GCRad1

All this riding is finally taking its toll on the bike, making for a crusty drivetrain. Any I want the bike tip top, for the New Years Day Ride.


I like using MOTUL products both on the bicycle and the motorcycles. Cleans, and offers a little simi-protection. Here you can see I have cleaned the large chainring and the little one is still crusty. Yes, I like to pull it all apart, no cranks out, but pulling the chainrings off is good. I have seen a lot of bikes come into the shop squeeky only for it to be crusty chain ring bolts. You have to think of these bikes as race cars, they need maintinance. Daily drivers you abuse and give little maintinance, but bikes like these, you want tip top and if you have such expectations, they need and diserve MAINTINANCE!

Little crusty:


Two Clean Rings:


Crusty BuildUp:

You can see the crust build up on the end of the chain ring arm - time to exit the crust! I do a chain detail and derailuer detailing as well.

Wheel Detail:



Lets face it, wheels are expensive! And I like my wheels. but in order to keep them in tip top shape means that they will need tuning with spoke tensioning from time to time. If ever you want to actaully tighten your spokes, you will need to actually move/turn the nipple on the spoke. The only way this is ever going to happen is if the nipples are not crust-freeze-dried onto the spokes. Thus they need a little lubrication. I have this handy little bottle that allows one drop at a time to be disbursed on each and every spoke.

Careful note with blade spokes - they will twist like spegetti if you try to tighten and the nipple is stuck onto the spoke. So, doing this little MAINTINANCE is key.

Back to the bolts:

Chain ring bolts need to be LUBED UP! I use waterproof greese and while there is a bit of excessive greese on here, I can wipe it off, but you can never be riding down PCH and add greese... so do it well!

Time to put the chain rings on:

While chain rings just look like chain rings, make sure you look at the details! Campagnolo has these "diamonds" that need to be aligned.

GCRad1

A little detail:

The pin on the large chain ring is to be placed behind the crank arm, so this will dictate were the "diamonds" will line up, so just visually check where the "diamond" is in relation to the pin located behind the crank arm.



Then set the small ring on and then double-check the "diamonds" and place the second or larger ring on.


Another little piece is the spacer between the two chain rings on the back side of the crank, make sure you don't loose it or you will remember right about this time when you start to re-assemble. Now that concludes what I call my mini-overhaul.

Now the BAD BOY CINELLI IS READY!!!

tagaproject6

I see you also shop at Surf City Cyclery...I like visiting that shop every time I go to California.
I really enjoy these posts! Keep it up!

GCRad1

SANTA ANA RIVER TRAIL:

Ok, so after the big ride calls for a little ride, but I don't want it to be a day of "no-ride" so I'm going to pedal over to the in-laws for New Years Dinner and celibration and the wife and kids will drive over. Placentia is about 15-miles away and I have been making this little trip for 18-20+ years over to her parents house.


Bike is feeling nice and clean after the mini-overhaul!




As you have seen in my previous post, this water channel is usually dry, but with all the rain we have had, its flowing!

Here is a good comparison between "WET" & "DRY":




Where the Anaheim Angels play.


My jump off the trail is Glassell and this is where it crosses over the 91FWY looking East bound.

Late night:

It's going to be an EARLY and COLD morning for the New Years Day Ride...

GCRad1

Every year I hear about it... Every year I miss it... This year - 2011, I finally decided to get on with it!


It's cold, it's early and making my way down to Pacific Coast Highway to meet up with a FEW HUNDRED other guys out for a pedal.


The ride starts in Long Beach, but I caught on between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. A small group of us where pedaling up to meet them as they came down. When we saw the massive pack, there was nothing to do but jump on the back as they where taking up the south bound lanes going down, so jump on and work my way up.


The pack makes way into Newport Beach.
And then onward to Corona Del Mar:


I was about 100 riders from the front around Fashion Island [Between Newport & Corona Del Mar] and pot holes scattered water bottles and flatted a few bikes. No incidents or should I say accidents!! But it was a wild moment as the recent rains made some massive pot holes.

Back to Corona Del Mar:

Take 3-lanes of mad pedalers and squeeze into two lanes with cars. Interesting.
hehehe it was actually a little crazy, but all was well. Stay out of trouble and keep pedaling! And it was all out BLAST to Laguna Beach. I said that was enough! Some went out the HWY133 toward the hills of Irvine and some of us went on down PCH for a bit more of a leisurely ride. Then stuff like this catches my eye so I have to stop:

Document and move on...

On down to San Onofre:



You will most likely recognize the power plant off the Interstate 5 just south of San Clemente if you are driving down via auto:



That was a nice pedal-jam my brains out to Laguna and recover to Sana Nofre and pedal back home. I was BEAT! But it was fun!

GCRad1

I was over at the AGENDA Show earlier this month and met Dustin of Cadence, cool brand from San Francisco.


