There is nothing great about a servant. There is no recognition for putting others before yourself. There is no reward for sacrificing your own success for the triumph of another. There is no glory for not winning, for not being number one. But there is a reason why we should all become domestiques and serve others.

We're taking credit for this one.

Ghettoe™ (Ghetto Toe) cages fashioned out of everyone's favorite multipurpose tape, by one of our very own. It's inexpensive, lightweight, and looks great on old bikes with silver cranks. You've got black cranks? Don't sweat it, they can also be engineered in black to match. Blueprints on how to make your own custom set of Ghettoe™ cages coming soon.

If you didn't already sign up for a seat in the church van (which are now both full) you may still be able to join us. All you would need to do is get dropped off at the start of our ride on the bike trail. There should be enough empty seats in people's cars to take you back to The Grove at the end of the night. e-mail mario[at]lebikeclub.com if you are interested!

Details...

Meet: The Grove @ 9:00AM, we are leaving no later than 9:30AM.
Start: Gypsum Canyon RV Park (Gypsum Canyon Exit off the 91 fwy)
Distance: ~23 miles. Don't freak out, it's "all" downhill.
The few times you'll have to go uphill is when you go underneath overpasses. You're starting from 350 feet above sea level in Yorba Linda, all the way to the sea on a bike trail. No traffic, though there will be other cyclists, joggers, power walkers, dog walkers, Luke Skywalkers, the occasional chipmunks, squirrels, etc. so be aware of your surroundings. If we start early enough (before 10) the sun will still be behind us with a little tailwind to gently push us towards the beach. Sounds good right?
What to wear:

• Something you will be comfortable sweating in
• Athletic/tennis shoes
• Sunscreen

What to bring:

• Helmet
• Spare inner tube. Go to a Sport Chalet/Wal-Mart/Bike Shop. There are different sizes, look at the side your tires to find out the size you need.
• Water
• Water bottle (if necessary to hold your water)
• Backpack (if necessary to hold your water bottle)

That's pretty much it, I want you to have a good time on the ride, so come prepared. If you have any questions call or text me, 9099133377 -Mario

The moment I saw the first print ad for the Record Ace, I knew I had to have one. And thanks to Brian from the lovely (when it's not raining) city of Seattle; I was fortunate enough to get one. Out of the box, the list of features on this bike is impressive, if not a slightly paradoxical. Modern components on a retro lugged steel frame topped off with an appropriately classic Brooks Swallow saddle? That's a win, win, win proposition. Never one to leave well enough alone, I set out to try and take this bike to the next level.

While the big ticket components and accessories like crank, shifters, derailleurs, and saddle are all very choice, there are other parts that are disappointingly and understandably economical to keep the bike affordable and within the targeted price point. $1900 to be exact.

The first parts to go were the stock Tektro brakeset. Black bits doesn't look right on this classic lugged frame. Fortunately there were a set of better RED calipers left over from my Z5 build in my garage, so on the bike they went. Yeah, I am mixing Shimano with SRAM, bite me.

From the very beginning, and no matter how much I adjusted the rear derailleur, I experienced rear indexing issues. Nothing major, but I would always have to push the shifter a little past one-click in order for me to shift down a single gear. Otherwise, a normal throw of the lever would make the chains linger in between cogs. A fresh set of Reaction cables by Yokozuna solved that issue once and for all. Shifts are now buttery and precise, firmer brakes too. These are two improvements you will be able to feel hundreds of times in a single ride! Definitely a good bang for your buck upgrade. One word of advice, however, is to cut your brake cable housing correctly to length. Otherwise, the stiffness of the housing will steer your bike off center when you let go of the handlebar.

Next on the upgrade list are new wheels and tires. In keeping with the neo-retro look, a lightweight set of silver rims with silver spokes laced 3 cross front and back were planned. But I already had a set of white American Classic wheels so I mounted them with a pair of gum wall tires for extra vintage-ness. Finding a good set of gum walls was not easy. After much Googling I stumbled upon the Criterium by Challenge Tires. After a few hundred miles I can say they are fantastic, supple, and more resistant to cuts compared to the Evo Corsa CX IIs.

The OE cockpit consisted of black Avenir (Raleigh's sister brand) 90mm stem, seat post, and a 40cm FSA omega compact handlebar. Those black bits are budget (stem bolt threads stripped the first time I removed and re-tightened the bolts) and again, a way to keep the cost down on this bike, though I wonder why they didn't use silver instead? It's all good, I swapped them all out with a 100mm Thomson X2 stem, Ritchey WCS seat post, a 42mm 3T Ergonova LTD handlebar, and some silver stem spacers for kicks and giggles.

I also had a matching Thomson Masterpiece seat post but was quickly disappointed to find out that it would not work with the Brooks saddle. So the Ritchey will have to do for now. Despite what the photos show, the wet white (creamy) finish of the Ritchey seat post is not the same as the metallic white paint of the frame.  When their Classic collection releases in the Fall, I will replace the post (and possibly stem), the handlebars however are now the perfect width and ergonomic to boot.

And about that saddle...at first I hated it (called it "pretentious"), then I loved it. At the moment I'm not liking it so much. It's a love/hate relationship really. How long does it usually take to break in the leather, does anyone know? Someone told me months? Me and my butt seriously hope he's lying.

Stock, out of the box, the Record Ace is a fun ride. It's nice to see a historic company embrace its roots by re-introducing steel to a 21st century carbon fiber dominated landscape. Have you seen their 2011 product lineup? Ridic! Two new steel models: The Grand Prix, a Reynolds 520 frame speced with Tiagra, and a Dura-Ace equipped Reynolds 853 International as their flagship model (which looks absolutely mental by the way!)

The ride of this steel steed can only be described as fun. Objectively, It's not the lightest, fastest, nor most comfortable bike I've ridden, but subjectively it is definitely the funnest.

My grandmother's first bike was a Raleigh which was handed down to my mom. I too will be keeping this one for the next generation. Great job Raleigh.

-Mario

Not gonna lie, that pink run bike is pretty darn cute. Hope she rides her Raleigh as much as ride mine.

Fabian Cancellara's Red Hammer bike

Originally uploaded by smashred

In honor of Fabian's / Spartacus' / The Swiss Time Machine's / Red Hammer's butt-kicking performance in today's 2010 Tour de France Prologue...

In my opinion The Shiv by Specialized is the best looking TT bike out there, with or without the UCI-deemed illegal nose cone (looks better with it though). Nothing else even comes marginally close.

The colorway on this one-off Shiv is delish. And I thought only Trek was capable of doing artsy bikes, kudos Specialized.