Alpha's new bike

[Alphamazing]

'09 Specialized Langster

Mostly stock, except for the bars and levers. The bars are a set of Profile Design T2 Wing base bars, which give me better leverage on the levers than my drops, since I spend most of my time on the brake hoods anyways. The new bars are lighter and more comfortable for me too, easier to sprint with.

If I ever find 'em cheap, I'm going to swap the brakes out for Ultegra or Dura-Ace calipers, and the wheels for some Open Pros.

There's not a whole lot I can do to the bike without dropping serious cash into it, since it already has a carbon fiber fork and seat post, and the cranks are already strong and fairly light (Sugino Zen Messenger). I can't really justify dumping a lot of money into it because it is a cheap bike, a very capable bike, but still pretty cheap.

When I first got it, it weighed in a 19.5 lbs. With the bar swap and lever swap, it's probably down to an even 19. I've seen them get to 12 and 13lbs, but that's beyond my monetary means, and wouldn't hold up to the type of riding I do. Strength comes with weight, and I need it to be strong.

[yamahonkawazuki]

Very nice alpha. occasionally you can snag a set of wheels on ebay on the cheap. ( especially durign the off season)

[Alphamazing]

Very nice alpha. occasionally you can snag a set of wheels on ebay on the cheap. ( especially durign the off season)

That's what I'm hoping for. I can get a set of Open Pros laced to Formula hubs for about $200 at my LBS supposedly, and if I can get those cheaper, I will be on that so fast. I'm watching eBay regularly. I hope the off season turns up some nice deals. The Open Pro wheels should drop the weight by at least a full pound. My wheels are HEAVY.

[tt_four]

Looks good! I used to have one of those, 2 actually. I used to look for Dura Ace brakes for my old road bike, but they weren't going for less than $100 for the pair on ebay, and I didn't feel like paying it. I've always liked open pro's too.

This is my current favorite ride to work.

[Alphamazing]

Looks good! I used to have one of those, 2 actually. I used to look for Dura Ace brakes for my old road bike, but they weren't going for less than $100 for the pair on ebay, and I didn't feel like paying it. I've always liked open pro's too.

You used to have TWO Langsters? What year models? Why'd you sell 'em?

Yeah, most of the Dura-Ace and Ultegra calipers I see are going for $60+, which isn't bad, but more than I want to spend. I hear the Open Pros are a pretty sweet balance of strength and lightness, rarely coming out of true even with non-hand built units.

This is my current favorite ride to work.

I was considering a cyclocross bike, actually, but decided a single speed better fit my needs. No hills, mostly road riding, no real need for shifters, and way out of my price range, especially with the components my riding would demand. I just sometimes wish I did have the clearance for bigger tires. Why'd you go with the flat bars? I've seen a few CX guys do that, but most stick with the drop bars.

How are you liking the Canonndale? I was looking at their Capo when I decided on a single speed, but the '09 model was too much hipster-style crap, as well as out of my price range, and the '10s were just downright expensive. An '08 would have been nice, but none available.

[Dj Hunny]

Oh wow, those are both so nice. I've been wanting a single speed or fixie, but so expensive and I can't find used frames in my size 
However I do have a 05 Fuji Newest 2.0, that's my current road bike...

Any suggesstions for making it lighter would be very helpful..It's currently completely stock, except for pedals.
I'm looking to get new wheels for it and tires also.

Looks kinda like this:

[tt_four]

Any suggesstions for making it lighter would be very helpful..It's currently completely stock, except for pedals.

Whole bikes are a paint to make lighter. Companies do a good job of evening out parts, so it's not like motorcycles where everyone replaces the air filter and motorcycle and are 50% of the way through mods. You've just gotta chip away at it a little at a time. Wheels are the obvious one, and little things like stems, bars and seatposts are things you don't think about that often weigh a lot. How tall are you? I've got one of my wife's tiny track frames hanging in the basement she's been wanting to sell.


Alpha:

The first one I had was one of the first years I made, I don't remember how old it was. One of the langsters with the awful forks. I rode it for a while. It was mostly a winter bike, I figured the aluminum would be good because it wouldn't rust. It was some work to make fenders fit, and I think I had to cut them up a bit and get creative, but they eventually went on. It was a size 56, and I usually ride a 52, I got away with it because of the compact geometry, but got rid of it eventually. The second I never ended up building. I bought the frame, fork and headset at a bike swap for $90. It was barely used. It was the year with the skulls on the downtube. I probably would've build it if I could've found a new fork I liked for it, but I ended up selling that one too. I usually have pretty fast turn around with bikes. I buy them used and ebay/craigslist, ride them for a year or two, and then resell it. Unline motorcycles, bicycles are a good habit that will just pay for itself if you do it right.

