Bike Fitting rev 2.0 - http://www.fridayfitness.ca/

These days having a high performance carbon fibre bicycle is not enough. You have to ensure you are able to extra every bit of performance. Regardless if you are a recreational rider or a club racer, knowing that you left it all out on the road brings us all satisfaction.

A while back I wrote about my experience with being professionally fitted on my bicycles using the retul technology. Back in 2008 when I first looked into bike fitting there were not many options. You had the bicycle shops who would eye ball you based upon years of experience selling bikes and making taking 1 or 2 courses or reading a book. In Ontario, Canada at the time there was a physiotherapist/trainer out of University of Guelph who was Serrotta certified. In the end I went with an MacLean who runs http://www.imfit.ca/ and is certified on the RETUL system.

http://www.hackracer.com/2012/01/retul-fit-in-depth-review.html

4 years is a long time. As a cyclist I have gained a lot more experience from the kilometers ridden and to understanding how my body responds to different conditions.

When Winston Tam proprietor of Friday Fitness (http://www.fridayfitness.ca/) told me he would be back in town visiting Toronto, Ontario, Canada from Taipei, Taiwan I quickly asked him, "Hey, we going to rip some single track up?" the response was of course yes. But more importantly he had all his Retul and bike fitting gear with him.

http://www.hackracer.com/2012/03/wwwfridayfitnessca-top-bicycle-fitter.html

So before we set out to rip up single track I arranged with him to do a tune up fit session from the one I did 4 years ago.

4 years ago there wasn't much choice if I wanted professional bleeding edge sport science in terms of bicycle fitting. But as time moves on, more choices are available. What is important when selecting a fitter is not what tools he/she has to measure your body. But rather what education he/she has and what experience they have as a rider or racer to help you achieve your best.

4 years ago I told Winston Tam about my fit session. He was intrigued. I told him he should start his own shop doing exactly this. He has been racing bikes for close to a decade. This is important, because you want someone who understands the conditions you are dealing with. Fortunately after 4 years he finally decided to pursue it.

In Winston Tam fashion he made 110% sure he could offer the best and most comprehensive service possible. He spent a lot of time studying and training to become certified in the following leading edge bio-mechanics and performance systems.

- RETÜL 3D Certified Bike Fitting
- SICI (Serrota) Advanced Certified Bike Fitting
- BIKEFIT Certified Bike Fitting
- F.I.S.T. Certified Bike Fitting


At first Winston and I thought it would take around an hour to be done with my fit. Seeing how I had a previous fit session done with someone else several years ago. The idea was to do the fit session and go hammer our mountain bikes at Durham Forest for the rest of the afternoon. That quickly changed once Winston saw how my body was performing on my bike. I took the same bike as the one I used for the fit session 4 years ago. My Trusty 2006 Cervelo Soloist Team, true to the original fit dimensions.

During the fit session with www.imfit.ca 4 years ago the saddle height was drastically lowered by Ian. He believed that my saddle at that time was too high and was contributing to a poor hysteresis knee trace (making doughnuts) as it goes up and down. I recalled 4 years ago that he also did not like the fact that my toes were constantly pointing down at the ground rather than level with the ground during the pedal stroke under power. He spent most of the time correcting the knee trace and the knee pointing and said that would be the key to fixing my lower back pain.

What I noticed for the next couple of years I was slowly jacking the seat post back up myself as I felt crammed while riding. Yes my toes were pointing parallel to the ground, but I felt my hip was always closed off and I wasn't able to generate maximum power, and that the range of the pedal stroke that I could put a lot of power down was little. Once Winston saw my fit he confirmed my feelings that the fit was no longer working.

So we started the fit session from scratch. Winston assessed my flexibility after warming up, looked at hip angles, knee traces, power output, smoothness of the cadence, just like what was done during my 1st fit session 4 years ago. 

We played with moving the saddle up, up some more and then really high up, moved the saddle forward, verified that the pivot angles for my legs were within ideal range and then played with the shoes.


After all the adjustments I asked, "what about all the concerns the previous fitter had, such as toe pointing?"

Winston replied, "You do not have excessive toe pointing and there has been no research stating any negative effect on toe pointing. According to F.I.S.T. methodology unless there is excessive toe pointing the rider should be left alone."

What Winston brings to the table is not just relying on technology but rather he successfully blends the experience he has as a racer, and all the knowledge from the being RETÜL 3D Certified, SICI Advanced Certified, BIKEFIT Certified and F.I.S.T. Certified to get you into the ideal position.

