michaelnel

Just finished stripping the bars, stem, and 105 STI stuff off my Soma Double Cross and installing a Nitto UI-5GX stem, Nitto Noodle bars, Tektro 221a aero brake levers, Shimano Dura Ace 9 speed barcons. I wrapped the bars with yellow cloth tape (finished with hemp twine), and then applied two coats of Bullseye amber shellac. After the first two coats have had a chance to cure thoroughly, I'm going to add several coats of clear shellac to build up the finish.

I like the way it looks, and at least for me the barcons are a real breath of fresh air. I never did like the Shimano 105 brifters. They worked really well, but the sideways motion of shifting hurt my wrists, and I never ever got the front shifting in indexed mode as smooth and rub-free as I prefer. With the friction mode barcon for the front, I can trim it perfectly any time, very easily.

I'm pleased, and I think I'm done with all my build and mods on this thing now.

roadfix

Very nice! I like it. Couple questions..... Is that the new Tubus rack? Also is that a one piece headset spacer you're using? If so, where did you get the spacer? That Nitto stem looks sharp as well.

michaelnel

Thanks. Yes, that is the new Tubus Vega rack. Due to the bike's shorter-than-touring-bike chainstays, it is mounted using some adapters that Wayne at The Touring Store sells. They offset the rack about an inch up and back at the dropouts so I have good heel clearance.


No. From the bottom up:

5mm black
15mm silver
silver canti hanger
40mm silver


I did a lot of searching and finally found that Wheels Manufacturing makes 40, 20, 15, 10, and 5mm spacers in polished silver. It was hard to find them, but https://www.aebike.com had them in stock.

I would actually prefer it if this bike used a threaded headset, because I find threadless ones kind of klunky and ugly, but with this combination I think I came up with the best solution I could find, given that I want the bars up even with the saddle.


I like Nitto stuff, but see my comment above. It's hard to find a quality, good-looking SILVER threadless stem. This one has the typical Nitto fine finish, but unfortunately it is a highly polished light grey color rather than natural bright aluminum. Dunno why they did that, but I can live with it.

vrkelley

Nice work! WOW!

FraAngelico

*****in' bike

michaelnel

Thanks guys.

It's old-school and phredish enough to stop the heart of your average roadie at 100 paces. They'll flee in abject disgust.

zealanderthal

A beautiful bike, especially the Brooks? saddle. It makes me feel quite envious really!

michaelnel

It's a Brooks B17 Standard.

zealanderthal

And many,many happy hours of riding on it!

hubs

very sweet .... ride it in good health!!!!!

sfene

Nice!!
It goes right into my screen saver (copyright notwithstanding!!)

Joe Dog

I saw your thread title and thought you were throwing in the towel on commuting!! I was all set to give you a little on-line pep talk, but I can see that's not necessary at all. Congrats on the bike - it looks sweet. Enjoy!!

d2create

Looks great. That's what my Atlantis is going to look like. Gonna have it painted black (with creamy filling) and do the bars and seat just like that. And the baggins bag.

One question though... why barends rather than downtube shifters? Is it just that that frame doesn't take downtube shifters or is a personal choice and why? I've been going back and forth myself and it seems that if you are going to have to move your hands to shift anyway, might as well do downtubes.

bostontrevor

d2create, funny, I was just going to say it looks like a Rivendell. That's a compliment.

Good lookin'.

michaelnel

You don't have to move your hands down or back as far with barcons as you would have to with downtube shifters. The bike does have brazeons for downtube shifters, that's where the cable stop / adjusters for the barcons are mounted. DT shifters could easily be mounted there instead, but I prefer the barcons. I had them first on my Atlantis and have liked them ever since.

BTW, barcons *are* downtube shifters, they just get mounted in bar-end adapters instead of on the downtube brazeons.

d2create

I just had to bring this thread back now that I have my Atlantis. For one because it's just a damn nice looking bike and deserves a replay, and two because boy do they look similiar! michaelnl and I must be cut from the same cloth.
Not shown in my pic is the baggins bag i have on order that looks really similiar to that one and the rear taillight mounted in the same spot. And the plan is to switch to those noodle bars if my moustache bars don't work out (the verdict is still out on that one).

Check it out....

Michaelnl's



Mine

As You Like It

Niiiice! I'm thinking of ditching the brifters in preference to a set of barcons, myself. For me the big issue is my small hands. I have a hard time tilting the lever far enough to the inside to shift well, and I hate that sometimes I accidentally shift when I am braking. Or need to be shifting down and braking at nearly the same time.

So, yeah, your bike is kind of inspiring me. Plus, it's a pretty ride, anyhow.

lxpatterson

[Niiiice! I'm thinking of ditching the brifters in preference to a set of barcons, myself. For me the big issue is my small hands. I have a hard time tilting the lever far enough to the inside to shift well, and I hate that sometimes I accidentally shift when I am braking. Or need to be shifting down and braking at nearly the same time.
QUOTE]

I have small hands too. I use both campy ergo on one bike and suntour racheting barend shifter on my commuter. I find that the barend is good bc I can keep my half hand on the bar while shifting. Plus it is very easy to operate with mittens and thick gloves, so it is great year-round. I have used shimano sti and find that campy is much better for small hands, especially if you like being on the hoods. If you like being on the drops it is ok too, but you need to get traditional bend bars (which arehard to find in small sizes).

michaelnel

Yours is prettier.

jyossarian

When I saw the pic of the Soma, I thought, "That looks like the Rivendell the other guy bought". To see them together makes me wanna get one myself.

michaelnel

Keep in mind that I used to own an Atlantis right after they first came out. I built that one up from the bare frame too, and learned what I wanted my bicycle to be from it.

So, when I decided to build another bike but couldn't afford the now much more expensive Atlantis, I used the Soma as a base. The personality of the bike is more in the build than the frame, IMO.

slvoid

I'd post a pic of my giant OCR touring but you'd all be jealous.

michaelnel

Gahead!

huhenio

You people have more taste than money .....

michaelnel

Esplain, please.