Soma Speedster

[xeney]

My husband is building up my new Speedster while I'm out of town, and posting pictures for me to see the progress. I thought I'd share, and then I'll post photos of the final build.

He has not cut the steerer tube yet, and the bars, seatpost, and stem are borrowed from other bikes -- we'll order all of that when I've had a chance to get a preliminary fit.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3294/2711710436_969fec3e71.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/57531023@N00/2711710436/)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3281/2711706548_292658f6d4.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/57531023@N00/2711706548/in/photostream/)

It's soooo pretty. I can't wait.

[pll]

Wooooooow! Thank you for posting (beautiful bike pictures go well with a cup of coffee). What a beauty. Congratulations!

[KnottedYet]

*swoon* :eek:

That is gorgeous!!

[rij73]

Whoa! I had no idea how beautiful those bikes were...

(Must... resist... urge... to check... website!) :o

[Blueberry]

Beautiful:)

CA

[sgtiger]

Droolicious! That is one seriously sexy bike.:eek::D

[ilima]

That is a sweet looking bike. Love the red, love the lugs. Are you going to get Brooks bar tape to match your saddle?

[xeney]

No, I'm not a fan of leather bar tape. I'll use tan-colored cork tape.

[elk]

I LOVE that color...and that is a sexy bike....

[TxDoc]

Fantastic!
thanks for sharing!

[dachshund]

That is a gorgeous bike! Thanks for the pictures. Keep 'em coming! :)

[xeney]

We did a preliminary fitting today and it's going to be fine. We'll have some minor tweaking to do, but it's a good fit. I'm going to love this bike, I think.

[rij73]

That's great! Can I ask... what component group and wheelset is that? Also... about how much is this bike going to weigh?

It's really gorgeous. Can't get over the color!

[xeney]

The components are mostly Veloce 10-speed with a triple crankset. The wheels are swiped from my 2003 Bianchi Veloce because I was having trouble finding Campy wheels that weren't too racy-looking, so they are Bianchi hubs with Mavic CXP-22 rims. (The Bianchi will get new wheels if I decide to keep it.)

It's not going to be a lightweight -- probably around 20 pounds, or as my husband just said in a snotty tone, 25 if I keep the Brooks saddle. (He is not a member of the cult.)

For those who didn't follow the earlier thread, I wanted this bike for pulling a trailer with my daughter ... more upright and less aggressive than my Bianchi, with the lowest gearing I could manage with Campy. But I will probably keep the Bianchi, too.

[Blueberry]

20 lbs isn't bad....Wonder if building one with Shimano would make a big difference one way or the other (I'm drooling at one, but am not a Campy convert).

CA

[xeney]

I don't know -- Veloce is not a lightweight component group. Probably about like 105? We went with Campy because I'm used to it, I like the feel of the hoods, the levers fit my hands well, and my husband had a hand-me-down set of levers I was able to use. (He developed a metal allergy to the levers ... is that the best or the lamest excuse anyone has ever come up with for upgrading to carbon levers? I'm not sure.)

Elk, come tell me how much you love your Ritchey adjustable stem. As much as I think this bike would be prettiest with a silver stem and bars, I wanted the adjustable stem for several reasons, so my husband bought me one. The bonus is that now I don't feel like I need to swap out my Short and Shallow bars for something prettier, since if I have a black stem I might as well stick with black bars. (And they look like they are going to be a good fit, which is most important.)

[elk]

The adjustable stem is great for finding your way into the fit...or so I've heard...I haven't tried to use it except once on the road and I couldn't undo the bolt...

ask me again...later!!

I DID ask the Bianchi guy for one for Mr elk's new Volpe and he's giving us a Kalloy. I think it'll be a heaven sent for the Mr...who has been riding upright.

:o

Don't worry too much...(said once Cancer to another)
it's all fixable, undoable, changable.

[xeney]

We are working on the fit and it seems pretty good -- very different geometry than my Bianchi (bars and saddle about the same height), but good. We can't quite get KOPS right because my femurs are different lengths, but we can get it close.

Unfortunately my Brooks B17s is not working. I might try a B17 but I am not getting that instant comfort thing I've had with Brooks saddles on other bikes. I tried a Butterfly and it was better but also won't work (I get chafing in the rear because it's too wide for me), so I am going to try my Fisik Vitesse and I might have to buy another one of those. Damn it. The Brooks is prettier.

Here is some child labor in action:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/2746785173_6cbae92fc2.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xeney/2746785173)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3195/2746863609_000ccecbc0.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/xeney/2746863609/)

See, if your kids are very bad, you can make them clean your chain and rims with a toothbrush!

[divingbiker]

The color of that bike just makes me swoon!:):):):):):)

[uforgot]

Awwww...love the pics. She obviously is going to be a cyclist, she already has great taste in bikes.