This is what is important.


In the end the entire bicycle changed:
- cleats moved back
- raised saddle 5cm up
- moved saddle forward
- installed ITS varus wedge
- complete assessment and changes at the front end


It's too bad I don't have enough steerer tube length left. Else I would put more spacers on instead of having the stem angle up, however being comfortable and relaxed is the goal to be able to generate power and ride long distances.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Looking at the two pictures you can see the hip is more open, with a more relaxed shoulder.

The higher saddle position also didn't affect my knee trace either.

With close to 1000 kms on the new fit, I can confirm the fit has worked wonders to improving average speed with less soreness in my shoulder and lower back. All of which means faster riding and more blue sign victories on the road bike.

[updated July 11, 2012 for formatting/grammar/spelling].

Weighed: Veloflex Corsa 22 (700x22c road tire)

If you combine these tires with the Michelin AirComp A1 Latex tubes, I guarantee to you they will produce the best ride on your road bike. The only way to beat this combination is to run Tubular tires and rims.

Manufacturer claimed weight: 207g

Don't believe me? Still thinking of buying, check out the thread I started at weight weenie forums several years back (2010 to be exact). The thread is now 10 pages long and still growing.

I love Veloflex Corsa 22 Folding tires + Latex tubes

Lynskey R330 New Build

This past Sunday was the Substance Project Eco-Race 1 Durham Forest race here in Ontario, Canada. The plan was go and race. But I felt under the weather.

However a lot was accomplished. I helped my good friend Tom put together his Lynskey R330 on Saturday. I've known Tom for several years now. I first met him at Tuesday Night Albion Hills MTB races.

He showed up at around 10 am with a frame in bubble wrap straight from Lynskey and little boxes of Campagnolo parts.

The Lynskey R330 was a limited production run in 2012. Tom was lucky enough to get one. It is one of Lynskey's nicest road frames ever made. 

This was the end result. One happy Tom.

Weight came out to 15.45 lbs with an old heavy saddle as a place holder until a Fizik Kurve arrives. Bottle cages are in the mail.

Tom built the wheels himself. They are built to perfection.

So you are probably asking, what is the build list...

Frame	Lynskey R330 M
Fork	Enve 2.0
Headset	Tune Bobo
Expander	Tune Gum Gum
Bars	3T Ergonova Team 42cm, ø31.8 mm
Stem	Extralite Road, 100mm, ø31.8 mm
Saddle	Fizik Kurve saddle
Pedals	Speedplay Zero Chromoly w/ Upgraded Ward Ti Spindles
Crankset	Campagnolo Record 11 - Compact 50/34
Levers	Campagnolo Record 11 Ergopower
Front Derailleur	Campagnolo Record 11
Rear Derailleur	Campagnolo Record 11
Cassette	Campagnolo Record 11 - 11-25t
Chain	Campagnolo Record 11
Brakeset	Campagnolo Record 11
Rear Hub	Chris King R45 Campagnolo - 28h
Front Hub	Chris King R45 - 24h
Front Rim	Stans Alpha 340 - 24h
Rear Rim	Stans Alpha 340 - 28h
Spokes	Sapim CX Ray Silver x 52
Nipples	DT Swiss Alloy - 52
Rimtape	Stans Yellow Tape
Tubes	Michelin Air
Front Tire	Veloflex Corsa23 - 700x23c
Rear Tire	Veloflex Corsa23 - 700x23c
Skewers	Aerozine Ti Skewers
Seatpost Clamp	Omni Racer Ti Clamp 34.9
Seatpost	Fizik Cyrano Carbon Seatpost 27.2
Bar tape	Deda Cork
Cables/Housing	Campagnolo Record 11
Cages	King Ti

This is the first time for me putting a Campagnolo bike together. I've put together many bikes for myself and for friends in the past, but Tom is the only one that is riding Campagnolo. Partly because most of us are already established road riders with several sets of wheels. The freehub body for the rear hub for Campagnolo are different than the Shimano/Sram counterparts. Meaning if you already have wheelsets based off of Shimano or Sram you can't go to Campagnolo easily as you can't install a Campagnolo cassette on them.

Some rear hub manufacturers allow you to change the rear freehub body and then you would have to potentially redish the wheel.One example is the DTswiss 240s rear hub.



There are 3rd party component manufacturers that offer Campagnolo spaced cassettes that fit onto Shimano Freehubs, but those in the past shift like crap. One point to make is that with Campagnolo going to 11 speeds, this forces the cogs to sit further inboard. The 11th cog needs to sit further inboard than Shimano's 10th cog, so if you are running hubs with flanges that are too far outboard (which many hub designs do to maximize lateral stiffness of the wheel) you are going to be out of luck.