As far as the cyclocross, I've always just loved that fork, pretty much the whole reason I wanted that frame. I need to find one for my mountain/winter commuter as well. Once I find an old touring frame I'm going to build that up with the fenders for riding to work in the rain and just keep the cyclocross how it is, minus the fenders. I don't really do any off road riding on it. Just the day I brought it home. I just like it for being an overbuilt road bike. The handling isn't the best for riding in a straight line. No huge preference on the bars. Half of my ride is downtown, so it's easier just to have the mountain shifter on there and the single chainring up front, not to mention mountain shifters are WAY cheaper than road shifters. It's pretty ideal for riding in traffic, not to mention I could replace the outside chainring with a chainguard and don't have to worry about my pants getting eaten, and some bmx pedals for normal shoes. My road bike has drop bars. I used to hate them in town, but I've finally gotten used to them, but in the time I hated them I just got used to the riser bars as well.

Other than that, I love the bike. The aluminum fork can be rough when you hit stuff, but it's only a 20 minute ride to work each way, so not long enough for it to matter what I'm on. I love cannondales in general. I'm only about 1.5-2 hours away from where they're made, so that's what I always look for. I've gotten to take a tour of the factory, and one of my friends used to work there up until this past spring(go type "cannondale track" into ebay and check out his custom six13 track bike he's trying to sell for $8000, it's not gonna happen, but it's still an awesome bike). My winter bike is an old Cannondale M800 rigid mountain bike turned single speed with fenders. It's from around the time of the Beast of the East frames, so the bottom bracket is seriously 2 inches higher than most bikes, I feel like I'm on a tall bike. My road bike is a cannondale Caad 5. The only bike I have that isn't a cannondale is my fixed/single speed, which is a pake. I've had a couple other single speed frames, but to be honest it's been the most comfortable of any of them. The frame will some day be replaced by a cannondale, preferrably one of the red/gray or black/white/red ones from around 2000, if not just a plain black or silver capo, their new paint schemes are god awful. I'd love one of the early 90's frames to go with all the other old cannondales, but the hipsters with money screwed that up by inflating the value on those framesets to $800+. I'd also be happy with one of those old KHS frames with the curved seat tube. The last one is my wife's road bike, which is also a cannondale. It's a gorgeous shade of bright pink from the late 80s, and then she's got one of the original Schwinn Madison track frames from 1985. 

Alright, back to work. Open pro's are great. They're light and pretty strong. They are soft though, so they'll probably have some dents and scratches in them by the time you're done with them, but they'll probably still be straight. I always wanted to build some wheels for my nice road bike(also a cannondale!) with open pro's, but then I just ended up selling it instead. Shiny things are no fun.

[seamax]

That seat does not look too forgiving. 

[spc]

I built up a 9spd Trek back in the day that came in under 16lbs.  That little turd was lightening fast.  Still have the wheels, Dura Ace hubs on some italian tubeless rim...38 spoke.  I ran Various Conni tires at 200-220 without a problem..........wouldn't do you much good though.

[Dj Hunny]

Hey TT_four,

I ride a 47cm frame or smaller...i am 5'2'' - 5'3''.  For all you cyclists help spread the word on bike ride...I'm cycling in the AIDS/LIFECYCLE ride.

[tt_four]

Well, we've been trying to sell this one.......





I guarantee it's the smallest frame you'll find for 700c wheels that isn't custom made. The seat tube is 47cm to the top of the clamp, 43cm to the center of the seat tube, and the top tube is 49cm long. My wife is 5'4 and that's where the seat was when she rode it, all of about 10 times. There's a couple minor scuffs in the paint, but she hasn't ridden it since that picture was taken, so it should give you a good idea.

It's this frame.... http://www.nycbikes.com/item.php?item_id=366

She wants $150(+shipping) for the frame, full carbon fork, headset(FSA orbit), stem, and seat post clamp, if you're interested.

[Alphamazing]

Oh wow, those are both so nice. I've been wanting a single speed or fixie, but so expensive and I can't find used frames in my size 
However I do have a 05 Fuji Newest 2.0, that's my current road bike...

Any suggesstions for making it lighter would be very helpful..It's currently completely stock, except for pedals.
I'm looking to get new wheels for it and tires also.

Lightening a bike is pretty expensive, usually. Carbon fiber fork, carbon fiber seat post, lighter cranks, carbon fiber handle bars, lighter seat, and lighter wheels are the start. Then it gets down to little stuff where you're only saving a few grams. The best place to start is with a really light weight frame. Single speeds and fixed gears are naturally lighter than geared bikes because they don't have the excess weight of the derailleurs, shifters, etc.

