With the Spingergys now transplanted to the Faggin I have re-Rolfed the LeMond, and both the bike and I are much happier for it:
In fact, I’m a little too happy–it’s like the Litespeed came back even lighter and more comfortable just to taunt me–and despite my successful fleet reduction for 2024 I find myself attempting to rationalize the addition of a fine High Modern road bicycle to my permanent holdings. Even the crabon half has grown on me, as has the frame’s resemblance to a half-unwrapped bar of chocolate, with the titanium being the foil and the crabon being the chocolate. So in the hope that someone steps in and saves me from myself I’ll just mention that the LeMond is in fact for sale from Classic Cycle, and if you’re interested you can drop me a line and I’ll facilitate. One eternal bright spot in the bicycle marketplace is that for the price of a new “entry level” bike today you can also by the dream bikes of yesteryear.
Or you can skip both and get this:
And yes, I thought about adding it to my Nishiki collection, but I can’t keep bringing home strays:
As I mentioned last week, my time with the ‘Noner has been somewhat fraught, but this past weekend I finally enjoyed my first completely fuss-free ride on it, and like this river it’s glassy smooth yet also dirty at the same time:
After all the work I put into the ‘Noner the finishing touch turned out to be this high-end seatpost:
So is it a keeper? Time will tell, but for now I’m particularly enjoying the Campagnolo drivetrain. Being accustomed to the later 10-speed variant, I find these to be functionally identical for all intents and purposes, the only major difference being the vestigial points:
Vestigial points on brake levers are the coccyx bone of the road bicycle. Once upon a time, of course, brake levers spouted cables from the tops of their hoods:
The human hand evolved accordingly, so much so that even when the cables burrowed beneath the handlebar tape and went “aero” in the 1980s the points remained:
By the late 1980s Campagnolo levers could be routed either traditionally or aero-ly (?), so the point retained some ostensible functionality:
But certainly by the Ergo Era they were merely a holdover from the days of yore:
Arguably on the Italian side they disappeared in 1998 when Campagnolo redesigned its Ergo levers:
Though one could make an argument that the rounded top is merely an eroded vestigial point, and that it was only with the 11-speed redesign in 2009 that it fully transformed into a pommel that instead offered another hand position::
As for Shimano, Dura Ace 7700, introduced in 1996 (and found on the LeMond), also retained the points, despite being the second generation of integrated shifter from Shimano:
With vestigial points finally disappearing with 10-speed in 2004, which I would argue qualify as fully-evolved pommels:
Now all we need is for someone to introduce an electronic group with vestigial points and we will have come full circle.
One bike that is not for sale is the Homer:
It’s evolved quite a bit since I first got it a little over four years ago:
And it may very well be my most “complete” bicycle, in terms of being ready for anything from road-type rides to light rail rides to urban forays:
Whether the the rounded nubs on the brake levers–Tektro approximations of post-’98 Campagnolo levers–quality as vestigial points is a matter of debate.
