Picking up Ms. Cools' new custom dirt touring bike frame from John Fitzgerald at Fitz Cyclez. Also, an update on the Colnago road bike. Fitz Cycles: www.fitzcyclez.com / fitzcyclez1
I really like the way that John put this frameset together. Nice tubing selection. So many nice touches on this frame set. Mr Fitzgerald is really taking his framebuilding to an elite level. I believe I'm correct in saying that those Coast dropouts were influenced by the MAP dropouts that Mitch designed some years ago, which in turn were influenced by the Art Stump dropouts from back in the day that were made in 17-4 stainless. It's great that Johnny has gotten these droputs designed, made, and available to other builders. They look great in Ms, Cools new frame. I look forward to seeing this bike built up and being ridden.
Thanks for the back story on the drop outs. I like the classic styling of the MAP/Art Stump/Coast design but with a modern twist using a vertical drop out (and the extra diagonal brace). I can imagine someone filing the braces out for a very traditional look. John mentioned he liked them because they use a traditional slotted fitment to the stays. They have limits though, and when I spoke with John about using them he explained the angle of the stays has to be within a certain range or they just won't look right. In that sense it would be great to have a few different angles made, so modern geo frames could be built using classic inspired dropouts. Although that's easier said than done, given how many sets would need to be ordered.
@@Henrywildeberry not to drag this out any more than necessary but I meant G.P. Wilson dropouts, not Art Stump. They were both west coast builders (both in the L.A area iirc) from back in the day. Their respective dropout designs had similarities, but I always felt that Wilson's were more aesthetically pleasing. Ok, just wanted to add that here for completeness. I used to be much more in touch with the history of all this, when I was getting into framebuilding in the early 2000's but since losing my shop and stopping building my recall of who did what and when, has stared to fade.
great color! well thought out frame. and super versatile!!!! just excellent. and rim brakes are the way to go...i say that after 30,000 miles on discs, even the best ones. discs work fine to great (if hydros) but are a pain in the ass and for most riding are completely unneccesary. oh, and by the way: ms. cools, as adorable as ever!!
Nice work by John on the frame details, i really like the "french" style brazing on the drop-out, where it looks like the joint is open, with the concave radius brazing. The BB height is really going to be set by the tire size. With 7cm of drop and a 55mm wide tire, that's about as low as you can design, if you run something like a 42mm 650b tire, the height will be 13mm lower.
Thank you! John is doing excellent work, and I appreciate his attention to detail. We definitely push it when it comes to BB drop but with a shorter crank and bigger tires it tends workout well.
Mrs Cools new bike is going to look awesome. The light frame for a light woman makes so much sense and it will be a pleasure to ride it. To have such a framebuilder in town is awesome and because you can find him there he can not built crap or the people come back and... 😄. Its not going to happen. The discussion about the muscle car. Oh my god. At first I thought what the hell... but Ok you can relate this to the brake discussion but I think its so yesterday. Its like seeing a dinosaur on the street. I only can talk from my point of view living in a car-polluted area of Germany and its time to ban these things into the museum. They are noisy and stink, leave a lot of micro plastic and micro dust behind and everybody who suffers a desease on the lung is one person to much and everybody who dies on the road (excluded the driver of one of those cars) is one to much. These machines are engineering masterpieces but its time to say it as it is. Liebe Grüße und ich bin gespannt auf Theresas neues Fahrrad🙋♀!
Glad you enjoyed it, and nice to see a comment from you. I could sense from the tone in the voices of the two fellows discussing the car brakes they've had their fair share of comments from viewers about how their brake choices are all wrong. LOL!
Pcmiller's riding defy's the laws of physics. There's a conversion table needed when talking about pcmiller. For every millimeter of tire Paul uses the rest of us will need to add 8mm. BUT, it's non-linear! For example, if Paul uses a 23mm then to get equal riding performance you will need a 40mm tire. If Paul is using a 32mm tire, then you will still need a 40mm tire. No one has been able to solve the pcmiller paradox.
Re. the brake discussion clip at the end I think that they're talking about servo assisted brakes (ie. "power brakes", where there is a brake booster in between the brake pedal and the master cylinder) Vs. non servo brakes. The latter are non existent in modern production cars afaik. Non servo braking systems are typically used in racing, in order to give better driver feedback, and they also usually compensate for the lack of a servo by using bigger disks, and by carefully considering piston diameter ratios and such, in order to get the stopping power required.
Higher end Shimano mountain bike hydraluic brake levers have a "servo-wave" feature whereas Magura brakes have none. I use some Shimano Alivio hydraulic brake levers and there's certainly more rider input modulation than my bikes with the "higher end" servo mechanism. In the case with Shimano, I feel like the servo gives the brake actuation more of an 'on-off' feel and non servo feels more linear.
