle time. I'm hawking stuff on eBay right now to get enough dough for a flip/flop rear wheel, because the commutte I have really needs a different gear for each way in:tailwind/downhill out: headwind/uphill. It really helps your road bike skills: you get a fine tuned sense of gravity and handling, and my spin has reached another level - I did a sprint training ride last night and I get like ten rpms more - pedal faster not harder as a track coach told me once.
Check out the fixie forum here and as they say: if it ain't fixed, its broken! http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=178
and of course the fixed gear gallery where you can get ideas on what kind of fixie you want: http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=178
Riding fixed is one of those things that you should really try, it is like chocolate. Tasty and habit forming.
|
Kevan
journeyman
Reged: 12/22/03
Posts: 70
|
|
JB,
I had too long ago, when Vietnam wasn’t yet a vacation spot, owned a circa mid-60’s Schwinn Varsity road bike, which I just loved. Not exactly a performance rig, I think I spent 25 bucks on it, and certainly not a light-weight, I didn’t know any better and just loved that thing. Painted in this obnoxious loud green, it at least had been manufactured before Schwinn started installing steel spoke and chainring cuff guards. Nor did it have shifters on the column or those top bar break extensions. Nope, just simple friction downtube shifters. Why, it was dang close to looking svelte by Schwinn standards of the time. I cryed the day it was stolen from my new highschool in Coral Gables FL.
An Italian aluminum number and a Raleigh Record followed years later, but they never had what that Schwinn had.
Speed up to my early 40’s I was soft, heavy, and developed a heart condition; it was time to get the Schwinn Varsity back. I ultimately discovered the Calfee.
Today I rewrapped the Serotta’s bars with bright green bar tape to match the Serotta equally green labels. The bike’s a freakin’ acid trip in color. Pictures will be posted.
|
Nev
captain
Reged: 05/03/04
Posts: 375
Loc: Never where I want to be
|
|
Quote:
superunleaded wrote:
Another one you might want to try is a fixed one.
Quote:
flythebike wrote:
Like superunleaded, my fixie gets most of my saddle time.
Riding fixed is one of those things that you should really try, it is like chocolate. Tasty and habit forming.
Uh...yea, careful here Kevan, with the Fixed stuff.
The good thing with Fixed is you can easily get set up for a few $100 or less. (Or wherever you want to take it...) However, these folks here and I are giving you fair warning: It's a fast track to neglecting your other bikes, at least mentally if nothing else. I have two mountain bikes, a custom Strong hardtail and a last year's S-Works, a well appointed Litespeed vortex, and one humble Club Fuji I fixed a while back that gets an awful lot of saddle time and is the bike I think about riding the most. If nothing else it has made me better at riding my other bikes.
DO NOT check this site out, or look through the gallery photos. Do not: www.fixedgeargallery.com
Talk about the dark side...
|
skagwayroadie
contributor
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 141
Loc: Alaska
|
|
Keven...welcome back!
How the heck are you?
I almost wrote you off...glad I didn't!
Watch out for the crazy fixies around here...they are tryin to convert the world!!! And doin a darn good job of it too.
Glad you are back around.
...Mark
|
Kevan
journeyman
Reged: 12/22/03
Posts: 70
|
|
I love the idea and look of fixies, and I've seen some beauts, like (my mind wanders...) this one pale yellow Vanilla I saw last spring. Wonderful thangs, not high on my wish list, but if the cash and bits and pieces all met at the same time... I could be convinced. My wife would probably move out.
I've got a big hankering for a cross bike, retro style. I want lugged again (tho a nude CF would work too!), moustache bars, shellacked tape amd bar-end shifters. I'm still dreaming, but with a gentle smile.
Boy, I wish this forum was still sistered to Serotta and the others like the great Kahuna orginally designed this play ground. That was a wonderful time. Jumping fences and harassing one another was great fun. My pal Jeff and I were reflecting just yesterday on the characters of the past, particularly Dr. Bones and Charlie Fletcher. Jeez, there was some great material shared that came from that school yard brawl.
|
skagwayroadie
contributor
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 141
Loc: Alaska
|
|
Bones was great fun and Fletcher had a knack for bringing interesting issues to the table. So much of the character was lost in the new forum, when old posters did not play in the new field. I wonder how Fletcher is doing on his Calfee! Who do you think Bones was? I often times had the though he was a regular poster, in disguise! Nontheless, he was a riot, and is missed!
|
Kevan
journeyman
Reged: 12/22/03
Posts: 70
|
|
Skag,
I have my theories, and someone over in Serottaville is convinced, let’s just say, “Nanoo..nanoo..” and be done with it. Charlie I think isn’t riding that much. Later emails to me indicated an interest in redoing an old car, he changed his career, and I think he turned to photography. I don’t think he ever quite got over the accident he had with his new D’fly.
Rains wiped out this past weekend and Weather.com seems to be lining up a trend I don’t even want to consider. Wait a sec… a quick check shows the weekend as promising. Never mind.
So the weekend was dedicated to cleaning the bikes. Cleaning the Calfee was sorta like this short film clip of the Fonz in “Happy Days” approaching a mirror to grease back his hair only to realize in his typical nonverbal jesture, as if to say, “Hey, it’s already perfect!”. The Serotta, on the other hand, took the bulk of the weekend, what with repairing chipped paint on the chainstay.
Went to spin class and put a world of hurt and sweat upon myself, but boy am I hating that studio. Funny thing is, when I approach the folk who seem to excel in the class about getting a road bike instead, most of them say no thanks. What they are missing…
|
Previous
Thread Index
Next
Threaded
Completing the ride experience
Edit
Reply
Quote