Wheels manufacturing is possibily the only cassette I would try out if I was going to run Campagnolo and had Shimano/Sram based wheels.

Wheels Manufacturing Accelerator 11-speed Conversion cassette

So the build went relatively well. I have a vast tool collection and mechanical experience, but some bits of the Campagnolo kit had me reading the instructions and running around trying to find tools.

The bottom bracket installation recommended by Campagnolo is to douse the threads with Loctite 222MS and screw in the cups hand tight. I did this, but also added in Loctite 7471 to prime the threads before adding in the Loctite 222MS to speed up the cure. Cups were torqued to hand tight with a rag to increase grip strength.

Certain bolts are torx. A good thing, as torx is less prone to tool slipping out of the bolt head. During the build I ran into using both T25, some T20. My tool collection lacked a good quality T20 bit. 

The lock ring for the rear cassette has a different spline than Shimano (I didn't know that). The chain pin used to connect the chain together requires it to be peened. There is a special chain tool which I didn't have or have time to make one up.

In the end all fasteners were torqued using a calibrated torque wrench. The only fastener torqued without a calibrated torque wrench was the bolt for the Record crankset that holds the Hirth joint together for the spindle. This was done using Park Tool TW-2 which I never verified if the sticker for the scale reading corresponded correctly with the deflection beam.

So even though the bike was built up, shifting adjusted and bar tape wrapped. It wasn't fully done, Tom needed to visit the local bike store to get his chain peened and the lock ring torqued up. Luckily a local bike shop helped him out free of charge.

Part 4: Antiseize

Use antiseize for the following:

• threaded bottom bracket cups
• centreloc shimano brake rotor lock ring
• cassette lock ring
• can be used to aid press fit assemblies to help installation

TYPICAL PERFORMANCE
An anti-seize lubricant used on a bolt helps to develop greater clamp load for the same torque compared to an unlubricated bolt. An additional benefit is greater uniformity in clamp load among a series of bolts. The relationship between torque and clamp load is expressed in the following equation:
T = K x F x D
T = Torque (N·m, lb.in, lb.ft)
K = Torque coefficient or nut factor, determine experimentally
F = Clamp load (N, lb.)
D = Nominal diameter of bolt (mm, in.)

Torque coefficient, k:
SAE grade 5, class2, phosphate coated steel nuts & bolts = 0.16
SAE grade 5, class2, phosphate coated steel nuts & bolts, solvent cleaned, not lubricated = 0.19
*assume 0.35 for titanium and 1.2 for aluminum

reference Loctite C5-A tech spec

Part 3 - How to apply the various chemicals used for assembly a bike

Using loctite threadlocker products:

For Assembly

1. For best results, clean all surfaces (external and internal) with a LOCTITE® cleaning solvent and allow to dry.
2. If the material is an inactive metal or the cure speed is too slow, apply all threads with primer and allow to dry.
• For low strength threadlocker such as 222MS, 220, and you have aluminum fasteners, or titanium fasteners this is a must. 
• Loctite 7088 (glue stick format)
• Click on the link on how to use. Since it's gel state its application and threadlocker is different than normal
• Loctite 7471
• Loctite 7649
• Just remember, if you spent thousands of dollars on your bike, doing things right is worth the 12 dollars or so you will spend on the primer.
3. Shake the product thoroughly before use.
4. To prevent the product from clogging in the nozzle, donot allow the tip to touch metal surfaces during application.
5. For Thru Holes, apply several drops of the product onto the bolt at the nut engagement area.
6. For Blind Holes, apply several drops of the product tothe lower third of the internal threads in the blind hole, or the bottom of the blind hole.
7. For Sealing Applications, apply a 360° bead of product to the leading threads of the male fitting, leaving the first thread free. Force the material into the threads tothouroughly fill the voids. For bigger threads and voids,adjust product amount accordingly and apply a 360°bead of product on the female threads also. 
8. Assemble and tighten as required. 

For Disassembly

1. Remove with standard hand tools.
2. In rare instances where hand tools do not work because of excessive engagement length, apply localized heat to nut or bolt to approximately 250 °C. Disassemble while hot. Example tool: Use a soldering iron and hold the tip of the soldering iron onto the head of the bolt to be removed and then loosen the fastener.
3. Apply localized heat to the assembly to approximately 250 °C. Disassemble while hot.