[xeney]

Well, I hope the bike looks as pretty with a black Vitesse saddle, because the Brooks is just not working. Not enough adjustability even with a setback seatpost.

[xeney]

(#$#*&$*(*#(!!!!

The whole point of building this bike was for hauling my daughter in her Chariot trailer. It's all built, it's beautiful, it fits ... but it turns out to have odd-size dropouts, and the attachment for the trailer won't work.

So it is going to be for sale and I am back to the drawing board. What an enormous waste of time and money.

ETA: actually I will probably just stick with my Bianchi. I've been pulling the trailer with it and having a blast, anyway.

[Blueberry]

That sucks:(

Is there not an alternate attachment for the trailer available?

CA

[xeney]

Nope. There is just the one, and it is meant to work with lots of different bikes. Which it does -- we have used it so far with five road bikes and two mountain bikes, covering all age ranges from the early 80s to 2003. I'm not blaming Chariot for this, I am blaming Soma. I have no idea why they made the dropouts such a weird size. I have never heard of anyone having a problem with a Chariot skewer.

My husband thinks he might be able to modify the skewer, but I'm afraid of compromising safety. Also I am pretty mad.

[divingbiker]

So it is going to be for sale and I am back to the drawing board.

What size is it?:D:D;)

[dex]

What size is it?:D:D;)

Heh. I was about to ask the same thing. :p:D

[Blueberry]

Heh. I was about to ask the same thing. :p:D

I tried to restrain myself from asking too early;);) I'm glad someone else asked....

If it's a 52, I may be in trouble;)

CA

[xeney]

It is a 52. But I am still in the denial stage of grief, so give me a few days.

[7rider]

I tried to restrain myself from asking too early;);) I'm glad someone else asked....



I see DB waited TEN WHOLE MINUTES!!! :eek::D;)

[divingbiker]

I see DB waited TEN WHOLE MINUTES!!! :eek::D;)

Excuse me, but I believe it was 27 minutes since she posted that it was going to be for sale. I do know how to show restraint! But lordy that bike is pretty!

[xeney]

I am very sorry to report that my husband has found a workaround. He thinks we can use something as a spacer -- a big nut, or something -- and that will work.

Okay, I'm not sorry at all. Back off my beautiful bike, you vultures! Heh.;)

[divingbiker]

Oh, that's great! (I guess.)

[xeney]

Wow. This bike is so smooth! I finally got my first ride today and it is pretty awesome. Totally different from my Bianchi, much more comfortable but not as fun to ride. Super stable, even on muddy leaf-strewn streets after a rain storm.

Still haven't worked out how to attach the trailer but we will make it happen. As soon as the bars are wrapped I'll post a picture. (We are deciding between black and tan bar tape because I am deciding between a Vitesse and a Brooks B17.)

[xeney]

This has really been a nightmare. Do any of you even remember that I was first going with a Smoothie ES but when the frame finally came in (after months) it was dented?

The Speedster is built but my husband has taken it on a couple of test rides and has not been happy with the way the headset feels. He took it apart last night and determined that either the headset was installed incorrectly (we had that done by the shop where we bought the frame) or the head tube was not cut straight.

Arrrggghhhhh. I really wanted to ride it this week. We got the trailer hitch issue fixed but back to the shop it goes. (We are probably taking it to our regular bike shop, not the one where we had the headset installed.)

[xeney]

I never came back to update this. The Speedster is completed and rides like a dream. I don't have any really good photos but here is my current rig:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3494/3298127513_6d93448b53.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3422/3247562372_6c4be2fa8e.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/3246733571_4ef16eceea.jpg

It's strictly a trailer-hauler ... if I am riding alone I ride my Bianchi. I don't have the vocabulary to describe the differences in how the two bikes ride, but the Bianchi is faster and more fun, particularly through turns, and the Speedster is more comfortable, more of a check out the scenery bike. Which is what I wanted. The tires are beefy enough to handle some gravel.

I have lots of low gears, which I need for the trailer on windy days. I love, love, love the shifting on this bike -- it's newer Campy Veloce than I have on my Bianchi, and shifting is so easy it feels like cheating.

You can't really see the crazy spacers we had to use to get the bars up as high as I wanted them. It was comfortable with the bars lower, but I wanted a very upright ride for pulling the trailer in traffic, etc., and the Soma has a really short head tube for some reason. It looks kind of silly but it is a great fit so I am happy with it.

It is a very pretty bike and gets lots of compliments. The downside is the saddle. I love my Fizik Vitesse but this one is squishier than the one on my Bianchi and it turns out to be really uncomfortable after fifteen miles or so. So I am going to try my Brooks on here if it does not mess up the fit too much.

Oh, yeah: Soma wound up using one of my photos with Penny and the Speedster. She refers to it as her bike, which is something I did not think I'd have to contend with for a few more years!