It's Alive! Bottecchia project part 3

 So after over 2 years of messing around with this bike, I finally got it done. So far I've got a little over 170 miles on it and it rides great. Basically the bike is an old Italian Bottecchia frame that had been wrecked and broken. It originally was a huge frame (60cm) that I basically chopped and channeled down to my size and put a modern cromoly head tube and new dropouts on. For a recap on the whole process, go HERE, HERE and HERE.

The finished product on the maiden voyage.

Second ride. I've made one change swapping the stem from a 110mm to a 120mm

Mid build

I'm running a 52/21 gear. It seems pretty neutral - not too hard from a stop and cruises pretty good around 17-18 mph. First scratch from where the door at the shop smacked into the dropout also....

The brake bridge is a chunk of curved tubing from an old scrap Schwinn cromo  mountain bike.

I salvaged the original pump peg. Maybe I'll try to find an old Silca frme pump.

I made some little chainstay gussets as the original tube wouldn't clear the tire.

I like the world champion 1966 decal on the downtube - same year I was born.

Bottecchia project part 2

 It's crazy how time flys. I've been working on this bike off and on (mostly off) for two years now. It's getting close to being finished finally. I did some research on building an inexpensive frame jig, and pieced one together to get everything together and straight.

Dropouts on

Not the prettiest welds, but not too bad...

The frame with the headtubed mocked up

I found a website that calculates templates you can print out and tape to the top and down tubes to get the proper  miter angles. I just ground the tubes with a grinder and a dremmel tool. I just cut the head tube down with a hacksaw. I figured I would have to re face it anyway after it was welded on, which was correct.

Headtube welded on with fork mocked up

Welding on the last bits....

I was able to borrow the Italian BB thread chased and headtube facing tools from Bikeone. Mark and Alex were on hand to supervise...

The headtube was pretty distorted, but it all worked out fine.

Mocked up with wheels.

It's been a long time since this bike has seen any action!  Hopefully it will hit the road again in a week or less.

Race updates

It's been a long time since I've done any race reports, so I figured I would do kind of an abbreviated  version with some of the pictures that have been on facebook and such. I guess overall, the season so far has gone pretty well for the most part. It seems things have gotten more consistent results wise, and I feel like my form is going pretty good right now heading into the Tulsa Tough weekend.

The Matrix Criterium in Dallas.  Photo by Biff

April 20th and the21st was the Matrix crits in Dallas. I honestly can't remember what places I finished in the 2/3 races. 10th and 11th I think? I know I finished  in the money every race and I won the gambler 2 Laps to go prime lap of $100. I probably could have got a better finish overall if I hadn't got it, but maybe not. It's a difficult to move up on sometimes, plus I was in a good position so it was worth it. Three of us did the masters race on Sunday also. Going into the last couple of laps I thought I could win it for sure, but my team mate James and I got crossed up going into the last couple of turns and I ended up 4th.

The first and only fire hill crit so far. Another sweet Biff Stephens photo

The TT series at Lake Overholser wrapped up in April. Once again I got second overall in the series. I'm getting closer, so maybe next year...
All the April Wednesday night races got rained out, but in May, we got 3 races in. The team pretty much dominated the category 1-2-3 A series. The TT was the first event. Rob got 1st, I got 2nd, and Judson got 3rd. The next week was the Draper circuit race. James and I got into a 2 man break and he let me have the win because I had a higher finish in the TT.

Fire hill crit. Last 50 meters sprinting for the win!

 The final event in the May series was the Fire Hill criterium. The team had the top 4 positions already locked up, but we raced it hard anyway. There was some pretty good competition at this race because all the entries and series payouts were going to be donated to tornado relief. We had good numbers and tried to work that into our favor. With about 6 laps to go, we had 3 riders in a 5 man break. Jason Waddell decided he was going to chase the break down, so he pretty much punched in for the last 5 laps or so. Rob attacked the break with about 3 to go, and Eric Melton took over for Jason for a lap. With half a lap to go, Jason caught Rob. Pretty much I guess just to prove he could. He sat up and waved us by. I was the one on his wheel and normally I wouldn't have gone so early, but I thought if I punched it and got to the big sweeper corner first with a gap, I could take it from there and that's exactly what happened.

OKC Pro Am day 1.  Lee McDaniel photo

 I decided to double dip both days of the pro am. I did the masters A race and the 2/3 race on Saturday, and the 2/3 race and the Pro 1/2 race on Sunday.

2/3 race Saturday Photo by Judson Copeland

2/3 race Sunday. Rob on the Attack. Photo by Andy Chasteen

Brian on the attack Sunday 2/3 race. Andy Chasteen photo

Biff giving the DNA team some important race info. Andy's photo again

1/2 race Sunday. Very fast! Andy's photo

Suffering in the masters race on Saturday. Photo by Roger Meadows

The Pro Am race went good I guess. I felt like it could have gone better, but it definitely could have gone worse. I got 7th and 11th both days which was in the money in every race, plus I got $200 in primes.

If the weather holds up,  we'll race this Wednesday at Lake Draper, then the epic Tulsa Tough weekend!

Di2 installation on a non Di2 frame

I've been doing more and more custom Di2 installs recently on standard frames not designed for Di2. I thought I would share a few tips I've picked up along the way that might make it easier for someone considering electronic shifting or installing it for the first time.

Shimano PC linkage firmware updater tool

This process is for the newer Di2  using the E-wire system, but is similar for the first generation Di2 Dura ace stuff. The first step is to update all the firmware and make sure everything works. I  learned this lesson the first time I was putting together an 11 speed Dura Ace group that we had purchased from several different sources. Basically, no matter what combination of what parts I used, nothing worked. A quick call to Shimano tech support and we found that the firmware had to match (be the latest version) in order for all the parts to communicate and work correctly. In no time, we had our PC linkage device on the way. The PC linkage device is the tool that plugs into your PC and Updates firmware, as well as diagnose problems.