For Cleanup

1. Cured product can be removed with a combination of soaking in a Loctite solvent and mechanical abrasion such as a wire brush. (solvent such as Acetone)

Reference: Loctite - technical data sheet reference


MOST IMPORTANTLY, install your parts on a clean bike with clean parts. If your bike is caked in mud or you are reinstalling old parts, take the time to wash everything with plenty of hot soapy water and towel dry them. The last thing you want is bearings to be contaminated in sand and dirt and threads to be full of grime while trying to torquing something down. An old tooth brush, dawn dish detergent, and elbow grease works wonders.

Next post: Part 4: Antiseize

One very cool bike: Louis Garneau GENNIX R1 ULTIMATE

Spotted this beauty at the 2012 Toronto Spring bicycle show. Not your average bike, with it being equipped with Dura-Ace Di2 and also being super rare. I've never seen one at a retailer or out on the roads.

LG offers their Dream Factory program for this bike. Which allows you to customize the paint scheme to your desire.

Don't forget that for 2012 LG will be sponsoring Europcar professional cycling team consisting of Thomas Voeckler, Antony Charteau, Pierre Rolland and Cyril Gautier and many others.

Part 2 - The arguement for using threadlocker vs Antisieze in almost all areas

The last post talked about what each chemical does. I also included the material safety data sheet with each chemical/compound. Please read those as they are important for your long term health.


The theory behind using antiseize and/or threadlocker:

Antiseize
There are people who claim the only way to install titanium fasteners or specialty fasteners is to use antiseize. The arrangement is that antiseize prevents galling of the threading surfaces and prevents galvanic corrosion between titanium and aluminum. The galling occurs when two untreated metals surfaces are slid together under high pressure and force. Antiseize also "buffers" the two reactive metals by providing a sacrificial metal in the grease to use.

Threadlocker (aka Loctite)
To some it may come as a surprise. But in our applications (bicycles) threadlocker can be substituted in almost all cases (except for lubricating the cassette lockring or Shimano centreloc lock ring).

Why?

• because we don't care about high temperature applications
• because we don't care about high torque applications (think bolts that are the size of your arm).

Threadlocker when still in liquid or gel state is able to prevent galling of two metal surfaces under pressure and force for our sized fasteners. It will adequately lubricate two sliding surfaces to prevent cold welding. Much like how adding oil to threads does the same.

Threadlocker will also prevent galvanic corrosion between two metal surfaces just fine. When threadlocker fully cures. The cured loctite gel/liquid becomes an acrylic layer that isolates the two metal surfaces preventing galvanic corrosion.

In my professional experience as an aerospace engineer, when given the choice between threadlocker (aka loctite) is a better compound to threat threaded fasteners than antiseize for high performance applications.The benefit of using threadlocker is that is also acts as a secondary locking feature which is a back up against the fastener loosing tension (aka losing torque). Pretty much everything on our bicycle is a safety critical interface. Wherein if a stem bolt loosens there is a good chance your handlebar will coming flying off and you go flying off and crash. The brake rotor bolts holding your brake rotor. The bolts holding the caliper to the frame or fork... etc... the list goes on. So why not increase the safety and reliability of your bicycle by using threadocker?


Stay tuned for Part 3 - How to apply the various chemicals used for assembly a bike

Part 1 - Introduction: The various chemicals used for assembly a bike

A four part post series on the basics of using engineering compounds in high performance applications.

So the parts are coming in slowly for my Element Team RSL build up. Let's cover how to properly assembly your bicycle at the very beginning. Doing a proper build from the beginning ensure reliability at the end. DNF at a race because you had a mechanical is not the way to win. You have to finish in order to win.

You may not realize this, but many of the research and development done for aerospace applies directly to your high performance bicycle. Bicycles these days rely heavily on carbon fibre, high strength aluminum alloy, titanium fasteners, to keep the weight down but the performance up.

Here are the 6 main chemicals/compounds needed to assemble the basics on your bike.

From left to right:
Isopropyl Alcohol (99%)
MSDS Isopropyl 99%
Used to clean parts prior to assembly. Wet paper towels, q-tips to clean surfaces and threads.

Loctite 7471 (aka primer)
MSDS 7471
LOCTITE® 7471™ is used where increased cure speed of LOCTITE® anaerobic products is required. It is especially recommended for applications with passive metals or inert surfaces and with large bond gaps. LOCTITE® 7471™ is particularly recommended when prevailing temperature is low (<15 °C).