I tried riding my Langster as a fixie, but I absolutely hated it. I clipped pedals in the turns way too often, because I tend to corner really quickly. I flipped the rear wheel to a single speed, and it's been a blast ever since.

Any suggesstions for making it lighter would be very helpful..It's currently completely stock, except for pedals.

The first one I had was one of the first years I made, I don't remember how old it was. One of the langsters with the awful forks. I rode it for a while. It was mostly a winter bike, I figured the aluminum would be good because it wouldn't rust. It was some work to make fenders fit, and I think I had to cut them up a bit and get creative, but they eventually went on. It was a size 56, and I usually ride a 52, I got away with it because of the compact geometry, but got rid of it eventually. The second I never ended up building. I bought the frame, fork and headset at a bike swap for $90. It was barely used. It was the year with the skulls on the downtube. I probably would've build it if I could've found a new fork I liked for it, but I ended up selling that one too. I usually have pretty fast turn around with bikes. I buy them used and ebay/craigslist, ride them for a year or two, and then resell it. Unline motorcycles, bicycles are a good habit that will just pay for itself if you do it right.

Yeah, the early ones with the steel and/or aluminum forks were pretty crap. This one comes with a pretty damn nice kit to it, with a carbon fiber fork, seat post, the Sugino Zen Messenger cranks (nice!), the really nice Specialized Toupe saddle, and a pretty decent FSA headset. I got mine (2009) for a touch over $600 from my local bike shop. Now THAT is value!

I built up a 9spd Trek back in the day that came in under 16lbs.  That little turd was lightening fast.  Still have the wheels, Dura Ace hubs on some italian tubeless rim...38 spoke.  I ran Various Conni tires at 200-220 without a problem..........wouldn't do you much good though.

Well yeah, when you're running tubeless tires of course those pressures are normal!  My tires are still the stock Specialized Mondos, which have been okay so far, but I hear they become a bit flat prone later in life. We'll see.

Hey TT_four,

I ride a 47cm frame or smaller...i am 5'2'' - 5'3''.  For all you cyclists help spread the word on bike ride...I'm cycling in the AIDS/LIFECYCLE ride.

That is an itty bitty frame! You might get away with a 50cm frame, unless you were measured for that size, in which case... damn!

That seat does not look too forgiving. 

Actually, it's really comfortable. It's been specially designed to relieve pressure in my manly areas, and the lack of padding means that it won't chafe. Surprisingly, the more "minimal" bicycle seats are typically more comfortable over long rides than heavily padded ones.

[tt_four]

Actually, it's really comfortable. It's been specially designed to relieve pressure in my manly areas, and the lack of padding means that it won't chafe. Surprisingly, the more "minimal" bicycle seats are typically more comfortable over long rides than heavily padded ones.

Yeah, seats are usually the opposite of how they look. The seat I've used the longest is a thin plastic seat with no cover on it. It looks like Alpha's, only doesn't even have the thin padding or cover. You're really just supposed to get support under your ass bones. Having a bigger padded seat lets the pressure spread out evenly, which is bad, because there are places down there I don't really want pressure on.

[GeeP]

Where does the engine go?

[Alphamazing]

Where does the engine go?

On the skinny black thing that looks like a seat.

[tt_four]

Where does the engine go?

I made it years without a second though, but I'll admit lately as i've started to get back into motorcycles, when I come to a hill, I catch myself wishing the damn bike would push itself once in a while.

[Alphamazing]

On a nice 20 mile ride today, I learned that I spin out at about 30mph. I can't keep that speed up for long with my gearing, but I can get there.

Apparently, if I join the cycling team and race in two races, I can get any Specialized bicycle for 50% off.

[tt_four]

I think my bikes usually top out at 25mph. What kind of gearing do you get to 30mph with? I think mine has 45/16 or 47/17, I usually stick around there as we've got some pretty good hills here.

[Alphamazing]

I think my bikes usually top out at 25mph. What kind of gearing do you get to 30mph with? I think mine has 45/16 or 47/17, I usually stick around there as we've got some pretty good hills here.

46x16

I spin fast. Not as fast as Pablo though, apparently.

I don't have a computer, just basing it off the speeds of those around me.

[tt_four]

Hmm... yeah, now that I think of it, I don't have a computer on any of my single speeds either. I'm thinking about my geared bikes, which I just ride with tennis shoes and bmx pedals, not to mention my one bike has riser bars, which aren't too aerodynamic. Someday I'll have to take my little gps out on the way to work. I love tucking up behind a big van or delivery truck on the way to work. You can fly when you get out of the wind.

Plus my bike is fixed, and top speed gets kinda rough because when you're spinning like crazy and hit your top speed, you can't say "whew that was fast" and just coast back to a normal speed. You've gotta keep pedaling it out.