Here’s my few pointers regarding brakes I want to share. I love those old design brake calipers due to a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s easy set up to one’s specifications in terms of brake pads gap and pressure of contact on lever squeeze to determine the among of braking power required. Yes, system like these will never be able to give instant brake like disc braking. By the way, recently I was saved by the caliper brakes down a scratchy sandy downhill path. Even with these old system brakes, my bike was locked couple of time in split second sending me into crashing mode. If this is disc brake, the bike would have locked n send my flying!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on rim brakes. Your sand story reminds me of the beach racing videos I've watched in Europe. A lot of the bikes are still equipped with rim brakes. They say they work better because you don't have to worry about sand getting into the calipers.
Is that 2 tone paint or the lighting? I saw a new 7 speed shimano downtube shifter on a current bike. I didn't even know they still made indexed downtube shifters.
I think it's the light and possibly the camera picking up some coloration. The finish on the frame is a single color powder coat. Shimano is still making 7-speed indexed downtube shifters?
Lovely, I'm enjoying the lightweight skinny TT OS DT setup myself. How does the tubing spec compare to her previous Fitz custom? Also what front lowrider rack will she be using?
Her other bike has an OS top tube and standard down tube (basically the same diameter). The down tube on this new frame is 747 compared to the other frame with 858. Overall, the stiffness will probably be comparable between the two even though this new frame has a standard top tube. I think where she will feel a difference is at the handlebars, and flex when out of the saddle climbing. The top tube is slightly shorter on the new frame. The steering is also completely different so it will be interesting to do a side by side comparison. For racks we're still not sure. We wanted to add the braze-on to the fork so she could have options.
Quick releases on the brake levers in addition to the ones on the calipers are what I've used for fatter tires. Ms Cools frame is sanely pragmatically and beautifully obsolete, just the kind of bikes I've made lately, with fat tires, tuned flex, quick release axles, rim brakes and a blend of touring and 90's MTB geometry.
That new bike frame seems to have a longer rear derailleur hanger bracket than a typical road bike. Could you discuss that? I think that Colnago could fit 32mm wide tires nicely if it had indented chainstays. I've increased tire clearance on a few steel framed bikes with a suitable indenting die, although not yet on a collectable frame. I wonder what your frame builder would say if you asked him about indenting the chainstays on an existing frame for more tire clearance. Thanks for this latest video. I was growing impatient (grin). I recently rode up Omo Ranch Road remembering your tour route along that road. Didn't ride down to that camp ground though.
I think with indenting the chain stays there would be clearance for larger tires. I’d have to mount a set and see if there would be enough clearance around the brakes. I do think it would be a really neat bike. I have a feeling it would be a tight squeeze though. I’m glad you were able to get out on Omo Ranch Road. Did you ride up to Carson Pass summit on 88?
No, not yet. Getting up to the top of Omo Ranch road was my turn around. I'm looking forward to riding over the summit maybe on an overnighter. As for indenting chainstays, as long as there are clearances at the brake bridge and fork crown and I'm willing to install and remove deflated tires through the caliper brake pads I go with it. I can easily fit 700c-38mm Panaracers on my 1981 Trek 710 with indented chainstays. I really enjoy your custom frame discussions and the information you share. Keep them coming.
@@douglasldn2831 great year for bug. I'm a fan of the slanted headlights and turn signals on those era vw's. The little round side mirrors were cool too.
This Colnago lost its fork so it has lived a pretty troubled life already. We’re giving it a good home so I have a good feeling it will like its new set of softer tires.
Good question. We wanted to keep it inline with our other bikes all being rim brake. That allows us to share wheels and parts more easily. We also like the weight savings and the added flex of the fork. There’s a bunch of reasons, but it gets pretty long winded so I won’t bore you. In general, it’s a personal choice based on the type of riders we are. We’re more explorers than we are shredders. We’re more DIY than we are take it to a mechanic types.
@@stevepark6363 I'm not sure on max tire clearance with fenders. The chain stays are a little shorter than my bike, but I would guess 48's could fit fairly easily with fenders. Ms. Cools has her other bike she will plan to have set up for wet weather. This bike is mainly going to be for dirt touring, summer bike packing type of riding. The braze-ons are there if she ever did decide to run fenders on this bike, but I don't foresee it happening very often.
They named a trail in Marin county after hub brakes. It’s called “Repack” because they had to repack the hub bearings after each downhill run. Once they added rim brakes they set the fastest times. Even to this day no one has beat their best times. All hail rim brakes! Lol!