While they have a very cool line of bicycle influenced fashion/streetwear, Dustin also showed me these shoes from DVS in collaberation with Cinelli:


Check out Dustin's web site for more about Cadence: www.cadenceclothing.net

GCRad1

Specialized Roubaix Endurance Tires for the Cinelli Aliante by GCRad1, on Flickr

Finally wore the Maxxis tires thin to the point of puncher-puncher-puncher! That just gets real frustrating and I had to break down and give up the dead presidents! The roads are real trashy in Southern California during the so-called winter months, so I am going for a little more protection. I will gain a little weight with the Specialized Roubaix tires, but I have plenty to loose around the waist.
The MMAXXIS Xenith Hors Categorie were awesome by the way!!! Those may come back on the bike in the summer.

Believe it or not, it does rain here and we have had a fair share this year. I was reading a story in one of the mags where Specialized has spent the last couple of years developing new tires for their line-up, so I want to give them a spin.



Specialized Roubaix Endurance Tires for the Cinelli Aliante by GCRad1, on Flickr

I usually put the tire on the rim where the graphics on the tire will indicate where the valvestem will be. This helps when you are out in the field doing quick tube changes and or just finding you valve stem early in the dim morning light.



Specialized Roubaix Endurance Tires for the Cinelli Aliante by GCRad1, on Flickr

My gate / bike holder indicates that these tires are a bit fatter than what I have been running before. This is my routen as I set the bike in the gate, lock the front door and then I am off.

First Impression on the Specialized Roubaix Endurance Tires:
These tire are very stable and VERY COMFORTABLE! Perfect for getting back on the pedals after being off for a while!


What rain?

Looking down onto Newport Jetties from the South Side by GCRad1, on Flickr

GCRad1

Spring Pedaling 4/8/2011 Specialized Roubaix Endurance Tires by GCRad1, on Flickr

Spring Pedaling 4/9/2011 by GCRad1, on Flickr

Spring Pedaling 4/9/2011 Specialized Roubaix Endurance Tires by GCRad1, on Flickr

The Specialized Roubaix Endurance Tires have been AWESOME!

GCRad1

Had a great week of riding! Even yesterdays rain made for great ride and then today our week Surf City Cyclery Ride and the last portion my bike started squawking and squeaking loud. My guys riding with me said it sounded like the bottom bracket, but it just sounded too loud. So when I got home, did the routine cleaning and found this:




So I have to say, this is THE END for the Cinelli Aliante. This bike has searved me well. Will see if I can sort out another Cinelli down the road here, but the holiday is around the corner and funds are tight.








So I guess for the time being I will get the PINARELLO PRINCE SL in BANESTO TEAM COLORS going as it has been sitting here collecting dust.

I'll link a thread here once I start it up.

ravenmore

That stinks. Wonder if it was damaged initially in the wreck?

GCRad1

I feel that is was totally due to the crash back in 2009. We have had a lot of discussion here at my office as we have a couple of engineers on staff and talking shop is always of interest. While the "bump" or ripple in the metal was not apparent during inspection after the crash [there was not bumps - no ripples - no cracks at that time]; it has been discussed that metal tubes carry most of the load inside the tube itself. The impact weakened the tube and over time slowly becoming weaker to the point of cracking. I have also noticed a smaller "bump-ripple" on the bottom side of the top tube close to the head, most likely as a result of bottom giving way. The tubes all works together in concert and when it goes bad - it goes bad. Again, all due to the crash. I love my Cinelli and hope to ride another!

eddiepliers 

Well, atleast you found out about the crascking and did something about it now rather than later. Also for if it was a crash caused in 2009, then that is great that it held up for so long along with it possibly having more miles on it.

Also the Pinarello frame in the Banesto colors is awesome as I was a fan of Miguel Indurain when I was younger.

eippo1

Too bad for the Cinelli. I feel like my anodized Sworks is like its cousin. Glad you have the Pinarello frame to build up, though.

AndyK 

Wow, that Pinarello frame is SWEET! Too bad about the beloved Cinelli. The good news is you have the nice drivetrain and can always swap it onto another Cinelli frame when the time comes, although you may like the Pinarello better!?

I do recommend the newer Cinelli Experience frames. You can get one new from the English online stores for under $600 shipped. I love mine!

fun2none

GC,

Thanks for the creating this thread. As Cinelli Aliante owner I was delighted to find this. Sorry to hear about your loss. I really enjoy my Aliante.

p5jokl

Great blog, thank you for sharing. How are you and what is your ride nowadays?

Here's an older photo of mine, am in the process of going carbon again. Very much enjoyed the time!

GCRad1

WOW! I just ran across my own thread - April 2020, during our global "downtime!" That ORANGE FRAME is AWESOME!!!

From the Miyata 110, I moved to a cross-bike and made it into the "#CXADV"
It's a Blue Norcross that I sorted with some WTB 650b wheels on WTB horizon 47c tires!


From there I've moved into a Kona Sutra:

My pedaling started with BMX to MTB to full Roadie to back to the middle and or the original way.....

Find me here mostly these days: https://www.instagram.com/gcrad1/
Putting most of my social efforts here: https://www.tdubclub.com/category/all-blogs/
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