Re: [CR]Rear axle spacing and axle breakage?

(Example: Events:BVVW)

Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 21:44:06 -0800
From: "Bill Bryant" <Bill_Bryant@prodigy.net>
To: CYCLESTORE@aol.com
Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]Rear axle spacing and axle breakage?
References: <161.90ae2ef.29a32d9a@aol.com>


Oh yeah... I had forgotten about the "jumpers"--you guys were very good customers. Yes indeed, the rims and hubs do take a thrashing in the process and the jumpers helped my store's bottom line a lot. :-)

Seriously, I think some of our non-racing list members might be a little surprised, but knowing how and when to jump a bike is a very useful racing/survival skill for a variety of reasons as you write, Gilbert. The Belgians were especially good at the art of jumping. To the ambitious racer, the bike is a tool to be used (up), not a classic item to be protected and kept from harm as we frequently read here on the list. For a good example of this, read Stephen Roche's autobiography about how he won the amateur Paris-Roubaix race. From jumping his bike to detach a tenacious wheelsucker, he earned victory and a pro contract--possibly having to replace the rim and axle were a small price for his team sponsor to pay in the bargain. (Luckily his amateur racing days were within the CR time frame, so feel free to read those chapters without guilt.)

Cheers, Bill Bryant Santa Cruz, CA

CYCLESTORE@aol.com wrote:
> Hi Gang,
>
> I must say I broke 1/2 a dozen Campagnolo axles or more on well spaced and
> aligned frames even though I weighed a scandalous 135-140 lbs in my racin
> days. In the shop the spacing and alignment were found to be critical for a
> long lasting repair.
>
> I used to read about John Howard (can we get him on the this list) jumping a
> lot of railroad tracks so in our neighborhood all the young junior racers
> jumped everything! How about lateral curb clearing; we heard everybody did it
> in Belgium (did they?) did that and practiced jumping sidewalk (pavement in
> the UK) trash cans (the are very low in Belgium) to improve their cyclo cross
> skills ( DeVlaemink -sic). What is a struggling cyclist in America to do but
> go out and improve his sagging ego by trying to jump large 55 gallon American
> trashcans. We found, at the time that doing sideways curb jumping to be
> absolute child's play compared to American Trash cans. Naturally axles were
> one problem, but we had rims to worry about too!
>
> Regards,
>
> Gilbert Anderson in Raleigh NC USA