• inactive metals are non ferrous metals such as titanium, aluminum, black oxide coated steel fasteners, and certain stainless steel alloys. 
• When using loctite 222 (low strength) thread locking compound, its formulation requires primer for in-active metals. Current formulations of 243 and 252 do not require primer for in-active metals.
  

Loctite 222MS - This will be your most commonly used thread locking compound for bicycles
MSDS 222MS
LOCTITE® 222MS™ is designed for the locking and sealing of threaded fasteners which require easy disassembly with standard hand tools. The product cures when confined in the absence of air between close fitting metal surfaces and prevents loosening and leakage from shock and vibration. Particularly suitable for applications such as adjustment of set screws, small diameter or long engagement length fasteners, where easy disassembly is required without shearing the screw. The thixotropic nature of LOCTITE® 222MS™ reduces the migration of liquid product after application to the substrate.
Note the MS suffix just denotes it meets military specifications.

• Bicycle applications applications include:
• brake rotor bolts
• shift lever/brake lever clamping bolts (remember the old school MTB trick to tighten very lightly the clamps so the brake lever and shifter can rotate during a crash. The loctite 222 will allow the bolt to retain the tension and not loosen over time i.e. during a race).
• brake bolts for IS mount or Post mounts
• hub pre-load collars
• water bottle cage bolts
• stem bolts
• seatpost collar/binder bolt

Loctite 243- rarely used on bicycles
MSDS 243
The use is the same as the above Loctite 222MS, but for areas where high strength is required or in cases where the diameter of the threaded bolt is larger than say M8.

• Bicycle applications include:
• Crank arm pinch bolts on non drive side
• Crank arm fixing cap bolt that hold the non-drive side crankarm onto the spindle/axle
• Crank bolts (bolts that hold the arms onto the axle of the bottom bracket)
• ISIS
• Square taper
• Cannondale Si version cranksets
• Any poorly designed part that constantly loosens over time 

Loctite 252 (never used on a bicycle)
MSDS 252
This version of loctite (aka red) is never used for bicycles. It is permanent strength for small diameter fasteners and will cause small fasteners to snap off if taken apart with hand tools. To remove fasteners with permanent strength applied loctite requires heating of the fastener to melt the loctite. The only time I've used this for bicycles is for my Titanium Lynskey hard tail. Where the internal diameter of the seatpost is set for 31.6mm via an aluminum shim pressed inside the titanium seattube. The shim either was not properly manufactured or wore and creating a creaking noise every single time I touched the saddle. So I removed the crank and bottle bracket, the seatpost. hung the bicycle upside down and drenched the inside of the seattube with loctite to let it wick between the shim and the seatpost tube. Creak went away after that.

Anti-seize compound. (basically grease with reactive metal flakes inside)
MSDS loctite C5-A
LOCTITE® C5-A® Copper Grade Anti-Seize Stick provides a shield against high temperature seizing and galling. All mated parts, studs, bolts, flanges and gaskets, remove more easily and in cleaner and better condition. This product can be used on copper, brass, cast iron, steel, all alloys including stainless steel, all plastics and all non-metallic gasketing materials. Typical applications include original equipment and maintenance, and equipment associated with petroleum chemicals, steel mills, power plants, marine and foundries. This product is typically used in applications up to 982 °C.

The metal flakes inside the grease (copper or zinc or silver) acts as the sacrificial metal between two metals where one is more reactive than the other. Without the use of antiseize or some other form of thread treatment two metals will fuse together over time and form an oxide layer between them. Preventing removal of the fasteners.

• Bicycle Applications include:
• We mainly use antiseize for bolts that are dissimilar metals to prevent galvanic corrosion between the two metals and to prevent galling between male and female threads. Galling can be described as the cold welding of two naked metals surfaces when slid together under high pressure and force. Example brand new titanium frame with freshly cut BSA threads for BB cups. Aluminum bottom bracket cups. The two not having any threadlocker or antiseize and you installing the cup into the frame dry. You will never be able to remove the two without destroying 1 set of threads and having to chase the frame's bottom bracket shell with a tap.
• areas of use:
• stem bolts
• cassette lockring
• titanium fasteners 
• threaded bottom bracket cups

 Stay tuned for Part 2 The case against antiseize and using threadlocker.

weighed: Ciamillo ZERO G Ti

Ciamillo ZERO G Ti

The brake set that started the weight weenie road bike brake trend. Best there is, there is no substitute.

Ciamillo Zero G Ti (Claimed 136g without brake pad holders)