My buddy Andy's Velocite Magnus

We would be swapping a Di2 Ultegra group on a bike currently with 2011 Sram Red components.

Di2 parts kit.

Since we were using the internal seat post battery, the charger in the upper right hand corner wasn't needed. We did need an additional 2 wires (6 total are needed for road bikes). The wires come in several different lengths to work with the application, frame size, configuration ETC.

You can update the firmware on 2 things at one time. The shifters are counted as 1 item

I stared with the battery and the 5 port junction box with the shifters.

The firmware update process is really pretty simple and easy to follow. Here is a visual of the  program checking the current firmware.

Current version and new version to be updated to.

Next I did the derailleurs

The biggest challenge of this project was the frame construction. Most carbon fiber frames are a monocoque type construction. This frame has a solid BB shell with the down tube, seat tube, and chain stays butted directly against the BB, so I had to drill some holes in the BB shell.

Seat tube and down tube holes. I used a dremel tool to enlarge the down tube hole to a rectangular shape just big enough to get the 4 port junction box through.

Drive side chain stay and seat tube holes

Rear chain stay exit. I used 4 drill bits starting with 1/8" and ending up with 1/4" holes. It seems to work best to start with a small hole and gradually enlarge it.

The chain stay routing was by far the most difficult. After drilling the holes, I found the tube was full of bladder material, which had to be dug out. My easy to route tool worked well to get all the wires through the frame.

Top tube entry hole. Wire runs through the head tube to the down tube.

Wire running up through the seat tube to be connected to the battery.

The bike is complete!

Top tube wire is barely noticeable. The 5 port junction box is mounted under the stem. The small square at the back of the box is the cover to charge the battery.

Front derailleur routing.

I was curious about how the front derailleur would work with the 2012 Sram Red yaw chain rings, but the Ultegra derailleur adjusted to them just fine.

The 2013 NWA Spring Classic Road Race

 It's amazing how powerful having a positive mental attitude can be, and the racing that went down on the weekend of March 23rd and 24th was a good example of that. It was a good weekend for us. The weather was pretty brutal, but we made the best of it.
There are several different directions or topics I could write about in this post. One thing could be about the tips and tricks we've come up with over the years that are either free or cheep, but will keep you warm and dry(well somewhat), and several other little things you can do to deal with these types of conditions.
Another topic could be about the Guru DFU fit cycle at the shop. The wins just keep piling up from the guys who have been fit on that thing.
A third subject could be about the awesome equipment we've been using so far this year, and another could be about mental toughness and how to develop it and be prepared for racing in the worst possible conditions.

I think trying to cover all of these things at once would be a bit much, so I'm going to focus on the racing itself. I'll be writing separate posts for the other things very soon.

The days before the weekend were calling for pretty grim weather for the weekend. Saturday and Sunday were looking cold, windy and a high possibility of rain and or snow. This may sound stupid, but I've been dreaming about doing a race in the snow for a really long time, and the possibility to actually finally get to do one had me very interested. The first of three OKC Velo time trials was Saturday morning at Lake Overholser. The weather turned out to be not too bad, mostly just cold.

Anyhow, the race went well for me. I had the fastest time of the day.Rob got second just a couple of seconds behind me. Usually Rob and me are pretty close time wise on the flatter courses, but he kills it on the hillier courses. Rob's wife Sarah also won the womens category.

Sunday morning, Rob, Sarah and I carpooled to the NWA road race. At first it looked like we might miss the rain/snow, but as we were getting close to Arkansas, I started to see some flurries. Once we got to the race course, it was light, but it was definitely snowing. The thing was nobody in the car was bummed out. Everybody seemed pretty excited to race in it, which I think made a huge difference in the overall experience.

Rob and me geared up for getting down

19 guys rolling out - only 10 finished

The last race we did was the Tall Chief road race. I didn't write a story about it, but for us, the race was literally over in less than 5 minutes after it started, so we were determined not to make that mistake again.
Our plan was to be very ready at the start and really just go hard all day and get it done quickly. I know that Rob really wanted to get a good win this year, and the NWA race was one that he felt he had a good chance at.
Right from the gun, Rob attacked pretty hard. Within a mile or so, guys were already getting popped off the back of the group. About 10 minutes in the group was mostly back together. Bob Cummings from Kansas attacked and Rob was in a good position to go with him, and that was pretty much it. Once they were given a little gap, I knew they were gone. It's way more fun being one of the guys that gets to sit in the group and police would be chasers, than be one of the guys who doesn't have a rider in the break.

I got out of position and let Jake Lasley of Soundpony get away towards the end of the first lap, but by then it was too late. Rob was already almost 3 minutes up the road and he an Bob are both guys that together would be tough to catch even for a fast group working together.
Things seemed like they might start getting hairy as ice was pretty much forming on everything. It was getting hard to shift gears as ice was coating the cables, derailleurs and cassettes. It seemed like every time I looked around the group kept getting smaller.

Rob's bike coated with ice

Rob ended up out sprinting Bob and got his first win of the year in epic fashion!  What was left of the main field pretty much blew up on the climb a few miles before the finish and I ended up 7th.

After race photo...Smiling even bigger!

My iced up helmet

Sarah's bike

Rob's bike - notice the ice on the shift cables

And on the spokes!

Another fun weekend. Our confidence is going good right now, but believe it or not, I think we can get a lot better as a team. Lots more racing coming up.