While I may have spent the past week in a frenzy of ‘Noner rehab, if I’m totally honest I was merely procrastinating before confronting my next–and to date perhaps most terrifying–mission. However, with the bike rolling more or less smoothly, I was out of excuses. So I put up a post on the local Nextdoor warning my neighbors to lock up their children and small pets, and this morning I finally took to the roads on the Spinning Wheels of Death:
At first I was both frightened that the wheels might explode and embarrassed to be seen on these things, but as I got the bike up to speed and various rodents scattered in my path I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t overcome by a certain amount of bloodlust:
Nevertheless, prudence got the better of me, and as is wise with any piece of vintage equipment of unknown provenance (especially when it’s a piece of equipment with a reputation for spectacular failure) I did stop to perform a safety inspection early in the ride:
By the way, I should note some quirks specific to this particular pair that I encountered during installation. Up front, there is a considerable amount of play in the bearings, and with the bike unloaded you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d left the skewer open:
Naturally this cannot be adjusted out, and can only be addressed with new bearings.
Meanwhile, out back, for some reason the whole wheel is markedly off-center on the axle:
It was enough that I could actually shift the chain right off the small cog, and it required a fair amount of twiddling the limit screws:
I had looked forward to wallowing in turn-of-the-century excess by switching quickly back and forth between Spinergy and Rolf with abandon, but alas, the wheel’s vexing off-kilterness will make that a more cumbersome undertaking than I had expected.
Structurally, there is of course this somewhat disconcerting notch that looks like something was nibbling at it:
But otherwise everything looks as fine as one could possibly expect a bunch of 25 year-old carbon fiber and aluminum held together with glue and rivets to look:
And ultimately as the Classic Cycle Old Crap Test Pilot I have no choice but to put my life in the hands of Raphael Schlanger:
Besides some valve rattle and some brake rubbing on the climbs thanks to those tired front wheel bearings the wheels functioned just fine, and once I got over my initial tripidation I even dared to take them on some gravel:
Perhaps Spinergy will anoint me one of their Bike Ambassadors, and I’ll get to meet the Grav Bros:
But while I do seem to remember people using these things for cyclocross, it is of course a road wheel at heart:
And on this day I was just another middle-aged guy playing with this vintage toys:
Aesthetically the Spinergae take the LeMond deep into garish country, but it works in a lurid and pornographic way if you’re into that sort of thing:
They’re like a pair of fake breasts: you might not like the idea of them, but you can’t stop staring, either. While the extra heft was perhaps noticeable at times I can’t say they meaningfully changed the overall feeling of the bike, which retained its characteristic smoothness, and any discomfort I may have experienced was entirely in my own mind, such as when I passed someone on a lovely Clem Smith, Jr. and had to stop myself from shouting, “You know, I wouldn’t normally ride something like this, I swear!”
And with that, I wish you all the best this Memorial Day weekend:
See you back here on Tuesday.
